Friday Newsy Bits

I haven't done "newsy bits" in a while, but I'll give it a go today.

This only means anything to a handful of people, but Mike, the proprietor of Happy Hour Bar, aka Hobo Bar, confirmed to me the other night (albeit drunk off his ass) that he is selling the bar. The first time I met him, I was curious about his bar and his story. He's owned the place for 13 years and owns a mobile home in Rosarito and plans on retiring down there. Finally he apparently has a buyer. I heard rumors that it was Tim Mays, someone even said it was Dennis Toshima. I don't know who it is, but doesn't matter, I'd pretty much say enjoy it in its current state and then you can pretty much forget about it. Mike said, "gimme 2-3 months and I am outta here." It was also clarified to me that the reason he is able to allow smoking in the joint is because he is the sole proprietor and has no employees.
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James, one of my favorite bands of the early and mid nineties is back together. They are playing random shows in London and plan on playing shows and putting out new material, though they are not sure in which order that will occur. You all can get off on Rage Against The Machine reuniting. I'd rather get psyched about the possible opportunity to see James live again.
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Local boys Republic of Letters are busy working on their EP and now you can sample a couple of their new tracks on their MySpace page here. The new tracks from their Spirit or Ghost ep are "Bridge" and "Falling Back".
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Indie Blogger Nation is going apeshit over SubPop band Loney, Dear which I've avoided because of the stupid name. However, I came across their video on YouTube and love it, so I'll hop on the bandwagon. Here's a video for your pleasure:


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In other regurgitated news, Chris Cornell has quit Audioslave. It's about time.

His statement : “Due to irresolvable personality conflicts as well as musical differences, I am permanently leaving the band Audioslave. I wish the other three members nothing but the best in all of their future endeavors."
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AM is an LA based singer songwriter originally from New Orleans. He carries the rare if not unique distinction of having every song from his album used in a tv or movie all before the album was ever released. He was praised as having the album of the year on iTunes in the singer/songwriter category. This is more for my KPRI readers than my music snobby friends, but AM is coming to the House of Blues sidestage next week supporting Brian Vander Ark. (February 22) Brian is the singer of The Verve Pipe, remember? Don't act like you don't know. I have the CD at home and can even picture the exact spot in which it has been in my CD rack for the last decade? Has it been that long?
Here's a video of Brian Vander Ark doing Freshman to jog your memory:


Anyhow, AM is awesome and all about meeting his fans, so go check it out. I think it's like $10 and I have a very strong suspicion that the House of Blues issues I complained about for bands do not hold true for solo acoustic artists. Isolation of their voices is what you hope for, in fact. Also, click here for a Billboard.com interview with AM. In my blogging experience, I haven't quite built up the courage to interview anybody because most interviews ask the lamest questions, but somehow, some way, this dumb broad got a job at Billboard interviewing people. Don't blame AM that she is a douche. It's so horrible its actually funny. Anyway, catch AM on his way to SXSW. I will be there and you should be too. Robert and Madison of KPRI, I should be seeing you there.
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That's all I've got today, really, except for this piece of advice: Don't try to cut a Hass avocado with a plastic knife. The skin doesn't break through and the reaction time to realize you're sawing off your own finger is a bit delayed...

It is going to be a GREAT weekend in San Diego.