Back Home in L.A.

Back in town and in need of lots of live music. Unfortunately I lost out on a chance to see Andrew Bird for two nights at the Largo at the Coronet, probably two of the best concerts in town this year. But a lot of good shows have popped up like Fol Chen at Echo Curio this Friday (October 24) or Avi Buffalo at Echo Curio on October 30.

I ventured out to Mr. T's Bowl for the first time on Saturday night (October 18) lured by the promise of a, suddenly announced, show by The Ruby Suns. Probably en route from their native New Zealand to a series of gigs in New York this week, they perhaps tried to stop over in L.A., but for whatever reason, it didn't happen. I love this band and was somewhat disappointed, but my first adventure into the dark cavern of Mr. T's Bowl was lightened by Joe Fielder (Radio Free Silver Lake) and some surprise bands I liked.

First up was Jack Wilson Jr. who played a nice shambling indie rock with strong gravelly singing by Matt Eckel supported by his four piece band. Very interesting and intriguing was the percussion by their drummer (?) Brian Demski who pounded away on the African drum in front of him or on an amplified wooden box upon which he sat. I found their set enjoyable and liked the band's style. I don't know if they were filling in for somebody but the scheduled The Spires also didn't get to play because of some age issues.

The next band, Walk, was on the evenings original lineup and they played very pretty indie rock with influences from everywhere from Arcade Fire to The Beatles to The Eels (according to their myspace page). Supporting the winsome, somnambulant singing of Tim Jordan, with Kenny Tarentino on bass, Chris Kerrigan on keys and Dan Apodaca on drums are some really nicely constructed tunes. The more they played the prettier it became, with some really beautiful instrumental passages. Met Tim afterward and picked up their EP.

As this was my first trip to Mr. T's Bowl and public transportation back to L.A. from Highland Park ends around 11:45, so I had to skip Franklin For Short. I like what I've heard on their myspace page so I was sorry to miss them, but I'll catch up with them somewhere, somehow.

Sunday I rested, gearing up to begin running full speed starting with Pinback at the Echoplex on Monday (October 20).

whrabbit