music in the air
I have so much blogging to catch on that it's been intimidating me into procrastination. So, rather than never finish it, I'm just going to very quickly type out some random streams of consciousness.
Music is of course such a big part of my life so I want to describe some of the amazing music I have witnessed in the past weeks.
On Sep. 19th, I picked up Brandon and Angela and we drove all the way out to Pioneertown, CA, which is a bizarre little place about 2 1/2 hours east of LA. From Wikipedia: "The town started as a live-in Old West motion picture set, built in the 1940s. The movie set was designed to provide a place for the actors to live, and at the same time to have their homes used as part of the movie set. A number of Westerns and early television shows were filmed in Pioneertown, including The Cisco Kid and Edgar Buchanan's Judge Roy Bean. Roy Rogers, Dick Curtis, and Russell Hayden were among the original developers and investors, and Gene Autry frequently taped his show at the six-lane bowling alley, opened by Rogers in 1949, and still in operation today."
Our purpose for being there was the Clean Air Clear Stars music festival, which The Dandy Warhols were headlining that night. We were very excited upon our arrival to find such a unique and charming place that felt so far away from Los Angeles it was like we were in another place and time. There was a really good band playing when we got there, so we listened to their set and then we went to the aforementioned bowling alley to throw some balls. I told Angie that being in a bowling alley preserved as it was built in the late 40's, within a movie set made to look like the old western, in the year 2009, was an anachronism within an anachronism. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but I totally got that feeling.
The Dandy's show was good. They are a band that I admire and I really like some of their songs and their aesthetic, but I've just never really gotten that into them. Brandon loves them, and Dylan is sort of a fan. I really liked their CD "Welcome to the Monkey House" but I've always thought that maybe someday I will learn to really appreciate them. Having said that, I enjoyed myself at the show and went thoroughly bonkers when they finally played "Bohemian Like You."
The very next night, I went to the Echo with Marc and Bradley to see Pansy Division. I'm embarrassed to admit that I just recently got into Pansy Division. I had known about them for a very long time, and Dylan had some of their CD's. I really started reading about them and following them around the time Shitting Glitter started since they were like the only major queer rock band that I had ever heard of, but I still had never bought any of their CD's or familiarized myself with their music much. But when Jon's book came out, I was very excited about it and also their most recent CD, "That's So Gay", which I bought right when it came out. Dylan and I went to Jon's book signing at Skylight Books and he was such a sweetheart and invited us to hang out with him and some friends afterwards. I had already become friends with Chris, the bass player, years ago when I played keyboards with The Gay-Gays one time when he was playing bass in that band (which is an all gay male tribute band to the Go-Go's). Anyway it was definitely high time that I got to a Pansy Division show - it was also Marc's first time, as well as Brad's, so we were all very excited. They definitely did not disappoint! The show was fanastic and full of energy. I had such a great time, and I really enjoyed hearing the new songs (I've since started digging in to their back catalog). I especially loved the song "Ride Baby" which Marc and I went wild on, and "Some of my Best Friends" which was written and sung by the lone straight member in the band, Joel, who is such a cutie. I wanted to tell him how I cried after I heard that song for the first time, but he was in the next band (The Avengers) too, so I didn't get a chance to talk to him.
Going back to the week before that, I did want to mention that Dylan and I took the subway downtown for the Creative Arts Emmys which were hosted by Kathy Griffin. Dylan was taking his cousin Shadey to the real Emmys so I made him take me to the "Shmemmys" instead, which is always a more fun governor's ball anyway. Matt Alber was a special guest vocalist with the band at the ball and he was great. Dylan was already a fan of him, having seen him perform at the Marriage Equality rally in Sacramento last year, but now I am a fan too. He was really nice when we met him, too. Nice guys deserve to succeed!
OK now that brings us to last week. I had been so super stressed about Shitting Glitter's Hot Pursuit at the Que Sera in Long Beach, cause I never know how Long Beach shows are going to go. We have had some good ones and some really bad ones. I'm always afraid no one will come. Well I didn't need to worry cause we had a really good turnout, and all the bands were amazing. First was Crush, who we are good friends with, and I hadn't seen them perform for a very long time. They were excellent as usual, but I would say they have improved a lot even from the last time I saw them. Afterwards, Slowmo Erotic (aka my friend Kevin) performed and his set was very interesting, everyone was very intrigued. It was the darkest Slowmo set I had ever seen, but still very witty and with a good dose of biting humor. Then we played, we did 2 new songs - Milk Money and Salton Sea. The new songs definitely have room for improvement but it's always nice to finally break a new song in. Then, we also played an old song - R So - but in a different way. For the first time in years, we played it 100% live with no tracks. We've been practicing several of our songs without tracks lately, if for no other reason than to prove we can. It really helps improve our playing cause you can really hear what everyone is doing, and you can focus more on the song and the dynamics. We only started using tracks because we wanted a more electronic sound and we didn't want to rely on a drummer. Plus we didn't have a bass player. Now that we have a full lineup for the time being, it's fun to make the most of that. After we played, Vertigo Venus from Albuquerque played. Their trip to LA (dubbed "The Tinseltown Takeover Tour") was the impetus for all these shows - I was trying to help them line up LA shows, which I usually try to avoid. I don't really like being responsible for out-of-town band's LA shows because the reality of the LA music scene is really disappointing. The truth is, LA is full of celebrities, and everyone here is or was in a band at some point. It's a high saturation of talent and entertainment options, so it's difficult to get people to come to a show of a local or unknown touring band when, on any given night, there are so many other options competing for attention. Anyway I decided to take this on for better or worse. I've gotten through the first two shows, but now I'm nervous as heck about this coming Wednesday night's Hot Pursuit at the Dragonfly in Hollywood. Anyway, back to the show, Vertigo Venus did super and it was so fun to see how they have progressed since the last time I saw them, which was Albuquerque Pride '06, when the band was just brothers Jeff and Chris. This time they have a full band - bass, guitar, keys, drums, and a very well-rehearsed and energetic stage show.
The very next day was my other band's live debut. Invisible Material played at The Anarchy Library at 7:30 - a pretty early show, but it was fun! I'd never drummed in front of people before, outside of the band. So it was a little nerve-wracking but I made it through. I messed up a little a couple times and I had some embarrassing technical difficulties (including dropping a drumstick in the middle of a song) but all in all I was proud of myself, and of my band members too, of course.
Sunday was of course the day many of us have been waiting for, for a long time: Kylie Minogue's first show in LA! The tickets went on sale FOREVER ago, and at that time it was so hectic - everyone scrambling to get their tickets, to get good seats, to make sure we all had our groups (since you could only get 4 seats in a row maximum). I went with Brandon, Angie, and Dylan; Marc went with James, Jason, and Brent; Ben and Tristan went together; and of course we ran into tons of our other friends there. There were more gays there than at Gay Pride (ok maybe not really, but close!). It was of course an awesome show that went by way too fast. The highlights for me were "In My Arms", "Like A Drug", "White Diamond" and "Better The Devil You Know". But I was surprised that I didn't cry at all until "I Should Be So Lucky"!!!
It was a very fun night. Anyway I have to close so I'll say goodbye for now and hopefully be better at blogging more often in the future.
Music is of course such a big part of my life so I want to describe some of the amazing music I have witnessed in the past weeks.
On Sep. 19th, I picked up Brandon and Angela and we drove all the way out to Pioneertown, CA, which is a bizarre little place about 2 1/2 hours east of LA. From Wikipedia: "The town started as a live-in Old West motion picture set, built in the 1940s. The movie set was designed to provide a place for the actors to live, and at the same time to have their homes used as part of the movie set. A number of Westerns and early television shows were filmed in Pioneertown, including The Cisco Kid and Edgar Buchanan's Judge Roy Bean. Roy Rogers, Dick Curtis, and Russell Hayden were among the original developers and investors, and Gene Autry frequently taped his show at the six-lane bowling alley, opened by Rogers in 1949, and still in operation today."
Our purpose for being there was the Clean Air Clear Stars music festival, which The Dandy Warhols were headlining that night. We were very excited upon our arrival to find such a unique and charming place that felt so far away from Los Angeles it was like we were in another place and time. There was a really good band playing when we got there, so we listened to their set and then we went to the aforementioned bowling alley to throw some balls. I told Angie that being in a bowling alley preserved as it was built in the late 40's, within a movie set made to look like the old western, in the year 2009, was an anachronism within an anachronism. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but I totally got that feeling.
The Dandy's show was good. They are a band that I admire and I really like some of their songs and their aesthetic, but I've just never really gotten that into them. Brandon loves them, and Dylan is sort of a fan. I really liked their CD "Welcome to the Monkey House" but I've always thought that maybe someday I will learn to really appreciate them. Having said that, I enjoyed myself at the show and went thoroughly bonkers when they finally played "Bohemian Like You."
The very next night, I went to the Echo with Marc and Bradley to see Pansy Division. I'm embarrassed to admit that I just recently got into Pansy Division. I had known about them for a very long time, and Dylan had some of their CD's. I really started reading about them and following them around the time Shitting Glitter started since they were like the only major queer rock band that I had ever heard of, but I still had never bought any of their CD's or familiarized myself with their music much. But when Jon's book came out, I was very excited about it and also their most recent CD, "That's So Gay", which I bought right when it came out. Dylan and I went to Jon's book signing at Skylight Books and he was such a sweetheart and invited us to hang out with him and some friends afterwards. I had already become friends with Chris, the bass player, years ago when I played keyboards with The Gay-Gays one time when he was playing bass in that band (which is an all gay male tribute band to the Go-Go's). Anyway it was definitely high time that I got to a Pansy Division show - it was also Marc's first time, as well as Brad's, so we were all very excited. They definitely did not disappoint! The show was fanastic and full of energy. I had such a great time, and I really enjoyed hearing the new songs (I've since started digging in to their back catalog). I especially loved the song "Ride Baby" which Marc and I went wild on, and "Some of my Best Friends" which was written and sung by the lone straight member in the band, Joel, who is such a cutie. I wanted to tell him how I cried after I heard that song for the first time, but he was in the next band (The Avengers) too, so I didn't get a chance to talk to him.
Going back to the week before that, I did want to mention that Dylan and I took the subway downtown for the Creative Arts Emmys which were hosted by Kathy Griffin. Dylan was taking his cousin Shadey to the real Emmys so I made him take me to the "Shmemmys" instead, which is always a more fun governor's ball anyway. Matt Alber was a special guest vocalist with the band at the ball and he was great. Dylan was already a fan of him, having seen him perform at the Marriage Equality rally in Sacramento last year, but now I am a fan too. He was really nice when we met him, too. Nice guys deserve to succeed!
OK now that brings us to last week. I had been so super stressed about Shitting Glitter's Hot Pursuit at the Que Sera in Long Beach, cause I never know how Long Beach shows are going to go. We have had some good ones and some really bad ones. I'm always afraid no one will come. Well I didn't need to worry cause we had a really good turnout, and all the bands were amazing. First was Crush, who we are good friends with, and I hadn't seen them perform for a very long time. They were excellent as usual, but I would say they have improved a lot even from the last time I saw them. Afterwards, Slowmo Erotic (aka my friend Kevin) performed and his set was very interesting, everyone was very intrigued. It was the darkest Slowmo set I had ever seen, but still very witty and with a good dose of biting humor. Then we played, we did 2 new songs - Milk Money and Salton Sea. The new songs definitely have room for improvement but it's always nice to finally break a new song in. Then, we also played an old song - R So - but in a different way. For the first time in years, we played it 100% live with no tracks. We've been practicing several of our songs without tracks lately, if for no other reason than to prove we can. It really helps improve our playing cause you can really hear what everyone is doing, and you can focus more on the song and the dynamics. We only started using tracks because we wanted a more electronic sound and we didn't want to rely on a drummer. Plus we didn't have a bass player. Now that we have a full lineup for the time being, it's fun to make the most of that. After we played, Vertigo Venus from Albuquerque played. Their trip to LA (dubbed "The Tinseltown Takeover Tour") was the impetus for all these shows - I was trying to help them line up LA shows, which I usually try to avoid. I don't really like being responsible for out-of-town band's LA shows because the reality of the LA music scene is really disappointing. The truth is, LA is full of celebrities, and everyone here is or was in a band at some point. It's a high saturation of talent and entertainment options, so it's difficult to get people to come to a show of a local or unknown touring band when, on any given night, there are so many other options competing for attention. Anyway I decided to take this on for better or worse. I've gotten through the first two shows, but now I'm nervous as heck about this coming Wednesday night's Hot Pursuit at the Dragonfly in Hollywood. Anyway, back to the show, Vertigo Venus did super and it was so fun to see how they have progressed since the last time I saw them, which was Albuquerque Pride '06, when the band was just brothers Jeff and Chris. This time they have a full band - bass, guitar, keys, drums, and a very well-rehearsed and energetic stage show.
The very next day was my other band's live debut. Invisible Material played at The Anarchy Library at 7:30 - a pretty early show, but it was fun! I'd never drummed in front of people before, outside of the band. So it was a little nerve-wracking but I made it through. I messed up a little a couple times and I had some embarrassing technical difficulties (including dropping a drumstick in the middle of a song) but all in all I was proud of myself, and of my band members too, of course.
Sunday was of course the day many of us have been waiting for, for a long time: Kylie Minogue's first show in LA! The tickets went on sale FOREVER ago, and at that time it was so hectic - everyone scrambling to get their tickets, to get good seats, to make sure we all had our groups (since you could only get 4 seats in a row maximum). I went with Brandon, Angie, and Dylan; Marc went with James, Jason, and Brent; Ben and Tristan went together; and of course we ran into tons of our other friends there. There were more gays there than at Gay Pride (ok maybe not really, but close!). It was of course an awesome show that went by way too fast. The highlights for me were "In My Arms", "Like A Drug", "White Diamond" and "Better The Devil You Know". But I was surprised that I didn't cry at all until "I Should Be So Lucky"!!!
It was a very fun night. Anyway I have to close so I'll say goodbye for now and hopefully be better at blogging more often in the future.
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