Weekend Recap: The Vision Of A Dying World, Red Feathers, Bunky, Kleeman and Mike

If there's one thing I can say this week is I can't adequately express how happy I am that Independence Day is going to break up this week. My weekend was good but maybe I didn't take full advantage of the time.

Friday night I napped too long before heading to the Tower for the cd release show for The Vision of a Dying World. I passed the Beauty Bar on the way and was glad that I wasn't gonna have to wait in the line that was forming outside. The Tower Bar, while no line, was still really crowded which for some reason is more tolerable in a place like the Tower than at the Beauty Bar.


The Vision of A Dying World played first blew me away with how good their new material is. It had been a while since I'd seen them, and the Atari Lounge at the Casbah doesn't quite get the full effect. It seemed to me like they did pretty well moving merch, too, so good for them finally getting the attention they deserve. The harmonies especially set the band apart from a majority of San Diego bands. I guess it was unfortunate that they played first, because I knew about a dozen people who missed their performance thinking that they were playing last. Still, it was nice to see so many other local bands represented in the crowd considering how many good choices there were for the night.








During Red Feathers I got to talking and was in and out of the bar so I didn't watch their full set. It was their EP release and again, the room was packed as people crowded toward the band. I like the Red Feathers a lot but by that point of the night, I was getting a little claustrophobic. Some people who were at the Battles show started filtering in making it that much more crowded.






It seemed a lot of people left before Bunky played. They were great as usual, but Emily's sweet voice had to compete with all the bar noise. They should've definitely played first, when the crowd was a little less chatty and way less liquored up.

I only stayed for a couple Bunky songs, then headed home an walked to the Ken. All the bands were done but I did get to say hi to everyone, though of course, RoL all left before last call so there was no after party action. I did go home and I guess from having napped too long, ended up staying up till 6 in the morning. Part of it was my neighbor brought home a screamer, part of it was that I ended up watchin "You, Me and Dupree" on demand as well as some free music stuff on Concert.tv and catching up on Flight of the Conchords.

Saturday was a bit of a waste in the day, saved for housecleaning and laundry mostly, but the night was fun. My friend Randall writes a comic book and does computer animation, so he screened his new 6 minute animation of his new Kleeman and Mike comic at Cream. A lot of people came out and since Cream put all beers on special for $1.50, we ended up staying til 10. A group of us then headed to Triple Crown in hopes of playing ping pong, but the patio closed shortly after we arrived and the bar was hot as hell, so we wrapped it up after just a beer, with Andrea, Matt, Ethan and Andrew going to Lancer's, Petro, Chris, Eric and Camilla heading home, and me heading to the Ken Club where it was sadly empty compared to the night before. I did watch Mex do a great Whiskeytown cover of "Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart" but otherwise just sat at the bar with a couple friends until it again was time to go home and again, ended up staying up until the sun was rising.

Sunday I spend time with my family at my sister's place in PB, enjoying an early dinner and ooohing and aaahing over all the baby stuff my sister got from her shower. I made sure to get to sleep early so I could get back on track for real life and the dayjob. I'm looking forward to a good week: Pirate Pete's birthday at the Ken Club tonight with The Postals, The Dissimilars, and Rat City Riot, again at the Ken on Tuesday for Transfer and Apes of Wrath after seeing Avenue Q, a day off on Wednesday with a family bbq then the Padres game with Sara. Then for me I'll probably lay low on Thursday, Friday it's Band of Horses at Cane's followed by the Vinyl Radio show at the Ken, then Saturday it's Sophie's big birthday bash at the Beauty Bar with Fifty on Their Heels and The Vultures. Phew. I love summertime in San Diego.