Quarantine Online Sets: Version 9

Weekends start on Thursday afternoons, right? Maybe in this new virus world it does. Thursday thru Saturday was spent with Buzzbands. Thursday brought Hamis Handerson. He hooked in some 70s guitar rifts from Australia. YIP YOPS were up on Friday afternoon. Just like their live shows at venues from The Hi Hat to Echo Park Rising, they had the lights flashing bright. The drummer was slamming those sticks. The lead singer left everything out there. Saturday was spent catching a short 15-minute set by Starcrawler. It was lead singer Arrow's birthday the previous day. Two members of the band kicked it in what seemed like an industrial setting. Both wore masks with Arrow wearing red gloves. It was a laid back and yet in your face type of set. I'm not sure if that sentence makes much sense, but it seems like a good description.

Hamis Handerson

Yip Yops

Starcrawler

Saturday was a busy day in terms of watching online sets. Prior to Starcrawler, I caught Emily Kinney. First on Facebook, which resulted in technical issues. Her vocals kept cutting out. Her fans convinced her to switch over to Instagram so to Instagram we went. She said something like, "This feels like me telling everyone that we should just jump to the venue across the street." She handled the Facebook vocal problems with a very cool and calm outlook. Personally, I would have thrown up my hands and said, "Sorry, we'll have to meet up on another day." Over on Instagram, around the same number of people tuned in so everyone did jump from one venue to the other. A couple years have passed since I last caught a set from her. I realized that the next time she plays Hotel Cafe, I'm there.

Emily Kinney

Closing out Saturday was spent catching Mara Connor's record release party on Zebulon's Instagram page. She did a round with her favorite musicians. She would do a song and then pass it off to a friend. Sam Outlaw was up first playing from Nashville. Desure played from Los Angeles. There were a number of Internet glitches. Somehow he kept dropping off of Instagram. On one occasion, someone off camera whispered to Mara, "He's dropped off." Maybe there was an Android vs. Apple familiarity issue, because Mara shut down Instagram Live and came back on using a new phone. Cale Tyson joked about hanging with friends on the patio of Zebulon. He then let on that he was hanging out in Texas with his parents. (Honestly, what's up with Texas. I know a handful of people who have left California during this pandemic and are in Texas.) Ryan Pollie played his set from his car after he'd gone grocery shopping. He bought toilet paper, coconut milk, and wine. Ryan and Mara admitted that this was the first time both of them played Zebulon. It was so amusing watching cars driving pass during his song. Leeann Skoda played in front of a rather futuristic metal backdrop. Amusing moment was towards the end, Mara accidentally starting clapping while Leeann was still singing. The problem was that Instagram froze for a few moments so Mara figured the song was over. Will Fox closed out the guest with some pink/blue room lights.

Mara Connor

Mara Connor with guest Desure

Quarantine Online Sets: Version 5

Talker has been one of the busiest Los Angeles musicians since we went into self-isolation. She's done a number of online sets. Perhaps it is driven by the fact that her birthday was on April 8th (Wednesday) or maybe this is how she's dealing with self-isolation or maybe some other reason. Who knows, but I'm happy she's doing so. I caught a set of her's for the second time on Monday, April 6th. The Satellite must have caught on that Talker (Celeste) has been very busy as they gave her a shout out on their marquee: Support Talker Online.

Screen shot of Talker's Instagram Stories

Celeste

On Tuesday, I decided to catch Echosmith on Billboard's Facebook page. That band has been around for years, but this was my first time catching their pop tunes. One of the amusing things about catching online sets is seeing bands adjusting to this new world of online sets. In order to read the comments, lead singer Sydney left the microphone and went over to camera/video recorder. She'd start talking about the comments, but no one could hear what she was saying as the microphone couldn't pick up her voice. Someone off camera mentioned it to her and so she dragged the microphone over so that she could read the comments and folks online could hear what she was saying. Then, later in the set, someone off-screen handed her a tablet so that she could read the comments.They ended their set with the addictive "Cool Kids" song.

Echosmith

Wednesday was packed. Up first was Lake doing a 15 minute set on Facebook (via Jenn Grant, who from what I can tell is also a musician). The last time I caught this band was in 2012. They're a band from Washington state though I believe one of the members grew up in Los Angeles, if I recall correctly. I remember catching a set for the first time at The Smell way back when. It might have been 2011 or 2012, I don't recall exactly (I know the 2nd and last time I caught them was in 2012). I was just over-whelmed by how their music filled the DIY venue. I know that they played in the Los Angeles area a couple months back, but I wasn't feeling that well. If I had, I would have sent an e-mail offering my camera services. Though the video on Wednesday was of really poor quality, the music was just as great as I remembered.

Lake

Mara Connor was up next on Dash Radio. She played with a No Fun banner above her head, which is the title of her recent album release. Her folk-America tunes have captured my soul for years. She's an artist that I always try to see at least once a year for perhaps 4 years now.

Mara Connor

Then it was off to catch The Living Roomers doing a Buzzbands set. I read on Buzzbands that they're a pop-punk band. Listening to one of their songs online, I'd say that sounds about right. But for this online set, they took it down several steps via an acoustic set. Though I've never heard of The Living Roomers before, I'm eager to catch them live and see their more amped up  performance. What I loved about the set was the creativity behind the set. They played outside in what looked like a backyard. The band was spread out and in front of them were mirrors on the grass. Whomever was doing the filming of the set would occasionally film the reflections of the band members off the mirrors. It was really a cool concept.

The Living Roomers

Chinatown Summer Nights: August 2019

One of my favorite annual summer events, Chinatown Summer Nights, came to a conclusion for 2019 on a recent Saturday night in August. Interestingly, I interviewed 4 of the 5 artists that I saw on this particular night. It made for a special event.

Mara Connor opened up the day with her sweet Nashville sounds. She ranks right up there with anyone when it comes to sweet vocals. This was my first time catching her set this year. I mentioned earlier this year that I like to keep an annual tradition: catching Mara Connor, Pu$$y Cow and Jenny O at least once a year. With the year entering the 2nd half, I can now say I've seen Pu$$y Cow and Mara Connor. Let's hope Jenny O plays a show in Los Angeles by December 31st.

Mara Connor

Nicole Kiki Jaffe came up with her rock sounds that were enhanced by a cello. I was told randomly by someone that the cellist also plays with Meg Myers. As is her norm, she sang The Cranberries' Zombie. I love that song and love hearing her sing it.

Nicole Kiki Jaffe

Inspired and The Sleep was a new band for me. They have some chill pop sounds. Their sound causes one to float a couple inches above the ground. The band got the prime golden hour. Temperatures were drifting lower as the sun dipped below the horizon.

Inspired and The Sleep

Oddnesse is a band I just saw a couple weeks back in Highland Park. The band was the same, except for a different keyboardist. I did notice that. Her Bob Dylan style catches your attention and holds it.

Oddnesse

VIAA closed out the night. I hadn't seen her since 2016 at the Bootleg Theater. She got the crowd dancing to her catchy sounds. In fact, two kids couldn't have had more fun. They were putting the moves on that would challenge any of the adults in the audience.

VIAA