The People's Dance Party: Fun at the Key Club in Bullet Point Fashion

The music, people and stupid moments that make up the nightlife

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Fun at the Key Club in Bullet Point Fashion

This is a recap of last night's action-packed show at the Key Club featuring DJ Jason Forrest, Every Move a Picture, Rock Kills Kid and Electric 6.

DJ Jason Forrest started out playing psyche rock, apparently because he thought there were still hippies in Los Angeles. There are, but they rarely leave Topanga and Laurel Canyons. I moved towards the front of the stage and glanced towards the guy next me. He looked familiar. For some reason, I could picture him in short-shorts and a midriff-top. Could it be? Nah. But, in a city of actors, isn't it likely that, at some point I might find myself next to the boyfriend of Edina Monsoon's estranged son, Serge, that she adopted at the end of the last episode because Serge wasn't gay enough? I wanted to ask, but really, how do you approach such a subject? If he wasn't, in fact, the actor who filled that role, wouldn't he be offended by someone thinking that she saw him in short-shorts and a midriff-top?
After his psyche-rock set, Jason Forrest moved into his own material, which is more like a sound collage than a mash-up. I realized later that he is Donna Summer (no, not that Donna Summer), the person who provided a 7" Tony Basil tweak-out that I used to play at Transmission ages ago. Forrest let his tracks play and danced around like a spastic rock fan. This is a picture of him in action.

And this is him after the conclusion of a flawless number that included bits of the GoGos and J. Geils Band.

Every Move a Picture hail from San Francisco. They are well-dressed, write tight songs and perform with great vigor and intensity. I look forward to hearing their album.
Rock Kills Kid have one of the best albums I have heard this year. (Although, it isn't out until April 25. Pre-order, friends. You won't regret it.) I'm actually working on an article about the band right now, so I can't say too much, lest I inadvertently plagiarize myself. However, there is a good reason why "Paralyzed" was number one of the Furious Five at Nine last night. It's a killer rock song, easy to memorize and will be stuck in your head for hours. I hope the band eventually releases "Midnight," which has a bit of a Daft Punk vibe to it, as a single because it will pack dancefloors across the US. RKK didn't play "I Need You," which is my current favorite for purposes of DJing. They did, however, provide a dead-on rendition of "Lips Like Sugar" (and this is from someone who has seen Echo and the Bunnymen perform that song).

Here are some pics of RKK in action:

I mentioned yesterday that I have been plagued by the ohrvurm (earworm) of him. Specially, "Wings of a Butterfly." While en route to the show last night, I managed to play "Paralyzed" enough times to remove the former ohrvurm from my mind. Then RKK left the stage and what do I hear over the PA? "Rip out of the wings of a butterfly..." Now, it's back with a vengeance.
When Carlos and I first saw Electric 6 at the Troubadour a few years ago, we were slightly disappointed because, even though the band does put on a great show, a lot of the sounds from Fire didn't translate well in a live setting. Fortunately, that was not the case with last night's performance. Electric 6 were on, well, fire. I ended up at the back of the club at this point because every beefy dude in the audience (and there were a lot) felt the need to squeeze up towards the front. Personally, I didn't feel like staring a the broad shoulders of some 6'5" former football player all night, so I leaned against the back wall. The band played a good chunk of both the old and new material and the crowd was receptive to both.
Apparently, the show at the Galaxy Theatre in Orange County on the previous night didn't go so well. Dick Valentine asked where all the people in the Key Club were the night before. His Orange County rant went something like this (it's a rough quote typed from memory): "I woke up at 6:30 a.m. and, you know that Toadies song from the 1990s, that was on the radio. It goes 'Do you want to die. Do you want to diiie. Do you want to diiiie.' In Orange County, the answer was yes. On the Sunset Strip, the answer is no." Valentine then remarked that anywhere is better than Detroit right now, to which the heckler next to me responded: 'Poseurs! Why are you dissing Detroit? That's where you suckled at your mama's teat! Sellouts!'
For the encore, the band came out and played a few bars of what sounded like "Master of Puppets." Then they dropped the instruments and walked off, leaving only Valentine and the keyboardist to perform "Jimmy Carter," the lead single off the last album. Why is it that, these days, it seems like only Electric 6 and Matt Stone and Trey Parker can make social commentary entertaining?
After "Jimmy Carter," the whole band emerged back onstage and Valentine announced the next song as being "from 1983." After a few notes, I thought, Oh, no they aren't! In fact, Electric 6 covered "Stand Back" by Stevie Nicks, the song that I hated until I became an adult and realized I loved it, with such sincerity and finesse that I had to call Balthazar Monsoon almost immediately to tell him all about it. I would have called Daniel too, but I thought that Daniel might get upset that someone did cover his Stevie.

posted by liz o. # 1:48 PM

Comments:

what is the bassline in "I Need You" it's from some old funk song, but i can't seem to place it.

# posted by DJ Volitans : 7:56 AM

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Fun at the Key Club in Bullet Point Fashion

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