GET KINKY AND SMALLS THIS SAT
JUST FOR MOI?
Well, I suppose this event was not put on just for me, but it sure seems that way.
I discovered Dawes a while back listening to 88.5, a great station out of CSUN. They’re one of my favorite new LA bands.
And they’ll be playing at the inaugural (annual, I hope!) Los Angeles WhiskyX, held right here in town. Y’all can sample great whiskeys to your heart’s content and just walk home! Look who else they have playing at this incredible event --
Knob Creek, Basil Hayden, Whistle Pig, the Macallan, Compass Box, Red Breast, Russell’s Reserve, Bulleit, Aberlour, the Sexton, Ardbeg, the Singleton, Glenmorangie, Bruichladdich and of course, Hall of Fame bluesman Johnnie Walker. And that’s only part of the lineup! There will be more than 60!
Oh, wait -- those are whiskeys, not bands.
… fine with me! I mean, what on God’s green earth goes together better than those two elements. It’s the day before Earth Day and I expect the earth to move.
You’ve got only four hours and all those complex, exotic, flavorful crafted spirits to sample. Best put something in your stomach, eh? Great chefs offering tastings! And food trucks galore! Chinese Laundry, White Rabbit, Peaches' Smokehouse & Southern Kitchen, the Taco Cartel, Baby’s Badass Burgers, Street Kitchen LA, for purchase unless you spring for the VIP ticket ($125, $100 today only) then it’s included. General admission $75, $50 for a Designated Driver. Yes, food, good food, is a good thing, but -- focus, people.
Rest up for Friday and Saturday...
RECOMMENDED:
TONIGHT! -- LAURIE ANDERSON (titled “All the Things I Lost in the Flood” after her new book, this will showcase the multi-media/-genre flair for which she has gained fame since the late ‘60s; with no knowing what you will experience, it nonetheless promises to be a cutting-edge performance as urgent and relevant as today’s headlines), Thurs 7:30 PM, Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Beverly Hills.
COACHELLA (if that suits you), Jean-Michel Jarre and... others, Fri-Sun noon, long ways, hundreds of dollars.
DAWES (see above), Fri 6 PM, Barker Hangar, Santa Monica, $75 & up.
FUR DIXON's WTFukushima, Missing Persons (I know, Missing Person is the Big Name here and they’ll probably be good but I would go just to hear Fur because… she’s always really good), Fri 9 PM, Maui Sugar Mill Saloon, Tarzana, $20 & $150.
PATRICE RUSHEN (legendary jazz-funk-R&B pioneer), Fri 9 PM, the World Stage, Leimert Park, $25.
DEREK SMALLS!!, MOON ZAPPA, Rain Phoenix, Colleen Green, Lalah Hathaway (sometimes, really, the free shows are the best ones -- Derek Smalls?! how rare is this?! and Moon Unit? Omagaawd! and on Record Store Day!), Sat 12 noon, Amoeba Music, Hollywood, no cover.
MIKE RANDLE (awesome axeman from Baby Lemonade and of course Love, playing their classic stuff note for note, now doing his own thang, you might have been helped by him locally at Trutone Music), Sat 2 PM, Record Surplus, West LA, no cover.
KINKY FRIEDMAN (poet-politician-singer-all-around zinger, don’t miss, doesn’t perform much outside of TX), Sat 8 PM & 10 PM, McCabe's Guitar Shop, Santa Monica, $35.
ICE CUBE, BONE THUGS-N-HARMONY, METHOD MAN & REDMAN, Warren G DJ Quik, Kurupt, 2nd II None (krush the groove with this hip-hop extravaganza! -- so great we have the Forum back), Sat, 7:30 PM, the Forum, $40-$175.
NIA ANDREWS, Kenneth Whalum (it’s not just her name -- these are two rising stars with great voices), Sat 3 PM, Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, no cover.
BEBEL GILBERTO (Joao’s daughter is a delight, even in a graveyard), Tues 7 PM, Hollywood Forever Cemetery, $35.
BAND NAMES OF THE WEEK: Cradle of Filth, Devin the Dude, Nurse Betty, Guantanamo Baywatch, Moon Boots, Ruby Boots, Altar Egos, Exploding Pintos, Dynasty Handbag, Fancy Space People, Kississippi, Trulio Disgracias.
LYRIC OF THE WEEK: “How many times does an angel fall? How many people lie instead of talking tall? He trod on sacred ground, he cried loud into the crowd (I’m a blackstar, I’m a blackstar, I’m not a gangstar). I can’t answer why (I’m a blackstar). Just go with me (I’m not a filmstar). I’m-a take you home (I’m a blackstar). Take your passport and shoes (I’m not a popstar), and your sedatives, boo (I’m a blackstar). You’re a flash in the pan (I’m not a marvel star), I’m the Great I Am (I’m a blackstar). I’m a blackstar, way up, on money, I’ve got game, I see right, so wide, so open-hearted pain. I want eagles in my daydreams, diamonds in my eyes (I’m a blackstar, I’m a blackstar). Something happened on the day he died, spirit rose a metre then stepped aside, somebody else took his place, and bravely cried (I’m a blackstar, I’m a star's star, I’m a blackstar). -- David Bowie
“Blackstar” was Bowie’s last album, released on his 69th birthday in 2016, two days before he died. He had been battling cancer in secret for 18 months and recording this album with his longtime producer Tony Visconti. In an interview for Rolling Stone, Visconti stated that he and Bowie listened to “a lot” of Kendrick Lamar [who Tuesday became the first musician outside classical and jazz to win the Pulitzer Prize], specifically his second LP, “To Pimp a Butterfly,” while working on the album. “We wound up with nothing like that, but we loved the fact that Kendrick was so open-minded and he didn’t do a straight-up hip-hop record. He threw everything on there, and that’s exactly what we wanted to do. The goal, in many, many ways, was to avoid rock and roll.”
Charles Andrews has listened to a lot of music of all kinds, including more than 2,000 live shows. He has lived in Santa Monica for 32 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world. Really. Send love and/or rebuke to him at therealmrmusic@gmail.com
