Laughter is Power

I go to the Original Room at the Comedy Store a lot. If the Comedy Store were a dude, he would be my boyfriend. Well, no, probably my regular booty call, because the Store doesn't seem like the type to settle down. Anyway, I love that place. But, as they say, show me the hottest woman on earth and I'll show you a guy who's sick of sleeping with her. Sometimes you have to switch things up. So this week, I saw the Great & Secret Show, Storyteller Series Fisticuffs, and the Laughter is Power benefit for the Jenesse Center. Okay, the last one was at the Comedy Store, but it was in the Main Room with a very different group of comedians that I see on a daily basis. And it was amazing.

Comedy at the House of Blues

Last night was a hard night to choose where to go see some comedy - there were three shows I wanted to see but I ultimately went with the one that was walking distance from my house to support Shawn Halpin.  And, I have to say, Shawn was the pimp of the show, since he brought 200% more women (me and Jen) to the audience than the one other guy who brought a female.  One of the comics even fittingly did a bit about how comics don't know women so there's never any girls at the godforsaken parties they throw.

They Hate Us For Our Freedom

I would like to sincerely thank all Veterans and service members who gave their lives so that I could live in a society that includes Food Trucks and The Sunset Strip... together!

What Happens at the Comedy Store Stays at the Comedy Store

Backstage at the Comedy Store is a weird and wonderful place.  And when I say "backstage" you should know there is not actually a backstage (Ok, there is the Green Room, but that's a tiny trippy mirror-plated room straight out of the Kinnison days).  Backstage is sort of wherever the comics are hanging out - waiting for their set, waiting to watch someone else's set or just having a drink and a smoke.  Could be the hallway, the kitchen, the front bar, the back stairs or the Main Room after it empties out.  In fact, sometimes "backstage" even moves itself into the Original Room as the crowd dwindles down to just the other comics and maybe 2 guys from New Zealand.  That's when you might be treated to an extra special David Taylor set where he goes beyond the fine acerbic/dickhead line he normally treads and lays into everyone in the room, the building or who has ever once crossed his path.  Those are some great times.  Even when you're the one on the business end of his attack.

Dan Madonia & The Silent Comedy on The Real Sunset Strip

Wow, just wow.  Trina had really been talking up The Silent Comedy for the past couple of weeks and she was not wrong.  Firstly, check out the moustaches!  And then take a listen to the music.  I really don't think any of these YouTube clips do them justice - and everyone at the show on Saturday agreed that this was the best of their recent performances.  Trina had specifically instructed me to wear my dancing shoes and she was not wrong.  I started out standing in the back, sipping my drink and mostly just nodding my head and tapping my feet, but by the second song it was as if my body had taken me right up to the front and started dancing of its own accord.  I had no choice but to give in and boogie down.



I feel like now I'm damning Dan Madonia with faint praise, but he was terrific too.  It's just that The Silent Comedy was mind-blowingly awesome so I had to start with them.  But the night actually started with Dan and he was terrifically funny.  There was one point where the crowd almost turned on him, but he quickly saved it and had pretty much everyone in the place laughing.  And, apparently I can not go see comics anywhere without somehow inserting myself in their act - it isn't just the Comedy Store that brings that out in me.  Dan had this almost throw-away line like "Who's got some tits I can snort some coke off of?" and one guy in the corner was very adamantly raising his hand, so I raised my pointing finger toward him and got "I like how you're volunteering other boobs when you have a perfectly good set, yourself." heh.

Not really sure how The Real Sunset Strip is going to follow an awesome night like that, but heck, I'll settle for about 75% of the awesomeness

Foursquare Mayor of the Comedy Store, Bitches!

I am the Foursquare Mayor (hunh?  What's that?  Read here) of my laundromat and my yoga studio.  Mainly just because I think I'm the only person who has checked in to either place more than once.  Not exactly cool.  So I was incredibly excited when my after-midnight visit to The Comedy Store on Monday night earned me the Mayoral title!

The funny thing is that I had never even been to the Comedy Store until the StripCrawl.  It's stupid really.  I love comedy and this is literally the closest comedy club to my home (just up the hill!) and a pretty awesome one, to boot.  I had tried to go a couple of times, one time we ended up at the Improv instead and the rest of the times the "Let's stop into the Trocadero for a drink first" plan turned into "Let's just stay at the Trocadero until closing time."  But now the place has an irresistible pull for me - especially after midnight.  The crowd thins out and the comics are edgier, drunker and often funnier.  I've also noticed they tend to talk directly to the crowd a lot more.  I don't know if that's considered kind of hacky and a crutch to other comedians, but as an I'm-the-center-of-the-universe egotist in the audience, it's appealing to me.  And, especially since my Jenny Lane Tour, I tend to know at least one or two people hanging out in the back, so I have entertainment if I get bored of the guy on stage.

I was actually starting to get a little self-conscious of my newfound addiction to the 1 am comedians after wandering over there late-night, mid-week last week but now that it confers bragging rights (albeit, nerdy, nerdy bragging rights) I will proudly own up to my secret weakness.

The Jenny Lane Tour

The best compliment I ever received in my life was a friend saying "Amy, when I'm with you, things happen that don't happen to normal people."  I am always the one who will somehow end up trundling us into a car for a ride to that after party.. or, heck, a whole other city.  In other words, I'm the Instigator  So it was a little unusual to find myself in the hands of an even bigger Instigator last Friday after Foursquare Day in the person of Ms Jen Moore.

We had been cleared out of The Viper Room after our free Foursquare Day show in prep for the sold-out real show (thanks Viper Room!) and were headed up to the Rainbow when we started discussing whet should be the plan for the rest of the night.  Now, I should probably mention here that I have developed what I like to call The Circuit for Friday night.  I start at either the Viper Room or the Roxy, depending on who's playing, then go to the Rainbow and finish up at the Sunset Trocadero where I drunkenly harass the other Lat Call patrons to tip Sascha generously.  Sometimes I add another stop or two along the way.  So, when Jen mentioned a similar circuit she had in mind, I decided to just submit utterly and go wherever Jen wanted.

Now, I have been able to come and go mostly anonymously along this Circuit for weeks and months now.  I even commented to a friend it was my "extroverted introvert time" where I got to go be alone with other people.  It was a totally different story with Jen - she knew everyone from the regulars to the doormen to the bus boys everywhere we went.  It was pretty hilarious and awesome.  Plus, she's found all the limited access nooks and crannies in each of these locations, so it was a pretty fun tour of "behind the scenes"  I also got the honor of being one of the first to view Jen's (then) empty new Larabee St apartment (the one so close to the Viper Room it inspired the "Why, Miss Jenny Lane" quotable).

We finally finished up at The Comedy Store where those boys in the Barris/Kennedy Overdrive pretty much kept at it until they were forcibly ejected from the stage by staff who wanted to clean up and get the heck out of there.  Grabbed some "breakfast" at Swingers and I had to finally call it a night at 5 am.

Thanks Jen for the excellent tour!

Tweetcrawl Eggstravaganza!

The Strip Crawl was awesome, pretty much my ideal evening, actually - cheap & free booze and hanging out at my favorite places with a bunch of folks who love them as much or more than I do!

I had my festive ears on - I bought them at Hustler and the clerk seemed really disappointed that I was planning to wear them outside the bedroom.

Melissa Auf der Maur at the Viper Room

The show rocked.  I honestly haven't paid much attention to Auf der Maur's career since the Hole/Smashing Pumpkins days.  I vaguely remember a single from her solo album a bunch of years back, but I always thought she was pretty awesome so it seems like a good show to hit up.  It was the album release of her new venture - which is actually more than an album, it's a whole multimedia extravaganza with film and a comic book and probably some other stuff.  Despite my ignorance, it was well worth it.  She rocked, her band rocked.. I really am such a fan of rock artists who just pour their whole heart into it and aren't trying to be hip or ironic or whatever.

Also, Melissa herself is tinier and more beautiful than I had imagined. She's not Kylie Minogue tiny or anything, but from all the music videos I've seen her in, I pictured her as a sort of towering amazon. One thing she does have in common with Kylie is a surprisingly gay (male) following.  Again, I claim ignorance of whatever career and personal factors have affected this, but it was a pleasant change of pace compared to my usual (but still generally awesome) experiences at the Viper.

I definitely plan to get some of her stuff and I hope she's also getting royalties from the Hole stuff that's stuck in my head now (and thus will inevitably be purchased soon).

Vains of Jenna at The Viper Room

Vains of Jenna has quickly become one of my favorite bands to see live.  As lead singer Lizzy DeVine yelled to the crowd at the end of the set, they prove that Rock n Roll is alive and well.  They are just straight-up, balls-out rock, almost a throw back to the 80's without being anachronistic.  The music is great and they have just the right stage presence that's not too little but not so much as to be pretentious or comical.

The only thing I was disappointed about were the opening acts.  None were bad, per se, but the first two just didn't feel fully baked - didn't seem to have a consistent look or sound going on.  The third band was pretty good, but I didn't get to catch their name because some guy was yapping at me the whole time.  So, unfortunately, I didn't find a new band to start seeing, but VoJ totally made up for it.

Ducati All Stars and Vains of Jenna @ The Roxy

The first show in my new effort to Support The Strip was pretty awesome.  The Ducati All Stars = (Camp Freddy + corporate sponsorship - the sheer number of special guests that usually pop in) and pretty much I would go see Camp Freddy every day if I could.  I think on Saturday it was Donovan, Billy, Steve Stevens, Steve Jones, Jason Bonham, Franky Perez and Mark McGrath.

Support the Strip

I love my new home.  I especially love that I have so much within a 1 mile radius of me - all the shopping, dining and nightlife a girl could need.  So I was sad to hear my adopted homeland has been hard hit by the current economy (and changing music landscape of LA).  So, I've decided to make more of an effort to support the Strip.  I already spend a large chunk of my disposable income at the Trocadero, but it's time to branch out into other venues for dining, comedy and especially music.  So, though I'm not a fan of New Year's Resolutions in general, this year I think it's a good cause to try to support at least one of my local businesses every week.

I'm starting right away with the Ducati All Stars show at The Roxy Jan 2.  I'll keep you posted.