I should still be asleep, but someone, namely my mom (followed shortly by my grandma), woke me up to wish me happiness on the day of my birth. Once I wake up, I can't fall asleep again. It's impossible. Shit, I'm tired.

Last night marked my first trip to The Palladium since that time in maybe 1999 when the security guard tried to confiscate my Gucci keychain as being a "weapon" when it was so not. Let's just say some things never change. I left my cigarettes in the car, figuring that they take those too. I heard that the only reason they let the lighters and smokes in and opened up a smoking patio was because this was a Camel event. Don't know for sure, but that was the story floating around the club.

So, I stood in line for a half-hour, thus missing all but one song from Rat Tat Tat. While in line, I noticed that the girl four people in front of me was making wretched but hysterical faces while getting frisked.

"Robbin!" I called.

"Liz! Meet me inside at the bar, Happy Birthday!"

Robbin is a really old friend of mine. She and her sister were actually amongst the few people at my first DJ gig, which was held inside an Armenian-owned Mexican restaurant in Los Feliz (after the location changed thrice that night) back in December of 1996. She's still trying to get our 15 minutes of fame (via Channel 13's Strange Universe, back in early-1997) online for all to enjoy. We worked at Coven 13 together and followed The Autumns all over town. Even though we don't get to see each other very much anymore, we have ties that bind, dude.

Anyhow, I met up with Robbin and the rest of her crew inside. Said crew also included Julian, who along with his roommate/my good friend Tony, hosted this party (actually, my 22nd birthday) eight years ago where Carlos and I ended up locked outside (thanks to another friend of ours, who I think is probably a genius and did it on purpose) and realized that we should probably be dating each other. Robbin told everyone that it was my birthday (a few hours early), so Julian got me a drink and we kicked it for a while on the smoking patio. At this point, we ran into no fewer than five people that we knew from waybackwhen, most of whom might not have recognized us save for the fact that we look almost exactly the same as we did at 19. (The difference: We both grew out our Louise Brooks bobs.)

After shooting the shit for long enough, we heard the beginnings of a Ladytron set and ran inside. Despite being an early champion of the band and having met them on a few occasions, I never actually saw Ladytron play live until last night. (One of those things where the gig is always on a night when I have to work.) I'm actually glad that I didn't see the band until now, though. My friends who saw the earliest gigs left disappointed, something that was probably result of the band being primarily a studio project at first. Last night, though, I was impressed. The band doesn't have much in the way of a show. In other words, they basically stand on stage and play. However, they do this well and managed to transform even the 604-era songs into monsterous Krautrock numbers. The Palladium's still-crappy sound lent itself to a muddy mix, but we still danced through the whole thing. Oh, and Todd Fink was watching Ladytron right next to us.

The Faint went on at almost 11 p.m., which was when I thought I would be heading down to Red Dragon for The Rockit party. In the interim between bands, we stood out on the patio, again, and talked a bunch of folks into coming down to The Rockit party. Then Robbin introduced me to her favorite local bands. Robbin is like me, when she digs a band she will tell everyone about it. In fact, we like to think we're responsible for getting every freakin' goth kid in Los Angeles obsessed with The Autumns waybackwhen. Last night, she introduced me to Lyra and Vendetta Valentine. Check them out. Oh, and speaking of The Autumns, we also decided out on the patio that everyone is going to see the band at Violaine on December 16.

When I first saw The Faint play at the Troubadour many years ago, I thought they were one of the best live bands I had seen. This remains true. Probably the best moment to sum up the night is when the band played "Paranoia Attack," which I believe was the second song. The whole club was jumping up and down and screaming "Paranoia" so loudly that went on for bars and bars longer than the album version.

After The Faint finally closed with "Agenda Suicide," I told Robbin that I would give her a ride to the party, so we ran three or four blocks to my car and drove another four blocks to Sunset and Highland, where we just happened to find street parking across from the club. Of course, right as we walked up, we saw The Pacific unloading their gear and heard Pop Noir play what sounded like the first song. Inside, I finally got to meet up with Carlos and the usual suspects. Then I looked around for a few people that I later heard left before we arrived. Finally, we met up with the rest of crew from The Faint show, including Ivan. We then proceeded to close out the joint. Good times, yeah.

The Rockit is presenting its first show tomorrow night. See the flyer below.



I will be there after checking out The Faint and Ladytron at the Palladium. At midnight, I will be mourning my youth, unless what my friends say is true and 30 is truly the new 21.

Estelle and I met up at Il Corral last night in our work clothes. She came straight from the office. I was so busy running around after I got home that I didn't even bother to change. Maybe at any other place this would be a non-issue, but Il Corral is total fashion without being all fashiony: girls in pouf skirts; boys in legwarmers; everyone in near-blinding color combinations. We particularly dug a way-'80s Esprit sweatshirt, the likes of which we have been seeking for years. Here's a picture of the dancefloor (note that this was taken early in the evening and by the time we left, it was almost impossible to move).

Estelle had never seen Mad Happy before and she was impressed from the beginning of the set. The vocals were mixed way too low and, as Rivka noted during the set, it put her in a bad mood. But, Rivka and Mike Ill danced around a lot and the mix did place the focus on their intriguing beats. Oh and did I mention dancing? Estelle loved Mike and Rivka's moves. For those of you who haven't seen Mad Happy before, you can check out this little snip of a clip on YouTube.
Meanwhile, here's Rivka working the merch booth. I loved her pink tights and red camo pants.

Earlier in the evening, we realized that our friend Bret, who plays bass for Anavan, was on the bill with his side project, Rib Bib. That said, we stuck around for two bands that I don't think either of us remembers while waiting to see what kind of madness Bret would unleash.
We ran into tons of cool folks in between the bands, but the highlight of our night was hanging out with Rib Bib's fox with a microphone, Eunice. We asked Eunice what inspired her very Jackie O. outfit and she replied, "Forever 21."
Rib Bib sounds a lot like we would expect a Bret-band to sound. Those of you who have heard Anavan or read his MP3 blog probably have an idea of what we mean. The band relies on two bassists, with Bret playing the lead like he's Peter Hook. A guy named Mike plays electronic drums and occasionally bursts into solo. Although Eunice, Bret and Scarlett all provide vocals, Eunice does the bulk of the singing to various Flying Lizard comparisons, I'm sure. There was one song where she cried "caw, caw," or at least it sounded like that is what she was singing. That's the number that got me rockin'. By the end of the set, Eunice was edging into the crowd and dancing with yours truly.
Here's our new buddy:

And this is the whole band in action.

My friend in Michigan just told me this anecdote. His girlfriend works at Toys R Us and a seasonal new hire asked her and another coworker if they liked My Chemical Romance. The other coworker replied with "I'm not a cutter."

My article on Laurent Garnier is up now on PopMatters.

I'll tell you all about Il Corral tonight.

Love,

Liz

Mad Happy is playing tonight at Il Corral. Remember how I told you that the band handed me the demos for the new album when I saw them at On the Rox a few months back? You don't, eh? Well, this new shit's on fire. Seriously, "Oozing Phranken Prop..." (long title) gets me going when I'm stuck in traffic. Go see them tonight. Mad Happy goes on at 9:30 p.m.

It was 45-degrees in a Lennox backyard, nicknamed The Hole, Saturday night. I wore Carlos' windbreaker over a tattered, corpse-purple gown that fit with the Masquerade theme that no one else seemed to follow. It was so cold, that I found it hard to speak, like my mouth was frozen or I was so consumed with trying to warm my hands or the feet that were still frigid even though they were covered by silver leather boots that I just couldn't think of anything to say outside of, "Damn, this is cold."
Please Don't Throw Rocks at Us opened the night. As I have said here before, with few exceptions, my interest in punk ends at about 1985. PDTRAU, however, plays the kind of punk I like: spastic, make-you-wanna-hop tunes that are more X-ray Spex than third-wave bullshit. Rachel, the singer, sounds like she actually can sing, but is trying to play down the talent. That said, she hits a lot of notes that seem way to low for her range and sound kind of flat, but then she makes up for it a few bars later. Mostly, I dig the lyrics. They played a song about periods where Rachel screamed "I can't wait 'til menopause!" The band's best number, which I don't know by name, features the line "I ran away from home when I was only 19" and the soccer chant, "Culero." Carlos and I are now fans and encourage you to check out the band live. Listen to some songs on MySpace.
Despite the fact that my friends have been going on about Ninja Academy for the past year or so, this was my first time seeing the band. Needless to say, I was impressed. The group consists of a bassist and drummer, who play instrumentals that are surprisingly heavy-hitting considering that it is a duo. In addition, there is a girl who wears a kimono and slaps the gong and a guy who bows down before the duo before reaching into his guitar case, selecting a weapon and unleashing a ninja frenzy. Unfortunately, Donkey Punch is leaving the band, so try to catch a gig between now and January. Check out Ninja Academy on MySpace.