POST OF MONDAY’S PAST…IN PHOTOS (PART I OF III)
This will be a 3 Part Series looking back at photos from the Monday Night Shows of this past summer that Notes from Vivace attended.
July 11: Silverlake Lounge
Queen Kwong
LA Font
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Special thanks to all the venues for allowing us to photograph these nights
OUT TO SEE: A YEAR IN PHOTOS (LOCAL MUSIC EDITION PART IV of IV: OCTOBER – DECEMBER)
OCTOBER
Row 1: LA Vampires
Row 2: Wet and Reckless, Jail Weddings, Jail Weddings
Row 3: Shadow, Shadow, Shade , Rocket, Rocket
Row 4: (from L to R) Cold Cave, Downtown/Union, Nightmare and the Cat
Row 5: (from L to R) Nightmare and the Cat, The Hounds Below, Rocket
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NOVEMBER
Row 1: Chasing Kings
Row 2: Gentlemen Prefer Blood, High Life Cavaliers, The Shakers
Row 3: Silver Needle, Silver Needle, The Fake Boys
Row 4: The Monthlies, The Mulhollands, Tijuana Panthers
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DECEMBER
Row 1: Black Elephant
Row 2: (from L to R): 3Hombre, Coyol, D2ncia
Row 3: (from L to R): Honey Honey, Queen Kwong, Raining Jane
Row 4: (from L to R): Run-On Sunshine, The Mulhollands, the Mulhollands
OUT TO SEE: WHISPERTOWN 2000, CHASING KINGS, SEASONS, TWILIGHT SLEEP
(click on images to enlarge)
First Anticipated Band
Back in December 2008, a friend suggested we all go and check out a band called Whispertown 2000. A small group of us headed off to the Relax Bar. Before Whispertown 2000 went on stage, my friend stated that she was too tired to stick around and headed home. Most of the group left with her, leaving just me and one other friend. We caught their set and then had a late night dinner at the Asian restaurant next door.
Ever since that night, I’ve mentioned off and on to my friend (the one who made the suggestion, not the one who stuck around with me) about catching Whispertown 2000. Unlike a number of local bands I follow, Whispertown 2000 doesn’t play too often in Los Angeles (or I don’t notice when they play in town) so when those handful of chances to catch Whispertown 2000 came up over the last year and a half the timing just didn’t work out with our schedules. Finally, I found a night I thought would work for both of us. “Whispertown 2000 is playing April 27th at Silverlake Lounge, are you in?” Technically, it was just Morgan doing a set. My friend replied yes and then a couple days before the set, she decided it was more of a maybe. Then the night of the 27th, it was no.
I figured I’d head over by myself.
I caught the last half of The Chasing Kings. They play some powerful music and along for the ride was an artist who was set up on stage, painting throughout their set. I couldn’t see much and don’t have any photos to share of their set as I was stuck in the back. If anyone hasn’t been to Silverlake Lounge, it is long and narrow and so it can be difficult to get to the front of the stage unless you’re willing to push your way through the crowd. (If you catch the movie Greenberg – I wouldn’t recommend it – there is a scene set within Silverlake Lounge.)
After the band finished up, the crowd dispersed and I made my way up to the front of the stage. Sometimes when I head out unusual moments just stick out in my mind. As I was hanging near the front of the stage, a guy walked up and plopped himself down in front of the stage. He sat there and when he caught Morgan’s eye, (more…)
OUT TO SEE: CAN TOO MUCH MUSIC LEAD TO ILLNESS? I’M SICK…
I had less than ideal health this past winter. I’m not saying I was ever on my deathbed. In fact, over the course of a year I only missed three days of work due to illness (if an Internet source is correct, the average full time worker takes 8.5 days of sick leave). The situation is that starting around December, I went through this routine of getting colds that lasted about three days. I’d recover and then figure I could just go back to my normal routine, and then about two weeks later the sniffles would return.
I am either getting old or perhaps it is just bad luck.
Sidebar. As I write the first draft of this column, I am fighting back another bout of a sore throat and runny nose (that in fact in retrospect lasted longer than three days).
One friend recommended that I give up the night life and go for 8-9 hours of sleep. Perhaps she is making an appropriate recommendation. Of course, I argued that exercising out in the cold winter nights probably contributes a tad; you know, breathing in cold air –- this is what I’d like to believe.
My latest run of bad luck illness hit after four nights of music scattered amid three days of cold winter night exercising.
Here’s what perhaps led to this latest illness.
Monday: I headed off to Spaceland to catch Castledoor (pictured left) and Princeton (pictured right). I’ve previously made reference to Castledoor. What was unique about this night was the fact that it might have been 
Castledoor’s last ever set. At a minimum, it was their last set in their current form. Really sad. It was only the second time I’d seen them and I was liking them. As for Princeton, it was their residency month. For their last song, they invited anyone so willing to come up on stage. A number of folks got on stage and they had a dance party. (I would post photos of the dance party, but I’m not sure people would appreciate having their photos up on intraffik.com.) Two friends were supposed to meet me at Spaceland. Both made it to Spaceland, but didn’t get inside. When I arrived at 10 p.m. I walked right in, but it was already crowded inside Spaceland. I sent off warning texts. Unfortunately, my friends got caught in the long line that quickly formed outside after 10 p.m. Interestingly, they know each other and I’m sure they were standing in line at the same time, but neither noticed the other.
Tuesday: I was off to see Oh, The Spanish Moss and Roll the Tanks. Siria mentioned this night briefly in her ‘What I Listened to . . .’ column. I have to give props to Oh, The Spanish Moss. Their bassist had just quit on them before their gig. They decided to play anyways. Who needs a bassist anyways? As for Roll the Tanks, there was an interesting situation where one of their amps started picking up a Spanish radio station. You couldn’t hear it while they were playing, but in between songs you’d hear Spanish coming from the amp. It was amusing for the audience, but frustrating for the band. (more…)
Diane Birch
Upfront: Religion isn’t something that is mentioned on this website very often. I think I’ve read a couple passing references to religion, but nothing where the topic infused the whole column. This column deals with religion in a more direct way due to the musician I’m writing about, Diane Birch. It would probably be a disservice to her if I ignored the topic. If you’re offended by this topic of discussion, you’ve been warned and should stop reading . . .
I got an e-mail from a friend during the middle of the day about Diane Birch having an 8 p.m. set at Hotel Café. She was a must see he told us all on the e-mail. Now recent work hours had ramped up, but I was still game to go. When I walked out of the office at around 6:45 p.m., I felt a tinge of guilt when a VP of Finance came walking down the hall with a stack of binders, but the guilt wasn’t great enough to prevent me from continuing my walk towards the elevator. (more…)
Notes From Vivace’s June Playlist
Queen Kwong - “Out Out Out”
Go West Young Man – “Chinatown”
Beatmo – “Treasure Hunt”
Bobot Adrenaline “Radio Tikrit”
Dollyrots - “Because I’m Awesome”
Action Design – “Landmines”
Rick Waines – “Imagine”