Pocket Symphony

Not sure if you can tell, but I’m really loving living in LA. There are so many interesting people doing fun things - it doesn’t take too much effort to find something engaging and cool.

A few months ago, I was able to commission a piece of art for Heather from one of our favorite contemporary artists, Ron Regé Jr. When he came by our place to drop it off, we talked for a while about the LA music scene - he’s in a band called Lavender Diamond - and he told us that there’s some cool programming at a place nearby called The Steve Allen Theater at the Center For Inquiry (West).

Recently, I picked up the program guide for the theater, and realized that there was a ton of stuff going on there that all seemed interesting. My first outing was two weeks ago, where I attended my first “Cartoon Dump”.

Cartoon Dump is a live version of a kids’ show. It follows the formula that was typical for so many local shows from the ’60s and ’70s - a wacky character in a cheap costume introduces the best cartoons that the station could afford to show. In this case, there’s not one, but two wacky characters: Compost Brite (played by excellent comedian Erica Doering) and Moodsy the Clinically Depressed Owl (as portrayed by MST3K’s Frank Conniff - aka “TV’s Frank”) - and the cartoons are the worst cartoons - ever. Actually, the cartoons are programmed by Jerry Beck, who is one of the foremost animation experts in the world. As an author and avid collector, he’s compiled a collection of truly horrendous mostly “limited animation” shorts. He showed them with commentaries at various comic shows, and the program was a hit - and the combination of Jerry’s cartoons and Erica & Frank’s comedy is a winner.

Cartoon Dump takes place once a month (the last Tuesday of the month) at the Steve Allen Theater. I’ll most certainly be back.

Here’s the first episode, which I swiped from YouTube:

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Alright… just a quick follow-up post.

After seeing The Mae Shi for the first time at Spaceland two weeks ago (see my recent post), I wanted to check them out again now that I’ve listened to all of their records. Luckily, there was a last-minute show at Pomona College in Claremont last night, so my friend Matt and I made decided to drive the 40 miles out of LA to see ‘em.

Long story short: they were once again fantastic. Knowing their songs made the show even better for me.

I think Matt’s comment to the band after the show sums it up: “Two weeks ago, I hadn’t heard of you. Now I want to follow you on tour.”

I took a bunch of pictures at the show… I posted ‘em without any tags or editing at Flickr. You can check them out here.

The Mae Shi has a UK/Europe tour all May, and a US tour in July.
The dates are on their website.

GO SEE THIS BAND

In the late 1980s, there used to be a record store in the space next to CBGB, and as a voracious consumer of all things new, I used to hang out there quite a bit. The guy who worked behind the counter (and also did all the buying for the store), was named Ned Hayden (leader of the sadly neglected Action Swingers).

One day in late 1987, I walked into the store and saw Ned putting up a poster that read “Death To The Pixies”.

“Who are the Pixies?” I asked Ned.

“Some new band on 4AD. We just got their EP in today. Have a poster.”

So I took the poster and bought the record. That evening, when I put it on, I was stunned. It was one of those records that comes out of nowhere and just says it all in about 20 minutes. Even though the Pixies were American, the record was import-only, so I wondered whether anyone else in the US would ever discover this cool band.

A few months later, I got to see The Pixies open for Throwing Muses at a club in Hoboken, New Jersey called Maxwell’s. The place was packed, and even though the Pixies only release was that import EP, the audience was already on their side.

One of the things I remember most from that show was the beatific smile of the bassist/vocalist Mrs. John Murphy. Her demeanor was so incredibly un-punk that it was disarming. In between songs, she told the audience about their upcoming debut LP, and talked about the breasts of the model that would appear on the front cover. In an amazing band, Mrs. John Murphy was a front person waiting to emerge, standing in the shadow of Black Francis.

A couple of years later, Kim Deal (who had dispensed with John Murphy and her stage name), Tanya Donelly from Throwing Muses, and a couple of their friends formed a side project called The Breeders. Their first LP, “Pod”, was an indie hit, and more than a few fans couldn’t wait for them to become a real touring act… but the Pixies were still in the way.

When the Pixies finally broke up (and I’m not celebrating that or anything, I loved the Pixies, too), The Breeders had a chance to become a real band. Tanya was not available, because she was now leading Belly, but an even cooler wrinkle was the addition of Kim’s twin sister Kelley to the lineup.

The Breeders history has been patchy - there have been breaks here and there for both personal and professional reasons - but right now, in the Spring of 2008, they’ve just released a brand-new album called Mountain Battles - and it’s a worthy addition to their canon.

They were scheduled to play the El Rey theater in Los Angeles this past week - but because a stipulation of their contract with the Coachella people, the show was moved to the Glass House in Pomona. Here’s a brief video of Kim singing “Overglazed” (as usual, sorry about my crappy camera work).

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And here’s an audio clip I recorded at the show of the Deal sisters duetting on “Here No More”

 

 Here No More - Live in Pomona [2:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup