photo fun friday

From the “Paper Heart” Video Shoot (photos taken by Orly Olivier)…

In Some Strange Video Daze

So, it’s Monday – February 25^th – and the Black Kites just finished shooting our first video.

 The video, however, isn’t finished.

I think we’ll have to wait a month or so to see the final product. There’s a little bit of post-production special effect type stuff going on, as well as the all important editing process – but from what I saw during the actual filming part – we’re in good hands. 

It was definitely a long weekend though, starting on Saturday around 6 pm – filming some dinner party house party band playing in the living room scenes at Alan’s next door neighbor’s house. Alan and Nicki had switched out a lot of the neighbor’s interiors with odds and ends from Alan’s place – there were Christmas lights strung out along the walls, and empty bottles of wine and candles all about.   

So we had about 25 or so extras being the party people – Shelley and Amy included, and they were wonderful – rocking out and dancing – or kinda not rocking and just swaying – depending on the shot – everyone in the band brought a couple of friends – and then some other random “extras” to fill the place out – some of them possibly playing the part of “party goer” a little too well – taking full advantage of the beer and wine we had supplied… easy there youngsters, that ain’t grape juice….   

 

But it’ll all come out great in the end, right?  

So on top of the cast, and the band, there were about 9 or 10 people on the crew – so it got a little crowded at times, but amazingly everything seemed to move pretty smoothly – we definitely were a bit off schedule, but considering some video shoot horror stories I’ve heard – we didn’t too badly at all.  

It was definitely great working with Director Michael Grodner (http://www.myspace.com/rondohatton) and Justin Coloma as the Director of Photography (http://www.myspace.com/bornonhalloween)   – they definitely knew what they were doing, they knew what they wanted us to do – and they worked hard, and made us feel good about working with them – so that was great.

We had wardrobe and make-up, the Producer was on hand, there were assistants to help everyone out and people to take care of the equipment, and people to take care of the talent. And everyone worked together to make it all go as smooth as possible.   

We didn’t get out of there until about 1 am on Saturday – I was feeling like I’d been hit by a bus, and even though we didn’t really play that hard – just kind of lightly playing along to the song – over and over again – and then again some more – it’s still pretty draining. It’s almost harder to look like you are totally playing hard as opposed to actually playing hard.

Shelley and Amy decided we should go to the Brite Spot – so we took off into the suddenly rain filled early morning streets while the camera filmed the last of the dinner party scenes – and had slightly Seattle reminiscent breakfast before heading home to crash – and crash we did – 

 Sunday hits, and I’m still feeling pretty under the weather – which is pretty bad outside, and I make it out and down to Union Station to meet Alan at 4pm.

Most of the filming on Sunday was Evelyn and “the Angel” – Very “Wings Of Desire” touched – but hopefully it will come across as more of a nice artistically respectful tip of the hat to rather than an obvious influence. 

So we had a few shots of Evelyn floating down the hallway, floating up in front of a green screen – curious how that will come out – and a couple of shots of sparse party goers – moving from the neighbor’s house into Alan’s for a change of scenery – with a quick Pizza run to Masa to provide some sustenance for the cast and crew – Saturday’s meal was comprised mainly of chips and pretzels for most of us – and it’s eat and film and nibble and film and have a cigarette and film and then it’s getting close to 11 –

so we caravan in five or six cars down to the empty streets and bridge for the last shots to be filmed – thankfully the rain that was hitting earlier has long since vanished, and the clouds and slight puddles on the street only serve to add to the look of the scene – a nice unplanned touch thanks to the weather. 

Evelyn and the Angel on the bridge, exchanging wings, or something – this is where Alan and Nicki and I sat in Nicki’s car against the cold, listening to music and waiting for our turn in front of the camera outside. 

 It was around midnight, the streets were empty, except for the random truck driving into it’s warehouse home, and right beside the bridge we set up in the middle of the street, single shots on each of us – and it was pretty surreal – playing drums by myself in the middle of downtown LA at midnight.

Then Nicki and her bass, Alan and his guitar… 

And then we’re done – waiting for some animated snow to fall over us, waiting for the wings to appear on film, waiting for the song to come together after being broken up into a hundred moving visual digital snapshots.

And we wait to see if we will see what we heard.  

scene & heard

It’s Friday almost February, and I am …

tired & hungry. Fortunately, not hungover. I was good last night –

playing in the rain –

well, not actually in the rain, but last night, here in currently really rainy Los Angeles, i left work a bit early to head down and meet Nicky at Union Station – then to the practice space and load equipment – and head across town through slow freeways and bad drivers and sheets of downpour – to The Scene Bar in Glendale.

It was – Oh So Seattle…

Not just because there we were at about 8:30 on a thursday night loading equipment into a small bar in the pouring rain, but also because the small bar had that kinda Seattle Dive Bar feeling, it was empty, kinda dirty neon red glow over everything, a photo booth, a pool table, and Pabst on Tap.

so we loaded in, and i sat alone at the bar, the rain pouring down outside, a pint of PBR in front of me, and waited for (hopefully) some people to show up.

we were up first, at about 9:30, followed by Seattle’s Feral Children – see? Seattle. I blame them for the Northwest mood i was in. Them and the fact it was a KEXP Presents show – those radio fingers stretch so far… and then they were to be followed by the Transmissions and Kettle. Oh what a night.

we were all kind of -whatever- about the show – looking at it as a practice for the upcoming weekend spaceland gig – but we decided to just make the best of it and have fun.

Some familiar faces and friends started to show up, and i am so appreciative of my friends who actually braved the weather and came to show their support. Shelley, RJ, Amy & Ben… my Peeps! Yay!

Woon from Filthy Little Angels was there too – his trip from England coinciding with our show – and he seemed to enjoy himself – and our performance – and while we were all up there, just playing happily – slightly loose, but with good energy and in good spirits – our audience were getting more and more into it – we had some great comments – the sound was better than ever – the vocals were working and balanced and the bass was hot – “Haven’t seen a bass player play so much like Bernard Sumner in ages” Ben said. “Your hair looks really good.” – Amy said.

 so it was worth it – a small but enthusiastic crowd is better than a large apathetic crowd.

so – onwards to Spaceland.

crocodiles and christmas

So, heading ever closer to that 2008. time to start wrapping up the year and getting ready to start again. It’s sort of predictable, but sometimes you just can’t help it. So – some endings before the begins.First off, I just want to send holiday hopes and good new year wishes to all those formerly of seattle’s Crocodile Café.who knows – it’s possible it may open again, but it won’t be the same. The Crocodile Cafe has closed it’s doors, and that… well… sucks. I know i don’t live in Seattle anymore, but 10 years of my life were spent in that town, and so many of those nights were spent at the Crocodile. On the stage, in the bar, in the cafe, eating, drinking, listening to music, and playing music. Meeting new friends, meeting old friends…so many great memories. even a couple of bad memories – but that makes the whole thing even better. 

More on this later – because it kills me.

I would have loved to go back to Seattle with my band and hit that Crocodile stage again… 

I had so many good times playing there with Black NIte Crash. Doing those “hate ’em but love ’em” tribute nights, rockstar karaokes, birthday parties, weddings. I played DJ there. I have a nice scar on my chin from there. I have nights i have no idea how the hell i made it home from there. i have heartaches and heartbreaks there. bartender crushes and rockstar lushes, and images of standing and watching so many bands there… 

i’m glad, in some way, i was part of that history.

Missing the Crocodile.And now I’m in LA – where Christmas almost feels wrong. It’s still good and fun, and it’s great getting some time off work and seeing friends and giving and getting presents, and eating good food… but after decades of living in places where it would get  cold and snowy in the winter, where the frost would stain the windows and the fireplaces would be lit and sending smoke scents off into the winter’s night air, it just seems slightly lacking here – slightly out of place, slightly forced.

The palm trees are all decorated with lights. People are shopping for their holiday treats in shorts and sandals. There are big blow-up Santa shapes and polar bears and penguins in front lawns beside flowering plants and cacti. People have Christmas trees inside and lights on the houses, and it’s 70 degrees outside. Granted, it gets a little colder at night, but still – something just doesn’t quite feel right in this holiday here.

 Another thing that just really annoys me is how people get so offended when you say merry Christmas. I mean – I’m not religious, but it doesn’t matter – it shouldn’t matter. I don’t get all bent out of shape when people say happy 4^th of july to me, even though I’m Canadian. Do people get upset if they aren’t irish and people say happy st patrick’s day? I know plenty of people who aren’t of Mexican descent who still have a few drinks for cino de mayo, and what about easter? Easter is about bunnies and eggs, and Christmas is about santa and pine trees. Sure – you got some religious items coming out for the December 25^th celebration, but that’s fine – I don’t get upset if someone has some jesus display going where there should be a snowman and a red nosed reindeer. Just accept the fact that people are different, and deal with it. You don’t have to celebrate Christmas, but why be upset if other people do?

 So – I rant – but that’s ok. It’s just annoying. What else to go over before hitting the next year…

Friday the 21^st, Shelley and I went to the Arclight to see Sweeny Todd. Brilliant. Tim Burton back on top. Johnny Depp singing – not badly, either. Lots of Blood, great costumes, brilliant story. I don’t think it’s a great Christmas movie for everyone, but for us – it was a definite holiday treat. Then a late night dinner at Eat… and off to sleep.

Saturday was running errands and then off to Shelley’s aunt’s house for a family xmas gathering. It was Christmas – it was family – you know the deal.

Sunday Shelley did a little work at her side job, then we Alan came over, we had a little moscato and then off to the Valley Inn for some old school style holiday dining.

Monday, off work and relaxing. Bob’s Big Boy for lunch, Sushi for dinner, Ghost Rider on TV. Not the best Marvel movie ever, but definitely better than I expected it to be. But then again, I’m a sucker for them comic book movies.

Tuesday the 25th– we call it Christmas. You can call it whatever you like, and I won’t be offended. We opened some presents and drank some sparkling wine and went out for a good breakfast at Sitton’s. then later it was off to Tina and Nathan’s for their friend and family holiday get together. Food and drinks and conversation and crazy kids running around… it was good, but I’m glad it wasn’t at our house. I did, however, eat a lot. But that’s part of the holidays, yeah? Then we said goodbye and left – and stopped off at Solley’s to pick up a little dessert, ‘cause our dessert at T&N’s was a big bowl of Juk. Which was amazing and good and one of the best parts of going over there for Christmas – it’s a Korean dish – a sort of cream of pine nut porridge – and it’s homemade in tina’s kitchen by her uncle every year… So good.

But anyhows – we wanted something a little more traditionally sweet after – so we stopped by the deli for a little Hungarian nut cake and a brownie, and then curled up to watch 3:10 to Yuma, the dogs all warm in their beds, the Christmas tree lit, and it was good.

Now it’s Wednesday. Back at work – and thankfully, the weekend is that much closer. 

not quite a blues explosion

so, another weekend in the big city has passed by – and we’re into a very warm november. not that i mind, i just find it a bit strange and disconcerting, especially being used to those colder northwest winters. anyhows, this ain’t no weather report, so here goes the weekend…

 First up, Friday the 9th. After work, Shelley and I decided to dine at the Valley Inn. A Sherman Oaks old school restaurant that has been around since 1947, and was also referenced in the movie Valley Girl. Can’t beat those Valley Girl reference points for a good time. The food was fantastic, and the martinis were great. We also had a celebrity sighting – seated a couple of tables away and being really loud and obnoxious was a sort of demented Robert Goulet looking older man holding court with stories about celebrities that we really didn’t care about. Turns out it was the “Gossip King” of LA – Mike Walker, national enquirer writer and howard stern guest. figures.

But yeah, the food was great, and the waiter said he hoped we would come back, as we were “a breath of fresh air”.

Saturday – November 10th. We relax most of the day, getting ready for a busy evening. First up, we head off to the Corey Helford Gallery for the opening of Natalia Fabia’s art show, “Hooker Safari: A Glamorous Jungle Pageant”. She’s friends with Amy, who is also the subject of a couple of the paintings, so it was pretty interesting seeing one of your friends on display on the walls of a hip gallery. We hung out with Amy for a bit, chatted with the artist and other friends and art-fans, had a couple of drinks, and then left for a late dinner at the Edendale Grill. The art show was really nicely put together. Good attention to detail, good framing, and even though the artist has been described (by Supertouch.blog) as “the lowbrow Paris Hilton”, her paintings were really good. solid and shifting, good use of color, and interesting themes coming through. Sorta “Glam Fashion goes to Africa”.

 The Edendale. Silverlake bound. Great food. really. The building has been around since 1924, when it was a fire station, and the surrounding area was known as Edendale, and before Hollywood became the big movie making name, it was Edendale that housed all the original studios, filming the early Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd films, Laurel & Hardy, movies from D. W. Griffith, Theda Bara’s Cleopatra, and Frank Capra. As well, around the corner from the restaurant was the location of the first Walt Disney Studios, where Mickey Mouse was created. That explains why the interior of the restaurant is decorated with great old photos of Walt Disney, Charlie Chaplin, and other old-time greats. An enjoyable meal, and friendly service, and a place that is definitely worth a few return visits. especially for the Cioppino. Shelley will definitely confirm that…

Interestingly enough, it turns out that we had just missed Jon Spencer and his entourage dining there by a couple of hours – but we didn’t really mind, ’cause as soon as we were done, we headed off to the Echo to catch Jon Spencer live, in his Heavy Trash incarnation. We got to the Echo just in time to catch the last couple of songs from Jail Weddings. A nine (or maybe 10) person band from L.A. that comes across like a soul groove New York flapper gangster lounge troupe from the 1940’s. or somewhere thereabouts. Slightly confusing, but interesting to note that frontman Gabe Hart was the head of the now gone garage band The Starvations. Garage going to the way-back machine. Then comes band # 2. Powersolo. A trio from Denmark that come out swingin’ and singin’ and bowl us over, crack us up, get us bouncing and grinning and having fun. Shelley compares them to a Hillbilly Eagles of Death Metal, and that about sums it up, although there are a couple of other great moments, like the Hillbilly Beastie Boys song, and the throw down side-splittin garage rock countryscat. Perfect. The crowd was pretty wound up rockabilly and hipster pompadour, and fairly crowded.

Jon Spencer wandered out a few times, stood right beside us, behind us – probably checking out the sound of the room – and then again after a costume change.  I was just excited to see him on stage again, even though it wasn’t gonna be no Blues Explosion. I was also excited to see his partner  – Matt Verta Ray. The man from Madder Rose, Parker & Lily, and of course, the awesome Speedball Baby. They hit the stage, with the Powersolo doing double time as the back up band, crazy singer man swithching to stand up bass – and throwing in some nice punk rock-a-billy twists and turns as he pounded away. The band was good, Jon Spencer hammed it up, and threw it down, though not quite as convincing as i’ve seen in the past. While it was nice to see him on such a small stage, it seemed to me that it was too small. He wanted to explode, but couldn’t quite find the room. Matt took a quieter role and just rocked out to the side, leaving Mr. Spencer with more room to bounce up and down. The in-between stories ended up being a little too long, which was a bit annoying, like buzzkill, and having been at an art opening and a big dinner beforehand, Shelley and I kinda lost momentum and slid out before the end of the show. And then Saturday is over.

That’s pretty much it this time around… Sunday was quiet – with a haircut from Amy, a little band practice, and catching up on episodes of Bones, Monday was supposed to be work, but the power was out – so – we ran errands, and watched more TV, and relaxed. which is very nice to do when you would normally be at work, which is where I am now – so…. back to it i go.

black kite echo

so, it was friday night in Los Angeles. the band meets up at the practice space, and heads down to the echo to squeeze in a little soundcheck before the show. Redd Kross is playing pretty much right around the corner at the Echoplex, so that’s probably where most of the crowd will be, but we got Club Underground behind us, and the Mezzanine Owls headlining, so i’m sure we’ll get a few silverlake hipsters and indie pop kids. I’m not sure if they’ll like us or not…. that’s my problem with being in a band – it’s so hard to hear us. I can stand in the audience and listen to bands play, and write about the show, and have a good time, or not, but with my band – i’m always on the other side of the music – so i just do the best i can and hope it translates well as it rolls off stage and hits the audience.

and you can’t always tell from listening to what other people say – how many friends come to see your band and tell you how bad it was. it’s always “great show” “you guys sounded great” “that was great” and all that.

so we started playing somewhere next to 10:30, and the place was pretty empty, but the DJs had been playing some pretty good music beforehand, so i was happy. Shelley and Amy were there, so i was happier, and a couple of Cape Cods (or Vodka Cranberry….) made everything just flow nice ‘n’ smooth. we played a short set, 6 songs, with 2 of them being brand new to the stage, and when we finished the crowd had filled out and looked pretty good to me.

as far as i could tell, we played with good energy and we enjoyed ourselves, and that translates well. i did, however, drop a few more drumsticks than usual, partly because i was playing a new kit, and wasn’t completely familiar with the quick onstage set-up, but also because i was trying to throw in a few more spinning stick moves to impress Shelley… ah well….

the Mezzanine Owls came on a little bit later, and they played a fine set. If our sound in the audience was anything like their sound – i shouldn’t worry. Soundman did good. I like them Owls. nice mellow waves and britpoppy pout enveloped in bites of noise and rock. I wrote a good review of their CD for an online magazine called The Red Alert, and they hold up pretty well against the recorded version in a live setting. I think for us Black Kites, we are almost a different animal on stage… almost.

The studio captures us tight and clean and straightforward, with more attention paid to floating sounds and surrounding atmospherics, while on stage we get a different energy going, more rough around the edges. Loose and rolling through the songs with noise and distortion and big grins behind the drumkit.

 so yeah, black kites at the Echo. live show number 4. i think just 2 more this year, and then we enter 2008. the year of the kite…. ?

we’ll see.

riyl jamc & brmc. qotsa tba. lol. =-)

ok – another night down, another show crossed off the list. one more to go, then we can refresh and get some new ones… like possibly the soulsavers. we’ll see. but after next monday, the next time i’ll be listening to live music, i’ll be playing it – at The Echo… but that’s a blogpost for a later time. like next week.

 anyhows, we covered P. J. Harvey and the Dashboard last time – next time it’ll be the Queens of the Stone Age, and right now it’s JAMC with openers BRMC. They played last night at the Wiltern – which is another fabulous place to sit and watch a show. i think i’m getting too old for the standing on the floor in a big crowd for hours.

 so – yes. We missed opener Evan Dando – but really, that’s just fine with me. i mean – he ain’t no Bill Janovitz. but we arrived in time for band number 2, so after getting a cocktail and wandering through the slightly alt.goth crowd up to the mezzanine, we found our seats and pretty quickly that was followed by the dimming of the lights and the beginning of the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

this band, i have seen before. i think going on ten times now, and i’ve seen them play great shows, horrible shows, and shows they say they never played. the very first time i saw them was actually in a theatre in Seattle that was very similar to the Wiltern, and there they opened for the Waterboys. That show was very similar to this one, in terms of BRMC performance, though back then all the material was new to my ears, and they were only pulling from the self-titled album. That show saved my life, back in 2000, made me realize what had happened to my rock ‘n’ roll, ’cause i was wondering.  I think that JAMC did the same thing when i first heard them back in 1985. Definitely a turning point – but for me personally – Darklands was the album that I fell in love with. 1987. That was where the whole Jesus & Mary Chain sound really sunk into and through me. 20 years later – “20 Years!!!” – I actually see the band live for the first time. Different line-up, of course, but it was them, and when Jim Reid started singing “Darklands” – they had already done “Happy When It Rains” by that point – I almost felt a tear slide down my face.  But back to the Black Rebelers…

They avoided falling into too much of an acoustic down-swing, playing a couple of songs from all four albums but managing to even rock out a little with the more blues sedated songs of of Howl, “Shuffle Your Feet” as the one that stood out for me. The sound was big, the lights were low, the smoke machine was On. They played a very short set, giving up the stage politely to the Headliners. It was a near perfect set, short and sweet, with my only complaint being the big stage Wiltern version of “666 Conducer” was slightly lacking in that Led Zeppelin Drum Punch that makes me swoon when I hear it on the album.

Yes. I do always notice the drums. I’m funny like that.

 so – I tried to leave all my expectations at home, in the past, in the closet, in my record collection, in storage… i didn’t want to bring any with me, though some did sneak in. How can they not, when so many years of my life were painted with the sounds of the Jesus & Mary Chain. There are songs I love on every album, there are memories of places and people attached to every song… and then there they were – and i loved it.

It was more about remembering, nostalgia, the memories, the music. and sharing all that with Shelley who was there right beside me was fantastic. She had seen them – oh – 21 years ago – with Specimen… and that’s one of the many reasons why I love her.

I do have to mention, that again, the drummer annoyed me. not because he was bad, but because he was too good. I believe it was Loz Colbert on drums, who was in this other band – Ride. so right there you KNOW he doesn’t suck. But one of the things i loved about JAMC was the fact that they weren’t great musicians. was Bobby Gillespie a great drummer? hell no. I mean – could the Brothers Reid play their instruments really well? now – yeah – William can hold down a mean guitar riff, and they’ve got Mark Crozer doing rhythm guitar, Phil King (Lush) on Bass, and they sound really good.

I never saw them with Bobby. I never saw them with Nick Sanderson, or Ben Lurie, or a whole helluvalotta other people i admire, but now i’ve seen ’em, and I feel a lot better.

What I remember loving about the Psychocandy was that it sounded so wrong -so loud and distorted and crazy-eyed. Now the audience is full of people who are all into Lost In Translation, and probably listen to Air on their way to work. Showing up at the Wiltern to hear that “Just Like Honey” song – so – good for the band, but i would’ve liked to have managed to see them when they were noisy and horrible. I think the one that did it for me was “Nine Million Rainy Days” – i hear that song in my head so perfectly, every snare drum hit resonating in my mind – that when it was played last night it was missing some of the drumming that is so important to that song in my head. so it’s nothing to do with the band, or the sound – it was just some of those expectations that snuck in.

They played a full set, and made a few mistakes, so that felt nice – seeing a slightly unpolished performance. And they brought out Miranda Lee Richards to do vocals with Jim on the aforementioned Honey song, as well as a beautiful take on “Sometimes Always”.

“Sidewalking” sounded amazing, and they played “Blues From A Gun” with fantastic tight energy. That one made me think of Seattle and playing the JAMC cover night with Black Nite Crash… Good times… (and up pops another Jesus and Mary Chain meets Ride connection…. hmmm….). Hell, every song they played i could say was a favourite… and “Reverence” made me shiver until i was right there, singing along… “I wanna Die!”

so yes. all in all – a beautiful night.