Last week was a pretty epic 8 days of shows here in LA, with everyone from Kings of Leon, The Foo Fighters, DJ AM, Jay Z and Weezer playing over the course of the last four days. And those are all the shows I missed. One of the shows I did go to however was the Low vs. Diamond, Alice Smith, Santogold and Ting Tings at the Wiltern Tuesday night. And yes, all four of those acts were at the same venue on the same night, and no, it was not a festival. Just another night in the city of angels.
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Reggae is truly easy listening. You always know what you’re getting, you don’t have to think too hard to enjoy it, and it never fails to put you in a good mood.

On Thursday night at Hollywood’s Roxy Theatre, the crowd got three different flavors of the genre from the Dirty Heads (rap reggae), the Aggrolites (punk reggae) and Cipes and the People (surf reggae).
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You know when you go to a concert for an artist whose previous albums you love, but whose newest release you haven’t had a chance to digest yet? Inevitably they mostly play songs from that new album and just a few crumbs of the old stuff. The opposite happened at Wednesday night’s Beck show — the first of his three-night engagement at the United Palace Theater up in Washington Heights. Sure, I own and love all of his albums (well, I’m not a big Sea Change fan, but the songs work when I shuffle them with less suicide-inducing tracks). But I’m thoroughly hooked on Modern Guilt — the gorgeous Beach Boys-esque harmonies at the beginning of “Chemtrails” and the peppy surf beat of “Gamma Ray” make me a very happy girl. So when everyone’s favorite strawberry-blond Scientologist shoved all of his new songs to the back of the line, I was kinda bummed.

Then again, I shouldn’t complain. Who doesn’t love a little “Loser” and “Devil’s Haircut”? It seemed like the set list was designed to please everyone: the old-school fans, the people who just know the radio hits, the Sea Change depressives. (It also seems to be the same set list as his Hollywood Bowl show two weeks ago, though we didn’t get the cool orchestral accompaniment.) And I think Beck wanted to please himself, too, and kept those old hits fresh for himself by rearranging them. I particularly dug “Nicotine and Gravy” turned into a rock song with interludes of great thrashing guitars.
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In the magical summer of 1995, my parents needed a break from raising their two young sons. So they packed our bags and sent my younger brother and me a few hours north to the wine country of Northern California. There we spent a week with our grandparents. Many important things happened that week. We played miniature golf, sold some duck eggs to a local market and even went to Taco Bell one day for lunch. However, the most important thing I took from that week in the wine country was discovering a “new” musical artist that my grandparents turned me onto. His name was Neil Diamond. At first, the music playing on the stereo went in one ear and out the other. Being a dumb teenager only concerned with the exciting “Alternative” music scene, I wrote Neil off as old people’s music. But when I heard “Girl, You’ll be a Woman Soon”, (which I was naïve enough to think Urge Overkill wrote) something clicked, and the old people’s music quickly became my music.

Walking into the Hollywood Bowl on Wednesday night, I had goose bumps. For years, I have worshipped Neil Diamond. On one of my early visits to Los Angeles (before I moved here) I bought a star map to find his house. I went and saw the box office bomb “Saving Silverman” with him in it, and even had the pleasure to meet Neil in person once. However, watching Neil perform has always been a dream that never seemed to come true. Thankfully, George W. Bush was kind enough to give me $600 dollars earlier this year, and with that money, I bought 4 tickets to night one of his two night stay here in Los Angeles.
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Atlanta-based melodic heavy metal band Sevendust graced California for one night on their Hope and Sorrow Tour. Being the big fan that I am, one can only hope they will be back here soon.

This is only the second time I was able to see one of their shows, first time being last year at The House of Blues in Las Vegas for the Alpha Tour. The House of Blues is a small based venue compared to sold out huge stadiums and concert halls, which fits Sevendust so very well. The band’s members truly do make everyone feel like they are part of the family. I feel like I am now.

Before the show I had the opportunity to meet with Clint Lowery, who has returned to the band after a brief hiatus, and replacing Sonny Mayo (whose recordings are on Chapter VII: Hope & Sorrow CD), Lajon Witherspoon, and Morgan Rose. This will also be the second time I have met Lajon, and Morgan. You couldn’t meet more fan friendly rockers. They will immediately give you a hug and thank you for being a fan, and how nice it is to see you again. This is one of the reasons why they have so many fans who are like family.
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