To be sure, I am a Biscuits and Gravy™ man. Weekends are my time to explore the various biscuits and gravies of Los Angeles. I found a reliable duet at Millie’s in Silverlake some years ago and the torch was officially lit. Each weekend I would attempt to best the Millie’s combo; each weekend I would fail to do so. Seasons changed. My hair grew longer. The torch burned brighter and try though I might, I was unable to top that concoction flawlessly executed time and again: one made-from-scratch drop biscuit shoved in the bottom of a bowl, drowned in hot-but-not-too-hot herb gravy with nary a hint of sausage. Nary a hint! The fact of the matter is that you don’t need sausage in the equation at Millie’s. This is a good thing, because you’re not going to get sausage unless you fuck with perfection and reverse engineer a sausage-loaded egg plate while nobody’s looking.

But the torch has now been passed.
»continue reading The Biscuits And Gravy Torch Has Been Passed

Los Angeles denizens have been blessed with Full Album Gravy™ of late. Last week saw Redd Kross performing Born Innocent, an opening act for Sonic Youth performing Daydream Nation at the Greek. A few days ago came the news that Lucinda Williams will hold court at the El Rey for five nights, playing one album in its entirety each night.

Today, though it’s not breaking news, Ben Kweller (via the Echo) greeted my inbox with the announcement that he will host a three-night stand in September, playing (you guessed it) one album per night:

I may be alone on this one. But as I sit here smugly drinking coffee in the Sandalwood Conference room at the Marina Del Rey Courtyard Marriott, the deluge of full-album-format concerts this summer gives me pause and forces me to think which artists I would prefer not to hear the full album(s) of, in their entirety, in a live setting. I can think of several. Dozens. Hundreds. Maybe thousands! Feel free to add yours to the comment section.

Finally, don’t get your hopes up, but we are currently in discussion with people in Frank Stallone’s camp.

I’m just saying.