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0 Despite it being another warm winter night, we spent last Wednesday inside the Cactus Lounge at The Standard, Hollywood for a curated evening featuring some of L.A.’s best emerging artists. This free Wednesday night series has taken a refreshing approach as local artists showcase their music in live, acoustic sets.
The vibe was warm and intimate, with a jam-in-a-musician’s-living-room vibe, topped off with the ability to order food from The Standard’s 24/7 Restaurant as you sat and listened. And it’s no surprise that with past participants like Mia Doi Todd, Neal Casal and Daniel Brummel, a healthy group of music fans showed up to sip cocktails and chow down on Southern comfort food as they watched the super-intimate concert.
First up was Lemon Sun, who are a versatile local pop group with a sound that bundles all of your favorite aspects of the ’60s without having that forced retro feel. They were then followed by the ever-handsome Henry Wolfe, an L.A.-based singer/songwriter who performed twangy, funky and soulful songs, and rounding out the night was The Sweet Hurt. Headed by Wendy Wang and featuring one of our favorite artists, Priscilla Ahn, on back-up vocals, The Sweet Hurt’s sound is ridiculously pleasant, charismatic and completely refreshing.
The next trio of performances is tonight (Wednesday, Jan. 26) from 7:30 to 10 p.m. and features The Chances, headed by Michael Runion, who plays a mellow grungy indie pop reminiscent of Nirvana meets The Beatles; Alex Greenwald, who’s best known as the lead singer of Phantom Planet; and Jack Diamond who’ll come packing a trunk load of songs influences by ’50s and ’60s rock, pop and soul.
Order a cocktail, some bites, sit back and enjoy local music at the next Desert Nights – definitely not a bad way to spend a night on The Sunset Strip.
–Kika Davis
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