Lollapalooza in a Living Room
Nightwatchman and Friends
Hotel Cafe, Dec. 6
Photos and Text by Scott Amateur
Tom Morello, A.K.A. The Nightwatchman hosted the second of three consecutive Thursday Night benefit shows at the Hotel Café. The proceeds of the performances benefit his non-profit organization Axis of Justice. For what Morello calls “the people's price of only ten dollars,” the audience got to witness a concert so amazing they will bore their grandchildren talking about it in 50 years.

Morello began the show with a set of combative folk music as The Nightwatchman that hearkens back to Woody Guthrie's defiant lyrics admonishing the hypocrisy of the Bush/Cheney regime. He encouraged the audience to stop by the Axis of Justice table in the lobby to pick up pamphlets for some of their upcoming events and to make donations to the organization. Axis of Justice was also raffling posters signed by all of the evening’s performers.

After The Nightwatchman’s set, the acoustic portion of the evening continued with some great power pop from Jonny Polonsky and a killer three song set from former MC5 guitarist and activist Wayne Kramer.
The electric half elevated the show from merely awesome to "Holy Shit!" level. The "Flea Family Orchestra,” performed first, featuring Flea, Morello, Perry Farrell, Carl Restivo and Breckin Meyer. They also had a horn player, piano, Ginger Reyes of Smashing Pumpkins and Etty Farrell of Satellite Party on backup vocals.

The musicians jammed without ego trading solos and digging on each other’s performances. Morello, Farrell and Flea make an awesome band, even if it was only for this one night to benefit Axis of Justice. Almost everyone on stage took vocals at one point or another through a set that included covers of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground,” Young MC's “Bust a Move” and Tom Petty’s “Breakdown.” After a half hour, Flea left the stage and the band became “The Perry Farrell Family Orchestra, which then gave way to a great set by Farrell’s other band Satellite Party who broke out a new song for the second straight week.
Wayne Kramer jumped back on stage with the battle cry “Kick out the jams!” Sen Dog from Cypress Hill appearaed on stage, lit a funny smelling cigarette and launched into a medley of Cypress Hill favorites.

The Nightwatchman will be performing at the Hotel Café with his friends again next Thursday, and you’d be crazy to miss it. It’s only ten dollars, to see Lollapolooza in a living room, and all the money that’s raised benefits Axis of Justice.


TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://mt.laweekly.com/mt-tb.cgi/46021
|
Monthly |
Category |
In Shanxi Province, the pollution problem is even worse than you thought… View Slideshow »
In Shanxi Province, the pollution problem is even worse than you thought… View Slideshow »
Resuscitated 1961 documentary recalls stark lives of L.A.'s urban Indians
It’s a Sunday night in downtown Los Angeles and my friend, Kumeyaay Indian filmmaker Cedar Sherbert, hits me with an interesting question. … Keep Reading »
Griffith J. Griffith's great-grandson: "Its not a theme park. Its not a movie studio. People dont want to see it turned into Disneyland ..."
PERHAPS NOWHERE IS THE CURRENT PUSH led by Los Angeles City Hall and its platoon of private lobbyists for an overbuilt, overcommercialized, re-engineered L.A. better epitomized than in the unfolding struggle over the so-called Melendrez Master Plan for Griffith Park. … Keep Reading »
Where the otaku world and music geekdom collide
Anneke knew that she hadn’t won the competition. She said this to a group of four people — a friend, a reporter and two random college students, one wearing blue plastic sunglasses and another dressed as the lead character of the vampire anime series Hellsing — while standing outside the Nokia Theatre. … Keep Reading »
Flashism
Kori Newkirk at LAXART (Click to enlarge) Kori Newkirk, Rank, (2007) … Keep Reading »
Griffith J. Griffith's great-grandson: "Its not a theme park. Its not a movie studio. People dont want to see it turned into Disneyland ..."
A $40 billion promise fuels suspicion of an agency that has lied large before
Also, Palisades residents respond to Weekly's "Rathouse" cover story
He was right about two Americas -- if only one didn't exist in his swollen head
Mayor sought a study saying East and South L.A. are booming. They're not
State turns instead to manufacturing ships, suits, even diapers
The Italian mood is swell, but why so little crudo?
Waterpillars, Krunch rolls and Philly Slurs — South Bay sushi mecca has it all
Sit at Duane Earle's place long enough, and all of Crenshaw passes by
What to do in L.A., August 15-21
Dear Mexican: As a Mexican, I’m always ashamed of the fact that a lot…
Also, Winter, the Groundlings' latest and more
Also Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer and more
History is made at midnight: Excerpt from Josh Frank's In Heaven Everything Is Fine: The Unsolved Life of Peter Ivers and the Lost History of New Wave Theatre
Yuri Yuryevich, also a former journalist, says idea of Russian censorship was concocted by the West investigative journalism no problem as long as president isn't criticized
Shoppers wait five hours just to browse for T-shirts
Checking out the rumors at the Sunset Marquis' Gibson Through the Lens reception
San Francisco landscape architect takes the indoors outside in L.A. neighborhoods
Inside the secret world of the straight guise
DC unveiled the fourth wave of their World of Warcraft figures, but let's not fool ourselves—all you guys really care about is the sexy figure, […]
The good news: the guy doing the silent film version of Batman let himself use some of the 1940s Batman serial, so Batman looks like […]
An interview with the director of Vicky Cristina Barcelona
George Lucas, that greedy visionary, is now in the infomercial manufacturing business
Yuri Yuryevich, also a former journalist, says idea of Russian censorship was concocted by the West
One of the catches of this festival -- the venues aren't all near each other. You can break a real sweat walking from the Orpheum to the Laemmle Grande
Air apparent: a photo essay from Beijing and beyond
Resuscitated 1961 documentary recalls stark lives of L.A.'s urban Indians
In a land of sweatshops, Karen Kane Inc. stands out by paying its workers full medical benefits even in hard economic times
Already a Web hit, Winfrey's monster series prepares to attack kid TV
He lived the young man's dream in Spain; next, he directs Larry David in NYC and Puccini for L.A. Opera
Leave it to Woody Allen to make a romantic comedy in which all the…
If only Ben Stiller and company were as hot and naughty as the P.C. protesters complain
Also, Henry Poole Is Here, Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer and more
Sexy hitmen, gay life after 40 and French promiscuity
A "lost" classic makes its long overdue theatrical debut
I watched a good deal of the sweat, struggle and crushing loss over the…
Where the otaku world and music geekdom collide
A peek inside some Hollywood hot spots. Plus, LCD Soundsystem and Mondo Hollywood shows
Also, Previously on Lost, Raphael Saadiq, Liz Pappademas
Is the ambient widget device a friend who will share corn-bread recipes and glimpses at its panda cam, or a foe who will steal your passwords?
Nontoxic hair color under the shredded-denim ceilings of a Greenopia-recommended beauty parlor
EXCLUSIVE: I have huge news for the Hollywood tenpercentery world. Network sources tell me that Adam Sher, who has been Ryan Seacrest's longtime William Morris agent for 8 1/2 years, is leaving the rep business to run Ryan Seacrest Productions. This means that Seacrest may now be in play, so watch every major agency make a pitch for [...]
Say you're a downsized Hollywood studio that recently laid off almost all your employees. Well, if you're New Line you throw the annual summer staff party for those remaining few. Ex-New Liners are emailing me that the pool party on Thursday at Skybar will cost $35,000 and "all 48 employees will be there to swim in the blood [...]
The last things we'd ever do
In a land of sweatshops, Karen Kane Inc. stands out by paying its workers full medical benefits even in hard economic times
Comments