Who: Charlene Kaye & Alexz Johnson with Misty Boyce and Jay Stolar
When: March 24, 2013
Where: Brick & Mortar/ San Francisco, CA
With: a burning desire to get out of my squatter apartment
Of Note: so I live in California?
Someone I follow on tumblr (mostly for Glee related commentary, shut up), recommended going to see Charlene Kaye. I checked out the schedule and saw that her tour would be in San Francisco shortly after I arrived there. Thus, this concert has the honor of being my very first San Francisco concert as a San Francisco resident. Truthfully, I was just excited to get out of my then still empty apartment. It was a great night of music and I'm really glad I went.
First up was Misty Boyce, a blonde with a pixie cut, big glasses and a slightly awkward demeanor. She was a perfectly serviceable opener. There were two things I remember about her set. First, the song 'Perfect Wheel' was AMAZING. I mean, stuck in my head afterwards, grips you the first time you hear it, cleverly lyric-ed, powerfully delivered, added to my 'currently obsessed' playlist AMAZING. It slayed me.
Second, there was a really funny bit about the merchandise she had available. Essentially, she had her new EP available on a flashdrive bracelet. She talked about how that meant that you didn't have to figure out what to do with a useless CD once you were done putting the songs on your computer; you could use the flashdrive for anything! Like pictures of you and your friends! Dave, at the merch table, piped up to say that you could put naked pictures of your friends on the flashdrive! Jay, the guitar player, said that Dave had naked pictures of himself on the flashdrive. Misty noted that if she looked like Dave, she would obviously have naked pictures of herself on the flashdrive. It was a cute, funny moment and part of a bigger theme - everyone seemed to be pulling double (or triple!) duty. Jay Stolar, the second act, played guitar for Misty and bass for Charlene. Dave, at the merch table during Misty, played drums for most of the rest of the show. I always tend to think that if I'm paying money to go see performers, they must be a big deal. And not that these guys aren't - it was just a sense of camaraderie/community that I haven't seen in a while. Maybe I've been going to too many big shows?
The next act was Jay Stolar. He was really, really good. I'm not sure I've ever said this before, about anyone, but this venue was almost too small for him? Like, I can very clearly see what he would do with a bigger room and it would be amazing. He has some incredible frontman abilities.
Things I remember about his set: from a distance, his piano player looked like a hotter McLovin, of Superbad fame. There was a lot of hand-clapping and crowd participation (which, as always, is one of my concert very favorites). Towards the end of the set, he had the stage blacked-out and did an amazing cover of 'Thrift Shop' that segued into one of his songs. His voice was half cute boy with guitar, half blue eyed soul, and so, so smooth. Most of his songs had a great, driving snare beat. I really liked the song that had the word 'Everything' in it a lot. He mentioned that he had a song on '90210' which I thought was hilarious.
Towards the middle of his set, he & the band came down onto the floor for a little bit of "concert in the round" experience with just acoustic guitar and backing vocals called "Holding You All Through The Night". It was gorgeous. Really, really gorgeous.
I hope this guy makes it, because I would love to see him in an arena; I think it would serve him well.
Up next was Charlene Kaye, who was just awesome and worth the online recommendation she received. I had Spotify-ed her most recent album a bunch of times prior to the show to prepare myself and I was glad I had, because then I knew what I was in for. One thing she did that was particularly awe-inspiring was play drums with her right hand while playing guitar with her left and singing at the same time. I fall down when walking sometimes? So that was really impressive. Highlights of the set were 'Forever is a Long Time' and 'Woman Up', which was a crowd favorite. Her voice sounded almost like a classically trained soprano on some songs, which is just not something you hear in rock/pop? It was interesting.
One of Charlene's claims to fame is that she's recorded a couple of duets with dreamboat Darren Criss, the cutest of which is 'Dress and Tie'. When she asked for requests, that's what the crowd requested. She said that it wouldn't be the same because Darren wasn't there, then invited a bunch of fans from the front row on stage with her to be her "choir of Darrens". They were very enthusiastic and sang their hearts out. It was a really fun, genuine moment. Charlene went on to say that she wrote that song for her first boyfriend and when they broke up, she vowed never to play it again. But, when she was asked to sing at a wedding, she realized it was the only happy song she had, so the pulled it out of retirement.
She closed the set with Animal Love I which is my favorite song off her most recent album. She was really great; the internet did not lead me astray here. Plus, that voice!
The last performer of the night was Alexz Johnson. I looked her up prior to the show and discovered something kind of funny. She starred on a TV show called 'Instant Star'. Netflix, since the very first day I signed up, has told me that I would love 'Instant Star', but I just never got around to watching it. Apparently, I was destined to be a fan of hers somehow, because here I was!
The crowd was super into her; she had a lot of fans. Her voice was a little smokey, with just the perfect amount of rasp. She also had on a really cute blazer and spent a fair amount of time kneeling while she sang. She kept remarking that this was an awesome crowd and she wanted to stay there forever.
The only other thing I remember about her set was she sang a song 'Walking' that everyone went crazy for that sounded so much like, "I don't like you but I love you seems like I'm always..." but then changed up. It was a great song.
Sometimes, I don't like seeing bands that I'm not familiar with - I think it's hard to hear a song for the first time live. But, in this instance, I enjoyed all four performers, even with minimal knowledge of three of them. If this is what the San Francisco music scene has in store for me, I'll do just fine here.
Here, have some crappy pictures:
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When: March 24, 2013
Where: Brick & Mortar/ San Francisco, CA
With: a burning desire to get out of my squatter apartment
Of Note: so I live in California?
Someone I follow on tumblr (mostly for Glee related commentary, shut up), recommended going to see Charlene Kaye. I checked out the schedule and saw that her tour would be in San Francisco shortly after I arrived there. Thus, this concert has the honor of being my very first San Francisco concert as a San Francisco resident. Truthfully, I was just excited to get out of my then still empty apartment. It was a great night of music and I'm really glad I went.
First up was Misty Boyce, a blonde with a pixie cut, big glasses and a slightly awkward demeanor. She was a perfectly serviceable opener. There were two things I remember about her set. First, the song 'Perfect Wheel' was AMAZING. I mean, stuck in my head afterwards, grips you the first time you hear it, cleverly lyric-ed, powerfully delivered, added to my 'currently obsessed' playlist AMAZING. It slayed me.
Second, there was a really funny bit about the merchandise she had available. Essentially, she had her new EP available on a flashdrive bracelet. She talked about how that meant that you didn't have to figure out what to do with a useless CD once you were done putting the songs on your computer; you could use the flashdrive for anything! Like pictures of you and your friends! Dave, at the merch table, piped up to say that you could put naked pictures of your friends on the flashdrive! Jay, the guitar player, said that Dave had naked pictures of himself on the flashdrive. Misty noted that if she looked like Dave, she would obviously have naked pictures of herself on the flashdrive. It was a cute, funny moment and part of a bigger theme - everyone seemed to be pulling double (or triple!) duty. Jay Stolar, the second act, played guitar for Misty and bass for Charlene. Dave, at the merch table during Misty, played drums for most of the rest of the show. I always tend to think that if I'm paying money to go see performers, they must be a big deal. And not that these guys aren't - it was just a sense of camaraderie/community that I haven't seen in a while. Maybe I've been going to too many big shows?
The next act was Jay Stolar. He was really, really good. I'm not sure I've ever said this before, about anyone, but this venue was almost too small for him? Like, I can very clearly see what he would do with a bigger room and it would be amazing. He has some incredible frontman abilities.
Things I remember about his set: from a distance, his piano player looked like a hotter McLovin, of Superbad fame. There was a lot of hand-clapping and crowd participation (which, as always, is one of my concert very favorites). Towards the end of the set, he had the stage blacked-out and did an amazing cover of 'Thrift Shop' that segued into one of his songs. His voice was half cute boy with guitar, half blue eyed soul, and so, so smooth. Most of his songs had a great, driving snare beat. I really liked the song that had the word 'Everything' in it a lot. He mentioned that he had a song on '90210' which I thought was hilarious.
Towards the middle of his set, he & the band came down onto the floor for a little bit of "concert in the round" experience with just acoustic guitar and backing vocals called "Holding You All Through The Night". It was gorgeous. Really, really gorgeous.
I hope this guy makes it, because I would love to see him in an arena; I think it would serve him well.
Up next was Charlene Kaye, who was just awesome and worth the online recommendation she received. I had Spotify-ed her most recent album a bunch of times prior to the show to prepare myself and I was glad I had, because then I knew what I was in for. One thing she did that was particularly awe-inspiring was play drums with her right hand while playing guitar with her left and singing at the same time. I fall down when walking sometimes? So that was really impressive. Highlights of the set were 'Forever is a Long Time' and 'Woman Up', which was a crowd favorite. Her voice sounded almost like a classically trained soprano on some songs, which is just not something you hear in rock/pop? It was interesting.
One of Charlene's claims to fame is that she's recorded a couple of duets with dreamboat Darren Criss, the cutest of which is 'Dress and Tie'. When she asked for requests, that's what the crowd requested. She said that it wouldn't be the same because Darren wasn't there, then invited a bunch of fans from the front row on stage with her to be her "choir of Darrens". They were very enthusiastic and sang their hearts out. It was a really fun, genuine moment. Charlene went on to say that she wrote that song for her first boyfriend and when they broke up, she vowed never to play it again. But, when she was asked to sing at a wedding, she realized it was the only happy song she had, so the pulled it out of retirement.
She closed the set with Animal Love I which is my favorite song off her most recent album. She was really great; the internet did not lead me astray here. Plus, that voice!
The last performer of the night was Alexz Johnson. I looked her up prior to the show and discovered something kind of funny. She starred on a TV show called 'Instant Star'. Netflix, since the very first day I signed up, has told me that I would love 'Instant Star', but I just never got around to watching it. Apparently, I was destined to be a fan of hers somehow, because here I was!
The crowd was super into her; she had a lot of fans. Her voice was a little smokey, with just the perfect amount of rasp. She also had on a really cute blazer and spent a fair amount of time kneeling while she sang. She kept remarking that this was an awesome crowd and she wanted to stay there forever.
The only other thing I remember about her set was she sang a song 'Walking' that everyone went crazy for that sounded so much like, "I don't like you but I love you seems like I'm always..." but then changed up. It was a great song.
Sometimes, I don't like seeing bands that I'm not familiar with - I think it's hard to hear a song for the first time live. But, in this instance, I enjoyed all four performers, even with minimal knowledge of three of them. If this is what the San Francisco music scene has in store for me, I'll do just fine here.
Here, have some crappy pictures:
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