Hotel Cafe: Monday Monday at Hotel Cafe

Hotel Cafe had a packed line-up for the Monday Monday at Hotel Cafe series. The musicians played three or four song sets. The line-up was: Jenni Alpert, Daniel Blake, McKail Seely, Adanna Duru, Aryk Crowder, Jessica Childress, Eli Pafumi, Juliette Irons and Joel Eckels.

Jenni Alpert

Daniel Blake

Jennie Alpert told her story about growing up in foster care and her search for her biological father. She did find him and he backed her up on guitar for a song. I would love to hear more about her search for her father, because she also mentioned that he was homeless. 

Adanna Duru

McKail Seely

McKail Seely is a familiar individual to me as she sings in the band Luci. Her bandmate Ashley joined her for one song. And, of course, there had to be some funny interaction. McKail said, "Ashley is such a good writer." Ashley responded, "She's so nice." In return, McKail said, "I know."

Jessica Childress

Aryk Crowder

Aryk Crowder mentioned that he had just signed with a indie record label.

Jessica Childress sang a song about a nasty breakup and had the audience cheering loudly at the end of her set.

Juliette Irons

Eli Pafumi

Juliette Irons totally changed up the singer-songwriter vibe. She went on stage with a drummer and an electric violinist. She brought some dance vibes to the audience. Most everyone was seated, but I'm sure that if it was standing room that everyone would have vibed with her. 

Joel Eckels

Joel Eckels closed out the night. He's the one who puts on these weekly events at Hotel Cafe.

Hotel Cafe: Mars Rodriguez with Me an Di

I get invited to catch sets by various musicians and bands that are new to me. I do my best to go when invited or ask that I get kept in the loop for any future sets. This is how I came across Mars Rodriguez. I’m not going to lie, what initially got me intrigued was the name: Mars. Then the fact that the set was at Hotel Cafe, which is one of the venues I like to hit up on occasion. What sold me 100% was that I decided to look up her music on YouTube. The first song I came across was “No Estas.” I was hooked with the rock beats and screaming vocals. As a solo live performer, Mars Rodriguez will hit you like a stick of dynamite, in a good way. One can tell she’s having a great time on stage and so did the audience, which demanded an encore. She obliged with a cover of Kinky’s “A Donde Van Los Muertos.”

Mars Rodriguez

Since I got to Hotel Cafe early, I got to catch Me an Di. There were some compelling duets there.

Me an Di

Hotel Cafe: Ladypalooza

I noticed a last minute request from Lauren Lakis, asking if there were any photographers available for a late night gig of hers. I hadn't gotten a chance to catch her yet in 2019 yet and there is just something addicting about those dark moody sounds. With that, I volunteered to shoot the set. I'm glad I did, because I got to catch a couple other amazing musicians.

Up first, was Ariana Tibi. I wrote a blog post recently where I mentioned that I've wanted to catch Georgi Kay for awhile and was finally able to catch a set at The Hi Hat. Well, for Ariana Tibi, we seem to have similar music tastes, because I've seen her around various Los Angeles music venues. I just never knew she was a musician. Her set was filled with wonderful folk sounds.

She also had her band, Luci, join her for a couple songs. That's led to a little tidbit of a story behind their song, "White Horse." The song is about saying no thanks to knights in shining armor. It was mentioned that when they were writing the song in Ariana's apartment, a plumber was working in the apartment, fixing various issues. Of course, needing help on maintenance isn't the point of the song.

Ariana Tibi

Only on Tuesdays lead singer Autumn is the person running Ladypalooza. Autumn was sporting dyed blue hair and arm tattoos while wearing a flower patterned dress. I honestly wasn't sure what to expect from her set. Punk rock? Maybe an edgier version of Katy Perry? I was surprised by some storybook melody tunes. That doesn't mean that the band can't blast it out on some songs with Autumn powering out solid vocals.

Only on Tuesdays

Lauren Lakis closed out the night for me with an 11:30 p.m. set. Her band had some fun with the MC. When introducing Lauren, the MC totally messed up the pronunciation of Lauren's last name. For a moment, I was wondering if perhaps I was saying her last name wrong. Apparently, Lauren had quietly corrected the MC, because after the set the MC came up on stage and gave the correct pronunciation. Of course, she tossed the band members under the bus for playing a trick on her.

Lauren Lakis

Quick Hit Band Interview: Velvet Starlings

Velvet Starlings at Hotel Cafe (Rove LA/Baltisoul event)

Interview with the band (with Christian). Enjoy:

What is currently having an influence/impact on you? My “Generation” and authenticity of what the message should be. It would be cool if everyone opened their eyes to be honest with themselves and to be cool with not following the social media herds. Really, it is as if we are living in a time where "following" is the coolest thing. We might even "like" things just because someone might not like us if we don’t. I feel the next Lennon, Dylan, Joni Mitchell or Cobain might come around if we start going against the grain a little bit. Everything seems a bit manufactured and contrived, and it isn’t just music, it’s everything right now. We need some authenticity. Per Lennon, "Give me some truth.”

What’s your favorite Velvet Starlings' song and what makes it the favorite? Off our current EP: “Sold Down The River”

“Sold Down The River” is our most controversial song, at least lyrically, as it’s chorus message is kind of on the nose. It’s got a Lennon solo era vibe. It was our idea of an anthem for anyone who feels like our generation has been ‘sold’ out or sold an idea of something that isn’t real, whether it is of a political or religious nature, or the establishment's idea of what you should be taking to heal your body, mind and soul; or silly out dated ideas, such as what is right or wrong when it comes to relationships.

It feels sometimes like you’ve been waiting or hoping for something to change, but it never does. Too many false promises, lies, betrayal and deceit from a corporate America and government that have no conscience. What is left for our generation and those that come after us? We can no longer accept what is being "sold" to us. “We’ve been searching for a diamond in a coal mine and we’ve been praying for a single ray of sunshine.” It’s all in the lyrics. Anything we’d been thinking about along those lines made it in.

In fact, there were twice as many lyrics as the verses needed. Definitely some socio-political commentary along with some attempts to be Dylan-esque with a heavy splash of Lennon “We’ve been sold for pennies on the dollar when they promised us a new tomorrow. We’ve been Sold Down The River, been sold to the highest bidder. It’s hate and gold that make the sinners don’t take all from the givers. We won’t be Sold”.

If you’re talking musically at the time, we’d been messing around with a few song ideas, as we are always continually writing. A lot of our writing includes the Vox continental, in this case, the organ riff with the main verses and choruses of the song finished. Then the rock n roll bridge sort of happened which was needed to get the point across, as halfway through, it goes to an unexpected groove completely off the map of the typical pop rock arrangement.

Own final thought:

4 favorite songs with color blue in their titles -

“Love is Blue” - Paul Mauriat, 60s / harpsichord & general European Bacharach vibe . . . Beautiful instrumental.

“Blue Orchid” - Jack White, it’s just an awesome song with rocking riff.

“Behind Blue Eyes” - The Who, one of my favorite or rock ballads of The Who or anyone for that matter.

“Blue Monday” - New Order classic, Peter Hook bass line.

Quick Hit Artist Interview: MAWD

MAWD at Hotel Cafe (Rove LA/Baltisoul event)

Interview with the artist. Enjoy:

How would you describe your music? It's all over the board. One day I want to rock and the next I want to play a pretty folk song with some sweet harmonies. I'd say it's a mix of indie rock, folk rock, folk, with a splash of good ol' rock n' roll.

You mentioned you grew up in Placerville. Any interesting culture shock stories related to your move to Los Angeles? I've grown up going to San Francisco a lot and lived in a few other bigger cities, so there wasn't too much of a culture shock. However, I think the biggest shock of them all is the traffic! The small town I grew up in people would ask you how many miles it would take to get somewhere because generally 5 miles meant it takes 5 minutes. In LA, you have to say about how many minutes (or hours) it takes to get somewhere because miles mean nothing! 5 miles could mean up to an hour!

Own final thoughts: I guess one of the more unique things about me is my pet chinchilla Caper. She's always the star of the party. I've had her about 5 years and she is one of the loves of my life!

Quick Hit Band Interview: New Dialogue

New Dialogue at Hotel Cafe (Rove LA/Baltisoul event)

Interview with the band (with Ela). Enjoy:

What's the story behind how your band started? Our band started in LA when Taylor and I met at a summer job a few years back. We started writing songs and playing in the city and eventually met the rest of our band through school and craigslist! We’re all from different walks of life, which is what makes our dynamic really fun and different, but we all share the same passions and goals to be an alternative band that makes a difference and creates a new voice for our generation.

Outside of music, what are some of the other interests of the band members? Outside of music we all like to do a variety of things:

Taylor loves to go to the beach and play volleyball, watch movies and write poetry.

Ela loves rollerblading, spending time with friends, and traveling

Michael is a multi-instrumentalist and likes to practice his skills every day. He is also a movie buff

Jason is also recording engineer so he spends a lot of time in sessions with other bands but also loves cooking at home and Rick & Morty!

Jeff is a big arts person. He enjoys drawing and loves his eclectic record collection and you can usually find him at home spinning something old school and drawing.

Own final thoughts: Something unique about us is we are very much like a family and love to hang out, watch movies, play games, make dinner and talk about taking over the world.

Hotel Cafe: A ROVE/Baltisoul fundraiser night for homeless youth

I got asked by ROVE if I would be interested in covering their fundraiser night at Hotel Cafe. I was happy to do so. They were raising money for homeless youth. I was also asked if I was interested in doing a ticket giveaway via Instagram. This was the first time I'd done something like that. It was cool to do.

Michelle Young & The Collection

What was also cool about the night was that this was the first time I'd seen most of the bands/musicians. The only band I'd seen previously was Michelle Young & The Collection, Michelle being the one who put on the night via ROVE. Though I've seen Emma Cole, this was my first time seeing her in GMNII. A funny moment came up when the MC said something like, "They remind me of the Olsen twins." Actually, I could see how Gigi could pass as a sister of the Olsen twins. And then I've noticed MAWD on various music lineups, but this was the first time I got to see her. That was cool to finally catch someone after just noticing them on lineups.

MAWD

Mads Paige

The big surprise of the night was Velvet Starlings. You could tell they toned it down for Hotel Cafe. In fact, they didn't tone it down enough as they were asked to turn things down. From watching their set, one couldn't help but feel that at another venue (with speakers and a stage that isn't designed for singer-songwriters), lead singer Christian would be putting on one energetic show. 

Velvet Starlings

Mads Paige and New Dialogue also played the night. Mads Paige did some solid singer. Mads' father was front row for the set. New Dialogue mentioned that their songs were toned down for Hotel Cafe. "We didn't realize that tonight would be rocking."

GMNII

New Dialogue

As the night was close to Christmas, each band/musician did a Christmas song.

Quick Hit Artist Interview: Flavia

Flavia at Hotel Cafe

Q&A time with the artist. Hope you enjoy:

How would you describe your sound? My sound explores dark pop and futuristic R&B in an electronic fusion.

How do you go about combining lyrics with sound? A melody provokes an emotion which inspires the lyrics.