Spiritualized in Los Angeles (or, out and about with mousepod)

[mousepod]

OK, so as most of you probably know, I'm back in the music bizzzzz, so I'm doing my best to partake in the wonderful offerings that this city has to... um ...er... offer. Since my lovely wife doesn't like to go to work on 3 hours of sleep, I'm flying solo for most school night gigs.

However, I would hate to go to a cool show without at least giving my local LoT pals the opportunity to share in the fun.

So tonight I'm heading up to Glendale to see 2 (count 'em!) Japanese girl rock bands (PM me for details), and then on November 12th or 13th, I'm going to see the fabulous Spiritualized at the Vista Theater. Tonight's show is free - the Spiritualized show is $32 a ticket...

Anyone game for some groovy music?

[innerSpaceman]

mousepod, you are wearing me out with all your fantastic music outting offers. That's just contemplating all of them. I can't even conceive of staying out that late on school nites.


Please keep posting them.


One of these days, something will be on a weekend.



(Oh, and one of these days two months from now, I'll be out of a job ... so there will be no such thing as "school nites.")

[BarTopDancer]

I agree with iSm. Hopefully one of these days something will be on a night where I can go out and play (or not sit in 2 hours of traffic).

Thank you so much for posting the information and giving new bands to listen to!

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

I'll probably be sitting on a bus for 2 hours getting to Glendale this evening. C'mon, M. Join us. Join us. One of us. One of us.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I hope iSm was kidding about being out of a job.

Weekends yes, school nights, no. Have fun, babe.

[Alex]

He posted in another thread that his law office is closing shop so I don't think so.

[Kevy Baby]

He posted in another thread that his law office is closing shop so I don't think so.Right here (http://www.loungeoftomorrow.com/LoT/showthread.php?p=167622#post167622)

aka, I miss you. And, whew, I'm just glad you posted something .... even if it's to say you're out of a job. My law firm is closing up shop at the end of the year. Come back to the States ... we can look thru the Want Ads together!

[innerSpaceman]

Oh, it's twu. If anyone hears of any wonderful opportunities in a creative field .... with, um, lots of money to be made .... don't hesitate to let me know!

[CoasterMatt]

What's this "school nite" you people speak of?

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

I met Jesse at The Scene in Glendale last night, and I will let him tell you all about the two very talented Japanese bands that played first. I will say they were awesome and adorable punk rockers, and their sets were solid.

And then:

A group of drunken audience members took the stage and began to set up their equipment. Three men (bass, guitar and drums) and two women (lead singer, tambourine/maracas). Meet Punk Jungle.

Jesse leaned in to say something along the lines of, “Garage band…heard them on MySpace…not terribly impressed.”

They were all a bit worse for the wear, but the lead singer (who Jesse and I pegged as a “not old enough to be in a bar” 19-year-old) was a mess. She’d been stumbling around on stilettos for the last hour. During a sound check that went on for about ten painful minutes, she managed to slur every directive.

And then:

They start to play. No. Wait. More sound check.

They start to play, this time for real, but it basically sounds like more sound check with yelling, and to get ahead of myself, all of the songs sounded the same. The Japanese band members, probably just happy to be rocking in the States, danced along enthusiastically. Of course, they’d been drinking too.

During the first song, the lead singer did a lot of crouching and lying down on the stage floor, probably giving herself a staff infection. Soon after, she stepped into the audience (an audience of about 5 people who were not actually affiliated with the bands) and proceeded to do a lot of crouching and lying down there, as well. She does have one thing going for her. If ever there is a staged version of A Christmas Story, she could star as the lamp. She has some seriously carved out, awesome looking stems, and her stilettos were very cool.

Mostly we watched in horror and dismay at the spectacle, anticipating a terrible accident. Sometimes the microphone wire would wrap around her ankle. Sometimes it seemed like she might fall walking up and down the stairs. Her dress was so little and short, I was half expecting an indecent ping-pong show for a finale. Jesse was gripped with fatherly feeling and wanted to cover her up. Me, I wanted to throw her in a potato sack and drag her home.

It felt like we were watching a straight-to-video sequel to The Accused.

I can’t say much for the band. The tambourine / maracas player was just, well, lame. And drunk. The bass player was madly in love with himself and his terrible playing. And drunk. The guitar player may have been sober, but was also paying homage to Corey Hart: he put on sunglasses just before he started to play. The drummer was probably drunk and maybe 18. None of them thought to drag their little sister off the floor, so apparently we were watching different straight-to-video movies.

The best part, the part that left Jesse and I feeling chilled and filthy, was the 30 to 40-something drunkard who was there for most of the evening but only took to the dance floor when Little Miss Show & Tell took the stage. I will attempt to patchwork together an image of this gentleman for your brain viewing pleasure:

He was part Mr. Bean (with blonde hair), part Olive Oil, part marionette with malfunctioning arms. He would sidle up to the girl folk dancing and then move his body in a way that would occasionally allow his to press against theirs, seemingly on accident. Half the time his arms weren’t moving, which is why he looked like a marionette. The overall way in which he moved, and his placid and inebriated expression, was very much Mr. Bean. His crooked sloping posture was all Olive Oil. The overall effect: Pederast escaped from a mental hospital.

The lead singer actually started groping him. Sometimes, in a fit of false punk rock aggression, she’d sort of smack him away before coquettishly drawing him back in. Hence, The Accused 2: The Seduction.

I kept saying, “Maybe he’s her boyfriend.”

Jesse would then look at me with a sort of wry, “silly Audra” smile.

“Maybe he’s her math teacher. AND her boyfriend,” I concluded, which would be much more likely.

Ah, the music scene. So much goodness and so much badness. But almost never a dull moment.

[innerSpaceman]

Wow, I like the report better than I imagine I'd have liked the show. Thanks.



Oh, and soon after I posted about not going out to see bands on school nites, I was reminded I'm seeing Gogol Bordello tomorow.


Oi.

[Eliza Hodgkins 1812]

Oh, and soon after I posted about not going out to see bands on school nites, I was reminded I'm seeing Gogol Bordello tomorow.


Oi.

Yeah, you are. No bailing!

[mousepod]

Just a last-minute reminder that the Spiritualized show is tonight (and tomorrow) at The Vista in LA tonight (the entire US tour consists of NY (the Apollo), SF (Bimbo's) and LA).

It's going to be an amazing show (I've heard recordings from the UK). J will be playing Spiritualized and Spacemen 3 music with strings and a gospel choir.

It's general admission seating, so if anyone is up for it, please PM me and I'll save you a seat.

[Snowflake]

Between the LACMA thread and this one, color me a seriously bitter NW Cal-Coaster. Missing all the fun, at least it sure feels like it!

[mousepod]

All right. Just back from the show. Wow. It was exactly as I had expected yet still blew my mind. The show was held in the Vista Theater, which, during its restoration had every other row of seats removed. For the Spiritualized show, they replaced the empty rows with folding chairs, which were naturally taller than the permanent seats, so given the choice of comfy seats or seats with a good view, we chose the latter.

The opening act, Simple Kid, was charming and with a short set (6 songs), he presented his sound without overstaying his welcome.

Spiritualized tonight consisted of Jason (of course, since he's the only constant in the band) on vocals and acoustic guitar, Doggen on electric piano, a string quartet and a three voice gospel choir. All nine performers remained seated throughout the show, with Jason and Doggen facing each other (and wearing the ubiquitous sunglasses) - so J performed the entire show in profile. Other than the lyrics to the songs, there was nothing else said, no "Hello LA"s, no "thank yous", nada. Without the droning wall of sound that Jason tends to bring to his rock concerts, this show was pure and simple unadulterated bliss. The theater was packed with appreciative fans, and the energy in the room made the almost two hours fly by.
They're playing again tomorrow night - and if there's any way you can make it, you will certainly not regret it.

Here's a one-song sample of the tour that's been floating around the web recently. It's an audience recording from almost a year ago (November 24, 2006), but it should give you an idea of what you can expect.

Spiritualized (http://pocketsymphony.com/lot/spiritualized.mp3)