L’Orchidée d’Hawaï

The holidays hit, leaving the streets of Isla Vista stripped of its typical crowd treking the neighborhood, but Pink Mailbox was a stuffed shelter from the cold, wet streets on Tuesday night for L’Orchidée d’Hawaï and Uggamugga. The line up was not long, but swayed in and out of hard to soft, and mellow to destructive. The Pink Mailbox housemates, Chuck and Chris as well as Co-op co-worker Denver making up the Desperate Hours band, started off the night loud and boistrous with their hardcore punk set, well known to the house of typically mosh-filled shows involving earplugs and rocking momentum. Their songs of returning to our natural human roots, growing organic foods, and taking back the rights of people everywhere put some perspective on what they stand for, aside from working at the Isla Vista Food Co-op. Next to take the stage was Frances, a Lo-fi folk artist with a baritone ukulele by the name of Stellaluna. This Phoenix, AZ local played soft spoken songs with lots of heart, with her audience sitting under her nose, inviting her subtle sounds. Not too much changed for the upcoming set, in terms of performers, as Frances' band-mate, Tristan, took the stage to make up two thirds of Uggamugga. The addition guitar transitioned the night into a grunge/pop frenzy with catchy riffs and funny phrases throughout the set, putting people in a calm, forgiving mood, with no worries. The worries left and came again as L’Orchidée d’Hawaï took the floor, with the anticipating crowd who gathered from near and far during their winter break to see this foreign spectacle. This French garage/surf band brought chaos throughout the audience, knocking them off their feet,"Literally!", as people danced like wolves, crowd surfed and fell onto sitting guests on the couches. Multi-lingual singers, David and Charles, took turns on the mic in both english and french, adding in a few instrumental songs into their set with the help of Lucien on the drums and gong, along with Flaz on the bass. The night ended punctually at ten, loud and out of control, but as the crowd settled and dispersed, the bands hung around the lingering few giving out cd's stickers and other cool memorabilia.