Last summer, Los Angeles unveiled a brand-new downtown plaza called LA Live. Built around the Staples Center, it was billed as a bustling urban entertainment hub that featured an ESPN Zone, the Grammy Museum, the Nokia Theater, Club Nokia, several fine restaurants, a Lucky Strike bowling alley, and more. Although this grand plaza seemed like a great idea, the developers ignored one major weak point:
Nobody hangs out in downtown LA.
LA is such a decentralized city, and it's already got two big draws: Hollywood (for the night life) and the coast (for the beaches). Downtown is mostly known for its homeless bums and bodegas crammed with knock-off purses & cellphones. Yes, it's undergone a revitalization, and it houses some very cool boutique hotels, restaurants, and bars. But these places succeed by fostering an urban-chic vibe amidst a skyscrapers-and-sidewalks setting that recalls NYC or Chicago. LA Live feels more like a Vegas Strip knockoff, with three-story neon signs, towering billboards, and beat-you-over-the-head branding. But unlike the Strip, LA Live is almost totally devoid of foot traffic, making its moniker ironic -- it just feels dead. People may be going there for dinner or concerts, but they're certainly not milling about in the cavernous 40,000 sq. foot plaza.
One of LA Live's prominent attractions is the Grammy Museum, a three-story shrine to the Grammy Awards, the lamest and least-relevant arts award currently in existence. The Museum's permanent collection consists of assorted random memorabilia, some multimedia stations that barely scratch the surface of American music history, and of course, a crappy gift shop. Their rotating exhibits can be cool, like the "Elvis At 21" photography collection. But last night, I was fortunate to discover the gem of the Grammy Museum's entire complex: its 150-seat theater.
The Museum uses this cozy space to host performances and interviews with major artists. Yesterday's guests were the incredible acoustic duo Rodrigo y Gabriela, who, armed with nothing but twenty fingers and two guitars, brought the fucking house down. The pre-show Q&A gave them a chance to tell their story: an early love of thrash metal, rejection from the Music Institute of Mexico, busking on the streets of Dublin, getting discovered by Damien Rice, and building a rabid fan base & a string of worldwide performances. Gabriela illuminated the influence behind her unique rhythmic strumming style -- she nicked it from bodhran drummers in Ireland, which is both shockingly brilliant and deceptively simple.
Their on-stage chemistry was thrilling, and their energy kept everyone clapping from start to finish. I marveled at their ability to keep in-sync and on-tempo through challenging, fast-and-furious tunes. They incorporated some tasteful effects (wah-wah, reverb, and distortion) to add dashes of flavor, but the main course was their raw, unadulterated talent. In an age of click-tracks, computerized mixers, and the dreaded auto-tune, Rodrigo y Gabriela prove that pure musical ability, coupled with unbridled passion, is all that's needed to blow minds and rock crowds. Check this out:
Buy their new album, "11:11", and go see them if they come to your town. You won't regret it.
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