42 posts tagged “shows”

Last night we saw K's friend's band Office play at 330 Ritch. They played an amazing set, as expected, and we danced the rest of the night away. Afterwards, we brought K's friend and her boyfriend to our place where we ate greasy burgers, got fucked up, and watched Dave Chappelle. Rudy put on a show for everyone with Mr. Frog, and we stayed up talking and laughing until we could rage no further. It was a good night. Here's a picture of my hot date for the night, and show pictures are below.

So, Wednesday I knocked off work a little early, having not finished my awesome Hack-a-thon[tm] project. I met Lady Scotch at the BART station, where we hustled ass to the airport. Our destination: the unholiest of places. The belly of the beast. That city whose name we dare not speak aloud. Los Angeles. Birthplace of Road Rage. Ground Zero of the Botox craze. Et cetera, et cetera... What on earth would lure us to such a destination? A concert, of course.

Specifically, we were there to see Office at The Troubadour. An old friend of Scotch's is the keyboard player, so I attempted to rig a surprise trip wherein friends would reunite and rock and roll would be jumped around to. The surprise was thwarted when several friends were sloppy in their use of discretionary communication, but we were still excited - Scotch to see her old friend play, and me to see one of my new favorites play live.

It was a great show... Office is amazing. Their album is awesome and their live show was a fucking blast. They played the shit out of that place.

After their set, we retired to the back bar so K and her friend could catch up. While there, I noticed the bass player of one of my favorite bands, OK Go, had walked in, so I decided to say hello and thank him for being awesome. I said, "so are you just here supporting another great Chicago band?" and he told me that he and K's friend were also old friends. Sweet. Not wanting to be a gusher, I bid him good evening, but he eventually found his way over to our table and while K and her friend reminisced, Tim and I had great conversation about various topics, including music and bands of course, but also things like favorite cities, barbecue restaurants, and home prices. He was a cool guy and he firmly insisted that I listen to "Discovery" by Daft Punk at my earliest convenience.

I'm familiar with Daft Punk, but I'd never taken them (it?) seriously, as it just falls in the dance music category for me. But, when someone you respect musically makes a recommendation, you take it, and that's what Rhapsody is for. So, I'm currently rocking the aforementioned album and I have to say that it's registering about an 8.9 on the ass shaking Richter scale. While it's true that it is just dance music, it's pretty fucking awesome, musically. The arrangements and instrumentation are incredibly funky, and the whole thing just grooves. Call me a Daft Punk fan, I guess.

I won't bore you with details of the rest of the trip. Suffice to say that after 24 hours in that place, we were happier than ever to return home. Scotch made a beeline for the shower the second we walked in the door and Rudy showered me with love, despite being aware that my scent was definitely not the same.

One more thing of note - in addition to her many other endearing qualities, Scotch is one of the most fun travel partners I've had the pleasure of flying with. We made ourselves laugh so fucking hard while making fun of the pilot last night that I'm sure we're on some DHS watch list now. Good times.
 

Wow. I almost can't believe this, but apparently Elvis Costello is going to be performing at Great American Music Hall next month. That, in and of itself, is awesome, because it's a small-ish venue and a great place to see a show. But... for this particular show, he's got the original band that played on My Aim Is True together to play those songs. This is apparently the first time they're playing together in public?? Amazing!

The down side is that it's a benefit show, and tickets are a hundred bucks a pop. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I love me some Elvis Costello, but it was a fairly long time ago when I got sick of paying $60 a ticket for his shows, so $100 is unlikely, even given the unique circumstances. Plus, I'd hate to shell out that kind of cabbage and then have them JUST play that album. I mean, it's a great record, but it's uh... short, and there's a lot of stuff on a lot of other records I'd want to hear as well.

Alas, I think I'm gonna pass on this one.

Great show last night! I figured out that it was somewhere between my 20th and 30th time seeing them live, and that the first time was over SEVENTEEN years ago. Jeez! Highlights:

• Full horn section for about a third of the show. These guys were awesome, and the amount of righteous wailing that took place during Istanbul was enough to practically knock me over. They also ripped through an amazing rendition of Doctor Worm, also utilizing the infamous confetti cannons (there are two now), which had previously been used mainly for James K. Polk (which was also played). I was bummed that they didn't play No One Knows My Plan, because that would have been killer with the horns, as would have been The Guitar, which I've almost never seen them NOT play.
  
• Mr. Me. I don't think I've ever seen them play it before.
  
• Ana Ng. I think maaaaaaybe I've seen them play it once or twice, but certainly not for a long time.
  
• Istanbul (Not Constantinople). As I said, the horns really blew up for this song. They started with a really long intro featuring just them, and then quickly built it up. The crowd was clapping and stomping so hard that it looked like the stage lights were just going to fall over. Reminded me of the time I saw the Pixies at the University of Arizona Ballroom and a huge crack developed down the middle of the floor from the crowd jumping up and down in unison.
  
• Finally heard them play a "Venue Song" about a venue that I'd not only seen them in, but was currently standing in.
  
• "Phone Calls From The Dead". No need for explanation.
  
• Looking around the room and marveling at the sheer volume of nerd sex that would be taking place later in the evening. I'll bet if you did a proper study, you'd find that the average child born in any given city nine months after TMBG plays there is smarter and/or has less social skills.
  
• It's Not My Birthday, followed later by Older. Genius.
  
• She's An Angel. Still one of my top favorite TMBG songs.
  

Sometimes when I hear about a TMBG show coming up, I waffle a bit on getting tickets and deciding whether or not to go. I've seen them soooo many times. But, then I go to the show and I remember that every time I see them it's completely amazing. I've grown up with this band. They were one of the first few shows I ever went to without adult supervision. They continue to bust out some of the most incredible musicianship and stage antics. Always entertaining and always fun. I hope I see them twenty more times, at least.

Eight reasons you should go see The Rentals with me on my birthday at Great American Music Hall:

Tickets are available from Virtuous. This is the first date of a really big re-forming tour, and I'd be surprised if it didn't sell out.

There will be dinner of some sort before the show for those of you who don't rock and roll on school nights. I haven't figured out where yet.

I just got my regular mailer from Slim's and Great American Music Hall and it appears that The Rentals are going to be playing at GAMH ON MY BIRTHDAY!! So fucking awesome. This solves the following problems:

• I don't have to go in to the Soul Crushing Abyss of the greater Los Angeles area to see them in July
• I get to hear what they've been working on since they reformed
• I have something fun to do on my birthday

Tickets go on sale this Sunday. I'd love it if any of you homies would join me for the show!

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes were pretty awesome tonight. I can't recall the last time I saw Fat Mike that sober. They still forgot how to play the songs and Spike forgot a lot of the words, but they rocked it hard anyway, and played a lot of my favorites. Super gigantic thanks to Barry for the guest list hookup and letting me watch the show from the sound booth, which offered the best view in the house and the best sound as well. There were beers as well, which was a little sad because I forgot to eat dinner. I grabbed a blueberry muffin from the store across from the club, and ate that just now, and I'm gonna drink a big ol' glass of water, so I can be bright eyed and bushy tailed for a very special someone's birthday tomorrow today. 

I am dangerously close to planning a trip in to the unholiest of lands in July to see what is pretty much guaranteed to be an amazing show.

Dammit. I really don't want to go to Los Angeles, despite it being the home of The Dude and all. I got this crazy hangup about wanting to keep my soul intact and all. Gah!

Today is the release date for Tim Armstrong's solo album. It's mostly been released, for free by Tim, via various internet channels, but today is all official and shit.

A lot of people in punk think that Tim is a sellout or that he's compromised because he's been involved with people like Pink and Gwen Stefani. They think that Rancid is like, too commercial (read: successful) and therefore suck. I've even seen shit talk about Tim jumping on some kind of bandwagon by doing a solo album that's all rocksteady ska. People don't realize that the guy's been playing ska his whole life. I remember reading interviews with him in Spin like ten years ago where he named Desmond Dekker as one of his biggest influences.

Whatever, haters. The guy is a goldmine of talent. All of his bands have put out simply amazing music, and this solo album is just insane. Teaming up with the Aggrolites to form such a powerhouse was a stroke of genius, and he really gets all over the genre with his ten songs. It's also really cool that he released videos for all the songs via YouTube, and that they're filmed in some of my favorite places like the Bay Area, Seattle, and Vegas.

Tim did a set at KROQ's Weenie Roast this past weekend in Irvine. I'm an idiot for not going to that. I've read that Lars (also from Rancid) played a few with them, including "Time Bomb", which is one of my favorite Rancid songs. The Aggrolites were there as the backing band, of course. Everything I've heard has said it was an awesome show. Don't know if he'll take it on the road any time soon as the Aggros have an album coming out soon and a pretty extensive tour already booked. Rancid's got an album soon as well and I'm hoping they'll also tour, as I missed them last time they were through here.

Here's one of the last songs that was released from the new album - "Among The Dead", which seems to be about Operation Ivy, their breakup, and then Tim and Matt forming Rancid. I like it. Also enclosed are two videos from the KROQ show which I haven't watched yet.

 

The Aggrolites show last night was off the fucking hook. Their set was simply awesome from start to end. As a live band, they're super tight, and the amount of energy that comes off that stage is enough to push you over. I've never seen a band just go the fuck off like that and maintain their musicianship. Every song just brought the energy level higher and higher. Just when you think the place would explode, they'd back it off a bit, for just one song. After that, they'd come back at you like a supercharged explosion of sweet reggae and ska.

They busted out a handful of songs from their new album that comes out in June. One of them was so-so (for them), which is to say that it was great, but didn't blow me away. The rest of them just ripped me in half. As if this band couldn't be any cooler and more tailored to my tastes, these new songs feel like they have more of a northern soul influence to them. I can't wait to hear what the finished versions sound like. If you think Amy Winehouse is the only one dropping some gritty old-school soul music, then you ain't heard nothing yet. No offense to her, though. She's pretty incredible.

Somehow, mostly by natural forces, those of us in the ever-shrinking vintage scooter scene grouped together in the crowd. At one point I leaned over on Barry and said, "Hey look! It's a half-dozen vintage scooter riders dancing together at a ska show! It's just like the old days!!" It brought a huge smile to my face and a ton of memories to my brain.

In the mid-90s or so, in the height of the 3rd wave of ska, there were tons of bands playing. There were three pretty decent ska bands just in Phoenix. The guys in these bands had a standing show on Wednesday nights at a local club called Boston's. Every week, one of our local bands would play with one or two other bands that were touring through. I can't possibly remember all the bands that played those nights, but some of the greats were Hepcat, the Toasters, the Pietasters, the Scofflaws, and the Skatalites. A group of 10 or 15 of us would meet up at a bar somewhere when we got off work, hang out for a while, and then ride our scooters together as sort of a mini-scooter rally to the ska show. We'd line them all up right in front of the club, pay our ten bucks, and go inside and dance to ska bands all night while drinking $2 Newcastles. Afterwards, some of us would rally up a group of friends, scooter people, rude boys, skinheads, band members, and club employees and head up the street to the all night diner where we'd sober up until around three before heading home to get some sleep before getting up for work at 7. Those days are some of my most cherished, and it was nice to have a tiny piece of it back last night.

I'm sore as hell today. I lifted weights yesterday (I'm doing that once a week now) and pushed a little hard, and then went to the show and danced my ass off for the whole set. I'm not going gently in to that old age, I guess.