The Monday Show Low Down (Or "How to Beat the Flu Through Conspicuous Alcohol Consumption")

Last week's first blush of spring in LA brought with it a pretty amazing number of quality shows. Too bad I had to miss about half of them due to having teh sick most of it.

I mean, I hear that at the final Division Day residency night at The Echo last Monday, they had balloons and cupcakes and projected Princess Monoke up on the wall during the show to celebrate the self-release of their album Beartrap Island... besides the fact that local space oddities The Movies came out of hiding and apparently killed it on-stage before seeing their shadow and going back underground again.

Then, last week’s interviewee Film School came down from SF to play The Troubadour with LA indie pop act Space Mtn and NYC's The Cloud Room on Saturday night. Missed that, too.

But there was the Irving cd release party at King King on Thursday night with the almost "Monsters of Indie Rock"-like line-up of Lavender Diamond, Great Northern, Army Navy, and Irving and last night's solid, acoustic performances from The Silversun Pickups and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at Spaceland as part of a benefit for the Rose Scharlin Nursury School. Those? I gratefully all caught.

Some show highlights this week include The New York Dolls playing their sold-out early show at Spaceland and a free Army Navy residency night at Spaceland at 11 tonight, growing LA favorites Cold War Kids with SF's Two Gallants at The Troubadour on Tuesday, a free in-store by SF indie pop act Citizens Here and Abroad at Sea Level Records on Sunday, and local indie psych rock band Molecules CD release event at Spaceland on Sunday night.

In The News:
- The Silversun Pickups confirmed last night that their first full album is coming out on Dangerbird Records in early July. Expect the band to play out again around that time, as well.
- Alex Church from Sea Wolf reports that, "The SF show on May 30th has been scrapped. There's still a chance we'll play up there around that time, as well as LA. There's also talk of a west coast tour for the end of June." Still no word on the album release.
- Belle & Sebastian are set to come back to town on July 6, this time eschewing The New Pornographers in favor of ... The LA Philharmonic Orchestra? Yeah, seeing the Scottish chamber pop act with full orchestral backing at The Hollywood Bowl pretty much boggles the mind, doesn’t it?
- The following bands have also recently announced LA show dates: Pinback, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Shiloe, Calexico, Eagles of Death Metal, The Dresden Dolls, Gram Rabbit, Gris Gris, Islands (w/ former members of The Unicorns), John Vanderslice, Laura Veirs, Helio Sequence, Mellowdrone, and Sonic Youth. (See the right-hand column for details.)