hard place + mind melting art extravaganza by Owl Eyes and Alejandro Garcia
October 5th, 2008 by the all knowing eye10/5/08 @ CineSpace
6356 Hollywood Blvd
Skull Kiss
Hard Palce
Chips And Salsa
hard place - last goodbye from Get Your Hopes Up
Download it! Hard Place - Last Goodbye
alejandro garcia - VADER Y LA MUERTE
some art by Owl Eyes
I’m back! Did you even realize I was gone?
August 27th, 2008 by Jeremy SmearsHave you ever crushed the hopes of a Squire? I’ve seen it happen. It went down something like this: Elton Tom and I went down to Lake Arrowhead to help with a new Hard Place video. Have you ever been to Lake Arrohead? If not you totally should go because its totally gorgeous and who knows how long nature is going to hold out. Driving in with Elisha, we could see the charred remains of what used to be tree covered mountainsides. A haunted forest that managed to make the Norwegian black metal (Emperor, if you’re one of those) blasting from the speakers sound good for more than one song.
We met up with bozo savant duo Freddy and Ashley at the Chateu de Huizenga who had their lovely friend Pilar in tow. Costumes were donned by some and then we set off to a Renaissance Faire on the shores of the big bear lake (also gorgeous) for some pre-shoot inspiration (I think). Have you ever been to a renaissance faire?? If not you should go because it is hilarious and frightening all at once. Its more of a medieval fair than a renaissance faire but its exactly what you think its going to be; people too geeky or too into history for dungeons and dragons. I kind of couldn’t believe they were actually saying things like “M’lady” or “thou doth lookst” or “ye” while all around you D-cups overrunneth. Nor could I believe “Ye Olde ATM” when I saw it even though I was joking about it the whole way there. Maybe I’m not telling you anything new, but as I said, I’d never been.
So there we are: Freddy in his ill fitting peasant shirt and over-sized boots and cutoffs, Elisha in a toga and skinny black jeans, and Ashley with a fresh flame on top of her head in a dancers outfit, cut somewhat too high, leopard skin print with bright rainbow streaks. (Elton and I looking pedestrian in our street clothes. Pilar walking the line with some gypsy kinda shorts on) Unsurprisingly, Ashley is a hit at the faire and we learn pretty quickly that the renaissance crowd is a pervy one. Again, probably not that surprising, there’s curvy women everywhere in corseted dresses designed to use the least amount of fabric possible to yield the shapeliest breast (with limited results, some of them jiggled like melting gelatin). It was still surprising how the way “m’Lady” could be said to make the skin crawl or the way men would ask if Ashley was a “wood nymph” while eying up her birthing hips. All in good fun I’m sure, but I’m convinced they were having orgies with each in the forest after the faire closed it’s gates. Or key parties in their hot tubs at home.
So we wander into the ring of the bawdy juggler who told ball jokes for a half an hour and then invited Ashley on stage as an assistant where he molested her. I believe this guy actually licked her neck. Ashley is a good sport though and you might have thought she was a plant based on her performance. I’ve never seen Freddy laugh so hard.
Afterwards we’re laughing and talking about the juggler and his, uh, juggling stick when a lusty wench rushes over! “Oh… he’s very good. Very good…”, but then she glared at us and hissed “But he has a child you know! And a wife!”. She scurries off and we’re confused because she has a shot glass shoved in between her tits. Actually, we look around and most of the ladies have shot glasses between their tits. WHAT IS THIS? Are we in a medieval fraternity? How have we missed body shots going on all around us? Another lusty wench scurries up to us and disdainfully corrects us “They’re bodice chillers m’Lady, to keep us cool in the heat. See?” And she smugly pulls from her breasts a long glass horn which fits snugly against the breast bone. But you know they’re doing body shots out of it.
I’m off topic. The Squire! So we end up at the jousting match. Jousting! Actually its entirely boring for a long time while they torment us by not jousting. Luckily, Pilar’s young fresh face caught the eye of ribald elder who explained to us in detail how the men wish women would carry pickles between their breasts so they could eat from between the bosom and also how the jousting ritual works. He wanted us to realize that the job of the squire was perhaps the most important of the whole fair. I can believe this because they are basically first response for these men in armour charging at each other full speed on horses with lances pointed at each other. At one point we saw both men knocked from their horses and one landed squarely on his head. The squire rushed over to make sure the knight was ok “Are you alright m’Lord?” he said without breaking character. It was pretty impressive. This guy was all business.
After the match we were allowed to pet the horses. The Squire was tending to the horse and laid eyes on Ashley and earnestly asked “Are you a Fairy, m’Lady?”. “No, uh… I’m a wood nymph” she said. “Oh…” he looked to the distance with great sadness and then rushed off to take care of his duties.
That is the story! I’m not sure it provided any inspiration for the video shoot or not. Take a look!
Hard Place on New Weird America Comp and in Phoneix 8/1 & 8/2
August 1st, 2008 by the all knowing eyeCheck out this comp Hard Place is on put together by some folks out of Phoenix called New Weird American. The sounds don’t seem too overtly folksy as their name might imply, but maybe they think folk music has more to do with who is making it rather than what it sounds like. Why not take a listen:
Speaking of Phoenix, Hard Place is on their way there and we don’t kno what is going to happen to people’s eyes when the valley of the sun is covered in glitter.
08/01/2008 08:00 PM
Libations w/ Hard Place
6676 W Bell Rd
Glendale, Arizona 85308
08/02/2008 08:00 PM
Shake @ Rogue bar w/ Hard Place
423 N. Scottsdale Rd.
Phoenix, Arizona
Tonight!! MCMF 2008: Hard Place ,Warpaint, Chinese Bookie, Facts on File, Hans Dobbratz
July 18th, 2008 by the all knowing eyePartner, leave your irony meter at home. It’ll just done get broke anyway. We told you Hard Place just got back from Texas and tonight its a show down, Mission Creek Music Festival style:
7/18/2008 @The Knockout $7
Hard Place
Warpaint
Chinese Bookie
facts on file
Hans Dobbratz
hard place here, there, everywhere.
July 17th, 2008 by the all knowing eyeHard Place have been out there making a mess of things! Makeup stains on the sheets, beer on the floor, vomit in the pool, glitter everywhere — it must mean they’ve rolled through town. The band have been taking their new album, Get Your Hopes Up, out into the Wildness of LA, flirting with disaster on its busiest corners, down the tranny lined avenues of San Francisco leading to Club Feral, and deep into the heart of Texas with Wicked Poseur on a journey to find out just who, exactly, this JR guy was.
You know what they say, PIX OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN:

Flirting with Disaster at La Cita

Photo by Sally Glass by way of We Shot JR
PIX, IT HAPPENED!!!
Doesn’t that look like a hoot?? Here’s a few of our favorite album and live reviews so far:
“This is the kind of album you put on full blast in the car” — review in the LA Record
“this LA/SF glitchy disco tinged glam throwback act is pretty close to their debut EP from ‘04. Think The Cars meets CSS or Bonde do Rolê” review in Now Hear This
“Of course I know it’s supposed to be tongue in cheek but to pull that off requires some wit and Hard Place displayed none though they clearly seemed to think they possessed it in spades.” — Clearly this guy didn’t notice Freddy rolled out of a minivan in flip flops and rocked the party. OUCH!!! live review from the Houston Free Press
And don’t worry you guys! Hard Place are recalculating their route even as we speak to hit more towns across the US this fall!
Tonight! Hard Place at Club Feral 7/5 10pm
July 5th, 2008 by the all knowing eyeHard Place from LA
Wealthy Whore Entertainment
Schlitz Claiborne (Lane from Connie Fucking Francis’s new band)
Frisco Dykes Frisco Dykes (also touring!)
Dance Party w/ DJ Vinyl Abuser


Hard Place @ Wildness Tonight! (6/10/2008)
June 10th, 2008 by the all knowing eyeHey LA friends! This flyer rules, go check out the show tonight!
Wildness @ SILVER PLATTER 2700 W. 7TH 90057
Hard Place
Icy Lytes
5/17: hard place und strength @ the show cave in LA
May 15th, 2008 by the all knowing eyeHey LA: mark your calendars, grab your dancing shoes, and prepare to get sweaty:
Oh, and prepare to get intimate with some brand new friends, the show cave is kinda small!
5/17/08
@ The Show Cave
1218 Temple St.
8 - 11 PM, FREE
Strength
Hard Place
Hard Place & Glass Candy - Live in Portland 5/5/08
May 8th, 2008 by the all knowing eyeDid we mention that Hard Place was heading to Portland last weekend to play with Strength and Glass Candy?
It was a super fun weekend, here’s a video of a new Hard Place song called “Burning Tiger”:
(taken by Cute Alert, thanks!)
And some photos of Glass Candy:

Reminder: Bridez/Easy Street/Hard Place tonight (Friday) @ Smile. EPIC WIN!
April 18th, 2008 by Jeremy SmearsPLEASE TO COEM! Hard place will have their new record (Get Your Hopes Up) for sale on CD and LP. There might be tshirts too. Everything for sale will have been pre-loved by the band in one way or another.
Bridez features Liza from So So Many White White Tigers and has a CDR out soon and people keep telling me that Easy Street can get any party started. EPIC WIN!!!
4/18/2008
9PM
Smile @ The Knockout
3223 Mission St. (where misson and valencia meet)
$5































