The weekend started with a Friday trip to Redwood Bar. I was looking forward to this night. I randomly noticed that Queen Kwong was playing that night. The last time I saw Queen Kwong was in 2013. It was in San Francisco of all places. I was temporary working up there for 4 months and she happened to be playing a set in the city. Soon after, she moved out of Los Angeles. I was definitely going to catch her set.
 |
| The Great Sadness |
The first band I saw at the Redwood Bar was
The Great Sadness. This two piece band gives some raucous noise. Then up came
Annie Hardy. I swear she looked familiar. It is always possible that we've crossed paths at various venues before, but she looked like someone I'd seen before on stage. Her music was a touch on the minimalist side. A keyboard. A guitar. Soft vocals. Then she happened to ask the crowd what they'd like to hear next. She gave three options. One was a Giant Drag song. "Wait a second," I thought, "I've seen Giant Drag before." Saturday morning, I spent time looking through various photos and blog posts and finally found out that I had seen Giant Drag way back in 2011. It took awhile, but I finally caught up with her again. I'll keep an eye out in the future for Annie Hardy.
 |
| Annie Hardy |
Queen Kwong closed out the night. Her set started out with a bang as she launched into a full blown rocking queen set. I was blown away, realizing what I'd missed for so many years. She took control of the Redwood Bar. If it was the stage, she was on her knees screaming into the microphone. If it was in the crowd, she was up there climbing the rope ladder that hangs on the wall. Sometimes, you just can't believe how much you've missed a favorite musician.
 |
| Queen Kwong |
Saturday night was a double hitter. It started out at the American Barbershop where I caught 3 bands:
Beers 4 Fears,
Speed of Light, and
The Lungs. Beers 4 Fear had a dark fantasy set. There was the thick book filled with -- I do suspect -- ingredients to potions and brews and perhaps a few scary prophecies. Speed of Light is a young tween band that knows how to rock and put on a show. They're more than willing to give the camera a smirk. The Lungs gave the night some solid heavy and fast beats. And plenty of hair flings.
 |
| Beers 4 Fears |
 |
| Speed of Light |
 |
| The Lungs |
With that, it was off to The Hi Hat to celebrate The Colour Coast's single release party. I got there in time to catch
Glacial Palms and their beautifully structured harmonies. Then it was on to
The Colour Coast. There was a heightened sense of energy radiating from the band. The packed house no doubt got them going. While shooting from the side, an individual came over and suggested I take video of what was going to happen next. Obviously, he had a sixth sense about what was going on. I ended up taking a quick video of the crowd singing and clapping to the tunes of the band.
 |
| Glacial Palms |
 |
| The Colour Coast |
Sunday just kept the music weekend rolling. Of course, I first had to watch a very stressful Duke basketball game. Mercy, Duke nearly got taken down, but they survived and advanced in March Madness. Hopefully, they are able to play better basketball this coming weekend. As soon as the game ended, I rushed over to The Hi Hat to catch Michelle Young's birthday bash. I was able to catch the last two acts.
James Byous, who mentioned that he's known Michelle Young since high school, gave a set filled with sweat and emotion. Then
Michelle Young closed out the afternoon. Of course, it being her birthday, there were some candles to blow out. A doughnut from Donut Friend did the trick for a cake substitution. Her singer-songwriting sets are always filled with enthusiasm. And there were some special guests. One special guest was Heather Cole. I've seen her name splashed around various music bills, but I've never gotten to see her. I'll need to make an effort to catch one of her sets. Moment of her set has to be when her feet were in so much pain she just had to take off her high heels and finish out the set barefoot. She didn't want to do it, but sometimes you just got to do it.
 |
| Michelle Young |
 |
| James Byous |
No comments:
Post a Comment