Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Just got back from five days in Honolulu. I go there often enough to have favorite places, and most of them happen to be food related. Number one on the list is always Waiola. It's not as famous as Matsumoto's, but it's my favorite. We ran an article on shave ice way back in Giant Robot 52 and asked readers to contribute stories and pictures. A lot of the photos looked like the one below, with Wendy and Eloise sitting by my niece Saoirse and brother Greg. Families, cousins, and shave ice go together. Afterward, I walked into
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The new issue of GR has an interview with The Glitch Mob conducted by Chris Alfara (a.k.a. Free The Robots, a.k.a. head busboy at The Crosby, a.k.a. GR crew for life whether he likes it or not). If you are a fan or became curious about the electro noisemakers from L.A., the dudes just released a mix of their rad new album adding the vocals of Nas, MIA, Jay-Z… Get it here!
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Earlier this week, my friend Julia asked Wendy and me if we wanted to attend a concert at the Greek. I have to admit I wasn't super familiar with the bands, but when she asks, you don't say no. (She has killer seats at the Bowl and makes amazing bento boxes, too.) The first band was Long Beach's own Avi Buffalo. All I knew about them was that they are on Sub Pop and that the lead singer was a pro skater who turned to music after an injury. The sound was totally unexpected, maybe like Daniel Johnston singing for the Allman Brothers. They were clearly stoked to be playing a huge stage instead of the Fingerprints record shop, and the band had family members in the crowd cheering them on, which was nice to see. The guitarist on the far left totally looked like my friend Tadashi… Headlining was My Morning Jacket. From their hit song, I thought they might sound like Rank & File's third album, washed-out and sort of metallic cowpunk. Weird, since they used to be on Darla Records, which is better known for dreamy indie-tronica. They turned out to be full-on classic rock band, which was fun to watch. Lots of hair… The funny thing is that I've actually seen them years ago–opening for Paul Weller at the House of Blues. I went with Pryor, who just reminded me… It's been a while since I've been to a show at the Greek, and it's an awesome place to see a somewhat big band (or Neil Diamond) on a summer night. Tonight is the big Dolores Huerta benefit with Carlos Santana, Pete Escovedo, and Zack de la Rocha's new band, One Day as a Lion, which just might be your excuse…
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Sadly, I don't travel as much as I'd like to, so I'm lucky that everyone seems to wind up in L.A. for one reason or another. Today I had lunch with three sets of friends (and one new one) who happened to be in town from Hong Kong at the same time: Newlyweds Dan Wu and Lisa S. who are in L.A. after the Las Vegas leg of their celebration; Ryan and Candace Hui who are in the States to attend a cousin's wedding in Idaho; Prodip and Amy Leung who are on their annual trip to visit relatives in California; and Lisa's model pal Ana. Yes, they're all friends. Talk about convergence. Such a treat for me to get to hang out with everyone at once, and a hell of a lot easier that opening a gr/eats in Hong Kong…
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Sometime in the last couple weeks, the old site of the Anti-Club was torn down. It was never really the greatest music venue since you had to buy drink tickets if you were underage, but they booked some great shows in the late '80s and early '90s. For a year or two, I probably saw combinations of ALL, the Chemical People, and Big Drill Car on their tiny stage every two or three weeks (with the Hard-Ons and very early Jawbreaker mixed in for good measure). I went often enough that during one Chemical People show Jaime pulled my brother and me onto the stage to sing back-up to “Black Throat” with Jack Baker on guest vocals! There are other memorable shows. Two that stand out are The Mentors (El Duce arriving late because he was in jail in Mexico) with the Love Dolls opening (and the McDonald brothers from Redd Kross serving as go-go dancers) and St. Vitus. Now it's gone, just like Raji's, while The Coop at UCLA and Jabberjaw on Pico are pretty much unrecognizable… Kind of sad, but not totally depressing since there are so many newer venues in town (The Echo, The Smell, and sometimes even Spaceland…) providing spaces for new bands, outings, and memories.
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