Foals, Maps + Atlases, Crocodiles - Brick By Brick- 5.25.08

It ended up being a really chill weekend for me. I spent most of Saturday in Chula Vista with my family. We grilled and tried to keep up with the kids...Johanna is 9 months and trying to walk, Claudia is 9 and constantly entertains, and Jasmyne is 5 and responds to "what are you doing?" with a little sass. "Nunya!" "What's nunya?" "None ya business!", then she cracks up. I was there all day and when I got home I was wiped out. It was 9:30 and I thought I'd rest a little, but an hour later, I realized there was nowhere I'd rather be than in my bed. And it was nice. My first Saturday home in ages.



Sunday was more of the same, only we went to my sister's house in PB. I really get bothered when people talk incessantly about the weather and we cracked up because here we were in PB where it was blue skies and sunny, with a cool breeze, and the news crawl said that "dismal" weather had "ruined" Memorial Day weekend. What a bunch of pussies San Diegans can be. Wear a hoodie and stfu. Seriously. May Gray. Get over it. We went up to Kate Sessions Park for a while, too, to let the kids run around, and it was beautiful. The park was packed and we realized that since the beach booze ban, people have taken it to the parks, where it is legal to drink until 8pm (most city parks). A bunch of 20 somethings were playing kickball while a huge gathering celebrated a kid's birthday party. The view from Kate Sessions was beautiful, we could see the mountains out east, the ocean out west, the downtown skyline to the south and even further south, Mexico.



I left PB well in time to arrive at the Casbah for the FM 94/9 end of the month show. I saw some friends, had a michelada, and had some of the free Mexican grub. I caught Jamuel Saxon who opened the show, but had to split because I was told Crocodiles were starting at 9pm at Brick By Brick. I was a little bummed when I got there that they weren't actually going on until 9:30 but no big deal.

I don't know what everyone's deal is with Brick By Brick...maybe I still just have a soft spot from when a friend and I used to hang out there in college, but I've always liked it, although there were some years under different ownership where all the shows were hard rock...so there's that reputation, but really, I like the venue.

Crocodiles started the show and it was their first real San Diego show, though they played a house party on Friday. It's just Chuck and Brandon, iPod beats, some guitar, and a keyboard that was set up atop a trash can. They played in near darkness, with just a red and teal light on the floor behind them so I decided to not bust out my camera. Next time, boys... I think these guys are immensely talented and they've got such great stage presence, can't wait to see them with some actual lights on them.

I was pleased when I arrived to discover that Maps + Atlases was playing. I fell in love with the band when they played the Casbah a while back with Nurses, before Nurses bailed San Diego to move to Chicago to be with Maps + Atlases. The band is incredible, as much to listen to as to watch because of their unconventional ways of playing their instruments and the funky time signatures. I was bummed that Brick By Brick has 7 great stage lights and only used 3 of them...one green and two red, but here are a couple of pics regardless.




I was happy to see the venue filling up because I've heard of some disappointing shows there of late. Foals came out rockin and never stopped. They play fast dancey music, a la The Rapture, and I have to agree with Seth that they're guitar style is also a bit mathy. Regardless of how they're labeled, I was enthralled.








I was also impressed because one of the guitarist was shoeless on one foot and kept hopping around...whether sprained or broken, his energy never wavered and he danced all over the stage. My guess is that his foot probably felt like shit the next day.

I hung up front as long as I could but I was overwhelmed by the saucy girls, particularly the one who kept trying to have a conversation with the band between each song. "Um, excuse me. Wait, I just wanna tell you something. You guys are AWESOME!" Oh, then she tried to bust a move on Seth. Ha! So we ended up listening to the last few songs of the set on the patio.

When the band finished, I made my way back to the Casbah for Jivewire and people were shitfaced. Some nights I can't take it, but this night was just fine and everyone was cracking me up.

Tim was on the turntables...


I also found out it was Mikey's last night at the Casbah. So sad, but he's off to bigger and better things, heading off to Paris to follow his heart. So sweet and best of luck to him.


After Jivewire a bunch of friends came back to my house and we had a good time getting ridiculous until the wee hours of the morning. Wait, 7 am isn't really wee hours anymore, is it? Eventually most everyone went home until it was just a handful of us and we all ended up crashing in my bed, which suddenly wasn't as roomy.

Later Monday I thought I'd head to a couple BBQs but the sad realization that the weekend was over bummed me out and I thought I should get a clear head and avoid social drinking situations. I did head to the Casbah last night, however, so I'll get to posting those pics soon enough. Now, time to do this week's listings.