These are my friends Mike Ill and Rivka, aka Mad Happy. You might recall having previously read about them on this page. Mike and Rivka are originally from New Jersey and New York, respectively, but now reside in Pensacola, Florida when they aren't on the road, which is most of the year. Stylistically, they are similar to folks like Gold Chains and Sue Cie and, when they play L.A., they are usually booked with aritists along the lines of Books on Tape, Totally Radd!!! and other people who play The Smell and Il Corral often. This time, my pink and green haired friends were booked at On the Rox, the first on a bill of three bands preceding a burlesque performance.

I have been to On the Rox, which is right above The Roxy, only once before, when a friend of mine got Carlos and I into a secret Fischerspooner show and after party. However, I have (kind of unfortunately) been down to Sunset Strip more times than I can count and could have told anyone with utmost certainity that this would not be your regular Mad Happy crowd. Here were two DIY art-space types dressed in colorful, hippy-punk clothes smack in the middle of the land of Juicy tank tops and Seven jeans. What if nobody got it?

Mad Happy played at 9:30 and, as one might expect for 9:30 on a Saturday night in Hollywood, the crowd was light. They played to an audience of roughly twenty people, mostly guys and mostly bros. Funny thing is, though, that people loved the set. The applause after each song was more than polite, it was actually enthusiastic.

The night before, Mad Happy appeared on KXLU's Demolisten, where they performed a few new songs. At On the Rox, the set consisted primarily of new material. Mike handed me a burned copy of a demo before I left and, thanks to the mess of traffic at the Hollywood Bowl, I was able to listen to it in its entirety on the way home. I don't even know the names of most of the songs, since the CD was unlabeled, but I do know that it is some of their best work in terms of lyrics, beats and delivery. My favorite new track, which was performed last night, is up on the band's MySpace page. It is listed as "Oozing Phranken Prop..." This is a killer dance track with a beat reminiscent of Cybotron and cries of "A-a-a-a-acid."

Hopefully, Mad Happy will be back in Los Angeles in December.