Rodney Branigan in LA

September 08, 2003 by Eric Richardson

This week guitar-wonder Rodney Branigan makes his way back to LA for a couple shows. Wednesday night, the 10th, he'll be at The Cat Club at or around 10pm, then Saturday at midnight Rodney and the Hotel Cafe finally cross paths. I had a hand in setting up this show, and I think the Hotel is the perfect LA venue for hearing Rodney play. If you're anywhere in the LA area, this is a show to make. No questions, just be there.

tuesday night @ temple bar

September 03, 2003 by Eric Richardson

Last night I headed out to Temple Bar in Santa Monica to see PENNY. If you're here much you'll probably remember that I saw them several times over the summer. Maybe it was the fact that I knew I was going to the show, but "Extraordinary" was in my head all day yesterday. The band has their new live demo out now, and I'm excited for that. As I've said before, I think live really captures their energy a lot better than the studio work I've heard. Last night was a great show as usual. Temple Bar's a cool place, very dark and artsy. It was odd seeing them place standing up on a big stage instead of the little intimate setting of the Hotel Cafe, but that's neither here nor there.

the joy of hating comcast

August 27, 2003 by Eric Richardson

It's not cool to hate the cable co. That means that instead of just going ahead, biting the bullet, and subscribing, you instead think of things like "DirecTV is so much better of a deal." But then you realize that your apartment is very north-facing, and that could present issues since the building refuses to let people put new dishes on the roof. But then you think, "I am on the 4th floor, and that is the top floor of my building. If I were to install something attached to the balcony, but on a pole tall enough to clear the roof, that would function." And this would be true, but I'm not sure how hard that is to manage. The balcony does stick out farther than the roof overhang, so we have a clear line up from the balcony railing to the sky, and it would only be about six feet higher than the railing. I'm thinking it's doable, but I really want this confirmed.

a big world, a little world

August 25, 2003 by Eric Richardson

Last night after church Kathy and I headed over to North Hollywood to see Lee Beth Kilgore do an acoustic set. She played at a place called Kulak's Woodshed, which I'm at a bit of a loss for words to describe. I love the concept, but when I stepped inside I couldn't get over just how odd it was to have a place like this right next to the glitz of Hollywood and Los Angeles. I was talking to Lee Beth afterward and she was pretty heavy-handed criticizing her own performance, but I think it was a lot better than she gives herself credit for. She is pretty pumped about full band performances right now, though, and I agree with her that a supporting cast would really fill out the sound.

The craziest thing of the night, though, was when we were talking afterward and I happened to mention something about "Rodney". She instantly asked, "Rodney who?" When I said Rodney Branigan she lit up. She owns both his cds and really wants to meet him when he's next out here (Sep 9 - 13). It's a small world.

BTW - If you haven't seen Rodney play you HAVE to check out the video on his site. It's insane, because he's insane. He's the best guitar player I've ever seen. A musician friend saw the video the other night and wrote me back -- "o my god i just watched rodney's video and my head exploded." He does that to people.

good times

August 18, 2003 by Eric Richardson

Friday night Red Elvises were at Rusty's. I think this is the fourth time I've seen them, dating back to July 4, 2000, when I made the trek over to Summerfest in Ann Arbor, MI, to check them out after hearing them online. Since then two members of the band have left, and two new ones have replaced them, but at the core the Red Elvises are still the same fun time they've been for years. How can you go wrong when Oleg's playing that bass? (DISCLAIMER - pizza slice not present at most shows) Anyway, it was Oleg's birthday and mine was the next day, so the confluence of events required that I attend.

Rusty's is a $10 cover if you're 21+, but $12 if you're under, so I figured I'd try rationalizing to save a few bucks. As I handed the guy my ID I told him, "I'll be 21 by the time I leave." He looks at my ID for a bit, which in bright red letters says "UNDER 21 UNTIL 08-16-2003," then looks back up and me. "When's your birthday?" "Tomorrow." "$10." Score.