Radio Free Silver Lake

Festival Report: Broke LA 2016

Text and Photos by Kathryn Pinto 

Last Saturday April 23 Broke LA (formerly known as Brokechella) brought another successful one day festival to young Angelenos: those short on cash, or saddled with unreliable cars or unreliable friends and some who just love dogs. For the sixth year Broke LA  was a lively day of music and art in Downtown LA. The festival moved to a new location at Imperial Arts Studios in the warehouse district that was a compact, labyrinthine setting. The dimly lit maze of indoor and outdoor spaces  gave the aura of a treasure hunt, with gems to be found around every corner if one was willing to venture deeper inside. (At right, DWNTWN on the Outdoor Stage)

The spirit of the festival is youthful, convivial optimism; everyone in attendance was a participant on board and bought in. Audience members made art and hugged puppies; security guards got down and danced to the bands. Foodies ate tater tots with every conceivable topping and then went back for more. Prince’s passing only three days before did not dim the spirits of festival goers who were mostly young enough to be born after “Darling Nikki” or “Little Red Corvette” had been retired to the eighties oldies station. Tributes rippled beneath the surface, bubbling up in art projects and DJ playlists, but lavender hankies were stowed; the Purple One’s spirit infused all music.

Bark LA (the former Puppychella) was again a highlight of the daytime festivities. At Bark LA canine best friends are invited to join the party. Watts Project and the Animal Wellness Foundation held adoption events for those who don’t yet have a pet of their own. These rescue organizations brought dogs and puppies available for adoption and allowed audience members to snuggle up with a pup and learn more about these no-kill organizations. There was even a Step and Repeat photo opportunity with a doghouse big enough for dogs and their humans.

(Festival Report and Photo Gallery continue after the break.) 

Photo Gallery: First Friday at the Natural History Museum with Hanni El Khatib, Avid Dancer and Chicano Batman

By Kathryn Pinto
(text and photos)

Last week First Fridays at the Natural History Museum closed its season with a finale lineup of Hanni El Khatib, Avid Dancer and Chicano Batman. The bill of hometown favorites reflected distinctly Los Angeles influences, indie rock steeped in east side roots, latin sounds, and spare rockabilly railsliding into skate punk. Set against dinosaur fossils, edible gardens and the Grandes Maestros folk art exhibition, the celebration felt perfectly at home in the neighborhood and the city. If one measure of an event’s success is the impossible choice between lining up for food trucks between sets versus staying close to maintain a plum spot in front of the stage to see the next band, then this event will be very happy with its report card.

More photos after the jump.

Hanni El Khatib

Chicano Batman

Festival Report: Brokechella 2015

By Kathryn Pinto

Insects vs. Robots

The first Brokechella started when the organizers of the cARTel art party realized that they didn’t have to cancel their April art party because none of the other participants could afford to go to Coachella, either. Five years later, there is no shortage creative people who were available to come out to a warehouse space in Downtown LA to see music, art, carnival sideshows and get together with friends on a Saturday. This year there were four stages and longer lines, but the energy and optimism that sparked the first festival continue to grow.

So why go to a music festival, or any festival? We want to see a once in a lifetime performance, or we want to see baby bands before they become huge, when we can still see them up close on a small stage, or maybe we just want to hear good music, of any genre, outdoors on a serious sound system while we dance and hang out with our friends. I didn’t see any holograms or TMZ reporters at Brokechella, but I did see all kinds of people hanging out and having a good time. This year I spent a lot more time at the hip hop stage, sponsored by Brownies and Lemonade, where the beats pumped and lyrics flowed with a vitality not seen in a long time. Some highlights:

Puppychella:
Dog lovers willing to preregister their pups in advance were able to bring their dogs to the festival, where leashed canines were welcome in designated areas. It was fun and friendly. Dog owners had a chance to spend time with their pets outside on a spring day with a beer and bands and their best friends, an online form wasn’t going to slow them down.

Marty Grimes

The Brownies and Lemonade Stage:
The hip hop stage was going off every single time I walked inside. There was so much energy in there it was crazy. I don’t believe I am qualified to cover hip hop in a critical way.  I love hip hop, but I am not current. I can hardly keep up with all of the indie rock LA bands that flood my inbox and that new Kendrick Lamar was going to last me through the whole year until I saw this stage. So this comes to you strictly as a fan not as a scholar.  

The first act to catch my eye was Gavlyn, an all female group showing off choreographed dance moves, led by a front woman who first commanded the stage, then came down to the floor to rap to the audience. Then there was Marty Grimes (above right) who rejoiced in the moment  and shouted out to his mom in the audience. Turns out she was the beautiful woman I had been standing right behind for the first half of the set, as proud of her son as any mother ever. Fortune was a full band playing soul, jazz and hip hop all in one impressive package.

Indie rock was well-represented on the cARTel stages. There was a refreshing new crop of bands I mostly hadn't seen before, as well as RFSL favorites like Hi Ho Silver Oh who sounded the best I've ever heard them. There was a trend toward roots and jam band influences from acts like Insects vs. Robots and Neighbors as well as synth pop from Battle Tapes. 

In addition to four stages of music there was comedy, visual art and carnival-style side shows like the Los Angeles Ladies Arm Wrestling. 

More photos after the jump...

Brokechella 2014: Festival Highlights and Photos

By Kathryn Pinto

For those music fans not up to spending three parched days and several hundred dollars in the desert of Indio, California Brokechella 2014 was a fun, sane way to spend a Saturday. The impecunious could enjoy live music for $10, including some fine sets by up and coming LA bands and the trek was only as far as Downtown LA. Having the Sixth Street Bridge as a background, the outdoor cARTel stage was an excellent setting for catching some music. The festival atmosphere was laid back and despite some logistical problems (food lines that did not move, a single beer garden tucked into a corner behind the comedy stage), festivalgoers seemed to take these setbacks in stride. In addition to music and food there were craft vendors, impromptu art exhibitions and an event called Puppychella, a daytime dog-friendly program for folks whose plus one was a furry friend.

There were four stages, including hip-hop, electronic, comedy and but of most interest to the Radio Free Silver Lake readership was the cARTel Stage, where the indie rock bands played. Here were some of our highlights from the cARTel Stage.

Kera & the Lesbians
Kera and the Lesbians—the titular lesbians are a bunch of longhaired dudes in the band—bring together influences of East LA Latin rock, surf guitar, and a gypsy punk of the flavor of Gogol Bordello. Kera is an incredibly magnetic performer at the heart of the group. Onstage she is so insanely charismatic that she illuminates the stage.

LA Font
LA Font play with such reckless abandon that you never question whether rock n roll is supposed to be fun. The only question is where are the other bands who bring this excitement to the stage when we need them for summer festivals.

HOTT MT (Hour of the Time Majesty Twelve)
Fronted by the charismatic Ashi Dalas, HOTT MT injected the evening crowd with a dose of eastern post-pop psychedelia and theatrical energy. The band is known for having made a pilgrimage to Wayne Coyne’s house in Oklahoma that resulted in a collaborative 7” with the Flaming Lips’ singer. HOTT MT has an energy and showmanship that honors Mr. Coyne's musical spirit. Their set energized and rejuvenated an evening crowd that moments earlier was drifting off toward the waning light of the beer garden.

Yoya
Yoya’s sweet harmonies bring to mind Simon and Garfunkel, and they put on a pretty great show with sing alongs like "Fireworks," the song the band described as “the smash hit featured on the Kardashians.”

More photos from Brokechella 2014 (after the jump)

Photo Gallery: No Age and Tijuana Panthers at the Santa Monica Pier (7/25/13)

Photos by Angela Holtzen
Text by Kathryn Pinto

Last week No Age and Tijuana Panthers played as part of the the Twilight Concerts at the Santa Monica Pier. Nothing could be farther from the dark and fragrant caverns of The Smell where No Age built their core audience than the expanse of pink sky behind the Pier at dusk. A couple of things haven't changed: the sweaty, physically wrenching show the band puts out and their devoted all ages audience. As our photographer Angela Holtzen reported, "Holy moly, the crowd was nuts. [I] was sure that barrier was gonna come down and the stage was gonna get rushed. Good times."

 

 

More photos after the jump.

Festival Report and Photo Gallery: Jubilee 2013

Text by Kathryn Pinto
Photos by Angela Holtzen

The Jubilee Music and Arts Festival (formerly the Silver Lake Jubilee) moved to its new location in the Downtown Los Angeles Arts District this year. Photographer Angela Holtzen--featured in our RFSL photography show at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena-- was on hand last weekend to cover the festival and bring back some images of the event.

The Jubilee  lineup included local favorites as well as national acts like NO, Fool's Gold, Hott MT, Lovelife, Beat Club, Great White Buffalo,  Riff Raff, Tapioca and the Flea, The Dead Ships, The Drums, and Western Lows. (More photos after the jump.)

 

Hott MT

Lovelife

Show Review: Kurt Vile & The Violators at the Echoplex 5/7/13

Text & Photos by Kathryn Pinto

My excitement about the Kurt Vile show was tempered by my trepidation at all things that happen at a BNM show (his latest album won Pitchfork’s Best New Music designation). Yeah the buzz was great on this album, which is how I ended up buying the excellent Wakin on a Pretty Daze on vinyl and playing it non-stop. Pretty Daze combines laconic easy-paced songwriting in the vein of Neil Young with guitar playing that’s about as close to shredding as a chill guy from Philadelphia gets. But that same good buzz threatened to fill the room at the Echoplex with dilettantes likely to make me pissy as hell.

You know what I mean. There are the structural flaws of the Echoplex like terrible sightlines, Hollywood drink prices ($9 beer) and bathroom attendants. (Isn’t the ladies’ room just about the last place you’d want to buy a pack of mints?). Then there are the so-called fans who talk, make out or dry hump (as my colorful show buddy put it) while standing three feet from the stage the entire show. After bearing witness to some of the anticipated dry-humping during opener the Fresh and Onlys' well-fogged in and very droney, but good set, I ducked outside to escape the fog for the relative fresh air of the smokers’ patio outside between sets.

Kurt Vile took the stage dressed in the same white-white jeans, white shirt, white jacket and white Converse he sports in his “Never Run Away” video and opened with “Wakin on a Pretty Day.” He followed with “KV Crimes,” the second track from Wakin on a Pretty Daze. Vile mumbles his lyrics and his long metalhead locks obscure his face, but these outward gestures do nothing to distance him from the audience. Throughout the set the experience of seeing Vile play live was one of being lured in ever closer. He seemed to be backed by at least a dozen guitarists on stage with him, but really I think there were only three. The audience was a stoked, but reverent crowd. They certainly welcomed it when he played the hits, but there was awed appreciation throughout the set. On “Jesus Fever” from his previous album Smoke Ring For My Halo Vile was head bopping and toe-tapping and the crowd just about lost their collective minds in approval. “Peeping Tom” he played solo on acoustic guitar, creating a very intimate moment with the more than seven hundred in the room. From there he went into a full band vibing heavy, the romantics in our midst having presumably filtered to the back of the venue. After the encores, Vile left the stage saying, “You’ve been a beautiful audience, see you in the parking lot.”

More photos after the jump.

Show Review: MUDHONEY (and the curse of part-time punks) 4/14/13

Text by Seamus Simpson
Photos by Simon Cardoza

So a couple of weeks back I was taxed with going to see Mudhoney at the Echo. I haven’t seen this band since around ‘93 or ‘94 and the lasting image in my head was the band wearing dresses and ripping through “Mudride,” but a lasting image it was. This was a band that in high school was the lesser-known progeny of the Seattle scene. I have always appreciated how they never seemed to take themselves nearly as seriously as their peers in the scene. They always looked like they were up for a good time and Mark Arm was going to drag you there if he had to and you were going to enjoy it. So I was more than excited to learn that they were back on tour again and even more excited that they were doing only small clubs on this tour. A win-win situation for the fans.

Well, there I was sitting on my friend’s couch listening to Super Fuzz/ Big Muff and casually watching some really pretentious band on the first weekend Coachella (I let you the reader pick which band I was viewing as it will probably be right) and it occurs to double check when the shows starts and that is when the reoccurring curse of Part-Time Punks stuck me again. Due to this DJ night the damn Sunday shows at the Echo  start early in order to make way for the post-punk waifs dressed in black to lurch and sway all over the dance floor to a drone of classic post-punk and new wave, so of course I love the night.  I just always seem to forget about it.

Needless to say, we made record time from downtown to Echo Park and shoved our way to the front in order to catch a spectacle going full tilt as we walked in. This was a much different crowd at the Echo  than I was accustomed to seeing. It felt for a second that I was somehow back to 1994.

Photo File: The Orwells at the Echo (2/22/13)

By Kathryn Pinto

The Orwells electrified The Echo last Friday night (2/22/13) with a sweaty Tesla coil of a show. The Chicago teens unleashed themselves on the room in an explosion of hair, sweat and wild yelps. There's that time when you're so young that every day is a whole lifetime when you don't know much about history or anything that can before you, because today is now, man. These guys play like they've absorbed the Ramones, the Stooges and the Replacements and shook it all up like a bottle of soda, hand on the cap as long as a seventeen year old--who hasn't learned to think about cutting the grass and baseball at these moments--possibly can, then released it all in a single explosion of guitar bass drums as if no one had ever wrangled his four best friends and a case of cheap beer into a garage to rock out.

 

Photo File: Radar Brothers, Babies on Acid, and Young Unknowns at the Echo 2/2/13

Photos and Text by Amanda Glover

Radar Brothers appeared at the Echo this past Saturday (February 2) as part of the record release for their new album Eight. Jim Putnam (son of recording pioneer/Universal Audio founder Bill Putnam) and the rest of the band played their blend of surreal, swirling, guitar-driven tunes to an appreciative audience with support from Babies On Acid (whose set was pleasantly folky in contrast to their name) and Young Unknowns. The RFSL Flickr page has the complete photoset for the show.

Head over to RFSL Flickr page for more photos.