Shows, Celebs

If they're coming to your city anytime soon, do yourself a favor and go see Bloc Party. The new album is decent, but not on par with the first album. The live show, however, hasn't suffered. They tore it up at the Wiltern a few weeks ago. I was in the balcony and a little scared for my life. For the entire show, everyone was jumping around on beat and making the balcony shake. Until I decided to just relax and enjoy the fact that dying in the midst of one of my favorite passtimes wouldn't be so bad, I was honestly wondering just how old that balcony was and how much abuse it could take.

Also worth seeing is Brett Dennen. His new album is fantastic as well. He's like a giant, red-headed, bare-footed, singer/songwriter orgre who swallowed a black, female calypso singer. I'd place him somewhere between Tracy Chapman and Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. Generally avoiding the "woe is me, let me tell you about my breakups" approach of most contemporary singer/songwriters, his subject matter is generally upbeat and interspersed with some sharp political commentary. The music is great, but the spectacle is worth the price of admission.

As promised, the celeb sighting:

I was at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood a few weeks ago (one of my favorite places here--a bit reminiscent of Eddie's Attic for you Atlanta folk) watching David Ryan Harris (also good live, but I hear his album sucks). We arrived late and were standing in the back when I turn to my right. Standing about two feet from me was John Mayer (holy Eddie's Attic connection, Batman!). He was with some short, brunette who I didn't get a good look at. After a while, I got a better look at her, and it was actually Jessica Simpson. John Mayer was a little taller than me, and she barely came up to my chest with huge heels on. And, sorry to disappoint, but she's not very cute in person. I probably wouldn't have given her a second look if she wasn't famous. (Now, if she was wearing the Daisy Duke outfit, that might be a different story...) There were a couple funny moments involving them, but my favorite was when they were sneaking off to the back room for some privacy and some guy accosted John Mayer to say, "Hey! John! John! I'm your Myspace friend!" Classic.