Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
Wow, this week really flew by. Life and “stuff” are coming and going, seemingly at the speed of light. April showers and the taxman have replaced butterflies and sunshine.
Hopefully the sun will shine and butterflies will flutter back through the canyon. In the meantime, it’s madness. March Madness! To be honest, it’s hard enough to come up with time to dig into a couple of crates of records let alone predict who is gonna win in the first round of the NCAAs.
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
There is a happy land where only children live / They don’t have the time to learn the ways / Of you sir, Mr. Grownup / There’s a special place in the rhubarb fields underneath the leaves / It’s a secret place and adults aren’t allowed there, Mr. Grownup / Go away, sir
Yes, there is a “happy place” somewhere around here. From gloom to “super bloom!”
On Wednesday the sun finally came out. I could almost feel the plants and flowers in our canyon pushing toward the sky as if to say, “Hello sun…please stay for a bit!”
Even though it’s been 10 long years since the initial self-titled album was released, there seems to be no visible break in the sheer genius that Daron Malakian brings to the table. His music is fresh, his lyrics are thought-provoking, and his sound is clearly unmistakable.
So, who is this Daron Malakian character? Most people simply know him as guitarist extraordinaire for one of the biggest metal bands of all-time, System of a Down. Digging a little deeper, one would find that he’s the mad scientist responsible for writing most of the music on their five incredible albums. Daron is an innovator, an instigator, and a provocateur all rolled into one. And when most fans simply gave up on any new music from SOAD (after the band went into hiatus in 2006), Daron pulled a rabbit out of his hat and formed his own amazing band known simply as Scars on Broadway.
That band has evolved over the years and was rebranded in 2018 as Daron Malakian and Scars on Broadway with the release of their second album, Dictator. On Thursday evening, before a packed house at The Observatory in Santa Ana, fans from all over Southern California (and around the world) got a rare chance to see Daron Malakian and Scars on Broadway perform live. And as we all found out, this would be no ordinary show. Daron surprised fans by opening the show with a new track, “Animal,” and then blazed through both Scars on Broadway releases in their entirety.
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
I was a fool before I met you / Only fools find it hard to believe / You just might be my only savior / If you are, then come and save me / If that’s true, come back and save me / You take me back there / Take me back home, please / No, I can’t go in there / Just take me back home, home
Greetings from LA. It’s incredible to believe winter might actually be giving way to spring soon.
No one around these canyons can remember rain and cold like the winter of 2019. Daylight savings time tomorrow is bringing our house rays of hope, so with that in mind we’re going to celebrate saving our own fucking souls.
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
I’m gonna make a mistake / I’m gonna do it on purpose / I’m gonna waste my time / Cuz I’m full as a tick / And I’m scratching at the surface / And what I find is mine / And when the day is done, and I look back / And the fact is I had fun, fumbling around / All the advice I shunned, and I ran / Where they told me not to run, but I sure / Had fun, so / I’m gonna fuck it up again / I’m gonna do another detour / Unpave my path / And if you wanna make sense / Whatcha looking at me for / I’m no good at math
We all make mistakes. This said, when I hear the name Pricewaterhouse, “fuck ups” don’t come to mind. Aren’t they paid specifically to NOT to fuck up? Recently, I thought we’d seen everything… guess again.
As they say behind Donald’s wall, “Oscar no bueno.”
It’s unlikely anyone can shed a warm light on last weekend’s Oscar debacle. All said and done, I must admit the idea of a “mistake” or “mistaken identity” has a Shakespearean tragic twist…
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
Fruit tree, fruit tree / No one knows you but the rain and the air. / Don’t you worry / They’ll stand and stare when you’re gone. / Fruit tree, fruit tree / Open your eyes to another year. / They’ll all know / That you were here when you’re gone.
This has likely been the coldest winter week in the thirty some odd years I’ve lived in LA. Twice this week I’ve found myself in a morning traffic jam on top of a crisp and scenic Mulholland Drive. It came clear as the morning—to be stuck on Mulholland is certainly nothing to complain about. In fact, the top of our canyon still carries the magic of plants and native Americans.
I found myself staring at trees and enjoying the simplicity of their company. Indeed, since moving to our pad in the canyon, I’ve always regarded the trees as neighborhood and friends. It’s as though this week’s cold has grown whiskers for us all.
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
Onde eu nasci passa um rio / Que passa no igual sem fim / Igual, sem fim, minha terra / Passava dentro de mim / Passava como se o tempo / Nada pudesse mudar / Passava como se o rio / Não desaguasse no mar / O rio deságua no mar / Já tanta coisa aprendi / Mas o que é mais meu cantar / É isso que eu canto aqui
Valentine’s Day week has me drained. I hate to admit it, but I’m a romantic with needs.
All through a hectic week I was digging around for a clever set of records that would slightly cover my desire for “love music” and beyond. However yesterday’s rainstorm in the canyon spontaneously turned our street into a river. I had to put on fishing boots and a rain slicker to fish out a few floating garbage cans.
A sold-out crowd of over 25,000+ made their way to beautiful Long Beach, California for one of the largest reggae gatherings in 2019, the 4th annual One Love Cali Reggae Festival. As in years past, the show was presented by The World Famous KROQ and was set up in the massive shadow of the historic Queen Mary.
This year’s festival featured some amazing food, ice cold beer, and killer music featuring some incredibly talented reggae artists. World-class performances by Rebelution, Slightly Stoopid, and Sublime with Rome headlined the now three-day event and showcased why the One Love Cali Reggae Festival is quickly becoming the standard for reggae festivals worldwide.
On stage at this year’s festival were over 50 top-shelf acts spanning rock, rap, roots, and of course reggae. Each graced the Koi CBD and SMKFLWR Stages with brilliant music that calmed the mind and inspired the soul for the thousands in attendance. Aside from a few sound issues on day one, a handful of these performances separated themselves from the others in ways that literally blew my mind. Here are a few of my favorite performances from this year’s One Love Festival:
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
Turn me on to phantoms / I follow to the edge of the earth / And fall off / Everybody leaves / If they get the chance / And this is my chance / I get eaten by the worms / Weird fishes
Last week I was talking about the weather, and this week?
Not much has really changed. Well some shit has happened. Our LA Rams lost in a boring Super Bowl, and LA music fans took it out on poor Maroon 5. Fuck, the Maroon boys do their best to be an LA band, make loot, and slay chicks.
This has pretty much nothing to do with the songs I play on the Idelic Hour. In my mind we are at the dawn of a second “medieval time.” The Idelic Hour is meant to share music that lifts the spirit and the soul. It’s my small way of helping—and this week’s playlist is filled with meat, onions, chicken, and fish. I got turned on to this new Sleaford Mods record and loved the idea of making a playlist of songs about food that make up a “kebab.”
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
Well I dove into that river / To see what I could find / And the water it rolled on top of me / And the stars refused to shine
Yeah I swam until I could not swim / Then I swam a little more / And the current held me like a lover’s arms / And then it left me on the shore
Well I stood and looked to from where I came / To the place where I was born / But it seemed to me only half as real / Like a dark and a distant storm
I come from a family that likes to talk about the weather. I believe that I’ve mentioned this before, and yes here I am again talking about it again.
I talked to my folks this morning. They actually asked, “How’s the weather?” and reported Miami is a pleasant 70 degrees. Here in the canyon it’s a clear, beautiful winter morning around 50. It’s the kind of a day that only happens after a hard rain.
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
This is the happy house–we’re happy here in the happy house oh it’s such fun / We’ve come to play in the happy house / And waste a day in the happy house-it never rains
We’ve come to scream in the happy house / We’re in a dream in the happy house / We’re all quite sane
This is the happy house–we’re happy here / There’s room for you if you say “I do” / But don’t say no or you’ll have to go / We’ve done no wrong with our blinkers on / It’s safe and calm if you sing along
This is the happy house–we’re happy here in the happy house / To forget ourselves-and pretend all’s well / There is no hell
Since the holidays I’ve been collecting ideas for a playlist of new chicks. Woman in music, specifically female rock ‘n’ rollers who have made the last half century a treat. Maybe it’s because “the man” has never really let up on “his oppression.” Women just seem tell it like it is. Thank fucking god for that.
When we last spoke with John Garcia in 2014, he had just released his first solo album. He was an artist in a state of flux, stepping out of the shadow of bands Kyuss, Unida, and Hermano and making his own mark. In 2017, Garcia linked back up with guitarist Ehren Groban for an acoustic album, The Coyote Who Spoke in Tongues. Featuring a blend of new tracks and reimagined Kyuss classics, Coyote was effective at tipping the hat to the old, while previewing what was to come. 2019 has arrived, and Garcia has returned with a new band, a new album, and a hot desert wind in his sails.
After a European tour and a lone US date in Las Vegas, Garcia and the “Band of Gold” stopped by Palm Springs for an intimate, acoustic show at the Palm Canyon Roadhouse. Supported by old friend and former bandmate Nick Oliveri, the show was a chance to preview some songs from the forthcoming album and spend an evening jamming with the locals before the holidays.
Before the show, we had a chance to catch up with John and the guys to talk all about the new album, and a bit about former bands, his solo career, and what lies ahead for the Band of Gold.
TVD: We last chatted back in 2014, when your self-titled album dropped. Now you’re back with a new band and a new album. I want to rewind just a bit first—you recently revived one of your old bands, Slo-Burn. How did that go for you?
John Garcia: Those guys had been reaching out to me for quite some time in regards to getting back together again and doing another record. There was a little bit of down time where it made sense to do some stuff with them, so they came out to Palm Springs and we went to a rehearsal place, Ehren’s rehearsal joint, and it was making sense. All it really was, Jon, was four old buddies getting back in a room together, man. That’s essentially what it was, nothing more, nothing less.
There was no long-term plan there?
JG: They wanted to do another record, and they had presented a bunch of songs, but it’s tough. It’s tough when you have the Band of Gold, and you have plans because you commit to that, and you’re committing for a year and a half. It’s not just as simple as “let’s make a record.” You’ve got to take a couple of years out of your life and make it happen. The passing of songs, the studios, where you’re gonna do it, this and that, the supporting tour after it, it would eat up two years of your life really, really quick. That’s basically all it was, just four buddies getting back in a room again. Playing some tunes, then heading over to Europe for a small little run, that’s all it was.
That’s cool. So the Band of Gold—the wheels were already in motion for that to happen?
JG: The wheels were already in motion back in 2014 when I was doing the debut record. Those were songs that I had collected throughout the years, from my past, that I wanted to bring to life that had been sitting in a little corner of my bedroom. I wanted to take some of these songs and bring them to life. At that point in time, this band had already been together. We were already together, weren’t we when I was doing that? [Looks over at guitarist Ehren Groban]
EG: The record was done, and you were putting the band together.
JG: It was around that time that I was looking for desert musicians that wanted to be involved in a project like this. There are some different tangents and different avenues I went down, like me really falling in love with this acoustic thing. I thought, “Eh, let’s do an acoustic record. We’ll just do it really quick.” [We all laugh] You can’t do a thing like that “really quick.” It takes up a lot of fuckin’ time.
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
I don’t mind stealin’ bread from the mouths of decadence / But I can’t feed on the powerless when my cup’s already overfilled, yeah / But it’s on the table, the fire’s cookin’ / And they’re farmin’ babies, while the slaves are all workin’ / Blood is on the table and the mouths are all chokin’ / But I’m goin’ hungry, yeah
I hope you enjoy my second mix of 2019—and speaking of mixed, I had quite a few feelings this week. At the top of the week, I heard about this all-star Chris Cornell tribute show. Right from my first glance at the line-up I had an eerie feeling. Not that I was a good friend of Cornell, but I’m an “OG grunge dude” and I did know Chris well enough to imagine the look on the dude’s face seeing teenyboppers playing dress up and singing karaoke on his behalf.
The photos on Instagram and Facebook reminded me of seeing Lorde performing “Kurt songs” with the Nirvana guys at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It’s likely just me, but these days I’m constantly asking who is “smacked out” of their minds here? Well, props to Alice in Chains for keep Layne Staley’s spirit off the red carpet.
Kicking off their long-awaited 2019 Evolution Tour, Disturbed electrified fans from all over the world with an incredible performance in San Diego on a chilly Wednesday evening. Their 16-song set took “Disturbed Ones” on an incredible journey into the heart and soul of one of the world’s most beloved metal bands and left little doubt why they still reign supreme on the altar of all things metal.
Let’s be frank, there are literally hundreds of bands touring the globe right now spanning all genres of music. From punk to pop (and everything in between), one can easily find a live show to drop their hard-earned money on. More difficult is finding a band that is worthy of your investment. How many times have you walked out of a gig shaking your head wondering why you came in the first place? Seems to happen to me all the time, but not Wednesday night as Disturbed kicked off their highly anticipated 2019 Evolution Tour in San Diego. This show had it all and then some.
Opening the evening’s festivities were Canadian rockers Three Days Grace. From the first notes of their latest single “The Mountain” to the final crescendo of 2006’s classic “Riot,” this band fired on all-cylinders with what could have been a “headlining set.” Matt Walst’s vocals were dialed in all evening and the musicianship of brother Brad Walst (bass), Barry Stock (guitars), and Neil Sanderson (drums) were second to none. If you have not checked out their 2018 release, Outsider, do yourself a favor and give it a spin at your earliest. It’s an instant classic.
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
And if you turn up the dream to cure yourself free from searching for a new afterlife / The purpose of life, you know there’s still time to tune into the right side / Well I assumed that we were lovers yesterday / The turning tide that that love us to pray / You know what I would do if I were you
As The Idelic Hour says hello to 2019, I’m blasting into the year like a rocket to Russia. ’18 is gone and I haven’t met a soul who’s missed those recent days.—although it’s fairly pathetic how much Mr. Donald is trying ruin everyone’s new year.
Fuck it, fuck him, and anyone with a sour word or note. If it’s cold, let’s turn the heat up, swing and shake it up until the punch is sweet.
