Feed Us A Live Insect

Cobra Lilies this Wednesday at the Echo

2010-02-08T14:24:00.000-08:00

Cobra Lilies has always been a one-show-a-month proposition, and I am pleased to say that this month's show is nearly upon us. The Lilies will play this Wednesday at the Echo with Pizza!, Findlay Brown, and Superhumanoids. We go on 2nd (at 10pm). LA Underground is presenting and I am pleased to say we have special antics for you if you come, plus edible treats. Trust us. You will like.

Dream

2010-02-01T09:11:00.000-08:00

I am in a park in Louisiana when I see a large hawk/eagle (although in the dream it's identified as "a falcon") flying around in the sky, being attacked by a swarm of large fuzzy green wasps. The wasps eat off all of the falcon's feathers and it falls to the ground in a puddle. It looks dead. A small kid runs it over with his bike with training wheels. After picking up the falcon and squeezing the water out of it (like working an old-fashioned pump handle, which would have been, what? Its leg?) it turns out not to be dead after all, so I take it home.

The falcon likes to hang out in my basement (I do not have a basement outside of my dream) and watch television while its feathers grow back. Once its feathers do grow back, it turns out to be more of a bald eagle, except with the head of a dog, rather than a bird. So, a black-and-white dog-headed eagle-falcon.

Later I catch it going through the neighbor's trash cans. I tell it that it has to take a bath in the kitchen sink, and it says "Aw MAN!"

End of dream.

YOUR TASK: Illustrations please.

Echo pix

2010-01-28T18:51:00.001-08:00

Some epic photos from our Echo show on the 17th by chinapixie--thanks Olivia!

This Saturday with 8-Bit!

2010-01-27T11:48:00.001-08:00

Although we try hard to stick to our one-show-a-month regimen, here is one we could not possibly say no to--we play a show this very Saturday with our glorious Mr. T's bretheren 8-Bit! As you may know, 8-Bit shows are as rare as hens' teeth these days, and Andy/Anti-Log was once a Monolator himself, so we are honored and grateful that they asked us to play too. The only thing that would be better about this show would be if it were actually at Mr. T's Bowl itself, which it isn't--it's at Señor Fish in Little Tokyo. I didn't actually know they had shows at Señor Fish, but there you are. Odd Modern and Rough Kids playing too!

We play at 10 pm--it's 8 bucks if you arrive before 11 pm, which I hope will be the case, otherwise you won't see us play.

Facebook event linky.

Oh my!

2010-01-22T09:23:00.000-08:00

I just saw this, although it was posted weeks ago--the very kind and dapper Brad Roberts of Feed Your Head and Radio Free Silverlake named the monolators as his band of the year for 2009. I feel awful because I just saw Brad last night at the Idaho Falls record release show and didn't thank him--so I'm thanking him now! Brad's been very kind to us and we're very, very grateful to him for this honor.

My goal for 2010: Marsupial of the Year! We can totally take the numbat.

Where has this movie been all my life?

2010-01-13T10:08:00.000-08:00

The best thing I've seen so far this decade

2010-01-12T21:01:00.001-08:00

Speaking of ABBA...

Thanks to Doug of Birth! for finding this.

Food notes from the South, plus tonight's show

2010-01-11T10:58:00.000-08:00

Mary and I just got back from Alabama--a quick trip, family stuff, but there were some interesting tidbits of note. IE places to eat. Jillinda would be happy there because there appears to be a Sonic Burger approximately every fifteen feet, but we didn't partake this time. This is what we found:

Should one find one's self in Iron City, Tennessee, just across the state line from Alabama, I very very much recommend Mama D's. I think it's the only restaurant in Iron City itself, possibly (correct me if I'm wrong). I didn't have a camera on me, so no pictures, but it's a little tiny place with a gravel parking lot--lots of wood paneling on the inside--and a sort of deli counter thing where you can pick out your food. Lunch special was MEAT AND TWO SIDES. I got fried pork, collard greens (fried in bacon fat, of course), and mashed potatoes. Mary and I can't decide if the potatoes were instant cooked with half a pound of butter, or merely real potatoes whipped into oblivion with about half a pound of butter, but no matter. TASTY. I have a history of heart disease in my family, so it's probably a good thing that I don't live in the South where everything, EVERYTHING appears to be fried. The other patron at Mama D's was a guy from Iron City who spent 25 years in my hometown, Lansing, Michigan, working at the Oldsmobile plant. Says his cousin, also from Iron City, now lives in Santa Monica. Total cost for feeding 6 people=$22.

In downtown Florence, Alabama (home of WC Handy!) I doubt you can do much better than Trowbridge's, an old-fashioned soda fountain/ice cream place that also sells breakfast and lunch stuff. The non-ice cream fare is pretty straightforward--sandwiches, soups, chili, etc. The beauty of Trowbridge's, unlike almost every other restaurant in the United States, is that it serves moderately-sized portions of everything. IE, not fifteen pounds of food on every plate, as most Americans seem to prefer (or as chain restaurants think we prefer). You leave fed, but not gorged. I cannot tell you how refreshing this is--and the bill is cheap, too, less food involved. I think ours was something like $16 for 5 people. I had a bowl of soup (not loaded down with salt, either, thank god) and a strawberry malt (strange combination, but it appealed). Every ice cream place in Los Angeles that makes malts/shakes gives you a tall glassful of malt, plus the metal shaker thing with another glassful left over--so two servings of ice cream. At Trowbridge's they gave me one glassful of strawberry malt, and that was it--that was all I wanted. For god's sake, why don't more places do this? The malt was good, too--I think they might have put marshmellows in it or something, it had that extra lil' something.

One more thing to mention about Florence Alabama--found a thrift store with a bunch of neato old dresses for Mary, a jacket for me, and a couple of old 45's. "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley. "Downtown" by Dolly Parton. A weird public service announcement record called "Save The Children" with clips from Sheena Easton, David Bowie, and Harrison Ford. A strange little time capsule there.

AND A REMINDER: we play our only show for January TONIGHT at the Echo at the 10:00 spot as part of the French Semester residency. Manhattan Murder Mystery is also on the bill (at midnight). FREE.

Hello, Dolly!

Nice review of the New Years show from Web In Front

2010-01-07T12:44:00.001-08:00

Boyyyy, that's an unflattering picture of me in there, but I'll take a Nick Cave comparison ANY TIME.

Following the strangely hypnotic and always-entertaining Balloon Bass, the Monolators attacked their opening set with a vicious, limb-flailed frenzy, with frontman Eli Chartkoff riding the nimble, marrow-smashing rhythms of bassist Ashley Jex and wife Mary Chartkoff like Nick Cave’s skinny younger brother, all throat-peeling howls and mad-preacher abandon, while guitarist Ray Gurrola sent off one spiky and nerve-tangled riff after another. When the band erupted with the melodic sneer of “Ruby, I’m Changing My Number,” complete with Eli running through the crowd, his wire-tangled mic stand dragging behind him like lashing metal tail, it was a shot of punkish bliss that cemented the Monolators’ status as one of L.A. indie’s most reliably anarchic and underrated acts.

Thanks Travis! LINK.

At the Echo this monday--first show of the decade-i-o

2010-01-05T18:21:00.000-08:00

First of all, thank you to everyone who came out on New Years' to the Henry Clay People show--we had a wonderful show and it was a lovely way to ring in 2010 with all of our friends. I understand there are pictures out there...

French Semester has the monday night residency at the Echo in January, and we are playing this coming week...although Mary and I are currently down in Alabama (temperature is 20 degrees. YES. 20 DEGREES. FARENHEIT. I AM COLD) until Wednesday, we will be back on Monday the 11th to play our first show of 2010.

We play at 10:00. YES 10:00. NOT MIDNIGHT. If you come at midnight you will see Manhattan Murder Mystery instead, which is always a good thing, but we play at 10:00. Free! There may possibly be a cameo from Mike, our original guitar player. We hope to see you there!

Nice lil' article in the weekly by Falling James

2009-12-29T11:13:00.000-08:00

LINKY

Sigh, they used the subliminal cross picture...oh well. It's a nice writeup.

Don't Dance remix by The Tleilaxu Music Machine

2009-12-28T17:10:00.000-08:00

In preparation for our New Years show at Spaceland this Thursday we wanted to give you a special present: a new remix of one of our songs, this time of "Don't Dance" by our friend Bene of The Tleilaxu Music Machine (as he says, pronounced "T'LYE-LACKS-OO").

We first met Bene in, I think, 2006, when we played an ill-fated show in Modesto with Romak And The Space Pirates, with whom he plays keyboards. The show was (as Mary would say) pants, but Romak & company were fantastic, and we've stayed in touch since, paying more shows with Romak and seeing TMM many times at Sean Carnage nights. We were very happy indeed when Bene agreed to remix Don't Dance, and my oh my did he do a good job! Here it is, a festive gift from us to you for the New Year.

Don't Dance (The Tleilaxu Music Machine's flavor of the week mix)

New Year's Eve

2009-12-28T12:02:00.000-08:00

One last show for this decade--we go on first, which I would guess would be around 8:30-ish.

Bessie tracks--update

2009-12-23T08:25:00.000-08:00

Okay, the mp3's can be heard directly via this link now.

MP3's from the Bessie show

2009-12-22T14:49:00.000-08:00

For those of you who were unable to make the Bessie Smith Xmas show this past Saturday--I just got an email from an individual called resedamickey, who posted audio of the bands from the night--which can be heard here. We played "Careless Love" and "Alexander's Ragtime Band;" despite fluffing some lyrics and a chord change I've become rather fond of our versions of these chestnuts. Please take a listen, and thank you resedamickey.

NOTE--if you have trouble hearing these I'm going to download them and re-post them from our server when time allows.

A note on the Origami show

2009-12-17T10:53:00.001-08:00

Our Origami show will start at 7pm sharp--because Mary and I need to hightail it over to the Bessie Smith show as soon as we're done. As I'm sure you're aware we play fast, so if you show up at, say, 7:30, expecting to catch a few songs, you will probably be disappointed.

TARDY PANTS.

And now, to keep you occupied, here is a video of a German man dancing around amidst giant tulips. Frolicking, I might say--frolicking, definitely.

An Origami Christmas

2009-12-15T14:17:00.000-08:00

Did you know that, a long time ago, we put out a red 45 rpm record of Christmas songs? Well, more like 1 song about how Dave Matthews is satanic, plus a monologue by a lonely giant robot on the flip side.

We still have a couple of these left, and as befits the season copies are currently for sale at Origami Vinyl. And furthermore we are playing a show to support said record at Origami this Saturday at 7pm. We will (of course) play Santa Claus Versus Dave Matthews, we will play last year's xmas hymn Hot Sleigh, and we will play a brand new holiday song as written by...Ms. Jillinda Palmer! Ok, I helped with the words a little bit, but the song is like 80-85% Jillinda. We're also going to play songs off of our other vinyl releases, so if you really want to hear Let's Be Best Friends In Space, well, here's your chance.

Free, all-ages. Buy more records!

This is what our Xmas record looks like:

And also, after that show--Mary and I are going down to Edgar Varella Fine Arts to play this, as a duo:

Lots of great bands on this night--very exciting. We shall see you there.

The only Monolators show for November

2009-11-19T15:34:00.001-08:00

Hi all--

Just a note that we are playing one show and one show only this month, and it's on this Saturday with some of our bestest friends: The Mormons, Manhattan Murder Mystery, and, from NYC, Asa Ransom:

HM 157, if you've never been there, is a lovely old Victorian house on Broadway in Lincoln Heights. Map here. All-ages, and $5.

We made it into a zine! Lots O' Crap #5

2009-11-10T11:01:00.000-08:00

Hey hey hey everybody--

I am very pleased to say that the latest issue of Lots O' Crap Zine (#5) has a compilation cd with one of our songs in it! We are really very pleased because we've never been in a zine before. Lots O' Crap is L.A.-based and features interviews, poetry, short stories, art, and music from local types (like ourselves). I just went down to the Tribal Cafe last night and picked up a copy from L.O.C. mastermind Deseret--she runs a night there every monday a bit before Sean Carnage starts up at Pehrspace, and like Sean's night there were lots of very cool & friendly people there, plus burritos. You should go!

For our song in the compilation we chose a live version of "14 Degrees" recorded at Pehrspace on 4-track. Lots O Crap had it mastered and it sounds great! There are also tracks by bands we know and love--Manhattan Murder Mystery, Whitman, 60 Watt Kid among others. We are honored and happy that our song is in there. Thanks Deseret!

It's only $4--you can pick up a copy at LOC's night at the Tribal Cafe, and also at The Smell AFAIK. It looks like this (except my copy is pink):

Additional linky--Lots O Crap on the myspace

Claw Theater

2009-11-03T13:37:00.000-08:00

Holy God. I stumbled across this via the great I'm Learning To Share blog:

Claw Theater

One sentence summary: Folk/fairy tales (Robin Hood, Peter Pan, etc.) illustrated with horrendous photoshopped cat pictures--plus midi.

etc. etc. Go on and try not to look--I dare you.

Abbalators bootleg

2009-11-03T09:23:00.000-08:00

The very nice people at Recording LA have an audio bootleg of the entire Abbalators show from last week right here.

I especially like the way Take A Chance On Me turned out. We are planning on doing a live-in-the-studio recording of these songs, maybe later in the month. But these are pretty fun...thanks Recording LA!

....

PS--it might be an appropriate time to repost this--our original take on Dancing Queen circa...2004 or 2005, I can't quite remember.

From '79: Sylvia Love & Champagne

2009-11-02T15:53:00.000-08:00

I don't know too much about Ms. Love other than that she had really nice hair and that she put out one of my all-time favorite disco songs--"Instant Love." Witness her (and her hair's) performance on Dutch TV circa 1979, annoyingly intercut with a still of her record cover:

Another act I am not too familiar with is Champagne--I know almost nothing, in fact, other than that they produced another 1979 masterpiece. I want a vinyl copy of this:

You know, the hook to "Black Jack" reminds me quite a bit of Shonen Knife's "Black Bass"--not just because of the lyric but the minor-key chord structure and the stop-and-start pauses. COINCIDENCE? You be the judge...(answer: probably, yes.)

ABBALATORS pictures pt. 1

2009-10-29T23:21:00.000-07:00

Some wonderful pictures of Tuesday's ABBALATORS show from Elke Harper, all the way from putting on the capes before the show through the end of the set. I really, really wish my wig hadn't fallen off. Oh well. Thanks Elke!

Songs played:

Take A Chance On Me
Does Your Mother Know
The Winner Takes It All
Tiger
Fernando
Dancing Queen

ABBALATORS tonight at the Echo! 10pm!

2009-10-27T11:21:00.000-07:00

18+. $5, FREE with costume (how are they gonna determine what does or does not constitute a costume? Dunno). We go on at 10pm, NOT MIDNIGHT. Lineup:

9pm--Karabal Nightlife as T-Rex
10pm--The Abbalators
11pm--The Voyeurs as Creedence Clearwater Revival
12pm--Flying Tourbillon Orchestra as Fleetwood Mac

Come on out! We are so happy to play this show, it's EXCITING! Eeeeeeee!!!!

...

And now some more goodies:

Ah yeah, here's what I was looking for: The Pre-ABBA years:

Youtube claims that this is them in 1970, prior to the formation of ABBA. I suppose it does look like them...hmmm...

Here is the performance of "Waterloo" (in Swedish) that sent them on to the Eurovision finals:

There seems to be a preponderance of absurd sets in their TV performances:

Same song but with an awkward introduction about the relative sizes of Sweden and Australia. "So it's really, uh...a very large continent."

More sets--I am jealous:

Viewer comment: "I think this video just gave me a seizure":

Ditto:

and...goodbye.

ABBALATORS at 10 PM on Tuesday

2009-10-26T09:59:00.000-07:00

So here's the deal: ABBALATORS is going on this Tuesday at the Echo. The show starts at 9, WE PLAY AT 10. Not midnight. I wish to repeat: not midnight. If you come to see us at midnight you will be crushed and disappointed. The show is FREE if you wear a costume! Don't be a mopey cool hipster whiny baby--dress up for god's sake.

I have to say that it was very difficult to narrow our set down to 6 songs--just too many good ones to choose from. I will not say now what we're playing, you'll just have to come and see for yourself. WARNING TO PURISTS: this will not sound EXACTLY LIKE ABBA. It will sound like the Monolators playing ABBA songs. Make of that what you will, but if you come up to us (like that dude at the Television/NY Dolls show) and say "it doesn't sound like the record" you will be laughed at and your pants will be mocked.

Now that we have that out of the way, did you know...

That there was an extra verse to "Dancing Queen" that got cut out of the final release? You can hear it in a recording session captured here (higher quality version here--embedding disabled on request):

Similarly embedding disabled but also required viewing--IE, "Waterloo" with glorious tearaway kitty cat skirts: LINK

DISCO

And, finally, the classic band-in-front-of-giant-hamster-tube-filled-with-balloons look:

YYYYEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!