lost

so i'm going to this show in echo park...I have the address to the place, but the numbers are really hard to see/or are just not posted at all along the sidewalk. so i find an area/block that I know that the place has to be within the proximity. I see some people carrying large crates, which to me looked like a couple of amps. "cool, they're entering that house, that's probably where the show's at."
So I follow them to a house that was lit nicely with all kinds of fancy lights. In the center of the first room were some instruments that were set up: a drum set, bass amp, and a guitar amp. The room was brightly lit and the setup was almost too perfect. So as I'm standing there, I can't help but notice that I'm being stared at. I see some people talking on the other side of the room with some papers in their hands. I assume that I'm early since there wasn't a lot of people there, so I decide to make my way to those people on the other side of the room just to see if I had missed something..."hey, am I too early? is this where the show's at?" Then one of the guys responded, "um, we're filming a music video."
for the rest of the night I wore a badge that said "idiot" on it. it was blue.
and yes. I made it to the show...that badge got me in for free. but I think it was a free show anyway.

the national league

is no more. *high five*

p.s. it's cold. i'm pretty sure that my room is haunted....hence the extreme change in temperature that one experiences when entering.

nostalgia y'all

reunion shows

Hello Astronaut, Goodby Television are back

December 30th at the Smell
(247 S. Main St. los angeles, 90012)
9PM with
Black Black
Devon Williams
Maria (Oxnard)
Her Girl Friday
Mystery Guest

January 11th at Echo Curio
(1519 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles)
8PM with
Her Girl Friday
Devon Williams
Maria

should be fun.
(click to make flier bigger)

ridiculous

has anyone seen the trailer for the new Rambo movie? It's so ridiculous.
1. There's no way that was shown in theatres as a trailer
2. I'm pretty sure the whole movie was shown in that trailer.
3. Chuck Norris has some competition.

beauty is...

warehouse

Punk Rock Karaoke

last night I met up with andy, luis, and alex to see punk rock karaoke play at spaceland. the group consisted of eric melvin (nofx), steve soto (adolescents, agent orange, 22 jacks), derek o'brien (social distortion, D.I., agent orange), and Greg Hetson (bad religion, circle jerks). What they do is play punk covers and let people come up and sing. There's a sign up sheet that is passed around and people can pick songs that they want to sing. we got there around 9, but were met with the news that the show had been moved to 11. so, we wandered around silverlake looking for anything that was open; we had no luck, but we did find a skunk. we then decided to wait it out inside the venue for the next hour and a half...not a bad decision since there were free vegan tacos waiting for whoever finally figured out they were free. I know that there's no such thing as a free lunch....but it was actually dinner....
Greg ended up not showing up (he was driving from san diego to the venue, but never made it), but the band played on without him. They played for a good two hours and the people were really into it; drunk singers and all.
they're playing tomorrow at the Avalon with the Bouncing Souls and Flogging Molly..it's sold out though, so no dice.
Oh yea, here's Andy singing the Misfits song "Skulls". He was going to sing "Bullet", but the band had called it a night before he can make it to the stage....no dice:

Sleepy Freakin' Time Trio

Holy Shit!!!!! The Sleepytime Trio are back! I would have never thought that I would see them play again. They played the Action Patrol reunion show at Alley Katz in Richmond last saturday. Oh my god, I'm still in disbelief. If I could think of one band that has had a huge impact on my life, I would say that the Sleepytime Trio did that for me. I could remember hearing them for the first time in high school not knowing what to think of them; but as the years went by, I slowly understood who they were, and I wanted to be a part of that revolution. Sleepytime Trio arose from the ashes of Maximillian Colby. They went on to form some of the greatest bands that I have had the privilege to listen to. Dave Nesmith and Ben Davis went on to form Bats & Mice. From there, Ben went on to perform in bands like Milemarker, and recently Ben Davis & the Jetts (solo project), and Auxes. Dave went on to play with the Rah Bras and has recently released his first comic entitled, "El Greed". Drew Ringo went on to play in Supine to Sit and has been a part of a folk project called Mostly Dimes. Jonathan Fuller played drums for Bats & Mice on their first EP. He also was a part of Engine Down (playing guitar) and Denali (playing drums). The last time I heard, Ben, Dave, and Jonathan were writing a new Bats & Mice album. A Sleepytime Trio reunion came truly out of the blue. I did not expect it. This is the greatest thing that I've heard in awhile. I'm speechless.
If you don't have the Sleepytime Trio album, "Memory-Minus" album, here's a link to where you can get a hold of it. "30 Equals" is my favorite song on that album. Perfection beyond explanation:
LOVITT RECORDS
Sleepytime Trio

it's raining! I love it.

So recording has begun/continued for the next National League album (shameless self-promotion). It's entitled, "Hemispheres", and is set to be released on January 18, 2008. Yeah...it's the same date as that J.J. Abrams movie. word. I might even release it earlier just because. Data Punk y'all. Don't mistake it for a genre. It might be five songs, it might be more. I want to do a split with Mercy Hearse, so I think we'll plan something; maybe an album of covers and/or originals/collaborations.

on a side note, the Moldy Peaches reunited in Los Angeles. It was unexpected and expected at the same time.

Man and Wasp

Shelby's new project. I'm totally looking forward to this:
http://www.myspace.com/manandwasp

finals are over.

community

this is why I love LA.
I could remember having a conversation where I complained about how there was a lack of "community" in the LA music "scene/s". I continued by saying how Chicago was the ideal place to be because of their sense of helping each other out with shows and what not. It seemed to me that the "community" there was strong. But ever since that time, I have seen changes in LA (for the better), which is really pleasing. And today, I came across this blog from jessica hopper and have to say that this was very ironic.
http://tiny.abstractdynamics.org/archives/009912.html

start december with kimya dawson

sunday december 2nd
kimya dawson
the watery graves
lucky dragons
smog monster
@ the smell
247 s. main st
los angeles, ca
(enter in the back alley)
all ages $5

wednesday december 5th
kimya dawson
orem the sink
@ the brown house
110 n. vista bonita
glendora, ca
all ages 7pm donations at the door
more info at www.prescottfamily.org

thursday december 6th
kimya dawson
@ pomona college
details to be announced

friday december 7th
kimya dawson
mike xvx
watercolor paintings
@ 617 Agate
Laguna Beach, CA
(you go up agate street until you hit a dead end, park near the dead
end, walk up the dirt path that sprouts from the dead end, and once
you walk up a little you will see the house. walk up the steps and then
you are at the house)
music at 7pm but come early for a vegan potluck!
all ages, donations will be collected

saturday december 8th
kimya dawson
tall tales
@ oak canyon park, ca
all ages noon

blog

so this blogger account was supposed to be an attempt to have all of us (me, luis, anthony, and mike) keep "readers" updated with all of our bands and what not. Don't worry, hopefully one of us will figure out how to add authors, so that we will finally get to all of us contributing.

we're procrastinators.

anyways, finals is approaching (next week for me), so it's going to be pretty hectic this week as well as next.

transmit failure

so I went out and bought the four hundred years album, "transmit failure", and have been blow away yet again. I've had the songs forever now, but I never actually bought this cd by them (or at least not this "enhanced" version). It's incredible, there's a special feature on the disc that allows you to see their 1997 show at the lizard & snake in north carolina. a whole set! what an incredible bunch of folks. There's so much passion and energy in this band that I have never seen in my life before. What is it about bands now that has made the "scene" such a joke. put aside the present day clothing and hair styles and just look at the music. what has changed that has put such a negative connotation towards this "scene"? I think it's the lost of passion; bands doing it for the wrong reasons. There's hope in Whittier...let's just hope it spreads elsewhere.
I think alexisonfire said it best:
"'Cause this shit is not about pants
And this shit's not about shirts
And this shit is definitely not about hair
This shit is having a good fucking time
Maybe music isn't dead
Maybe music isn't dead
Maybe we all just forgot what it fucking sounded like
They forgot!
They forgot!"

london calling

this has been the scene for the last couple of nights (no alterations). I don't think this is typical. maybe if it was smog...but not this.

post-modernism

yes!
john cage

ian skiba

so this past weekend was pretty busy in terms of music. on friday, I ventured to the troubadour to meet up with mike and aguayo to see the Lawrence Arms with Sundowner, American Steel, and The Falcon. I was really stoked for it because it's been awhile since I've been to a punk show, and I also heard that most of the bands were from Chicago. Overall, the show was great, but the most random thing happened: As the Lawrence Arms were setting up, I noticed a man walk pass me wearing a beanie (in the DC punk style) with receding hairline exposed. The man's height never really crossed my mind, but his overall appearance created double-takes. "Is that freakin' Ian McKaye?" I asked mike who was looking in the same direction. He recognized the man too, and said that it looked like him. But then all of a sudden, the guy walks and starts talking with members of the bands that played until finally making his way up the stairs to the band room where he was greeted with excitment. What the hell was going on? Ian MacKaye wouldn't come to a show like this. So the Lawrence Arms played their set and left the stage before returning once more for an encore. In that time, "Ian" walked down the steps and headed to the merch room/bar. Nobody didn't recognize him or notice that he had gone to the bar, so me, mike, and aguayo made our way to the bar to pay our respect to the icon. So we made our way into the bar where we see him talking with some of the band member's of american steel. We get a little closer, until we finally can see him in clear view. It wasn't Ian MacKaye at all....it turned out to be Matt Skiba, singer of Alkaline Trio and Heavens. I was disappointed, confused, happy, and glad all at the same time. Armageddon.
Also, there was a house party in echo park on saturday featuring performances by brother reade, but luis and i could not find it for our lives. we were given the wrong address. We did go to a cool show at the Echoplex though. Bobby Burg (love of everything/make believe) was there playing bass for Chin Up Chin Up. There were definitely some good tunes flying through the air that night. I told Bobby about the party and gave him the address (the wrong address that I was given). He told us that he would probably meet us there in a couple hours after business was completed...and that he would be walking....I sure hope he didn't end up going or else he would've been walking around echo park for hours. sorry man.
As for zero hour news, we're playing a house show this saturday for Dawn's birthday. Happy Birthday Dawn! Mike won't be there, so Luis and I are going to attack the vocals. It should be interesting.
There's going to be another house party in echo park this saturday with Brother Reade and the Strange Boys. I won't be there because of the show, but if you're interested, you should definitely go. The address is 1515 S. Vermont ave., Los Angeles. sweet.

a new beginning

so we finally made an attempt to make a web-site where we can all write down/showcase our random adventures, practices, live shows, and what not. I guess this would be considered an alernative form of communication other than friendster, or all those other social networks where people may not have an account. me, luis, anthony, and mike will try to keep this thing updated with any kind of randomness, so be on the lookout for that...or not. In the meantime check out these talented hibernators: