Things To Do: May 31, 2007

Thursday, June 1, 2007:

• Vinyl Radio, The Ringers @ Beauty Bar
• Pretty Girls Make Graves, Kill Me Tomorrow, Moonrats @ Casbah
• The Colour @ Epicentre
• The Associated Press, demasiado, Vanja James @ Brass Rail
• Middian, Minsk, Red Octopus, Swanipus @ Scolari's
• Fuzz Huzzi @ Chaser's
• Renata Youngblood @ Vinbladh's
• SW Nomadic, Oliver Reigns, Soul Ablaze @ 710 Beach Club
• High Rollin Loners, Brain Bucket @ Winston's
• Indigenous, Sherman @ Belly Up

Great Northern on FM 94/9 & Friday @ Beauty Bar

Great Northern will be on FM 94/9 this afternoon at 5pm with Halloran.
Click here to open up the player to listen online.

Also, my friends over at vMix.com have featured Great Northern this week.

Chickrawker and I also still have open contests to go to the show and win various prizes.

Then tomorrow night...

Wednesday Night Recap (Pt.2): Sparta, Straylight Run at Soma 5/30/07

Between bands I chatted a little with Lyn and her friends and found out that they were huge Straylight Run fans and they were sharing gossip about the band's past. I haven't been into Warped Tour type bands since I was 15, so I just neither liked nor disliked Taking Back Sunday, they were just completely off my radar. Straylight Run is the band formed when two original members bailed the band to start an entirely new project, and I have to say, I was really impressed with the results. It could've slipped into sounding like a million other poppy bands singing anthemic songs about love and life mostly sucking, but I loved the way the heavy strum of an acoustic guitar kept it grounded and I liked the mixing up between instruments and vocals from the various members of the band. The chick vocals were good for the couple songs that she sang, too, though I'll have to disagree with whomever I overheard say she was a cross between Ani DiFranco and Gwen Stefani.

With song titles like "Sympathy For The Martyr", though, this stuff would've definitely made it on the mix-tapes I'd make for my therapy cruising when I was fighting with my college boyfriend. Not so into it now, but I could see how a lot of people really could be...Lyn has the setlist here and her take on the show.


Straylight Run, Soma, 5/30/07, photo by Rosey


Straylight Run, Soma, 5/30/07, photo by Rosey


Straylight Run, Soma, 5/30/07, photo by Rosey


Straylight Run, Soma, 5/30/07, photo by Rosey

For me, there are bands who could've been hugely popular, shit, entire genres even that somehow just skipped me in my college years. Could be the almost 3 years I lived with a guy from Spain who only liked Joe Cocker and Dire Straits, could be that all my soccer teammates around the same time had a strange obsession with Oasis, but there's just a ton of bands I never knew, like At The Drive In. I have of late become interested in the Mars Volta but even with all the attention they got on FM 94/9 for their anniversary show, I never paid attention. Last night, I planned on taking a couple pictures and leaving the show so I could make it to the Beauty Bar or the Ken Club, but fromthe first note, I was so happy I was there and really, really liked their set. Tom from Dynamite Walls told me that Sparta is the favorite band of several of the guys in Dynamite Walls and I could definitely see that connection and think that's not a bad choice of a band to look up to.


Sparta Setlist, Soma, 5/30/07


Sparta, Soma, 5/30/07



Sparta, Soma, 5/30/07



Sparta, Soma, 5/30/07



Sparta, Soma, 5/30/07



Sparta, Soma, 5/30/07



Sparta, Soma, 5/30/07

I ended up staying for the entire set, and despite my ankles locking in place at the incline, I was so glad I went. For one, the bands were good. Two, the crowd was enthusuiastic but also extremely polite, leaving good gaps between each other so people could get by and so you could see the stage well from any spot in the room. And last, the sound was great in the room. I was right upfront and could hear all parts of the music clearly. Of course, I had my earplugs, but that's how it's supposed to be. I was home by 11:30 and decided to nix my post-Soma plans since I have a show every night from tonight until at least Tuesday. Who knew that a sober night with the kids would turn out to be so enjoyable?

Wednesday Night Recap Pt. 1: Lovedrug, Dynamite Walls

I got a last minute invite from Jason, the manager of Dynamite Walls, to check out the Sparta, Straylight Run and Lovedrug show since Dynamite Walls was a late add to the bill. I gladly accepted. I thought the show was a mainstage show, but people just watched me as I walked the wrong way to the locked doors before realizing they were playing in the sidestage area. I got there early and Dynamite Walls was already onstage but had just started their 5 song set. I was actually hoping to see how they handled the big stage, but this one is small so there was no major deviation from the regular shows I've seen them play. They sounded great and the very young crowd was enthusiastic, though they were finished before 8 so a lot of people missed them. I definitely look forward to the June Beauty Bar residency.



Dynamite Walls, Soma 5/30/07, photo by Rosey


Dynamite Walls, Soma 5/30/07, photo by Rosey


Dynamite Walls, Soma 5/30/07, photo by Rosey


Dynamite Walls, Soma 5/30/07, photo by Rosey

Lovedrug was second to hit the stage and overall I liked their sound, but there was something that kept me from loving them. He did this thing with his lips when he sang that seemed like he was doing it to alter his vocals to create a fake accent, if that makes any sense at all. The more I watched, the more I saw him do it. And maybe I'm wrong, maybe it's natural, but it didn't feel organic enough for me. Still, when not obsessing over something so trivial, the band sounded good and the crowd seemed to really like them.

Lovedrug, Soma 5/30/07, photo by Rosey


Lovedrug, Soma 5/30/07, photo by Rosey


Lovedrug, Soma 5/30/07, photo by Rosey

I have to admit, I assumed the show would be a lot shorter, but after the first two bands I checked the set times and saw that Sparta would play until 11. I had other tentative plans for after the show, but I'll get to that part of the story on post 2...

Newsy Bit: Thanks to Listen Local San Diego

I feel like such a jerk for omitting this all week, but I'd like to thank Cathryn Beeks of Listen Local San Diego for making SD:Dialed In the "link of the week" on her newletter and website.

Cathryn has a ton of local band links and music showcases listed on her site and covers a lot of the acoustic scene that isn't always caught by my radar. Check out her site and support other local musicians.

Bottom Of The Hudson Mp3s

I haven't been that great about posting stuff from Promonet, but hey, it's free music and it's from Absolutely Kosher, a label that I tend to trust. They brought you Sunset Rubdown, The Mountain Goats, one of my recent favorites Chris Garneau, and a slew of Rob Crow's projects among many others. Here's some music for your pleasure while I tend to other things:

Download "Bee Hive" (mp3)
Download "Handwriting" (mp3)
from "Fantastic Hawk"
by Bottom of the Hudson
Absolutely Kosher

More On This Album

SD:Dialed In & Chickrawker Present: Great Northern

Great Northern are playing at the Beauty Bar this Friday and I'm happy to announce that Gabe Vega has been kind enough to allow ChickRawker and SD:Dialed In to co-present the show.

Great Northern is getting tons of buzz in LA and their new release Trading Twilight For Daylight is lushly layered indie-pop that will not disappoint. You can listen to Great Northern on FM 94/9 tomorrow afternoon at 5pm with Halloran and then come out and see them on Friday night at the Beauty Bar.

I have one prize pack to give away courtesy of their label, Eenie Meenie Records.
Add my new MySpace page for SD:Dialed In (if you haven't already) and send a message that you are interested in the prize pack, with your first and last name and a phone number where you can be reached, and I'll pick a winner at random. Enter by 5pm Thursday.

Prize Pack:
-Admission for you and a guest
-Great Northern CD (autographed by the band)
-Great Northern T-Shirt.

For a couple Mp3 samples, click these links:
Home
The Middle

Things To Do: May 30, 2007

Wednesday, May 30, 2007:

• Sparta, Dynamite Walls, Straylight Run, Lovedrug @ Soma
• The Bug Nasties, The Infants @ Ken Club
• Joey Harris and the Mentals, Sara Petite, Taylor Harvey Band @ Belly Up
• Visual Underground feat. The Willows @ Casbah
• MC Flow, Sparrow Love Crew @ Beauty Bar
• Barbara Nesbitt, Citizen Band @ Lestat's
• The Motel Blackouts, Kings Only, Huge Rooster, Flight to Athena @ 710 Beach Club
• Love Is Envy, Four Minutes Til Midnight, Bad Craziness, Another Rising @ O'Connell's
• DPI, The Whiskey Dicks, Warner Drive @ Winston's

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates to speak tonight in San Diego

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are speaking tonight in San Diego (Carlsbad, actually). I never report computer stuff, but this is kinda a big deal because it will be unprecedented in format and length that the two will be together on one stage.

Hey Steve-o! Billy-boy! After your conference come check out the Bug Nasties and The Infants at the Ken Club. It'll be a good ol' time.

From Apple Insider:

The two men, both seminal figures in the development of the personal computer, will jointly discuss the history and future of the digital revolution in an unrehearsed, unscripted, onstage conversation on May 30 with D co-producers Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher.

From D5: All Things Digital:

The fifth edition of D: All Things Digital is now underway at the Four Seasons Resort Aviara in Carlsbad, California.

D5 takes place May 29 to May 31, 2007 at the elegant Four Seasons Resort Aviara, and you’re not going to want to miss a single minute of the action this year. Every moment of the conference promises to be filled with frank talk and bold ideas, both inside and outside of the sessions.

More from Apple Insider:

Perhaps the most important of these to date, however, is set to take place Wednesday night. Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Microsoft chair Bill Gates will both be subjects of a joint interview by the journalists. It will represent the first time the two will take the stage together for an extended period and should free both executives to talk openly about themselves and each other: as in earlier years, the 2007 D conference will avoid scripts and other conversation filters.

Lily Allen blogs about Lindsay Lohan

I hate admitting that I love gossip, but I love this stuff sometimes. Especially because all weekend I heard public service announcements on the radio about "Zero Tolerance" stating that if you have ONE DROP of alcohol and are under 21, you will lose your license, and then Lindsay Lohan is drunk/high, crashes, flees the crash, and instead of being in jail gets to admit herself to that bullshit rehab facility, Promises. And also I kept hearing that she "hit a curb" and after seeing pictures, bitch straight up rolled up on the sidewalk lodged between bushes and a palm tree. "Hit a curb" is what you do when you parallel park. Anyway, Lily Allen loves to blog and had this to say.

After that we went to this club called Les Deux , and that was really fun untill Linsay Lohan arrived and had us thrown off our table, I know shes a huge star an all , and famous people deserve to sit down especially when they've been working so hard , but whatevs . Linday our thoughts are with you as you go through this difficult time in your life ( she got arrested this weekend ) in the words of Timbaland and Timberlake " what goes around .............."

Wednesday Newsy Bits

Vinyl Radio are featured in a story in this week's CityBeat. Check it out here and don't miss their show Thursday night at the Beauty Bar with the Ringers (from LA).

Matt Binder, Vinyl Radio, photo by Rosey SD:Dialed In


The Ringers, photo by Rosey SD:Dialed In
*****
The Nurses are technically no longer a San Diego band, having relocated to Chicago, but doesn't mean I like them any less. Here's a pretty good review and some of their tracks if you're interested.
*****
Lot's of local bands are recording and posting their new stuff on MySpace and pressing CD's...The Vision of A Dying World, Nautical Disaster, and Roxy Jones, and Two Word Name, just to name a few off the top of my head...check out their stuff and if your band is recording, send me your info to post here, too. Get your stuff out before the Music Awards cutoff date. (Music must be recorded between July 1, 2006 and June 30, 2007)
*****
I promised some old school stuff from my archive boxes so here are a couple good ones:


Smashing Pumpkins Ticket for Soma, January 31, 1996


Flyer for Radiohead show at World Beat Center (Hancock location)
July 16, 1993(?) Tickets were $12.50.
*****
According to Halloran, Scott & Aimee have broken up, both as a musical duo and as a couple. Their show last night at the House of Blues was supposedly replaced by an acoustic set by Scott and other members of Unwritten Law.

More to come...

Things To Do: May 29, 2007

This is the rough version of the week ahead...send me your listings if I missed 'em.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007:

• The Ergs, Lemuria, Vena Cava, Tiltwheel, Master Garden @ Zombie Lounge
• Scott & Aimee, The Stranger's Six @ House of Blues Sidestage
• Mary Timony, Lymbec System, Carina Round @ Casbah
• Blue Scholars, Gabriel Tedros, Common Market @ Lou's Records (In-Store, 5 pm)
• Slick Rick @ House of Blues
• Matt + Kim, The Diskettes, Jehovah's Fitness @ Ché Café
• No Sign of Weakness, BraveMonster, Wendy Darling @ O'Connell's
• Meltone (Japan), Seismic @ Winston's

Tuesday Newsy Bits: Sports Club is back, etc

At the CityBeat Party on Friday, I had the chance to talk to Tony V from The San Diego Sports Club. The 30 day suspension ends this week and the venue will return to being a live music venue. This Friday is Sin Factory/Club de Sade with DJs, but it is expected that four bands will be playing on Saturday, including Four Minutes til Midnight and 300 Pounds. Tony explained that the bar is fighting not only for themselves, but for all venues in town. While the Sports Club is owned outright, most bars and clubs are rented, so the loss of revenue could've shut some of our favorite venues if the ABC, cops, and everyone else involved were able to just bulldoze through SDSC. More important to me on a personal level, was that Tony also acknowledged that he has a reputation for being an asshole and addressed it with me by saying that he took note and has made strides in being a more enjoyable person. As someone who was anti-Sports Club and anti-Tony for a while, I have to vouch for him and say that I think everyone should kiss and make up. Just give the venue another chance. And for bands looking to play, seems like the calendar is wide open, so start calling.
*****
Viejas concerts has added Chris Cornell on August 4. Tickets go onsale on June 1.
*****
Vinyl Radio recently did a podcast for pirtatepods.com. Go here for the download and listen to their drunken ramblings.
*****
As I mentioned last week, Manu Chao has cancelled the show at the Embarcadero on June 5. The show is now being held at the Plaza de Toros Monumental (The TJ Bullring) the same day. Tickets are only $22 and the service charge is $4.50. You can buy them on Ticketmaster here.
*****

Memorial Day weekend...the rest of the story

Another reason why I'd taken it easy on Saturday was because I had to get up on Sunday for the 1:00 Padres game. I'm glad I woke up relatively early, because my friend Sara, who had the tickets, was sick and canceled on me, so I had to find someone else to take with me. Matt said he could go, so we got the tickets from Sara, parked downtown, had the $6 burger and beer special at Maloney's (all game days) and trekked across downtown to the game. It was my first game since last season. Our seats were pretty cool, on Toyota Terrace between the 3 giant corporate suites at the field level and the radio and tv broadcast suites above them. There is only one row of seats where we were, mostly designated for people with disabilities, so it was pretty quiet, but we had a good time.



We were sitting right in front of Bob Uecker.



It was a beautiful sunny day, the perfect day to take in a game. Especially good because Trevor Hoffman got the save to clinch the sweep for the Pads.



After the game, I met some friends over at the Tower Bar for John Johnson's awesome BBQ, hung at home for a while, then met some friends out for a couple drinks. We met at the Turf Club but it was unreasonably packed, so we instead went to Bluefoot. When my friends decided to take off, I stayed behind and hung out with Peter (Roxy Jones) and my friend Little P for a bit. From there P and I went to the Zombie to finish off the night since he and I live close by. Happy to have Monday off, when I got home, I made it a late night, watching HBO OnDemand and some free music on Concert.tv. If you have OnDemand, I highly recommend watching the Jools Holland show with Stereophonics, Calexico and The Black Crowes. Toward the end, Kelly Jones of Sterophonics sings an awesome version of "Twice As Hard" with the Black Crowes. That was enough to knock me out and end my quasi all nighter.

I spent Monday with my family at my parents' house in Chula Vista. My sister and I busted into some of the old packrat boxes and I found some old flyers and stuff from concerts from back in the day that I'll post sporadically in the near future just for kicks. All in all, it was a pretty good weekend, I have to say. I hope everyone else can say the same. Now, onto a short work week...

Repeater, Swim Party, Qu'est-ce Que C'est @ Ken Club 5/26/07

Saturday night I decided to take it easy (total drink count: 2 beers) ...there was a party I was supposed to attend, but since I hate driving, nothing seemed better than just going to the Ken Club for Repeater, Swim Party, and Qu'est-ce Que C'est.

Repeater is a band out of Long Beach and have apparently played here before at the Beauty Bar. This was my first time seeing them and though the crowd was relatively thin for a Saturday night, especially during a 3 day weekend, those of us present knew we were seeing something special. There's a quality to the singer's voice that is so distinct and unique I think everyone in the room ended up buying their CD.











Swim Party played next and played their loudest show ever. I loved them as always, but they seemed disappointed, like the sound guy had pushed them to play too loud. Doesn't matter, we in the crowd enjoyed ourselves as always with this band.







Qu'est-ce Que C'est closed up the show with their synth-pop and filling the Ken Club with their fog machine. I really like these guys but was a little less receptive to their sound on this night, just because I was in a more relaxed state. That is my fault, however, not theirs.




When they finished I called it a night since the bar was kind of a dud anyway. When I got home, my mellow mood turned somber when I discovered that two of my five African Dwarf frogs were belly up, and another dead in the bottom of their enclosure. I put the two surviving frogs in a separate container with fresh water, but sadly one didn't make it through the night. The last one is alive but not very active. I have had these frogs for almost 5 years, but since I was told they could live to 13, and since I know I was slacking on changing their water, I can't help but feel guilty, like I killed them with neglect. boo hoo. I certainly hope that there is a froggy heaven.

Swedish Models debut at Beauty Bar, 5/25/07

We didn't mean to get to the Beauty Bar so early, but we did, and there wasn't much of a crowd when we arrived, which left plenty of room for Dusty to ride Andrew's bike through the bar, but everyone seemed to come in one huge rush later and by the time the Swedish Models took the stage, the room was packed with people and full of anticipation. The stage was setup with two sets of keyboards, 2 guitars, bass, and two drum kits facing one another, sharing a kick drum.



Unfortunately we had to wait a little longer because the power on one half of the stage kept surging out, but the band brought toys, noisemakers, and bubbles so the crowd entertained themselves until they finally started.





Vocals are mostly shared between Andrew and Ryan, though Dusty sang a song, too (my favorite of the night), drums are shared between Dusty and Andrew McNally, and keys are played by Andrew Bernhart and Dusty. Mark stays on the bass and Ryan and Andrew play guitar, sometimes alone, sometimes together. Needless to say, there's a lot going on during their show. The energy was high and the talents of all the guys onstage is unquestionable, and it was a lot to try to pull off in one show. Despite some major tech difficulties during their 5th song, however, I would say they pulled it off quite well.



They played 6 songs, and each song Dusty revealed a new shirt. The final song had a big long dramatic finish, I'm guessing the song clocks in around 9 minutes, but a shorter version might be a worthy consideration since the songs are rockin but still bouncy and playful enough to be good for radio.





I was hanging up front most of the show, but after getting bumped repeatedly by the dancing maniacs, I decided to cut back and enjoy the band from afar during that final song. The band patio was packed. I sought refuge in the bar, and it too, was packed, so after the Swedish Models finished I decided to cut out. I missed the Flesh, but it was so packed, I knew I couldn't enjoy myself had I stayed any longer.



Instead, I drove home and walked to the Ken Club. In the bar, my Reader article was posted on the mirror so my bartender friends could make fun and jab a little more. They poured my drinks extra strong and threw in a couple shots, too, and let's just say it was a good thing I only had to walk home that night. I did take a couple pictures of one of the bands but someone will need to id them before I post. Because it was that good of a night. Sorry to anyone who got stuck talking to me as I talked gibberish. I swear that only happens once in a looong while.

CityBeat "SummerBeat" Party

Friday afternoon kicked off with CityBeat's SummerBeat Party at the Lafayette Hotel. The hotel is on El Cajon Blvd; you might know it as the hotel behind the Red Fox Room. It was such a cool venue for a party. The hotel lobby has a fabric sun shade covering it instead of a traditional roof, so there's this airy feel about the place. Unfortunately the city wouldn't grant a performance permit, so the bands were canceled, but the fashion show took place as planned.

But we all know I was not there for a fashion show. I was there for my two favorite words in the English language: "free" and "booze". Wristbands were given to "VIPs", though it seemed about 80% of the attendees had them and resulted in the bar being quite chaotic most of the time.



I was happy to see so many friends out so early on a Friday...






Troy Johnson trying to get a last minute drink from the chick in the banana suit

The bar turned to a cash bar at 8, so Andrea and I hung out in the patio and caught about 15 minutes of the fashion show and said our goodbyes before taking off and heading to destination #2 for the evening, the Swedish Models at the Beauty Bar.


promoters Gabe Vega and Saul (Feel The Noise, Vega Presents, etc.)


The guys behind CityBeat: publisher Kevin Hellman and editor Dave Rolland.

On our way to the Beauty Bar we were slightly delayed by a stop for dinner, a stop home to feed my dog, and a pass through the liquor store where my car was blocked by hundreds of cyclists doing a Critical Mass ride through Kensington, but soon enough, we were at the Beauty Bar.