The LA FOLDAWAYS are finally entering intense rehearsals in May. A side project from the Mister Nervous band, Wes and a dedicated crew of misfits will be pulling together a repertoire of “classic” rockNroll including numbers from The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, The Kinks, Van Morrison, Shocking Blue (!), The Who… and more stuff including some interesting takes on old blues and RnB songs. A core trio is working as the lynchpin – and a large pool of  singers and players will rotate as the “front” or songleaders in many performances.

Not quite a tribute, “Classic Rock” or jam band – more a combination of all three. Shows will often feature completely different band line-ups, as available players will work in different combinations making each show completely unique. The LA Foldaways mission: to treat many of our favorite vintage songs as vibrant living things to be joyously jammed (as opposed to reverently copied).

We’ll let you know more soon.

Mister Nervous played Blue Day with Ben Fordham on violin at the DRAMA cd release party last week

We had a great time jamming with our friends last week at the Unknown Theater where we released our new CD Drama. Almost everyone who sang or played on the record was able to come out and make that big sound come alive. Lydee from the Sundowners sent along some pix that we’ll put up in the images area, Thanx Lydee! We’ll be playing more shows with the Sundowners this year, Dennis has already set one up for June at The Old Towne Pub in Pasadena, and we’re grateful for that because we love playing with those guys! In fact: I want to thank everyone who made it out to the show last Thursday for their support.

Now just in case you were one of those unfortunates who managed to miss out on that show here’s your next opportunity to rectify that terrible error (AH-HA-hahaha) ’cause we’re playing at the Silver Factory Studios this SUNDAY 3/28. We’ll have our friends Rocking Horse People and Megasapien with us so if you didn’t catch their recent performances at Echo Curio and the Unknown … well then you gotta complete win/win/win situation on hand here!

SUNDAY MARCH 28th

Silver Factory Studios 3/28/2010

SILVER FACTORY STUDIOS
10pm: ROCKING HORSE PEOPLE
11pm: MISTER NERVOUS
12:00 : MEGASAPIEN

Thursday 3/18  -  Doors open at 10pm

$10 at the door… awesome space, affordable drinks, great music!

You’re coming, yeah?

OLIN & the MOON (photo by Ninelle Efremova)

One of the hardest working bands in LA OLIN and the MOON are either performing, recording, rehearsing, partying or unconscious. I’m not even sure why I’m writing about them because if you hang anywhere near the east side of Los Angeles you probably already know them. Well just in case ya don’t:

Possibly the best most honest heartfelt authentic band you’ll find playing folk flavored rock music right now began in Sun Valley Idaho with Singer/Songwriter David LaBrel, his brother and lead guitarist Travis and drummer Marshall Vore. In Los Angeles they met up with Brian McGinnis (pedal steel, banjo, guitar) and Kyle Vicioso (bass) and started drinkin’, starvin’ and workin’ their butts off. You can see that  the effort paid off in every show. They make a sound that’s  intimate and gigantic all at once. David’s voice delivers the goods communicating quiet strength and intimacy and the boys play with a precision that somehow always looks like reckless abandon. The group’s  camaraderie is  obvious and infectious: wherever Olin and the Moon goes the party’s fine.

I was blown away the first time I saw the GYPSY RIVER HAUNTS play at Cranes Tavern, the brutal blast of rockabilly raunch these boys churn out at-the-drop-of-a-hat damn near knocked me on my ass.

Gypsy River Haunts (photo by Danielle Levitt)

Even more impressive is the fact that they just get more awesome every time I see ‘em, improving the quality and tightness of their performances without taking  the energy level down a single notch. If you like your rockNroll honest, raw and raucous these are the men for you to watch. Andrew Sheppard stands frontNcenter roaring out the words to their tunes with a power  that belies his somewhat diminutive frame while Dustin Hollenbeck attacks that cool maroon tele like a shredder whose discovered that well executed  hot country fused rockabilly licks can blow most metal players into the next county. Johnny and Salvatore man the engine room and keep this monster slammin’.

Are you gettin’ my meaning here (?) … these guys are hot.

OK: here’s the deal-

You can catch both these must see bands this week at the weekly HOMEWORK MONDAYS event ongoing over at CRANES TAVERN ( as well as the Downtown Train – a band exuberantly tackling classic roots, r&b and blues tunes – and Ned Casual’s spot-on DJ sets of authentic the-real-shit rockin roots music). Admission is free – Attendance is mandatory (or it oughta be)

OLIN & THE MOON – GYPSY RIVER HAUNTS – DOWNTOWN TRAIN
MONDAY MARCH 1st
CRANES TAVERN
1611 North El Centro Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90028