Playing Saturday July 3 in Long Beach

Got to play another show with our friends Stay Cool Forever and a long beach band by the name of Wild Pack of Canaries. This time was at our newly beloved spot the Tribal Cafe in echo park. We played first, and unfortunately, I only was able to stick around for the first few songs of Wild Pack of Canaries which were definately interesting and energetic to say the least. And I completely missed Stay Cool Forever as well, as I had to go play the last of a four day Nigerian women's conference in Inglewood. Good thing is we will be seeing both of these bands along with many others this Saturday in Long Beach at a Show being put on by Paul, the bassist of the band Pursuit Utopia, who will of course be playing as well. Pursuit Utopia, btw is the band of high school friend, Rene Carillo, who as I recall was the only person in high school who had me jealous of his guitar skills and always advanced musical taste. I'm super eager to see his band finally, as well as to meet Paul who seems like a pretty cool guy just from our phone conversations regarding this show.

One cool thing with this last show we played is that we finally got a sound recording of it with our zoom handheld recorder (which we just so happened to use for a lot of what you'd hear on our record). The vocals are pretty hard to hear on account of the fact that the mic was placed behind us and there was no stage monitor, but other than that it came out pretty well with the mix between the keys and the drums despite our careless placement of the recorder. You can currently hear most of the recording here at the music tab of our facebook page. But I'm thinking for the near future we'll possibly release an album(s?) of bootleg recordings for your downloading pleasure, free of cost. So be on the lookout for that.

Lots of stuff has happened this week in our personal lives as well this band. And it seems the more we experience the more im taken away from this blog, but im doing my best to keep up with it all. But between all these random things like our other band, Ginger breaking up and my ever increasing disgust for pay to play concerts which I unknowingly was a part of last night, there's just too much to write. I'll just try to get all the Vibra Optic info in and whatever else I have the energy for afterwards will come second in priority. Until then, I gotta get back to this hustling business.

Upcoming Shows:
July 3, 2010 at 250 Oregon in Long Beach, CA. 6:40pm

Okay, so Adult Film wasn't on the bill for this last show in Fullerton after all. But Adrian Rodriguez (Adult Film) did book the night and apparently enjoyed us, so a future show with both Vibra Optic and Adult Film is in order, so stay tuned for that. In the mean time, we will be performing this Saturday 26 at the legendary Tribal Cafe in Echo Park. Its gonna be early, like 3pm so make sure you order your food around 2-2:15 or so to get it in time. I've already put in my order for the avocado club and I'm salivating.

The show in Fullerton was definately an enjoyable one, somewhat similar to the first show. It was later admitted to me by Bronson that our opening jam literally gave him an erection so i guess that should be a good indicator that things are functioning well. Special thanks to Stay Cool Forever for opening and coming thru in a clinch. They had about as much warning as we have for most of our shows, so I really appreciate it that they came and played even with sick/missing members. Real Troopers. Thanks guys, you killed it IMO.

Stay Cool Forever, to my understanding, started out as a two peice between Keith Yergens (keys, vox) and Nic Chacon (drums) and has now expanded to a five peice including my good friend Gustavo Franco of She Knew It Was There Somewhere, Franco's solo project. Now Stay Cool is definately something of a different nature-full of horror and irony. And I mean that in good way. Inhumanly uptempo beats over a sea of reasurring casio sounds remeniscent of a six year old's wet dreams stemmed from his Oedipus Complex. A blend of magical resolutions and cartoonish fantasies seem to run wild broken occasionally by brief outbursts of primal scream therapy. All the while that this is going on-and this is the scary ironic part- the band as a whole looks tormented and depressed! I like to think of them as the band version of the Christmas Critters from Southpark. All cute and fuzzy, yet scary and demented at the same time. Very trippy. If you haven't heard of them, make sure you give them a listen. Great Job, guys! I really enjoyed it.

This also marks the first show that we've gotten on tape. I'll post the videos as soon as we get them up. Anyways, lots of stuff going on in the works as far as shows go. July and August should see us pretty busy. Lots of other things on the sidelines as well. Speaking of which I played a gig last night for something called the Legends Ball. Which was basically a Playa's Ball like from hbo and that dave chappelle skit. I got a video of these guys talkin about their pimp game. Enjoy.

Shows:

Jun 26, 2010 at Tribal Cafe in Echo Park. 3pm

Playing June 14 in Fullerton

In our tradition of booking shows less than twenty-four hours in advance of the said performance, we latched ourselves on, last minute, to an event at the Airliner club this last monday the seventh. This marks our fourth performance, that is, if we are counting our stutter-laden visit to melrose the other day. Otherwise, that makes three appearances inside of a venue. Thanks to our friends Matt and Jr. for showing up and helping out. In case you have never been so fortunate as to lift a suitcase rhodes piano, trust me that it is an experience best enjoyed with the company of other helping hands. So guys, thank you for that along with a hilarious night at the Denny's in Downey.

We do have a show this next Monday 14th, at the Commonwealth Lounge in Fullerton. I dont have all the details just yet, but you can follow us on facebook to receive updates as they come and we'll let you know as soon as we know. Be glad, however, if your a fan (the both of you), because so far this is the greatest advance notice we've been given, and subsequently released for any of our shows, that being a whole week. Things are looking up!

Also I do believe we will be playing with our friends Adult Film lead by Adrian Rodriguez. Now this guy, Adrian, who I've known through mutual friends for a short while, has got to be one of the best song writers to come out of this region. And as far as I know all of his groups have seemed to generate a lot of steam pretty quickly, with his old bands ERS and Puzzle Being (puzzle being era was when I was introduced, I wasnt around to witness ERS), and now his new band Adult Film. There's a certain natural fluidity in this guy's songwriting, even while introducing odd time signatures or intricate phrasings in the songs. And these 'tricks' never seem to be put in a manner that attempt to "show off" or alienate anybody, but rather it seems the music flows best that way. All I'm saying is watch out for this band, and this next show should be a good one. Hope to see you there.

Brain Jail

First of all I hope everyone had a great memorial day weekend, that it was relaxing and safe for everyone who owns a grill and an ice chest. And while we didn't exactly get the chance to put either of these utensils to use, rest assured that our weekend was interesting and productive.

Lets start off with saturday, performing on the street in front of SLOW clothing store and the Vizzi Truck on Melrose Avenue. A special thanks to Melissa of Stop & Listen LA for setting everything up. We did run into couple of slight snags in the form of noise complaints during soundcheck. Nothing too major, though. And definately nothing that can't be fixed, apparently by moving the piano about 4 feet in one direction. But seriously, who moves to Hollywood expecting peace and quiet? I know just the place for these people. Its got great scenery, a similarly moderate climate, more parking, and ofcourse, less noise. Its called Outside of LA. We were, however, fortunate enough to have a surprise cameo performance (that we didnt even know about) by a sweet old lady blowing bubbles onto our instruments as we attempted to play through our confusion. Overall we had a lot of fun and made a few new friends there and just may possibly play around those parts again, hopefully in the near future.

No sooner than we were off the street had we temporarily retired to watch Kobe rain on the parade that is the Steve Nash foundation with an onslaught of three's, facing a vast variety of defensive challenges on the part of the Phoenix Suns. What a performance! Another special thanks to Melissa's Dad for the San Miguel and the wonderful hospitality.

That night we checked out a show at a large loft in downtown where I was to play bass for an Indian group called Lal Meri. The spot, appropriately named Downtown At Large was really neat and full of familiar faces. None more familiar, ofcourse, than our good friend Jason Morton, who Ive known and played with on many occasions for some time now. I was really impressed with the distinct acoustic sound of Voice On Tape as well as At Large venue in general. And as the night ended with a jam with me, jason and a couple other cool musicians, it was time to call it and head back to the area from which i reside, known as "east of east la".

Sunday was a new day. After coming home from Nigerian Church, It was time to rest up for the final performance of the weekend. I was beginning to get a little worn out. And while this would be Vibra's second performance over these two days (third overall), it was my 4th. Plus my lingering cough of the past two months and sore throat was beginning to flare up into a full blown hacking up of flem. But I can't complain. Bronson's chronic mesothemiolac cough has been with him for something like 3 or 4 years now. Come to think of it, man you really need to get that checked out again, and this time NOT with Dr. Nick from the Simpsons. Cause I agree with you that after a few years straight with the same cough, there could be a possibility that it may be due to something other than allergies....

Anyways this show at Room 5 on La Brea, was where we learned an important lesson: We need more songs. Our set was basically cut short when we... ran out of music to play. Now normally its in our nature, when life throws such a lemon, to improvise and jam for a bit till nearly everyone is pissed. But were trying a new thing here. Also we got a pretty weird reaction of dead silence, which im not used to. Applause is nice. Booing and Cussing i can take. Having a bunch of 15 year olds run up on stage and call you "sluts" in the middle of your song- not ideal, but I've lived through it. But dead silence? Now that was awkward. Not to say I didnt enjoy myself. And I'm ever so greatful to our friend Mitchell Schaffer for setting it up and having us there. I just didn't feel that people wanted to hear our Bob Marley encore this time.

We concluded the night with a plethora of much needed and appreciated advice on touring and etiquette in the music business by Mitchell, to be followed by drinks from some of Bronson's family who were visiting from Seattle.

Overall this weekend in the world of Vibra Optic '73 proved to be if nothing else, an educating one. We've learned not to burn bridges. We learned that you dont need a permit for street performance in Los Angeles. We learned from the bubble lady that school is "Brain Jail" and that Bronson is the "Snare Master Man". And most importantly we learned that we are not made of solid gold. Though we've had our share of "off" performances in the past, we figured, due to the nature of this band, that we'd always play with a sort of conviction that commands attention. This is not always true, and we must take it in stride and learn from it.

I want to thank one last time all of the people who helped us out or were there for us in one way or another by either booking us, feeding us, or showing support for us. To our family, friends, and new friends made, thank you.

-Christopher

Vibra Optic '73