Last weekend in Los Angeles was VH1’s Rock Honors Weekend celebrating The Who and you could absolutely not escape the promo for this event. 2 of the club events I attended under the umbrella of this occasion were Sunday’s Toms Shoes Benefit @ the Hotel Cafe and Monday’s Steel Panther show at the Key Club. Reviews Below, but first… The WINNER of the AvantTrash/Filter Magazine/VH1 Rock Honors “WHO AM I?” CONTEST!

The Questions: and answers.
1. I can’t hear, I can’t talk, I can’t see. Who am I? “Pinball Wizard” or “Tommy, Can You Hear Me” Were both acceptable answers.

2. No one knows what it’s like to be me. I’m sad. Maybe even bad. Who am I? “Behind Blue Eyes” was the correct answer but a couple people answered Brick or Jumbo, which was a more amazing answer. So I decided to reward the winner for ignoring the rules (I was looking for the song title, not the narrator) and giving the more nerd-tastic answer.

3. I’m not old, I live on the Isle of Man. Kids can’t hurt me but they try, try, try. They ride on my head with furry donkeys. They can’t prevent me from being what I am. Who am I? “Happy Jack”…of course.

The winner of The Who prize pack was David Basile of Valley Springs, NY who says,
“I really enjoy your site, good content, your contests are the best!”

So congrats David! Cheers!

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Sunday, July 13th, The Hotel Cafe’s Toms Shoes Benefit, Hollywood, CA

Sunday’s show was nearly a who’s-who (pun accidentally intended) of Hotel Cafe Singer/Songwriter regulars, headlined by the always amazing elder statesman Butch Walker (long ago of The Marvelous 3). Also playing sets were Greg Laswell (who had an album release show the night previous) and Cary Brothers (not siblings, one guy). Honestly I felt a bit aglazed (fuck you spellcheck i made the word up) Sunday and didn’t show up until the last 6 (of 14) performers took the stage. The cause was noble enough: Toms Shoes has a philosophy where for every pair of their shoes they sell, they donate a pair to needy foreign children. Unfortunately the show didn’t have much to stand on. Too much sausage and not enough talented ladies at the end of the night. Butch Walker’s set was full of “new” and “in progress” songs bound for their inevitable obscurity. Walker’s music is too amazing for public consumption (thankfully?), leading many to call him “The best musician you’ve never heard of”. I put “quoteys” around “new” because although they haven’t been released yet (album delayed) I’ve heard some of these songs nearly half a dozen times live (see “Atlanta”). But a good thing about Butch Walker is the way he lets the fans hear his songs evolve between live show and recording. Somehow “Racecars and Goth Rock” from 2004’s Letters sounded better in it’s acoustic “California Gridlock” bootleg form. This trial by fire of sorts has also made some of Butch’s compositions some of the best category-free Rock and Roll of the last 10 years. As per his 1 downer song per album trend I jokingly noted that there would probably be a new song about someone dying and sure enough he sprung one into his set titled something along the lines of “I drove by your house, I saw his car, I thought of you”. I give Butch’s show-and-tell performance a 7/10. It would be unfair to judge the rest, I wasn’t really paying attention.

I didn’t hear any WHO covers that evening.

Monday, July 14th, Steel Panther @ The Key Club, West Hollywood, CA

Big Hair, Spandex, Synchronized Guitar Coreography, Hair Solos, Simulated Oral Sex and Tits. If you’ve never seen the Steel Panther (formerly Metal Shop Metal Skool) show @ the Key Club, then you must truly hate Hair Metal and all things Sunset Strip. Either that or it has somehow remained under your radar despite its continued success. A packed house, every monday? But why? Because it’s hilarious, brilliant, crude, disgusting and shamefully nostalgic. What it boils down to are 4 Hair Metal maestros with Studio Musician cred, playing covers with amazing accuracy and more importantly…enthusiasm. Some Mondays are better than others, but this one was pretty good. I’ve seen better nights and I’ve seen worse. And almost always that has to do with how many of the regular special guests they have joining them during their set. Usually it will be a figure from the glorious 80’s hayday, a slumming pop icon, or in this instance another piece of 80s nostalgia… William Zabka. You know perhaps know him best as “Sweep the leg, Johnny” from The Karate Kid. (or if you are really cool from “Just One of the Guys” or “European Vacation”.) “Billy” as he was addressed by the band, played guitar on a cover of Van Halen’s “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” and actually did a pretty good job. Unfortunately David Cassidy’s older brother was also in the house and played drums on the track…causing its calamitous ending to die in a whimper.

Adding to the festivities was a bevy of what looked like Jager shots delivered to the birthday boy, “53 year old bassist” Lexxi Foxxx. If you go, I suggest you get a birds-eye view of the debauchery from the balcony. You will also get an eye full of L.A.’s biggest douches rubbing metal flake Christian Audiger’d shoulders with semi-famous musicians and personalites of L.A.’s Past and Present (but mostly past). Steel Panther doesn’t take the stage until 12:15 so I suggest you head down to the famous Rainbow Bar and Grill for a bite (great food) and few pre-party drinks (cheaper than the Key Club). 2nd to the food and drink is the amazing people-watching; which is so beautiful it is hard to put into words …there will be fringe, feathered and dyed bangs, spandex and cellulite and probably a few guys who have played Jason or Michael Myers (or could if they removed the masks).

The only Who cover performed was “My Generation” with the lyrics replaced with rhymes about well… groupies mostly. There were masks of Roger Daltry and Pete Townshend circulating the crowd, Half of a Daltry made its way to Michael Starr for the final set of rhymes before the finale. Although sometimes the show borders on the bad side of “Girls Gone Wild”… it is just one of those L.A. things that you have to see. 8.3/10

On July 2nd of this year, occasional member of Queens of the Stone Age, Natasha Shneider, succumbed to cancer leaving behind a elegant legacy and some unfortunate financial obligations.

In her honor, QOTSA will be holding a concert at the Music Box @ the Fonda on Saturday, August 16th. Joining them will be an army of Rock and Roll guests including PJ Harvey, Jack Black + Kyle Gass (not billed as Tenacious D), Matt Cameron (Soundgarden), Brody Dalle (The Distillers), Jesse “The Devil” Hughes (Eagles of Death Metal), Billy F. Gibbons (lead beard player from ZZ Top), Chris Goss (QOTSA Producer), and Alain Johannes (Eleven). Natasha’s band, Eleven, included members of what would become the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Tickets are $100 with proceeds going to offset Natasha Schneiders remaining medical and burial costs. Donations are also being accepted through http://www.natashashneider.org.

RECAP:
Queens Of The Stone Age w/Guests
The Music Box @ Fonda - 6126 Hollywood Blvd. - Hollywood, CA
All Ages Show - $100

Full Frontal Male Nudity is not a staple of most performances I’ve seen at the UCB Theatre, but the exception seems to be Midnight on every 3rd Saturday of the Month when the Dirtiest Sketch in L.A. Contest tries to live up to it’s name. The concept is simple: 2 great hosts, 3 “celebrity” judges and a half dozen or so teams put on a sketch show aimed at the shock and disgust of the audience. Winner take all…er, $3.07.

Naturally in the assumed mecca of depravity that is Hollywood you expect nothing less than entertainment suited for the Sadist ring of Dante’s Inferno, thankfully most performances come pretty close to meeting that expectation.

Of course the mind can paint the dirtiest pictures of what you would hope to see but perhaps that level is more suited for Tijuana than California. Liberal as it is here, there always seem to be limits. Either that or just the realization that we live in a city that is all talk. But I digress, because i don’t expect to see a donkey show in this setting (although i was told that one performance involved intercourse with a pig’s head), i do expect that there will be a few select brave individuals who would break right through the limits of decency. Which thankfully they always do.

And although sometimes the humor can go for the lowest common denominator…in a bad way; the writing can also be brilliant and full of a truth so profane that it will shake you down the innocent person that still lives inside of you. Most of the world just isn’t ready for that. So whether you are there to see slapstick and simulated bodily fluids (literally any and all of them) or a brilliant monologue about fucking the life out of a still beating heart (srsly), Dirtiest Sketch is not to be missed. You sick motherfucker.

The next Dirtiest Sketch in L.A. is Saturday July 19th at Midnight. Click here to make ONLINE reservations (which you’ll need).

UCB THEATRE
5919 Franklin Ave
Hollywood CA
(across from the ChiMo headquarters)
(323) 908-8702

A bit of housecleaning in this post. But first, a plea for stuff:

The CHICAGO ork poster is world famous by now; and finally they’ve heard my plea. The LOS ANGELES ork poster is out.

For $22 (with a portion donated to charity, for your guilt-free buying needs) you can buy me this poster for my living room….cause I don’t feel like tattooing L.A. or CA on my other arm just yet, and I really want this!

Speaking of local pride: I saw Tilly and the Wall tonight here at the Echoplex and they were great! (i’d seen them opening for Neva Dinova at Knickerbockers in Lincoln before and both shows were so much fun, Tilly i mean, I don’t get Neva Dinova. I think they kinda suck.) But I’m aboslutely in love with their single “Pot Kettle Black” and am thrilled that another Omaha band have finally broken through. And Kianna Alarid is gorgeous and has the voice of a young Belinda Carlisle. And just to namedrop; both Blake Sennett and Jenny Lewis from Rilo Kiley were there. I swear I see her around town AT LEAST once a month, for real. (at a Cursive show, at Beauty Bar last week, by a salon in Silverlake…)

We got lots of posts in the works, We got a namedrop on the world famous Splattercast from our friends over at DEADLANTERN.COM, had a massive spike in hits, some graphic updates to the site and will reveal the winner of The Who contest this weekend. More contests to come (cleaning out our closets).

Stay tuned.

Waiting for the #72 bus after work today, an ad at the bus stop caught my eye. It was an advertisement for Tru:Blood, a “synthetic blood nourishment beverage”. I was taken aback that there might actually be an alcoholic beverage that catered to freaks like me who have an obsession with interest in vampires. With a tagline like “friends don’t let friends drink friends”, I had to get a closer look. Upon further inspection, I saw that the ad was actually part of a marketing campaign for the new HBO show, True Blood.

Alan Ball, “Six Feet Under” creator, returns to HBO with True Blood, a series based on the Southern Vampire Mysteries books by Charlaine Harris. The show details the fictional co-existence of vampires and humans in a small Louisiana town after Japanese-made synthetic blood – “TruBlood” – becomes available for purchase. Anna Paquin stars as Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress at a diner who falls in love with one of the vampires, Bill Compton, who is played by Stephen Moyer-yeah, I don’t know who that is either. But hey-check out this giant piece of man. He plays Liam. Not that I know who that is, but apparently he’s a tattooed, sex-addicted vampire, so consider me interested.

The show’s premiere on September 7th has been prefaced with a viral marketing campaign, based at BloodCopy.com. This has included setting up multiple websites, encoding web addresses into unmarked envelopes mailed to high profile blog writers (I’ll assume my unmarked envelope got lost in the mail), a wikipedia entry collating info, and even a MySpace account (username: “Blood”) complete with video postings.

Author Harris admits that her vampire is a metaphor for minorities, and how they are perceived in society. In the show, vampires have decided to ‘come out of the coffin’ (their terminology, not mine), upon the advent of TruBlood. This is where the show seems be different from other vampire shows and movies-the focus is not on becoming a vampire, but the integration of vampires into everyday society, and the distrust and racism (mortalism?) that inevitably follows.

So…I’m pretty sure the marketing campaign is going to end up being more interesting than the actual show. Although I did learn a new word researching the show: Fangbangers–women who sleep with vampires. Loves it!

Eh, I’ll still watch it, I’m sure. But if it’s super lame, I’m gonna be pissed that it got picked up, and a second season of Moonlight didn’t.

[intr0vert’s Additional images: L.A. - click to enlarge]

Because so many summer movies suck, I’ve been watching them for free on watch-movies.net. I am so glad I didn’t fork over real monies to see turd sandwiches like Zohan, The Love Guru and the Happening… all of which I watched today.

Midway through Zohan I noticed an actor playing a redneck and said to myself, “Is that Dave Fucking Matthews?” I actually said this aloud because I haven’t talked to a real human being in a couple days and I’m a little crazy. But then I checked his IMDB and noticed that he has 2 more upcoming acting gigs. Are there no more actors? I see out of work douchebags all the time here, surely they could use a job.

One of those films is in pre-production right now called The Other Side and among the co-stars of what could be an amazing rock-opera is Maynard James Keenan (of Tool, listed with 6 roles), Alanis Morissette (mentioned on this site last week), Jason Lee, Eddie Izzard and Woody Harrelson. And a couple more douchey scientologists not worth mentioning. Everyone has weird character names that sound like they came out of Harmony Korine films so hopefully next year when it comes out I’ll have something that I can actually see in a theatre. Well I guess I don’t mind if they get rid of these “superstars”. Their movies are shit.

But please, don’t go making films based on YouTube clips just yet.

The Who are being rightly worshipped by VH1 for their annual “Rock Honors” (info @ www.Rock.VH1.com) and a promotional blitz they have hooked me up with the power to reign gifts of Quadrophenic goodness upon you, the AvantTrash faithful. And for you lucky Los Angelenos there will be miles and miles of WHO shennanegins and goings on during the week of the 10-17th that you can partake of including the ceremony itself (which I unfortunately don’t have any tickets to). DETAILS AT THE END OF THIS POST.

AliUptown and I saw these unbelievable legends play a couple years ago in Omaha and we were floored by how amazing and energetic these gents still are. It was post-Entwistle, Zach Starkey was on drums and Simon Townshend on Rhythm Guitar but of course Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend tore the roof off the place like they’ve been doing since they nearly invented the Arena Rock spectacle back in the 60’s. We caught The Stones in the same year and despite their similar *ahem* maturity, the Who defied their ages and played as if they were Live at Leeds. If you get a chance to check out these legends, we suggest you do so.

“WHO AM I?” CONTEST!

Up for grabs thanks to VH1 and Filter Magazine we have THE WHO: VH1 Rock Honors gift pack which includes:

- The Who commemorative flask

- The Who shot glasses

- VH1 Rock Honors custom t-shirt

- set-of-4 The Who guitar picks.

And all you have to do to win it is tell us “Who am I?”. Its simple, I will describe 3 characters from WHO songs in the first person and you just have to guess which song they are from. I’m not making this very hard, any Who fan should know them. Send answers to contest@avanttrash.com and you’ll be entered to win.

1. I can’t hear, I can’t talk, I can’t see. Who am I?

2. No one knows what it’s like to be me. I’m sad. Maybe even bad. Who am I?

Those were easy, but here’s the kicker:

3. I’m not old, I live on the Isle of Man. Kids can’t hurt me but they try, try, try. They ride on my head with furry donkeys. They can’t prevent me from being what I am. Who am I?

Send your answers to contest@avanttrash.com by 11:59am PST on Thur, July 10 and you’ll be registered to win. Then you can go drink like Keith Moon… well, hopefully not.

—–

LOS ANGELES EVENT INFO:

*FYI I will be attending the Steel Panther @ Keyclub and Greg Laswell CD Release show at the Hotel Cafe*

THURSDAY, JULY 10
6pm: Guitar Center Presents Sessions with Dave Mustaine (Megadeth) @ Guitar Center Hollywood
8pm: The Gutter Twins & Ed Harcourt @ The Roxy www.theroxyonsunset.com
8pm: Tribute to Sublime @ Malibu Inn www.malibu-inn.com
9pm: Supreme Being of Leisure @ Viper Room,featuring “Who Am I” mojitos www.viperroom.com
All night: The Who Karaoke Night @ Blue Goose Lounge www.myspace.com/bluegooselounge
All night: Quadrophenia Night @ Seven Grand www.sevengrand.la

MONDAY, JULY 14
Doors TBD: Indie 103.3 presents local bands @ Viper Room www.viperroom.com
8:30: Steel Panther (formerly known as Metal Skool) tribute to The Who @ Key Club www.keyclub.com

Omahan Conor Oberst has announced a lengthy solo tour to accompany his impending solo LP due out August 5th.

Why even drop the name Bright Eyes? Bright Eyes is Conor Oberst. No offense to Mike Mogis and Nate Wolcott, they are both very talented but everyone else on stage with Conor is just “you know, those guys in Bright Eyes’ band”. And actually he is still bringing Nate with on this tour, along with Maria Macey Taylor, Taylor Hollingsworth, Nik Freitas, and Rilo Kiley’s Jason Boesel in his band called the Mystic Valley Band. I’m guessing this naming followed a couple days visit with Mescalito.

You can stream 2 of the tracks on ConorOberst.com now. Let me know if you get a pre-release.

So dare I shell out 40 bucks tomorrow morning to see him at the Trubadour August 5th? A CD release show of sorts? Probably not. He seems to loathe his audiences and never fails to play exactly what nobody else wants to here. I’ll wait for a smaller Bright Eyes show.

North American Tour Dates
7/25 Billings, MT Bones Brewing
7/27 Calgary, AB Calgary Folk Festival
7/29 Vancouver, BC Richards on Richards
7/30 Seattle, WA Neumo’s
7/31 Bend, OR Midtown Ballroom

I don’t know what they are actually called. Hipster Holster is just the first name I came up with, or Guido Gizmo Gunbelt for the fans of alliteration. It set me back a bit one night following a short punk down Hollywood Blvd into Tiny’s K.O. and seeing black holster straps over his white sleeve-removed button up; until I saw that the holsters were not for a .38 snubnose but rather for a Sidekick and a Camera.

For all practical purposes they make total sense. Between my Razr and Casio Exilim I have 2 of the thinnest pieces of tech out there and I still feel bogged down by technology. I’m on the fence about bringing a small messenger bag with me when I go out. And its hard enough to get laid without having to carry around a man-purse. Even if I got an iPhone (which could happen) that still wouldnt be enough of a camera to replace what I carry now so I’d still be hauling the same amount of junk around. Why not free up my pockets with a holstervso I can get some tighter jeans? (j/k…sorta)

So are these Hostlers so lame they are hip, so lame they are lame (because really I think they are lame), or are they so functional they are ironically hip? I think this design is the offspring of a mobster and a tourist. Because the first thing it reminded me of what a fanny pack.

Drop us a comment and let us know…HOT OR NOT?

In honor of the recent release of Priscilla Ahn’s debut album A Good Day and her recent appearance on Jay Leno. Here is an Email Interview I did with Ms.Ahn a couple weeks ago:

AvantTrash: When i’d seen you last year at a school fundraiser in the back of a store; your set painted a lovely picture of Pennsylvania. How would you describe your upbringing?
Priscilla Ahn: In general, it was pretty quiet. My parents were strict as I got older, so I didn’t go out much and “party”. I spent most of my time at school. I was involved in sports and music and drama, which took up most of my time. When I got home I studied. The older I got, the more I fought with my parents, so I tried to spend most of my time in my bedroom, reading, playing guitar….

AT: What made you pick up the guitar or start writing songs?
PA: My Dad always urged me to do it. But I never had any real interest in it until 9th grade, when a guy I liked played the guitar really well, like James Taylor style. I thought it was the coolest thing, and dug out my mom’s old guitar she had brought with her from S. Korea.

AT: Did you tour? Did you do the coffee house circuit? Any busking or singing for your dinner?
PA: When I first started out I did a lot of coffee houses. I also tried to get gigs anywhere I could. A lot of those places were restaurants and bars. I’d play for like, 3 hours, and make $60. I never liked to “busk”. I was never in a position where i had to, so i figured why should i? it’s exhausting work. But when my family and I were on vacation at the beach, my dad made me sing for change on the boardwalk. I was into the first night, but then…..well, like i said….it’s exhausting. You’re constantly giving energy to a majority of people who didn’t care, and your only real validation that people like you, is their loose change. Although, i have to say, I didn’t do too bad.

AT: And the trip out to L.A.? What prompted it and how was your trip out here?
PA: My first trip out here was with 2 other musicians. Our goal was to write songs on the road. We never wrote anything, but the traveling was unforgettable. And the moment we drove into L.A. I knew it was a place I wanted to be. So….one month later I packed up my car and drove out. It took me 5 days. It was truly an adventure. I was 19, traveling alone across the country, staying in hotels by myself for the first time, blasting Led Zeppelin in my Saturn. It was cool.

AT: I heard you waitressed… where was it and how long did that last?
PA: I waitressed at a restaurant called Cheebo. I was there for a year.

AT: How did you get hooked up with Joey Waronaker?
PA: My manager hooked me up with him. We had coffee and I really liked his personality, and we became friends from there.

AT: How was the Hotel Cafe tour? Who do you think is going to be the next big thing from that group?
PA: The tour was a lot of fun. All good people, singing together, traveling together. It was pretty cool. I have no idea who’s gonna “blow up” next. I’m never really good at guessing those things, cuz the ones you would think are the least likely to, are playing in the grocery store the next day. I can say, though, that I listen to Buddy’s album ALL the time. He gave me an advance copy of it about a year ago (lucky me!) and i think i’ve worn it out.

AT: With all the craziness in the music business, where do you see music going?
PA: Who knows? It seems like it’s going into the hands of whoever wants it, really. Music will always be one of the most popular forms of art and entertainment. It’s just, how people hear it, and how people choose it, that’s changing. I love that music is available wherever you are, and that I can record a song on my laptop and post it to a bunch of people on myspace in a matter of a few hours, or less. Things are just gonna get faster and more efficient…..and smaller probably.

AT: Thanks for your time.
PA: no prob!

—–
How Lovely. So a couple days ago I asked for people to send me emails telling me why they should get Priscilla’s CD and that I’d give them to the best 2 answers. Well the winners were Tonya Howell from Grand Island, NE and Mrs. Beth Miller from Lebabon, PA
Mrs. Miller Wrote:

Priscilla Hartranft Ahn is from Bernville, PA but also descends from Korea.
I was her high school counselor at Tulpehocken High School where she was encouraged to follow her heart and not the expectations of others.
She resisted those enormous conformity pressures and look what has flourished!
I am a proud mama. We are a Tulpehocken Proud village.
That is why I want to win the CD.
Otherwise, I will have to call her mother and pay for one!
(^_*)
Mrs. Beth Miller, retired

Wow! My guidance counselors weren’t that helpful!
Tonya Howell wrote:

Why I should get the CD? Because her song “Rain” has gotten me through these massive amounts rainy days, flooded basements and sewer back-ups on the island that is Grand. I included it on my mix: http://www.mixwit.com/tonya_howell/rain-more-rain-even-more-rain

Yeah that weather stuff is nasty. We don’t have that stuff in L.A. anymore. Congrats to the winners and stay tuned for more contests and a LOT more live reviews!

My first exposure to Priscilla Ahn was through sheer coincidence. Early Last year I was working for a band who happened to be playing a little benefit show in an exotic home interiors store in Eagle Rock. The opener was the featherweight Phoebe Cates (or yes, Winnie Cooper) stand-in Ms.Ahn. With her guitar and handful of toys and gadgets she made the space her own little world. Her songs transported me into to a place that you’d think only she’d been. But what really slayed me was the delicate orchestra coming off of one small person. With the aide of a Boss loop station pedal she made enough music to fill 3 coffee houses. So of course I’d wondered what it would sound like if she actually had a full band behind her.

Flash forward a year to the night of the release of her debut album A Good Day, where Priscilla and her parlor full of band members took the stage of the Hotel Café. The house was packed with a surprisingly high contingency of asian fans (role model?) and some buzz seeking industry and media reps. I joined a photo pit of about 7 packed into the small corner off stage left and prepared to be destroyed with a feather.

Priscillas stage persona is a tiny ball of artisitic elation, at once nervous and as comfortable as if she were singing to herself…which she eventually did (in loops). The room was stuffy but a cool breeze flowed from the opening numbers of Priscillas set with “Wallflowers” and the Dylan/Lennon Harmonica infused “I don’t think so”. She beamed as she announced the albums release and proclaimed that she was going to “play the whole damn thing”. Which she nearly did… minus the albums’ title track. Her co-penned song “Astronaut” stuck out of the middle of her set just as it does on the album with a storytellers jumble of The Ditty Bops meets “Mr. Kite”.

Even the smallest band would feel crowded on the Hotel Café’s Stage, but veterans such as bandleader/producer/mentor Joey Waronker played to perfection and drove songs like “Red Cape” beyond what the very capable Ahn could do solo. As I was debating the merits of her work with a band and solo Ahn broke out her ukulele for “Find My Way Back Home” and proved how absolutely powerful she could be with just 4 strings and no accompaniment.

But what makes a Priscilla Ahn show is the personality transferred through her storytelling. Debatably the most beautiful song in her cadre is “Lullaby” which comes with a wonderful story about small town escapism and unqualified local policemen; sealed with her Joni Mitchell to Delores O’Riordan vocal outro. As the set was winding down she also shared her story of Willie Nelson’s reaction to her cover of “Opportunity to Cry” before launching into the song with folk swing.

The evening was capped with her “Dream” of a new single which builds to a peak with a looped armada of perfectly harmonized siren calls from Ahn. The added layers of Upright Bass, Drums, Keys, Electric Guitar and Two Cellos pushed this showstopper to the brink of spiritual enlightenment.

The assumed Encore and closer was the kazoo soloed “The Boob Song”, an older fixture of her set with more great storytelling and playful teenage introspection. A fun close to a great set, Priscilla Ahn is full of promise and potential. She radiates a joy in creation and performance that you won’t see too often in bitter, navelgazing hipsters on dark stages in Silverlake. Although my shirt was sticking to my back and the Hotel Café had to be its typical high 80s climate, I felt refreshed by this show as if i’d just walked through the rain.

9.4/10

I saw Priscilla Ahn at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood for her CD Release Show tonight. She is still amazing! I will be posting a glowing review and an interview tonight. In case you want a little taste of Priscilla Ahn then set your Chin seeking TiVo tonight (Wed) and catch her performing her single “Dream” to perfection on the Tonight Show.

To celebrate her amazing CD Release, Filter Magazine has hooked me up with 2 copies of A Good Day to give away to 2 lucky AvantTrash readers. All you have to do to get one is to email me at contest[at]avanttrash.com and tell me where Ms.Ahn is from and why you want the record. HINT I’ll pick the 2 best.

Massive amounts of reviews coming soon, its been a busy week.

I cut the wheat from the chaff for this most recent contest by making it extra hard to anyone who hadn’t field tripped to see Shuttlecocks, Taken in a Royals Game or Rode the Orient Express (RIP) at Worlds of Fun.

The Answers were:
1. Shuttlecocks by Claes Oldenberg at the Nelson-Atkins
2. Truman Sports Complex (or Arrowhead/Kauffman Stadiums)
3. nobodies favorite American Idol winner David Cook
4. Harry S. Truman (not Roosevelt, not Eisenhauer)
BONUS: Cody Critchloe from KC’s mindblowing art punk disaster of ecstacy known as SSION.

The Winner of the Grand Prize of the Dakine Medic Messenger Bag and the Republic Tigers Keep Color CD was Rachel Farha from Mission, KS who says:

“WOW! I never win anything. Makes my morning a little better after my car was smoking and had to be taken to the shop… First saw Ssion opening for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Pretty freakin’ awesome. Thanks AvantTrash for giving the Republic Tigers the props they deserve. You guys rule.”

The First Prize winner of the Autographed Keep Color CD and Republic Tigers t-shirt was Michelle Hudak from Cleveland, OH! who says:

“Thanks so much, the contest was fun! I like a little brain-work with my reading. Your site is great…one of my bookmarked favs! Keep up the excellent work.”

It was good to hear from some Republic Tigers/Ssion fans who were proud of their hometown heroes.

During the course of the contest there were a few messages about how much people loved American Idol and hated David Cook along with some excellent comments from KC residents in close contact with AC/DC (which means goes both ways) with some INTERESTING stories about him. Some dropped the word “poser” and others preferred “douche”. I myself see about 20 minutes of American Idol per season and mostly just catch the traffic as I am a block from the Kodak. But i’ll tell you one thing… honky dreadlocks are a crime.

Thanks to everyone who entered and keep checking back for more contests from AvantTrash!

A few months back I predicted the winners of 2008. Now LAist is drinking my Kool-Aid with a story about Hotel Cafe records’ first release Jim Bianco. You can go read whatever they wrote or just take my word for it 2 months ago. BTW the record jacket is sub-par and you can call me when you want some pro-class work done.

They mention jumbo’s clown room in the interview which AliUptown and I recently visited and its really not much to boast about. But we’ll forgive a couple of girls because we are pretty sure they are preschool teachers during the daytime.

I haven’t done a food post in a while. So after seeing Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s in the far away land of Echo Park tonight (Thanks for the ride back Shawn, Ollie and Brad) I made it back to Hollywood to catch a rare acoustic performance by The Used. And after a drinking a couple PBR’s at a nearby party to forget that last event I stopped by a hotdog purveyor just north of cherokee (or some shit) to be sure to try every shitty hot dog vendor in Hollywood. I tried arab Jay’s Hot Dog tonight and they don’t even come close to the little latino ladies’ wieners. And it took forever! So now you know. Or just go to Pink’s. At 3am its not that long of a line as the bar rush will have died down.

Or just drink a glass of water and go the fuck to bed like you probably should.

3 Reviews, Photos and a Contest coming in the next couple days.

Geez yo, I haven’t posted here in forev! Not since intr0vert’s/my joint postings (and by joint I mean me throwing in my two cents while napping on the couch as he typed) during my visit to Hollywood. Speaking of, I thought maybe some of yous (anyone?) would be interested to know about my goings on in the city of angels and dirtbags.

intr0vert was an excellent tour guide and host, my experience wouldn’t have been half as enriched if he hadn’t been my guide. I must admit, when he made the trip to Chicago for my birthday, I probably wasn’t the best tour guide-I’d only been there 7 months and didn’t have my tour guide/public transportation chops up to par yet. (I’ll do better next time, I promise!)

Let me share with you a few misguided misconceptions I had about L.A.:

-You can’t smoke anywhere in L.A.

Mostly I got this idea from Sex & the City, when Carrie goes to L.A. to meet with a production company , and is prevented from smoking wherever she goes, even on the outside deck of her hotel room. (”I have an addiction sir!”) I guess I also had this impression because of the whole Hollywood health/physical appearance obsession that I read about in the news on Perez all the time. I was surprised that a few places we went to had smoking rooms, some were not even open air. Chicago is not down with that shit. You can’t even smoke in outdoor seating areas here. Anywho-doesn’t really affect me, just an observation.

-Nobody walks in L.A.

Again, another thing I’ve heard through the grapevine of pop culture media. I was assuming that since everyone drives in L.A., that nobody walks. Not so, my friends. Oh, we drove almost everywhere…but then we parked 10 blocks away. Parking in L.A. is just as bad as most parts of Chicago. Any parking you find here is either permit parking only or will cost you $50. Not a big deal, I don’t ever wanna be the girl that bitches about how far away the car is, but it did limit my cute shoe options. You see, its a delicate ratio. Typically as the cuteness of the shoe goes up, its comfort level goes down.

On a side note: I also thought that there was no worthwhile public transportation there. I met an actual human being that took a bus to work everyday. Even intr0vert was considering trying the train out as a daily commute. And my experiences on the subway were fairly pleasant. Although, I’m not sure the idea of an underground train on a fault line sits well with me. I’m just sayin.

-Everyone in L.A. is beautiful and glamorous (thanks to Fergie, I can spell that word now).

Oh, there were plenty of beautiful people there. But there were a lot of really unspecial people there, too. The air in Hollywood was thick with ego, which didn’t surprise me so much. What surprised me was that I was expecting the clothes to make the man a little more. Actually, the woman. The chicks there seemed to fall into two categories: The strapless tube dress complete with hooker shoes (do hookers call them ‘work shoes’?) and makeup applied with a paintball gun, or cutesy, hipster chicks. I’m typically the type of girl that prefers to be overdressed, rather than under dressed. And don’t get me wrong, I wear a lot of makeup. A drag queenish amount. On a daily basis.

So…famous people. I was promised by intr0vert at least three sightings. The first was only half a sighting, as it was just Jael from America’s Next Top Model a couple seasons ago. She was a hot tranny mess on Hollywood, trashy outfit, crazy pink furry hat, and I’m sure was operating on one or more psychiatric drugs. We also saw Janeane Garafalo walking in Studio City and Vincent Kartheiser (from Angel-I’m a vampire nerd, remember?) at the Magic Castle. Some others too, I can’t remember. Some dude from a teen movie bummed me a smoke. Good shit, huh?

I will have to make this a to-be-continued post. Even though it was like two weeks ago. Lots happened, and I’m sure people are riveted by my recounts of my vacation. Long story short (too late!), Hollywood did not disappoint. More soon, I promise.

2 winners have been drawn from the 27 correct entries for the Elvis Costello Momofuku contest!

The grand prize winner of the Elvis Costello Vinyl LP is Jim Schaefer of Kannapolis, NC who says, “Wooooo…hooooooo.Thanks so much intr0vert! Avanttrash always rocks, always did, and always will! Thanks again.”
The winner of the Elvis Costello CD is Brenda Helgeson from Cotton Grove, OR who was drawn first but opted for the CD. She says, “omg! i love this win, i’m such a huge fan. thank you very much.”

Thanks to everyone who entered!
The Answers were: 1. Costello, 2. Costello, 3. Presley, 4. Costello.
The Answers to the Bonus Dealbreaker Questions were: Elvis Costello interrupted “Less Than Zero” on SNL to play “Radio, Radio” and went on to Interrupt the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” to play “Radio, Radio” with the boys as his backing band. Both winners got this right!

A couple people were kinda clueless and didn’t recognize #1 and 4 as Mr. Costello. I was looking for this seriously haggard photo of him playing in a gold bedazzled baseball cap, visibly overweight and bearded in the late-80s/early-90s from SNL or Letterman.

We will have another contest starting up this week so keep checking back and keep the comments coming! I’m super jealous to everyone who has tickets to the Police/Elvis Costello show at the Hollywood Bowl just a couple blocks away next week. If you have an extra let me know and I’ll let you park in my space!

Filter and MTV have set up 5 summer movies next week for advanced screenings in the L.A. Area.

So iffa yous interested in seeing: You Don’t Mess with the Zohan,  The Foot Fist Way,  The Rocker, Kung Fu Panda or The Pineapple Express then click on: http://www.mtvsneakpeekweek.com/ and RSVP.

The bonus of all of this is that stars from each of the movies will be there and doing Q & A’s: Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, Jack Black, Seth Rogan, James Franco, Rainn Wilson, you get the picture.

I only watch TV one night of the week. I dont really have to watch it at all anymore thanks to Hulu. But if I’m at home, and its Sunday night then I’m watching The Simpsons, Family Guy, et all. So the worst ending to the week comes on after American Dad in the form of Los Angeles’ nightly news. In the meager 8 minutes i let FOX LA stay on in the background there were 4 violent stories, mostly involving the police and their incompetence. The best/worst one involving the Long Beach Police tasering and shooting a 125 lb. terminally ill lung cancer patient with mental illness. Of course the eyewitness testimony was completely different than the police spokesperson. It seems that the cop accidentally popped the guy tasered on the ground and the police made up a bullshit story that they guy had retard strength and withstood batons and tasers to grab a policeman’s nightstick and they had to take him down. In what fucking fantasy world are tasers ineffective? If you have muscles and nerves then they are going to fuck you up because thats what electricity does to you. Are they hiring out-of-work screenwriters as police spokesmen now?

Have you ever seen the 1988 John Carpenter classic They Live starring Rowdy Roddy Piper? It’s amazing! In the story Roddy finds these glasses that filter out what the media is telling you to its base element. For example, a Mcdonalds billboard would just say EAT or CONSUME and politicians are just telling you to OBEY. (Yes that’s where Sheperd Fairy’s mark came from…and they also see aliens in their true form). So what I see for that short period of time before I shut the tv off in disgust is that:

Your police are violent and will fucking shoot you and get paid leave and are never wrong so do what they say. Also, don’t leave the house, here are some car and food commercials. You’ll be safe if you have this car and won’t have to be a responsible driver. This fast food will make you a closer, more happy family; no home prepared meal can. Go into debt to afford things that are newer because that makes them better and that will make you a better person. Here are some tips to save a nickel or a dime off of a 3 dollar purchase as long as you don’t pay attention to how much of your income your many loan payments are. *click*

There are upwards of 17 million people in the Los Angeles-Riverside-Long Beach area. Of course crazy shit is going to happen but should I be watching a completely unbalanced “report” of it? There is no community catharsis or instructions on what you can do about having terrible public servants. There is no advice on how you can make your own community stronger. They are telling you that the viewing public doesn’t want to see that anyway. They’d show that stuff but they’d lose raitings and they’d lose sponsors. It’s bullshit and I’m not going to watch a second of it anymore, ever. I don’t see who it helps for that to be out in front of anybody if it doesn’t accomplish anything. The citizens of the Long Beach community should have beaten those officers critically with their own clubs and tasers and the anchors should have been the people to give them the order. “I don’t know about you Suzi but if some fucking redneck asshole cops killed my unarmed dying family member, I would beat the shit out of them and park their squad car on their throats.”

On top of that its been hot as fuck here. It’s summer, there are going to be a lot of crazy things happening and I know the news will only be painting a more desperate story. I know I sound like a hippie here but where is the Peace and Love, man? I though weed was legal in this motherfucker? And we can marry whomever the fuck we want! Lets fire the cops and fucking celebrate! Gah, its hot… I need a shower.

Don’t take any guff from these fucking swine.

Because I live where I live, sometimes I randomly catch some awesome events. Tonight for example at the Chinese Theatre I saw a shot-for-shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark done over 7 years in the mid-80’s by a couple of kids in Mississippi (max age 17ish). Presented by Eli Roth (as in, he was there and talking at length about this film’s journey) Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation was kitsch gold. I wished that all of the Dead Lantern/Grand Horror crew was there to see this DIY masterpiece. It probably won’t ever make it to DVD because of the obvious copyright restrictions but it has been making the indie-theatre circuit for 5 years with the blessing of Mr. Roth who hooked the filmmakers up with a renewed career in film and even a meeting with Stephen Speilberg himself.

Spinning from this amazing backstory is a Daniel Clowes (Ghost World) screenplay and Paramount project in the works based on the kids who made it (now in their late 30s).

When I get to catch things like this, it’s pretty fucking rad to live here.