Vampire Weekend

Last Thursday my roommate and some old friends went to see Vampire Weekend at the Wiltern. Before the show, we stopped at Casa Bianca in Eagle Rock and got some of “the best pizza in Los Angeles.” I have not tried enough pizza in the city to know if this statement holds true, but I do know I like their pizza. I ordered the Wheat Crust with Cheese and Eggplant. I was expecting the eggplant to be cubes or slices that were baked in with the pizza, but they turned out to be isosceles triangles that were either fried or just soaked in some oil before they were baked on top. Regardless of how they were cooked, it worked well with the wheat crust. I don’t know if I will get the wheat pizza again though because it was a little too dry for me. Sometimes in the battle between health and tastiness, you should just go for the tastiness. I learned my lesson! My roommate ordered a medium pizza Half Tomato, Garlic, Artichoke and the other Half Mushroom and Sausage. I got to try a piece of his, and the Tomato, Garlic, Artichoke tasted so fresh!

After dinner we headed over to see Vampire Weekend perform at the Wiltern. For those of you know familiar with Vampire Weekend, they are an “indie” band from NYC that formed after they graduated from Columbia while working full time jobs. Although they fall under the “indie” genre, it’s not your typical indie, not to my ears at least. Nicholas Thorburn (The Unicorns, Th’ Corn Gangg, Islands, Reefer, and Human Highway) calls them “trust fund frat rock,” but I don’t really agree with that….Maybe we’re thinking of different frats. They are bouncy, lyrical, happy, and remind me of summer. The song that gets played most on the radio is A-Punk:

Three interesting facts:

1. They became popular through blogs; Yay, the power of blog!

2. They were on the cover of Spin Magazine (March 2008) with the caption: Year’s Best New Band BEFORE their debut album was released!

3. They were dubbed “the Whitest Band” by Christian Landor, the creator of Stuff White People Like in a Salon.com interview (click on the link to read their interview! I especially like the last question: “The white people who like your site — are you just giving them another way to feel self-congratulatory? “)

It was their second night there and they played a fun set. It was short, but sweet. Even though they do not have many songs to perform (they only have one album under their belt), it seemed like everyone knew them, creating a warm sense of unity. Or something. They did play a few songs that have not been released yet which I found to be catchy and a sign that their next album will have at least one good song on it. As you can see in the picture of the stage, I was not close nor did I try to push my way to the front.

One part of the night that I especially enjoyed was the part where I finally REGISTERED TO VOTE! Yay! Right when you walk into the Wiltern there is a table of people making sure you have registered to vote. I know that in a few short weeks I will be bombarded with numerous jury duty summons, but it’s worth it! I read recently that California has slightly more than half a million registered voters now than it did four years ago. Registering totally got me pumped up! If you haven’t registered, go HERE. In California, the deadline to register to vote for an election is 15 days before each local and statewide Election Day, so that would mean the absolute last day you can register is October 21th, 2008. Anyway, that’s all I’m saying; I don’t care who you vote for or why you’re voting for so-and-so, I’m still going to make fun of you for the other decisions you make in life (like that ridiculous hat you wear every so often….) So you might as well just do it.

Casa Bianca
1650 Colorado Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90041

Get Directions(323) 256-9617

The Wiltern
3790 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90010

Get Directions(213) 388-1400