All American Rejects on Jimmy Kimmel

Show: The All American Rejects on Jimmy Kimmel
Venue: Hollywood, CA
Date: 3/27/12
Show #18

One of the many perks of living in Los Angeles, is that it's where artists come for album release festivities, and appearances. Which is why I got to see All American Rejects 3 times in one week. Excessive? Or awesome? I vote awesome.

Photo from my phone:

If you've never gotten to go to a taping a Jimmy Kimmel, here are a few tips:

- For tickets, go to 1iota.com
- Check that site often, as Jimmy Kimmel has a large outdoor stage and gets pretty big musical guests to perform there, and tickets are free! Given, it's not a whole show. Guests typically do about 5 songs (only 1 or 2 make it on air). But hey, it's free!
- Cameras are not allowed, and they mean it. Don't even try. Phones are ok.
- Purses are not allowed. Yes, purses. Keep everything on your person.
- Get there early. Try to get there at least an hour before the suggested time. That is, if you care about how close to the stage you are. For bigger acts, people have been known to camp out to be up front, or get there at all hours of the morning. Not that I've done it before *cough cough* This is what the line looked like when I showed up around the suggested time on the ticket for AAR:

- When you get there, look at your ticket and check to see if you're "Priority" or not. Priority ticket holders (these are luck of the draw when you're requesting tickets) get in before the general line. Look for a 1iota team member or ask people in line, to make sure you're in the correct line.
- Be prepared to stand. Once let in, you have to watch the whole taping of the show on a screen they project for all the outdoor audience members. Musical guests always come last.
- Have fun! Keep an eye out for cameras on you, especially if you're against the barricade, don't be caught picking your nose!

The guys sang 2 songs to air on TV (Beekeepers Daughter and Kids in the Street) and stayed after to do a few more for the fans, including Move Along and Gives You Hell. Before they hit the stage, they all did a walk by the barricade giving fans high fives and shaking hands. Nick even gave me a head nod and a point like "hey I remember you" haha I've been to a ton of tapings at Jimmy Kimmel and i've never seen an act come down and do that before the show. So that was very cool of them.

After the show, fans had the option to buy a CD and meet the band. I didn't stay to do it since I had met them all the night before, but it looked like a pretty big line of people!

Here's the recording of Beekeepers Daughter as it aired on the show:

Kids in the Street:

Here is a video a fan recorded on their phone of Move Along:

All American Rejects' Album Release Party

Show: The All American Rejects' Album Release Party
Venue: Silverlake, CA
Date: 3/26/12
Show #17

Monday March 26th marked the release of the new album "Kids in the Street" by The All American Rejects and I could not have been more excited! These guys are in my top 5 in terms of favorite bands, if not one of my favorite (besides the Backstreet Boys, let's be real) to see live.

To celebrate the release, they hosted an album release party that was open to fans! All you had to do was email an RSVP to an email address they posted, and boom, you're in. They advertised it as a chance to come take a look at the album art work, and actually said nothing about the guys even being there, so I went into this having no idea what to expect. What the night actually ended up being, I never would have expected!

It took place in a gallery in Silverlake, which when you walk in looked rather small, and was plastered with Kids in the Street posters.

Then you continue walking and there's a huge room in the back where the bulk of the art work was. They even had a station where they were screen printing posters for free! It's a really cool poster I ended up getting signed by all the guys, which is now framed in my living room.

The cool thing about this exhibit was that all the art work was submitted by fans!

Then the guys came out! They actually just came out into the crowd and talked to everyone. It was so cool to see them just want to go hang out with the fans. They all seemed really excited to be there and happy to talk to everyone. It even got to the point where Nick came up to my friends and I just to say hi (again) and see what was up because he had talked to everyone already but still wanted to hang out haha! They're all a bunch of the sweetest guys you'll ever meet.

 Tyson even took a picture with all of us wearing our Kids in the Street masks!

As if the open bar (with a hilarious bartender who whipped up an amazing drink we deemed "party in a cup"), free food, posters, art work and just hanging out with the guys wasn't enough, they even put on a little show! Needless to say this turned out to be a pretty awesome night!

Here's a video I took of them performing "Fast & Slow"

Kids in the Street

To see ALL the pictures I took from the party, visit my Picasa Web Album HERE!

Also- The guys just posted this video on Vevo from the event as well! Click here

Good Old War at Avalon

Show: Good Old War (Plus: Family of the Year & Belle Brigade)
Venue: Avalon, Los Angeles
Date: 3/25/12
Show #16

I know, I know! Long time no post. Sorry! Still playing catch up from the crazy month that was March.

Here are some photos I took from when Good Old War was in town. They had 2 great opening acts, Family of the Year and Belle Brigade.

Family of the Year

I recorded a video of their song St. Croix. Fair warning, it will make you wish you were on a beach sipping a pina colada, then make you a little sad when you realize you're at work. But a great song nonetheless!

 Belle Brigade

The brother/sister duo that is Belle Brigade was great. A little country for my personal taste, but I can see why people would love them. Oh and their drummer which comes out in the middle of the set to shake his ASSets while playing tambourine was one of the highlights of the night.

Good Old War

In case you're not familiar with Good Old War, they're made up of 3 guys Keith Goodwin, Daniel Schwartz, and Tim Arnold. They used their last names to come up with their name. Keith GOODwin, Tim ArnOLD and David SchWARtz. Keith and Tim used to be part of the band Days Away, and when that went on hiatus, they started Good Old War. Their stuff is full of great harmonies, feel good lyrics and you can't help but want to sing along and dance a little while you're at it. Such a fun show!

They had a new album came out this year which is so great! I'm personally obsessed with the song Amazing Eyes. I recorded a great video of it at the show. See below:

Other videos:

Loud Love

This is How We Do It

Calling Me Names

That's Some Dream

Better Weather

The Lumineers at Hotel Cafe

Show: The Lumineers
Venue: Hotel Cafe, Los Angeles
Date: 3/23/12
Show #14

So you may have noticed I've been on a bit of a folk kick lately. There have been so many great new bands emerging recently I can't help it! One of my favorite ones has been The Lumineers. They described themselves best as "...heart-swelling stomp-and-clap acoustic rock, classic pop, and front-porch folk." I was fortunate enough to see them at one of their 2 nights at Hotel Cafe, one of the best venues around. Their recent claim to fame has been their music video for "Hey Ho", which went viral last month. The video, the song, everything about it is just, perfect. I've watched it on loop more times than I'd like to admit.

Their self-titled debut album just came out, be sure to check it out!

I recorded a lot of great videos from the show, see them all here!

Another band to check out is the band who opened for them, Y La Bamba. Trying to describe their sound is sort of a hopeless case because it's that unique. Folk, pop, indie rock, with random bursts of Latin and Spanish influence, even full songs IN Spanish. They're VERY cool. Their album doesn't do them justice though, you really need to seem them live to fully appreciate what they're about.

The Lumineers

Of Monsters and Men at The Troubadour

Show: Of Monsters and Men
Venue: Troubadour, Los Angeles
Date: 3/21/12
Show #13

Show #3 of the week for me was Of Monsters and Men at the Troubadour. If you haven't heard their song "Little Talks" taking over alternative radio yet, I can guarantee you will soon be seeing and hearing much more from these guys. They're an indie/folk band from Iceland who have just begun to blow up stateside. They got their start in Iceland from winning a big battle of the bands competition called Músíktilraunir in 2010.

I felt very lucky to have seen them in such a small venue so early on in their career because I only see them getting bigger. Rolling Stone magazine even went as far as to call them "the next Arcade Fire". (Don't shoot the messenger!) This began the bidding war among the record labels and they ended up signing with Universal Music. Their debut album "My Head is an Animal" just came out this month and it's everything I wanted it to be. I highly recommend you check it out, you won't regret it.

This was the bands first trip to Los Angeles and shared that one of their first experiences here involved a couple of cab drivers fighting (as in fists flying, and blood being drawn) over who would take them around town.

Also wanted to call out their awesome opening act Lay Low, also from Iceland. She was so adorable! So humbled to be there and shared that she moved out to Los Angeles into a house with people she had never met to follow her dream. She even took out a 12 string she had just purchased and asked someone take a picture of her with it so she could send it to her Mom back home to show her that she tried. I recorded a video of her playing it, you can see it here.

To check out all the videos I recorded from this show, click here.

Artist Spotlight: Ben Rector

What you need to know:

1. Style- Singer/Songwriter

2. Sounds like- If Jason Mraz and John Mayer were to have a baby

3. Originally from Oklahoma but currently resides in Nashville

4. Currently on tour with Needtobreathe promoting his album "Something Like This"

5. What should I listen to first?- If you like a good love ballad (and i'm talking, "I want this as my wedding song" good) check out the video I took of him opening for Needtobreathe performing "Forever Like That". It's breathtaking to say the least.

Side note- The adorable baby laughing in the video, is his nephew. 

Usually when an opening act comes out, the crowd is just counting down the minutes until it's time to see the headliner. While no one around me in the crowd had ever heard Ben before that night, I can tell you that no one wanted to see him leave the stage once they did. There were several looks being darted around which said "Where did this guy come from, and why have I never heard of him?" Myself included. 

Everything about him was just, refreshing. Everything from his smooth vocals, catchy lyrics, sarcastic personality, and a smile that made all the girls melt. Sorry ladies, he's married! I know, I know, very sad.

If you still need convincing to love this guy, listen to his cover of  "I Wanna Dance With Somebody". It's pretty great.

Here's another video I took, called "Home"

All in all I definitely became a big fan that night and can't wait for him to come back to the west coast!

Go buy his album "Something Like This"!

You can also follow him on Twitter, @benrector (he's pretty funny)