How is it that I’ve been in Los Angeles for more than a year and have never been to the Vista Theater, I must have passed it a thousand times? The Vista in Los Feliz is a lovely place that normally shows some pretty good movies bordering on indie and/or typically the most watchable thing that you’d find in the Arclight down the street. The exterior resembles a Spanish mission with the interior more along the lines of Cleopatra’s bedroom. (inside joke: Joan in the north and Cleo in the south.)

So to fill this movie theater with concert-going patrons, a few of the rows of seats were removed and replaced with folding chairs. I guess that spaceland promotions figured that 2 rows of folding chairs could fit into 1 row of theater seats. This would have been all well and good if it didn’t mean that a certain percentage of said concert-going patrons wouldn’t be stuck in the seats right behind renegade rows of the aforementioned folding chairs. Needless to say, some of us instantly became very close friends with the strangers sitting next to us. (My neighbor was Anthony) The folding chairs were also at least an inch and a half taller, drag for me.

Obstructions and obstacles aside, The show was quite pleasant, very cute, but musically a bit under par. The venue’s sound seemed poorly mixed and hard to control. Neither those in charge of lighting nor live sound had much to work with as all of the sound came from a pair of speaker stacks on each side of the stage at the front of the house. The makeshift stage didn’t so much elevate the band as turn them into pinball machine bumpers for the PA and stage sound.

The openers Lavender Diamond bantered nicely with the crowd and were a complementary warm-up for She & Him; but the songs were far too simple to warrant the 6+ minutes that they seemed to drag on. Zooey joined the band for a song, but like I said lasted waaay too long.

To get it out of the way Zooey Deschanel is adorable. Quite literally one of the most beautiful people to walk the earth. M. Ward is nearly equally fantastic. But the show was very ok to pretty good in the grand scheme of things. It had some nicer moments, like the vocal breakdown in “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?” and of course their beautiful cover of Smokey’s “You Really Gotta Hold On Me” but really, how could you fuck that up? Still the show fell very short in comparison to either the previous time i’d seen M.Ward perform or the maybe 2 dozen female fronted bands/singer-songwriters I saw last year working in the same style. The band seemed very loose. But to their defense the problem was probably that they couldn’t hear each other because of the room’s acoustics; which seemed to pit the bass and drums against each other in Mortal Kombat. Rough spots showed through especially in an uncomfortably hurried version of “I Was Made For You” which left Zooey stumbling on what should have been a very strong melody.

To toot my Nebraska horn I recognized the bassist as Stefanie Drootin from Tim Kasher’s Cursive side-project The Good Life. To my own credit, i knew who the bassist would be before she even took the stage when I saw Ward sound-checking her instrument. I’m that good.

Ultimately I feel a show like She & Him would have translated much better at a smaller venue such as Spaceland. That also would have spared me the pain of dishing out 8 bucks for a tiny whiskey drink. I know it’s L.A. but give me a break! I honestly didn’t think that the act as a whole had the confidence to pull of a show of that size, perhaps after a run of smaller shows they will be a much better live act. Not many bands in L.A. have paid their dues and on occasions like this, it shows. I don’t recommend paying $25 to see anything at the Vista, either.

It’s been a while since I freed the beast and I’ve been asked whats up a few times lately so here is a drop on some new shizzle thats been buzzing in my ear&brain lately.

Word from SXSW this year is that ex-Test Icicle contributor’s Devonte Hynes project Lightspeed Champion is set to explode. This kid is talented and right in line with all of that sloppy britindie (i’m sure this word has been used before but i havent heard it so i’m claiming it in the name of the queen.) coming out lately. He is also uber-linked to Omaha-Saddle Creek which instantly wins points in my book. (Unless you are only on the label because your brother is talented.)

By boy Brady introduced me to his friends in The Devil’s Orchestra sometime in the middle of last year. I caught a couple shows and some rehearsals and recently I saw them at Cinespace here in the ‘hood and the audience response was kinda nuts. Beyond blaming Cocaine which is a distinct possibility I think these kids are something for the metal motherfuckers to check out. It’s a little bit Rush, a little bit of the Sword/Dragonforce thing and some of that Dog Fashion Disco random circus/jazz breakdown thing. All 3 band members are pretty killer players. Warning: Instrumental.

I tried to buy She & Him tickets this week but April 29th @ the Vista in Los Feliz show was already sold out. Thankfully they booked a 2nd date. She & Him consists of 1 parts Zooey Deschanel on Vocals and some piano and 1 part My Morning Jacket slinger M.Ward on guitars and arrangements. Zooey’s voice is adorable and holds up pretty well but at times pushes a little too heavily on the Billie Holliday sound. I won’t hold it against her because the songs are pretty good in comparison to Rilo Kiley’s most recent effort. The album is a bit schizophrenic much as Coconaut Records was but M.Ward totally gives this record the cred and sophistication it needed. I caught M.Ward last year opening for Bright Eyes at the Hollywood Bowl and was floored. His show the blew old farts Yo La Tengo back to the grunge revivalist carpool they belong in. Besides, Is there anything hotter than a blue-eyed brunette?

Ok maybe one thing hotter, Kate Micucci. She is a one woman Renaissance festival. Very creative, maybe…too creative. As in, so creative it would make the world jealous to listen to all that she can do (Art, Music, Acting, Being Nice). I saw and met her in a Barbeque Joint in Chinatown during a no-audience stand up show. Besides the performers there were 2 people there, who eventually left when they finished their meal. So i guess for a little while the employees and I were the whole audience. But SHE WAS AMAZING! She played ukulele and with her diminutive yet powerful voice she sang these adorable, and funny, yet deep and endearing songs. Wait, I mentioned she played Ukulele right? Write this name down.

Priscilla Ahn: clean, pure like irish spring. I caught her show last year at a benefit for a private school for overly believed in children and she was great. She layered her sound with the aid of a Boss loop station (a la KT Tunstall) and was so lovely. She has since been signed, made an album, and will be destroying America’s hearts with the Hotel Cafe tour. I will drop another Hotel Cafe name and tell you about Jim Bianco. This guy is like Tom Waits for the DMB/Jack Johnson set. but dont mishear me, he is really like neither of them, he is the kind of music that you need to hand a copy of to fans of mom-rock to steer them over to more dangerous sounds. I saw him at the Hotel Cafe with Butch Walker, Cary Brothers and Pink guest and he blew everyone away, for real. His music will molest your ears. Butch is still beyond amazing and has a new project called 1969.

So now you have a ton of shit to download and get your spring started right. And I have to go to bed because I’ve been getting to work 15 minutes late everyday for the last 3 months and everyday try to not do so. *sigh* Futility.