live music

Last night was another crazy cool one in Los Angeles. The fun began with dinner on the Sunset strip: Ron Jeremy was at the table on our left and Scott Baio was at the table on our right. The service was uncharacteristically craptacular, but the food was excellent. (You can’t do much better than the steak and lobster at the Rainbow Room.)

After that we went to see Von Cotton play at Molly Malone’s. (Photos at Flckr) They played eight or ten original tracks — all very, very awesome country tunes. I think my two favorites right now are “Shotgun Blast” and “The Tell”. Then Brant closed with a great cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama”.

Got plans for January 24th? Of course you don’t. Now you do.
Mark it down. Von Cotton will be live at Molly Malone’s next Wednesday. These guys are excellent. You must be there. Come see them now before they sign a multi-record contract for millions of dollars. That way you’ll get to say, “I saw them before they signed a multi-record contract for millions of dollars.” Find me and I’ll buy you a beer.

Last night Tricia and I saw Von Cotton perform at Molly Malone’s. They are an awesome new country act playing in Los Angeles. We saw them the first time at some dive honky-tonk just south of Marina Del Rey a year or so ago. Back then they mostly were doing classic country covers. Now they’ve got a slew of original songs and they’re really fantastic. The lead singer has an amazing voice and their stuff is seriously good.

Last night we went to dinner at Aroma in Silver Lake and then caught a new band — Castaneda (website, myspace) — at El Cid. My girlfriend works for a music management company, so we often find ourselves out seeing new music in LA.

Castaneda is a really polished act, and I was surprised to learn that last night was only their second ever live performance. They’re very, very good for a new band, with a sound sort of like The Killers meets U2. I am a fan of the five-piece band genre — lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar, drums, keyboardist — and these guys were great. You can (and should!) listen to four of their songs on their myspace page. (The songs were recorded in their house!) “The Same” is the track I like best.

Another Thursday night, another becky show at the Roxy. This was — if I remember correctly — the tenth Thursday in a row (excluding St. Patrick’s) that I’ve been there. This time I experienced Los Angeles parking nirvana when I got there. Not only did I get a meter right across the street, but it was broken. (I’ve since been told that parking at a broken meter is against the law, but I didn’t know that last night and I didn’t get a ticket, so the parking gods were smiling on me.) Another dinner at Rainbow Room and then just a terrific performance next door; becky’s been really going over the top lately. They threw in a few brand new songs, including a cover of the Beatles‘ Rain. After the show it was back to the Rainbow Room for a few hours of pizza and Grolsch with the band.

My girlfriend, Rob, Rebecca and I went to see the Pixies at “the Greek“. It was a great concert; they played a ton of stuff that I love. It was totally cool to see them still rocking after all these years.

I’m also completely hooked on the new Green Day CD, which is a surprise because I really just didn’t like anything they’d done until this. American Idiot, though, is just incredible. I highly suggest you grab it.

I saw cage 9 and becky last night at the Viper Room on Sunset. Both of them were surprisingly good. Becky’s singer has a great voice, the lead guitarist mixed in some really decent riffs, and Mr. Reeves handled the bass much better than I had expected — no complaints at all, really. There wasn’t enough volume on vocals, so I couldn’t catch most of the lyrics, but what I did hear made me want to hear more.

My girlfriend and I went to The Troubadour last night to catch a guy named Marc Copely. He was opening for a group called Sense Field, and opening for him was a group called Crashcart. (Crashcart was actually pretty cool.)

The Troubadour’s been around since 1957; an excellent little club. I’m pretty sure The Doors played there at some point. It was a lot like The Covered Dish in Gainesville. Their web site is terrible, though, which is surprising since they’re pretty much a landmark in the live music world, y’know? I dropped the webmaster a line and asked if they’d like some help in a redesign, so we’ll see if I get a response.

By far the most exciting part of Friday night was when a woman’s head burst into flames. It was 80s night at The Burbank Bar & Grill and the poor girl experienced the unfortunate combination of incredibly too much hair spray and close proximity to a candle on the bar. My friend and I were discussing the relative merits (or lack thereof) of 80s music tribute bands when suddenly a woman a few feet away from us was consumed in a flaming hairball. It was, I’m ashamed to admit, hysterically funny.

Oh don’t worry, she was unharmed. I’m sure she’ll think twice before she decides to go big hair to an 80s bar next time. We likely found it funnier than it really was because we had recently finished consuming several beers at Gitanas. (Please note that the beers at Gitanas are served in manly, hefty, literally-make-your-arm-sore 84oz thick glass mugs.) We watched the Lakers win on one of the 200 or so humungous televisions there. I’d never really partied with elementary school teachers (and a vice principal) so it was pretty entertaining.

My friend and I could only appreciate the M-80s, the tribute band, for so long. So we left The BBG and headed for the Blue Room. That was a truly hip spot. It’s very small, and apparently it’s been operating since the 50s. It’s exactly what you would expect of a 1950s nightclub in Burbank, if that tells you anything.

Oh, and Monday night I went to see another friend play guitar at a cool little spot called 14below in Santa Monica. That’s a great pub close to the beach. My buddy played an amazing set, too, so it was fun.

It’s rare that getting back to the office on a Monday is a relief, but this was quite a weekend. Everything always seems to happen at once in my life. I shot my second movie this weekend - only an independent, but a great learning experience all the same - and then tonight I have an audition for a new show on NBC. It’s really cool because my manager has been sending me out on stuff for months and it’s only recently that I’ve actually been seeing some results …

The Madonna concert was incredible. The first time I saw her - when I was fifteen - my aunt had somehow gotten us tickets in the sixteenth row at Sullivan Stadium, the Foxboro, MA home of the Patriots. Last night my tickets were even better. (Evidence: Tom and Penelope (Cruise and Cruz) were about eight rows behind me.) Except for the Less Than Jake show in the Spring and my friend’s garage band in Venice a few weeks ago, it was the first time I’ve been to a rock concert in a year. For now I’m back at the office in my disguise as David Gagne, mild-mannered computer programmer.