Hayden at the Troubadour

Hayden soft-rocked the Troubadour last night in fine Canadian style. Great selection of songs culled mostly from In Town & Country and Elk Lake Serenade. Some nuggets from days gone by as well -- not least of which was an earth-moving rendition of Trees Lounge, ma chanson favorite.

Early in his encore Hayden was joined onstage by opener Haley Bonar for an exquisite "Bad As They Seem", featuring Bonar on an almost-defnitely-magic vocal harmony.



Much approval from a sparse but adoring crowd. (The perennial question of why Hayden hasn't become extraordinarily famous at this rockstar game still endures. And the answer is simply beyond me.)

Bitchin' Steampunk iPhone. Sort of.

It's actually a 1908 Webster's "Complete Vest Pocket" Dictionary that I bought at a garage sale in Little Tokyo for a buck. The parallels are striking though: slim, black, lightweight, and helps you settle wagers when you're at the pub. The dimensions and weight are the iPhone's to a tee, though this is slightly more narrow.

According to this baby, the definition of bicycle is "a two-wheeled velocipede".

Man, you got that right.

And a "gammer" is -- you guessed it -- "an old woman".

Inside the front cover are "Golden Rule Briefs", a delightful brush-up on how not to be a complete douche bag in public. Sadly, no mention here of turn signals, loud cellphone conversations, or kicking the seat in front of you on a cross-country flight.

Farmers Market Con Game - Uncovered!

The Farmers Market at 3rd & Fairfax is undoubtedly the place in L.A. to blow off early on a summer evening and cool it down with some cold adult beverages. Just don't leave a baby or a pug to watch your beer while you're taking care of business.

Color Me Winter 2008

Color swatches from the Winter 2008 line of an unnamed Los Angeles apparel designer with whom I have no official (or at least legal) ties. Hey, it just looks sweet that's all.

Blondes Not Bombs

Did you actually need another reason to pick up the Flight of the Conchords disc? No. You didn't. But just in case you've been dragging your heels, I feel its my duty to tell you that the disc packaging includes not only a pop-up illustration of Bret and Jemaine, but a mind-bending two-sided poster that you can slap on the coolerator or keep neatly folded up for decades to come.

If you've been sound asleep for the past 12 months: Flight of the Conchords is a half hour HBO comedy series about a pair of twenty-something New Zealanders trying to drive their band to the big time via Manhattan's Lower East Side. The duo have a pathetic but well-meaning New Zealander manager, one fan/stalker, and some songs that make you want to alternately shake 'em on down and piss yourself laughing.

The rest of the show, the characters, the situations all defy description. It's geek chic nirvana, and brilliant beyond words.

(Hardly Strictly) Dodger Dogs

Our small crew descended on Loge Box 150 at Dodgers Stadium yesterday armed with some unbelievable hand made bento box lunches (courtesy of my wife the blessed overachiever). You're looking at smoked salmon cut rolls, sauteed gobo root, mashed sweet potato, tamagoyaki, and bbq beef. Unfortunately once the Japanese-style lunch was finished, so was Hiroki Kuroda's Japanese-style no hitter. Held to zero hits throughout over 6 innings, the Astros came firing back for an 8-5 win over Dodger Blue.

A Rare Pilgrimage

I made an increasingly rare trip to Amoeba last weekend to make a couple of purchases. In my sights: Elvis Costello's new "Momofuku", and Hayden's "In Town & Country". The main motivator was that as of last weekend "Momofuku" was only available on vinyl. That's right baby, I took the bait.

Amoeba was pretty much the same as always, only noticeably much more breathing room for Saturday at noon. We had no trouble parking underneath the building and at no time did I have to step over someone's dog or baby stroller while checking out the bins. People still tell me that Amoeba is doing great!, but the slim Saturday attendance hints otherwise.

So on to the music. I'm starting to think about the new Elvis Costello record in this light: the songs I'm hearing are good, but I'm not hearing much that has the mark of real Costello genius. Momofuku comes on the heels of a few truly magnificent records: North, Delivery Man, and The River In Reverse. By comparison this one feels extremely undeveloped (or raw, if you're feeling generous). Don't get me wrong. It's not bad work. But would the world have noticed if Momofuku had never been released? Probably not. I felt the same way about "When I Was Cruel".

The Hayden record is simply the next in a line of spectacular and intimate works from a shamefully under-recognized Canadian. This is the record that will haunt your summer. Buy it. If you don't own his Elk Lake Serenade from 2004, buy that too.

The Return of the Rhinestone Cowboy

Glen Campbell is on the cusp of some big stuff. He has a new album "Meet Glen Campbell" (featuring covers of Tom Petty, Paul Westerberg, U2, etc) due in August, and all accounts seem to align that his show at last weekend's Stagecoach festival in Indio was stellar. I actually had the good fortune to be invited to the Thursday night rehearsal in Burbank before the Stagecoach show so I can say with some certainty that this is all worthy of anticipation.