Los Angeles is sooo IN right now!

Last night, yours truly had the opportunity to rock out at the Troubadour's Albert Hammond Jr. show and lemme just say, they tore the ROOF off the place!

I first saw Albert Hammond Jr on his own when he played the night after Halloween in Philadelphia at the Khyber, a SMALL Philadelphia nightclub famous for getting major acts to play a small room and selling out in a heartbeat. Fortunately (for me), they weren't allowed to put "of the Strokes" on any of the flyers or artwork. Most people know of Jules because indie mags with female writers felt compelled to comment on his boyish good looks and they know Fab's name because of his highly publicized relationship with Drew Barrymore, but Albert Hammond Jr flew below the radar in the mainstream as the rhythm guitarist with the sweet smile. That is all about to change though, following the March 6th release of his new record, Yours to Keep. It was originally released on Rough Trade in the UK (same as our own Scissors for Lefty) and I was lucky enough to get my grubby little mitts on a SIGNED copy at the show in Philly (dork, I know). But most have been met with only the option of purchasing a copy of the Limited Edition EP at the shows:
1. "101"
2. "In Transit"
3. "101" (Alternate Version)
4. "101" video (Directed by Patrick Daughters)
which of course I got (because I'm sick) and haven't yet opened, y'know like your grandma used to do with Cabbage Patch Kids she bought? Ok... like MY grandma used to do with Cabbage Patch Kids she bought.

I was one of the few people in the room who knew all the words to the songs (which if you've been reading this blog, you now understand how AHJ makes it on nearly all "office music" lists. Also, since the latest Strokes record is already permanently burned into my brain, this is the latest offering from at least ONE of them (although Jules sings back-up on "Scared" which you CAN hear if you pretend Sean Lennon ISN'T singing...) I have been glued to it since I got ahold of it.

Har Mar Superstar was the opener. I don't think L.A. is ready for him yet, but he took me right back to NYC where I saw him first. Good to see you again, Sean.

The Troubadour is a cool venue. There's not a bad spot to stand in the house and it boasts history, stellar lighting, an organized staff and decent sound. We'll all be in the house on the 28th of Feb for the Scissors for Lefty show with the French Kicks!















Songs heard in the office today included:



Ciao!
CR

Adventures at The Troubadour

So I was lucky enough to squeeze in to the sold out Irving and Silversun Pickups show last night, as a "crew member" (a title made laughable by my inability to describe Irving's van to the doorman, as well as my referral to Brent's cymbal case as 'this thing'). But oh well. I had to show up at The Troubadour at 5pm, and then ended up staying till about 1 am, so it was quite an experience.



Let me just say that SSPU is one of my favorite bands so I was a little star-struck. (Okay, I was a nerd.) But they are pretty damn nice and good friends with Irving, so about an hour in, I was setting up merch right next to their drummer Christopher, and everything was cool.

Until, that is, I discovered that the merch bin Irving had given me to set up was completely devoid of t-shirts. So I asked the band and they said "Oh yeah, they're in the van, we'll get 'em later." After which I wandered off to eat (good ole Hamburger Haven), and returned to find members of both bands watching a basketball game in the front bar. A little while later, everyone was up in the dressing room near the sound booth, smoking up a storm (under the NO SMOKING sign), and struggling with the bottle opener, which was hooked to the wall at a strange angle. (Brian from SSPU stood there and mocked me while I tried to get it to work.) Tigers Can Bite You showed up and chatted and ate the comp snacks - carrots and celery and dip. TCBY's Byron and Irving's Aaron discussed whether or not carrots do improve your eyesight or if it was all a myth, perpetrated by the government during WWII. (I'm still on the fence.)

Then the doors were opened and TCBY went on, so I rushed down to keep an eye on Irving's merch table. Only to realize they still had no shirts. The band was waiting on Brent and Alex to return, assuming one of them had the keys. Of course, one girl came immediately up to Irving's table and asked what size shirts we had. I told her none. Just kidding, I asked her to please, please come back later! In no time, Tigers were done and Brent had returned, with every intention of going to the van for the t-shirts. As far as I know.

But then Irving had to set up, because they were on next. A phone call to Brent proved he never made it to the van - he was onstage already, setting up drums. So I ran out and climbed up on the side of the stage to ask Aaron for the keys, to get the shirts myself. At which point, he started to laugh and said he was sorry, but they had lost the keys. !!?@#

Musicians, man.

So Irving went on! It was "If You Say Jump, I Will Say No", one of my favorites! ...But there was no sound from the keyboards. Sound guys scrambled up onstage to help Aaron while the band carried on without him. Steven decided to start singing the keyboard melody into the mike, which the crowd loved. It was definitely an enthusiastic crowd, so the show turned out to be a lot of fun. People who didn't even know Irving swarmed the merch table and asked "Is this the band on now? Okay, let me get the cd." The t-shirt girl returned and I sold her the display. (Thank god she was a medium.)

Silversun Pickups were next and they are truly stars these days. Steven wandered onstage about halfway through the set and started playing around on the synthesizer with Joseph, which the crowd also loved. Brian pulled a girl up onstage to tell jokes, which the crowd didn't love. (She was bad.) The sound was pretty fantastic the whole night so cheers for The Troubadour! Luckily, someone found Irving's van keys at the end of the night (otherwise they might've had to live there.) I got a free SSPU shirt from Christopher (score!) and went home with ears buzzing.

I've been yawning a lot today.