(heard, not scene.) the deadly syndrome. not so deadly. actually pretty cool.

their myspace page claims that they are "influenced by silence," but last night boardners in hollywood was anything but silent as the deadly syndrome delivered a knock out performance that had the entire tented courtyard dancing around the venue’s artfully candlelit central fountain. (this dancing was surely reminiscent of, but in no way similar to, the cocaine fueled bumping and grinding that i suspect was going on at element and les deux nearby. (sigh.) oh, hollywood.)

i saw the deadly syndrome play once before, when they opened for their close friends, oh no! oh my! at the echo. they were great then, but tucked into the ivy-ringed stage at boardners, they were spectacular and their performance last night assures me that this band is "one to watch" (and not just because they are cute in that irresistible, shaggy indie way).

the band followed a strong set by the happy hollows (who are somewhere in between love is all and the yeah yeah yeahs) and the candle fueled night came on in waves of warm, ethereal energy that the deadly syndrome rode to their utmost advantage. (at least, i think it was the night coming on warm and ethereal. though it might have been the sierra nevada...which now that i think about it, would explain my hangover...)

the band members say that they are interested in chaos theory (i imagine because they too saw ashton’s tres-dramatique performance in the butterfly effect), but there was nothing random about their full, generous performance. arguably, the best moment of the night was the band’s performance of “animals wearing clothes,” a song that uses simple lyrics and a poignant melody to remind listeners of the wonderful but ephemeral nature of life, music, and that formerly ice cold beer in your hand.

(the title “animals wearing clothes” might also have reminded some concert-goers of their coked up counterparts across the street, although that judgment may have been a little harsh as I’m not sure mini-skirts and tank tops actually count as “clothing” per se.) whatever their take on the meaning of the song, the band's vibrant guitars, killer drums, and occasional accordion riff left the crowd of radio free silverlake readers feeling satisfied and cozy, the happiest bunch of so-called "animals wearing clothes" that i have seen at a concert in a long time.

it's a little cheesy, but i enjoyed the show so much i feel compelled to send out a thank you to everyone who contributed. (i was sorry to have missed the lights from here as i heard they were great too.) and happy belated birthday to radio free silverlake. (you’re one year old! at my parents' house, that means it’s time to start studying for the SAT! but no pressure, it’s just "practice"…)

the anagramitization of rock ≠ menomena

the word “anagram” comes from greek and is a combination of the phrase “back again” and the infinitive verb “to write.” in my experience, anagrams are often constructed using an "equals" sign (=) to express the one-to-one character relationship between the words on the left and the words on the right.* although you wouldn’t suspect a mathy feel from a word game, anagrams, with their equals sign implications, often feel decidedly calculated.

menomena, who used an anagram to title their debut album, “i am the fun blame monster” (which = “the first menomena album”) is not unlike the language game itself. their music incorporates something of the element of surprise with a little controlled fun and a decidedly calculated feel, which might be the product of the knopf computer program they have used to develop so much of their music. the portland group’s sophomore album, “friend and foe,” leaves off the anagrammed title, while maintaining the group’s numerically digestible feel, as though you could divide the melodies into perfectly numbered equations, algorithms, and patterns.

but menomena’s saturday night performance at the echo just didn’t live up to that promise. the show was colder, techier, and thinner than the album had suggested it might be. and the three-member band seemed most propped up by the presence of their laptop, which, although tastefully adorned with a cute hear sticker, was more foe than friend when it came to delivering a show stopping performance. the best, and seemingly least technologically fueled moment of the night was their soft, warm performance of “wet and rustling.” (also my favorite track on the album.)

the popularity of anagrams is documented as far back as the middle ages, giving the one-to-one correlated word puzzles a long, robust history. the anagram’s popularity comes from its time-tested, long-loved nature. in contrast, menomena’s popularity comes from their freshness and innovation. but their thinner than necessary, highly technologically fueled stage show might be strengthened by taking a cue from the past. namely, that live music shows are more improved by the addition of feeling than by numbers, a base instead of a laptop.

* for example: information super highway = a rough whimper of insanity

old chick lit dies hard: no conceit in pride and prejudice

jane austen and i have a lot in common. at least i think we do. she was born the year that the last german execution for witchcraft took place, i was born at the beginning of a decade when being a witch was hip (if you had enough cocaine and leather to pull it off properly).

jane austin lived in bath. i used to take them frequently. (forgive me. it's true) her father was in the clergy, my father was in insurance. both professions sell people something they already know they want: only slightly overpriced reassurance. She never married, I’m not currently married. (you get the picture.)

this glut of similarities became apparent to me last week, when, on a quiet tuesday night, i was looking for something to make fun of, i mean watch. the objective, at least in my mind, was to find a genre work that i could parody for this site and other writing. when i saw that the latest pride and prejudice adaptation, directed by joe wright and adapted by deborah moggach, was available for my viewing pleasure, i thought that i had found perfect fodder.

of course, fodder is as fodder does,* and i ended up spending more time berating myself than i did criticizing the movie. when all was said and done, most of it with gorgeous costumes and english accents, i was hard pressed to criticize the movie in any way.

despite my best efforts to find faults, i found myself on the edge of my couch, completely riveted. i think my interior monologue actually went something like, “oh, mr. darcy. go to him! he loves you!” of course followed by, “why are you such a chick! eww! gross! stop it already!” then i did the only reasonable thing to do when you’re upset about being too much of a girl. i cried, ate some chocolate, and shopped online for shoes. i’m not sure if ballet flats are a good look for me, but i felt a lot better afterward.

like the flats trend, i had heard that the movie had some problems. various people had mentioned that the film was less than perfect and i’m not afraid to admit that i went in hoping that it would be easily mocked. though admittedly less than perfect, the movie held up well in the face of my critical (read: bitchy) analysis. (in a thumbs up, thumbs down world, it was a reasounding thumbs up. the new york and la times agreed, too.)

which leads me to believe that jane austin, widely regarded as a master of the storyteller’s form, is a winning bet every time. (unlike german witchcraft, which apparently didn't work out well for a number of people.)

in just forty-one short years, austin, whose stories we all know as pointed analyses of the effects of social mores, managed to leave the world with a group of books that have been read by generations. (and in my case re-re-re-reread. or is that something i shouldn’t be admitting to in public?)

pride and prejudice, sense and sensibility, and northanger abbey are some of the most perfectly crafted chick lit novels i have ever laid hand, eye, or (late in plot) tear to. reminding me, that being a girl, while sometimes a hazard to yourself and your chocolate stash, can not only be great, it can get you absorbed into the cannon, remembered for all eternity, and even lauded by hollywood. in the case of last tuesday, being a girl can also get you a cozy movie night and a what i sincerely hope are a really cute pair of flats.

*What does that mean exactly and why am I so amused by it? I imagine it’s because it evokes images of cannons, which somehow makes me think of pirates…or maybe it’s just that Keira Knightly reminds me of pirates. Well, me and all the folks at Disney.