July 2010 Archives

Kansas City-based rock band Red Line Chemistry is in town this week shooting a video and they'll take a break and play their only LA show at the Whiskey a Go-Go Wednesday night.

The band is a guitar-heavy quartet with two-part vocal harmonies - which makes them sound like Alice in Chains, particularly their most reason album. They also have a heavier, darker sound, which, at times, sounds like Tool also and the lead singer Brett's singing voice like a mesh of Maynard James Keenan (Tool) and Jerry Cantrell (the lower of the two voices in Alice).

After toiling in the Midwest, they've finally hit their stride, with their new single 'Dumb Luck' (out now) and new album 'Dying for a Living' which will be released Aug 17th.

They're already touring for the record, recently playing in Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona before venturing further west to Los Angeles.

While in town, they're shooting the video for the single 'Dumb Luck' and it should be out in time for the release of the album.

The event starts at 7pm and will also feature The Changing, Fight the War and Detriment.

You can hear Red Line Chemistry's music here and they have a Facebook page here.

The Whisky is at 8901 West Sunset, in West Hollywood/Hollywood.

On the year that would mark Louis Prima's 100th birthday and does mark the 50th anniversary of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the jazz great will get a star on the Walk-of-Fame posthumously on Sunday. On hand to receive it will be son Louis Prima, Jr. - who is continuing his father's musical legacy - and daughter Lena and their appearances will kickstart the day's worth of celebration - officially titled "Walk the Walk" - in Hollywood.

After the star ceremony, Louis Jr. will perform with Sara Spiegel and The Witnesses and Lena is tentatively scheduled to perform a couple of tunes too. Prima, Jr. continues the musical journey that his father started by playing old standards and jazz from the 1920's.

Prima Sr. - who played trumpet, sang and acted - wrote and recorded some of jazz's most popular songs including 'Sing, Sing, Sing,' 'Just a Gigalo," "Jump, Jive and Wail," "That Old Black Magic," "Sunday Kind of Love" and "Oh, Marie,' (to name a few) many of which have been recorded and sometimes made famous by others. His family continues to plays those songs on tour and in their home base of Las Vegas.

Prima will receive the 2.413th star in the famous Hollywood landmark. The celebration is open to the public in Hollywood and starts around 11:30am on Sunday.

Louis Jr. has a website where you can follow him as well as learn more about his father. You can also see one of his performances here.

The Summer Unity tour is rolling into town and it's landing in Irvine tomorrow night with Pepper, The Offspring and 311 playing at the Irvine Meadows / Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. Tickets are still available for the show on Ticketmaster.com and at Ticketmaster outlets. The festivities start at 7pm.

311 started the tour with two shows in Alaska (one of the two had The Presidents of the United States of America open) and Pepper joined them in Pittsburgh on June 18th while The Offspring completed the threesome In Chicago on June 29th.

Pepper is a band from Hawaii who mixes the smooth reggae sounds of hanging out and surfing with rock - making a feel good, rock/reggae blend. They started in Hawaii and played there exclusively until 1999 when they moved to San Diego when they released "Give'n It". After advancing to Los Angeles, they started recording at The Hive recording studio, which coincidentally, is the home base for 311. Since then, they've recorded the albums "Kona Town" (2002), "In with the Old" (2004), "No Shame" (2006), "Pink Crustaceans and Good Vibrations" (2008) and now "Wake Up" (2010) which is a new release on Law Records.

The Offspring formed in 1984 in Huntington Beach and became most known in the 1990's with songs such as 'Pretty Fly for a White Guy," ""Gone Away," "Why Don't You Get a Job," "Come Out and Play" and "Self Esteem," among others. The band's signature sound includes vocals by Dexter Holland and a distinct guitar sound by Holland and Noodles. They have been recording material for a new album but took a break for the tour - however Holland claims that you can hear some of the new material during the new live shows. They've recorded eight studio albums, with the last one being "Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace" from 2008. Interesting facts, lead singer Holland was a PhD candidate in Molecular Biology at USC, but stopped his schooling to pursue music. He has a Bachelor's in Biology and a Master's in Molecular Biology- both from USC - and he is a licensed pilot, has run a marathon and created his own brand of hot sauce.

311's last album "Uplifter" is their 11th major label studio and was released in 2009. The five piece band from Omaha, Nebraska has been together since before their debut album in 1993 (called 'Music') and consists of Nick Hexum, SA Martinez, P-Nut, Chad Sexton and Tim Mahoney. Their style of music combines rap, guitar heavy rock, reggae and funk (thanks to P-Nut's funk slap bass-playing style on his growly-sounding Warwick bass). Their albums show their progress or musical frame of mind as each record has a slightly different style from the previous one. (Some are more reggae, some are more rock.) 311 commonly tours for a short time during the summer, regardless of their having a new album and in between tours each member either records, produces other band's records or, in drummer Chad Sexton's case, runs the North Hollywood drum store "Chad Sexton's Drum City".

Be sure to get tickets to the show before it sells out. In the meantime, you can hear the music and follow the goings-on of Pepper here, The Offspring here and 311 here.

If you're up for a late night and a raucous show, check out Brother Sal at the Hotel Cafe at midnight tonight. The New Jersey piano player has great energy and songs and usually has a relatively large band on stage with him (he also sometimes has people come out of the audience and play a tune or two with him).

He had a residency at the same venue for a month earlier in July and June and he's doing Friday nights again for a short span.

Go early and check out The Quiet (at 10pm) and The Idyllists (11) before the Sal experience.

Brother Sal's tunes can be heard here and he has a facebook page.

photo by Valeria Podoynitsyna

Singer/songwriter Tony Lucca has a new CD - and there is a party for it at The Mint on Friday the 23rd starting at 7:30.

The album "Rendezvous with the Angels" - Lucca's sixth - was officially released on July 13th on Rock Ridge Music. The album includes appearances by Lucca's 2009 tour mate Sara Bareilles - who duets on "Back to Me" - and Lady Antebellum guitarist Jason "Slim" Gambill, on the bonus track "Nobody But You".

"Rendezvous With the Angels" is the culmination of a life spent in music. Raised in Waterford, Michigan, he was writing and playing in Detroit-area bands at age 12 and as a teen he worked for four seasons on the Disney Channel's "Mickey Mouse Club" alongside such future superstars as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and *Nsync's Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez.

Lucca's independent releases include his debut "So Satisfied" (1997) and the follow-up "Strong Words, Softly Spoken" (1999), through his own website. His first commercially distributed album, "Shotgun," was released in 2004 and it was followed by his Rock Ridge Music records "Canyon Songs" (2006) and "Come Around Again" (2008).

He routinely plays at The Hotel Cafe, Crane's Tavern (in Hollywood) and the Piano Bar, among other places. He also frequently collaborates with other singer/songwriters and recently toured with Keaton Simons - with whom he recorded the Joni Mitchell track "Case of You."

He will be at The Mint at 7:30 (doors open at 7) along with David & Devine, The Chris Parish Band, Trent Hancock.

You can find and purchase Lucca's music on his website and his myspace page.

Continuing the killer acts that The Hotel Cafe has been having lately, Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale perform Thursday night after the great Garrison Starr (at 8pm), Jake Newton (9) and Lelia Broussard at 10 play in consecutive sets.

Ryan and Pattengale have performed before and go on at approximately 11. You can hear their music here and here before you go to their show - although go early and check out as many of the singers as you can - Broussard in particular.

They also have a video of the song 'Broken Headlight" (click on the song title to see the video) that they recorded in a cabin with acoustic guitars and one for the track 'Rock and Roll 'Er,' (same with this one) recorded in the same place

Ryan and Pattengale's Thursday night show follows Keaton Simons on Tuesday, Chris Shiflett and the Dead Peasants Wednesday and precedes Brother Sal (Friday at midnight)

LA-based singer/songwriter Keaton Simons takes a break from his touring with Pat Benetar and REO Speedwagon to play The Hotel Cafe on July 20th - his birthday.

His 9pm show will be a party and a return to LA after performing all over the country, opening for the two 80's acts. Simons has played Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota and Chicago in the past week, before coming home for the short break.

You can hear his music and see his tour dates on his website here.

Venice-based soul singer Cory Phillips performs tonight and every Friday night at Danny's in Venice. This particular night also features Alecia Swearingen for what they call "Live Acoustic Soul."

Stop by if you're in Venice. The evening lasts between 7 and 10 and is free and a fun way to spend a Friday night by the beach.

In the meantime, you can get familiar with Phillips music here.

Danny's is located at 23 Windward Avenue in Venice.

Country/pop/rock singer/songwriter Larry Bagby - who appeared as the bass player in the Johnny Cash movie Walk the Line - is playing live at 14 Below in Santa Monica tonight.

He goes on at approximately 9:50pm, after Just.Like.Kinfolk at 8pm and Gene Loveland at 8:50,
and before Jessica Erin, who plays at 10:50.

Bagby's music can be heard here

14 Below is located at 1348 14th Street in Santa Monica.

This week is busy with music in the Hollywood area, with many people playing in a variety of places all week.

Jesse Cole is playing tonight at Crane's in Hollywood at around 12:30 (ish) and closing the joint down on Beachwood Rocker night after a lineup that includes Justin Drake at 8pm; Meredith Meyer 8:30; Lani Trock & Baluji Shrivastav at 9:30; Lowlight unplugged at 10, Tripp Rezac at 11 and Ryan Hedgecock of Rattlesnake Daddy at midnight. (Times are approximate - just come early to make sure you get to see everyone)

Cole is playing tonight with George Stanford, who not only played with Cole last week, but also played his own show last night at the Piano Bar - and Cole sang with him. Stanford will play bass with Cole tonight with Jonah Dolan on drums.

You can find Cole's music - and new album "Same As The Sun" - on his myspace page.

Crane's is located at 1611 N. El Centro, in Hollywood

You can make it an evening on Thursday night at the Hotel Cafe with consecutive acts KT Tunstall at 7pm, Garrison Starr at 8, Jay Nash at 9 and Joe Firstman at 10.

It's a rare acoustic set from Tunstall, who you might know from the song 'Black Horse and the Cherry Tree' from 2005, while Starr (who has a Thursday night residency in July), Nash (who also plays on consecutive Thursdays) and Firstman are regular Hotel Cafe performers.

You can find music from Tunstall here, Starr here, Nash here and Firstman here.

If you're around Hollywood on Tuesday, there are several people to see live in several places.

Singer-songwriter Austin Hartley-Leonard (below left) is playing at 8pm at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood and Australian Andy Clockwise (bottom - the middle of the three people) is playing at the Troubadour at 9. Then after seeing either guy (or both), head over to the Piano Bar on Selma in Hollywood (around the corner from The Hotel Cafe) and see George Stanford (below right) play and have a party for Clockwise, who will come over after his Troubadour show.

Expect a party at the Piano Bar after, say, 11 where Stanford will close the place. You never know who might be there too. (Perhaps several members of the band Truth & Salvage Co. will be there, among other special guests).

Some acts are the best-kept-secret-types, where the people in the know go and love it while others have never heard of them. Weapon of Choice is one of those acts. Like other spectacle shows/acts like Powder and Mini-KISS, Weapon of Choice is something else live. They play at the Air Conditioned Supper Club in Venice Thursday night at 9pm and if you're in the area, check it out.

Los Angeles native Lonnie Marshall (who has labeled himself the 'Meganut') is the leader of the band, playing funk bass on an odd-looking Steinberger instrument and singing lead. The music is a frenetic blend of ska, funk, hip-hop, jazz, reggae, alternative and rock that Marshall has labeled "nutmeg music" and the live shows explode with energy with multiple people on stage at once, including dancers.

Lonnie and his brother Arik - who played guitar with The Red Hot Chili Peppers briefly in the early 1990's and now does with Macy Gray - were exposed to funk early and both are heavily influenced by Parliament/Funkadelic. Lonnie then created his own style, labeled it and started a band called 'Marshall Law,' and later formed Weapon of Choice in 1992.
LA funk band Fishbone later incorporated some of the sound and attitude and also got attached to the nutmeg label and now both Weapon of Choice and Fishbone sound like they've siblings from the same family. In fact, former members of Fishbone sometimes play in Weapon of Choice including drummer Phillip 'Fish' Fisher, who will play tomorrow night.

Thursday's show in Venice promises to be a crazy event, with several other bands playing including Spliff Tannen and Spankie Valentine.

You can hear Weapon of Choice's music and see some photos on their myspace page and on their band site here

You'd anticipate a wild show, when the people onstage look like this.

While the Foo Fighters are on a break, three of the four members are playing in other side projects - including guitarist Shiflett with Chris Shiflett and the Dead Peasants, who play at the Hotel Cafe tonight.

The Dead Peasants feature Shiflett on vocals and guitars and are not as guitar-heavy rock as the Foos - but instead are more Americana and rootsy, with some nice steel guitar work.

Shiflett and his band start a residency at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood tonight at 10:30 and it continues at least through the next two Wednesdays (next week is earlier...at 9pm) in between other dates on their tour.

You can hear a limited amount of music on their myspace page.