Johanna 5.10.08

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Things To Do In San Diego: May 10-11, 2008

Man, this new Nortec Collective CD, Bostich + Fussible, is amazing. Can't way to see them at Indy Jam. Off to Gator, so I guess, later Gator :) See you all at Habitat later.

Saturday, May 10, 2008:

• Gator By The Bay Cajun and Zydeco Music Festival @ Spanish Landing
• Karl Strauss Beach To Brewery feat. Louis XIV, The Shys, Stranger, Hotel St. George @ Karl Strauss Brewery (Pacific Beach)
• Seaport Village Busker Festival @ Seaport Village 12n-4p
• "Punk Rock Concoction" feat. Raised By Apes, Secret Wars, Large Lump Sum, Majority Lost, Critical Me, Pour Habit, Antagen, Hit The Switch, Skyline Collapse @ 710 Beach Club, 3pm-close
• Ray At Night @ Ray Street, North Park
• Gamma Gamma, Roybot @ Habitat House (21+, 7pm, free, BYOB, 1008 21st Street)
• CD Release Show - The Sess, Red Feathers, Thin Man @ Casbah
• Repeater, Danger Danger DJs The Villains, Corey Biggs, Adam Salter, Lord Nelson @ Beauty Bar
• Nylon Magazine Music Tour Feat. She Wants Revenge with Be Your Own Pet, The Virgins, Switches @ House of Blues
• Buckfast Superbee, Truckee Brothers, Scarlet Symphony, Emery Byrd @ Belly Up
• Desert Diamonds, The Red Devil Squadron , Dear Hearts, Sangre Sangre @ Zombie Lounge
• Hell On Heels Burlesque, Old Devil @ Ken Club
• Lisa Sanders, Gregory Page, Carlos Olmeda @ Lestat's
• Lisa Lampanelli @ Viejas Dreamcatcher Lounge
• DJ Cobra & Kid Wonder @ U-31
• The Deepsea Goes(L.A.), Dave The Butcher, Braains!! @ Chasers
• The Wongs, Slab City, Clean Cuts @ Tower Bar
• Weatherbox, Alexander T. Kent (of Say Anything), BoomSnake, Snuffaluffagus @ Che Cafe
• Summer Set @ Epicentre
• DPI, Oaks, Hell Camino, Breaker Breaker One Niner @ Winston's
• John McEuen, Matt Cartsonis @ Acoustic Music San Diego (4650 Mansfield St)
• The Collab Lab - with Alfred Howard & the K23 Orchestra, Delta Nove & Delsoniq featuring RyMo and Dela of Slightly Stoopid) @ Cane's
• Discord (cd release), Mother Mae I, Cannobliss, Etched In Red, Sicarus @ Soma
• Emergenza Battle of the Bands @ Brick By Brick
• Kevin Eubanks @ Anthology (early show, 7:30pm; late show, 9:30pm)
• Wishbone Ash @ Humphrey's Backstage Lounge

Sunday, May 11, 2008:

• Gator By The Bay Cajun and Zydeco Music Festival @ Spanish Landing
• Seaport Village Busker Festival @ Seaport Village 12n-4p
• Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Port O’Brien, Royal Campaign @ Beauty Bar
• Air Traffic, Republic Of Letters, War Stories @ Soma
• Joe Jackson, Mutlu @ Humphrey's Concerts By The Bay
• Northern State, The Dollyrots, MC Flow @ Casbah
• Salsa Sunday feat. Orquesta Primo @ Belly Up
• Tribe of Kings DJs @ U-31
• Acoustic Night @ Zombie Lounge
• The Sweet and Lowdown @ San Diego Sports Club
• Palms (ex-The Finches), Colossal Yes, Mantles, Jean Luc Fraikin, The Endless Bummer @ Che Cafe
• Jose Sinatra's OB-o-ke @ Winston's
• Ian McFeron Band, Simon Lynge, Derek Evans @ Lestat's
• Defamation League @ 710 Beach Club (9p)
• "Surf Rock Sunday" feat. The Professors @ 710 Beach Club (3-6p)
• "Benefit for Dan Ely" feat. Sweet Tooth, Deadline Friday, Barbara Nesbitt @ Brick By Brick
• Kevin Eubanks @ Anthology (early show, 7:30pm)
• Jose Molina @ Humphrey's Backstage Lounge (Mother's Day Brunch 9a-3p)
• Vertice Williams @ Humphrey's Backstage Lounge (8pm)

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This Weekend: Gator By The Bay 2008

This weekend we'll be engaging in our Mother's Day weekend tradition of going to Gator By The Bay at the Spanish Landing. That's the strip of park that runs along the bay across from the airport. It's a fun event for families, and if you're even remotely into Zydeco music, it's the best this city offers. There are two stages and delicious southern food vendors in between. In addition to the zydeco and cajun music, there's also lots of swing, blues, and old country.



The website says no coolers, pets, or alcohol of any type, but every year we've been, we've seen people pull in strollers and wagons with blankets, lawn chairs, soft coolers, umbrellas, and other stuff and they seem pretty chill about all that. People set up little areas and pretty much hang out all day listening to the feel good music. There are also dance lessons and there's this school that has their students there getting people without partners out on the dancefloor. That's where I'll be spending my Saturday with my family. Tickets are $20 and available at the gates.

I'm just sad my little sister won't be here until next week because she always made the event even more enjoyable. Last year she even discovered that she loves crawfish after screaming that the eyes were looking at her.


Click the poster above for more information.

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Duran Du..not really. Valley View Casino, 5.8.08

Last week I did a ticket giveaway for Duran Duran at Valley View Casino and also scored a pair for myself. Daye had entered my contest and didn't win, but I asked if he was interested in being my plus one and he agreed. Both of us work until 5:30, so we weren't on the road until 6:15 or so, but surprisingly we made pretty good time to Escondido. We'd both skipped lunch, so I thought we'd arrive with time to spare to grab a bite before the show. Coming from a gambling family, I know all about the trickery of casinos, so the plan was to have Daye sign up for the Players Club to get a free buffet.



Unfortunately, while I knew the casino would require some driving east on swervy country roads, we didn't predict that most of the 15 miles would be under construction with posted speed limits of 15, 25 or 35 mph. I am highly prone to motion sickness, and for most of our ride, we were behind a giant white diesel truck, which wasn't helping my nausea.



Eventually we got to the casino, where we were directed into an overflow lot, parked, and then waited for a shuttle to drive us up the hill to the casino.



The venue looked pretty cool as we passed it coming into the casino, but we were on a mission, so while the openers, Your Vegas, played, we waited in line to get players club cards. I had been to the casino years ago with my parents, but the chick was cool and gave me a buffet voucher, too. We went to the buffet line and it was really long and not moving. You have to sign in with a hostess, they give you a time when you're allowed to lineup, but then you wait as table by table becomes available. We didn't want to miss the show, asked if there was any way to get in sooner, and they told us Duran Duran would be starting any minute and we'd be better off coming to eat after the show.

We took their advice and made our way to the venue and found our seats. And frankly, they were terrible. The cheapest seats for the show were $65 and I'll tell you, had I spent $65, regardless of the band...even supposing I was seeing my most favorite band on the planet, and we ended up in those seats, I would've made a stink, and we weren't even as far back as we could be. Row 45 doesn't sound that bad, but in a parking lot, with two seating sections split down the middle, we couldn't see jack shit. I'm not a fan of big venues anyway, and maybe I'm just spoiled, but I don't go to a concert just to hear music. If I'm not up in it, I might as well be at home listening to a CD. I was also surprised because most large venues like this at least offer projection screens on both sides of the stage so people in the back can see what's happening onstage, and there were none set up.



Like I said from the get go, we were starving, and the casino GM came out and thanked people and said they'd be a few more minutes before starting, but Daye and I conferred and decided to skip the show and get back in line for dinner. We waited quite a while, and knew there was no way we were going to see any of the show, but we were ok with that. Instead, we were seated around 9:15 and were treated to quite an amazing spread. The buffet has the standard salad bar, meat carving stations, and sides of veggies and pastas and whatnot, but it also has sushi, a ton of seafood, a cold crab and shrimp bar, lobster, NY steaks, and my favorite, oysters on the half shell. We were in hog heaven. That doesn't even mention the full dessert bar, ice cream, and chocolate fountains with fresh dipped strawberries.



It was delicious, though something that no person should do more than once a year, if not a lifetime. We finished up and headed to our shuttle and the concert venue had cleared out. We enjoyed What Made Milwaukee Famous on our long ride home and it ended up being a good night with a great friend. I don't really see myself going back to the casino for any reason, but if slots are your thing, it's a nice, albeit small, casino. And of course the buffet was awesome and at $26 regularly, it's probably well worth it, but I'm not so into being corralled into a dining establishment or waiting in line for close to an hour just to eat. As far as concert venues go, I wouldn't recommend this one, unless of course you're going to see Trace Adkins sing "Honky Tonk Bedonkadonk", then this really just my be your calling.

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Tapes n Tapes, Casbah, 5.7.08

I was pretty spent on Wednesday after spending a late night at the Ken on Tuesday night, but before my friend Greg moved back east, he gave me his ticket to Tapes n Tapes, so I went with the motivating factor that I had to experience the show for him. It also occurred to me that since there was the weekend when I was sick and then the weekend when my brother was here, and basically a whole bunch of nights where I didn't motivate to drive, it had been at least a few weeks since I'd been to the Casbah and I was really missing it. I arrived while White Denim was onstage, and though they sounded great, I opted to hang on the patio catching up with friends I hadn't seen in a while.

Before Tapes n Tapes started, I went in to the venue where there was room for me to get up close with Natalie while the gear was still being loaded onstage. I saw Tapes n Tapes at Street Scene, but of course that huge stage doesn't compare with seeing the band up close. I was happy to be there and really enjoyed their set, took some pictures from my position up front, then about halfway through their set, thought I'd let someone else get up close, and retreated back into the crowd and bounced back and forth from the patio. I only have the first album, and heard mixed reviews on the new one, but after seeing them live, I'm gonna have to check it out, because the mix of new and old material sounded just fine to me.





Tapes n Tapes Setlist, Casbah, 5.7.08

Natalie was kind enough to score me the setlist after the show. It was also cool catching up with Tim Pyles, though he got kind of embarassed when we were talking and he was standing right in front of his shrine.



Of course, during the show my second wind kicked in and I finished the night with a quick beverage at the Ken Club before calling it a night.

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Chris Cantore Show @ X1FMradio.com

For a long time I've been listening to Indie 103.1 online in the mornings. I'm a huge fan of Joe Escalante, but I also really like radio. Unlike my iPod, a good radio show can give you bits of news and information, make you laugh, and make you feel like a part of a larger community. I've enjoyed Mat Diablo's new morning show at 91X though I only hear about 10 minutes of it because it's over by the time I'm done with my daily conference calls. I like listening to Garrett at 94/9 because he usually tosses in a few songs that aren't standard for your morning commute and he's got immense knowledge of the bands that he plays. But there's a gap in my radio day before I go back to Indie for Jonesy's Jukebox at noon and then Stacy Taylor at 3, and now that gap has closed.

Chris Cantore, who was at 91X for what? 12 years? Something like that anyway. Now he's back on the air and he's free to play a whole bunch of music not normally heard in a radio show, and he even has the freedom to say Fuck. It's like when Bill Maher was fired from CBS and made the jump to HBO and could finally say what he really wanted to say.

This Monday, appropriately on Cinco de Mayo, Chris' broadcast launched officially and there was a little Cinco de Mayo brunch and carne asada to go with it. The studio is in National City, once the offices of The Flash. The station is online only, but the owner also took the time to explain that they were able to break code of the iPhone and iTouch and it can be streamed on both devices when wireless is available. They gave a tour of the studios and explained some of the other launches they have planned in the coming months, but there was so much stuff, I could barely wrap my head around Chris being not only streaming online but with cameras on so you can watch everyone as they do the show, and on top of that, chat with them on a message board. And the bonus for me is that the show runs until noon. I particularly like the cross border influence of the station, with a daily rock en espanol segment, Jen Correia (blogger at SanDiego-ish) doing news, and the chemistry the whole team has on air.

It was a nice way to start of a Monday, but even more, it's another innovation from our little town. Some people would prefer me to pick favorites when it comes to radio, and in this case online radio, but to me, we're pretty damn lucky to have some quality choices, because if you think about it, the more airplay certain artists get between those choices, the more inclined they are to stop here on tour, like how Death Cab did private performances for FM 94/9, 91X, and KPRi all to eventually announce that they'll be here this summer. I love this city, and it's nice to listen to people on-air who feel the same.

This is through the glass from the conference room into the studio:


That's Kallao, who briefly joined Chris in the broadcast (and whose photography you can link to in my list of photo sites)


And for all my radio peeps, here's links to all of stations I've mentioned in this post, and they can all be streamed:

X1FMradio.com
FM 94/9
91X
KPRi
Indie 103.1

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Another Muslims Contest! Ticket Giveaway

The Muslims are playing at the Casbah for Monday night's Anti-Monday League. The show will be recorded and released as a live album by Art Fag Records.


I've got two pairs of tickets to giveaway.


E-mail sddialedin AT gmail DOT com with "Anti-Monday" in the subject. Must be 21+. Include First & Last name and your telephone number.


I will draw names on Sunday and post the winners on Monday. There is no limit to how many contests you enter and/or win on this site, so if you won the vinyl this week, don't be shy about putting your name in the hat again for this giveaway. Entries without complete information will be disqualified.

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Grand Ole Party At The Ken Club Tonight

For anyone planning on seeing Grand Ole Party, Wild Weekend and Thin Man tonight at the Ken Club, this is a public service announcement, since for many people I'm sure it will be your first time there.



The Ken Club is a cash only bar. Bring cash (or your ATM card for the WAMU across the street).

There will be a cover. I was told it will be $10-$15 so be prepared for that. No free or $5 show tonight. C'mon, it's GRAND OLE PARTY.

This show will sell out. On nights when bands play, you can just hang on the bar side without going into the band room, but on occassion, when they deem a show "sold out", unless you're a regular, they will not let you into the bar at all without a stamp. Get there before 11 and you should be fine.

Be prepared to stay late. Most bands play right up until last call. It's just the way it is. If you have to call it an early night, check out Frantic Romantic and Red Pony Clock at the Whistle Stop instead.

If you're under 21, stay home. Seriously, these guys know what they're doing and just because you think you're cute doesn't mean you're getting in, not even if you're wearing a Kristin-esque headband.

Tip your bartenders. They remember faces and how much you tip. A good tip=good service. If you holler out to them, call them by name, flag them down, or the worst, snap your fingers, they will ignore you until you realize you're being an asshole. Stand at the bar, hold your money in your hand, and when they ask you what you want, don't ask the 6 people behind you what they're having. Order your drink and move along.

Don't ask the doorguy for a cigarette. If anything, you should be offering him one. Clem's across the street is open till 10 and the gas station varies, but it's supposed to be open 24/7, so buy your own fags, dude.

It funny to me as I type this that I even have to say any of this shit, but the Ken Club is my home away from home and if you piss off the bartenders, you're messing with my family. And nobody fucks with my family.

Oh, and for my after party regulars...bring booze. You guys cleaned me out...no vodka, no jack, no beer. If you wanna hang out, you betta bring it.

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Things To Do In San Diego: May 9, 2008

Friday, May 9, 2008:

• Grand Ole Party, Wild Weekend, Thin Man @ Ken Club
• The Modlins @ KSDT Studios, UCSD (early show 8-9pm, stream it live @ http://ksdt.ucsd.edu/)
• The Sess (CD Release) @ Planet Rooth (Ray Street) All Ages
• Pussy Galore presents Red Pony Clock, The Frantic Romantic @ Whistle Stop
• The Tighten Ups, Soul Camp @ O'Connell's
• Buddy Akai, El Ten Eleven, The Napoleon Complex, Audio Puppets @ Beauty Bar
• The Hoedown, The Dajjal Persona, Murder on the Dancefloor @ Epicentre
• Cash'd Out , Todd Stedman @ Casbah
• Skanic, The Devastators, The Amalgamated with Eddie Turbo @ Belly Up
• Rick Ortiz and Sycuan Presents Noches Rockeras @ House of Blues
• Feel The Noise w/DJ’s Gabe Vega & Saul Q @ U-31
• D-Numbers(NM), Mute Socialite(OAK), History of Premature Burial, Bill Wesley @ Chasers
• Citizen Band @ Handlery Hotel
• Celtic Woman @ Cricket Amphitheatre
• Kathy Griffin @ Humphrey's Concerts By The Bay (early show 6:30, late show 9pm)
• Deadites Revenge, Raised By Apes(Canada), Antagen, Critical Me @ Zombie Lounge
• The Stanton Moore Trio, Pocket @ Winston's
• My Imaginary Friends, Ohlin to the Moon @ Lestat's
• Sean Healy Presents - Devin The Dude, People Under the Stairs @ Cane's
• Mower, Dante's Boneyard, Mad Martigan @ 710 Beach Club
• Lorene Drive, Secret & Whisper, Jet Lag Gemini, So Long Davey, Shenanigans @ Soma
• Dead Serial Killers, Aizen, One Theory, Under the Stone @ Brick By Brick
• Janis Siegel of The Manhattan Transfer @ Anthology (early show, 7:30pm)
• Hot Rod Lincoln @ Anthology (late show, 9:30pm)
• Detroit Underground @ Humphrey's Backstage Lounge
• “Her Own Sweet Voice...” - an evening of women performing songs written by women, featuring Barbara Nesbitt, Lisa Sanders, Randi Driscoll, Peggy Lebo, Anna Troy, Lauren Schulz, & Jamie @ Dizzy's (San Diego Wine & Culinary Center)

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Saturday, 5.3.08...the rest of the night

Saturday was a marathon night for me, and after Roots Fest and the Belly Up, Daniel and I were all over the place. He picked me up as soon as Natalie dropped me off and our first stop was at Chasers for Fkenal who were really kick ass.

They're all instrumental and the room was dark with all the lights out that allowed their projector to provide some video to their music. Definitely high energy and really smart song structures made for an entertaining set.



After they finished, we picked Natalie up from her house, but before U-31 we stopped at the taco shop across the street because I needed a quick taco, and the three of us were quite amused by the misspelling of "fajita".



We went across the street to U-31 and saw the Antic guys from Filter Magazine who were silkscreening t-shirts on the spot, but ain't no medium tee gonna fit these boobies, so I passed on the swag. While waiting outside for Natalie and Daniel's shirts to be made, we found out we'd already missed Wallpaper, and also that they were not gonna do the planned pop-up concert at La Posta, so I'll have to see Wallpaper some other time. We went in the bar and had a round, but we weren't really feeling the tijuana-esque scene and the bumping and grinding and people making out everywhere we looked, so we slurped our drinks and went to Bar Pink Elephant.



On our way, we were sad to see that Big Lots has closed down. Boo.



We got there before Two Sheds hit the stage and the bar was full of friends, and of course, my $4 stoli & tonic, so I was happy to be there. Two Sheds was pretty awesome and were a nice backdrop to us hanging in a couple booths with some friends. The vocals were beautiful and this style of music sounds better in the bar than the hard rock of Birds of Avalon, so maybe I wrote off Pink Elephant as a venue prematurely.



After the show, we swung by the Ken Club for one final bevvie and were greeted by my neighbor, Kittyhead who followed us home.



Then of course, we stayed up super late watching silly YouTube videos until Saturday turned to Sunday, putting the seal on another great San Diego weekend.

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Britt Daniel @ Belly Up, 5.3.08

By the time Natalie and I arrived at the Belly Up, Britt was already performing. We walked in and I thought she was following me, but she cut right and made her way around to the stage, I went left and around to the other side of the stage where I was able to cozy up close. Britt sounded great and though he had a setlist, he also took a lot of crowd suggestions and played for about an hour and fifteen minutes. Mostly it was just him and his guitar, but for some songs, he had a little boombox with recorded drumbeats which reminded me of the time I saw Folk Implosion at the Casbah and it was just Lou Barlow and his boombox.

Britt is just phenomenal to watch and on this night he was cheery and joking and happy, even when a couple drunk audience members were clapping along, completely out of rhythm with the music. Below, some pics and video from the evening.







Britt Daniel "Don't Make Me A Target"

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Roots Festival 2008 5.3.08 & 5.4.08

Saturday, as I mentioned, I got a bit of a late start on my day, but eventually I motivated and Pascha and I walked to Normal Heights to check out the Roots Festival. I didn't have a whole lot of time to check out music, really only catching a couple songs by The Coyote Problem playing on the DiMille's stage. I met up with Dagart and we made a lap around all the vendors, then Petro called, so we went to his roof patio and ended up hanging out drinking beer and catching up.

I took a couple pictures of some of the street sights.





Natalie called and came and hung out for a sec, then we dropped off Pascha before heading up to the Belly Up. I ended up back at the Roots Fest on Sunday, mostly because I was hungry and knew I'd have plenty of street fair fare to choose from. I bumped into OP and we we ended up hanging out for the last couple hours of the Roots Fest, sharing sambussas and churros, then hanging in the park listening to Nathan James & Ben Hernandez. That was actually really cool because Ben played a washtub bass and some other random instruments.

The Roots Fest seems to be a bit smaller than it was in the past but it's still appealing to me because its just a fun little thing to check out in my hood and it's nice to see my neighbors out and about enjoying themselves. Or as OP said, "it's fun to watch old people dance." Yes, it is.

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Ticket Giveaway: Air Traffic

Air Traffic is playing at SOMA on Sunday with my boys Republic of Letters and north county boys, War Stories. They're currently on tour with Elbow, and are kind enough to pass through San Diego despite Elbow not finding it worth their while. Air Traffic will be doing a live studio interview on X1FMradio.com on Sunday before the show if you wanna check out what they're all about.

E-mail me at sddialedin AT gmail DOT com with the subject "Air Traffic" if you want to check out the show. Include your name, address, and phone number.

First place winner gets a pair of tickets to the show, an Air Traffic CD and a poster. Second place doesn't get the tix, but still gets a CD and poster. Since the show is on Sunday, I'll pull my winners Friday morning.

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Madonna Coming To San Diego's Petco Park

Madonna's "I'm old but my vag is still hot" tour is coming to San Diego. Oops, I mean, the "Sticky & Sweet" tour is coming to Petco Park. There are all sorts of pre-sales for her fan club members and whatnot, but you can find all those deets at Madonna.com. The date after the venue denotes the on-sale date. Also noteworthy, tickets will cost $55-$350 except in Vegas where tickets will run you $375.

The San Diego show is November 4. For full tour dates, click "keep on reading".

MADONNA
STICKY & SWEET
TOUR ITINERARY 2008
23-Aug Cardiff Millennium Stadium Fri. May 16
26-Aug Nice Stade Charles Ehrmann Fri. May 16
28-Aug Berlin Olympic Stadium Wed. May 21
02-Sept Amsterdam Arena Sat. May 17
04-Sept Dusseldorf LTU Arena Wed. May 21
06-Sept Rome Olympic Stadium Fri. May 23
09-Sept Frankfurt Commerzbank Arena Wed. May 21
11-Sept London Wembley Stadium Fri. May 16
20-Sept Paris Stade de France Fri. May 16
03-Oct E. Rutherford Izod Center Mon. May 19
06-Oct New York City Madison Square Garden Mon. May 19
07-Oct New York City Madison Square Garden Mon. May 19
15-Oct Boston TD BankNorth Garden Sat. May 17
18-Oct Toronto Air Canada Centre Sat. May 24
22-Oct Montreal Bell Centre Sat. May 24
26-Oct Chicago United Center Sat. May 17
30-Oct Vancouver BC Place Stadium Sat. May 24
01-Nov Oakland Oracle Arena Sun. June 1
04-Nov San Diego PETCO Park Sun. June 1
06-Nov Los Angeles Dodger Stadium Sun. June 1
08-Nov Las Vegas MGM Grand Garden Arena Sat. May 31
11-Nov Denver Pepsi Center Sat. May 31
16-Nov Houston Minute Maid Park Sat. May 31
19-Nov Philadelphia Wachovia Center Mon. June 2
22-Nov Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall Mon. June 2
24-Nov Atlanta Philips Arena Sat. May 31
26-Nov Miami Dolphin Stadium Sat. May 31

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Things To Do In San Diego: May 8, 2008

Thursday, May 8, 2008:

• Duran Duran @ Valley View Casino
• Team Abraham, Mospeada @ Beauty Bar
• Sayvinyl, Reeve Oliver, Irradio @ Belly Up
• Everest, Manuok @ Bar Pink Elephant
• Get Back Loretta, Alive In Wild Paint, The New Frontiers, Daysleeper, Long Live Logos @ Epicentre
• Rock for Africa Benefit feat. War Stories, The Soft.Lightes, Crash Encore, Tim Myers & Jay Nash @ Cane's
• UCSD ArtPOWER! - Teeney Tiny Orchestra - 8pm @ Porters Pub, UCSD
• The Unit Breed(PDX), Tigers of Wrath, Architect Sketch@ Chasers
• Mando’s Birthday PARTY!!! @ Zombie Lounge
• Vetiver, ASTRA, Johnathan Wilson, Winter Flowers @ Casbah
• Lady Dottie & The Diamonds @ The Harp (OB)
• The Used, Straylight Run, Army Of Me @ Soma
• Elijah Emmanuel & The Revelations @ Winston's
• Rick Ortiz Presents The Best Of Tributes @ House of Blues
• Jason Reeves @ SDSU (Aztec Center Outdoor Patio, Noon)
• Amber Rubarth @ Lestat's
• Flight To Athena, Magnolia Black, Children of Nova, Calabria @ 710 Beach Club
• Wasting June, Jupiter One, Shrewd Lucy @ Brick By Brick
• Marcus Miller @ Anthology (early show, 7:30pm; late show, 9:30pm)
• Indie By Design @ Humphrey's Backstage Lounge
• Boston jazz vocalist Dominique Eade, with Jed Wilson piano & Ken Ollis percussion. @ Dizzy's (San Diego Wine & Culinary Center)

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Thing To Do: Duran Duran At Valley View Casino

Last week, I gave away a pair of tickets for Duran Duran who are performing at Valley View Casino, and I just wanted to update and spread the word that tickets are still available. I'm looking forward to the show because when Duran Duran were in their prime, I was more worried about memorizing my times tables than going to concerts. I've also been hoping for the right opportunity to check out the various casino concert venues in the region. So far I've only been to Harrah's (INXS) and Vieja's (Gipsy Kings, Music Awards). I hear Valley View has a killer buffet, too, so maybe I can talk Daye into checking it out.

Remaining tour dates:

May 8 - Valley View - San Diego, CA
May 9 - The Joint - Las Vegas, NV
May 10 - The Joint - Las Vegas, NV
May 12 - Wells Fargo Theatre - Denver, CO
May 14 - Rosemont Theatre - Chicago, IL
May 15 - Masonic Temple Theatre - Detroit, MI

May 16 - Summit City - Whitesburg, KY

May 17 - Chastain Park Amphitheater - Atlanta, GA
May 18 - UCF Arena - Orlando, FL
May 19 - Mizner Park Amphitheatre - Boca Raton, FL
May 21 - Koka Booth Amphitheatre - Raleigh, NC
May 22 - Mann Center for the Performing Arts - Philadelphia, PA
May 24 - Atlantis - Paradise Island (Bahamas)
May 27 - Merriweather Post Pavilion - Columbia, MD
May 28 - Agganis Arena - Boston, MA
May 30 - Central Park Summerstage - New York City, NY
May 31 - Central Park Summerstage - New York City, NY

Over the weekend, I checked out bits of Duran Duran's latest album, Red Carpet Massacre, and I'll definitely say it's a grower for me. Part of that was knowing that it was produced and has guest appearances by Timbaland and Justin Timberlake. It has moments where it sounds like gay club music, other times like a boy band, but it occurred to me that this is where Duran Duran shines. I mean, have you ever heard Duran Duran in a club and NOT started shaking your ass?

So yes, I'm going to the show and I'm looking forward to it.

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Muslims Extinction Winners

Congratulations to the following winners. I will contact everyone via e-mail, as well, and Kelly at Sweet Tooth Records will send your vinyl and totebag via snail mail.

Dave M.
McHank
Andrew D.
Michael L.
Natalie K.
Matthew B.
Zaki Y.
Alix G.
Rob G.
Petro H.

For anyone who didn't win, click the banner at the top of the site and you can buy the vinyl for $5, shipping included. Also, don't forget to catch The Muslims at The Casbah on Monday where their show will be recorded and released on Art Fag Records.

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Time To Walk Away, Hillary

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Things To Do In San Diego: May 7, 2008

Please e-mail me or leave a comment if I missed anything.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008:

• tapes n tapes, White Denim @ Casbah
• Mostly Bears, The Boxing Lesson, The Drowning Men @ Beauty Bar
• Anna Troy, The Shambles (CD Release) @ Humphrey's Backstage Lounge
• 91X Loudspeaker Show feat. Wendy Darling, Weatherbox, Dynamite Walls @ U-31
• Fern Knight, Ex Reverie, Joshua Emery Blatchley @ Che Cafe
• Lemon Sun, Red Feathers, The Rosewood Thieves, Satisfaction @ Epicentre
• Manganista, Desert Diamonds, PLUMP@ Belly Up
• Nina Nastasia, David Karsten Daniels @ Bar Pink Elephant
• FOOU, Behold, SPiN @ Brick By Brick
• Handsome Devils, Hell Caminos(Hawaii) @ Zombie Lounge
• Jazz In The Park feat. Mimi Fox @ San Diego Museum Of Art
• Poor Man's Whiskey @ Winston's
• Jenni Alpert, Kori Withers, Johnnie Newman @ Lestat's
• JGB - Melvin Seals, Cubensis @ Cane's
• Fight The Fear, Nonskid, Prosthetic Arms @ 710 Beach Club
• Marcus Miller @ Anthology (early show, 7:30pm)
• Quino of Big Mountain @ Anthology (late show, 9:30pm)
• Alicia Keys, Jordin Sparks @ San Diego Sports Arena
• The 17 piece San Diego Legacy Big Band, under the direction of Jerry Fenwick, with special guest vocalist Janet Hammer @ Dizzy's (San Diego Wine & Culinary Center)

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Street Scene 2008! September 19-21?

I'm gonna work to verify this information, however looks like you can mark your calendars for Street Scene 2008 to be held at least on September 19. Cat Power is set to play on the 19th, according to an e-mail I received today. I wonder if this will be a small, one night affair, or if it will run the whole weekend?

Let the investigating begin.

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Last Chance for Muslims Giveaway

I will be picking the winners of my contest to give away TEN 7" vinyl records of The Muslims single Extinction (the one Stereogum jizzed over), along with the Sweet Tooth Records totebag tomorrow at noon.

Enter by e-mailing sddialedin AT gmail DOT com with the subject "Extinction". Include your name, phone number, and address. Click the banner at the top of this page to find out more info on Sweet Tooth Records. Entries without the proper subject or missing info are disqualified.

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Things To Do In San Diego: May 6, 2008

Tuesday, May 6, 2008:

• Blood on the Wall, Thee Oh Sees, Deadly Finns @ Casbah
• Rev Deadeye, Christian James @ Chasers
• Trans Am Tuesday w/ DJ Heather Hardcore feat. Minipop @ Beauty Bar
• Too Cool For Karaoke @ U-31
• Djs. Ding Dong and Horror Nate @ Zombie Lounge
• Tiki Tuesdays @ Bar Pink Elephant
• Think & Drink Trivia, The Spam Allstars @ Winston's
• Comedy Night with Josh Mullins @ Lestat's
• All American Tuesdays - Industry & Karaoke Night with DJ Levi Strauss @ Cane's
• Acoustic Campaign @ Humphrey's Backstage Lounge
• Jason Reeves, Molly Jenson & Trevor Davis @ Anthology

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Saturday, 5.3.08 in Brief

Saturday ended up being a marathon day, so I'm glad I didn't really motivate until the afternoon. It started with me walking Pascha to the Roots Festival, where I watched Coyote Problem for a little bit, then met up with Dagart and we cruised around a bit and then ended up at Petro's place where we hung out on the deck having a couple beers. Natalie and I finally got in touch, so she picked me up from Petro's, we dropped off my dog at my place, then headed north. We'd missed Anya, but got there a couple songs into Britt Daniel's set and he was incredible.

From the Belly Up, Natalie dropped me off at home and a few minutes later Daniel picked me up. We went to Chasers to see Fkenal and hung out a bit, then we picked up Natalie. We all went to U-31 where we'd already missed Wallpaper, so we walked to Pink Elephant and caught Two Sheds and a bunch of our friends were there. Natalie had a ride home set, so we hung out for a while before Dan and I headed back to Kensington hoping that Apes of Wrath were playing super late, but no such luck, but we had a couple drinks before going back to my house. My neighbors were partying, so they invited us over and we ended up staying there really late. I've got pics of some of that night, and have a ton from Britt, but I've got to get to my listings, so I'll post more later, perhaps tomorrow night.

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The Ringers & Hotel St. George, Beauty Bar, 5.1.08

After Cut Copy, I bolted out of downtown and headed to the Beauty Bar because I was hoping to catch The Howls, and it seems I keep missing them, but no such luck, I missed them again. I arrived just as Hotel St. George started their set, said hi to some peeps, then made my way to the patio. They sounded great and Matt seemed in a better place than when they played at the Ken Club a few weeks ago and it shone through in the performance. I've always appreciated Matt's stage attitude. "Go ahead and clap, that was a good one," or "we literally wrote this song about three hours ago, so I hope we don't fuck it up." They didn't. Or if they did, we couldn't tell.



Then came LA's The Ringers. They have to be one of the best live bands around and they bring it every time. Singer Joe goes from the stage to the crowd back to the stage, moving around, dancing, jumping, and high-kicking, that I realized I need better action shot skills. The man doesn't stand still.



At one point, I was taking pictures of the band and Joe had left the stage, and all the sudden he's writhing on the floor pulling on my leg at my ankle. The thing is, there can be 5 people in the room or 200, and he brings it every single time.
For more pics and video, click "keep on reading".








I forgot to post last week before the show, but Joe is also in several television commercials, and currently he's the center of the "White Gold" campaign to promote milk.

White Gold "One Gallon Axe"


And here's the band performing a San Diego favorite, "Beaver Fever".
The Ringers, "Beaver Fever"


After the set, a few of us hung out, and my Ken Club homies showed up, so we chilled for a bit, and then we all made our way back to Kensington. The Ringers came by, too, so we chatted outside the bar before they took off, and then closed the bar down. My friend ended up hanging out at my place for a couple drinks and crashing at my place, so Friday I was pretty spent. When I got home from work, I went straight to sleep, and by the time I woke up, didn't motivate for anything more than walking to the Ken, but that ended up being a good call because my friends came and met me there, too. Since I'd gotten such a late start on the night, inevitably I ended up staying up until 6 in the morning. Abraham and I even went and laid in the park during sunrise to listen to all the birds of Kensington go crazy in the trees there. This, of course, resulted in me getting a late start on Saturday, but it all worked out, and I'll post about Saturday later.

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Cut Copy @ Red Bull Air Race Terminal, 5.1.08

In continutation of my new daily habit, I worked, went home, fell asleep, woke up and was out the door. On Thursday it was to Downtown for Cut Copy. I saw all the warnings about getting there early and how Cut Copy blew the tent off at Coachella, but c'mon. This is San Diego. The concerts were poorly promoted and Modular Records themselves weren't even allowed to say that Cut Copy was playing until after Coachella was over, though it had leaked a little.

I quickly and easily found parking downtown and made my way to the venue, where a 60+ year old security woman looked in one pocket of my 5 pocket bag and let me in. I was surprised they didn't ID check, but quickly realized there were two 21+ designated areas, but the show was all ages. It was 8:45, there was no line, and 4 times as many people could've easily fit into the space. Hey Red Bull- whatever you spent on promotion? Yeah, you should ask for your money back.

Coming from advertising, I was shocked at the small crowd. Coming as a music lover, I was glad I had no problem getting to the second row 3 minutes before the band came onstage after saying hi to a couple friends. I was also excited to test out my new camera with all the pretty lights.




Personally I really enjoyed the set, but I have to agree with CatDirt that it seems a little silly for a band to tell the crowd, "OK, here comes the buildup. Are you ready?" but I guess us San Diegan head bobbers weren't dancing enough so perhaps they thought they needed to help us out.





It was my first time seeing the band, though they've been to town a few times (Beauty Bar and on tour with Franz Ferdinand) and I'd have to agree with indie blogger nation that they very much have a New Order sound and feel to them. I stayed on one side of the stage for most of the set, but toward the end made my way to the other side where I bumped into CatDirt and CDW and then proceeded to make my way to the front without bumping anyone as people were retreating back into the 21 and up areas, making a clearing along the rail.





It was a fun hour of my life, and I'm happy that companies with huge marketing budgets can put on free events like this, but I wish that when they did, they tried to understand San Diego a little better. We're not LA or New York, we'll never be Seattle, Portland or Austin, but we have our own vibe and if they took the time, they could better market their events to reach more people and people would actually come because of the sponsor and their reputation for killer events and not in spite of them.

Click Keep On Reading for a YouTube clip I took of Cut Copy.

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Sigur Ros in Tijuana

I don't remember who I was talking to about the Sigur Ros show coming up next month in Tijuana, but here's the link for tickets. It's for an event called D-Town, a three day event in Tijuana with MSTRKRFT performing on June 6, Guns N Bombs on June 7, and Sigur Ros on June 8. It's also an art festival, so if you're inclined to cross the border, check it out.

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The Morning Benders "Crosseyed" Featured on YouTube

The Morning Benders have played their share of San Diego shows and not only are they immensely talented, but they're all sweethearts, too. I was happy to see their video on the landing page on YouTube today and thought I should repost for you.

The Morning Benders will be back in San Diego on May 18 when they open for The Kooks at the House of Blues.

The Morning Benders "Crosseyed"

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Things To Do In San Diego: May 5, 2008

If you live in San Diego and still think that Cinco de Mayo is Mexican Independence Day, I hereby forbid you from celebrating today.

Monday, May 5, 2008:

• Anti-Monday League and Uncle Adrenaline Present: The Heavy and guests @ Casbah
• Cinco de Mayo feat. MEX @ Bar Pink Elephant
• Viva Santana @ Anthology
• Reggae De Mayo - John Brown's Body, International Farmers, Audible Mainframe @ Belly Up
• 91x Presents - Sick Puppies (All tickets that were purchased for the 4/11 show will be honored for this show) @ Cane's
• Industry Night VINYL Mondays w/ VEEP REEKIN$, The Vibrants (UK), Syndicate @ Beauty Bar (no cover)
• The Lonely H (Port Angeles, WA), Thunderbird Motel (Seattle), The German Kites, The Howls @ Che Cafe
• Lady Dottie & The Diamonds @ Tower Bar
• Mechanical Bull Riding hosted by Laura Jane @ U-31
• Metal Monday presents Sentinel (make up show!), Divaricate and Metal Monday DJs @ Zombie Lounge
• Electric Waste Band @ Winston's
• Blues Jame Hosted by Mystery Train @ O'Connell's
• Open Mic with Isaac Cheong @ Lestat's

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