Caught briefly in LA for a couple of days, between Hawaii and Montreal. Go Go Gadget JetSetter…

It’s the end of September, and we get one last black kite practice tonite before hitting the Pop Montreal stage on Friday night. A little nervous, but mostly in a good way.

September moved by pretty fast – some good times and some bad bad times. Like the black kites playing a show in Modesto with the Solar Powered People – and the Foreign Resort from Denmark.

We played a nice set at a well attended show, so everything seemed alright, but that was Saturday evening… Sunday morning getting ready to head back, we noticed Alan’s car, broken glass, and that was bad. Guitars and other gear stolen. Luckily they didn’t get everything, but still there was some heavy value, sentimental and financial, attached to what was gone, and it kinda put a big cloud of depression on everyone’s day. For whatever reason – this happens a lot in the modesto area, but nobody bothered to mention that to us, which kinda sucked.

Shelley hadn’t been feeling too well the whole weekend, and then around 2 am on Tuesday morning, it was suddenly really bad, and we went to the emergency room, where we sat and waited until about 6 am or so – when she finally got a little doctor time – we were there until 10 am, and they weren’t sure what exactly was wrong, so we went home, and just let whatever it was slowly get better… luckily it didn’t get worse.

So Shelley stayed home for a couple of days, I bussed to work for a couple of days, and then a few more days… and then Nick Cave.

Nothing like a Nick Cave concert to make a shitty week a whole lot better.

The Hollywood Bowl was packed, but not full, as we got there about halfway through the Spiritualized set. We sat in sound, and waited… and then the Bad Seeds hit the stage, full of thunder and fire and proceeded to just hit everything just right. Nick Cave in his western bad man moustache, Warren Ellis and his scary beard, lights and guitars and rock. The hit most of the new material, throwing in some nice moves and banter along the way, and managing to pull out some songs from Murder Ballads, Your Funeral, My Trial, Henry’s Dream, The Firstborn Is Dead, Tender Prey, Let Love In… so yeah. No complaints here.

Then it was my turn to get sick, and I’m still nursing a little chest cold – nothing like hanging out in Hawaii and coughing constantly…

We had a nice Daichan dinner with Audra and Brennan, did some band practices, did some el pollo loco… and then on the 24^th we took off a little early from work and headed straight for LAX and a pre-flight Bloody Mary.

Restless sleepless airplane flight to the island Oahu, and then it’s 4 days of the Best Blueberry Cream cheese scones ever, sunshine and sunsets… beaches, oceans, rainbows, palm trees, and tuna poke. We even ventured into Costco, where it was huge and empty and wonderful – and a poke bar. Found our Shabu Shabu place, had ramen in Waikiki in a little hole in the wall ramen house, went to Hanauma Bay – where Shelley went snorkeling and I sat and watched, Shark’s cove, same thing, and then – off on a boat – three miles off shore, where Shelley jumped in a cage with three other people and got lowered into the water to watch the Sharks Swarm. I would’ve gone in the water if I hadn’t felt all chest constricted – coughing the entire time. I do love being on a boat so much more than being in the water though. I could boat for days….

We found some interesting little thrift stores, got some great Hawaiian shirts in the goodwill, rummaged thru the salvation army, and then – more scones!

Hit the Pali Lookout, chased a rainbow, argued with the GPS, went to see Kirk and Lani and the kids on Friday night, and then again on Sunday for Angels birthday # 2. perhaps it’ll be another year before we hit the island again, but really, if it was sooner than that, I wouldn’t mind. I’m surprised at how much I enjoy the island life, but yeah – I do. K-POI Rocks. So a short, but full visit.

Then an even more restless and tiring airplane ride home – getting in to LA late Monday afternoon.

Tuesday, a last pre-canada practice, and then now – it’s Wednesday. It’s October. It’s Falling straight into Winter.

We take Diesel in to the vet at 8 am for her to get a little dental work done, and then it’s afternoon, and the vet calls Shelley, saying that the anesthetic triggered something, causing diesel’s heart to slow to almost a stop, and they had to quickly revive her. So everything is all of a sudden a little bit sadder and worry is in the air. The trip to Montreal is still happening, but unfortunately it looks like it’ll just be me, traveling alone and then crashing with the rest of the band when I get there. The show must go on, eh?

Shelley is going to stay at home and monitor little Dee, both of us hoping all will be well, and she will be her fine bratty self…

And now I finish up another day, and get ready for a bus ride home, and hope that the next time I write there will be more of that good, less of that bad, and maybe you won’t have to wait for another month for the next little entry…. and maybe canada will love them black kites…

Maybe.

Damn, these guys rock. Solar Powered People released what I thought was the best shoegaze CD of 2007. It’s also on my list of favorite releases in general for 2007.

I’m no expert on recording and producing, but to my innocent ears, tracks on Hibernation like Commercial Flight and Awhile sound amazing at loud volumes with headphones on. The streaming songs on Last.FM, for whatever it’s worth, don’t have quite the pizazz that the songs on my iPod do. Maybe Last.FM uses a low(er) quality file?

Either way, the band’s ability to nail a sound that drowns your ears is amazing. Shoegaze’s softer, mellower side can be a yawn at times, but Solar Powered People has succeeded in making a relaxing, atmospheric, and soft record that doesn’t bore. The sounds seem to reverberate in your head. I could try and go all Pitchfork here, using too many superlatives and ruining the CD in the process. I think the record will speak for itself if you simply buy it, put your headphones on, and listen to it in the dark before bed.

Solar Powered People – Commercial Flight

I have a shoe fetish.

Source: The band’s Myspace page and their photographer, Adrian Luna.

Recently I was talking to a co-worker of mine about music as she seemed one who was into what I consider to be good music. She started mentioning some bands that often fall under the genre of Shoegazer (my favorite genre, always will be) which got me excited at the possibility that I have just found someone else who actually knows the genre.

I have had to explain what Shoegazer is to just about everyone I talk music with. So then I asked her, “So you like Shoegazer music then?” immediately she said “Oh yeah” enthusiastically. I was buggin’, this had been the first time I had ever met someone else who knew Shoegazer.

So then we start going down the list of all the bands we like, “My Bloody Valentine”, “Slowdive”, “Swervedriver”, and so on. I had to throw in my favorite band “Starflyer 59” for good measure, who is also Shoegazer but hasn’t really become very well known. So the next thing she says to me is that her husband is in a shoegazer band! Here I am, not even knowing there was a Shoegazer band anywhere near where I live, I become even more excited.That night I went home to listen to her husbands band “Solar Powered People” who turn out to be absolutely fantastic. So now I have felt the need to share this band here on The 405 in hopes that more people can enjoy them, and hoping that others here enjoy Shoegazer.

Here is “Solar Powered People’s” song “Awhile”

Solar Powered People – Awhile

Also I want to include this live video of their song “They’ll Never Say”

And last but not least, their myspace page where you can listen to more songs if you so please.

http://www.myspace.com/solarpoweredpeople

This has been my first contribution to The 405, I look forward to sharing more artists here.