Taylor Wong, Author at Jankysmooth

Seahaven Headlines The Glass House, Plague Vendor Steals the Show

Taylor Wong December 6, 2014

It’s Friday night and teenage angst is in full effect. I made my way out to Pomona for what seemed like a high school reunion. The scene was The Glass House for an all ages show featuring Plague Vendor and Seahaven. I was mainly out there to see Plague Vendor, but because I was born and raised in the South Bay and Seahaven comes from Torrance, I was put in the awkward high school reunion scenario. I ran into multiple old buddies from high school who I lost touch with for multiple reasons, and they all seamed to be happier or doing better than me. Great. The first band, Warm Thoughts (formerly Dad Punchers), reminded me of just that. There isn’t a name for their genre but I gave it the name South Bay Punk which, according to the history of Taylor Wong, started in a backyard in Hawthorne, California where, bands such as Joyce Manor and Touche Amore would play before they became who they are now. These kids were legit because they gave me that warm nostalgic feeling which is rare to come by these days. The frontman, Eliot Babin thrashed around the stage singing out of tune

Juicy J Smokes Out The Fonda With a Little Help From His Friends

Taylor Wong November 27, 2014

It was the first night after the decision in Ferguson and tensions were high in LA. So what better way to blow off some steam than at a Juicy J show. We are on the final stretch of the Red Bull Sound Select 30 day’s in LA with number 25 last night. The event was hosted at The Fonda in Hollywood with openers Tree and Two-Nine. Of course being a rap show in LA, the crowd was made up of mostly 18 year old white kids. The first Rap group, Tree took the stage with a half full crowd. These guys were fantastic. A bit of a mellow vibe to these dudes. They kinda had a flow like A$AP Ferg. These guys had a short set which only lasted about 30 minutes which led to a 30 minute intermission. These Red Bull events are starting to feel deja vu like with the people I see in attendance. Last night I ran into Daniel from the LA Riots for about the 5th time this month, during the intermission. The next group Two-Nine started out with a moment of silence for Michael Brown, the unarmed 18 year old boy that was gunned

50 shades of Spooky Black: Models, Partiers and Real Hip Hop Heads at The Well

Taylor Wong November 18, 2014

LA got spooky this weekend at The Well. Saturday evening we were blessed with the first ever Spooky Black and The Stand4rd performance in LA, and who better to put the show together other than the people at The Well and UNIF? I was pretty stoked to have been able to cover this show after our access to Chance the Rapper was cut down to just a writer. Spooky Black was definitely a rare and worthy replacement for Chance the Rapper. I had no prior knowledge of what Spooky Black sounded like before this weekend. I mean I did check him out on Spotify Friday night, but prior to this I always thought he was just some white rapper from the butt fuck middle of no where. After doing some research I was pretty excited for this party. The dude has talent for a 16 year old Minnesota boy. He reminds me of a young softer version of How To Dress Well. Other than the fact that they had great performers for the night, UNIF threw a kick ass party. The bar was open all night with Colt 45’s, Vodka, and Gin (at least thats all they had when i

Them Howling Bones Record Release at the L.A. Fort

Taylor Wong November 17, 2014

Punk fuckin’ rock! That is how I would describe November 14th’s Them Howling Bones EP release Party at The LA Fort. The LA Fort is this cool little artist collective over in bum fuck LA- I’m serious bums are actually fucking on the street outside The Fort. I have to go into more detail about the venue for you to understand just how punk rock it is. There are absolutely no bathrooms or running water and the entire place smells like BO mixed with shit and bad breath. Last time i was there was there was for Pangea and FIDLAR which was way too legit, minus the part where I was flat tired by a shoe with dog shit on it. Even last night I was approached by a fat crack head prostitute when i was getting ready to drive off in my car. This place just bleeds punk rock. I got to the show a bit early which was perfect since I found parking right in front. I didn’t want to have to pay homeless joe another 5 bucks to watch my car. Getting there early was also smart because they had an open Colt 45 bar for the

Chillin with Thurz and Tapioca and the Flea at the K-town Karaoke Throwdown

Taylor Wong November 10, 2014

Last night I hit day 8 of Red Bull Sound Select’s, 30 days in LA. This night was a laid back Karaoke night with the title K-Town Karaoke Throwdown and was hosted by good friends of mine Tapioca and the Flea. When I got to the location and realized the event was split up into 20 rooms, I thought to myself “how the hell am I going to cover this?” Then Samuel Lopez of Tapioca and the Flea told me they had their own room for the night. “fuck yeah!” I exclaimed as I heard that. So for the following review I give you my night spent with the guys from Tapioca and the Flea. The night started off with just Samuel Lopez, Ronnie Watson, and I hanging out in the karaoke room. Sam serenaded us with music from The Beatles as we ordered up bottle service and food. Now the bottle service was actually decently priced and Tapioca and the flea was given a generous tab from Red Bull, but the food selection was just kind of odd. There were four food options to choose from, lychee, french fries, “cheese sticks” which were just mozzarella sticks with some weird

The Preatures Sexually Aroused Their Audience On A Chill Night at The Sayers Club

Taylor Wong November 4, 2014

Last night, Monday November 3rd gave us the 3rd night of Red Bull Sound Select’s, 30 days in LA. This was also my 3rd night out shooting the red bull events so we can all assume I was running on fumes. I was stoked to find out that they were hosting the show at Sayers Lounge in Hollywood, a nice, dimly lit, intimate setting full of couches for me to veg out on. I immediately faced some trouble getting to this show when I realized I did not have my ID. Amateur hour, I know but luckily the staff was nice of enough to play 20 questions with me till they figured I am clearly old enough to party. Once I finally got inside i ordered up a Jameson and Ginger and found some familiar photographer friends to hang out with since i was rolling solo. This was when i realized this may be my favorite of the 30 days mainly because of how mellow the setting was. The first band, Night Drive went on around 9pm and what a fantastic opening band. They had a sound that was kind of like the space between Joy Divisions evolution to becoming

Spooky-Tu Shoes Presents: Rocky Horror Hipster Show

Taylor Wong October 31, 2014

Last night I was lucky enough to shoot this years edition of Spooky-Tu Shoes at Dirty Laundry in Hollywood. Spooky-Tu Shoes is a Halloween party thrown by Anthony Giancola of What Cheer? Productions and Professional Skater Patrick Melcher. Last year was my first experience with a Spooky-Tu shoes Halloween party, and it was a thrilling event, get it? Thrilling, like thriller, like Michael Jackson, it was the theme of the party… Ok moving on, this year’s theme was Rocky Horror picture show. The whole bar was packed with a crowd of people dressed in Halloween costumes. As a photographer I was extremely happy with the turn out of costumed party goers, it just makes my night a bit more pleasant. I mean come on have you seen the costumes girls wear these days? A lot of people were dressed to the theme of the party that made the show that much greater. The cast performed a flawless rendition of Rocky Horror Picture Show that included members such as Michelle Jupiter of Isaac Rother and the Phantoms. They did the whole movie with little modernized changes and additions such as the use of hash tags and crap like that.