November 2009 Archives

A new special called Christmas with the King Family debuted on public television this past weekend - specifically airing on KOCE TV. It will be aired again at least three more times this week on the same station - once on Tuesday and twice Wednesday.

The special - produced, directed and written by Shane Rosamonda and Rene Reyes - is about the TV entertainment group called The King Family, which started with singing sisters Alyce, Donna, Louise and Yvonne King and guitarist Alvino Rey and expanded to a large brood of singers and dancers of varying ages. The family had a television variety series in the 1960's and their material was as wholesome as it got. If you are old enough, you know who the King Family is.

The extended family has included not only the original sisters and eventually their husbands and kids, but also Robert Clarke (a 'B' movie actor and director, primarily in the 1950's and 60's and married to Alyce), Cam Clarke (now a voice over artist), Lex de Azevedo (now a film composer) and Ric de Azevedo, who sings with The Letterman spinoff group called Reunion, among many others.

The special includes previous Christmas special material as well as interviews with several members of the family - Ric de Azevedo and Cam Clarke being two - as well as other archival footage of others, including the King Sisters, Rey and Tina Cole, among others.

Look for it in your listings of public television stations. KOCE will re-broadcast the special on December 1st from 1:30am to 3:00am, as well as on December 2nd at 9am and 7pm.

As you might have seen or heard, the southern rock band The Black Crowes are playing at Club Nokia downtown on Saturday night at 8pm. What you may not know is who is playing before them.

Truth & Salvage Co. has been opening for the Crowes for the majority of their tour, which has stretched out throughout the summer and Fall. T&S Co. has been playing clubs - in various incarnations - in Los Angeles for years now and has finally gotten their big break - signing with the label of Chris Robinson, lead singer of the Crowes and opening for his band.

Like the Crowes, Truth and Salvage play a style of music generally called 'Americana,' which in essence is a blend of bluegrass, rock, southern rock and a touch of country. They also look the part, with most of the guys wearing beards and jeans and sometimes Southern-style hats.

The band consists of six players, four of whom are singer-songwriters who write and/or sing lead on specific songs. The six include Scott Kinnebrew (guitar and vocals), Tim Jones (guitar and vocals), William 'Smitty' Smith (drums and vocals), Walker Young (keyboards and vocals), Adam Grace (keyboards) and Joe Edel (bass) and they got their starts as parts of larger groups in Los Angeles, even though most of them are from other parts of the country. (Three are from North Carolina, one Mississippi and one is from Indianapolis/Kentucky). On any given song, you can hear Kinnebrew, Jones, Young or Smitty (from behind the drums) singing lead for the entire song and several of the other three singing harmonies, many times in three parts to accompany the lead singer.

Much of their dues-paying time came with playing at The Hotel Cafe and Crane's (both in Hollywood), among other places, as the larger group or as solo acts. Jones led a mega-sized group called "The Denim Family Band" that had several of the current members of T&S Co. including Young, Grace, Kinnebrew and Smitty, as well as another singer-songwriter, George Stanford, who played bass in the group, but split off and made his own solo album.

After each of the members played and met each other at The Hotel Cafe, they thought it would a good mix if all of them joined forces and they formed another group. Their manager, who also manages The Black Crowes, introduced the two bands when he realized it might be a good fit.

Prior to going on tour, Truth and Salvage played to large crowds in and around Hollywood as well as in Iraq for the troops there. While on the Crowes tour, they have crisscrossed the country playing again to big crowds in large clubs and theaters, all of whom have taken a liking to the relatively unknown group.

According to Jones, the Crowes fans like them.

We've been getting a great response from them (the Crowes fans). One fan said 'I had never heard of you until I saw you and you're great.'"

During the trip, they also played with Levon Helm of The Band - a group to whom T&S Co. is frequently compared - as well as at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey. After the Stone Pony show, the band came face to face with some guy named Bruce Springsteen, who watched the show.

Meeting eyes with Springsteen was one of the highlights of the tour, according to Jones, one of more animated members of the band. As was, at least for him, playing at the Grand Ole' Opry, in front of his Dad and grandfather, who gave him his first guitar as a young boy. After they played, Jones asked his elderly grandfather how the show was and one of his answers was 'It was loud.'

Jones said about the Grand Ole Opry show "I was really proud of the band on that night."

Playing in those venues and with the Black Crowes and Helm has been a experience of a lifetime, according to Jones.

"To listen to a band and go see a band that I like, every night, is more than a dream come true," said Jones.

After they play at Noka, the bands continue on their tour, playing in Las Vegas, Reno and then at the Fillmore in San Francisco for five nights - as well as a couple of nights on their own in the same city.

The whole tour end for them in early-December and then they'll do another short tour after Christmas, playing in San Diego at the Belly-Up on January 14th, The Troubadour in Hollywood on the 15th and perhaps in San Luis Obispo after. After that, they'll finish up mixing their album and release in it in April.

You can still get tickets for the Nokia show, but if you miss them there, check them out at the Troubadour. They're great fun to watch and make fantastic music. You'll like these guys as soon as you hear one song, whether it be "Call Back" or "Hail, Hail, Hail".

In the meantime, you can hear their music in a variety of places. They have an EP on iTunes here that you can buy, as well as a myspace page and on facebook and on their own website here.

Their full-length album comes out in April.

In case you haven't heard, the rock supergroup Them Crooked Vultures has a new album out. In case you don't have Facebook or have watched television or listened to any rock-oriented radio station in the last two months. Maybe you've heard something about this.
Frequently, when a supergroup is assembled, it has lots of hype but the material - many times - doesn't live up to the names involved.

This one does. In fact, it surpasses it.

For the past several months, the band has laid out a superb marketing scheme of posting pieces of songs on youtube or facebook and pumping up their semi-secret shows with links to the general location in the form of Google Earth maps (one of them went from a space shot of the earth and then zeroed in onto Belgium, where they played early in the Fall). They've also used their Vultures animation and drawings as teasers on youtube and immediately shut down pirated youtube videos of their very infrequent shows.

The album was finally released on Tuesday (Monday, if you count the band streaming the entire thing on youtube) and it's fantastic.

In case you haven't heard, the group consists of Josh Homme (who plays guitar and sings for Queens of the Stone Age and The Eagles of Death Metal) on guitar and lead vocals; Dave Grohl (on drums), former drummer of Nirvana and now guitarist/singer for The Foo Fighters and the now over-60 John Paul Jones, former bass player and keyboardist of the monstrous Led Zeppelin. The lineup alone generated enough hype as it is and the album doesn't let down.

Their debut record simply called Them Crooked Vultures delivers the heavy rock you'd expect from those guys. The general sound is heavy rock, with a progressive groove that isn't heard very much these days. Most of the songs have a dark and heavy sound with Jones on bass and Grohl - who plays similarly to the late Led Zep drummer John Bonham - on drums along with Homme playing guitar and singing lead.

Of course there will the invariable comparisons to the members other bands (naturally) and if you have to compare, the record sounds mostly like a Queens of the Stone Age album (mostly due to Homme), but it also at times, sounds eerily like Led Zeppelin . Several of the tracks - including "Reptiles" and "Scumbag Blues" sound like Zep during the "In Through the Out Door/Coda" period late in their career. Homme evens sometimes sounds a little like Robert Plant occasionally, but the post-Zep Plant (like, in the late 80's and 90s). He also sounds like David Bowie singing sometimes. (If you listen carefully, you can also hear Grohl singing background vocals sometimes too)

With the addition of Jones - who hasn't played music regularly or recorded in a long time - the keyboard and bass material he contributes gives the music more of a Led Zeppelin feel and Homme and Grohl - who seems to channel Bonham on a few tracks - both go along with him.

The band - which also consists of Alain Johannes on additional guitar - is amazingly tight, especially considering that Grohl has primarily played guitar for much of the last 10 years and Jones is almost 64 years old. Jones keeps up with the young guys like he was 30. It has helped that Jones played with the Foo Fighters at their Wembley Show in 2008 (available on DVD now) and Grohl has played drums with Homme and the Queens of the Stone Age on a couple of albums. But still.

The band has played two LA shows this week (one at The Roxy and one at The Wiltern) and Homme seems humbled by the assembled group. He nonchalantly introduced Grohl at The Roxy show with a oh-yeah-this-is-Dave-on-drums vibe, but its Jones who gets the biggest ovations during the introductions. Homme then, almost as an afterthought, says 'and I'm your host, Joshua.'

If you want to hear what will be probably be at the forefront of the resuscitation of rock-music-as-popular-music trend, get yourself a copy of Them Crooked Vultures.

The band is on Facebook, myspace and they have their own site also. Here.

If you'd like to venture out to Hollywood on a Thursday night and see something really cool and interesting, go over to The Steve Allen Theater at 8pm and check out ResBox, a monthly event featuring the best in experimental and improvisational music.

Musician and filmmaker Hans Fjellestad spearheaded the ResBox project in Hollywood after founding a similar group in San Diego called Trummerflora. The latter group started small in a tiny area of San Diego in the late 1990's and has grown into a very large collective of experimental and improvisational musicians and performance artists who still perform around San Diego and now Los Angeles - as well as New York City and around the world.
You can find their works here and you can also find CD's on the site as well as iTunes. (I highly recommend the Christmas CD "...and the Reindeer You Rode in on (from 1999 on Accretion Records)" - which consists of experimental interpretations of Christmas songs.

Fjellestad is playing in a two-person group tonight called "ICE CREAM" which also includes Amit Itelman and the evening also will feature performances by Steve Roden, Yann Novak and VJ Fader. Tonight is the last of the ResBox monthly series.

You can find more of Fjellestad's musical work here and here. He has made several documentary films (several about music) that includes A Frontier Life (2002) and Moog (2004), about the life and work of synthsizer maker Robert Moog. Expect three more films in the very future from Fjellestad.

The Steve Allen Theater is located at 4773 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027

Them Crooked Vultures will play a special one time only club show at the Roxy Monday, November 16, the day before the band's self titled debut is released. The band consists of Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters, Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, among others.

Tickets will be available exclusively in-person at the venue on show day. No lineups prior to 2pm. Ticket holders will be required to enter immediately after purchase. No ins and outs. Tickets are non- transferable

The show will be open to all ages. Box office and doors open at 8:30. Them Crooked Vultures on stage at 10:30

If you want to venture to the Palm Springs area Saturday, cruise on down to the Spotlight 29 Casino in Coachella Saturday and check out the Old School Reunion IV concert with Midnight Star, Expose', Freestyle Evolution, Club Noveau and Suzi Carr of "Will to Power" playing in consecutive sets.

It's been 26 years since Midnight Star's breakout R&B hit record No Parking on the Dance Floor with the dance hits "No Parking on the Dance Floor" and "Freakazoid" and nine years since they reunited the original lineup. They've toured consistently since 2000 and released an album of new material called "15th Avenue" in 2002.

The group mostly plays shows with other R&B groups of the 80's including Zapp (without Roger Troutman who is deceased) and Con-Funk-Shun, among many others.

Expose is an 80's soul singing group who had a major hit with the song "Point of No Return," as well as other minor hits and they have also reunited. - as has Club Nouveau, who had a hit song with the remake of Bill Withers "Lean on Me" in 1987.

The show starts at 8pm. The address of the casino is

Spotlight 29 Casino
46-200 Harrison Place
Coachella, CA
1 866 377-6829

If you can make some time tonight, head on over to The Hotel Cafe in Hollywood and hear Lindsay Ray play. She's a fantastic singer/songwriter from Maine - which is also home to another good singer - Ray LaMontagne.

Ray's show tonight is also a CD release party - celebrating her new record The Picture Perfect - which is available on iTunes and her own website where you can hear some of her tunes before you go.

Ray calls her style 'quirky-pop' and a few of her songs have been featured in television shows such as Knight Rider and on The Style Network, E! Channel and the Lifetime TV Movie "Sorority Wars"

The show starts at 9pm and the tickets are $10 advance or $12 at the door. You can get advanced tickets at the Hotel Cafe site. The first 50 people through the door get a free EP.

The Hotel Cafe's address is 1623 1/2 N. Cahuenga Blvd (between Hollywood and Sunset).