Last Sunday’s Warped Tour in Ventura left me with a wicked sunburn, sore joints, and a deep appreciation for the bands who distracted me from my discomfort with their infallibly upbeat attitudes and earnest performances.

At the Smartpunk stage, The Higher set the mood for my day with cheerfully energetic renditions of songs from their On Fire album. The catchy-as-hell “Histrionics” kept the audience dancing and singing along and put the lyric “One check, one love” in my head for the next half hour or so. An unexpected rocked-up cover of N Sync’s “Bye Bye Bye” elicited a few boos from the crowd, although most people seemed to appreciate and enjoy the novelty. Undeterred, lead vocalist Seth Trotter kept things light afterward with a quick quip: “I think some of the metal crowd were mad that they knew that song.” The set ended with Trotter jumping onto the barricade during the crowd pleasing “Insurance?” to the delight of front-row fans.
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The Color Fred took the Hurley Stage at Ventura’s Warped Tour on Sunday, and played to a large crowd of eager fans. Afterwards, I had the wonderful opportunity of speaking to Fred Mascherino, vocalist and guitarist of The Color Fred (Previously of Taking Back Sunday).

WJ: So tell us about basics about The Color Fred!

FM: My name is Fred Mascherino, and I have my own band called The Color Fred, which I play guitar and sing in. It started as a solo project, but it’s quickly becoming a band as we tour more and more.

WJ: Your new album, Bend to Break, was, in essence, a solo album you did all of the instruments except the drums, you sang, played guitar etc. How has the journey been to recreate that with a full band while you’re on the road?

FM: It’s been pretty cool because Matt Fleischman, my guitarist, is from back in Pennsylvania where I grew up, and I’ve known him for so long that playing with him is like playing with another guitarist like myself. Anything that I play, he’s good at picking up right away. With all the guys, I try to pick guys that would play the way that I hear it in my head. So when I play the bass line on the record, I know that Chris Paulsen, our bassist, is going to play it well, and if I have two guitar parts, there’s Matt, and Steve Curtiss, who’s my live drummer, is the one who drummed on our record as well.

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Lil Wayne is a chart topper this week, selling over one million albums of Tha Carter III. Plies drags behind in second place with numbers that pale in comparison. Other notables: Alanis Morrissette, whose digital downloads make up more than 25% of her total sales. Here are this week’s top 20 albums:

This week’s top 20 albums (sales totals in parentheses)

1. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III (1,000,000)
2. Plies, Definition Of Real (215,000)
3. NOW 28 (132,000)
4. Disturbed, Indestructible (102,000)
5. Usher, Here I Stand (101,000)
6. Journey, Revelation (89,000)
7. N*E*R*D, Seeing Sounds (80,000)
8. Alanis Morrissette, Flavors Of Entanglement (70,000)
9. My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges (49,000)
10. Weezer (46,000)

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The Honda Civic Tour ended its two month long trip at the Honda Center on Saturday Night. 8,000 people of all ages showed up to watch, and even a few started waiting in line at 6 in the morning.

Unfortunately, I missed Phantom Planet, but the rest of the bands were very good. Despite some malfunctions, The Hush Sound played a very solid set. Motion City Soundtrack (who, in my opinion, should have headlined), was very good, as always. Panic at the Disco rounded out the show with an hour and fifteen minutes of pleasure for the audience. Here are some pictures from the evening:

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LA.Cityzine is always looking out for its readers. This week, we will be starting a new series called the Perfect Playlist. If you’ve ever had to sit in front of your computer and try to make a playlist only to be stumped by what kind of playlist you should make, then this is for you! Every Monday, I will be making a new playlist for you – for every occasion. This week? Traffic Hour on the 405.

I’m sure we all have to deal with bumper to bumper traffic at one point or another. This is your time to dance like no one is watching! (But I’m pretty sure you know that everyone is watching. No one is moving.) Why not make traffic hour enjoyable?

Since Traffic seems to last forever, this playlist will be longer than most others.

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