Kristen’s Concert Calendar: 5/10-5/16

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

An Emotional Evening at Room 5

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