CSS + Bonde do Role + Diplo = OMG!

Earlier this week I struggled to get some scratch to buy tickets for this gig. Magically the funds appeared, and I headed straight to Turntable Lab to buy them sans service charge.

Fast forward to last night…

John Jr. rolled by in his convertible, and we proceeded to get lost in Vernon somehow. Anyway, it was easy to spot the venue because of the stream of kids lining up to buy tickets outside the building. The show was held at the Cooper Design Building, 860 S. Los Angeles St. Originally this show was scheduled to be at the Echo.

John and I bypassed the growing line outside and headed to the lobby and then entered more lines inside. First we were in the will call line, then we were in the ticket holders line, then we were in the line for the elevator! It was as if we were at Magic Mountain – all that was missing was missing was the log ride.

The elevator took us to the top floor (the 11th) and opened to a massive space that only had a few tables set up for merch and booze in addition to a minimal stage set-up. As folks made their way upstairs, old school videos by Newcleus, Roxanne Shante, and Whistle were projected on a huge overhead screen. I’d never seen them before, and they were amazingly low budget and super awesome.

Surprisingly enough Bonde do Role played first (they were second billed). I wasn’t expecting much because I didn’t like the record they put out on Mad Decent. On record the music is a flat, collage of samples backed by Miami bass beats (the baile funk formula) with each song sounding like the previous one melding into one continuous song. Seeing them live was a different experience altogether. Their music was made to be heard LOUD AND IN A CLUB. The set was high energy and very shouty. The crowd wasn’t too moved though. Few danced while most kinda nodded their heads along to the music. The lead singer, Marina (in arm cast and sling from an injury sustained on the New York leg of this tour) tried hard to motivate a crowd that wasn’t quite ready to dance yet. She also pulled a somewhat reluctant cat on stage to dirty dance with her. The highlight of the set was “Melo do Tobaco” which made heavy use of Alice in Chains in the chorus.

CSS kickstarted LA’s own version of Dance Party USA. The crowd was EXCITED to see them. Their new record is so much fun and they are even better live. They opened their set with “CSS Suxxx” which flipped the switch and set lots of happy people pushing and shoving and jumping up and down throughout the set. It seemed like everyone sang along to each tune. CSS played most of the songs on their new Sub Pop release. The crowd was rowdy enough that security turned the house lights on for a second and lead singer Lovefoxxx had to tell the kids to cool it a little bit. Also at various points in the evening, Lovefoxxx sported foam antlers and the helmet of one of the folks who rode to their motorcycle to the show. It’s hard to pick out highlights in a set that seemed like it was only highlights, but “Alala” and their final song “Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above” certainly stood out for me. The show ended with some crowd surfing, crazy applause, and handshakes.

Diplo came on immediately and played his usual awesome set and the dance party continued on and on. (Sorry, I didn’t get a picture of him and his perv-style moustache. My camera went dead.)

Today I am sore, hung over, and happy. Many thanks to everyone involved with the show.

ps. Yes, the sound was shit. But everything else made me forget about that till now.

pps. If you get a chance to see a show or dj in the Cooper Design Building, do it. It’s surreal.

I went to Project: gallery’s “Best of Readers’ Choice” show/party last night (08/05/06).

My friend Micke Tong showed a couple of pieces at the exhibition and drove down with car loads of friends from San Francisco for the party. I may be biased, but I think his piece with whale and the sinking ship was one of the highlights of the show.

Here’s the flyer for the show with a list of the artists:

Not knowing much about current/contemporary art, I feel a bit cautious writing a critique of the show. So I’ll let my pictures tell the rest of the story. Other than that, I can say I had a great time and enjoyed meeting a lot of new people and seeing much good art.

Belle & Sebastian played at the Hollywood Bowl last Thursday, July 6th.

I was there.

Some thoughts…

It was a bit odd to see the mix of indie folks, fan boys/girls, LA yuppies ambling towards the Hollywood Bowl with grocery bags and coolers full of wine, hummus, and pita bread. M & I met up with John Jr. who scored a ticket off of Craigslist as well as a better seat than us! (We were in the promenade, while he was in the garden seating area.)

The Shins were pleasant enough playing many songs I recognized but never knew they sang. Like many in the audience, I hummed along to “New Slang” since I think we all watched “Garden State”.

After their short set, I rushed to the concession stand to buy a bottle of white wine due to picnic basket envy and found the prices somewhat reasonable. ($21 for a decent zinfandel at a concert venue? Not bad.)

After a couple glasses of wine, the LA Philharmonic appeared on stage playing orchestral music from Todd Solondz’ “Storytelling”. I could give you a blow by blow account of what happened next, but that would be boring. Instead, I’ll say that the show was AWESOME, especially if you like awesome stuff. (Sure, I’m biased, but then again I’m one of those B&S fanboys.)

Other reviews (e.g. LA Times) have called Belle & Sebastian’s performance “Bachrachian” or something similar. This may be true but their performance didn’t bring that to mind for me. The LA Philharmonic certainly enhanced the show but didn’t overshadow the songs. I basked in the glow of hearing some of my favorite pop songs for the first time live, such as “La Pastie de la Bourgeoisie” and “Dirty Dream #2″. If I could have, I would have join the jubilant stage invasion/dance party which happened near the show’s end.

Belle & Sebastian with the LA Philharmonic @ the Hollywood Bowl

Setlist for July 6th, 2006:

Storytelling harmonica – fuck this shit?
Fought in a war
Pastie de la bourgeoisie
The model
Sukie in the graveyard
Don’t leave the light on
Waking up to us
Jonathan david
If she wants me
Lord anthony
Dear catastrophe waitress
If your feeling sinister
covers blown
Dirty dream # 2
I’m a cuckoo
Wrong girl
Caught in love
Sleep the clock around
The state that I am in
Boy with the arab strap

Last Wednesday (July 5), I went to the final night of the LA Conservancy’s annual film program, Last Remaining Seats. Nicholas Ray’s “Rebel Without A Cause” played at the Los Angeles Theatre (615 South Broadway) in the Downtown LA Theatre District. The theater is stunning but is also in the process of being renovated. The theater was uncomfortably warm prior to the showing of the film. The program began with some LA Conservancy acknowledgement of all members who helped organize and run the program then dovetailed into a Q&A session between Leonard Maltin and three members of the original cast of the movie, most notably Corey Allen who played Buzz. This, while informative, dragged on too long. I haven’t seen “RWAC” for years, but I remember loving it. This go round, I certainly enjoyed it but couldn’t suspend reality enough to get over how overacted the film is, even by two of my favorites – Natalie Wood and James Dean. The star of the movie for me really is Los Angeles, in particular Griffith Park Observatory.