Andrew W.K., checking something other than his ponytail at Safari Sams's Till Tuesday
Guess it shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise when we spotted Ray and a cluster of the comics at Check Yo Ponytail at Safari Sam’s later that same eve amid the usual 18-year-old crews in ironic headbands (and lame band T-shirts).
It was quite a mixed night. While the regulars mouthed the words during The Lashes’ set, did robot moves in a Soul Train dance line to Wham! and posed provocatively in the Polite in Public photo booth, familiar faces —System of a Down’s Serg Tankian, Red Kross’ Steve McDonald, Indie 103.
1’s T.K. — stood around, probably waiting till the end of the night to see hard-partying headliner Andrew W.
K. We were mid-chat with Ray when W.K.
hit the stage, and his friends were none too happy about it. “Dude, you’re pimping your comedy album while Andrew W.K.
’s on stage? That’s blasphemy!” one admonished us.
The white-pants man’s fans obviously take him very seriously, and after his intense performance we understood why. He began his set with a wacky ’n’ weird jam on the keyboards before breaking into his usual testoste-rock, which got so out of control he and his keyboard fell to the floor — and, yeah, he kept playing. The guy’s nuts on stage, but what we really dug was his good energy.
There were so many positive affirmations between songs, he should be a motivational speaker. And just in case you were wondering, there are enough shagsters to consistently flood both Sam’s and Cinespace on Tuesdays. It’s been a while now since Check Yo’s Franki Chan bid adieu to Steve Aoki and crew, and though some took sides (Cobrasnake shoots Cinespace while Shadowscene snaps at Sam’s, for example), most pick and choose according to band offerings.
Yup, midweek is an indie-rock-lover’s supermarket, and the kids are buyin’.
We chatted with Chan a couple of nights later at a downtown warehouse party thrown by The Good Ship (the party people behind Fuck Yeah Fest and the L.A.
Scavenger Hunt), where he told us about his recent parties in Austin, one of which was shut down. SXSW officials have been pissed about all the sponsored soirees stealing their showcases’ thunder, and with so many bands skipping the fest’s official shows altogether this year in lieu of just playing shindigs, the organizers weren’t having it. Several big bashes were shut down, and while some alleged sabotage, Chan takes a bit more diplomatic view, which he presented on his IHeartComix e-mail blog this week.
But back to L.A. and the Good Ship bash: Bands set up on a skateboard ramp, which ya also had to walk over to get to the bathroom and the postapocalyptic-looking mess of dirt and concrete that was the smoking patio (of course, most just smoked inside — cough!
). The Rolling Blackouts played a wonderfully schizo set of retro-poppish ditties, head-thrashin’ anthems and — yes, more irony, folks — a li’l tune called “The Mustache Song.” We missed the surprise act, singer David Vandervelde, who we hear is very Marc Bolan meets Bob Dylan, but the place was packed when we left — an impressive turnout considering the gathering was only announced that morning.
The Good Shippers (formerly known as the I Hate But Love L.A. guys) promise more shows with only 24 hours’ promotion this summer, all free and at random locales like warehouses, living rooms, rooftops and parks.
Wonder where the next one will dock?
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