Local Music: September 2010 Archives

Fresh off his second stint on the REO Speedwagon/Pat Benetar tour, blues singer/songwriter/guitarist Keaton Simons plays The Hotel Cafe Saturday night. He goes on at 11pm.

If you get a chance, check out Simons. He's not in town too often these days and he's something to hear and see. The last time he played the Hotel, it was a packed house, so get tickets as far ahead as you can.

The same night also features performances by Jakob Martin (midnight), Raining Jane (10pm) and Connie Lim (9), among others.

This is Simon's site to follow his tour schedule and get onto the mailing list.

Here is an example of what he does.

After completely blowing away the audience at the Roxy on Thursday night, reggae singer Cas Haley is playing again in the LA area at St. Rocke in Hermosa Beach tonight. The evening starts at 7pm and Haley is the headliner - so he goes on last.

In case you missed it the first time, go see him and his band Woodbelly play. Really fun and a great live show. He plays many tunes from his new album called Connection (available on iTunes here), as well as some reggae versions of other songs, including 'Easy' by the Commodores and 'No One' by Alicia Keys. Three of his standout originals include "Release Me (The Fear)," "Better" and "Take a Chance," which are the first three songs on the album.

Go check them out tonight or get the CD.

The Easy Star All-Stars play tomorrow at The Roxy Theatre as does Texas-based, reggae artist Cas Haley, who, up until now, has rarely ventured this far west for a show. This is first time Haley's played in Los Angeles since finishing second in the second season of the NBC talent show America's Got Talent in 2007. He starts the evening's festivities at 9pm.

Haley, who hails from the small town of Paris, Texas, has a brilliant new record called "Connection" - his first major label release, which is on Easy Star Records (hence the tour with the Easy Star All Stars). Connection - which was released on Sept. 14 (look for a CD review in The Daily News in the coming week or so.) starts with three consecutive fantastically catchy tunes: '"Release Me (The Fear)," "Better" and "Take a Chance" and continues the good vibes throughout, showcasing Haley's pure joy in singing and performing.

The new album follows his self-titled debut (on another label), released in 2008, which featured a few tunes that he covered on the television show, including reggae versions of 'Message in a Bottle' by The Police and 'Easy' by The Commodores.

Haley's music is a happy, Caribbean-sounding reggae that evokes joy and positivity. His voice lands in the medium-to-high register, but is flawless in its movement within the ranges and gives the listener chills when he harmonizes with himself - sometimes four and five layers on top of each other. The singer himself is an infectious, likable entertainer with a bright smile and personality, who obviously enjoys what he does - and it rubs off on the audience.

After finishing second in America's Got Talent, Haley returned to Texas and instead of immediately capitalizing on his new found fame and perhaps rushing into something, he resumed his extensive touring with his band in Texas called Woodbelly. For several years thereafter, he played solo shows and with Woodbelly in and around the south.

After taking his time, he finally signed with Easy Star and recorded and released Connection - which is now available on his site and on iTunes. You can also see some of his performances on youtube.

For more on Haley, you can go to his website, his myspace or his facebook page and he has a twitter account, where he blogs about his tour and talks to his fans.

For more on the Easy Star All Stars, check out their website here.

To see what introduced Haley to the country, here is his first audition on America's Got Talent.

Make a night of it at The Hotel Cafe Wednesday night with Amanda Shaw (7pm), then Lindsey Ray at 8 and the remainder of the evening with Bleu, Mike Viola and friends, starting at 9 (and ending at midnight).

Ray has a new record called Goodbye, California - which is available on iTunes and her own website where you can hear some of her tunes before you go.

She 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"

Bleu will also have a new album out November 2nd and its called 'Four'. A Boston native, he has been a staple in New England for years, playing not only solo, but also with the power-pop bands L.E.O. and The The Major Labels - the latter with Viola. Bleu has made six records - either full length or EP - since 1999 and his newest, 'Four' is a blend of British Invasion sounding pop .

You can hear and read about Bleu on his myspace page.

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

On Tuesday, The Grammy Museum will host the multi-platinum, Grammy-nominated rock group Daughtry (fronted by American Idol participant Chris Daughtry) and special guest, producer Howard Benson, for an interview with Executive Director, Robert Santelli. In the intimate setting of the Museum's Clive Davis Theater, Daughtry and Howard Benson will discuss the band's career - how far they've come and where they're headed. With two #1 multi-platinum albums under their belts, they will also talk about the band's involvement in the creation of their latest album "Leave This Town," songwriting and life on the road. Daughtry will field questions from the audience before treating attendees to a stripped down musical performance.

The Grammy Museum is located at the LA Live Complex downtown.

You can read more about the Museum at their website.

Fresh off their strong appearance at the Sunset Junction Festival Aug 21 and 22, the indie band Eastern Conference Champions will begin their residency at Spaceland Monday at 11pm and continue it until the 27th.

They play at 11 on each of their Monday nights, including this one with 2 Years Before the Mast (at 9), Rabbits Rabbits Rabbits (10) and The Shivas (midnight). In later shows, they will be playing on the same night as Andy Clockwise (on Sept 20), Moving Picture Show (Sept 27) and Therapy Session (also Sept 27th), among others.

ECC has their song 'A Million Miles an Hour' on the Twilight: Eclipse soundtrack - which you can hear here.

On Saturday night, The Mint will be the place to go for a shot of musical energy. The ska/swing band the Cherry Poppin' Daddies will bring their high-energy show back one of the music areas that made them them most famous. They hit the stage at 10:30 after Erin Boheme (9pm).

Although they started playing music in the late 1980's in Oregon, the Daddies (their short name) gained their most popularity in the late-1990s swing revival era and Los Angeles, the movie Swingers; the tune Zoot Suit Riot and the L.A. clubs The Derby and The Dresden helped propel them to the national level.

Singer Steve Perry has fronted the band since its inception in Eugene, Oregon in 1989. Their style started - and has continued to be - fast-moving, danceable music with a lot of horns playing mostly ska and swing, but also adding punk, funk, rockabilly and some glam rock into the mix. Perry and the band took their style that way not only because that's what they liked, but it was also a direct contrast from the genre in the Northwest at the time, which was the rising movement of grunge.

The band gained a large following in Oregon (first) with not only their ska/swing music, but also with their flamboyant stage shows, which were equal parts ridiculous, extravagant and raunchy. At times, their shows were so raunchy that clubs refused to let them play and, if they did, their shows sometimes were protested and labeled as being pornographic.

Their ska music got the most attention in the early 90's and they gained another following in the Bay Area. Their presence became part of the 'third wave ska' movement and they were part of the West Coast portion of it that also included The Uptones as well as Fishbone and Sublime (in Los Angeles) and No Doubt, Reel Big Fish, Save Ferris, The Hippos and Goldfinger (in Orange County) and The Toasters and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones (on the East Coast).

While fully immersed in the ska movement, they also quietly played and recorded swing music and peppered those tunes throughout the first several albums "Ferociously Stoned" (1990), "Rapid City Muscle Car" (1994) and "Kids on the Street" (1996).

The film Swingers (released in October of 1996) starring Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn broke open the door of the swing revival, with the characters club-hopping around the Los Feliz joints The Derby and Dresden, listening to and dancing to swing music and evoking the old days of Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. The movie introduced a wider audience to swing and helped revive the popularity of the culture. It also featured several swing bands in the movie, including Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

As the swing revival accelerated, Cherry Poppin Daddies released all of their swing songs on a compilation album in March 1997, called "Zoot Suit Riot: The Swingin' Hits of the Cherry Poppin' Daddies" and it hit the exact right chord, putting the Daddies (along with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy) at the forefront of the movement - even though they were technically not exclusively a swing band. Many other swing (and ska) groups became popular because of it including North Carolina-based Squirrel Nut Zippers and The Brian Setzer Orchestra (which was doing swing already but just didn't gain the mainstream popularity until the late 90's).

When Zoot Suit Riot became a hit, the Daddies (like most of the other bands that played swing) changed their look from what looked like a white, misfit version of George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars to wearing suits and ties - usually double breasted ones from the 30's 40's - and wingtips. They've kept that costume selection ever since.

For the next three years, the revival thrived and the Daddies played all of their genres of music in shows, but most of the audiences wanted to hear the swing stuff primarily (except for Oregon audiences, who knew they had more material).

The Daddies released another record Soul Caddy in 2000 just as the revival was coming to a close and it didn't do very well and the band took a long hiatus after.

They regrouped in 2002 and resumed touring and recording independently and found that tailoring their music setlists to their respective audiences worked well (going to ska festivals and playing only ska, playing swing to the bigger crowds and mixing it up everywhere else).

In 2008, they released their fifth record called "Skaboy JFK" and started taking out several months a year touring - but in little chunks (during a long hiatus from the band, singer Steve Perry finished his degree in molecular biology and works in a lab in his non-band time.)

At The Mint show, they should go for about 90 minutes, playing many cuts from all of their five records including the ska, the swing and the occasional song in Spanish. They go on at 10:30.

To get a preview, you can go here or see them in action below.

The two-piece band The Kris Special has a new live CD - called 'Rockin the Future' - and they're having a release party at Echo Curio Saturday night to celebrate it. They will be there most of the night and then play at approximately 11pm.

The band - which was a three-piece at one time, but now is two - is a mix of DIY indie rock/hard rock/punk and Americana, with Anne Pointer (guitar and lead vocals) meshing a harder-Jenny Lewis-type vocal style with heavy guitar and drummer Nick Schutz adding very active playing and backup singing.

They frequently play in and around Los Angeles - much of the time in the Silverlake joints as Echo Curio, Spaceland and The Echo, as well in the Santa Clarita Valley and they sometimes travel to San Luis Obispo and surrounding areas and the Pacific Rim on tours.

The CD is a live record and follows up their previous studio record 'Alone Feels Like a Hotel' which came out in 2008. They are pressing a limited number of 'Rockin the Future' CD's (1,000) and numbering each of them, so when you get one, you'll be in a select group.

You can hear samples of 'Alone Feels Like a Hotel' - which was then a three piece and has more bass and some steel guitar - and get a copy here and you can pick up a copy of the live album when you get to Echo Curio

If you're in for a good night of indie music, go over to Spaceland in Silverlake and check out The Delta Mirror, Afghan Raiders and Healamonster & Tarsier. The evening starts at 8:30, just show up and see everybody.

The Delta Mirror is a three-piece group that is part brooding and part electronica and their CD "Machines That Listen" is available on iTunes. You can preview some of their tunes on their facebook and myspace pages.

(playing at The Echo in March)

The Las Vegas-based Afghan Raiders will bring their fusion of electro/grunge/pop to the stage (at approximately 10pm) and you can get their free MP3 preview here and see more of them here.

Healamonster & Tarsier finish out the night with their electronica/ambient pop mix and they can be heard here.