Music & Nature

Last month, I went to see We Were Promised Jetpacks again but this time at a much smaller venue - The Echo! I was pretty excited to see them in such a small place, despite it being packed and having to stand next to the bar throughout the show. This wasn't the best angle for pictures. They were super awesome as always. Highly recommend!

I've been hiking a lot more lately. So far I've been going about once a week. I'm trying to stay more active & when you get in the rut of living life in a car loving city, you are forced with getting fat, joining the gym or trying something fun. So fun it is! In the last few weeks I've gone to Runyon Canyon, Fryman Canyon, Brand Park / Verdugo Mountains & Escondido Falls. To be fair, I did Runyon in February & picked up going again in April. Runyon wasn't too bad until we hit the stairs going up. That was a killer for me. I think it's about a 3 mile hike. Fryman Canyon was just under 3 miles & has a steep incline to start, but afterwards wasn't bad. Plus, we got to walk through a fancy neighborhood at the trail end, which apparently includes George Clooney's house. I didn't take any pictures on the Fryman hike, but here are some from Runyon:

The trail at Brand Park was quite difficult because of the incline, but has really great views of Glendale, Downtown, Burbank & the valley. My friend told me it's about a 3 mile hike, but we wandered around another trail as well. We went the opposite of her normal route, and the way down is incredibly steep. My legs were shaking! We did this one when it was sprinkling out, which I welcomed.

I went to Malibu yesterday to do the Escondido Falls hike. We only went to the base of the 1st waterfall. I hear the views & 2nd waterfall are tons nicer, but it's a bit rough / dangerous getting up there. Considering my company we just kept it simple. I'd like to do it again if I'm feeling adventurous to see the other waterfalls. This hike isn't too difficult. It's not very steep but it is longer than the other ones I've been doing. It's best to do on a cool day in the Spring. You're in direct sun for a good portion of the hike, and waterfalls are always best closest to when it's been raining. This is about 4.2 miles altogether.

The other day I was downtown and in addition to finding out where all the handsome men apparently are lately, I found a couple cute objects while walking around.

I should probably make this next section a different post, but we'll see how it goes. Last year, Rocky Votolato did a Kickstarter campaign to self release his new record instead of going back to a label. It was hugely successful, gaining almost twice the funding than he set a goal for. I contributed and got the download of his new album in March and honestly, my first thought was - boring. I was a bit disappointed. "Little Spring" was by far the best song on the album and a pretty great & catchy song it is. After hearing that I expected the rest of the album to have some of the same oomph but it did not. It took me a while to come back to it, but after listening to it several times there are several exceptional songs on there. The tone is quite different in my opinion than his other albums, except maybe his very early works. It's a lot more mellow & folksy than I'm used to so like usual, I have to learn to listen to it in a different way. This happens to me from time to time where I buy an album & at first hate it, but then grows on me so much I can't believe I ever thought that way.

I was curious how his show would be. I've been going to see him play for 9 years, and he always puts on a good show, but the last couple times I saw him, at The Troubadour especially, he seemed to rush through his material. I'm not sure if it was to get more songs in, but for me picking up the pace of his songs takes away from how good they are. To my delight, he was exceptionally good on Saturday night. You could tell he was in a great mood - he sounded fantastic & he looked really happy. I think the crowd was less full than I've seen at his shows in the past (it was Cinco de Mayo) but still quite a full room. He played several new songs but really mixed up his play list. I'm pulling these off the top of my head & they certainly aren't in order, but I'm pretty sure he played these songs. I'm sure I'm missing some. Little Spring, Ghost Writer, Fool's Gold, Tinfoil Hats, Mix Tapes/Cellmates, Montana, Goldfield, Alabaster, The Night's Disguise, Suicide Medicine, Silver Trees, She Was Only In It For The Rain, Makers, Instrument

 Super moon!

I'd paint all my rainbows

I finally got to see We Were Promised Jetpacks last week at The Music Box (who renamed Henry Fonda Theatre btw?)... and I'm bummed I did not go see them at The Troubadour last time they were here b/c they are amazing. Musically speaking, they are fantastic. Everything sounded superb. They're not much for interacting with the audience and when the singer spoke, it seemed rushed & under the breath as if he were shy or trying to get that part over with. I think it's kind of funny and at the same time refreshing b/c it reminds me that not all bands have to be entertainers in the way we expect, so it's nice to go see musicians for a change. I especially loved it when they shushed the audience several times during some songs that I imagine needed a lot of concentration on their part.

And speaking of the audience... oh my god. Well, first off they were touring with two bands from the U.S., Bear Hands & Royal Bangs. I didn't love either of them, but they weren't awful. Bear Hands were pretty interesting. I could imagine dancing to them at some party where there is a lot of PBR. Royal Bangs seemed kind of boring to me. Their songs seemed like they didn't know what they wanted to be. Both of them seemed to have songs that just went on & on without much break up so maybe that's why I didn't like them much. I'm a big fan of ups & downs and contrasts... and apparently repetition.

For the first couple bands we sat in a booth on the side. I haven't been to this theater in a long time so it's been redecorated a bit. There are now booths lining both sides of the ground floor & the walls are now completely covered in large stencils of art replicas. It's still a beautiful theater. The booths on one side of the theater were reserved for people with balcony tickets... and the balcony & roof were closed this night - also a bummer and also really weird. I don't understand this new 9pm show start time. I mean WWPJ didn't come on until 11pm. Holy moly. When did this start happening?

So back to the audience. We are sitting down & immediately start regretting our choice b/c an obnoxious human being is chatting away with his wife & friends about all sorts of things but mostly about asking permission to marry his wife from her dad. I'm sure you know the type of person... the one that just talks non-stop, is really loud & happy and thinks he's the funniest person on earth. I imagine that sounds like a great person but having to listen to the content of his conversation promises he's not.

For WWPJ, we moved down to the floor, which I guess wasn't sold out, but there were a lot of people there. Luckily I was still very close to the front without having to be shoved up against someone else. The show was being filmed for something I have yet to figure out, and so we were behind a cameraman for the most part. Then there were the metal boys. The one dude was wasted & his friend was constantly trying to hold him up or prevent him from falling into people, but at the same time must also have been on some drugs b/c he was dancing around & started pulling out some hardcore music moves and just acted like a total dumbass for the whole show. As my friend so accurately described, he stomped like a bull then bowed violently. Considering the music, it didn't make much sense but it's awesome he was having fun. Until, he just stopped caring about the people around him & one guy specifically told him to stay away from him, then he took that as an invitation to get in that guy's face & be his glue, and on top of that, brought in a gigantic man who should be a bouncer or someone from WWE to help annoy this guy who is just trying to enjoy a concert with his girl. *ASSHOLES*

I wouldn't think drunk people moshing around like idiots would be weird at a show except it makes no sense with the music that's actually being played. I don't know. I just want to go to a concert & have an environment that brings the audience together, not one that distracts me from having a good time. Also, security confiscated my gum. At 34 years old, this is pretty insulting. Dear Los Angeles, I promise I won't stick gum on your lovely theaters.

So all bitching aside, I did have a really good time. I hope they come back to town soon. I didn't really take many pictures b/c I was enjoying the show but at the point I did take a few, I said to my friend how the lighting was really good. Come to find out, one of the band members designed the lighting for the show. Good job. They just released a new video a few weeks ago, and it's pretty damn good.

"Human Error"


And this one is an acoustic version of "Short Bursts" which Heather may like b/c they use a Glockenspiel and they're Scottish. :)



wewerepromisedjetpacks.com
www.bearhandsband.com
www.royalbangs.com

That's all she is, new ways to wear old clothes.

I finally got the 2 rolls of film developed from my Diana camera. They both have a scratch all the way across the film. Grumble grumble... Heather wants me to do a scratch test to see if it's from my camera or the lab. I really hope the lab just fucked up b/c I don't want to figure out how to fix the camera. I was already annoyed at the lab b/c they "forgot" to charge me for one of the rolls of film so I had to pay more when I went to pick them up & they fucked up the scans. One of my pictures didn't get scanned. And a bunch of my pictures weren't scanned properly so the image is like part of one picture part of another. Super annoying. I also would've just gone to the LA Lomography store to try them out but I had a weird B&W roll I couldn't just get done at Target or wherever, so I brought all the rolls to this pro lab I use. They couldn't adjust their machine to scan my Diana rolls to include the sprocket holes... which sucks, b/c that was half the fun. So I have them scanned like normal pictures & a couple of them came out cute but overall I'm a little disappointed. I can't wait to try out some more & maybe some better rolls of film too (not expired crap film I got for free). Here are some of the fun times...

There was a photo I liked off the B&W roll of film I had laying around. It's from when I went out to Linda Vista Hospital w/ some friends & people from Yelp for a photo day. I forgot it at the time & found it months later.

I also went to the Norton Simon Museum. I really like that place & hadn't been in years. They have a Hiroshige exhibit right now. They also own a ton of Degas, so if you like ballerinas & sculptures, you should go.

The title of the statue on the left is hilarious: Woman Taken Unawares

The Mulberry Tree by Van Gogh. It's really beautiful up close.

Jan van Bijilert - Mars Vigilant (Man in Armor Holding a Pike). He looks pretty awesome.

Pietro Anotonio Rotari - Young Girl Writing a Love Letter. She's giving a most sultry look.

I saw these crows at work one day. They were snuggling w/ each other & at first I didn't think they were real. I took my camera out a bit late, but the one on the left was resting its head on the other one.

I went downtown a few days ago & love how much stuff is reflected in the buildings there.

I was also a good girl & finally used all my birthday gift certificates. Which mostly meant spending time on itunes finding something I wanted to buy. I bought quite a few things actually but a couple bands I got I'm finding I like a lot. No Singles by Japandroids has 'Darkness on the Edge of Gastown' stuck in my head as well as 'Roll Up Your Sleeves' off of These Four Walls by We Were Promised Jetpacks.

http://www.myspace.com/japandroids
http://www.myspace.com/wewerepromisedjetpacks
http://www.nortonsimon.org/

Quiet Little Voices

I don't like the band name much but I really like this song. They'll be playing the Troubadour on the 26th.


www.myspace.com/wewerepromisedjetpacks
www.troubadour.com/events