This night has opened my eyes

Over the weekend their was an outstanding collection of free shows for the artistic or fashion inclined and internet savvy financial crises sufferers.  On Friday the 12th at Hollywood retail experiment Space 15 Twenty their was a Valentines party at the hipster by numbers shop Urban Outfitters.  Their was discounts galore and 16 year old hipster's in their brand new flannel + ironic shirt and skinny jeans combo wading through the rejected, last season clothes.  But their was two things i was interested in, free alcohol and Pearl Harbor.

Pearl Harbor are a cute band of shimmery Smiths'esque guitar lines and heavily reverbed vocals.  They have the archetypal California sound of psychedelic pop cuteness and low-fi cavernous hooks.  Their 16 yr old guitarist's love of what she does is both honest and obvious and quite enchanting in its hooky-ness.  This is probably the blondest band i've ever seen, from the sister duo of long blond locks to the posy 2nd guitarist and his perfectly manicured blond mop.  Even the Bass-Player has mousey-blond hair.  But who cares, they are a good band and have a long time to develop.

On Saturday after a day of eating Kim-Che fries and abstract fusion burritos at the LA street food festival what could be better then finding out a band you love featuring revered music legends will be playing near your house.  Family bookstore on Fairfax is, no.1 one of my favorite places for books, no.2 fucking cool. 

They had a gallery opening for musician/artist and legend Tim Kerr and to celebrate they had LA punk band No Age featuring legendary Mike Watt on Bass and Tim Kerr himself on guitar.  They played a two song jam set with layers of art noise and punk passion.  Tim Kerr was stunning with his balding refrain and his outright awesome guitar moves, thrusting his guitar high into the air and into the crowd.  It was one of those nights where you slap yourself and go, "i live here."  It was an eye opening experience and a sheer privilege to be able to walk down the street and witness such a thing.  It was so good i gradually forgot about the free Alcohol.  Thank you LA.