About a month before Silverlake Jubilee I started to notice that some of the bands I follow were playing at El Cid under the banner of Silverlake Serenade. After doing some minimal Internet research, I learned that this was all connected to something called Silverlake Jubilee.
I decided to see if my TRAffIK editor/friend could get me on the press list. It wasn’t so much to save the entrance fee, which was only five dollars. Instead, figured it might give me some special access. It did provide some special access, which you can see via the photos that I was able to take in front of the two stages. I also could have interviewed the bands I liked, but (perhaps) unfortunately for you that just isn’t my style; and honestly, I was so busy going this way and that way to catch various bands throughout the two day event that I wouldn’t have had time to interview any of the bands.
I got to Silverlake Jubilee via the metro Red Line on Saturday. This wasn’t so much by design to get myself aligned with the green theme of the event, but just due to where I was on Saturday. It just seemed more convenient; however, it made for one lovely long walk to the press lounge to pick up my press badge. I guess I should have added figuring out not just the metro stop, but a good bus route. I counted it towards my daily exercise regiment.
Side note: I don’t know how many of you take the Blue Line, but I found the following article a standard experience as I take this line whenever I’m heading off to LAX. (This will be referenced again in a future TRAffIK column.)
My first goal once I got to Silverlake Jubilee was to orient myself. I took a quick walk from the Sunset Stage to the Santa Monica stage. And then I decided it was time to catch my first band. I got to Silverlake Jubilee at around 2 p.m., expecting to catch Manhattan Murder Mystery. I’d previously had a close encounter with this band. I went to Echo Curio one night when they were listed on the bill. I showed up too late to catch their set. My 2 p.m. meet-up with them wasn’t meant to be as Silverlake Jubilee had a glitch on it’s first day (ever). Both stages were about an hour behind schedule so I decided to stroll around the food booths and venders. I stopped off to get a smoothie at the Maui Wowi booth. The booth seemed rather popular. I noticed one young lady asking her friend to photograph her with her smoothie, which was topped off with a tropical umbrella. A guy on a bike then coasted up and asked me to take an iPhone photo of him standing next to the smoothie menu. Maybe folks wanted to imagine they were in Hawaii? I have no clue why folks were taking photos
Starting things off at The Sunset Stage
I eventually ended up at the Sunset Stage where I caught a band called Big Whup. The keyboardist/singer uses a stuffed animal with a microphone that comes out through the mouth. I heard the MC call it a unicorn. I thought it looked more like a pink horse. (I did some stalking and her personal myspace page has horses galloping across it.) During their set, I also noticed a rather significant contingent of press out to cover the event. There was probably a group of 8-10 of us that ended up following each other from stage to stage over the weekend.
Noticed: The afternoon was a tad breezy and the keyboardist’s set list flew off the stage at one point. Someone later retrieved it for her, but I could have sworn that she had the set list inked in red down her left arm.
Conversation: Keyboardist, “Who’s on after us?” Scream from the audience, “The Allah Las.” Reply, “The Allalahs?” Response, “No, the Allah Las.” Got it, “Oh, as in Allah!”
El Cid
After Big Whup’s set, I went into El Cid. I went partially to see what was going on inside El Cid, but also to find my way out of the sun. Inside, there were chairs set up in the middle of the dining area. After being outside in the afternoon sun, it took me about five minutes for my eyes to readjust so I hung out on the edge of the dining area so as not to make a fool of myself by crashing into the chairs. I caught a half set of Dirt Bird, which I suppose could be called a gothic type band that uses a harmonium (looks like a combined accordion and piano).
I ran into a couple friends inside El Cid. I told them I was planning on seeing Manhattan Murder Mystery. They said they were interested in seeing Blue Jungle. I replied back that my big recommendation of the day was to catch Eastern Conference Champions (even though I wouldn’t be able to catch their set).
Santa Monica Stage
I figured it was time to head off to the Santa Monica Stage to see if Manhattan Murder Mystery was ready to start their set. I said my goodbyes and off I went. I got to the stage and it looked like Manhattan Murder Mystery was about to start their set, but it wasn’t to be. The bassist was having problems getting the equipment to cooperate with her bass. One of the roadies was helping her out while the sound guy was giving instructions in technical terms that I simply didn’t understand. I did hear the sound guy say, “That’s not possible.” Apparently, it was possible because when he came over, he started plugging and unplugging and tossing cables all over the place before he finally got things working. And then . . . their set ended perhaps two songs earlier than planned when the bassist blew the amp. Smoke wisped from the amp and the sound guy could be heard saying, “Don’t worry about it.” And so ended the set.
Overheard: “I’m playing El Cid tomorrow at (time deleted for sake of band). Where is El Cid?”
I stuck around the Santa Monica Stage to catch Blue Jungle. The lead singer dressed in blue. While catching their set, I received a text from a friend regarding hanging out in Pasadena to catch the Pasadena Orchestra. I replied that I wasn’t sure I could make it as I was covering the Silverlake Jubilee for TRAffIK and then I was heading off to the Blue Star in the evening to catch the fifth year anniversary show of Pu$$y Cow. “What time?” I asked in a text. The response was 7 p.m. I had wanted to see The Living Sisters, but considering how delayed things looked I decided I was heading off to Pasadena. Saturday was going to be a full day of jumping around Los Angeles to catch a series of musical genres.
Sunset Stage/El Cid
My day at Jubilee wasn’t finished with Blue Jungle (pictured lower left). I went back to the Sunset Stage and caught a couple songs by My Pet Saddle (pictured right). I then headed back into El Cid to catch a couple songs by Health Club. The bassist, I discovered, does double duty with both Health Club (pictured lower right) and Manhatten Murder Mystery. That was somewhat 
of a relief, because when seeing Manhatten Murder Mystery I had this dissonant feeling that the world wasn’t right. The bassist looked familiar, but not in the context of Manhatten Muder Mystery. I’d seen Health Club previously at Spaceland and so my world once again made sense upon being able to make the connection.
Random thoughts regarding Health Club: The guitarist’s strings were so long I couldn’t help but wonder if 
he’d ever nearly poked out his eyes. The bassist roamed around the stage as if by random. I wondered if she has a free spirit, as well.
Saturday At Silverlake Jubilee Ends
And so with that I headed off to get a falafel sandwich from a food truck and then made my way back to the Red Line.
Regret of the day was that I couldn’t be in three places at the same time. I missed Olin and the Moon. I wish I had gotten to see The Living Sisters, a band I’ve never seen. I’ll have to catch them later. I love Eastern Conference Champions and I wish I’d caught the Mo-odds. I heard the Mo-odds put on one crazy show with the lead singer stripping down to his underwear and the drum set getting tossed and threats from El Cid that the Mo-odds would need to pay for any equipment damage. Sounds rock and roll nuts.
And a recommendation to bands: maybe before a big show one should replace all batteries.
My surprise find: Big Whup.
And so my Saturday was filled with music! I started the day at Silverlake Jubilee listening to various local music acts. And from there I hung out in front of the Pasadena City Hall to catch some Stravinsky as well as seeing a guy dressed as Darth Vader directing the orchestra through a Star Wars Suite. And to cap off the night, I spent a couple hours hanging out at the Blue Star to celebrate Pu$$y Cow’s fifth year anniversary.
Stay tuned for Part II of Note from Vivace’s Silverlake Jubilee Adventure which continues tomorrow
