scene but not herd

Quick impressions:

Joy Zipper- arrived at Spaceland and it's free to get in. Sat at the bar and ordered a beer as the first band went on. The girl singer is wearing a leopard print bikini as the band plays some new-wavy rock. I'm out and I enjoy another beer while watching the end of the Clipper basketball game which someone had luckily left on the tv behind the bar. Joy Zipper were on next and though I wasn't blown away by them I did like them quite a bit. Every review I had read described them with a sound that was right up my alley. Unfortunately their records were expensive imports so I never really had a chance to actually hear them for a few years. They have a nice sound. I like the blending of the guy and girl vocals. Musically it is a sound that is perfect for summer(Beach Boys-ish) while occasionally being a little more dark and aggresive(Velvet Underground-ish). I also liked the fact that the guy played his guitar like Bill Wyman played bass. I will definitely make an effort to see them again if they come back through town. It would be interesting to see them with a full band because this time it was only a guy and girl with keyboards, guitar, and an I-Pod. Who knows, maybe this is how they play live all the time? Exit the club and I'm home by 11:30. Perfect.

Due to a bit of a family emergency on Friday I was unable to make the Stars show at the Troubadour. I was bummed out a little bit because I was actually looking forward to this show quite a bit. How often do I get to go to a show where I want to see all the bands who are playing? The L.A. Times reviewed the Thursday night show and the reviewer had to throw in a reference to the Arcade Fire. First of all I don't think any of the bands share any sonic comparisons to the Arcade Fire, so is the only link that all the bands are from Canada? I don't know why this bugs me, but it does. Just review the god-damn show that you watched and don't mention the hot band everyone likes just because they share the same geographical area.

This week is a toss up. I may see some shows, I may not see some shows. Monday is Ed Harcourt and Martha Wainwright at Hotel Cafe and Wednesday is Midnight Movies at Spaceland.

I watched the American version of THE OFFICE on Thursday. I had read some really bad reviews about it prior to watching, but I have to say that I thought it was fine. I can't help but think about the original while watching the new version, but the new version wasn't bad at all. I wonder if the reviews would be different if people didn't already have the English version to reference. I laughed a few times and that is something I didn't think I would do based on all the bad reviews I had read. The original is magic, but the American version seems to have some potential so I will still give it a chance.

I haven't gone to the movies since January, but I think that will change this upcoming weekend. I'm not a comic book buff, but the film version of SIN CITY has really gotten my attention. The visuals look amazing and hopefully the whole film can live up to that.

Friday night I watched ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND again. Such a good movie and that is really all I have to say about that. People can drive you crazy, but all the hassle is sometimes worth it because they give such joy as well.

I saw a show on MTV2 called Wonder Showzen and I love it. It takes the form of a kid's show like Sesame Street, but this show shouldn't be watched by kids. It is so wrong which makes it right up my alley. I have to believe that someone will complain about it and it will be taken off the air so I'm going to savor every sweet moment while it is on.

Have I mentioned how much I love the sandwiches at 7-11? Believe it or not they're really good. Turkey on jalapeno bread. Count me in.

Tomorrow begins a stretch where I have a chance to see a few concerts just about every week. Monday is Joy Zipper at Spaceland and it is free which is a big incentive in getting me to go. I've heard a few songs and my take on them would be Beach Boys/Phil Spector/Velvet Underground/Girl Groups kind of sound. Wednesday is Ambulance LTD and Autolux at the Glass House in Pomona. Finally Friday I will probably go see Stars at the Troubadour. I heard a song by one of the opening bands called Apostle of Hustle that I liked so that is a little more reason to go. Of course my attendance is just theoretical because it all depends on how lazy I actually am on the evenings of these shows.

I left the house this evening once again with the unfortunate sensation of not really being too excited about what I was doing. In this case it was going to see Slint at the Avalon. I really like seeing live music, but lately I'm just as apt to want to stay home and do nothing. I had planned on going down to Hollywood early and swinging by Amoeba and the Cat and Fiddle, but I ended up eating at home and leaving late. I arrived in Hollywood at about 8:15. I found some free parking, walked a few blocks to the Frolic Room, had a beer, and walked into the Avalon as Pinback was about to begin the last song of their set. Ah, perfect.

I don't know why I ever bought anything by Slint in the first place. I must have bought Spiderland sometime in 1991 and the following year I found their first album, Tweez, at Bleecker Bob's record store on Melrose. That first album which came out in 1989 is reminiscent of stuff like Big Black, Bastro, and some other bands on the Homestead label. The second album is pretty different and is probably one of the first signs of the whole "post-rock" stuff like Tortoise that was yet to come. Spiderland is a sparse album. It is mostly quiet and slow with whispered vocals, but that is broken up occasionally by flashes of jagged, fuzzing guitars and almost hardcore vocals.

I forgot to mention that the Avalon is the re-modeled Art-Deco theater the Palace. They did a nice job and I hope to see more shows here in the future. It's nice because there are a lot of good places to get a good look at the band even when you are in the balcony area. Slint came out in complete darkness and quiet. People were cheering, but the silence was quite striking. This was especially evident between songs because the band hardly spoke at all. I kind of liked that uncomfortableness. First off, the sound was great at the Avalon. It was perfect for the band which went from the aforementioned relative silence to really loud and distorted. They played songs from both albums and some of those songs off Tweez rocked my ass off. It sounded so good and I realize now that on Tweez Slint were mining some of the same territory as Helmet in terms of a mix of hardcore and metal. Wow! That was some powerful stuff. The songs from Spiderland sounded really good as well. I just love the movement from a hushed sound to that of pounding drums and screeching, fuzzy guitars. I haven't seen a band this tight in quite some time. They ended their set with my favorite song off Spiderland called "Good Morning, Captain." This song perfectly describes that quiet to loud aesthetic. I just love the way the song ends with the singer basically screaming, "I miss you" while the band is going off at full speed and volume. In contrast to how I began the evening, I left the concert very pleased and I hope they end up playing some more shows in L.A. sometime.

This is my car. It's a 1963 Chevy Impala. You might go so far as to say it is my dream car, although nowadays I'd prefer to have the '59 or '60 model. I'm not a gearhead. My interest in cars is based purely on aesthetic reasons. I like the way they look. I like the flow of the lines of the body. Does that make me shallow?

I've realized that in the past two months I've basically kept to myself. With an exception or two I haven't called anyone to go and hangout. For some reason I just feel like doing exactly what I want to do with no compromise. That has amounted to not doing much of anything at all actually. Honestly, I doubt that my presence is missed by anyone. It's not even spring yet and the weather is already starting to feel a little bit like summer here in L.A. Back East people are freezing. Go figure. As the weather changes I suppose so will my temperament. I'm a bit icy right now, but I'm sure that I'm bound to thaw out at some point.

Everything I've written so far probably makes no sense to anyone. First cars then the weather and metaphors. What the... I haven't driven my car in awhile probably because it is a gas guzzler and the price of gas right now seems to rise everyday. With all this nice weather approaching I'm thinking that I'll have to bite the bullet and fill her up sometime in the near future. It's starting to be time to give her a good wash and turn that ignition key. I've never really taken advantage of living in Southern California. If you saw my pale white skin you'd know that I don't frequent the fine beaches that are scattered all around here, but that is going to have to change a little bit. I yearn to drive my Impala up PCH with Zuma Beach as my destination while listening to Neil Young's album Zuma. I know it is a little obvious, but hearing "Cortez the Killer" blasting out of the speakers would be mighty nice. I'd like to get there early and set a chair down in the sand and just read a book for awhile and just enjoy what I see before me. Would anyone care to join me?

Things sneak up on me and sometimes I like it. Friday morning at about 9:00 I switched my radio to 103.1 and I heard a familiar sound which turned out to be the Zombies doing "Care of Cell 44." I love this song and it's the kind of thing you never expect to hear on the radio so it really made my day. Thursday I turned the radio to KCRW for a second and I heard a song that I was really digging. Thankfully I was able to hear the DJ say who it was and it turned out to be Stars doing "Ageless Beauty." I'm a sucker for sweet female vocals so I was hooked as soon as I heard it. I've read quite a bit about the band, especially on the Chromewaves site, but I had never actually heard them until the other day. What's cool for me is that they are playing March 25th at the Troubadour so I think I will make it out there to check them out live. The third thing that snuck up on me quickly is that Erase Errata and the Hospitals are playing at the Echo on March 12th which is next weekend. I haven't heard too much by Erase Errata, but I've been wanting to check them out since I heard a good song on a free Mojo CD awhile back. I've seen the Hospitals before and they're pretty good so I think it will be a show worth checking out. Finally, I learned that the Undertones are playing the Galaxy Theater on April 23rd. No Feargal Sharkey so that kind of bums me out, but it will still be nice seeing the O'Neill brothers playing live again.

I haven't done much lately so it's nice that a bunch of shows are starting to approach in March and April. Yesterday I bought a magazine called Uncut and it had an article about Gang of Four and part of it dealt with their recent reformation. Actually a bunch of magazines had articles about them that I saw yesterday and this has really made me question my decision about not going to Coachella this year. I really want to see Gang of Four badly and I don't know if they will play the L.A. area again anytime soon. How can I miss the original line-up of one of my favorite bands? Well... the day they are playing there are probably only a couple of bands that I would really like to see so it is hard to justify paying $80 dollars for that. Also need I say that the traffic and crowds will no doubt be horrible. Why couldn't they be playing on Saturday when there are a lot more bands playing that I would like to see. Ah, decisions, decisions.

I received the new Dead Meadow album in the mail yesterday and it is pretty good, but I still believe that their records pale in comparison to their live shows. An example of this is the song "Let's Jump In." This song is the first song off their new record and they were opening with it on their live shows the last time I saw them. Live it was immediately one of my favorite songs that they played whereas the recorded version took me awhile to even recognize that it was the song that I loved so much. Anyway, I really look forward to seeing them live again in April.

Last night I watched a documentary called SPELLBOUND. The film focuses on a few kids as they compete in the 1999 Spelling Bee championship in Washington D.C. This may sound boring, but it was anything but. The film is really able to incite your interest in these kids and it builds quite a bit of tension as to how they will do in the competition. You get to learn a fair deal about these kids and their families and they seem to be pretty well adjusted even though some of the parents seem to push the kids a little too much. There is one kid named Harry who is so annoyingly talkative that it started making my skin crawl. Now I'd like to contrast these kids with some of the kids I've seen on an MTV show called MY SUPER SWEET SIXTEEN. I'd hang out with Harry for weeks on end before I spent any time with the kids from this show. The show is about people throwing birthday parties for these kids' sixteenth birthday. Most of these kids are really wealthy and most of them are insufferably spoiled. It is incredible how many of these kids are used to getting their way and they are really petty and they want to shove their wealth down the throat of anyone, especially anyone who has slighted them in any way. It is incredible to watch a girl cry and pout because she did not receive a Land Rover on the day of her birthday because she disobeyed her parents recently. Oh yeah, she ends up getting it anyway a few days later. Such horrible, arrogant people. Only one girl comes off as normal and she seems to be the only person that has been profiled so far that seems to be middle class. Does wealth lead to incredibly annoying kids? It seems that way based on this show, but of course not everyone deals with wealth the same way. I just wonder how these kids were raised. I suppose the parents are mainly to blame here. Don't you ever say no to your kids? Do you not teach them the value of money or the virtue of humility? I don't even know why I watch this stuff sometimes. I only end up getting pissed off. That's partly why it was so nice to see SPELLBOUND to offset the bad taste in my mouth from MY SUPER SWEET SIXTEEN.