clubbing 'n concerts:
kings x and fishbone @ key club (5/24/03)

ok: my landlord's daughter's boyfriend's sister is the filmer of fishbone! i got to know her pretty soon after i arrived in the us and she asked me if i wanted to come to the concert BACKSTAGE! the concert was pretty awesome. fishbone rocked the show with their mix of punk rock ska metal funk type of music.
kings x was also pretty good but i didn't know them before.
black eyed peas @ UCLA (5/29/03)
the sounds of the b.e.p.-family!! i was surfing on an forum website for drum 'n bass events in the la-area when i read about a concert of my favorite hip hop band called black eyed peas! a week before they started their us tour they played this FREE concert at the UCLA (University of California Los Angeles). right after work i jumped into my car and drove one and a half hours from the south to the north of la! i missed the first half hour because i was stuck in traffic. but the drive up there was more than worth it...
trueby trio @ zanzibar (6/20/2003)

good good music!! after one and a half months of west coast gangsta hip hop and surfer rock it was time for some eclectic MUSIC! through my favorite radio station KCRW i heard the trio is in town!! my long beach crew wasn't yet infected with the afro-latin-broken-bossa-jazz-beat virus so i had to go on my own. like the b.e.p. gig it took me a while to get there because the club (zanzibar) is located in santa monica. but again: it was more thean worth driving up there. at one point i just went up to the stage to rainer and talked to him for almost an hour! he is very down to earth about his success and super friendly! we talked about wine and the american "culture" ....meanwhile the crowd went crazy with the trio bringing the freshest tunes from good old europe!
electric daisy carnival @ orange show (6/28/03)
super blooming beats, funkdafied freaks and full size carnival rides. electric daisy carnival was a huge music and art festival in san bernadino about an hour and half west from la. the capacity of the orange show where the festival took place is about 25,000 people. it was amazing! and the drum n bass floor was burning! ed rush, optical, mc rymetime, mampi swift, mc armanni, dj rap, dieselboy (for those of you who listen to d&b)
the event started quite early at 4 p.m. because they have to close at 2 a.m. by law. quite a change for me as i was used to go out at about 2 a.m. in madrid! i have to say i felt kinda old with all these young kids flying around with colorful costumes and their pacifiers and glow sticks. but it was a lot of fun! as you can see in the pictures we had to wait almost an hour and half to get in because there was a huge line!
joao gilberto @ the hollywood bowl (7/23/03)
"he could read a newspaper and sound good." - miles davis

the hollywood bowl is an amazing venue! it is set up like an amphitheatre and popular for its good sound conditions. on their website i read about a rare live concert by joao gilberto. he's the man who revolutionized brazilian popular music in the '50s by creating the bossa nova sound. gilberto is without a doubt one of the most important and influencing musicians ever. he hadn'played at the bowl since 1964!!
the concert should capture the two instruments that defined bossa nova: gilberto's delicate, whispering vocals and his mesmerizing guitar rhythms. unfortunately there were a lot of technical dificulties. for us sitting in the upper level it was almost impossible to follow any of the songs as the sound was just not loud enough. between every song technicians were running onto the stage to fix microphones. it destroyed the atmosphere. nevertheless it was a very nice concert.