5 posts tagged “bands”
What albums are in heavy rotation for you right now?
How this guy manages to put out a 21-song album of outtakes from his 24-song
masterpiece is beyond me. I'm just glad he did. Last.fm will prove that Sufjan Stevens is one of my most frequently played artists. I'm excited to see him in October at The Wiltern (well, not excited about The Wiltern)...
The Elected will be playing this Saturday at my local neighborhood street fair (I say it as though I run it...I don't), Sunset Junction. I can't wait. I'm also excited to find out that they're going on later than I previously thought (at 6:15pm instead of 4:30pm). That means my pre-party can run a little longer. Also not to be missed on Saturday: The Eels and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
Dear Silverlake Lounge Management,
You suck. Okay, maybe it's not you. Maybe it's whoever is running The Fold these days, coordinating the live music performances (you do provide cheap drinks, so I have to give you the benefit of the doubt.)
So then dear whomever, you suck. A large portion of the crowd had forked over their $8 apiece to see Patrick Park's set tonight. This guy headlines at bigger venues than your [admittedly iconic] neighborhood bar. But you limit him to...what, five songs before coming on the speakers to announce he has 5 minutes left in his set. And when he goodnaturedly responds that he'll sing one and a half songs, you kick up the music after the very next one, all but forcing him offstage. Not cool.
By the way, he's a guy with a guitar and harmonica...it's not going to take him any time to break down his equipment before the next band. And did you notice how there were three additional waves of applause as people were filtering out? That's because everyone felt bad. Did you notice how many people left?
I can't say for sure how many, because we were right at the front of them all, appalled at your treatment of Mr. Park. By the way, for what I paid to get in, I could have downloaded more of his songs off iTunes Music Store than he was allowed to play tonight.
Sincerely, you should stick it.
Gregg.
If you had a band, what would you call yourselves?
Question submitted by Zoot.
My electronica band: Q-Bert
My indie rock band: Raised by Wolf Blitzer
My emo band: Forget Memories
I always liked my friend Roberto's name for his Rock en Español band: Wilmington Chorizo Factory.
What is your favorite cover song?
Question submitted by Ray.
Tough call. There are so many good ones.
The first cover song that came to mind is The Pretenders' cover of Morrissey's Everyday Is Like Sunday. They've also done a really good version of Radiohead's Creep.
But then Suede did a pretty good cover of The Pretenders' Brass in Pocket.
Morrissey did a decent cover of Moon River, which played well with the gay Mexican Brit Pop crowd here in Los Angeles, since they love Morrissey and Audrey Hepburn.
The Wedding Present put out two volumes of Hit Parade back in the '90s, compilations of a 12 month run of singles they released. I think the second song on each single was a cover. But I like their earlier cover of the Beatles Getting Better, back when they had those crazy guitars going. They also do a fine version of The Velvet Underground's She's My Best Friend, better than I like R.E.M.'s VU covers.
Check out The Covers Project, which provides that kind of six degrees of Kevin Bacon fun.
Last night we saw The Raconteurs play at the Wiltern, one of my least favorite venues in the city. The Wiltern has a weird kind of general admission where there are different levels of elevation to the floor, and when the first fills up, security guards prevent you from moving forward. I happen to like general admission shows, because my five foot tall girlfriend is simply amazing at pushing her way to the front. I just carry our drinks like a big oaf behind her, and nobody can really say a thing. Last night we had general admission seats in the balcony. What?!? That means first-come, first-served seating, which sucks if you didn't, ahem, know that going in ahead of time. But I digress.
The Raconteurs are the new project between Jack White of the White Stripes and Brendan Benson of, well, himself. The album is okay. Some winners, some losers. But during the show, I felt a little pang of guilt. Where's Meg? Then feelings of resentment swelled up: has Jack taken on this allegedly side project because he's tired of Meg's [unique style of] drumming? For god's sake, he wasn't wearing any red, white, or black last night (as is the motif of The White Stripes). Did he really want to play with a bassist so badly* that he would forsake her?
The irony is that the songs he wrote for the band still sound like White Stripes songs, just fuller in sound. Which in my opinion sucks. I've seen the Stripes four times, and it's always amazing to me that they manage between the two of them a better sound than five guys on stage (was the keyboardist at last night's show really necessary? He didn't even merit an introduction.)
The one thing I'll say is that all their touring has paid off for The Raconteurs. They play a pretty tight set.
* For the record, I have seen the White Stripes play with a bassist before, but that bassist was Beck, who had popped in at the Greek Theatre show a couple years ago.
