AVOTT: The Gift

 Rawk Shows   

Woke up to The Gift.

An Ode to The Past

 Social Butterfly   

Once upon a time, this was my personal blog where I wrote about my crazy days and nights and got real with you peeps. I’ve been struggling with writing here because while I know I have readers that care about what I write about now, I’m just not feeling it any more.

So, with that, you can read about my crazy night if you rawk on. And then after that, who knows? I doubt I will stop writing altogether, but I’m just not going to put the effort into weekly, scheduled posts. I’ve been doing that for over 5 years and I think I need a break.

It’s been fun, kids.

2009 Travel Stats

 Wanderlust   

Just tallying up this year’s travel stats.

27310 miles on American
5726 miles on Hawaiian
3920 miles on Continental
3912 miles on Northwest
4980 miles on United
11 segments on Southwest

75 nights at various Hiltons across the country
2 nights at the Red Lion in Olympia, WA
3 nights at the Radisson in Valley Forge, PA
7 nights in my timeshare in Hawaii

Places I went that I had never been to before:
Valley Forge, PA
Lansing, MI
Olympia, WA

It did slow down for me compared to last year. But no rest for the wicked in 2010, my schedule is madness! I’ve already got trips planned to Chicago and Biloxi for work and then NOLA for fun. And I am getting a 3 week jaunt to Asia together...so exciting!

Music Mondays - Last of the Tunes

 Rawk Radio    Rawk Tunes   

Cleaning out the email inbox, here’s the last of the tunes that I care to share:

Shout Out Louds - Walls
From their forthcoming album , slated for release on 2/23.
More info: official/myspace

Peter Squires - Double Life
Peter Squires - I Would Hate to Be You
Peter Squires - Witch
You know the drill...singer-songwriter based in Brooklyn. Check him out live at the Ruby Room on Wednesday, 12/16.
More info: official/myspace/twitter

AM Holiday, Happiness, Cheer (link to stream 3 song EP)
L.A. based singer songwriter has been tapped to open up for AIR. Very nice.
More info: myspace

Brim Liski - Fight
From the press kit: “Complexly self-described as electrogaze dreamhop, painted over with shimmering vocal layers and symphonic guitar tones.”
If you are a My Bloody Valentine fan, you should definitely check this out.
More info: official

FM 94/9 2009 Holiday Hootenanny

 Rawk Radio    Rawk Shows   

KBZT had a fantastic track record this year as far as their three big shows - Indie Jam (Black Keys, YYY, Metric), Anniversary Show (Black Joe Lewis, Cage The Elephant) and last night’s Holiday Hootenanny (affectionately called “The Hoot") at RIMAC. Even the rain didn’t keep the fans away from arriving early. I arrived relatively early - caught most of White Rabbits who sounded great but I was saving all my love for the next two bands.

Manchester Orchestra came out with the intensity I have come to expect from them. Their set was short and typical of what I have been seeing them play as openers. They started of with “Pride” and ripped through “I’ve Got Friends”, “Shake It Out”, “My Friend Marcus”, “Everything to Nothing” and “The River”. You expect to get “I’ve Got Friends” and their new single “Shake It Out” but I think I scared the people around me when I reverted to fangirl and freaked out at the opening notes of “Shake It Out”. A bit of a bummer to not get anything from their amazing debut album, but with 30 minutes I was happy with their set.

Phoenix was up next and we stayed on the floor for the madness. From the opener of “Lisztomania” to the set ending “1901”, the crowd was fully into what Phoenix was bringing. Thomas Mars, their lead singer (Sofia Coppola’s Baby Daddy or SCBD to me all night since his name was escaping me) really felt the love from the crowd and spent the majority of the night leaning way into the crowd or jumping off the stage to sing amongst the peeps. AWESOME. We were in the middle of some super enthusiastic fans who were singing and dancing along - I loved being surrounded by people who are as into a show as I am and my fellow fans on the floor did not disappoint.

The rest of the night seemed anti-climactic after Phoenix - we spent our time seated during the entire Vampire Weekend set. I dunno, I like Vampire Weekend but I don’t know why everyone is so crazy about them. Really. And Spoon...well, let’s just say I needed a drink at that point but we did stick around long enough to hear my favorite song from them “The Way We Get By”, a classic from Kill The Moonlight.

But yeah, it really was a great show all around. Cheers to FM 94/9 for a great lineup. (P.S. the Beer-nasium was cool but it needed to be bigger!)

Airborne Toxic Event at Disney Concert Hall

 Rawk Shows   

As much as I hate going to L.A., you know if there is some worthy show, I will be there. Last night was an amazing experience, as Airborne Toxic Event had a “homecoming concert” at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. For the uninitiated, this hall is part of a multi-building music complex in downtown L.A. The building was designed by Frank Gehry, the photo above is from my camera phone so it isn’t the best quality, but you get the idea. The capacity is only 2265 and this show was (of course) sold out. Set list first.

Airborne Toxic Event
Disney Concert Hall
Los Angeles, CA
12/4/09

Encore:
Missy

We sat on the side of the stage which were all people who got tix via the fan club, so kind of an interesting crowd in our section. I stealthed that photo because they are super serious about their no photo policy which is a bummer because it would have been a great night for photos. The show was billed as ATE with the Calder Quartet, who has appeared with ATE previously on KCRW, Leno, Letterman and Coachella. There were also some other guests throughout the show, which I will get to as I write this lengthy review.

The first song was “Wishing Well” - the band was out on the main stage with the Calder Quartet, and I had noticed earlier that Mikal’s keyboard was up in the section by the organ. Now this organ is a sight to behold:

(photo via the builder’s website, you can read more about it here)
So Mikal came out and played the organ for the beginning of the song, and then switched to his keyboard for the rest. A great start to the show. Mikal joined the rest of the band on the main stage after “Wishing Well” . After “This Losing”, they played one of their new songs, “Letter to Georgia”, with Steven playing the grand piano. The next song “Book of Love” was a Magnetic Fields cover that Mikal dedicated to his grandmother who passed away a couple of weeks ago. He introduced it by telling us that he had gone to visit her before she died and she asked him to sing her a song, but not one of his songs “with all the weird stuff”, So he sang “Book of Love” to her. It was a very moving moment and the song was fantastic. On “Something New”, Anna (who was in a floor length dress that was sparkly sequins on top with a different fabric on the bottom that had amazing ruching) played the mandolin. Noah was playing his stand up bass during this portion of the show, so there were a few twists on their normal set-up going on. After “Something New”, everyone but Mikal and Anna left the stage. They performed the acoustic song that they also played at HOB (which still doesn’t have a title as far as I can tell). The last two songs in the first set were “Gasoline” and “Happiness is Overrated” where they had a guest horn section. Awesome.

There was a brief intermission where we were entertained by the Folklorico Ensemble with Mariachi Alma del Sol and Conjunti Xi (thank god I got a program or I would have had to look that up.) They played traditional music and had two sets of dancers come out. It was really beautiful. After they left the stage, we anxiously awaited the next set. The band’s twitter was alluding to a HS marching band for the last two weeks and that’s what we got. Led by their drummer, Daren, the band came out to the hall from the sound booth opposite the stage, accompanied by the Belmont High School Marching Band. The BHSMB stayed on stage and rocked out with ATE to “Moving On” and a cover of the Ramones’ “Rock -n- Roll Radio”. Super fun. The Calder Quartet came back out for “Sometime Around Midnight” and stayed on stage for the rest of the set. Their now standard cover of “Goodbye Horses” was extra special with the quartet backing them. Ending the second set with a raucous “Innocence” was great. I kinda figured “Missy” would be the encore and it was.

For “Missy”, Mikal came out with the Guerrero School Children’s Choir (about 8 adorable elementary school girls). He played his acoustic for the first part, sitting next to the girls while they sang. If you’ve seen ATE live, you know how “Missy” gets a little crazy after the first part and that’s when the BHSMB came back out. Then it was typical ATE shenanagins - lots going on, especially with the marching band. And then throughout the song, the Calder Quartet came out, along with all the performers from the intermission. It was madness! And awesome. And a great way to spend a Friday night in L.A.

The end.

Holiday Shopping Guide 2009

 Just a Girl   

So I pride myself on my awesome gift giving abilities and I was thinking that I shouldn’t keep all my favorite places to buy gifts a secret because seriously, spread the love, ya know? So yeah, happy shopping!!!

For your environmentally conscious friends: reusable bags from Envirosax
I bought one of these in the monochromatic style when I was in Seattle this summer and I have reduced my plastic bag consumption to zero. They’re really awesome because they fit in your purse (or backpack or whatever). They hold about 2 plastic bags worth of stuff and the designs are totally fab. I get compliments from everyone when I bust mine out.

For your indie rock loving artistic friends with kids: the Indie Rock Coloring Book available from Yellow Bird Project
Okay, maybe these are too cool to give to your friend’s kids, but yeah, I bought an extra one for me, too. And the t-shirts designed by your fave indie rock bands aren’t too shabby either.

For your hat loving friends: anything from Brixton
I blame the guys from Manchester Orchestra and twitter for this obsession. One of the guys tweeted a photo wearing one of Brixton’s designs and when I looked it up, I found out they were based out of O’side. I’ve bought a couple of hats from them and they super lux for their price point. You may be able to find some at Kate Ross in North Park, but with markup, it’s about the same as ordering online and having it shipped to you.

For your vintage tee loving friends: collectable tees at Old Navy
You’re gonna have to trust me on this because there isn’t a selection online. When I went to Old Navy on Black Friday, I was stoked on their selection of tees. My two faves were a Duran Duran tee and a bright pink Yo MTV Raps! one. There were also vintage sport tees (I got a 49er one for me) and a bunch of cool ones for the kidlets - I bought a bunch of super hero ones for my nephew.

For your friends who love make-up: Urban Decay Big Fatty Colored Mascara (available online here or at Ulta and Sephora)
I bought the Black Cherry first and was surprised at how many comments I got about my eyelashes. (I’m a typical short-lashed Asian chick.) I recently bought the Indigo and it is a bit more subtle but still makes a statement. (If you don’t want to brave the madness of Sephora proper, you can actually go to JC Penney - they have a Sephora store within their store.)

For your coffee loving friends: Lion coffee (available at Marukai Living)
I discovered that Marukai has a whole section of Hawaiian products when I was in there getting Pocky. It’s so popular, they moved it from the grocery store to the Living store. I mainly go to get Lion coffee (the ubiquitous brand from the Big Island) because they have the best selection of flavors and it is pretty reasonable in cost. Warning - they also have macadamias and cookies and all sorts of Hawaiian food products, so if these tempt you in any way, you might want to bring someone to help you practice restraint.

For your coffee loving friends who watch Project Runway:  Christian Siriano designed Starbucks gift cards
I love these new mini cards that you can put on your keychain - a bonus to have them so fierce because they are designed by Christian.

For your burger loving friends in North County: gift certificate to the Counter (opening on 12/14 at the Forum Shops in Carlsbad)
Seriously, the best burger in the country. They are a chain, but I have been to multiple locations across the country and they are consistently the best. Their schtick is that you customize your own burger. My perfect burger (after much trial and error) - green chile/gruyere/bacon with ranch.

For your snack loving friends (or for Chicago transplants): Garrett Popcorn
I love love love this popcorn, so much so that I don’t mind connecting at ORD because I can stock up. The Chicago Mix is the way to go. They are running a special on $4.95 shipping until the 11th (promo code SNOW09T) so get that order in soon!

For your gourmet chocolate loving friends: PopRock candy bars from IT’SUGAR
I like this version of pop rocks + chocolate better than Chuao’s Firecracker version with chipotle.

Best place in SD to find unique presents: Hillcrest Farmer’s Market on Sundays
Three vendors to specifically seek out - the jade lady, the hand made photo albums/journals, and the 410 cookie peeps. (The guy that makes the leather cuff bracelets is cool but he’s a little too zen for me.)