Leslie and the Badgers 10/03/09 - 11th Annual Eagle Rock Music Festival - Emerging Stage, Los Angeles, CA.

(Photo by Eric Meacham)

Last Saturday, Leslie and the Badgers performed at the 11th Annual Eagle Rock Music Festival. Held the first Saturday of every October along a stretch of Colorado Blvd. in the Eagle Rock neighborhood, I consider it to be one of L.A.'s finest (and free no less!) annual music festivals. Or as the blog Web In Front put it "it was impossible not to compare the Eagle Rock Music Festival to something like the Sunset Junction Street Fair, and equally impossible not to note how much more relaxed, orderly, organized and entirely enjoyable the ERMF was by comparison. It was a music festival that was free to the public, featured a kaleidoscopic array of local bands on 15 stages (with sets that began on-time [imagine that]), wasn’t swelteringly hot, and played host to a bevy of local merchants and food vendors (as well as the beloved Oinkster)–the ERMF epitomized the eclectic neighborhood vibe of its surroundings with class and style." (and yes, I went to the 1st day of Sunset Junction this year - it was not a positive experience by any means)

Ironically enough, I first heard of Leslie and the Badgers at the 9th Annual Eagle Rock Music Festival in 2007, when they were on the line-up that was booked into the Women's 20th Century Club. (and even more ironically, this is the venue Jesca Hoop played at during the 2006 festival, which was the first one I attended) I didn't see them play that year, but since then have seen the band's name pop up in a variety of places, from numerous blogs to numerous concert listings. When I first noticed that Leslie and the Badgers were going to be playing at the festival again this year, amidst friend's recommendations, I made it a point to go see them play.

Their 35-minute set was a good one, culling from material on their newly-released Roomful Of Smoke. Definite highlight would be "My Tears Are Wasted On You" Also, for all those Jesca Hoop fans out there (who I mentioned previously) her back-up singer Nicole Eva Emery also does backing vocals for Leslie and the Badgers (and it was announced at the show that she appears on Bob Dylan's soon-to-be-released Christmas album)

1.) Introduction FLAC MP3
2.) My Tears Are Wasted On You FLAC MP3
3.) Winter Fugue FLAC MP3
4.) The Torture FLAC MP3
5.) Americans In Rome FLAC MP3
6.) It's Okay To Trip FLAC MP3
7.) Salvation FLAC MP3
8.) Don Juan FLAC MP3
9.) Roomful Of Smoke FLAC MP3
10.) That'd Be Fine FLAC MP3
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Jesca Hoop 4/29/09 - The Hotel Cafe, Hollywood, CA.

(Photo by Jeff Koga)

Tonight's show marked Jesca Hoop's final night of her April residency, and the final show in L.A. before she moves to Manchester, U.K. It was quite the extravaganza, featuring several people Jesca has performed with in town over the years, and a longer-than-usual set.

A good mix of older material from Kismet and newer songs from the next album were showcased. It was definitely interesting hearing "Hunting My Dress" and "Tulip" with a full band in contrast to the more stripped-down versions played at previous shows. She closed with an seemingly haunting version of "Love and Love Again" (well, given the theme of the show at hand), and with the audience not giving up and wanting more, for an encore did the solo a cappella "Storm."

As an ode to Jesca's friendship and history of performing with The Ditty Bops, Amanda Barrett and Abby DeWald joined her on stage for two songs, "Baby Boy" and a Boswell Sisters cover "Crazy People." The former was a staple that Jesca and The Ditty Bops performed a cappella at each others shows in the past. Both were good, but it would have been also nice to hear the other standards they did "Big Fish" and/or "Fix-It Man," but I'm not complaining.

However, Jesca may not be gone for long. Live Nation and Last.fm show that she will be back in town on July 22nd to open for Elbow at The Wiltern.

To download, right click and save as:

1.) KCRW Intro FLAC MP3
2.) Summertime FLAC MP3
3.) My Boo FLAC MP3
4.) Intelligentactile 101 FLAC MP3
5.) Seed Of Wonder FLAC MP3
6.) Baby Boy FLAC MP3
7.) Whispering Light FLAC MP3
8.) Hunting My Dress FLAC MP3
9.) 4 Dreams FLAC MP3
10.) Money FLAC MP3
11.) Crazy People FLAC MP3
12.) Enemy FLAC MP3
13.) Tulip FLAC MP3
14.) The Kingdom FLAC MP3
15.) Angel Mom FLAC MP3
16.) Love and Love Again FLAC MP3
17.) E: Storm FLAC MP3
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Jesca Hoop 4/16/09 - The Hotel Cafe, Hollywood, CA.

The third in series of four "farewell" April residency shows at The Hotel Cafe. Line-up was the same as the one on April 1st, except for the addition of Joe Karnes on bass, which added an extra layer to the proceedings. Setlist wasn't much different than from the previous shows, with the exception of one new song that I didn't recognize that Ms. Hoop played solo. Plus, we did find out the title of one of the newer songs, "Four Dreams."

As of this writing, the final show is this Wednesday, and promises to be quite a big one. It has been promised that there will be a stage full of accompanying players (including Amanda Barrett and Abby DeWald of The Ditty Bops)and a longer set time of 90 minutes (her shows usually don't run as long) Should be a good one.

As always, you can find more Jesca Hoop shows here.

To download, right-click and save-as:

1.)Whispering Light FLAC MP3
2.)My Boo FLAC MP3
3.)Intelligentactile 101 FLAC MP3
4.)Four Dreams FLAC MP3
5.)Money FLAC MP3
6.)Seed Of Wonder FLAC MP3
7.)Murder Of Birds FLAC MP3
8.)New Song FLAC MP3
9.)New Song FLAC MP3
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Jesca Hoop 4/01/09 - The Hotel Cafe, Hollywood, CA.

(Photo by Jeff Koga)

I was first introduced to (and basically first heard of) Jesca Hoop in early 2005, when The Ditty Bops opened for her at the now-shuttered Tangier's Restaurant. (which can be found here) I found it to be a good show, but I will admit it took me awhile to really "warm up" to her music (even though I continued to attend some of her shows)

I had not seen/recorded Jesca since July 2007 (when she opened for The Ditty Bops at The Fonda) Well, that's not technically true - I tried to see and record her at the Earth Day Festival in Topanga Canyon last year, but experienced battery failure. Anyway, when I heard Jesca was moving to Manchester, and that her four April residency shows at The Hotel Cafe may be her last in the U.S. for awhile, I knew I had to go.

For this show, Jesca was accompanied by Blake Mills on guitar (I know he's been performing with her for awhile, but this my first time seeing him with her) and Nicole Eva Emery on back-up vocals (also has been performing with her for some time, but again, I hadn't seen her with Jesca) I've seen Ms. Hoop in a variety of incarnations, from solo to full band to with just Sasha Smith on piano to with just The Ditty Bops on back-up vocals, and I've never been able to pick a favorite - they're all good in their own way.

This nights set focused a lot of Jesca's 2007 full-length debut album Kismet, with a couple of a newer songs "Murder Of Birds" and "My Boo," along with older, yet-unreleased "Whispering Light" For this entire residency, Ms. Hoop has promised to try to showcase "five years worth of material/performing in Los Angeles," so it will be interesting to see (as of press time) what the remaining shows bring.

For more Jesca Hoop live recordings, go here

To download, right-click and save-as.

1.)Murder Of Birds FLAC MP3
2.)My Boo FLAC MP3
3.)Intelligentactile 101 FLAC MP3
4.)Dreams In The Hollow FLAC MP3
5.)Summertime FLAC MP3
6.)Money FLAC MP3
7.)Enemy FLAC MP3
8.)Whispering Light FLAC MP3
9.)Seed Of Wonder FLAC MP3
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