Los Angeles’ (Los Feliz to be exact) The Airborne Toxic Event drew a huge crowd of industry folk at the Annex lastnight during their performance at the ClubNME/Stolen Transmission night, and they were joined by eager 18 year old NYU students that were dancing up a storm up front, staring up in awe. When the band took the stage I was standing in the corridor of the venue talking to the doorgirl JennyPenny about something that happened earlier that week and had to leave in basically mid-sentance because the music from inside the venue was pulling me. I felt like Tucan Sam in those Fruit Loop commercials when he follows his nose to the cereal, but instead it was my ears following musical notes.

Lotsa photos after the jump.
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ED NOTE: We were off burninating the country side last night so Sarah’s nameless friend covered this gig.

With nearly 30 years of touring under his belt, both with his many bands as well as his spoken word performances, Henry Rollins remains as relevant as he was when we all first heard him scream the words to Rise Above. While he continually made light of his aging years, he’s now 47, his ideas are young and thought provoking.
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My friend Meridith hit me up over AIM during the afternoon while I was looking up what show I should see that night telling me that this new band called Dead Trees were playing at Mercury Lounge and would I like to join her.

“Yeah, I was actually trying to figure that out right now.”
“Cool, they’re managed by Ryan Gentles.”

Ryan manages the Strokes. He has also managed a lot of really great bands and is sort of like New York’s celebrity manager and only about 26. When someone tells you that he’s got a new act under his belt, you typically perk your ears up… which i did.
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The thing I missed the most about leaving the offices of Island/DefJam when I used to work there, was leaving environment the budding project of Kerli. She was this tiny elf-like Estonian girl who looked like a Claudia Schiffer doll and sung like Bjork. When she came into the offices, she would give the biggest hugs that lasted about 5 minutes and were warm like a best friend’s.

This was Kerli’s first show with a full band and she stood up there like it’d been her 50th. Dressed in a white mini-tutu and white tank top, she looked like a ballerina in a jewelry box.

The set was short consisting of only 5 songs and the audience was mostly industry who got to drink at the open bar… but not many people were at the bar, instead they were staring intensely at Kerli and her band — consisting of a barefoot cellist, keyboard player, bassist, guitarist, and drummer — who were all decked out in black.

Video after the jump.
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I wasn’t expecting much of Your Vegas, the opening band, when I attended the Bravery at Terminal 5. I had seen the Switches at the Annex a few months ago when I threw a Bar Mitzvah themed party/show. We had inflatable guitars and microphones, giant sunglasses, and other Party City purchased party decorations that are staples of Bar & Bat Mitzvahs. It was really really weird, but very fun. The band were good sports about it — even when I taped a giant inflatable microphone to the singer’s mic stand.

That night, the Switches were great and reminded me of Supergrass (one of my favorite bands of all time), and opening up for the Bravery, they were right at home on the massive stage. They also sort of looked like the Vines (but played better live).

Who killed it? After the jump…
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I stopped by the Apple store today in Soho and noticed that there were hundreds of people on a line behind police security gates covered in blankets etc. I asked a couple of them what was going on and they said they had been there for hours waiting to see Maroon5 perform tonight at the store. Linkin Park just played a suprise show their too about a week ago. I guess it’s a trend.

Some amazingly high quality pics from my Blackberry after the jump.
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Part One:

I remember seeing the Bravery for the first time about 4 years ago in New York City at this small little club called Arlene’s Grocery. It was packed with industry folk trying to see if they were the next big thing or not, and if it weren’t for Sam Endicott’s incredible height I wouldn’t have been able to see him from the back of the room where I was stuck watching the band.
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So, just like me, you’re probably wondering “Who the eff are Tokio Hotel? And does anyone really care?” But I had heard from my friend that the band had sold out one night in Irving Plaza in 3 minutes AND I had read a lot about them on ohnotheydidnt.

I originally thought they were Japanese and in the same camp as Dir En Grey, but then found out that they were like some German gothic influenced boyband a la Kill Hannah… but teenagers. Before going, I met up with my friend Karen who lives across the street from Irving and she told me that kids were lined up since the morning and after their first NYC show the day before the kids were screaming like the boys coming out were NSYNC.

Screaming girl photos and live video after the jump!
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So a couple weeks ago I was sitting around my livingroom, pining over the up-and-coming shows in NYC. I recently found myself out of a steady income and, well, that means that I couldn’t really afford those awesome shows I wanted to see. Not that I would mind not eating anything other than Mac’n'Cheese for the sake of rock’n'roll… but I tried that, and soon found myself hating life.

But then, like a ray of light, my buddy Dan at Universal called me asking me if I wanted to cover shows for a new blog he was starting. Um, DUH! Not since I was an editor at SPIN magazine, where tickets were being literally thrown at me, have I had such easy access to shows. Plus, I finally get to go to shows again as a fan (rather than a label-person, which is my Clark Kent alter-ego-job)! I get to scream be at shows I want to be at, rather than going to lame showcases wondering if a band is gonna sell millions or not.

With that being said… Here are my adventures in New York City’s night life!

PS - in case you’re curious about the name…