Out with 2007
Happy New Year! It’s a fresh start, a clean slate, to become more of who you are and make the world a rockin’ place. I wrapped up my 2007 with some great shows and moments of inspiration including:
Social Distortion, the seminal punk band held its annual weeks-long run at the House of Blues, and I was lucky enough to score some tickets on a night they had Scottish all-girl band Hedron as the opener. Bringing a “grrrls can rock” attitude to warm up the crowd, these brawny lasses flirted and growled with their own punk sound and proved they could probably take ya in a bar fight. “Who’s gonna buy me a whiskey?” singer Tippi asked the crowded right before she jumped off stage and made her way to the top of the bar, never losing the microphone or a beat. Of course they struck a cord with me when they did a cover of the Clash’s “Brand New Cadillac.” These grrrls have their roots and their spirit in the right place. Find out more about them on their official web site www.thehedrons.com. (And by the way Tippi is also a CoolGrrrl writing news from the road and her hometown of Scotland! You can read her CG column HERE)
While waiting for Social D. to take the stage and rockin’ to some gool ol’ Johnny Cash, I took time to people watch. Greaser boys and retro girls worked their hoodlum look. While most probably slammed to singer Mike Ness’s rebel tunes in their teens, and have now settled into careers and kids, their appearance on this night proved that the trademark style that blends rootsy rockabilly influences and hardcore punk always looks good. Like a classic ride, it just gets cooler as it gets older.
Ness himself has proven to have matured with grace, Social D.’s 2004 release “Sex, Love and Rock ‘n’ Roll” has become one of my favorite all-time albums with reflective lyrics that demonstrate an attitude of “live before you die” and appreciate all the lovin’ and rockin’ you do along the way.
When the band finally took the stage, Ness came out with a fistful of roses, handing them to the front row before going into three acoustic songs. They then crashed into the first electric rocker that came to a skid when the entire band was offbeat. Ness stopped the song and looked at his bandmates with a scowl, “Man, we must have had too much turkey!” commenting on the Thanksgiving weekend’s timing, which drew a laugh from the crowd. The band proceeded to step on the gas and go for the next two hours filled with steel-toe stompin’ rockers that prove without a doubt, punk will never die!
Last summer I made the pilgrimage to Berlin to see where my grandmother grew up wanting to be a singer and actress in the Weimar cabaret scene of the late ‘20s. She loved the clubs and the shows of Berlin’s pre-WWII era of decadence. So when I heard a bit of Berlin cabaret was making its way to LA’s Royce Hall in the form of pop crooner Max Raabe, I had to go.
Slim as a crescent moon with slicked-back blond hair, chiseled features, and ever-dressed in a tux, Raabe has a striking presence and a voice eerily reminiscent of the period’s top crooners. He and his Palast Orchester have been drawing fans young and old by resurrecting the classic orchestra sounds of the ‘20s and ‘30s as well as cabaret spirited parodies of pop hits such as Britney Spears “Oops!…I Did It Again” and Salt ‘n Pepa’s “Let’s Talk About Sex.”
While he can make his audience swoon and dip with romance, Raabe also has some slick dry wit, knowing how to deliver a punch line with the cock of one eyebrow. He made his audience giggle with delight, even with his choppy English spoken with a thick German accent. He kept his Royce Hall performance focused strictly on between-the-wars classics from Irving Berlin to a selection from “The Threepenny Opera” and the crowd couldn’t have been more delighted. I could almost imagine my grandparents sitting with me enjoying the show.
I stopped by the West Hollywood Book Festival to check on my fellow writerly types. I sat in on panel discussions and poked around at some indie press booths. Every time I go to these festivals, I always discover something that catches my attention. This time, it was the Baby Tattoo booth that called to me with their unusual collection of colorfully illustrated books. If Marilyn Manson had kids, he’d probably pick up his bedtime stories here. I bought a copy of Gris Grimly’s “Little Jordon Ray’s Muddy Spud” for my nephew and for me, it had to be a collection of drawings by artist Ragnar, whose retro, space age bombshell drawings are so cool I want to wallpaper my house with them! This guy has to be my new favorite artist, check out his work here: www.littlecartoons.com
Well it seems wherever I go, I end up at a bar, even when I go to the theatre. That was the experience when I was drawn into the world of Finn’s Pub outside Ireland for opening night of Ray Bradbury’s “Falling Upward.” Set entirely in the well-worn, dark wood bar complete with dartboard, dusty paintings and a pair of boxing gloves hanging on the wall, the bottles are emptied out to a cast of regulars including our lead narrator “Garrity” played by Pat Harrington (of “One Day at a Time” fame.) We are taken into the antics of barfly regulars who have a moment of revelation when some tourists pass through town and their bar.
The play was created by Bradbury from a series of one-acts he wrote on his experiences while spending a year in Ireland writing Moby Dick and hanging out at the real Finn’s pub with the gang of regulars it drew. Now there’s no doubt that Ray Bradbury is a literary icon, I’ve seen him speak many times on his writings and he’s always entertaining, so it was an honor to attend the opening night of his play at Theatre West where he was in attendance celebrating his 87th Birthday, and thanked the audience for making his day. Long live his mighty pen!
I continued my adventure into the theatre zone by attending “Hair the Musical” at the MET Theater. With original Broadway producer Michael Butler at the helm, the show’s Hollywood run celebrated the 40th anniversary of the original production. From the moment we walked in the theater, flower children clad in bellbottoms, head scarves, fringed vests, and peace sign patches greeted us as they lounged around the stage and romped through the seats prior the show’s start. With musical explosions of classic songs “The Age of Aquarius,” “Let the Sun Shine In,” “Good Morning Starshine” and others, the message of life-loving youth on the verge of facing a reality of society’s oppression and their resistance to a war overseas, it was stunning how relevant the message is today. Under the capable musical direction of Christian Nesmith (son of ‘60s Monkees rocker Michael Nesmith) the show burst with life, love and music in the intimate 99-seat setting.
And finally, with the holiday shopping frenzy over, I wrote up a film that might just help you with your New Year’s Resolution to rethink the way you purchase gifts and just about anything else this year. “What Would Jesus Buy?” is a docu-comedy from producer Morgan Spurlock (of Super Size Me fame) that follows Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping as they go on a mission to exorcise the demons of over consumption and gluttonous consumerism in this country. Check out my review HERE on Yahoo! Green and look for more ideas to make this year a greener one in my regular blog contributions.
Make 2008 great,
K.
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