Honolulu Weekly

One night. That’s all I had last week. Work was insane but I’m not even going to go there. You don’t need to hear about how busy I am, we’re all busy. I didn’t come here to ever complain about my job because that’s what allows me to be here, and I’m never leaving. So I had one night last weekend, and made a promise to myself that I was going for it. I spent about the same amount of cash I would have spent on bottle service on cabs going all over town and man, what a night it was. I’m not even a little bit scared of an all-ages show and was fully prepared to be feeling like a grandma at NextDoor on Saturday night. They had a lineup that I couldn’t pass up with Fittedoar, Clones of the Queen, Painted Highways and GRLFRNDS, who are all so worth feeling old. What’s interesting is how many people thought the same thing — there was way more grown ups than kids in the room that night. Josh 86 and Landon Tom announced that this might be the hot new thing, confirming that they will be back every 3rd Saturday of the month. Kids should be happy to hear that they can see such great bands now on a monthly basis. I was just happy to have somewhere to go at the do-or-die hour of 7pm. If something can get me out of the house that early then it’s likely I’ll stay out. If I’m home waiting for all the action to begin at 10pm, the only action I’ll see is my Egyptian cotton sheets, and not in the good way.But back to Saturday. The concert was ending just as the Showdown in Chinatown people were all filing in, which was great exposure for clenched-muscle-inducing shoe-gaze rockers Painted Highways as they were finishing up their noisy dream-like set. I actually didn’t stay to see the films because it got too crowded and if you don’t have a good seat it’s not so fun. Instead I had drinks at The Manifest, my favorite in-between bar, before jetting over the Waikiki to see the GRLFRNDS play their second show of the night (yes you can start calling me a groupie) at the Once-a-Month Punk event at the Sandbox. The place was going off, all the skate dogs and punk rock dudes that were mostly my age or older hanging around drinking Grolsch and watching skate videos in between bands. I was stoked on the crowd, the super low ceiling and bands playing right on the dance floor totally reminded me of every punk show I ever went to as a kid. There was a pretty distinct difference between the regulars, the Waikiki drop-bys and the people in the back room there for the show. After soaking it all in for a while (and avoiding the mosh pit like a chicken) I jetted back to Chinatown to see GLC, the Chicago rapper that’s friends with Kanye West (and most likely out here recording with him) perform right in front of my face at Shake & Pop. The guy filming directly across from me probably has some great footage of Christa-in-a-trance as I listened to this dude I’ve never heard or seen before lay it down for everyone about why he loves Hawaii. Dude, I totally know what you mean. Later that night current Los Angeles resident and former Honolulu nightclub owner Matthew Grim came back to do a reunion of 1739 at The Warehouse. That’s where all the kids were, I only saw Miko Franconi and of course G-Spot to bring back memories. It made me realize I didn’t spend as much time at 1739 as I thought. It also made me very very tired at work the next day. Worth it? Totally.