Shows

It was another week of great music in the city.

Once again I saw Alana Davis on Thursday night at the Red Devil Lounge. I thought I might be bored since I saw the same show just a few weeks ago. Once again I was totally moved by her charismatic and technically flawless solo show. Beautiful. This time Monica got to go as well.

We also went to the Von Iva show at the good ole' Independent. I had never seen or heard them, but Shannon saw them once and told me I simply must go check them out. Von Iva is an all girl, high energy, hard rock and roll band... the type you'd expect to see at a West Hollywood rock club during the Guns N' Roses era. The lead singer is an energy explosion the likes of Tina Turner and Mick Jagger. Great, strong voice and loves to interact with the audience. If you like rock, go see Von Iva.

But the act that opened for Von Iva was a surprise, the likes of which we never expected for a hard rock show. We walked in to the venue to see a small effeminate man dressed in tight white clothes and another young guy in front of a laptop on stage, performing what can only be described as boy band music. Except there was only one boy singing - one boy with a lot of guts. Some of the crowd booed him after his first song. But little by little he won the crowd over. His mastery of boybandisms, his well crafted songs, and especially the backup dancers he eventually brought up, ended up being a real hit. The band, called Hey Willpower, was an extremely intriguing mix of trite radio trash and uber hipster style. Very entertaining. And not just to laugh at. The music and his singing voice was probably up to the level of a Justin Timberlake, just without a gram of pretense. I hope they keep it going.