I'm craving pizza today

I've been a little sick lately which I originally marked as allergies but the product must be misbranded I fear. Allergies are not suppose to make me ill to my stomach but maybe it was the leftovers that were a day little over leftover status. Maybe I should have stopped eating it after the second or third day of being sick. hmm.

I haven't gone out much since Kiss or Kill last week which I forgot to write about it. Let's just say it was packed but not sold out as advertised. Let's just say whatever that UK band and IAMX were good but a tad boring for my tastes. Let's just say that I would've enjoyed them more while driving or working - but live they were just blah. More time was spent outside chatting outside with folks I knew and some not so well such as TK from Indie 103 who was telling the group I was standing in that all his shirts were thrown out due to a lost in translation instructions to the cleaning lady. All he had on was a zipped up track jacket in place of a shirt but John 99 gave some of the freebies to tie him over. Seemed very nice.

Let's just ask am I talking about last week? Well because everything after Kiss or Kill was perfect and funny and cute and yup that's all folks.

Anyhow other then trying Cafe Vegan across from CBS studios on Friday I've done nothing, did nothing until heading out Wednesday night to the SilverLake Lounge for a show (Deep Sea Diver, the Ebbs) and all I want to tell you is that I had a total OMG someone talked to me high school moment that night but I think I played it cool since it was just small talk and all, but still, you know insert happy face smiley here.

Let's just say I'm lame like that.

Last night had dinner at Farmer's Market, did some shopping, saw Danny Bonaduce shopping, then headed out to Audio at Three of Clubs only to find a shoot for some Dean Cain NBC CBS pilot going on in the parking lot so a little worried it was canceled but it was wrapping up . Had a beer, had a good talk then made it over to Canters/kibitz room to catch Steel but mostly to say happy birthday to Zach and hello to JP.

It was more fun than it sounded but I'm being all selfish with details today.

[updated the 99cent store shooting post with Joe's first hand account below]

Audio @ Three Clubs

Free
Great bands
*strong* drinks
Cozy old Hollywood bar/lounge
Nice if not downright sweet promoters

Can't go wrong.



Audio presents @ Three Clubs
the scene 10.30, pop noir 11.30, stop, revolt. 12.30

21+, first band 10.30 sharp

Shooting @ 99 cent store on Sunset last night

[If you are looking for info on the fatal stabbing at Safari Sam's on Feb 10th 2008, click here]

I just heard via one of a thousand LJ blogs I read* that someone was shot in the other end of the 99cent store parking lot that the club Safari Sam's (and my usual Wednesday night hangout Kiss Or Kill) share with last night.

via cbs2

Sad - scary.
I hope it wasn't someone from kiss or kill that night but any death is regretful.

[update - I talked to couple people out in the front patio (located in the parking lot) and most think it was gang related - nothing to do with the club - the other end of the parking lot is seriously half a block away]

Joe was there:

i am hanging with MS when 5 shots ring out. i thought it was fireworks at first. I didn't duck until i realized they were gun shots at the fourth shot. a guy ran into a car and sped off..... full post here

Also another account here where SLO Town Devils writes an open complaint to Chief Bratton about how the officers on duty could've made the situation better for all the patrons whose cars where stuck there overnight.

I was out listening to some bands at a club on Sunset Blvd recently when an unfortunate drive-by shooting occurred around 10:15 p.m. (I hope the individual is doing fine.) The police arrived and taped off the parking lot, which meant that no one in the club could get to their cars. A little over an hour after the shooting, the club made an announcement: either leave the club in 15 minutes or expect to stick around inside the club for 6 hours. Based on the fact that a crime occurred, I think this is all very acceptable; however, the behavior of the police lacked much needed empathy. .....full post

*It is the rare exception that I'll link to a live journal - from my experience they're just as bad, if not worse than a myspace user's naivety about strangers reading their posts.

if I could be in two places

The Fold presents @ Silverlake Lounge $8

Deep Sea Diver (featuring Jessica Dobson) 9pm
The Ebbs 11 pm

also Ready The Jet 10pm,
Dirty Men - midnight (wait, isn't that Mr. Skippy Simon?)


Kiss or Kill presents @ Safari Sam's

Casxio 9.30
(the band the much cooler blogs are highlighting)
EKUK 10:15, The Mulhollands 11pm,
Death Of A Dancer 11.45pm,
The Beautiful And The Damned 12.30

(also Rob Z is back hosting)



Interesting stuff distracting me until I feel like blogging for reals later on:

A great six page disneyland update on miceage.com - with pictures

Borg cube coffee mug on sale for only $9.99

the iphone is just the beginning - nerd out on this tech

Band: Margot & the Nuclear So and So's -- (site, myspace)
Video: Quiet as a Mouse (link)



Finally gave this album a good listen on my recent Bay Area trip last week and it's still in my cd player.

so good.
buy it or something.

a blabbering dork

I've been told I'm a lot of things, called a lot of names to my face and many more from afar, but most of you don't know me. A friend said that I spoke in parables and that I'm trying to say something so specific in the most general terms.

An inability to tell a story might be more accurate.

Recently a somewhat stranger leaned over to me and told me she and others felt that I often came off as a jerk - maybe I should stop and take a look at that and the reasons behind it.

When you lived numb for long enough you forget how to care for others that matter let alone somewhat strangers that are making an effort. "Well I can be a jerk," I said, "but you have to understand that meeting people in bars or parties is not why I go out to them." Then I leaned close to her drunken blushed face mostly to speak over the band but just a little too close where we heard our voices and read with our eyes. "Thank you for calling me out on it. It's something my friends do and I love people who can be direct like this."

One on One I can handle because I'm only half of what you think of me and a little more.


Did I mention how happy I've been this week?

home cooked meals by mom all weekend - check

catching up with M - check

finding out that M's longtime bf Matt might hook me up with this aptly named guitar pedal that he developed - check

Monday drive down from the Bay Area through clear skies and tumble weed lined highways

oh yeah, in my new car - check!

imaginary conversation #568434.045

I waited for ten minutes after the phone was slammed down on the other end but as it was a cell phone the term 'flipped closed' or 'turned on hinges sending a signal to the microprocessor to end the call' would've be more accurate.

I dialed the last call received.

"Yes."

"I've changed my mind.
"I don't want an answer to that question."

"Ok."

"And I really didn't want that answer."

"Ok. Ok."

"I just want you."

trying to be less blah

I think I'm going to be blogging the kiss or kill nights more than I have been lately. I've been a bit blah about it though I still attend nearly every Wednesday which isn't how one who views himself as a longtime (2003/04) supporter should act. In reality it's changed, I've changed and were both trying to figure ourselves out these days.

So as everyone was living it up at sxsw last week I did Kiss or Kill with a bunch of nice strangers and literally a handful of old school regulars. After catching the tail end of the first band the group of us talked about how soulless the night was; just some bands, with some people, at some someplace. And I would say that the whole night was equally blah for me except for the second band Automatic Music Explosion who brought the hand clapping, audience sign taunting rock. Just whole bunch of fun in the classic kiss or kill vein that made me smile enough to start the fuck yeah chant, i.e. the KorK audience seal of approval. Still means something even if there was just a few folk saying it.

Tonight Safari Sam's is pushing IAMX onto tonight's lineup, who you might know better as Chris Corner, the lead singer of the Sneaker Pimps from way back when.

The Mulhollands will be working the last shows of their residency after the UK band The Screening pick up after what I heard was a good showcase at SXSW.
Oh it's 10 bucks unless you made the $6 rsvp KorK list already. Might be sold out. not sure.

I might suggest for this Saturday:

KSCR / Kiss or Kill presents @ Ground Zero Cafe - USC Campus

8:15pm - 8:45 pm - Get Set Go, 9:00 pm - 9:30 pm - Underwater City People, 9:45 pm - 10:15 pm - Silver Needle, 10:30 pm - 11:00 pm - Bang Sugar Bang, 11:15pm - 11:45 pm - The Waking Hours

Chuck, you blow

Photo from Tuesday night

This is why it took me 45 minutes stalking out exiting Brite Spot patrons for a parking spot Monday night in Echo Park. A good portion of lakeside parking and streets up to the Echo (the actual shoot location) were blocked off for production trucks. Didn't help that the Horrors were playing either on an otherwise more mellow (parking wise) Monday night lineup.

At least Film LA left a notice on the door of my apartment complex for today's filming - well I found it this morning on the outside steps* - and it answered my question if I'll find parking easy tonight.

answer: probably not.

interior/exterior dialogue, driving scenes, large equipment, wetting of street, spark & smoke effects, camera equipment everywhere. stunt driving

Street closures:
Sunset blvd, Lemoyne St - Park Ave. Tues 3.20 7 pm - 3 am!

From zap2it:
""O.C." creator Josh Schwartz and producer-director McG are extending their relationship beyond that show's forthcoming end.

..."Chuck" is a drama laced with humor about young spies co-written by Schwartz and Chris Fedak. In addition to directing, McG will serve as an executive producer with Schwartz, while Fedak and Peter Johnson will co-exec produce."

From Variety:
"Project is said to be in the vein of the quirky late '90s feature "Grosse Pointe Blank," which starred John Cusack as an assassin-for-hire with a sense of humor. "

joy.

* to be fair, I was gone all weekend and was just getting in last night.

Hey M.

I might be up in the Bay Area within 24hrs so maybe dinner, lunch, a beer or something this Saturday or Sunday?

For every one else: car dealerships blow

sssh

I'm pretending.

I'm pretending that I didn't noticed...
well everything.
I'm pretending that my ears work as advertised, that my eyes were not mistaken, that I was standing right there in that moment centered. I looked around to see if anyone noticed what I just imagined. I looked to see the one that didn't need to pretend as I do.

sssh.
I'm pretending that was meant for me.

thatweirdfeelingIgetsometimes

I've been spending a lot of time in Long Beach lately and by a lot I mean visiting twice this month. Wednesday I spent far too long suffering through a craptastic band before catching the new-ish Katie the Pest lineup. Now I'm at worst indifferent at bands I don't care for yet this one's negative attitude and posturing drove me outside swearing I was going to find a way to take them down in this blog. They were that annoying and weren't supposed to be playing at all forcing a reasonable 10ish set into a midnight set and I was already tired/a little sick to start off with. grr.

Random notes:

every band had someone in a white with black stripes shirt. weird.

flannel is definitely on the come back

Thursday I enjoyed some gelato outside at a metal table with sprinkles on my words coming out at a 10:1 ratio to words responded and there was nothing wrong with that.

Random note:

One scoop = two scoops. One scoop plus one = four scoops. what?

Saturday we decided to our mission was to eat cheesecake sticks and cream puffs at Beard Papa at the Hollywood mall & Highland retail and entertainment center. Secondary mission: trying not to call it papa beard, bearded man, grandma beard'n'puffs or whatever made us laugh.

A special note to tourists: If you're standing there on Hollywood Blvd. near the Metro station watching a guy spray painting space landscapes, first you can get better ones on Venice Beach for cheaper but secondly, just because you see a camera crew interviewing Posh Spice and Beckham doesn't mean you need to rush into me, my cream puff , or jump out of moving cars with cameras in hand screaming. This is especially true when it was completely fake and the cameraman is focusing on the crowd, the posh spice wasn't thin enough and that guy looked more Brad Pitt than Beckham. Oh he didn't have a cane either.

I couldn't have been happier making a late night choice to drive down to the Prospector on Sunday to catch Deep Sea Diver. A little more straightforward approach than last time which made it one her stronger sets I've seen.

We sat in a booth enjoying the sounds of the Gingerbread Patriots (as I couldn't see them that well) with a Stella in hand chit chatting with Corey about striped shirts and flannels until DSD was about to start.

As we waited near the stage, there were two ladies sitting at bars edge having some fun among their surroundings. One could not stop playing with the hair of the guy in front of me, which would be fine if he actually knew them and how he took in the butt touching in stride was quite admirable. A couple minutes later the other friend tapped my shoulder and asked what the next band was called.

"Deep Sea Diver." I happily answered.
"Deep Sea Diver?"
The repeated answer I took as confusion.
"Jessica Dobson's band."
I said as this would help her more but in returned we both pulled back a bit and she gave me a weird look. It's possible I accidentally shot her an eyebrow but I swear it was unintentional. After a pause nothing was said so I smiled and turned my attention back to the stage.

Eventually the band was introduced to the audience a few songs in and from behind me I heard the girl deadpan to her hair playing friend, "I knew that. That guy that told me was right. He's like MacGyver."

Duh, I already knew that.

eye <3 the dollyrots

Band: The Dollyrots
Song: This is not a song



New CD (amazon) comes out tomorrow on Joan Jett's Blackheart records.

Shows
3.14 SXSW Hunnypot Party
3.16 SXSW Blackheart Showcase with Joan Jett @ Emos
3.16 CD RELEASE Show @ The Airliner
with Go Betty Go and Special Guest DJs The Donnas $5
July - The Warped Tour

Deep Sea Diver

Jessica Dobson announces the new band name of Deep Sea Diver.

Though I consider myself a late comer in discovering Jessica Dobson's music, I guess I've been around long enough to see her mature in style and gain real notice in the area. My first encounter with her music was back in 2003 while researching the old Hub coffee shop show listings [I owe a big thank you for my favorite redhead for this and for oh so many reasons] in Fullerton around the same time I started to explore the local music scene after living a different life away from music and shows for almost 8 years. In that period I think attended only two concerts: Weezer (pinkerton) and Green Day only because the we had won tickets. This lack of music, a continued struggle to reclaim my Bay Area identity, and maybe more importantly, a soured relationship had made me incredibly unhappy during this part of my life.

continue reading


So here I was with one old and one new friend exploring the local OC and LA scene and discovered some favorites such as Midway, the kiss or kill folks and of course Jessica Dobson. It was awhile before I saw her perform (life gets in the way of fun) but I fortunately came across these recordings (weird. link was fine two days ago) which tied me over to more songs as she migrated onto myspace. I wasn't surprise to find that she now had a development deal with Atlantic records or that the new track Most Sundays would become one of those songs that connected with what I was going through at the time.*

Eventually Margo Lee became the name in 2004 for her band and the label posted more songs onto the defunct margo lee dot com site which I would let loop for hours while I worked. As reported elsewhere, there was a Margo Lee record completed and then scrapped, a handful of sporadic solo shows as the Margo Lee period was discarded and a 2006 trip to the Pacific Northwest for new recordings.

So now with the new name Deep Sea Diver there are some wonderful new tracks up for you to listen to on her myspace. New Cave finds a nice balance between the the stripped down solo show sound and the more produced Most Sundays and while Tsunamo is Snowed In feels the same I have to go with the solo performance memory still floating around my head from a year ago. The last track is Confindence which was one of the demos endlessly streamed and this new full version is even better with a much deeper sound/production(?) to it.

Now all I can do wait for the EP to come out in the next month or two, cue up the tracks I already have and hit repeat.

*I don't know what her songs are based on in reality, but you know how it only takes maybe just the chorus or as all one needs to make that song yours for that moment.


Jessicapoolza starts this weekend:

Sat 3.10.07 @ Koos Community Art Center
$5 with The Blank Tapes, 5-10pm (flyer)

Sun 3.11.07 @ The Prospector, LBC
$3, 21+ with The Slings, The Gingerbread Patriots(I like the songs I've heard so far)

SXSW

Fri 3.16.07 @ Homeslice Pizza SXSW day show, Austin
Free - 3 fifteen minute sets at 3:45 4:40 5:15

Sat 3.17.07 @ The Six Lounge/Tap Room, Austin 12:00/i.e. noon
Indieclick sxsw day show with Limbeck

Thur 3.22.07 @ Evocal, Listenow! Costa Mesa (flyer)
Benefits the OC Rescue Mission. Admission: one can of food

Every Monday in April @ Detroit Bar, Costa Mesa, Free, 21+

photos/artwork by m. de feo

3) It restarts

Sleep is a funny thing.

I need it to survive and kick myself when I not getting enough but sometimes the lack of it can be so worth feeling like a zombie the next day. Other times all I can wish for is my mind to stop working long enough to fall asleep in the PM and hope the messed up dreams stop waking me up mid night.

Last Friday I was beyond tired and slept from 14 hours straight. I woke up in great mood, enjoying my cup of coffee looking over the lake before heading out to three different shoe stores looking for a bargain but ended up at Target.

After some retarded-ness on my part Corey and I attended the Amphiyard Loft party in Echo Park adjacent which turned out to be a lot-o-fun. We didn't know very many folks there but at three bucks for four bands, a couple of kegs, free whiskey and cokes, and all you can eat tacos how could one not have fun?

Random:
New Fidelity - great as always

Wake Up Incinerate - one song had a serious Lita Ford inspired lyric (youtube link) Corey found amusing and it was nice to see more than the partial set I caught at KorK a few weeks ago.

The Soft Hands (pictured) We left very impressed with this band. On my must see again list.

The funniest thing was seeing how surly the two girls serving the whiskey became as the night progressed. Apparently the tipping wasn't up to their expectations and they made that quite clear to everyone.

this post has no ending or point

some shows to consider

Wednesday:

Katie The Pest @ Que Sera, Long Beach $5 -- 21+

Kiss or Kill Club @ Safari Sams (all girl fronted band night)
$3/5 after 10, all ages
The Sirens 9:30, The Distants 10:15, The Mulhollands 11:00,
Underwater City People 11:45, Jade Banger 12:30

Thursday:
The Soft Hands @ The Prospector, LBC
21+, $5 with CPO and Thinking Aloud

Get Luckie presents @ Three of Clubs -- free, 9.30, 21+
Angie Mattson, Conquistador, Dirty Harry (opening for Razorlight @ El Rey 3.9.07)

I think I get it now

I hate my misshapen body, my malformed words, my mistakes I create far too often. I hate the way the shirt hangs and don't know why I even put it on just to walk to the video store. I hate as I showered this morning my nose started to bleed after washing most of soap off oddly angled parts only to now have to wash the blood off. So I still felt dirty and washed again then there was more blood and oh my god if I read between the lines and trusted my instincts and not my fears or wished for escapes from dumpy apartments, escapes to Long Beach tonight when I rather be in Silver Lake dealing with faulty intercom systems. I hate that feeling when your heart is racing for the wrong reasons and blood is coming out of your nose and knowing how completely fucked up I am sometimes.

The Happy Hollows 3.5.2007

I'm posting out of order here...

Quickly wanted to mention Airborne Toxic Event were great last night at the Echo and I enjoyed them far more this time then the couple shows I caught last year - due to no fault of their own but how incredibly tired or distracted I was. Corey enjoyed their sound akin to a mix of Bright Eyes and the Kinks (his words) while I kept thinking that I could see myself doing a lot more bouncing during their residency.

Now The Happy Hollows were what we came to see and they delivered fantastic jangly noise rock with fits of overloaded power surges in an already energetic set. Really Corey should be the contributor I've already asked him to be on this blog since I'm just going to steal his thoughts again: when the guy was singing, those songs came off a lot like At The Drive In and this comment from my post below:

I'll throw in another helping of love love love the Happy Hollows. All the best parts of all the bands I ever loved. "If I was in a band, it would be a band like this."

He also said to me last night: "they wiped the other band off the stage."

That DJ Cheese Zombie is not one to mince his words about a band's live performance apparently.

this just has to be said

If you see my bestest friend DJ Cheese Zombie at a show, you should buy him a drink and get to know him because you're missing out on all the fun.

I'm lucky to have 16+ years of memories and hopefully many more to come.

my other friends are pretty cool too of course.

Oh you might already know him from that weezer video (blog) (video)

p.r.i.t.n.i.?

Please someone make it stop. *

There is a decent band I wanted to check out called An Angle as I've been enjoying their tracks for a couple weeks now. This morning I noticed that they are playing a show at the knitting factory/alternit lounge on Friday (with a Fullerton show on Thursday).

Sadly they are playing with some (based on onetime myspace listens) blah bands like this one, a 'I thought this sound died two years ago' emo band from New Jersey, and finally Facing New York from the Bay Area. I sort of was interested in them a few years ago when they were called Locale A.M. with a pop punk + political bent sound, but now they went straight up progressive rock on me and I can't frigging stand that fingernails on chalkboard music.

Now they very might even be a good band considering they're playing a couple SXSW shows, one a shared showcase with one of my favorite labels Eenie Meenie and I do get the importance of the progressive rock movement in music history. No I think what scares me is the question of indie rock might be running on empty and worse, progressive becoming the new big thing.

If Rush (liberal use of progressive, I know) announces a tour in the next few months, we can all take that as a bad sign.**



* 3 hours of sleep=probably a little grumpy
** yeah that's right, Rush sucks.

2) It Stalls

Wednesday:

I woke up at 11pm wondering why
my pillow was wet.
Was there a leak in the roof?
Did I bring a drink with me in bed?

No. Just drooling. ewww

Thump went my feet across the floor, gulp went the water down my throat and peeked my eyes through parted sheets down onto reflected lights of Downtown across Echo Park Lake. On the couch I had three great post ideas. On the couch I lost three great post ideas with the flicking of channels. Crunch went the chips in my mouth. Crunch the chips with my teeth then washed down with water. Empty glass on my chest as I slept again on the couch.

Thursday:

3am. Turned onto my side where heavy hearts slide down and rested with doubt. With joy. With doubt again. Voices told me stories about friends that did me wrong a long time ago.

5am. Why the hell was I dreaming these things?

I've been mental all week with this sickness that slows what little ambition I have. Yes I know I'm a big, whiny baby about such things .

I stalled in making coffee. I stalled in showering, getting my lunch ready and puttered at best down to my car and despite all my attempts at stalling I'd arrived at work on time. Then stupid work was fun!?! Co-workers were not retarded!?!. New songs were offered that I can't stop listening to!?!

This whole day was going to be a damn great day no matter what I wanted.
And it was...