Monday, September 22, 2008

Things To Do In San Diego: September 22, 2008

Feel free to leave more 'things to do' for tonight and this week in the comments. It's going to be pretty hectic for me this week with a bunch of great shows right into Adams Avenue Street Fair and my birthday, but I'll do my best to keep the flow of things around here.

Monday, September 22, 2008:
  • Anti-Monday League feat. The Luxury (Boston), Apes of Wrath @ Casbah
  • Cold War Kids @ Casbah (Late show, doors at 11pm. $10 includes new CD, $8 without. No pre-sale tickets; first come first served.)
  • Beauty Bordello feat. Tori Roze, Roxy Blue@ Beauty Bar
  • Blues Jam Hosted By Mystery Train @ O'Connell's
  • 91X New Music Mondays @ Air Conditioned Lounge
  • Lila Downs @ House of Blues
  • Punk Rock Nite: Local Musicians Spin Classic 80s Punk. Scheduled DJs: Bob Beyerle, Jfre Robot Coad, Ryan Albertson, Chris Kohler, Matt Scarborough @ Whistle Stop
  • Lady Dottie & The Diamonds @ U-31
  • Open Mic @ Lestat's
  • Anthony B, Rootz Underground, DJ Carlos Culture @ Belly Up
  • Monday Night Football @ 710 Beach Club
  • Electric Waste Band @ Winston's
  • Bill Magee @ Humphrey's Backstage Lounge

2 comments:

Tyler said...

Saba @ USD Aroma's Cafe
Sat, September 27, 8pm – 10pm

Musical Trivia Night at Whistle Stop
Thu, September 25, 9pm – 10pm

TOON TOWN TROUBLEMAKERS (Film) at San Diego Museum of Art; La Jolla Campus
Fri, September 26, 7pm – 9pm

Lazy John said...

I saw CSS, Tilly and the Wall, and Ssion at the Mayan Theatre in Los Angeles last night (all three are playing there tonight as well).

Ssion was terrible. It was equal parts bad music and bad performance art. The lead "singer" (more like the lead shouter) was a mutant combination of the worst elements of 1983 Alain Jourgensen, Boy George, The Bravery and Devendra Banhart (while displaying about only 10% of the musical talent of any of those acts). To either side of him were two emaciated man-boys made up like Eric Carr from Kiss and dressed like Freddie Mercury was on Queen's "Live Killers" 1979 tour. The video screen behind them played a montage of models affecting prehistoric peoples and artwork stolen from Dimitry Martin's reject pile. Midway through the show, a woman resembling Sarah Palin launched into a Helen Reddyesque, pseudo-feminist diatribe. There were at least five people on the stage at any given time, but only three of them were necessary. It was one of the most annoying, pretentious things I've ever seen in my 30 years of attending shows.

Tilly and the Wall were not interesting, but at least they were not annoying or pretentious. They had seven on the stage and only needed four of them, and the extras were dressed in some sort of Cirque de Soleil/court jester hybrid outfits. Those "band members" performed needless tasks, such as tap dancing and cheerleader-style hand clapping, but at least they looked as if they were actually having fun (they didn't posture or "vogue"). They ended their show by showering the audience with fake money. Their sound was a sort of a Le Tigre/early New Order combo.

CSS made up for the previous two bands. They rocked the house. They used little to no schtick (as we all know, schtick is an attempt to distract the audience in hopes that it won't notice that the band lacks talent), and every member on stage actually did something productive (there was one dancer, but she performed moved reminiscent of Carnaval and came across as legitimate and not as affected and hipsterish). The light show was of professional quality, only one band member (Lovefoxx) wore anything resembling an "outfit" (a late
1960's floral-print one-piece stretchy thing, a pompadour, and lots of silver eye shadow); all other band members wore regular clothes. CSS was no-nonsense; they focused on rocking the house and not on art school nonsense. They also were the only band who attempted to interact with the audience.

My wife works with the sister of one of CSS's members, so we got to go backstage. They're nice, regular people. In contrast, Ssion's members "walled off" their section of the dressing room so that they could "do cocaine" (which, of course, they announced to everyone - how 1984).