Results tagged “houseofblues”

Body and Soul was one the country's most regarded house music affairs. With tunes spun by a legendary trio of house DJs, each individually renowned -- Francois Kevorkian, Joe Claussell, and Danny Krivit -- Body and Soul was a day of global rhythms from disco to techno. Literally a day -- this weekly was from Sunday afternoon to Sunday evening. The trio no longer does it weekly (a few times a year in NYC,) which truly makes each occasion that much more special. The second ever Los Angeles entry into the limited Body and Soul tour diary takes place this Saturday, from 9 p.m. - 3 a.m., at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip.

        

What do you do when your female lead singer parts ways with your band and you have big gigs on already booked? No matter what, the show must go on -- and that’s exactly what West Indian Girl is doing. On Friday, the band played at L.A.’s House of Blues without the vocal stylings of former frontwoman Mariqueen Maandig; instead, Tiki Lewis filled in for the night. As they begin their rigorous hunt for a new female vocalist throughout the greater Los Angeles area, the remaining members of West Indian Girl - Amy White, Robert James, Mark Lewis and Francis Ten-- still need someone to step in for the interim.

Mike Tyson is back. His documentary, Tyson, released in April won over critics and fans alike for it's brutal honesty. Earlier this month, the "Baddest Man on the Planet" was once again on the big screen in the surprise hit of the summer movie season, The Hangover, singing a Phil Collins tune and punching Zach Galifinakis. Today, gamers will find Mike on the shelves at their local retail stores as he graces the cover of EA Sports' Fight Night Round 4 alongside the "Greatest of All Time" Muhammad Ali.

The talented soul man Raphael Saadiq headlined at the House of Blues on Monday night, and I arrived determined to dance until there were holes in my shoes. His latest The Way I See It had been on repeat in my car for most of 2008. Call it neo-Motown, retro boogie, soul revival, whatever, Saadiq had created one of the best albums of the year and I was thrilled to be able to review the show. Then I got to the box office.

If $75 is too rich for your blood to see the Wu-Tang Clan tonight at the House of Blues, and most likely it is, consider the recently relesed Wu: The Story of the Wu-Tang Clan DVD as a much cheaper alternative to getting your fix of the 36 Chambers.

I was first introduced to The Knux on a late Monday night back in June 2007. Instead of staying at home and resting up for the next work day, I decided to take Interscope up on their invitation to check out the latest addition to their roster perform at the Viper Room. That was a brilliant decision. As I said in my review of their show, "the hours of shut eye lost were worth the chance to have my eyes open to something new and fresh from a genre of music that has been putting me to sleep."

Kevin Bronson at his Buzz Bands blog reports on the next music venue to go under. "Safari Sam’s, the east Hollywood nightclub that opened in April 2006 with grand plans and big dreams, closed quietly last week." He says that the owner has been rumored to be in debt and "the club never found its niche in booking acts that would consistently fill the venue. Last week, employees got abrupt notice that the club was being shuttered."

For the second straight year, the Hip Hop Live tour, which teamed up top emcees with the instrumentation of ten plus piece band, rolled into the House of Blues. The lineup for this year's tour featured Little Brother, David Banner and Talib Kweli. Once again the band backing the three acts was the Los Angeles-based Rhythm Roots Allstars.

After over 100 calls to police, 44 arrests and a general bummer in quality of life over the last year (plus a murder last year), a West Hollywood Councilman is proposing to revoke the House of Blues Sunset Strip location's business license, according to the WeHoNews. Councilmember John Heilman introduced the motion that will be debated tonight.

           

The cradle of love was definitely rocking as I took a trip back to Sunset Blvd. circa 1984 in my DeLorean as Billy Idol opened the House Of Billy, the first of a three night stand at the House Of Blues Sunset. The 80's icon (now in his early 50's) came full force with the snarl and full fist pumping punk rock attitude that made him one of the most recognizable artists of the time.

How the hell did a fight break out last night after Three 6 Mafia's show at the House of Blues in West Hollywood? The brawl led to the crowd fleeing the building with one woman getting trampled. Have you been to this venue? Going through their security is tougher than the airport and sometimes lasts just as long.

                            

Last Friday, Denver-based Jessica Sonner (MySpace), as well as locals Holly Conlan (MySpace), Mandy Moore (MySpace), and Terra Naomi (MySpace) performed at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. Following the female quartet of singer-songwriters were Pedestrian (MySpace) and Andy Clockwise (MySpace).

By Roger Park

Nic Adler grew up at The Roxy. His father, Lou Adler, opened the club the year Nic was born. He would spend his afternoons after school at the club and grew to dislike the rock music it became so famous for spotlighting.

Big Business, Red Fang, The Cops @ Spaceland (Tho Cops reviewed on LAist, 3/20/06)

Our brain is going to explode with all the great choices tonight. From friggin' amazing jazz (see, we're not swearing) at UCLA to folk-punk sensibilities of The Hackensaw Boys at Tangier in Los Feliz (video after the jump), tonight is a bounty of gold. Also, Jim Bianco will be at Amoeba and it's the first night for Wednesday night March residencies.

Tuesdays are usually slow nights in LA for music and as bands prep to head Texas-way for SXSW, we'll probably see even fewer choices like tonight. But fewer doesn't mean worse. Mountain Goats and Jeffrey Lewis (great video below) play at the Troubadour tonight (and tomorrow), Working For A Nuclear Free City is back with another concert, this time at Cinespace (though it's a private premier party. Crash?) and LA Weekly says to head over to Glendale and check out The Scene.

Holy Fuck, A Place to Bury Strangers, In Waves @ Spaceland (Silver Lake)

Earlier this month, San Diego-based singer/songwriter Tristan Prettyman (MySpace) and G. Love & Special Sauce (MySpace) performed a two-night stint at the House of Blues in West Hollywood as part of their current tour. The duo collaborated on the song "Beautiful", from G. Love's album .

Tomorrow is the finish up the AMGEN Tour of California in Pasadena. But before hitting the old money city, they're headed towards Santa Clarita this afternoon (where Six Flags Magic Mountain has decided to stay put). From 4 to 10 p.m. tonight “Rock the Bike,” a free outdoor cycling expo and music festival, will bring together an array of people following the stage 6 finish. Various bands will be playing and headlining act, the Gin Blossoms, will be on stage around 8 p.m. (of course, if it rains, who knows what will happen, this is an outdoor event). The tour itself is aired on the cable channel, VERSUS, at 2 p.m. today and tomorrow. For more check our TV weekend listings.

More What Made Milwaukee Famous? Yes, more of that!

DJ Craze, Klever, Treasure Fingers, Villains @ Henry Fonda

For a band of two 16-year-olds and one 17-year-old, Din Caliber has a huge sound that's quite exciting. And Linda Perry, record label owner/producer (credits include Gwen Stefani, Pink, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilara), has her eye on them. The home schooled trio practices four to five nights a week for four hours and has played the House of Blues and a few shows at the Whiskey A Go Go. Tonight they play the Knitting Factory on the Main Stage. Also of note tonight is the North Mississippi Allstars who mix punk, rock and down-home blues (it's quite lovely). They'll be sharing the stage tonight with the Drive-By Truckers at the Avalon.

Sometimes Monday nights lead to tough choices. For Jax at Rock Insider, it's between The Pity Party (who we interviewed this morning) and The Henry Clay People. Luckily, both bands are playing all month. Still, there are many choices. If you like your music Folk, your drinks cheap and have never been to Joe's Great American Bar & Grill in Burbank, it's a pretty sweet place to catch music seven days a week -- tonight is Dafni.

On Friday we interviewed Jay Babcock of Arthur Magazine -- he books a series on Sunday nights at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica. More Eastwardly, Alex & Sam will play their second show of the Sunday residency spot at Tangier in Los Feliz (for all February residencies in LA, check out our guide). Last week we checked them out while others detoxed from their Super Bowl Sunday and we can say the band of eight or so musicians is an excellent way to end your weekend with. And if you're down in the Long Beach area, how about some George Clinton?

It's a quality night in Echo Park with Super Furry Animals and Holy Fuck are at the Echoplex and if you can swing it, right there at The Echo you'll find The Kooks and The Morning Benders. In Hollywood, Grammy award winning Dirty Vegas front man Steve Smith is slated to play acoustic tonight at the Hotel Cafe (but is not on the calendar anymore, so who knows).

For those who joined us last night (thank you for coming!), we witnessed many hot and bothered moments with an excellent band we've never hard before -- The Makers (we can't find their website, help). They are in residency at Seven Grand every Tuesday and we highly recommend checking them out. For tonight, first night residencies for this month happen at the Viper Room, Hotel Cafe and the Silverlake Lounge (see our Guide to February Rock Music Residencies). We're feeling a bit rustic today, so we recommend Brian Wright & the Waco Tragedies at Hotel Cafe.

It's the fifth Thursday of the month and this is your last chance to see The Airborne Toxic Event in their January Spaceland residency. KROQ and Indie 103.1 both added their song "Sometime Around Midnight" to their rotations last week and Airborne hears this is the first time in about 15 years KROQ has done this with an unsigned band (Weezer being that 15 year marker). "We also feel incredibly lucky and thankful that so many people seem to like our song. We are just a local band from Los Feliz and we would have never imagined we'd be writing an e-mail like this tonight," they wrote earlier this week.

Local singer/songwriters Meiko (MySpace) and Priscilla Ahn (MySpace) share similar qualities -- they are part-Asian (Meiko is quarter-Japanese and Ahn is half-Korean), and originally from back east (Meiko from Georgia and Ahn from Pennsylvania). So perhaps it was coincidental that both were booked in back-to-back shows last week at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood, with Meiko onstage last Wednesday and Ahn last Thursday.

Tonight's the first show of undergrounDNUOS, which is a nonprofit night of collaboration and experimentation put on by Amoeba Music and its employees as a labor of love. " It is a monthly series set at various underground spaces, art galleries, warehouses, and strange bars embracing the concepts of improvisation in any genre and any sound... it is designed to be a space for people to step outside of what they normally do and collaborate with others in an unexpected live setting."