Lake Tahoe
It doesnt get much prettier than this.
Speedboat Beach - Lake Tahoe, CA
Incubus – Hollywood Bowl
Incubus - Hollywood Bowl
Summert Tme Has Started!
What a great weekend with 80’s at the beaches and sunny skies for miles. Summer has finally kicked into full gear here in SoCal.
Redondo Beach, CA
Sergio Mendes – Hollywood Bowl Season ‘09
On the way to the bowl again this week with just enough time to catch the park and ride in time for the show. Its a 8PM show so the buses are more full than weekends as the regular bowl subscribers know better than to deal with parking. Opening up for the show was Poncho Sanchez banging away on his bongo drums beating them into oblivion and sounded amazing for the opening act. It was my favorite of the night. Eddie Palmieri who is considered one of the greatest Latin pianists was up 2nd on this beautiful day at the bowl, the old guy still has it as he had a eclectic group of musicians on stage to complement his fingers into a magical sound. I can’t say the same for Sergio Mendes, it was quite a boring performance for a man who’s well known to have resurrected the Black Eyed Peas from obscurity and acquainted the world with his brazilian sounds. First off there was the backup singers front and center stage who all were in the same key there harmonies put you to sleep, no bongo drums anywhere, and just a classic stand-up drum set. It almost seemed as if the Bowl should have put Poncho on as the headliner if not for the fact he isnt as know in the latin community. I’ve been to the bowl numerous times and have to put this one on the the crappy end…
Death Cab for Cutie – Hollywood Bowl Season ‘09
Tegan and Sara - Hollywood Bowl - Hollywood, CA
Bowl Season has began here in LA this past weekend with a slew of shows from John Fogerty over the 4th Holiday weekend and capping it off is Seattle’s Indie band Death Cab for Cutie. Now Ben Gibbard is an amazing musician and while I like Death Cab I’ve always loved his side project The Postal Service more. The opening acts last night were the New Pornographers, and Tegan and Sara, identical twins who are great live. Kate and I hopped on the park and ride bus like any seasoned Bowl’er would do as the parking at the venue is worse than a Dodger game on a Friday night. We picniced before the show like most people do when visiting the bowl and enjoyed sandwiches, salads, and a few glasses of wine and beer. The show itself was a good opener for the season, a good mix of folk and indie music to balance the gorgeous weather we have been hit with lately. There was even fireworks for the final song. Upcoming Bowl shows wil be Serio Mendes, Incubus, Reggae Night, Jewel, and Beastie Boys.
Death Cab for Cutie Grand Finale
Belmont Shores – Long Beach, CA
Long Beach has always been thought as a crappy or rough part of LA cast aside by the industrialization of the harbor that surrounds most of the city’s coast line but the city itself has a few diamond in the rough areas. Kate and I visited the Belmont Shore area that has a 1/2 mile stretch of shops along 2nd street with a view of the Pacific Ocean just blocks away. There are a multitude of shops to choose from with some great eateries that include a favorite of mine, La Creperie Cafe, which serves up amazing crepes. There are novelty candy shops to high end boutiques. On this Holiday weekend, Kate and I decided to walk from one end to the other and window shop through many stores along our journey. We stopped in stores offering olive oils of any kind to the local sex shop and yet it didn’t seem out of place with diversity that Long Beach has. For Happy Hour we went to Panama Joe’s for 2 for 1 drinks and had a great evening in which we drove back across the Vincent Thomas Bridge with the sun beginning to set.