Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twin's- Rabbit Fur Coat 10th Anniversary Concert

Ten years ago, Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins (Chandra and Leigh), collaborated on one of my all-time favorite albums, Rabbit Fur Coat. Music has a way of marking the important events, eras, and changes in our lives. I remember listening to Rabbit Fur Coat on my first generation Ipod, while working on schedules in the attractions office at Universal Studios. I was still in the Back to the Future building, listening to Jenny, but the BTTF theme music was invading her vocals. My first marriage was starting to crumble, I had an awesome apartment in Pasadena, and I didn't yet know that my mom had cancer. In fact, today, February 4th, marks the eighth anniversary of my mom's death. It's hard to believe how much my life has changed in ten years.

Last Friday night, Dan and I headed to the Cathedral Sanctuary at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Hollywood for the Rabbit Fur Coat 10th Anniversary Concert. This was my first time attending a concert in a church. At first, I was surprised that the venue allowed Jenny Lewis to play here. Have they listened to her lyrics? A church was a surprising, unusual, and delightful venue choice.

Also delightful, was the program. I've never received a program at a concert, but the theatre lover in me, was all kinds of excited. Cool touch Lewis!

I like surprises, but even more, I like to know what to expect. It makes it easier to plan those bathroom breaks. I'm guessing that people are expected to go pee before coming to church, because the bathroom situation was lacking. Two stalls for women + sold-out enormous church = a patience test. Luckily everyone was so excited to see Jenny, that the chatter kept the line happy. It seemed like everyone else in line had traveled from another state for the show. The enthusiasm was unparalleled.

The seating was general admission, so with the exception of pews that were roped off for VIP's, it was a free-for-all to find a good spot. Dan noticed that the balcony was open, so we rushed up stairs. Here was our view.

The view was good, but the sound was just okay. This is not an ideal concert venue. It's beautiful though. I love the chandeliers.

M. Ward, who produced Rabbit Fur Coat, was the opener. I'm not familiar with his music and since the sound was wonky, it was hard to hear most of the lyrics. The venue worked best with quiet, soft songs.

Speaking of soft, Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins kicked off the Rabbit Fur Coat album with an acapella version of Run Devil Run, sung from the back entrance of the church as they walked up the aisle to the stage. They ended the album by exiting the same way, while singing the reprise of Happy. It couldn't have been a better use of the venue to bookend the songs on the album. They did Rabbit Fur Coat in its entirety, with one brief costume change before Lewis sang the title song, alone on stage. M Ward joined in on their cover of The Traveling Wilbury's Handle with Care. The energy in the audience was positively electric.

After the intermission, Lewis continued playing for another hour with a set filled with songs from her solo albums. She played hits like Silver Lining, See Fernando, and Just One of the Guys. She threw in a new, unreleased song, which made the audience go wild. Jenny Lewis has a very loyal and vocal fan base. After nearly every song, several people in the audience would shout out "I love you Jenny" above the applause. At one point, an excited fan managed to get on stage and have a brief conversation, before security hauled her off. Lewis handled it like a pro and was kind to the fan, making everyone love her even more.

My favorite moment of the show came in the second act, when Lewis climbed up on a box and sang The Voyager, the title track from her most recent album. Lewis has the most pure and beautiful voice. I could listen to her sing anything, but then she goes and writes these insanely perfect lyrics. I'm just in awe of her talent. And hey, as a kid, I totally obsessed over The Wizard and Troop Beverly Hills. I know, apples to oranges, but I've been a long time fan of all things Jenny Lewis!

Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band

Last Tuesday night, I headed to Hollywood with my friend Julie, to see my favorite musician/songwriter, Josh Ritter, perform with The Royal City Band. This was my fifth time seeing Josh Ritter perform live and he never disappoints. What I love most, is how he uses concerts to play different variations of his songs. The entire vibe of a song changes dramatically when slowed down, sped up, or played with different instruments. Ritter always surprises during his concerts, including this one, where he played a new, never recorded song.

This concert tour is in support of his latest album, Sermon on the Rocks, which was recorded last year in New Orleans. He played a majority of the new album, but also pepper the set with many favorites, like Girl in the War and Good Man. His encore included two of my all time favorite songs, The Temptation of Adam and To the Dogs or Whoever. As with his previous shows, Ritter performed with an enthusiasm and joy that is simply infectious.

The opening band was a folk band called Elephant Revival from Colorado. They had a woman playing a washboard, and another playing the fiddle. Good times! Admittedly some of their songs were a bit artsy and experimental for my taste, but others that leaned towards rock and singer-songwriter, appealed to me. The lead male singer has a wonderful, rich voice.

Normally, The Fonda Theatre is one of my favorite concert venues. It's small enough to feel intimate, not a bad view in the house. It's stylish ( if not a bit unusual in its art work) and the sound is excellent. This was my first time that I had a negative experience at The Fonda Theatre. We had tickets for seats in the balcony, which are first come/first serve. Arriving early, we secured great seats, not that any spot in the balcony would have provided a bad view.

The problem was the security working the balcony. One of the guards that was stationed to patrol the front of the balcony had his radio turned up high. Many songs in Ritter's set were quiet, and the guard's radio kept going off, interrupting the performance. Although concert goers in the balcony complained and shot him dirty looks, he did nothing about the noise level on his radio. He was also intrusive when it came to people sitting in the reserved section at the front of the balcony. Instead of waiting between songs to check their tickets, he would loudly barrel over and communicate with them mid-song, no matter how quiet the nature of the song. It was incredibly distracting and rude. Never once was his noise a necessity or something that couldn't have waited to take place between songs.

What I admire most about Ritter, is how within the economy of a song, he is able to tell a complete story with vibrant characters and unusual phrasing. His writing is emotional, honest, and surprising. Frustrating security guard aside, I left the concert feeling energized and inspired to get back to writing my novel.

Trivia- Julie, who is German, told me that Ritter means "Knight" in German!

Brad Paisley's "Crushin' It World Tour" at The Hollywood Bowl

Last Friday night, I was super excited to take Dan on his first trip to The Hollywood Bowl. I was even more excited that we bought last minute tickets for Brad Paisley's Crushin' It World Tour. Many years ago, I saw Paisley at The Staples Center and I've been dying to see him again. He puts on a phenomenal show.

I needed to give Dan a proper Hollywood Bowl experience, so I spent Friday afternoon scurrying around Glendale, assembling a picnic basket. A cheese and cracker spread, sandwiches from Honeybaked and cupcakes from Sprinkles = mission accomplished. Since this was a licensed event, we couldn't pack alcohol. We ended up buying sixteen dollar Golden Road beers at the venue. Gulp. Sangria was twenty-eight dollars a glass. Not kidding. Double gulp. ( actually nobody can afford a double gulp at these prices!)

Parking is never easy at the bowl. We parked at the Los Angeles Zoo and spent twelve dollars for two round trip bus tickets. Dan said that he felt like he was on a "Prison Bus." I told him to refrain from judgement until after the concert. In my experience, the zoo shuttle is always easy-peasy on the trip to the bowl and a nightmare coming back. Sure enough, we were in a mob leaving and herded on the bus like cattle, where we stood up for the ride back. That said, it's probably the easiest and cheapest option.

We arrived all smiles and ready for the concert.

My favorite part of the night was running into a Judy. I had not seen Judy in an embarrassing number of years and she wins for the giving the best hugs.

We had seats in the Terrace boxes. These were the best seats that I've ever had for any show at the bowl. Unfortunately, we bought our tickets so last minute, that we couldn't take advantage of ordering dinner to our box. That would have been a worthy splurge. The boxes did come with a table that attaches to the side and even though it was a little unstable, it was nicer than having to eat our food on our laps, like I normally do in the bench seats. We did take advantage of the servers when they came around with beer during the concert, which was only twelve dollars. If we had to leave the show, we wouldn't have bought more beer. They made it super convenient. I have no idea what we were drinking, but we were at a country concert, so it didn't much matter!

Our boxes held four people, but no one showed up to take the two seats behind us. We were entertained and annoyed by the "show" going on in the box directly in front of us. Two very young and very drunk girls showed up. One looked a lot like Amber Portwood from Teen Mom and the other was a super skinny blonde with a big chin. They both wore tight, skimpy dresses and heels, which they couldn't properly walk in. They messily ate a pile of food and then the Amber clone left and came back with two guys. They were Los Angeles frat boy types, but dressed redneck-ish with trucker caps, a really hideous American flag button down. The boys were loud and high-fiving. We quickly caught on that the girls had snuck the guys in to use the other two seats in their box, but that they were all strangers.

The super loud guy of the pair started calling his other friends on his cell, making plans for them to "hop a fence", telling them that they had a spot for them in our section. The only spot was empty seats in our box. The kid tried to sweet talk us into giving him our tickets to sneak his friends in. No go.

In front of us, the guys spent the entire concert feeling up the girls and making out. The girls split before the encore and the guys went chasing after them, having clearly been ditched.

Ha, Ha.

Back to the real show...

The first opener was a female singer named Mickey Guyton. She has a beautiful voice, but her songs all sounded similar. The only song that I recognized was her ballad, Better Than You Left Me. She began to cry while she was singing and rushed off of the stage.

Justin Moore was the other opener. I recognized about half of his songs. Good stuff. He dedicated If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away to his grandfather and he had everyone use their cell phones to make the bowl glitter. It was far more spectacular than any picture can do it justice.

Like Mickey, Justin was completely overwhelmed with emotion before he left the stage. Playing such an incredible and enormous venue to a sold-out show, must be overwhelming.

Finally Brad took the stage. He started the show with River Bank, revealing a set that included a working bar with patrons and a giant video screen to change the theme for each song.

There was a hunting lodge for I'm Still a Guy, during which he was joined by Justin Moore. Mickey Guyton joined him for Whiskey Lullaby. He did a virtual duet with Carrie Underwood, pre-done, not live, for Remind Me. A fun surprise came when he pulled two kids on stage to play Mario Kart on the big screen, while he created a very frantic soundtrack on the guitar. He gave away his hat, an autographed guitar and for a few songs, he walked to a small stage in middle of the bowl, so those in the back could have a better view. I've seen this done in a few concerts ( Keith Urban, Taylor Swift) and it's always a cool gesture for the fans.

My only disappointment in the show was self-imposed. On Brad Paisley's Facebook, he mentioned surprises for the show. Since I live in Los Angeles and it happens a lot at concerts, I thought that he was teasing a surprise guest appearance by another artist. I anticipated it the entire evening and when it didn't happen, I was mildly let down.

******I STAND CORRECTED****** - I have a quick revision to my original post and my paragraph above. When my review went live this morning, a reader on Twitter wrote to me, to let me know that the surprise that Brad posted, was actually the two comedians that came on stage to entertain us between the opening acts. I can't believe that I forgot to post about them, as they were both extremely funny and a quirky addition to a concert. Sarah Tiana and Jon Reep, each did a short set, hilarious, both of them. They were definitely a great surprise and a unique addition to Brad's show. Look them up and catch their shows. Good stuff.

Paisley filled his show with energy and played over twenty songs, all hits. I look forward to catching his concert the next time he comes to Los Angeles. Also, sitting in a box was the way to do the bowl. Now that I know the difference, I will splurge more often.