What happens when a music festival is canceled just a few days prior to its commencement? A ton of angry tweets, people demanding refunds, bands with no venues to play, and an army of Hanson fans screaming shenanigans.

As you may have heard Sunset Junction, the little community event that became a giant music festival, had the plug pulled just 48 hours before the function and what ensued was not the chaos one would expect. The community got together, venues booked bands, block parties formed, and an almost SXSW style event took over the Silverlake/Echo Park areas for a weekend of free (and some paid) shows. Continue Reading

We safely made it through another day of the Outside Lands Music Festival but with a little added pinkness to our skin. The grey skies finally turned blue which  didn’t make us sad one bit, the only thing that could do that was the realization that we would only have one more day in the majestic San Fran climate. With the sun beating down most of the day we made our way into all the tents to catch members of  our favorite acts in a stripped down and more accessible setting.

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The Who: Guided By Voices (3:50pm, Monday at the Main Stage)

What you should know: This was the “classic line up” which reunited last year for Matador 21, they were doing the indie-punk-hiss thing before anyone thought it was cool and you shouldn’t be surprised if this set was the last for the old school lineup for some time.

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The four days that were The Sasquatch 2011 Music Festival was a magical one for us here at Beatcrave and Memorial Day Monday was the most packed day of music we had all weekend. It seemed that every band that played was worthy of taking up every minute we had.

We also got to see Beatcrave Fav, Foster the People, play the most jammed packed set of the weekend over at The Yeti stage as well as catching Guided By Voices playing to what might have been the smallest crowd at the main stage. We also avoided the sporadic showers that turned the blue sky grey and caught some more acoustic sets, this time by three of the four members of The Decemberists.

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We are still out in the beautiful state of Washington and need to give you an update on all the fun that is going on at the Sasquatch Festival. On Sunday we discovered a new acoustic tent where we had the opportunity to catch some of the bands playing the larger stages in an intimate stripped down setting. The chance to catch Flogging Molly or Fitz and the Tantrums with just 50 other people, dancing arm in arm, was something rather spectacular. But for its 10^th year, who wouldn’t expect anything but the best.

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The Who: Dan Mangan (3:30 at the Yeti Stage)

What you should know: He is Canadian. He is on the renowned Arts & Crafts label; He is not the guy from the Hangover.

What you may have missed: A blistering set of acoustics and horns. Mangan brought a plethora of the best in Canadian music to be his backing band which isn’t surprising seeing as label mates Broken Social Scene have set the standard in plucking the best from the Great White North and having them join in on the fun. The set was the perfect tri-fecta of punk, indie, and folk. With a smattering of horns and gentle builds up that exploded into noise there was a little something for everyone. Mangan also had his funny moments by introducing members of his band as certain members of the movie “The Hangover”, who actually resembled most of the cast.

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The Who: Secret Sisters at the Bigfoot Stage ( Saturday at 1pm)

What you should know: Secret Sisters are really just that, sisters that people don’t expect to be sisters.

What you may have missed: The Alabama based duo of Lydia and Laura Rogers brought a little country twang to the Pacific Northwest. While most fans were still waking up from a night of hard rocking these two started a little early and played a set littered with covers and original material. Patsy Cline would have blushed.

What your friends will be talking about: Their cover of Hank William’s “Your Cheating Heart”. There aren’t many that don’t know the song but there was something special going on this morning. Maybe it was the blue skies, the crisp vocals that just resonated through the Gorge and a smattering of hand claps with from the crowd to drop the back beat (as the girls were lacking a drummer). Whether they were lying in the grass or hanging out right at the rail, the majestic way to starting Saturday was with Secret Sisters.

Overheard in the crowd: In between songs the sisters were bantering about heartbreak and loss when someone from the crowd yelled out, “What’s your type?”

Laura’s respones, “I think ‘A’ positive”.

It was just last year Beatcrave was on the scene at the Roxy to catch the first Los Angeles performance by a young UK singer, Ellie Goulding. Since then Goulding’s buzz has continued to soar with numerous awards in the UK and a recent slot at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. With all the buzz her fans in Los Angeles were eagerly awaiting her return on Wednesday at The Music Box Theatre. There was so much anticipation that this sold out show already had a line forming around the building by noon.

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It was a relatively quiet night on Sunset Boulevard Monday night, until Sarah Ellquist DeBlanke took the stage.

The ROBOTANISTS celebrated the first night of their month long residency at Silverlake Lounge Monday, February 7th, with Death Kits, Twilight Sleep, Lanterns and a bar full of fans. Singing their new album in its entirety from start to finish, this group made it very clear they were no longer the local band looking for a win. They owned it. And it was clear after Monday night’s performance that ROBOTANISTS have matured to a level of professionalism you can see in a band when they truly believe and respect their own music.

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