Vacation Week: Time To Go Out Multiple Nights

I took a Friday to Friday vacation recently and decided to head out a number of nights to catch some live music. I was tempted to go out every night, but ended up deciding against that.

Friday

Friday was spent heading off to The Love Song Bar to catch a favorite for the first time in 2021: Gracie Gray. I knew it was going to be dark inside the venue so I pulled out my 85MM F/1.2 lens. It is a very slow lens when it comes to focusing, but luckily Gracie Gray is a singer-songwriter. Towards the end of her set, she sand "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." I am blown away every time I hear her sing that song. The audience was blown away, as well. Backing her up was Lexi of Mini Trees on bass -- her regular bassist was off playing in Pomona with Livingmore. 

Gracie Gray

Opening up was Mercutio. Since their Instagram reads: Bay Area Synth Guy, I'll assume they came down from San Francisco. Rather soothing music if I can say so.

Mercutio

Tuesday

Tuesday was spent at Little Joy and the music switched to punk - rock sounds. Moonfuzz just throws out the fuzz. And they're just exciting to watch with the constant face offs between the bassist and guitarist as they amp up the music.

Moonfuzz

Mr. Max brought the rock. Ladyhump brought the old-school punk. The Richard Ramirez Beatdown had those in the audience talking about the band name. 

Mr. Max

Ladyhump

The Richard Ramirez Beatdown

Wednesday

I went off to The Silverlake Lounge to catch my second dose of The Gooms' October Residency. One thing I've noticed is they've changed things in terms of their stage show. It used to be Chase Buttons (lead singer) who used to do the jumping on stage. They've now allocated that fun duty to Nicole Rae (guitarist).

The Gooms

To be honest, the main reason I went to this particular night (I had previous gone to see The Gooms' a couple weeks previously), was to catch Young Winona. This was my first time catching this New Zealand band live and in person. I previously caught their set online. 

Young Winona

Also playing was New Media with their 80s / 90s rock sounds.

New Media

Thursday

This night was spent driving off to Bar Lubitsch to catch what WFNM had on the docket. I was already familiar with three of the artists: Heyboy, Mia Nicolai, and Hayley Warner. I love Heyboy's enthusiasm on stage as well as the earnest nature of his music such as the song "Wasn't it Fun?" Mia Nicolai is in Los Angeles from The Netherlands. I hope she sticks around. I love her enthusiastic personality. It is infectious. Like Young Winona, my introduction to Hayley Warner was from watching an online set. She was definitely the primary attraction of the night for those who dropped by the venue. I can totally understand. Estef opened up the night for me with a soulful performance.

Heyboy

Mia Nicolai

Hayley Warner

Estef

Friday

I got an invite by French Mouth to head out to Permanent Records Roadhouse. Enjoyed the set, but am mad at my photography skills. There was a moment where the lead singer got up on a counter and I just knew he was going to jump off at some point. So I got my composition all set up, but . . . forgot to up my shutter. Shoot.

French Mouth

Urns & Argyles and Hurt Hawks opened it up. Hurt Hawks sound is aggressive punk. Urns & Argyles had a goth rock sound that fit in perfectly with the Halloween theme though the lead singer apologized for not dressing up in a costume.

Urns & Argyles

Hurt Hawks

Saturday

I decided to do a random run to Highland Park Bowl. The band name Friends Don't Die caught my attention. They were supposed to go on at 10 p.m. and so I targeted to get their at around 9:45 p.m. Luckily, I planned to get there early, because they must have gone on at 9:30 p.m. Shoot. I'm telling you, that vocalist has some pure sounds. Just loved it.

Friends Don't Die

Bar Lubitsch: Arisa, Ash Leone, Tessa Rae, Haiden and Heyboy

A recent Thursday night meant another reason to drive out to West Hollywood to catch a WFNM night of music. The night was highlighted by the debut performance of Heyboy. There doesn't appear to be much info about Heyboy out there on the Internet, but I have to believe that will change. The music is perfectly crafted pop. The perfect example being the song "Wasn't It Fun?," which Heyboy mentioned is a reflection about the end of a relationship, but remembering the beauty of the beginning. He had a large contingent if supporters in the audience with people standing on the couches that line the walls of the bar to get a full view of the very energetic performance. 

Heyboy

Opening up the night was Arisa. His music left explanation points throughout the set. And for one song, those in the crowd were so swayed by the music that they brought out their smart phones and turned on the flashlights. For his final two songs, he started off with a song inspired by his listening to Disney pop songs and then ending the set by just rocking it out. To close it out, he walked off the stage and turned to watch his band close out the set.

Arisa

 Ash Leone brought classic singer songwriter vocals that I think could fit perfectly across the decades of time -- be it the 1940s to the current. I swear I could see her singing backing vocals for Judy Garland. She had the comment of the night when she said, "A woman's intuition is always correct except if it is anxiety driven." And when she sang too many songs that were sad, she mentioned, "I guess I'm just a sad bitch."

Ash Leone

 Tessa Rae brought the dance beats to the night. While she brought the dance moves on stage, her band was just having the time of their lives. Smiles were being exchanged between the band along with some posing for the camera. The joy of playing live music after such a long pandemic was obvious. What did I notice: the color she used on her finger nails perfectly matched the color of her hair and cloths. Also, most of her friends were fully masked. 

Tessa Rae

Haiden was also doing his debut performance. He was a bit nervous, joking about how he had done some research about how to deal with a debut performance. He mentioned his height -- he is very tall; he is so tall, in fact, that the microphone stand couldn't extend high enough. And then laughed about his facial expressions while singing. Even though it was his first live set ever, he definitely had the swoon style down perfectly.  

Haiden