Some Raveonettes And A Lil Windy City

Last Saturday I made my way out to the Henry Fonda Music Box in Hollywood with Josh to see one of my favorite bands:

The Raveonettes! They do 50's and 60's style music - but are a Danish rock band. Yes, it's that awesome.

You may remember the last post I did on them in 2008, I've seen them 3 times since I've moved to LA and every show has been great.
They did a range of music from their last several albums...
And sounded freaking amazing.
Oh, their lighting rocks too. :)
I LLOVEEEEEEE YOU SHAROONNNNNNNNN!
She's my lil Swedish Angel. XO
Josh and I had a blast!

I also have to give a special blog shout out to my Chicago BFF's Jenn & Marv:


They took a break from the 15 degree weather to come rough it out in socal, where it was a balmy 65 upon landing. Yes, please shed a tear for them. I met up with them Thursday night at the Custom Hotel in Westchester:
Which is surprisingly 'hip', or as the kids say, fierce! It was great seeing them as we haven't hung out since Julie and Vince's wedding! Oh and Vince looks kinda surprised here because we spiked his drink. Drunk drugged driving is always good for a laugh, kids!

An Evening With The Raveonettes

I had the pleasure of seeing The Raveonettes at The El Rey Theater last Tuesday... and they put on SUCH a great show!

I met Matt there and we got there pretty early - well 7:30 for an 8:00 show - and we got to stand right in FRONT of the stage! It was the closest I've ever been at a concert and it was SO fun!

But every positive has to have a negative. This negative was the opening band, Be Your Own Pet.
Now coming out they looked cool. They were a bunch of 19 year old rockers who had been performing for 3 years. They had the retro-hip cool, a punky blonde singer, etc. It seemed like a recipe for success.

Then the music started. It was so loud I think I leaked a little brain fluid. Then it sorta sounded like everyone was screaming all at once while getting kicked in the balls.

And I'm pretty sure EVERYONE had balls-that-were-being-kicked.
I think she has like 50 balls. That were being kicked. Even the guitars had balls, and yes, the guitars were kicked. HARD.
Halfway through the performance, I started thinking of alternate titles for them.
"Ball Stompers"
"My nuts hurt worse then your ears"
"I wish your head pain"
"You'll feel this in the morning"None of them really stuck. I was kind of fond of "Ear Bleeding Symphony", but then something miraculous happened. The singer started shaking, tucked into a Sonic The Hedgehog style pose, and proceeded to run about the stage, slamming into the guys and knocking the microphone post over on my head (I caught it, so no lawsuit). Kinda like a blonde Tasmanian Devil.

She then did something.... amazing.
She pulled her Go**amn hair out.
Yeah, I know, but look at the photo.

Closer!
CLOSER!


YES people, I sh** you not, she pulled her freaking hair out LIVE on stage. It was something to behold.

After the ball-stomping-screeching stopped, the girl behind me in the crowd tapped me on the shoulder politely and said...
"Uhm... did... did she just pull her hair out?"
I can't make this stuff up.

So here's a big shout out to Be Your Own Pet. I will suffer for 30 minutes of your excruciatingly bad 'music' if you pull your hair out, anytime, any place. Now granted, I have no musical talent of any form, but even I would draw the line and ripping follicles for a show. You my peeps!

OK, after they swept the hair up (not kidding) they set up for my favorite Danish 50's/60's Americana style music band: THE RAVEONETTES!!!!!!!!
And Lordy Lordy I was so close!
So close I saw the whole set list! I was like....
"Hey Sune... how about Love In A Trashcan? Oh wait... that's in 2 songs. Cool man, you do your thing."
Hey SDG (Superhot Drummer Girl) - what'd those drums do to you?
Hey SDG - ever play Rock Band?
Sharin looks like Jesus here. Hi baby Jeebus!
"We are so close! WOO!"
Matt's now a fan of The Raveonettes! Altho I think he secretly liked Ear Bleeding Hair Assassination better. OMG I just named them! Yay!
They did a fantastic set of songs, some new, some old, all the hits.
I loved the lighting too... but really, being close enough to be sweat upon was the kicker.
But I think Sharin sweats rainbows. Of gold.....
KIDDING! Platinum!
With puppies and kittens!
Me = in heaven! See, the Extendo-Arm(TM) comes in even handier in concerts!
"Look ma, no zoom needed!"

I have to confess, I did get an accidental Stalker Eyes(TM). I know what you are thinking - was Angela there? Sadly, my babygirl was at home - however, Manuel, the papparazzi who was snapping photos, was apparently a wee bit angry I was upstaging his camera skillz...
"I KEEEELL YOUUUUU WITH YOUR DIRRRTTYYY EXTENDED-ARMO, BLANCO NINO!"
Seriously, look at that expression! I'm surprised I made it home in one piece!

I did take a few videos, check this one out "Here Comes Mary". I highly recommend going to their website and buying their music if you like it! They were incredible live and I had a blast!



Well, it's all in a night's ... work.

LA ROCKS!

Gas driving to Hollywood: $15

Italian Panini’s with friends over dinner: $17

The Raveonettes tickets: $18.50

Pictures with The Raveonettes and Ryan Gosling: PRICELESS

I met up with Kirst & Jules tonight for The Raveonettes concert in Silver Lake/Echo Park (North Hollywood) and had a great time! It was a really fun evening. As we were walking to the restaruant I saw Sune and Sharon, the duo known as the Raveonettes! They were filming segments for a video of some kind. I waited in between takes and asked them for a photo and they were super nice! They then asked me if I was OK with being on their video and taped me getting a photo with them! LOL Too cool!

The normal photo... and the on video photo! LOL Thanks to Kirsten for being my official photographer!

We had a good dinner at a nearby Italian place and then got to the club. The opening bands sucked - the first one I nicknamed Red Hair Scratch and Vomit Face, as that's pretty much what they sounded like. The 2nd band was decent, but the mixing at the club sort of sucked.

Of course, we amused ourselves with my crazy Extendo-Arm and MySpace style photos.
JULES!
KIRST!

The Trifecta!JULES and KIRST!

Small place!
They put on a pretty good show even though the music sounded a little off at times - I blame the mixing in the back, though. Their vocals were fantastic.


So during one of the earlier bands I saw someone that looked super familiar.... it was Ryan Gosling! I waited till the end of the show as not to bother him/cause a mob scene, and asked him for a photo. He was super cool about it and friendly to everyone asking... Fun! Once again Kirsten provided Papparazzi service, and I must say she seems to have an unholy gift with the camera...
So, yeah, LA is pretty fun. :)