Cuban Music Festival ~ Echo Park, May 18

Sunday’s festival brought a balanced mix of proud anti-Castro Cuban Americans, salseros who just wanted to dance, conga players and energy inciters, local bands, and families from the neighborhood who stood in long lines for home style Cuban cooking (empanadas, platanos, papas rellenas, fried yucca and more). This annual music fest never fails to draw a crowd and represent the small community of Cubanos living in L.A. I was just happy sipping on a strong cup of Don Francisco coffee and allowing the aroma of Cohibas to take me back to Cuba.

– Text and Pictures by Kamren Curiel via Send2Taco
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455 H+R T$F

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band at The Mint ~ 6010 W. Pico Blvd. ~Los Angeles

Mentiritas features members of Ozomatli, Beastie Boys, CAVA and Yeska. They call their style “Rancholo”. Photos by Giovanna Calambrogio and M. Avelar. via Send2Taco.

This Friday, February 29th @ Safari Sam’s with 400 Blows & Donita Sparks

Unlike Brazilian Girls and the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Ninja Academy are actual ninja. Skulking in half-shadows, their various masked members stand as still as stone before unleashing a furious assault of ass-kicking, textured hard rock. Ninja Academy stuns, surprises, and makes deadly love to your eardrums with a bevy of technical mastery, bizarre musical weapons, honor, and grace.

A duo on bass and drum-kit, Indo Ninja and Outdo Ninja respectively, start off the show, playing music with a clean, Slint-like vibe of long and beautiful song scapes that occasionally burst into aggressive slaughter. We caught their last show at Malibu Inn last fall, shortly before the clan disappeared back into the shadows for a few months, no doubt hanging from eaves and strengthening their iron bodies for a bloody return.

That time has now arrived with their first live show of 2008 this Friday at Safari Sam’s, where they’ll be playing with the renowned 400 Blows and Donita Sparks of L7 fame. Thrill to Indo Ninja’s dexterous command of his bass, while Outdo Ninja hypnotizes you. Outdo is one of the most engaging, badass drummers I’ve ever seen perform, it is hard to take your eyes off of his hard-pounding, with lush flurries of hammering. These ninjas skills know no match!

A few surprises leapt from the ether on the night we last saw the Academy, including the lovely Gongis Khan, who knelt silently, almost ornamentally, in time throwing off this passive disguise to batter her Taiko drum (a big-ass Japanese drum) with the same ferocity and precision as member Outdo shows while bashing his modern kit. Their shows are a treat for the ears and eyes, with theater and mystery thrown into the mix. About halfway through, another statue unfroze in the darkness and an elusive guitar whiz named Shogun began his six-string rampage. This axeman, who resembles Mortal Kombat’s Rayden, went buck in his tabi boots, massacring a set of pedals and effects that might leave Lee Renaldo jealous. A shrieking singer on the flank, Ninjamamalickum, bolstered the musically martial expertise with Ono-ish squeals, deliriously bringing the height of Ninja Academy’s gorgeous intensity to celestial spheres.

Ninja Academy’s players are incredibly skilled, their tunes simultaneously punk, dub, complex, and gorgeous, plus their shows are moody fun. They are hard-rockingly one of the best live bands I’ve seen in a small club in L.A. Check them out this Friday at Safari Sam’s. (Photos by Rich Abagon)

Lysa Flores ~ 02/01/2008 ~ Eastside Luv ~ Photo by M. Avelar

The Queen Mary ~ Long Beach

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Damn good music hijacks my emotional control and sends me spinning. It takes me from zero to melancholy, electric, exuberant, and horny in five seconds or less. So, I know the band Actress is damn good because their shows send me to the edge of bursting with good feeling. It’s clear that this band has a passion for the music, but it occurs to me more than once during the show—maybe Actress enjoys being up there because they’re just really f’ing good at what they do. My girls and I leave the show with damp panties.

You could compare their sound to the Killers, and their vibe to ‘60s rock, but that’s just for point of reference. Actress is like Havarti—it’s got flavor that is distinct, well-developed, and all its own.
Aaron Ficchi is a naturally gifted singer. He hits his vocal sweet spots across the octaves so effortlessly that his vocals seem less like singing than melodic release. It’s the soaring vibrato; it’s the airy crooning of bright, catchy melodies punctuated with “GO”s belted at perfect pitch. Aaron Ficchi doesn’t have to try. He just works. His icon-worthy good looks and signature get-ups—tight slacks, flashy white boots, retro shades, and startling baby blues—-paint a pretty good picture of this band’s playful-but-sophisticated, trendy-but-grounded personality.

Drummer Josh Ficchi plays the drums like he must lay his lovers. He throws out a self-assured, fiery rhythm. The percussive accompaniment is fast-paced and energetic, propelling tunes forward. In spite of that velocity, the music feels deliberate and composed.

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First Cabin ~ 46 E. Huntington Dr. ~ Arcadia

Three nights a week, the world’s greatest bar band play just a few short miles from downtown LA. Pat O’Brien is an LA guitar hero commandeering the tiny stage in front of the bar, playing for the packed crowd of grateful locals, worshipful musicians, and blues aficionados. The rhythm section keeps the beat and throws in some pyrotechnics of their own. Cash requests only.