Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Rocco Deluca @ Hard Rock Café, Anti-Monday League- The Vision of A Dying World, The Muslims, Dynamite Walls

I apologize for not writing my recap earlier, but man, am I zonked. A 3 hour nap would be perfect right about now.

Last night was a long night. After work, I headed over to the Hard Rock Café for a KPRI private listener concert with local singer/songwriter Michael Tiernan and Rocco DeLuca. I was kinda joking in my “things to do” posting about it being super secret, because if you get the station’s e-mails, you would know about events like that. One of the station owners specifically asked that I not post about those events. In the future, I will use my own discretion, however, because the crowd was almost embarrassingly thin. Love popular music or not, KPRI has a knack for discovering artists before they make it big. Among the many private and/or exclusive shows they’ve had: James Blunt and Jason Mraz at Borders Books downtown. Corinne Bailey Ray at the W Hotel’s Beach. Rhett Miller at Border’s. G. Love at Hard Rock La Jolla. Eliot Morris at Café Sevilla (he’s opening for Bob Schneider this Friday). Gomez and Duncan Sheik among others who’ve performed on Hornblower Harbor Cruises. The station truly is independent.

So last night I was looking forward to seeing Rocco DeLuca. I forgot to read that there was an opener. I got there around 6 and had plenty of time to make friends in line since the doors didn’t open until 6:30. I got there early because I expected there to be a decent crowd. Not quite. When we were finally let in, David (whom I met in line) and I got up close to the stage area. Andrea showed up a couple minutes later and we were ready for some singer songwriter action.

First up was Michael Tiernan. I know I’ve seen him before, I definitely remember his pinstripe velvet pants. Michael had a wedding ring on and was probably the happiest singer/songwriter I’ve seen in some time. His songs sounded hopeful and loving and I kinda threw up in my mouth a little. Just kidding. I thought he was good, and his backup violinist was as well, but I guess I like to take my singer songwriters with a Prozak and a couple razor blades on hand. I’m no longer a 13 year old angsty tween, but sometimes I wanna feel like one. He was really appropriate for the KPRI audience. I was happy to see the room filling up, whether it was people who were there for the show or just passers by who were allowed in to fill up the room, I am not sure.

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Rocco DeLuca has a full band, but tonight it was just him and his Dopro Steel Guitar. My impression of his music before seeing him live was in line with Howie Day or Gavin DeGraw, but after seeing him live it was clear he draws from all over the place. Someone told me they thought he was like Jeff Buckley. I try to save my Buckley comparisons, but I can surely see him being an influence, too. Sometimes the private listener shows are short, but he entertained the room with a pretty thorough set. As I hinted yesterday, Rocco is the only band signed to Ironworks Music, a label created and owned by Kiefer Sutherland. Rocco DeLuca and The Burden are also the subject of a tour documentary with the same title as their album, I Trust You To Kill Me.

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Eventually the show ended and Andrea and I were off to the Casbah. We arrived while The Antiques were playing, but technically it was just one Antique, because apparently his band didn’t feel like playing in San Diego or something. I didn’t take in more than half a song, so nothing to say there.

A Vision of The Dying World played in between bands in the Atari lounge. I really love these guys and they are definitely a band that should be on your radar if you like Americana in your Rock. Or rock in your Americana.

Dynamite Walls played second on the mainstage. A lot of haters hate, but I like them, I appreciate what they do. "That's because you like Augustana," Matt said. Whatever. They've got the record deal. If the OC weren't being cancelled, I'd expect to hear a Dynamite Walls song in the background. Maybe Laguna Beach or the Hills will pick 'em up. I liked the projection show behind them when they played, too, it just seemed like a weird bill to me. But Tim Pyles is crazy like that and makes unlike bands play together. Go nuts, Tim.

The Muslims were on last and I was delirious from not having eaten since noon. I swear I'm like a groupie I've seen them 4 of the 6 times they've played. (Is that count accurate?) They're all really accessible and eager to line up shows. The show was fun and I was even dancing, kinda, up front with Dag of Two Word Name.

I took pictures, but as usual, I'm technologically handicapped so they'll be posted when I get to it. I am super tired today but ideally will end up grabbing some free cocktails,cheese and dating advice at Firefly then heading down to the Casbah for The Octopus Project. This will be my third Casbah night in a row. If Rob Crow is sold out and anyone wants to buy my will call spot, let me know. Four nights in a row is just outta control.

2 comments:

catdirt said...

damn, you're putting us to shame!! sweet jee-bus stop! sleep, eat, happy hour bar soon xoxo catdirt

Rosemary Bystrak said...

Then you should be happy to know I got home at 6:15 p.m. last night, was in bed by 7, and slept all the night through.