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Yo La Tengo. I always thought that was a silly name for a trio of straight-faced white folks making soft, artful indie rock. Spanish for “I have it,” the name comes from old baseball lore. In 1962, New York Mets center fielder Richie Ashburn frequently collided with shortstop Elio Chacon in the outfield. When going in for the catch Ashburn would yell, “I got it! I got it!”. Chacon, however, only spoke Spanish, so with time, Ashburn learned to yell, “Yo la tengo!” instead. 

The energy within the Fonda Theatre only heightened as White Reaper took the stage. I love a crowd whose demographic is so wildly different because, at the end of the day, we’re all there for our shared love of music for the band(s) playing. I think this show was one of the most respectful rock concerts I’ve ever been to. Their stage presence was awesome, they kept the crowd engaged, and they matched the crowd’s energy, which to me, is one of the most critical parts of live music. The mutual respect and understanding between the artist and the audience was the thing that stuck with me the most after the show. 

What better venue for a band’s self-proclaimed Last Show Ever than the Fonda Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard? On February 17th, the Vista Kicks played their final concert for an almost-sold-out crowd with openers Scout Larue Willis and Swimm, making use of the concert hall’s excellent acoustics to put on a show that highlighted lead singer Derek Thomas’ and supporting Hail Maries’ beautiful voices. 

I’ll take any excuse to go to Teragram Ballroom, one of the rare venues with impeccable sound. A fresh pair of February singles are the band’s first releases in over two years, but that didn't stop them from nearly selling out an entire west coast run. The California-cool pop outfit drew a varied crowd – college kids, family units, and a handful of hipsters bearing a scary resemblance to my poetry TA. Long-awaited Los Angeles returns tend to feel special, and this one was no exception.

An actress, model, and most recently a performer, Suki Waterhouse is truly the definition of a triple threat. Being the actress from “Love, Rosie” and Robert Pattinson’s current girlfriend, there was already an iconic and mysterious aura around Waterhouse for those of Gen Z, so I was excited to see if she would live up to that while performing in one of Hollywood’s most iconic venues. 

I was homeschooled for six years on a hobby farm on the Maryland-Pennsylvania border, and a lot of that time was spent in the woods. Nothing extremely special, but a lot of tree climbing, fire making, fort building, and the like. The woods are full of life! Call me Spencer David Thoreau, but every square inch of it is occupied by a plant trying to eek some sunlight and nutrients out from the crowd to keep on growing. As a result, all of the energy from the sun is sucked up by the plants, and everything is going everywhere at once trying to get its share.