7 Aug 08 - T.A.T.E.!!!

Driving home from work one day in March listening to KROQ, I heard Sometime Around Midnight by The Airborne Toxic Event for the first time and knew I would be buying the album. There was an EP out on iTunes with four songs that I purchased soon after.

The Airborne Toxic Event is a local band and although I regularly peruse RadioFree Silverlake to stay on top of upcoming shows, I would repeatedly read about local performances the day after they had happened. I even missed Mikel Jollet's solo acoustic performance at the My Little Underground event in early July.

On August 5th, their full album was released, and the band performed at El Rey Theater two days later. We were there, and it was fantastic! The night opened with Radars to the Sky, followed by a performance from Berkeley-based The Morning Benders.

As soon as we walked in the door, I almost walked right into T.A.T.E. lead singer Mikel Jollet as he was heading upstairs to the VIP area to see his family (I overhead him talking about this to Kate from Radars to the Sky, who walked in just in front of us). Doors opened at 8:00 pm, and being the overly-punctual people that we are, we had an hour to kill before the first band took the stage. While sipping on drinks, we saw T.A.T.E. bassist Noah Harmon walk by a couple of times. We didn't know it was him until they went on stage much later. What caught our attention was his totally kick-ass white patent-leather boots, complete with straps and buckles. You may not care about any of this, but I told you anyway. If only I had a picture of those boots...my GIS has turned up nothing.

Radars to the Sky played for around 30 minutes. I liked them well enough, although they were the only performance that night that I found I really needed earplugs for because of the trumpet used in a couple of the songs. They are local and we will likely see them again in line-ups with other local bands. I caught a little too much Morrissey influence for my personal liking.

The Morning Benders were pretty good. The band members had been wondering around the crowd prior to taking the stage and they look like young, geeky Berkeley types, especially lead singer Chris Chu. They completely surprised me in the power of the vocals and I would see them again. Their album Talking Through Tin Cans is available on iTunes.

The headlining performance was great. It will be even better when they have more songs under their belt and can play longer shows, but very, very enjoyable. The Calder Quartet came out and played on the last two songs of the set. Oh, and there were tambourines - I think it was during the encore, but they opened up boxes of mini-tambourines and threw them out into the audience. We are seeing them again in early September at the Virgin Music Festival in Toronto (playing on the same day that The Foo Fighters are headlining - not sure I can even take it!), and possibly again at The Wiltern later that month when they open for another one of my current favorites, The Fratellis. Did I mention that I enjoyed the show? :-)

Besides buying the newly-released album and of course they MySpace page, another good way to hear some T.A.T.E. is to search on YouTube. They did a series of acoustic videos before their album was released that I listened to many times.

For a much better account of the evening, complete with pictures, here's a post from Classical Geek Theater (another one of my favorite browsing choices).

-LCN#5

2 Jun 08 - Sometimes noise is just noise

Several months ago I added another blog into my daily rotation of sites that I visit - Radio Free Silverlake, dedicated to independent music in the Los Angeles area. There is a wonderfully reliable rundown of upcoming shows all over the basin, and after reading for a little while, I became intrigued in a place called pehrspace, a very small place that is a appointment-only gallery by day, music venue by night that only sets you back $5.

I really wanted to check it out, and Mr. LCN#5's limited schedule at the time meant that Friday or Saturday night shows were out. So we settled on Monday, Jun 2. The line-up that night was Allusions to Jazz, Moment Trigger, Infinite Body, Norwhalz, and some stand-up comedy from Peter Moran.

We got there early because despite having lived in Southern California for almost 9 years, we still show up on time. Things were still being set up for the evening, so after paying our $5, we wandered back out into the parking lot for a little "refreshment." One of the highlights of this place is that it is entirely BYOB. I had a 4-pack of Redbull and a thermos of vodka in the car. It sounded good at the time, but NOTE TO SELF: Yuck! After refreshing ourselves, we wandered back in and found a spot to plop down and wait for the evening to begin. We were certainly old farts compared to the rest of the gathered group - maybe around 25 people by the time things started. Guys were walking around drinking from 40s of PBR and the girls were drinking straight out of bottles of Boone's Farm. Yes, believe it or not, this is still hip, over a decade later.

I could go on and explain how we confused the sound check part of the evening as a way to minimize noise and interference, but the best way for you to understand the experience is to click on the link for the first band that played - Moment Trigger. This is some video that I found on YouTube, and it really says it all. It is safe to say that this is not what we were expecting, and now we can say we have been introduced to this particular distillation of noise rock.

We left shortly after, and while I have not written off pehrspace at all, but I will certainly do a little more homework on the line-up before we show up.

-LCN#5

2 May 08 - Things you can do in The Hall of Mammals

I wanted to start a series of posts about the various music shows Mr. LCN#5 and I have been finding ourselves at in the Los Angeles area. It is only fitting to backtrack to a show we saw at a unique and quite enjoyable venue.

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County has a series called NHM First Fridays that surprisingly enough takes place on the first Friday of every month. The evenings include a little tour, some intellectual discussion (if you're into that kind of thing), food, drinks, and most importantly, live music performances.

The music performances in May took place in the African Mammal Hall. The museum houses three halls of dioramas dedicated to the exhibition of mammals in their natural environments, and as you have probably guessed, the African Mammal hall contains several dioramas showcasing African mammals. The dioramas date back to the 1930s, refurbished in 2006. They are interesting enough on their own, but there is something pretty cool about seeing a band perform there.

Performing that night were two bands - Akron/Family and The Dodos. The crowd was enjoyably eclectic and the music was nice and peppy.

Summary:

Would I see Akron/Family again? Were ok, but not likely
Would I see The Dodos again? Yep
Would I recommend the venue? Absolutely. Their 2008 First Fridays season ended in June, but looking forward to 2009.

-LCN#5

100% Real Dead Animal

Several weeks ago I found myself in a McDonald's drive-thru line craving the salty goodness of their chicken strips. As I ate them, I glanced over at the bag and was reassured about the qualify of my food: "Our burgers are made with 100% real beef." Hmmm. Good for them! But what about my chicken? What were the burgers made with before? 50% real beef? What kind of beef do the other chains use? I'm guessing the "100% real beef" statement was supposed to be positive but it just seemed to miss the mark with me.

-LCN#5

The Hiatus Snow Globe, Collector's Edition

It's been just over a month since the last time I posted - a hiatus of sorts. If only I could say that I've been lounging on a beach somewhere, sipping cocktails, increasing my risk of sun cancer and wearing the ridiculous clothing that vacationing people wear. The only reason I have come back was because I was bored to tears with the endless ocean waves and the utter relaxation of it all.

Rather than sitting back and taking it easy, I seem to have taken my entire life, stuffed it into a snow globe, sprinkled it with enough snowflakes to choke someone, and shaken the holy hell out of it. Or into it I suppose, depending on your perspective. Seems like an odd thing to do, especially since I'm not particularly fond of snow because it's always so cold.

There are some things I have come to understand during this time, and I'll share them with you because you may find them helpful should you ever contemplate doing something similar:

- A diet of Starbucks and one meal a day is not good for you. Especially if that meal comes from a fast food restaurant. This I know.

- Thinking too much will wreck your brain. Don't do it because as far as I can tell, you'll never recover.

- Physical exhaustion is one way to keep from thinking too much - not enough energy to go around.

- You're not the only one having a bad day. I taught myself this one the hard way. Doesn't matter what you're going through or how overwhelming it is - the other people in your life are going through crap, too. Assuming your own problems are much more important than the problems other people are having is a stupid thing to do. Been there, done that, and I can guarantee you that you won't like how this one feels when it comes back around.

- Being an adult is not all it's cracked up to be. Humans are the only mammals that get to contemplate their existence and the meaning of it all. Lucky us. In my next life, I want to be a houseplant.

-LCN#5

That Ominous Feeling of Deja Vu

Driving home today, I was in line to make one of the last turns to our house when I glanced at a van waiting at the light for a left turn. My brain is multitasking away, keeping track of the other cars, wondering what I'm going to eat for dinner, trying to forget the fact that I really have to pee, and noticing details about the van. Then, there it was. I had seen that van before - kind of average green in a very well-worn way with somewhat faded cursive lettering spelling out "Signs" on the side (I believe the word that would make that lettering intentionally hip is "distressed"). In fact, last time I saw that van, I was in the very same spot making the very same turn while it waited for a left turn signal at the light. I make the turn and see that several blocks ahead there are flashing lights on an emergency vehicle. Again, deja vu because on the day that I first noticed the van, there was an ambulance several blocks up that same street with lights flashing. Halfway up the street I think to myself how very odd it is that of all things the lettering on the van could render, it would be the word SIGNS. If spelling it out wasn't enough, how about some flashing lights to make me pay attention?

-LCN#5

Making more use of the page...

There will be some minor updates to the template - in much the same way that I am itching for something new with my hair, my little corner of the blogosphere is crying out for a couple of accessories.

-LCN#5

Why I Joined the Blogosphere

It wasn't boredom. I didn't set up this blog as a running newsletter for family and friends in order for them to stay up to date with us. It's arrogant and a little insulting to reduce communication to those you care most about to a one-size-fits-all bulletin, tempting as it may be.

It has come to my attention that I am not the spring chicken of a student I once was. Some people don't have a problem leaving the life of a student behind. I really thought I was a member of that group. No such luck. I spent 19 straight years being a student (kindergarten through high school, plus the six years it took me to get my undergraduate engineering degree). I made it three years out of school before I started taking community college classes in the evenings to fill the void. Then there was the brief period where I quit my job and went back to school full-time, convinced that I was going to make a complete career change. While it didn't all turn out as planned, I don't regret it for a second. I took classes I never had time to take my first time through college and it was a fantastic form of therapy to be able to enjoy them without really worrying about a GPA. Ironic that it wasn't until I was "doing it for fun" that I had a perfect 4.0.

I have since made it back to the corporate ladder, and while I enjoy the work I am paid to do, it is not a permanent answer to that ever-annoying question, "What do you do?"

I love to read. I always have. I have shelves full of books I have collected but haven't yet read because I have some irrational fear of running out of reading material. I stopped reading the magazines typically available at the grocery store check-out lines a long time ago. Give me an issue of the New Yorker, The Economist, or Harvard Business Review and I'll be set for hours. Mr. LCN would tell you that I consume information on the internet at a voracious rate. A quick visit to Wikipedia can turn into a half-day stream-of-consciousness adventure if I don't reign it in and peel my ass off the couch.

Over the course of all this reading that I do, there are little sparks where all of a sudden my brain realizes "Holy crap, that's written really well." I can tell you that it does not happen often. There is a craft to it that took me many years to inherently appreciate, which leads me to the reason Le Chat Noir #5 came into being.

Writing is not easy, but like most things, the more you do it the better it gets. During an internet reading frenzy that took place over an entire week many months ago, I read Dooce in its entirety. I've been hooked ever since, and my daily internet surfing routine is not complete without checking in. The archives of the site go back to 2001, and what exists between that time and now is a beautiful evolution of writing style and skill.

I have known that I want write a book since reading the entire set of Boxcar Mysteries in grade school. In high school, I used to race through my in-class work so that I could go to the typing lab and write silly stories. The Creative Writing class that began being offered my junior year was so amazingly fun I still can't believe that I got a grade for it.

Until the day comes that I decide I'm ready to seriously start down that path, I have this space to experiment, practice, and release. I cannot tell you how therapeutic it is to do this thing here that I am doing, and that alone is what draws me to it.

-LCN#5

Look, She Obviously Doesn't Have Any Product

Rave hair spray blew Aquanet right out of the water in the very late 80s/very early 90s. It was available in 4 levels of hold, although if you weren't hardcore enough to use the maximum hold then you just weren't cool. Every girl worth her salt in my high school possessed a curling iron that had a barrel covered in a layer of thick, baked on hairspray. It was Farrah-hair on steriods, and I knew of girls that spent two hours every morning making sure their hair was out to there and would stay out to there all day long. I stopped using Rave because of the odor, but my best friend and her sisters consumed it by the case thanks to the convenience of Price Club. There will always be a special place in my heart for Aquanet, only because my grandmother always had a pink can of Aquanet on her dresser. She always smelled like Aquanet when I hugged her. Now and again I catch of whiff of Aquanet and it's like a little hug from my grandma. Strange maybe, but that's just how my brain is wired.

It wasn't much fun, but the reincarnation of mousse (this time without glitter) lined grocery aisles for a number of years, sitting dutifully on store shelves right next to the hairspray. You could try and get away with just the mousse, but a couple of hours into the day you would realize that hairspray was also required to maintain the full effect. Even then, you still had to carry your hairspray around for touch-ups during the day. My favorite brand of mousse was Finesse, although I don't recall it having anything to do with how it made my hair look.

Conditioner that you rinsed out in the shower was acceptable for the average person, but leave-in conditioner was made for those dedicated to a life without split ends. Infusion seemed to have the market cornered judging from the stockpiles in every female dorm room during college. If you also took it with you to the fitness center, you were raising the bar for all of us.

The war on frizz started shortly thereafter. John Frieda convinced retail shoppers that frizz was a disease and he had a cure. I spent ridiculous amounts of money on the latest and greatest weapons against frizzy hair, however the more I studied my hair for frizz the more I found so it was a vicious cycle. As we won the battle on frizz we began losing the battle on style went to, so we began volumizing and sculpting before applying the ever-important hair smoother.

Then we learned it was really about the shine. There was no limit to how shiny your hair could be. Entire companies were founded on new ways to apply the children of the silcone family tree to every strand of hair on our sparkly heads. If your natural color was blah, it wasn't enough to color your hair. If you used a home color kit that did not deliver the multi-faceted look of Feria, you were doing it wrong. Had someone actually come up with a way to chemically alter hair into individual strands of perfect crystal, civilization would have come to a halt because we would have achieved our mission as mankind on earth.

Manic Panic and goo that would freeze your hair stiff enough to poke an eye out slipped into the portfolio not long after. The simple days of Rave and Aquanet were long gone, and it was no longer appropriate to have a haircare regimen of only one or two items. The new hotness required multiple items in order to appear presentable in public, and the collective mass of it was now referred to as PRODUCT. Sure the style was messy and "undone", but you couldn't just wake up with it that way. You had to tame it, beat it into submission, and then free it again before you had it just so. Friends would talk to each other sharing style tips and eventually one friend would turn to another and say "You should really think about putting some PRODUCT in your hair." Talking in terms of PRODUCT made it even easier to convince men that wash & wear was a thing of the past. And Vitalis or a dab Brilliantine Three Flowers wasn't going to cut it. The safe umbrella of PRODUCT allowed men to own and apply more goo and gunk to their hair than ever before, unleashing the young hipster male breeds known as goth and emo on an unsuspecting world.

From foam rollers to curling irons to soft-twist rollers to crimpers to velcro rollers to flatirons, face it: you would be no one without your PRODUCT.

-LCN#5

"What type of reusable bag do you have today?"

Since moving to southern California 7 years ago, my opinion of Whole Foods has undergone a 180-degree reversal. In one of my very early trips to our local Whole Foods store, I was just overwhelmed. It was a weekday afternoon and it appeared to be lesbian shopping day. Having just moved from a year and a half detour in ultra-conservative northern Utah, it was something I noticed right away. Browsing around the store I walked up to a display rack, not really seeing what it was for a few seconds as I looked at other things, and then suddenly my brain registered two words: colon cleansing. Before a helpful employee could ask me if I needed any help, I made a beeline for the exit and it was a long time before I ventured back.

I've since recovered, and since it is one of the few places to reliably find things like radicchio, mustard greens, raw beets and John Masters organic beauty products, it is a weekly destination point.

The employees at the store I go to are always happy and helpful. Not surprising since Whole Foods ranks number 16 in Fortune's top 100 companies to work for.

And now I have another reason to love Whole Foods. By April of this year, they will eliminate all plastic bags from it stores.

Very, very cool.

-LCN#5