Kristen

In Philadelphia tonight?

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I am! If you are too, you’d best be purchasing your tickets to the WCL tonight (Saturday). Jealousy Curve is putting on their last show. Last chance to get your faces melted right off…seriously the combination of sweat and tears will surely make it look like I’m melting. If you see a puddle on the floor, kindly step around.

Also playing: IKE, The Shakers, and Camille Beruto. Starts at 7pm. World Cafe Live. Philadelphia. The place to be tonight! Hope you can join me…

~ Kristen

Kristen’s Concert Calendar: 5/17-5/23

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Last week was a very emotional week of beginnings and endings…and many goodbyes. On the music front, one of my favorite bands, Jealousy Curve, officially announced that they were going to end their run as a band. Their last show will be their record release next Saturday in Philadelphia at World Cafe Live. (yes I will be there). Carney’s record release show Saturday in Los Angeles at The El Rey signified the exact opposite; the beginning of a successful and (hopefully) very long career. Watching the guys be escorted from the back to the signing table where we all had to wait in line to get our CDs signed and say our hellos really made me realize how far the band has come since I saw them play every week at Molly Malone’s. The entire set was a bit emotional for me. I was at once immensely grateful for having such an amazing band be a part of my life for the last couple of years and incredibly sad that they were leaving Los Angeles and I would not be seeing them play again anytime soon.

But such is life. Really it just gives me more time and energy to discover amazing new bands to enrich and fulfill my life, right? Well, that’s what I’m telling myself anyway.

Here are the bands and musicians I’m looking at this week to potentially take up the mantel of “new favorite band” and help fill the massive void  in both my concert calendar and my heart left by the breaking up of Jealousy Curve and year-long departure of Carney:

Monday: Filthy Souls at 14 Below in Santa Monica (8pm)
ALSO: The Like FREE at The Echo (10pm)
ALSO: Wartapes at Silverlake Lounge (11pm)
ALSO: MusiCares Nashville Flood Relief Fund Benefit at The Hotel Cafe (9pm)…line up TBA
ALSO: Songwriters in the Round at Room 5 (9pm) 

Tuesday: Nina Storey at The Hotel Cafe (8pm)

Weds: Queen Caveat at The Viper Room (10:45)
ALSO: Beachwood Rockers’ Society at Crane’s 

Thursday: Shout Out Louds at The El Rey (8pm)
ALSO: Glee Live at Gibson Amphitheater (8pm)
ALSO: Terra Naomi at The Hotel Cafe (8pm) 

Friday: Glee Live at Gibson Amphitheater (8pm)
ALSO: The National at The Wiltern (8pm)
ALSO: OK GO at The Musicbox (8pm)
ALSO: Far at The Troubadour (10pm)
ALSO: Lelia Broussard at Room 5 (7pm)
ALSO: Shout Out Louds at The El Rey (8pm)
ALSO: Vienna Teng & Alex Wong and Sara Watkins at McCabe’s (8pm) 

Saturday: The National at The Wiltern (8pm)
ALSO: Glee Live at Gibson Amphitheater (8pm)
ALSO: The Real Sunset Strip On the Rox with Terra Incognita (9pm)
***if you happen to be in the Philadelphia area, you’d better join me at World Cafe Live to witness the last performance of Jealousy Curve…also playing IKE, Camille Peruto, and LA’s own The Shakers! 

Sunday: Frightened Rabbit at The Musicbox (8pm)
ALSO: Lelia Broussard at Saint Rocke (7pm) 

To Keep in Mind:
May 28th: The Silent Comedy and Dirty Sweet at North Park Theater (in SD)
June1st: First Aid Kit at Bootleg
June 3rd: Mumford & Sons at The Music Box
June 6th: Mumford & Sons with The Silent Comedy at BellyUp (in SD)
June 10-13th: BONNAROO
June 25th: Warped Tour in LA
July 10th: Lilith Fair

~ Kristen

Kristen’s Concert Calendar: 5/10-5/16

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It’s Carney Week! Saturday is their big show at the El Rey. They are moving to NYC (yes, it’s really happening this time) to be a part of Spiderman on Broadway. They will be gone for awhile. As the first local LA band I fell in love with, this is a big deal to me. The apocalypse could be coming and I would not miss this show. Their first full length CD, Mr. Green Vol. I, also comes out this week (May 11th). So even if you can’t come to the show on Saturday night, you can still celebrate Carney week, by going out and getting a copy of the CD (you’ll want an actually copy as the artwork is brilliant).

If you’d like to celebrate Carney week, I’ve earmarked daily suggested activities along with the rest of the amazing musical events happening this week (and there are quite a few good ones this week)…

Monday: Ashes Divide and Sweethead FREE at Spaceland (10pm)…if you’re looking for the lead singer of A Perfect Circle or a guitarist for Queens of the Stone Age, here’s where to find them
ALSO: SO & SO at The Hotel Cafe (8:30)
ALSO: The Like FREE at The Echo (10pm)…they’re back! And they’re doing a month long Monday night residency!!
ALSO: Wartapes FREE at Silverlake Lounge (11pm)…also playing every Monday in May
ALSO: The Filthy Souls at 14 Below in Santa Monica (8pm)…and another great month-long residency…wow, Monday’s are going to be busy…
ALSO: Songwriter’s in the Round at Room 5 (9pm)
CARNEY WEEK: listen to their EP Nothing Without You and Reeve Carney and the Revolving Band Live at Molly Malone’s CD and celebrate the Carney that was. Also, go to bed early, falling asleep to “Think of You”.

Tuesday: Mississippi Man at The Echo (10pm)
ALSO: Transfer at The Viper Room  (10:25)
ALSO: The Northstar Session at Molly Malone’s (9pm)
ALSO: Kate Nash at The El Rey (8pm)
CARNEY WEEK: get up bright and early and bust down the doors of your Local Best Buy to pick up a copy of Mr. Green Vol. I. Listen all day long. 

Weds: Trent Dabbs and The Daylights at The Hotel Cafe (9,10pm)
ALSO: Ben Folds and Kate Miller-Heidke at The Music Box (8pm)
ALSO: Curly Rock in the Round at Cubana Club Showroom featuring Curtis Peoples, Ernie Halter, Tony Lucca, Lisa Loeb, Tyrone Wells, etc. (8pm)
ALSO: Beachwood Rockers’ Society at Crane’s
CARNEY WEEK: introduce the new Carney CD to all of your friends. 

Thursday: Lemon Sun and Crash Kings at The Roxy (8pm)
ALSO: Jakob Dylan at The WIltern (8pm)
ALSO: Sally Jaye at The Hotel Cafe (8pm)
ALSO: Purple Melon at Molly Malone’s (10pm)
ALSO: Carole King and James Taylor at the Hollywood Bowl (7:30)
ALSO: Ben Folds and Kate Miller-Heidke at The Music Box (8pm)
CARNEY WEEK: start making plans for Saturday. Arrange car pools and pre-concert dinners. Don’t forget to make time for that place down the street that sells the apple mint lemonade. If you feel so obliged, this is the evening to gather together all your friends and discuss the merits of the new CD…song by song…at length. You can do this while making your “I love you Zane Carney” posters

Friday: Turin Brakes at The Echo (8:30)
ALSO: Carole King and James Taylor at the Hollywood Bowl (7:30)
ALSO: Andrew Bird at Largo at the Coronet (8:30)
CARNEY WEEK: go to Molly Malone’s to see Carney Bassist, Aiden Moore, perform some of his solo work at 8pm…don’t forget to tell him you love the new CD and can’t wait for Saturday night

Saturday: CARNEY WEEK: The night you’ve been waiting for. Come to The El Rey to rock out with Carney to all their new tunes that you’ve spent all week falling in love with. (8pm)
ALSO: 30 Seconds to Mars at The Greek Theater (7:30)
ALSO: Carole King and James Taylor at the Hollywood Bowl (7:30)
ALSO:  Annuals at Spaceland (8:30)
ALSO: Andrew Bird at Largo at the Coronet (8:30)
ALSO: The Real Sunset Strip with Scheff and The Hawk featuring Terra Incognita at On the Rox (10pm)

Sunday: Patrick Park at The Autry (7:30)
CARNEY WEEK: begin your Carney detox program…but not before watching Spiderman and making tentative plans for your NYC trip next fall… 

To Keep in Mind:
May 19th: Queen Caveat at The Viper Room
May23rd: Frightened Rabbit at The Music Box
May 28th: The Silent Comedy and Dirty Sweet at North Park Theater (in SD)
June1st: First Aid Kit at Bootleg
June 3rd: Mumford & Sons at The Music Box
June 6th: Mumford & Sons with The Silent Comedy at BellyUp (in SD)
June 10-13th: BONNAROO (in Tennessee)
June 25th: Warped Tour in LA
July 10th: Lilith Fair

~ Kristen

Kristen’s Concert Calendar 5/3-5/9

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I’m still singing from Saturday night’s grand adventure On The Rox with The Silent Comedy. For more on that, you should check out the forthcoming (fingers crossed) post I will be putting up.

This week, I’m especially excited about two appearances The Kin make on my calendar. Monday night at The Hotel Cafe and Weds at Stronghold in Venice. It’s been WAY too long since brothers Koren have been in Los Angeles. It will probably be some time before they are here again so don’t miss these opportunities to see one of my very favorite bands play live! As an added bonus, I hear Shakerleg may also be coming to town…

As for what else I’m looking forward to this week:

Monday: The Kin at The Hotel Cafe (7pm)….yes, it’s an early one, but it’ll be worth the traffic, trust me!
ALSO: Wartapes FREE at Silverlake Lounge (11pm)
ALSO: Songwriters in the Round at Room 5 (9pm) 

Tuesday: Until June at Spaceland (9pm)
ALSO: Greg Laswell and Brian Wright at The Troubadour (8pm)
ALSO: Links at The Viper Room (midnight) 

Weds: The Kin at Stronghold in Venice (9pm)
ALSO: The Hold Steady at The El Rey (8pm)
ALSO: The Daylights and Whispering Pines at The Hotel Cafe (10,11) 
ALSO: Beachwood Rockers’ Society at Crane’s

Thursday: Other Side of Morning at Harvelle’s  in Santa Monica (10:30)
ALSO: Green River Ordinance at The Troubadour (10pm)
ALSO: Ingrid Michaelson at The Hotel Cafe (7pm)…definitely sold out…but one never knows…
ALSO: Austin Hartley-Leonard at The Hotel Cafe (9pm)
ALSO: Links FREE at Space 15 Twenty (7pm) 

Friday: Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale and Chris Pierce at The Hotel Cafe (10,11)
ALSO: Beth Hart, Linda Perry, etc. at Club Nokia (8pm)
ALSO: The Janks at Spaceland (11) 

Saturday: Ely’s Creep Show featuring Hoobastank, Ferras, Elliot Yamin, etc. at The Hotel Cafe (9pm)…sorry, it’s sold out…I’ll let you know how it goes 😉
ALSO: Warpaint at Bootleg (10:30)
ALSO: Fight From Above at On The Rox (10pm) 

Sunday: Viza at The Viper Room (10pm)
ALSO: Patrick Park at Saint Rocke (7pm) 

To Keep in Mind:

May 13th: Crash Kings at The Roxy
May 15th: Carney at The El Rey   
May 15th: 30 Seconds to Mars at The Greek Theater
May 19th: Queen Caveat at The Viper Room
May 28th: The Silent Comedy and Dirty Sweet at North Park Theater (in SD)
June1st: First Aid Kit at Bootleg
June 6th: Mumford & Sons with The Silent Comedy at BellyUp (in SD)
June 10-13th: BONNAROO (in Tennessee)
June 25th: Warped Tour in LA (well, Carson)
July 10th: Lilith Fair 

~ Kristen

Kristen’s Concert Calendar: 4/26-5/2

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This week’s email is brought to you from the lovely town of  Horseheads, NY where I have been spending the weekend…well part of the weekend. I also journeyed down to the Philadelphia area to see one of my favorite bands  (Jealousy Curve) play…twice.  Despite the lack of sleep it was a fantastic weekend! The biggest problem with predominantly local bands is that when you move away, it’s quite difficult to see them. I have to fly across the country! Which I will be doing again May 22nd for Jealousy Curve’s big CD release.

Fortunately all the great shows listed below don’t require much travel outside the LA area:  

Monday: Helen Stellar FREE at Spaceland (11pm)
ALSO: Aqualung at Bootleg (10pm)
ALSO: Chris Thile at Largo at the Coronet (9pm)
ALSO: Songwriters in the Round at Room 5 (9pm)

Tuesday: Dr. Dog at The Music Box (8pm)
ALSO: Lady Danville at The Hotel Cafe (10pm)
ALSO: Whispertown 2000 at Silverlake Lounge (9pm) 

Weds: Matthew Jordan and Civil Twilight at The Hotel Cafe (8,9)
ALSO: Beachwood Rocker’s Society at Crane’s 

Thursday: Lemon Sun at The Echo (10pm)
ALSO: Apes of Wrath at Spaceland (8:30)
ALSO: Honeyhoney at The Hotel Cafe (10pm) 

Friday: Tyler Hilton at The Roxy (8pm)
ALSO: Soul Puppet at Molly Malone’s (9:30)
ALSO: Ernie Halter and Chris Pierce at The Hotel Cafe (9,11) 

Saturday: The Silent Comedy at The Roxy (on the Rox) (10pm)
ALSO: Needtobreathe at El Rey (8pm)
ALSO: Holly Conlan at The Hotel Cafe (9pm) 

Sunday: White Buffalo at Saint Rocke (6pm)

To Keep in Mind:

May 3rd: The Kin at The Hotel Cafe
May 4th: Greg Laswell at The Troubadour
May 13th: Crash Kings at The Roxy
May 15th: Carney at The El Rey   
May 15th: 30 Seconds to Mars at The Greek Theater
May 19th: Queen Caveat at The Viper Room
May 28th: The Silent Comedy and Dirty Sweet at North Park Theater (in SD)
June1st: First Aid Kit at Bootleg
June 6th: Mumford & Sons with The Silent Comedy at BellyUp (in SD)
June 10-13th: BONNAROO (in Tennessee)
June 25th: Warped Tour in LA (well, Carson)
July 10th: Lilith Fair

 ~ Kristen

Kristen’s Concert Calendar: 4/19-4/25

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Due to the demands of Coachella, this week’s concer calendar is a bit…underdeveloped…  I was going to try to post a more complete version, but I realized that by the time I flushed it all out, it would be the end of the week already. And that’s just not acceptable. Especially considering the Nico Vega/Semi Precious Weapons face-melting that will occur Weds night at The Roxy…highly recommend advanced tickets for this one folks!

Here’s my brief list (and certainly enough to keep anyone busy and sleep deprived).

Monday: Juke Kartel at The Hotel Cafe
ALSO: Songwriters in the Round at Room 5 (9pm) 

Tuesday: Taylor Locke and the Roughs at The Viper Room

Weds: Nico Vega and Semi Precious Weapons at The Roxy with after party at The Viper Room…NOT to be missed!
ALSO: Foxy Shazam at The Troubadour
ALSO: Glee Tour at the Gibson Amphitheater 

Thursday: Wartapes at Silverlake Lounge
ALSO: Shelby Lynn at The Roxy
ALSO: Glee Tour at the Gibson Amphitheater
ALSO: Honeyhoney at The Hotel Cafe 

Friday: Killola and Sick of Sarah at The Roxy

Saturday: Get Back Loretta at The Roxy (On the Rox)
ALSO: The Elizabeth Kill at Libertine
ALSO: Jennifer Knapp at The Mint 

Sunday: Jason Castro at The Troubadour

To Keep in Mind:

May 2nd: The Kin at The Hotel Cafe
May 4th: Greg Laswell at The Troubadour
May 15th: Carney at The El Rey   
May 15th: 30 Seconds to Mars at The Greek Theater
May 20th: Queen Caveat at The Viper Room
May 28th: The Silent Comedy and Dirty Sweet at North Park Theater (in SD)
June 6th: Mumford & Sons with The Silent Comedy at BellyUp (in SD)
June 10-13th: BONNAROO (in Tennessee)
July 10th: Lilith Fair

~ Kristen

An Emotional Evening at Room 5

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I don’t know was it was, but Monday night at Room 5 I kept finding myself fighting that feeling of wanting to cry (the good kind of crying…mostly). It could have been the fact that I was so burnt out and therefore emotionally vulnerable, or maybe it was listening to LA’s beloved Jay Nash sing one last song, his dedication to California, before saying goodbye to the state as well as the institution he started (Songwriters in the Round at Room 5). It could have just been the outstanding talent of this week’s round of songwriters that bored straight into my heart and touched it so deeply.

This week’s group featured Joel Eckels, Sally Jaye, Kenneth Pattengale, and the man who very well may end up my favorite act of the year, Joey Ryan. How I go from Nico Vega one year to Joey Ryan the next is a puzzle even to myself….but I digress.

I must say that I’m finding the combination of Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan to be endlessly entertaining. Someone suggested they were like Simon and Garfunkel and Joey immediately balked at the idea, relegating Kenneth to the role of Garfunkel. To me, this would be a complement of the highest order. As much as I enjoy both Joey and Kenneth, I think I’m started to like them even better when they play together! They keep performing as a duo for “practice” for an upcoming series of shows billed as An Evening with Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale (and not, sadly, Ryan Pattengale). This includes a stop at McCabe’s in Santa Monica on April 24th. Someone should really record this show and make a CD (especially since I will be out of town).

I will again say that this Songwriters in the Round event is my new favorite way to listen to some great artists. It’s like ice cream. It’s always the first few bits of ice cream that are the best…but after you’re about half way through the carton, you keep eating more out of habit…or a memory of what those first few bites tasted like. But if you combine different flavors of ice cream in the same bowl, the immense high from those first couple bites is prolonged as you go from one variety to the next, the contrasts reminding you just how amazing each individual flavor is. 

But seriously, I feel that going from artist to artist really helps to keep the emotional intensity at its peak. The only downside is that the evening is over and it really feels like it has just begun.

Until next week…

~ Kristen

p.s. the recording I took of Jay Nash’s  Golden State Goodnight