Another LA Halloween: What To Do (For all ages and if you’re broke, or not broke yet.)

Photo credit: West Hollywood Costume Carnaval

Halloween isn’t just for kiddies with candy! You can find lots of ghoulish things to do around Los Angeles on a budget. If you like bar crawling alongside some of the most awesome and outrageous costumes in the LA area for FREE and ALL AGES then go to West Hollywood’s Costume Carnaval on October 31^st. The over the top event will be held on Santa Monica Blvd from Doheny to La Cienega (1 mile of fun!). Think of a giant train of people going down Santa Monica Blvd dressed in leather, as sexy bumblebees, pimps, school girls, zombies, maybe a giant penis or two, or even multiple Michael Jackson’s and just about any other costume you could contrive. 

As a veteran WEHO clubber it is most wise to get a taxi to the event and show up buzzed because there will be limited amounts of street parking (as blocks of Santa Monica Blvd. will be roped off) and extremely long lines for expensive drinks. If you want the best drink specials I recommend that you pay a visit to the always poppin’ spots like La Cantina and Trunks (Google it!). The best thing about this event is that there are three main stages devoted to music and there are other mini music spaces (PODS) throughout the carnaval.

WEHO Costume Carnaval Line Up:

Vaudeville Stage (@ Almont): Vaud & The Villains (18-piece ragtag house band), Silk Sisters Aerial Acrobat duo, Lux Lacroix (burlesque artist), Karis (hula dance artist), Eve La Dare Stilt Artist.

MC: Vaud Overstreet

Illusion Stage (@ West Knoll): Christopher Wonder (illusionist), Jacqui Kreisler (contortionist), Machina Candeo (fire dancers), Robert Baxt (macabre magician), Pasha & Vladamir (body balancers), Circus Troupe.

MC: Christopher Wonder

Arcade Stage (@ San Vicente): Jeffree Star, Powder, Crush 333, Coronation of the Carnaval Queen (Ricki Lake!), Carnaval Costume Contest.

MC Momma

Music Pod DJ Talent: Zen Freeman, Mia Morretti, Daisy O’Dell, Aaron Colbert, Unification Theory (visual artist), A Graffitti Painting Installation (visual artist).

For more information please check out the West Hollywood Costume Carnaval website here!

Photo credit: HARDFEST.com

If for some reason you have money in your pocket and you want to dance all night you should go to HARD Haunted Mansion. The tickets, going at $75 per night at regular admission and $135 VIP, will sell out! So get your tickets right now and here! Haunted Mansion is going to be ALL AGES and 2 nights long, starting Friday October 30^th and ending Halloween night! Bring money (expect $10-15/beer, $5/water bottle) and bring anything else low-key. There will be lots of costumes! Think women dressed in their sexiest costumes and men to be as trippily dressed or as scantily dressed as possible. Think glow sticks, candy kids, luminescent black lights, light shows, and dilated pupils all around. If you will be partaking in shenanigans (legal and illegal) PLEASE be safe! Get a designated driver or taxi! And remember – Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect! 

After such a massive electronic letdown like HARD Summer where the party got shut down before midnight by the 5-0 and because people were acting rowdy (because some young folks can’t handle their stuff) I think that HARD Haunted Mansion will definitely bring the cosmos to this party! They’ve got a lot to prove with the LA scene again, so I hope – no, I KNOW – that headliners JUSTICE and Deadmau5 will completely hypnotize and redeem the HARD name.  The music will not disappoint! 

HARD Haunted Mansion Line Up:

Friday:

HARD Stage

8:00 Franki Chan, 9:00 Danger, 10:00 A-TRAK, 11:25 The Bloody Beetroots, 1:00 2MANYDJS, 2:35 DEADMAU5.

Expo Hall

8:00 Staccato, 9:30 Harvard Bass, 10:45 Don Rimini, 12:15 Special Guest, 1:30 MIXHELL, 2:45 Special Guest.

Saturday:

HARD Stage

8:00 CLASSIXX, 9:00 Buraka Som Sistema, 10:10 MAJOR LAZER, 11:15 BASEMENT JAXX, 12:30 JUSTICE, 1:50 Special Guest, 3:00 MODESELEKTOR.

Expo Hall

8:00 PAPARAZZI, 9:00 Shinchi Osawa, 10:30 Steve Aoki, 12:00 CROOKERS, 1:30 Special Guest, 3:00 Zombie Nation.

**I am only attending Night #2 for Haunted Mansion so check back with our site for pictures and a review from HALLOWEEN NIGHT!!!**

In the meantime check out these links!

HARD MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/hardfest

Facebook for Gary Richards: http://www.facebook.com/destructo

Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/hardfest

Photo credit: HARDFEST.com

♪ Jill Avilez & Copernicus Rex @ The Good Hurt! Tonight!

This is my really REALLY good friend Jill's band and my friend Jay's band. Go and see both of them. They're amazing performers but even greater musicians! Come see the funkiest bunch of cats this side of the universe! Do it, and you will get FUNKED. 

Musicians: Jill Avilez, Leon LeDoux, Steve Horist, Tat Yang Koh, Ben Jindra, Jay Rubottom

Flyer posted by Jill Avilez

Check out the Jill Avilez Band here!!! 

Follow Jill Avilez on Twitta! @JazzMistress

Check out Copernicus Rex here!

Rock! xo

Jalopy @ The Viper Room in October!

I've already seen them live at Genghis Cohen and they were amazing! Please go and show some support for these guys! Having a show at The Viper Room just screams that they're probably going to be playing really REALLY loudly.

Flyer art by @kidPEACE from kpeace designs

Follow Jalopy on Twitta! @JalopyMusic

Jalopy MySpace here!

♫ Jalopy & Friends - Genghis Cohen - 09/16/09

Genghis Cohen’s Fairfax 9ish pm – I walked through GCs big wooden door and made a bee line for the bar. After ordering a rum and coke from the smallest bar top on the block, I finally took in the scenery and the crowd. Maybe it just seemed crowded because everyone was trying to get a drink all at once or it was the buzz in the air surrounding Jalopy’s special guest, Samantha Ronson. While there was still enough personal space to go around, the group I was with quickly relocated to the concert room ($7 entry).

Photo by @kidPEACE from kpeace design

A fiery elegance and warm familiarity surrounded me when I walked into the room. The interior spoke volumes about the room. It was like the room said you’ve arrived to a Wednesday night music service and that we should get ready for an acoustic sermon. Jalopy & Friends began setting up instruments and took up nearly every crevice of the soap box sized stage (not the smallest, but close). The audience sipped their drinks ($6 beer on tap, $7 rum & coke, $9 scotch) and waited for the show to start.

Photo by @kidPEACE from kpeace design

Song by Song:

Luke, lead singer and guitarist, took to the mic and opened up the set with “When You Can’t Find Love”. The clear acoustic plucking and humble voice reminded me of Conor Oberst, Elliott Smith, and a little John Mayer. 


“Anne Marie” has this masculine vulnerability, but maintains this sense of honesty while being stubborn (circa Ryan Adams “When Will You Come Back Home”). 


The song “Cali Hustle” definitely got the Cali stamp of approval. I can’t find it anywhere on YouTube. So, if you’re reading this, members of Jalopy, please post footage of this song. 


During "Right Where You Begin” I noticed that there’s this really easy feel to the dynamics of the band. The acoustics of the room set the drums, bass, and guitars off! The audience could hear each layer of music delivered with a down-home crispness. 

Photo by @kidPEACE from kpeace design

“All I Need Now”, a Samantha Ronson song, was dedicated by the lead singer, “for my girl Samantha”. She looked on from inside the hallway and shyly and sincerely smiled. 


Samantha was the only one on stage for “Sometimes When You Win You Lose”. What I got from this song was that life and love always have their Catch-22s. And that while there is openness to life and to relationships that sometimes those two don't intersect. They just can't work out in that time and space. I like that Ronson’s voice isn't elaborate and can't be compared to let's say, Mariah Carey’s. She's in a whole other field, like Cyndi Lauper without the higher notes. 


“In And Out Of Love” was another audience favorite. Samantha's voice really made me sad, which is good, she was effective! The honesty and secrecy behind the song really made her simple acoustic style shine through. It's refreshing since we tend to associate the Ronson name with everything DJ, analog, and digital. 

Photo by @kidPEACE from kpeace design

“Days That Disappear”, was performed with Samantha on background vocals and accompanying guitar and Jordan from The Jury Pool provided the bass lines. Luke jokingly elaborated about what the song meant – “It’s about an uplifting time in my life”. 


The closer, Tom Petty’s song “Yer So Bad”, was covered by all of Jalopy & Friends. I had never heard the song before, but I’ve heard of Tom Petty, so this was a great way to really get to hear Jalopy’s influences. What a classic ending to an already flawless set. 

Visit the Jalopy Myspace

Follow them on Twitta! @jalopymusic

Photo by @kidPEACE from kpeace design

xo

♥ Mayer Hawthorne - Soul Brother

Photo by Mayer Hawthorne Myspace

Mayer Hawthorne is the pseudonym, stage name, of Andrew Mayer Cohen, a handsome and dapper young soul singer based in LA. Listening to his music on Myspace threw me back to the golden ages of crisp suits and Motown. He is an obvious Smoky Robinson lover - their voices are so similar it's freaky and a relief both at the same time. His backing band The County uses piano, and a string and a horn section! Pure awesomeness. Listening to his jams made me reminisce about the first time I ever heard the likes of The Four Tops, The Supremes, Smoky Robinson and The Miracles (Youtube: Cruisin'), and the Temptations (Youtube: Ain't Too Proud To Beg). I'm going to make a wild assumption and call Hawthorne the next big thing, and do I dare say that he's the Male Winehouse?! 


All I can say is that it takes a brilliant singer and intelligent musical ability to be able to help resurrect classic throwback soul jams with just one man, a voice, and his band.


Check out "Maybe So, Maybe No", "Just Ain't Gonna Work Out", and "Love Is Alright" on his Myspace to get your feet moving, hips swaying, and swagger on. 

Photo by Mayer Hawthorne Myspace

Or listen to his album "A Strange Arrangement"! I haven't yet, but I think I'll buy it first! (That doesn't happen often - buy first.)


Track Listing: 

1. Prelude
2. A Strange Arrangement
3. Just Ain't Gonna Work Out
4. Maybe So, Maybe No
5. Your Easy Lovin' Ain't Pleasin' Nothin'
6. I Wish It Would Rain
7. Make Her Mine
8. One Track Mind
9. The Ills
10. Shiny & New
11. Let Me Know
12. Green Eyed Love

Listen to this if you wanna get busy - 8 times out of 10 you're most likely getting it on, either that or you're just not doing it right! 


Go to Mayer Hawthorne's Website
Go his Myspace and listen!
Follow him on Twitta! @MayerHawthorne


Listen to this!

LA Nightimer Original Issue (OG) T-Shirt

Sharpie. Fresh.

LA Nightimer Tee by @juaNINJAxo

♫ Showin' Love For Coconut Records

You may have heard of Jason Schwartzman from such gigs as playing Max Fischer in the film Rushmore, Ross in the tweaker feature Spun, and being a drummer for the band Phantom Planet. Although many focus on his ever changing range of artistic developments - dabbling in music and in film - Schwartzman is not a man to be taken lightly.

Coconut Records was created in 2006, and shortly thereafter the indie-secret-project full-of-awesome album "Nighttimin'" happened in 2007.

My favorites off of the "Nighttimin'" album (for now) are "It's Not You It's Me" (for it's catchiness), "Minding My Own Business" (because it has a funkier edge and a hint of the Beatles somewhere in there), "Nighttiming" (because it has an interesting upbeat jive to it that you wanna cruise all over LA with), "Summer Day" (it reminded me of Elliott Smith in a good way), and "West Coast" (to represent the WEST! and because the song reminds me of last Summer and of a bittersweet love returning and then leaving again). Wow, I actually like most of the CD - that's how you know I like a band. When it sounds like Summer all the time.

In January 2009 the album "Davy" came out sounding more acoustic influenced than jivey like the first album. I liked "Any Fun" (because of the cool patterns on the drums and the presence of the piano keys), "Drummer" (it's like an ode to his life as a drummer boy for band P.P. and it's catchy), "I Am Young" (it's bittersweet and sounds like it could be at the end of a movie, or when a man realizes his vulnerability), "Microphone" (this too reminded me of the late great Elliott Smith ♥).

I give Coconut Records 10 music notes out of 11 possible music notes. Because I have been listening to CR since about the same time it came out, they are a favorite I don't think I will be forgetting about anytime soon. Listen and give your support for real artists like Schwartzman! Schwartzman for Prez!

Official Coconut Records Website!!!

Follow them on Twitta! @CoconutRecords

Photo from Coconut Records Last.fm page.

UPDATE (see hardfest.com for changes!!!) HARD Haunted Mansion 2009

The first thing I want to say (to get it out in the open, I don't like keeping secrets) is that I hope HARD Haunted Mansion (October 31st) doesn't turn out like HARD Summer did. I'm pretty confident that the admins down at the Forum will have learned their lesson - don't call the 5-0 unless some serious shits going down! And, here's also to hoping that ticket distributors won't oversell the event!

However, I remain optimistic because...

This Hallow's Eve AND the newly added Friday show has the sickest lineup!!!

Guys and Gals! I was very hesitant on buying a ticket for this event because of the past. But, it's time to move away from the past! It only costs 60 bucks ($60)!!! It's at the Forum - it's not that far away! And why not give yourself the right to go? Do it because the day before Halloween and actual Halloween aren't just for kids!! And fucking shit you guys - JUSTICE. DEADMAU5. MAJOR LAZER. BASEMENT JAXX. DESTRUCTO. STEVER AOKI.

GET YOUR TICKETS QUICK 'CAUSE THEY ARE A GUARANTEED SELL OUT!

I'll see y'all there! If anyone's going contact me and let me know what you'll be wearing!

Don't forget to follow Gary Richards (the guy in charge of all things HARD) on Twitta!!! @DestructoHARD

All info on HARD Events go to their official website here!!!

And go to their official Twitta! @HARDFEST

Doug Benson's Medical Marijuana Tour

You might know Doug Benson from his portfolio of work on VH1, The Marijuanalogues, and his deeply moving and also hillarious medical marijuana com-umentary Super High Me.

Benson is back with the Medical Marijuana Tour October 1st-13th. The tour is 13 days and 13 medical marijuana supportive states of guaranteed laughs, special guests, and many HIGHlights.

If you go to one of his shows you should consider yourself lucky you have the money! ($20) And you should probably have a pre-game puff session. Don't forget to make sure you bring all your papers. Both, the legal medical ones and the ones you roll with. Orange slow burn zags preferably.

If you can't make it to the MMJ Tour like in San Francisco, then you can catch Benson before his tour:

September 14th in Los Angeles @ Largo on La Cienega with Special Guests!!!

September 16th in Canoga Park @ The Madrid Theatre with Dan Gabriel!!!

If you can't afford tickets because you're broke like I am and have no paying job then you can find his "I Love Movies" Podcast Online here!!!

Don't forget to follow him on Twitta!! @DougBenson

Photo from Doug Benson's Myspace

Make this setlist into a playlist.

photo courtesy of @muse on twitpic!

I've been on the Muse.mu website all day because I'm obsessed with it. You can go there, sign up with the site and listen to rarities, remixes, and the whole discography enchilada. I suggest everyone to go Muse.mu and don't forget to add them on twitta! @muse.