22
May
(and a belated happy bday to mr. meaner, whose birthday was yesterday!)
morrissey turns 49 today. best wishes to such a kick ass vegetarian.
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29
Apr
the final day of coachella 2008, sunday april 27, featured the best vegan festival food to date. yet it was a bitter-sweet victory over the past couple days, because the selection of food (and alcohol) was just TOO GOOD.
so good, in fact, that your humble narrator spent most of the day relaxing in the shade, munching on snacks, smoking cigarettes and sipping cocktails…rather standing in the heat, fighting off hipsters, coughing up secondhand weed and waiting for the “next big thing(s)” to take the stage.
vegetarian sushi with a side of inari: $12.
marinated tofu wrap with vegetables and peanut sauce: $9.
marinated tempeh burger with vegetable and tahini: $9.
that’s right, my friends…i was so seduced by the fresh sushi, crisp wrap, and savory burger, that i barely had time to enjoy any music at all. oh…and did i mention the alcohol?
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coachella saturday was the day of technical difficulties. the screens went out during death cab for cutie’s set, when M.I.A. took the stage the lights broke, and the biggest technical difficulty of all made us several hours late for the festival, causing us to miss the beloved MGMT.
luckily, the food was even better than it was on friday! god bless vegan rockers—at coachella, i reap the benefits of their dietary choices.
combination plate: coconut rice with dal and tomato pea curry $8
taking veganism one step further than the night prior, on saturday we decided to eat dinner at the bombay station, a stand that proclaimed to be ENTIRELY vegan.
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friday morning we packed up our bags and headed to the desert for 3 days of festival madness. i must admit, i was looking forward to the music, but not much else. i figured the entire event would be a huge pain in the ass that i’d ultimately regret.
luckily, the food at coachella turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. it was definitely a highlight and one of the main things making me look forward to coachella 2009 (bear in mind, i have no idea who is on the line up yet, so that isn’t saying much!).
vegan tofu naanwich: curry sauce, vegetables and tofu served on a piece of naan. $7
friday night at around 9pm we were completely spent. we’d spent hours in the car, an eternity in the parking lot, and had walked miles around the polo field in hundred-degree-heat from band to band. when it came time to look for dinner options, i would have been satisfied with just a basket of fries or potato chips.
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25
Apr
i love going to see opening bands when i don’t care about the main act. it’s awesome. i get to stand right up front in a semi-empty venue and watch the band as the rest of the crowd (who will have to wait hours until the show starts) pours in. and going home before the main act begins means i don’t have 3 hours of downtime, with nothing to do except drink ridiculously expensive and shitty bottled beer, as i wait for them to take the stage.
so, imagine how happy i was when i went to see the fuck buttons open for caribou at the el rey, and i found out the bar was selling large cups of tap beer. they were plastic cups, i admit, and they cost $8…but they were 20 oz! budweiser, bud light, and even stella were all readily available. now i know even if i need to go see a headliner at the el rey and stand around waiting for several hours, at least i can pass the time by drinking cold draught stella.
on a side note, the fuck buttons were awesome…totally unique. it’s not like at every show you get to see someone screaming unintelligible ramblings into a fisher price microphone.
here is one of their tracks that i quite enjoy.
sweet love for planet earth
i recommend checking them out while they are still an opening act, then you can leave when they are done and still get home early just like i did! 
i know that makes me sound fucking old, but going to gigs is a stressful hassle. thank god i always have the beer to rely on.
overall, the el rey bar gets a B! I love the fact that they have stella on tap, but have to take some points off for the high prices and the plastic cups.
louis xiv live at the avalon
it takes A LOT of work to see a band in LA these days. you have to order your tickets in advance online, pay exorbitant processing fees, spend ages looking for a parking spot that winds up being miles from the venue, and wait through numerous supporting acts in hopes that the band you paid to go see hits the stage sometime before midnight. it’s a nightmare.
what you don’t need on a hellacious night like this is for a snobby bartender to charge you $8 to pour a warm bottled beer into a plastic cup, without giving you eye-contact. and that’s exactly what you’ll get at the avalon.
the service is crappy, the selection is poor, and the prices are unreasonable. it’s one of the worst venues i’ve been to in LA, as far as beer goes. if a band you love happens to be at the avalon, i recommend you go see them…just be sure to hit up a bar in advance.
on a side note, if you ever have the chance, i definitely suggest you see louis xiv. i’ve seen them 4 times and each show has been an absolute treat. not only are they great performers and incredible musicians, but as an added bonus you get to play the game, “what will jason hill be drinking on stage tonight?”! last night he was swigging straight from a bottle of hennessy, the time before that it was a bottle of chianti (basket and all), and before that it was a martini in a proper glass. i don’t know where he can possibly go from here. absinthe maybe?
here’s an mp3 from their latest album. enjoy. it sounded just as good in person.
01-theres-a-traitor-in-this-room
