Check it out - Featured Artist: FRANK ZGONC!

You may not know it, but that’s our very own Frazgo - too shy to toot his own horn, but me? I’m all about shameless promotion, so here’s the dirt on the 45th Annual MOFO MAFA “Celebrate the Arts” festival, hosted by the Monrovia Association of Fine Arts.

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Sigur Rós is an anomaly in the pop/rock music world these days and their concert last night at the Greek Theater illustrated just how much so. The Icelandic band asks its audience to witness, rather than participate in its performances; odd in this age of shallow American Idol-style pap that tries (and fails) to compensate for inherent blandness by encouraging its listeners to chime in.

A brief, cautious request to “clap, but please stay with the rhythm” or contribute a brief “oo-oo” backdrop for the band to quickly overwhelm was about all they needed from their respectfully quiet fans. Everyone seemed happy to comply, even the stoner next to me.

Opening with a typically lush rendering of “Svefn-g-englar” from 1999’s Ágætis Byrjun, Jónsi Birgisson’s keening vocals cut through the slo-mo roiling emotional sea created by (could it be?) just four musicians. At the same time, he bowed his electric guitar in wailing counterpoint and I just about lost my mind– and this is only three minutes into the show.

Most bands hold back their best material for later in the evening. Sigur Rós, with great poise, cut right to the quick, sending the crowd into swift rapture as the sound washed to the back rows of the Greek, lulling everyone into a blissful state. I looked around at peoples’ faces and saw serene, half-lidded smiles and couples leaning into each other.

Further into their 90-minute set, newer songs like the upbeat (for them) “Inní mér syngur vitleysingur” and “Vid spilum endalaust” from Med sud I eyrum vid spilum endalaust, their latest album, got a cooler reception than their older material. But there wasn’t anything like discontent happening, perhaps just quiet absorption and studied pondering from a dedicated turnout.

An hour and a half later, delicate moments of shimmering beauty faded; crashing waves of swirling keyboards and drums calmed. We all woke up, even though we knew we hadn’t been sleeping. We’d been dreaming, our eyes wide open.

Ayup, they just gave me a couple pairs of Oasis tickets for their show December 4 at the Staples Center. (Again, Goldenvoice, I owe you my first-born AND our first puppy.)

And need I mention that my future ex-husband Ryan Adams will open up for them? Squeeee!!!

To win a pair of tickets, tell me where you were when “Definitely Maybe” dropped (this should be interesting). I was in my junior year of high school, shaking off a grunge-rock hangover. You?

Wanna get in on the presale tomorrow, 10a-10p? Go here and enter the password, “WONDERWALL.”

Now, my fellow Angelenos, no assaulting Oasis when they get here. They’ve had quite enough.

I’m super stoked about their show tonight at the Fonda but I only had one pair of tickets to give away in my last post. Because I really want more people to win, I begged Goldenvoice for more tickets and they kindly obliged! Thank you Goldenvoice, I owe you my first-born.

So, new Calexico contest! Ready?

If you could pick a Calexico song to pair with a movie (because so many of their songs are very cinematic and soundtrack-y), what song & movie would you pair? If you can’t think of a movie and aren’t a film buff, you can instead tell me a particular stretch of highway that would suit a particular song.

The LA Times wrote up the show tonight here.

One grand prize winner also gets their latest CD, Carried To Dust. woot!

This Saturday, October 4th kicks off the Detour Festival downtown.  The line-up is great, The Mars Volta, The Submarines, Shiny Toy Guns, Gogol Bordello, and lots of super groovy DJ’s including Adam Freeland and The Bloody Beetroots.

I went to a cool concert downtown last March at City Hall, where this is taking place and it really rocked.  But this should be even better… four stages, so there’s something for everyone!  Truly Awesome.

We are giving away two pairs of tickets… and the grand prize also gets a free CD of Gogol Bordello.

If you want to win tickets, check out the line-up and tell us who your favorite artist is and why you want the tickets.  Two most impressive, win two tickets each!  Super simple…. but make sure you use your real email address on signing in if you want to get the tickets.

Ok, Calexico is up there on my desert island CD list. I’ve loved this band since 2001’s “Even My Sure Things Fall Through”–and I feel like a jerk for not having discovered them in 1997, when their first full-length came out. Blending central & south American sounds with the mestizo music of the US-Mexico border and the space-rock “New Western” sound–think Ennio Morricone filtered through a fuzzed-out Mexican radio. Their live shows are engrossing, with a balls-out brass section, guest vocalists en espanol, and music that expands to suffuse the whole space with an otherworldly feel you only get when you’re in the desert, in the middle of nowhere.

So I’m insanely thrilled about this upcoming show and you can bet I’ll be there with bells on.

If you’d like to go too, tell me what your favorite song by them is, and why you love it so. The most impassioned fan gets the single pair of tickets we have to give. Or you can suck it up & buy tickets here.

Their show on the 24th has been cancelled, but these boys are keeping their second show date at the Mayan for what should be an awesome rock show in an amazing venue. And we have tickets! This should be a show of epic proportions. If you want to win tickets, tell me what your favorite song is (by either of the bands) and why, in the comments below. Leave your email so we can contact you if you win! If you’d prefer to buy tix, go here.

Rascally Fullerton boys Cold War Kids have earned the love of rock fans nationwide with their unabashedly balls-out, swaggering and yowling rock’n'roll. They play at the Fonda this Wednesday the 24th and you can win tickets! To win, just leave the name of another local band in the comments–one you think people should know more about and one you think should get the same love Cold War Kids has gotten. Leave your email so I can reach you if you win!

And if you don’t win tickets, you can still buy ‘em here.

Travis Barker and DJ AM, real name Adam Goldstein, are both hospitalized in critical condition after surviving the crash of a Learjet late last night in Georgia. The two men were the only survivors of the crash, which occurred during takeoff and killed Barker’s assistant, the pilot and co-pilot, and one other passenger yet to be identified.

Aw!

So Okkervil River has to be one of my favorite bands EVAR and you can bet on seeing me wearing my platforms in the front row through Sea Wolf (who I also LOVE, especially mad props to Lisa) and staying firmly planted there, refusing to be supplanted by taller folks, until the headliner goes on. (Even with the platforms everyone is still taller than me. Why do all you tall boys insist on wedging in right in front of short girls? fuck you.) I’ve actually never seen these folks live–years ago they came to the Silverlake Lounge but couldn’t play at the last minute, so instead some band called The 88 played. They were pretty good.   ;)

Anyhoo, I’m fresh out of creative ways for you to win tickets to this awesome show so how about you just tell me what a big fan you are & how much you want tickets? I’ll pick the most lovelorn Okkervil-worshippers.