28 February 2008

stellastarr* at the Troubadour






So, the wife totally surprised me by taking me to see stellastarr* last night at the Troubadour (my pick for the best place to see live music in Los Angeles).

Now, to set this up correctly, since it was a bit of a surprise I totally had my usual brain-freeze and forgot my sharpie and my camera. This bone-headed decision would come back to haunt me later.

The surprised was revealed when we pulled up to the Troubadour and I finally saw the marquee. I went to check on the t-shirts and conversed with a very friendly, thin young man.

The opening act was The Oohlas, who was very energetic but hampered by mixing issues (the mics were too low). I liked that song "Tryin' " but haven't managed to track it down online.

My colleague Bartley Edmund Jenniches IV was the one who had first turned me on to this fantastic foursome called stellastarr*, and they totally rocked the house! The played some new stuff from the upcoming album (coming this Fall); the new tracks were awesome (how's that for some fine criticism?).

The band was nice enough to stay back and talk to their fans afterwards (again, this sorta thing only happens at the Troubadour) and my wife had to tell the lead singer Shawn Christensen that she knew the words to "Lost in Time" because I sing it in the shower all the time (thanks a lot dude!). Shawn was totally nice and talked to us (and everyone else for a while).

Now, let's see we had three of the four band members (their world-class bassist, and amazing back-up harmonizer, Amanda Tannen decided she didn't want to be mobbed by the drooling fanboys and only made a cursory appearance) hanging out with us, just chillin', signing autographs, taking pictures, shooting the breeze, being completely down-to-Earth.

So, there I was, in the midst of the band, who were as approachable as they come, right up front during the entire show, and I didn't have either a camera to capture the moment or a sharpie to memorialize it for posterity!

Just my luck - the one time I would be this up close and personal with a band I really, really liked, and I had forgotten the most important tools every fan should I have. And I always bring them with me, always.

Except for this once!

So sad.

And that friendly, young man sell t-shirts before the show? Why that was the drummer Arthur Kremer!

Good times!

stellastarr* - "Lost in Time"





stellastarr* - "My Coco"






stellastarr* - "Somewhere Across Forever"






LINKS

stellastarr* Official Site

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