In my mind, there is a difference between a concert and a show. We end up at shows. Maybe it is for a lack of anything better to do or because we were drafted to play sidekick for a friend. Maybe it is because we know someone in the band or we heard that the band may be the next big thing. With shows, there is not that sense of anticipation that exists with concerts. For a concert, we may wake up at dawn to sit on the phone trying to score third row seats. We spend days in preparation by listening to every song the band has recorded. We walk into the venue thinking that this event might change our lives, if only for a few hours.
Last night, Trashcan Sinatras held a concert at a spot best known for shows.
Balthazar Monsoon and I listened to the band's 1990 debut, Cake, for the duration of our trek to Miracle Mile, screaming out lines to "Only Tongue Can Tell" much to the chagrin of the Versace Dudes sitting in the Benz next to us as we endured Friday night traffic. Inside the El Rey, we had a gut feeling that most of the crowd had done something similar. No one in the audience seemed to be much younger than twenty-seven and there was (thankfully) a shortage of scenesters in the audience. This crowd, which was either sold-out or very near sold-out, consisted of fans of the most diehard variety-- those who actually do not care that they are wearing the shirt of the band that they came to see and those who view breaks between songs as an opportunity to shout out requests. (Best Request: "Every song you ever wrote!") Can bands even hear requests while onstage?
Perhaps the girl behind us was disappointed that her pleas for "I'm Immortal" remained unanswered, but Balthazar and I weren't. Sure, we would have loved to hear "I'm Immortal," from the second album I've Seen Everything, but the Trashcans managed to astound us regardless.
The set leaned more towards new material, including the title track from last year's album, Weightlifting, and my current favorite, "All the Dark Horses." They also introduced a new track (not from the album) entitled "Prisoners." They played approximately three songs from the sorely underrated sophomore release ("Hayfever," "Easy Read," and "Bloodrush") and the two biggies from Cake, "Obscurity Knocks" and "Only Tongue Can Tell." Fortunately, the Trashcans are powerful enough to be heard over the scores of voices surrounding us. Apparently, we weren't the only ones who were obsessed with Cake in ninth grade.
The biggest surprise of the night was during the six-song encore. The guy next to me started screaming, "Oh, my God! I cannot believe they're playing this." Balthazar giggled. The song sounded familiar, but was definitely not something I would associate with the Trashcans.
I looked at Balthazar.
"It's 'Macarthur Park," he said.
To watch Frank Reader furrow his brow as he hit the high notes of a disco diva ballad, to hear a slick track transformed into a three-guitar slice of indie pop was magical. There were no flamboyant performance tricks, nothing to make this a hyped event. It was just music for the sake of playing music, a group so obviously passionate about the songs that the audience had no choice to but to live this set. It was as intense as any arena concert I have ever attended, but in a setting so intimate that we could practically feel the sweat drip from the stage. I'm not sure that either Balthazar nor I will ever have the chance to see something like this again.

Before you go through your annual ritual of fishing through Morrissey's traschcan for bits of unhappy birthday cake, check out Revolution tonight for a special bash in honor of the celibate sex god. So cuff your jeans, tuck in your shirt and remember, you wear black on the outside because black is how you feel on the inside.
Revolution
4212 Sunset Blvd
Silverlake, CA
18+, 10:00 p.m. -2:00 a.m.
Free before 11 with flyer, $5 for 21+, $7 otherwise
DJs Larry, Ruth and Snow

I never thought that there were enough Mods in LA to warrant two parties on the same night. Guess I was wrong. Satisfaction is going on at the Derby tonight with Tony the Tyger, Rena la Reine and Chris Griffiths spinning garage, psyche, freatbeat, et cetera. Headless Hearsemen will be playing live. Meanwhile Lawless Street presents Soul Rebels at Zen Sushi with three rooms of Northern Soul, ska and reggae. Oceans 11 and Chris Murray Combo are playing live. Who ever said that you could only go to one club per night?

Satisfaction @ The Derby
4500 Los Feliz Blvd.
21+, price unknown

Soul Rebels @ Zen Sushi
2609 Hyperion Blvd.
Silverlake, CA
18+, $10
(Free shooters from 9-10)

Queen Courtney is the girl who would blare Brujeria on the lunch yard at our Catholic high school and there is no doubt in my head that she will make your Abercrombie-loving cousin sprout liberty spikes with her set tonight at Punk Rock Social. The Skulls, Firecracker 500, Blockage, Bobot Adrenaline and The Quirks are all playing live.
Punk Rock Social @ Anarchy Library
13250 Woodruff Ave.
Downey, CA
21+, $8

Like Funk? The Gumbo Brothers are playing tonight from 10:00 p.m. until 1:00 a.m.. Don't start moaning, "Oh, but the Valley is so far." You're going opposite traffic, it will take you twenty minutes. I swear.
The Gumbo Brothers @ Springbock Zulu Room
16150 Victory Blvd.
Van Nuys, CA

Sick of clubs? sKamper will be rockin' better than Dokken on Hollywood Blvd. tonight. Yes, on the street. Be in front of Skooby's Hot Dogs at 10, or you'll miss the action. Bring the kids.
sKamper on the street in front of Skooby's Hot Dogs
6654 Hollywood Blvd.
Hollywood, CA
Free, All Ages

Okay, so I was out all day working on a story and didn't get to look through all the events for tonight. For the record, I'll be at Trash Can Sinatras tonight. If you're there, look for Balthazar Monsoon and I acting all fangirl/boy in the front. Maybe you will be heading to Echo Park to see Adult. Perhaps you will be in Los Feliz for Cinema Strange. If you are looking for something a little more dance-oriented tonight, though, check out this party.
Collabs 101
Hangar 1018
1018 Santa Fe Blvd. Los Angeles

This party has two rooms with DJs spinning Detroit-style techno, acid, minimal, idm, experimental, etc. Eight Frozen Modules is on the bill and I think I told you a few days ago that this guy is awesome.

To be honest, I can only remember one song that Adult. played last night at M/R/X. I can't tell you who selected it because, every time I looked across the dancefloor, the DJ booth was packed.
"Just Like Arcadia" by Psychic TV. I can't tell you the details, such as the release date, since my copy of Allegory and the Self, the album on which this song appears, is missing the booklet (and still Amoeba felt the need to charge $10 for it. I suppose it would have been $20 or more otherwise). I have the feeling, though, that the booklet would have been of little use, since, from what I can recall, it's mostly poetry and drawings. This is the album featuring the Brian Jones tribute "Godstar" and, as you might expect, it's more psychedelic pop than psychedelic dance, as championed by Mr. P-Orridge in the late-1980s on albums like Jack the Tab. "Just Like Arcadia" is my favorite PTV track, with a swivel-hip beat and New Wave/New Age keyboards. P-Orridge's lyrical recitation is broken up with twee-pop choruses from Rose McDowall. Or, at least I presume that it is Rose McDowall since it sounds like her and I was told years ago, when I first heard the song, that it was her. I was going to factcheck this, but I can't find a decent discography for PTV or McDowall anywhere. While I'm on the subject, though, if you are going to check out PTV, check out McDowall's work as well. Amongst her credits are: the saddest/happiest pop song ever, "Since Yesterday," from her former band Strawberry Switchblade; a cover of "Don't Fear the Reaper" that is really hard to find; performing more covers with creepy dude Boyd Rice in the duo Spell; singing on many Current 93 albums and much more.

It's 3:00 p.m. in Los Angeles and, chances are, you are sitting at your cubicle pretending to work while you go through your emails and try to figure out what the hell you are doing tonight. Fear not, dear reader, your faithful editor-with-too-much-time has compiled a list of happenings occurring this evening. All event listings are taken from emails, bulletins, et cetera. If I missed something, feel free to post it in the comments section. If you want to email me a listing, send it to comradeliz@thepeoplesdanceparty.com. I'm going to try to do this daily.
Thursday May 12, 2005

M/R/X @ The Parlour
Adult. DJs, Walking in the Neon plays live. See previous post.

La Polla Loca
Our friends Rudy and Jeppe put on this weekly party at Little Pedro's in Downtown L.A. It's a good time and the space is nifty. Tonight is a release party for Fannypack's new album See You Next Tuesday. 8 Bit is playing live. Oh, and it's free! It's also 21+.
901 E. 1st Street Downtown Los Angeles (if you cross the bridge, you went to far)

The Seeds
This show is being filmed for a documentary on Sky Saxon and, according to the email, it's at a place called Bamboo Palace in Costa Mesa. There was no address listed and, since I've been to a whopping two shows in Orange County in my entire life, I'm completely useless in this area.

The Drag @ 2nd Street Jazz
I'll be honest, I'm not sure if I've ever seen Hello Fever. I kind of think that I did at one of those shows with 20 bands on the bill. Anyhow, I keep hearing good things about them, so this might be a good show. It's also 18+, for those of you lacking fake IDs.
366 E. 2nd Street
Little Tokyo
10:00p.m. -2:00 a.m.

Lava Lounge
I saw Paper Pills play in a backyard in Lennox, which was a really strange show because the band is on the Mogwai tip and they were opening for black metal maniacs Crom. If you're into something a bit more atmospheric tonight, go here. Ninja Academy are also on the bill. Paper Pills go on at 10:00 p.m. and Ninja Academy follows.
1533 N. La Brea Ave
Hollywood
21+, $5

Knitting Factory
Attention Adult Swim fans: MC Chris from Aqua Teen Hunger Force is playing tonight with DJ John. Also on the bill are Books On Tape (who rocked our Chucks off when he played Discourse in April) and Captain Ahab, who seems to get played on KXLU every time I'm in the car (not a bad thing at all). It starts at 9:00 p.m. and they're playing in the front room.
7021 Hollywood Blvd, Suite 29
$10 (no age limit known)

Way back when, Cinema Strange was my favorite local band. Looking through the Gigography on the website, I tried to count how many shows I actually saw between 1996 and 2000. Truth is, though, when you have attended somewhere over 1000 shows in your life, it's hard to recall such matters. I can, in fact, tell you that I went to see them open for Switchblade Symphony at the Roxy on the occasion of my 20th birthday (12/08/96). I know that Estelle and Reagan and I caught them on at least one excursion to the Showcase Theatre in Corona. I DJed at the Coven 13 party where they played in 1997 and did the interview that took place on KXLU in April of that year. I'm also convinced that there was a show at the Que Sera in late-1996 or early-1997 that isn't on the list because I have a distinct memory of sneaking into the club with Kar3n at one point. We had to wait outside for someone who was buddies with the bouncers to escort us into the club all VIP-like. Maybe Kar3n remembers, but I bet her memory is just as hazy (yes, like the moors of Scotland) as mine.
Regardless, I thought Cinema Strange broke up since, after 2000, I never saw any notice of them playing. This, however, is perhaps testament to the complete disregard the local press has for anyone in the local scene who isn't connected to Beck, Elliot Smith or someone of equal indie cred. A few weeks ago, I saw that Cinema Strange was playing with Anavan at the Knitting Factory and I had intended on attending the show, but got stuck doing homework. It's a damn shame, too, because I always thought that Cinema Strange put on an incredible show, as creepy and wonderful as that Czech version of Alice in Wonderland.
If you are intrigued by any of this, check out Cinema Strange at the Friday the 13th party at the Derby.

Friday the 13th @ The Derby
4500 Los Feliz Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA

Line Up:
Cinema Strange
STG
The Sixth Chamber
Kitty Diggins

DJs:
Wednesday
Frank H-Bomb
Erica D!

21+
9:00 - 2:00 a.m.
$10 cover with flyer before 9:30; $15 otherwise

When The People first went online, Balthazar Monsoon wrote about some band he knew from the I.E. called Winston and the Telescreen. Since then, I've been hooked. In fact, I even drove out to Ontario to see them play in Mr. Monsoon's backyard!
I am convinced that Winston and the Telescreen are not really California boys, but are, in fact, Scottish. They write sweet pop songs, seem really shy onstage and look damn good in scarves. Check out the new tunes and you may have to put it on your IPod in between Belle and Sebastian and Trash Can Sinatras. FYI, I like "Venus on the Rocks."
Note to L.A. Indie Promoters: Book these guys. They need to play in the city more often.

Tuesdays have always been dead in Los Angeles. Even now that there are a few parties happening on the loneliest night of the week, I generally stay housebound. Tuesdays are my night to catch up on homework and watch some t.v. Recently, though, I gave up on American Idol on account of the fact that the only two contestants I liked are gone and the whole thing just reeks of a church talent show. So, what do I do when I'm not swooning over the surly Dr. House? I listen to Internet radio. The problem with this, though, is that there are now three excellent Los Angeles-based shows that I can catch online. If only I could figure out how to switch from station to station without making my computer spazz.
The Irregular Show : A music/talk show airing live from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. PST on Tuesday nights, hosted by Legion and Shok. The music tends to be on the darker side of the pop, rock, electronic spectrum, but is offset by the general goofiness (duh, why else would the site be called Silly Goth) of the hosts. Guests range from local club promoters and DJs to artists like Juno Reactor. It's an interactive show, so feel free to hang out in the chat rooms and type alongside the hosts as you listen. The show is simulcast on several sites, but you'll have to navigate through the homepage to find the details.
ConSin: I met Claire and Humberto, the hosts of ConSin, while looking for a lighter outside of the Tuxedomoon show at the Knitting Factory a few months back. They invited me to hang out up at Kill Radio headquarters and it was a blast. (Use your Internet sleuth skills and you can find the archive of it online.) Every Tuesday from 10:00 p.m. until the witching hour, C&H play whatever the fuck they want: Felt; Adult.; Las Ultrasonicas. Previous guests on the show include Go Betty Go, Sky Saxon and the Seeds and Intergalactic Diva, just to name a few. If you miss the show, you can listen to the archives at Radio4All.
Headspace: My college chum Hoseh has been hosting this show on KXLU 88.9 F.M. for the past eleven years. He spins the sort of electronic music you just don't expect to hear in Los Angeles (i.e. no trance and nothing with the word "clash" attached to it). A few weeks ago, I caught Choncey and Eight Frozen Modules (or a side project thereof, I can't remember) and I actually started typing a term paper in a 4/4 rhythm. The show airs on from 10:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. on Tuesday nights, both online and on F.M. radio. As far as I know it's not archived.

The staff at Goldenvoice has succeeded again in creating one of the most comfortable and consistently exciting US festivals. This year's line up boasted a handful of big names, but overall a collection of buzzbands and cult favorites drew a crowd that stacked up among some of this festival's most crowded years. I was impressed to see that things ran more smoothly then ever, and how many of the performers were at the top of their game. This year's other impressive features were a temperature in the low 90s, shortest bathroom lines I have experienced and higher quality state fair food. All of these details are very important in creating the ultimate festival environment. Here is a run-down of all of the best moments of the festival that I was able to see, in the order I was able to see it.

Saturday

The Raveonettes

Very confident set, not as animated as I had hoped they'd be, but The Ravonettes performance was extremely energetic, and impressed an early afternoon crowd. I think in a dark club they would really excel, but I had a great time watching them work through a set of what I consider to be almost all of their best tracks in the midday sun.

M83

Rocking a lot harder live, the four-piece live band worked it's way through a very MBV-esque set. I wasn't around for the entire set, but thought I would rather see them live again then listen to the albums. I will say I have seen many bands do what they do better, but they weren't at the festival, and it was nice to sit and relax to while you're still able to have a conversation with your friends before the volume of all the stages gets amped past comfort.

The Kills

They blow away their records live! The Kills to me exist primarily as a live band, and the album is mostly a souvenir you keep to remind you how great they were. If you have heard the albums and weren't impressed, give them another chance live, the recordings are a shell of the energy and punch the give their music when they are working at full power on stage. Played mostly new stuff from No Wow, but there wasn't a single dull moment during the entire set. Every time I see them I like them more.

Keane

Listened to while chilling in the beer garden by the main stage. Great pretty-songs to drink to when you're hot and tired. This year they had han soju cocktails, and it was great to have a relaxing time with quality elevator music in the background. I think this band is good, but it would have had to at least had been Coldplay to get me to stand anywhere near the stage. A lot of people had wondered why I didn't make it over to see Razorlight at this time slot. "Golden Touch" hasn't exactly won me over yet, if it ever does I might go and check them out when I don't have to walk across a giant polo field when I would rather drink.

Due to human problems of having to eat dinner, go to the bathroom and purchase churros, UNKLE were sadly missed. As were Swayzak, Four Tet and MF Doom in the resulting post-food confusion.

Weezer

I, like very many of you was a gigantic Weezer fan in high school. Being one of the few bands I had ever joined the fan club for (Suede being the other), I felt I had to give them another chance after so many years have passed between seeing them in their prime with Teenage Fanclub, hell they were even pretty good in 1996 playing with Ash for Pinkerton. But the crimes committed against music on the "Green Album" tour made me swear off of them. It was great to see them again, they played the songs with great care, and the 3 new tracks they played were a small price to pay for above average set of hits.

Bauhaus

Very impressed by not only how good they sound, but how great their stage show was. Peter Murphy can really move! He entered suspended from his feet, hanging upside-down, as he slowly drifted over to his mic where he performed all of "Bella Lugosi's Dead" upside down. I only stayed for 4 songs before heading over to see Mercury Rev, but wished I could have seen it all. Nice to see them have big-time dollars to stage the live show they've always deserved.

Mercury Rev

One of the highlights of the whole festival! One of my favorite sets among all of the past festivals as well. Mostly new tracks, which were all great, performed with great precision and emotion that most bands cannot match. They closed with the epic "Dark Is Rising" from their last record All Is Dream which is one of the defining songs I've seen live. I could have watched them for two more hours, it was better than wonderful.

Coldplay

You've got to want to hear Coldplay songs to deal with them live, but deal I did. It was nice to hear them again, after a 3 year or so break I was ready for "Yellow" and some of the other Parachutes tracks again. They sound good, just not much to look at on stage. I'm not into the whole hyperboy thing when their music deserves something with a little more grace and dignity. But they are all qualified players and aside from butchering "Yellow" with shoutouts about being at Coachella, I had a good time watching the end of their set.

Sunday

Diplo

Above average DJ set, can't tell exactly what was going on up there, but there was a laptop. I kept telling myself it was only for the projections, but another part of me says all of the music was coming from it. There was a great version of "Bombs Over Baghdad" mixed with "Lovesong" by The Cure that was awesome. I wanted it to choose more of a direction, but it sorta wondered in and out of both, the best moments being with the organ riff under Andre 3000's rapping.

Autolux

I don't get their stuff, but I'm guessing it's not supposed to be for me. It's not really tuneful, and it's not edgy enough to be Sonic Youth, which again to me is pretty tuneful and I''m always down for them. The audience seemed to really enjoy Autolux, so you might be better off to take your que from them. I haven't been able to get into their record either. To me they just fall short of all the many marks they try to hit in my eyes. I didn't hang out long here.

M.I.A.
I liked this set a lot! I chose to start here and work over to the Fiery Furnaces due to a ten minute lag in set times. But this definitely was the winner between the two. Almost as good as Basement Jaxx last year. M.I.A. and another female MC had some of the best interplay I've seen in a long time, I haven't been into that many of the live hip hop sets I've seen, but this was awesome. I ended up staying a few songs into the F.F. set, but was glad I did. There was so much hype around this album that I thought there was no way it could be good, but her stuff is solid.

Fiery Furnaces

The first time I ever wished a live band had brought their samples on a laptop. I'm really back and forth about this set, but I will say they tightened up significantly towards the end. I like intense, and maybe they would have been a bit more sinister in the dark, but it was mid-afternoon and there was no atmosphere and they were light on intensity.

Tegan & Sara

I think these girls are great, they've got solid songs, and they perform them well. Never seen them before, but I was impressed at the vocals harmonies and how emotional the set was. One of the top 5 performances of Coachella 2005.

Gang Of Four

Played to an audience who didn't appreciate their stuff, and who already were queued up for NIN. But this aside the people who were into it, were really into it. I loved it as well, and I haven't listened to them in quite sometime. I would definitely go if they came back through LA.

New Order

I was only marginally into this, and so were New Order. They did mostly new tracks, and they were okay. New Order doing Joy Division stuff didn't sound great either. Taking a stab at "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and "Transmission" fell short of what I had expected. The best song they played was "Crystal," but "Regret" and "Bizarre Love Triangle" sounded good too. I had expected their set to be the highlight of the second day, and was a little bit let down.

NIN

I crowd surfed for the first time, and it was away from the very close spot I had worked up to for New Order. I listened to various moments of this set as I wondered around, and walked up to look at the monitors, but I just wasn't in the mood for Trent Reznor at all. They sound exactly like the records if not better, but I was just really turned off by his lyrics tonight.

Matmos

Surprisingly entertaining after a long day, they just muck about on stage until their sounds turn into music. They are more then Bjork's music bitches. Great visuals, but I don't understand why they have to burn their pal with a cigarette to show us the process of how a blister forms. I'm sure we have all seen that, and some of us would rather see their maps or the inner-ear footage again.

Pinback

Sound great, but I wasn't into it either, maybe a lyrical problem, maybe it was a tiredness problem. I've seen them before, and it was very good, but that was a few tours back, and I'm not familiar with the new tracks.

The Faint

The Faint are at the top of their game right now, and this set was wall to wall energy. They dance full-on the whole set, and didn't slow it down at all like they did on the Danse Macabre tour. One of the best dance bands playing today, one of the highlights from the 2nd day.

Black Star/Bright Eyes

Barely passable for both. So anti-climatic I had to get a churro as fast as I could to stay awake. Should have left after the Faint.

Prodigy

Why not have Prodigy at Coachella. It's as good as you'd think they'd be, on either side of the coin. But again, I should have left after the Faint.

Sometime in early-2000, XTRMNTR replaced Screamadelica as my favorite Primal Scream album. Still, I will concede that Screamadelica was probably the band's most influential album, a psychedelic rock and acid house collage (produced in part by Andrew Weatherall, who played the most intense DJ set I have ever witnessed) that set the pace for what listeners would hear on college radio for the next decade. Screamadelica has aged well over the near-fifteen year span of time that has elapsed since its release. Primal Scream Remixed is a testament to the album's staying power, with an eclectic range of artists tearing apart and piecing together the basic elements of Screamadelica. Remixes range from dub to acid, from drum'n'bass to electropop. Needless to say, unless you happen to be extremely open-minded, you may not dig all of the mixes herein, but there is a little something for everyone.

(The tip for this entry comes courtesy of Writer Sean. I didn't link to his blog on the off chance that he might object.)