Space Oddities » gig review

Victoria at Bordello

Charlotte — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 04:57:09 +0000

Timing is everything. As is location. I’ve yet another recap for anyone that is interested. I feel so very fortunate and only wish that I could share a beer with the rest of you at a gig so we could all yammer about it together afterwords. That would be the best.

Photo: Tom Gatica

So back to timing being everything. After the Victoria gig at the Silverlake Lounge, I’d been finding myself humming the songs to myself and wishing so much to hear them again. So I was just tickled when I saw the announcement that they would be playing again on December 10th. Showing how deeply in denial I am about Christmas coming up, I turned to my friend and said “Ohhh, the 10th? What day of the week is that?” Her answer? “That’s tomorrow night.” Who knew? I thought we were still in the first week of December?

Don’t know how many bands, I’d do a last minute scramble for a babysitter for (maybe a couple) but Ant and the guys proved themselves quite scramble worthy the week before. I’d, of course, not even need the sitter if not for my husband enjoying the show so much last week. And with the venue being Bordello, no way was he staying home.

from Bordello’s website

“Bordello flirts with the notorious past of its infamous location as the oldest bar and brothel in Downtown Los Angeles, by reflecting its legendary status as a theater of the unusual and provocative.”

Photo: Tom Gatica

We’d been there for a burlesque show last October when I had some guests from Scotland. And now instead of scantily women it was going to be Victoria on the stage. If you want to take a quick peek at the gallery on Bordello’s website, I’ll wait… http://www.bordellobar.com/flash/index.html

We got there ridiculously early again. No nice Italian restaurants in this neck of the woods, but we headed in to the bar and found a nice little corner where we could see the first band that had just come on, yet catch up on each other’s day a bit. It so happened that my dark little corner was near the side door and before long, band equipment was being brought in. Equipment that I’d recently seen before. My favorite escort and I were displaced by Victoria’s equipment!

Next up was another local band that was quite good. It seems this was their first show since taking a break to put together a new album and a good portion of the room had come out to see them. I looked towards the bar entrance and saw that Ant had arrived as well as Norm and Kirke. So now the equipment and the musicians were accounted for. As much as I was enjoying the other band, I really was wanting them to finish up. Sometimes I’m just impatient, that way.

The moment came and the other band began the painfully slow (to me) process of saying good night to their fans, handing out CD’s and getting their gear off the stage already! In fairness, they were super nice and I have their CD. As they left, the process of getting everything in place on stage for Victoria started. Being near the equipment, each piece was walked right by me on it’s way to the stage. Some was carried by a tall, thin, blonde fellow that is usually seen behind a microphone and playing guitar. See, being in a band is not all fun!!

Photo: Tom Gatica

About ten minutes to show time, the hard working guitarist got a chance to sit down. Instead of taking advantage of the moment, he came over and talked to my husband and me. Happy to tell you that there is lots to look forward to. Talk of cellos, keyboards, the promise of more gigs for Victoria and even for Spacehog!

Then it was time for the real event of the night. Unfortunately for some people, they’d left before they could see the best band! The crowd had thinned which was a real loss to those folks that must have felt they were up past their bedtime. For those of us that stayed, Victoria was well worth the wait. As expected, it was most of the songs that had been played the week before, in a slightly different order. Ant’s vocals as always heartfelt and powerful, both melodic and raw.

With a smaller audience, and the later hour, it was a trimmed down, no frills set with no introductions or any other talk between songs. Last weeks gig had included as best I can remember, nine to ten songs. Wednesday night’s, was less, perhaps seven or eight (I wasn’t counting). Included were Brother, Punching Kicking Kissing, Lost In A Book (if I have that title right), some of the new ones that I don’t have a name for….one that starts out about a mousey girl again. All too soon, the last song had been played, with no warning ahead of time. I’d say I hate that and it always leaves me wanting more, but who am I kidding, I’d want more even with ample warning. I’m not at all complaining. This second show was such an unexpected treat after waiting so long for the first. It was another lovely night with the brilliant Victoria. The best timing for me, unfortunate timing for the foolish people who left early.

And after the cell phone fiasco last week, I have real pictures this time!

Photo: Tom Gatica

Victoria at Silverlake Lounge

Charlotte — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 03:33:02 +0000

Photo: Victoria at MySpace

Caution, lots of details accompanied by babbling and some gushing follows, but if I did it any other way, it wouldn’t be my recap.

As mentioned earlier today, I was a bit slow on posting this because it’s been just the most crazy wonderful and wonderfully crazy week. Best news of all is that my son, a U.S. Marine, is back from an unexpected three month deployment in Afghanistan where he’d been in a much more dangerous area than his two previous deployments to Iraq. Every other wonderful thing pales in comparison to his safe return but just the same, I can still work up a great deal of excitement for Ant’s Victoria gig earlier this week! Tons of excitement in fact.

Hmmm…where to start, where to start? Such a fantastic evening as it pretty much was bound to be. I’ve been looking forward to hearing Ant perform his songs live since I first heard them nearly two years ago so I was thrilled when I read about this gig and immediately recruited my husband to hang-out with me for the evening. Having never been to the Silverlake Lounge before and always allowing extra time for unpredictable Los Angeles traffic, my ever indulgent husband was parking the car down the street from the club an hour and half before the time we were to be there. Perfect, perfect because I was starving and we discovered a really good Italian restaurant across the street. That has nothing to do with anything really, except that while walking out of the restaurant, quite content from a fab dinner and some imported beer, I noticed a tall, thin, handsome fellow that would be none other than Antony Langdon in a conversation with who I’m pretty sure were his band mates. They crossed the street at the same time as us so yay! we knew for sure we were in the right place. Of course, that would be if we had any remaining doubts what with the Victoria posters plastered on the building across the street from the club and at the club but just the same, always nice to have the band present and accounted for!

The club was small, about the size of a neighborhood bar (max. capacity is just over 150) with a stage at the far end. An impressive, high energy new wave band The Black Tales was playing when we got there. By the way, they were good enough for me to check out their MySpace the next day and this is just for you Spanky, their lead singer is named (pause here to for the suspense to build)….Spanky!! Anyway, back to my recap, my husband snagged me another beer and I scouted out a place near the front so I’d be ready to shift myself front and center when it was time for Victoria to take the stage. I’m not so hot at estimating crowds but I’d guess there were about 50 to 70 people in the club. Not bad on a Tuesday night with not a lot of notice and little promotion.

The Black Tales wrapped up their set and as they moved out their equipment, I found a comfy spot at the very end of the bar, giving me a place to sit while I waited and a spot right in front of the stage. As Victoria’s guys were setting up, my eyes were drawn to a pink beret perched on the head of a dark haired girl that had just arrived and was settling on the other side of the bar from me. The color pink stands out in a sea of rather drab wintery colors that most people were wearing (I’m not sure if “drab” is a fashion trend or as if usual my fellow Southern Californians are just dressing for a blizzard at the slightest chill in the air). As soon as pink beret girl pulled out a Polaroid camera and snapped a couple pictures, I knew instantly that the clever dresser was none other than Keephoggin, Caro! I introduced myself and we chitchatted for a bit. It was such an unexpected treat to meet her in person. This night was shaping up to be just the best and Ant hadn’t even set foot behind his microphone yet!

Before long, Ant was taking the stage with his bandmates, Norm Block on drums and Kirke Hellie on bass. Unless I’m mistaken (and I’m sure I’m not), I’d seen both last year accompanying Ringside. Ant opened the show with Brother. Having seen a couple Spacehog gigs just a few months ago, it was fascinating to witness the change in Ant’s stage presence. Away from the glam rock of Spacehog and relocated from the left of the stage to the center, the place usually occupied by the lovely (and possibly dangerous) distraction that is Royston (those that have read my other recaps might recall the out of control wildly swung mic at the Troubadour and the sweat incident at The Viper Room) Ant was perhaps taking on the personality of his alter ego Louis Arogant whilst performing his Victoria songs. By whatever name, he was brilliant. His vocals were everywhere from a raspy whisper to primal hollering and everything in between.

He played only one song from the original Louis Arogant downloads, Punching Kicking Kissing. The first half of his set consisted of five songs I was familiar with, the two I’ve mentioned already, plus Dirty Joke and Begin that are currently on Victoria’s MySpace Profile and another that used to be on the profile that if my memory serves is called “Lost in a Book.” Something about a book anyway (anyone that knows the name for sure, please feel free jump in!). He then sang another four or five songs that I’d not heard before. One started out with something about a mousy girl and a later line about vengeance. In my awestricken state, I lost any lyrics that I tried to retain and as I feared it’s all become a bit hazy as overwhelmingly wonderful evenings are apt to do. I can say that each and every single song was a keeper. Haunting, beautiful, at times loud and angry, Ant’s vocals sometimes breaking the silence of an instrumental pause other times fighting and succeeding brilliantly to be heard over the maniac tribal drumming of the talented Norm Block.

Through his glasses with yellow tinted lenses, Ant’s eyes were often in contact with his audience adding to the already intimate atmosphere of the club. The poetic lyrics combined with a voice that could often be described as filled with raw intensity (a million miles away from the rather playful tongue in cheek, “At Least I Got Laid” and “Space is the Place”) left me a bit breathless. Yet immediately with the last note of each song, I would find myself face to face with the smiling, and humorous Ant Langdon from the One Minute Master videos as he would introduce his band mates or say a few words about the next song. I was mesmerized. When he introduced the last song, it seemed all too soon, which is entirely greedy on my part as he had played a full set of nine or ten songs that he and his bandmates had clearly given their all to.

They left the stage and I said good-bye to the delightful Caro. My husband suggested that we go over and say “hi” to Ant who was hanging around near the stage. I was hit with one of those feeling like a total dork moods, perhaps because Ant had been the extreme opposite of a dork, and I decided best not to and that the night was already everything I could have hoped for. Halfway to the exit, I turned and looked back towards the stage and saw that Ant was still there. Woman’s prerogative and all, I reconsidered and despite suffering from an aura of dorkiness, I decided that I could likely manage a “thank you” and a “congratulations on a brilliant show” or at least some squeaks and mumbles that would sound something like that.

My husband (who will be getting an upgraded Christmas gift) spoke to Ant first and then introduced me. Hugs were given, some conversation was managed (in a grown-up voice with barely a squeak), and even a couple photographs were taken with a very friendly, patient and gracious Mr. Langdon. Unfortunately, the pictures were taken on my horrid cell phone and didn’t really come out but it was a fun couple minutes posing for them. We said our good-byes after just a tad more chitchat. Sorry, Cap’n but once again I failed to ask about the milk for the chicken cutlets, but I did ask about the turducken. Seems it was Ant’s first and we both agreed it seemed sort of strange (not that it was his first but the whole duck in a turkey business).

I ran into Caro again right outside the club. She was just the best and gave me a couple Polaroid’s as I was mourning the loss of my pictures that did not come out on my cell phone (if you tilt my phone just so you can make out that there are two human faces, one with glasses and one with scary killer zombie red eyes, that’s as good as the pictures get). We said goodnight to Caro and that we hoped to see her at another show soon.

Wish all of you could have been there but hopefully my recap gave you an idea of what it was like (or if nothing else an idea of the babbling that goes on in my head).

Sorry, no word on when Victoria’s album will come out. I’ve still got my fingers and toes crossed for “soon!”

And that’s me Charlotte, reporting from a somewhat chilly and windy Los Angeles.