It appears I haven't completely neglected December and posted some things as they happened, but there's still a chunk of stuff I haven't written about so I will attempt to do that now, if you care enough to 'keep on reading'. (That pic is from the Kensington Tree lighting. Do we look like an Old Navy commercial or what? You would think it was snowing out based on our clothing options.)
Starting with the first of December, I went to Anti-Monday League. I went for Bartender's Bible, but also got to see Holly Golightly for the first time, too. Pant Hoots played in the Atari Lounge which was great, too, though I didn't get in there early enough to take pics. There was another opener, who was in Holly's band for a bit, played some songs, too, but I was unable to catch his name, which I feel bad about because his songs were great, his guitar playing sounded wonderful because he was doing live looping and made himself sound like he had a full band, and at one point, he even played a waltz and made the crowd dance. I didn't get pictures of him when he played, but here's one after his set, hanging with Banjo Matt. He's from New Zealand and his Kiwi accent with his funny stage banter made him very entertaining.
Bartender's Bible had a large crowd and lots of people singing along as they should because they're so good. If you're into classic country sounds, they've certainly got it.
Holly Golightly was the headliner for the night. From the UK, Holly plays country and blues songs for the macabre set with songs about death and the devil and shooting your lover. I enjoyed the set a lot, but I cannot lie. I couldn't take my eyes (or my lens) off the drummer. I think they're dating or married or something, but it didn't stop me from crushing. Aside from the crush, he was also incredible to watch perform because he was playing guitar, some drums, and had a contraption that allowed him to play a tambourine, cymbal, and cowbell with one stomp.
The next night I stayed home, and Wednesday was the event at the W that I posted about here. After the W, Jake and I went to the Casbah to see The Predicates and Syndicate. I wasn't going to take pics, and didn't for The Predicates (those Casbah lights are getting old.) But, since I'd never seen Syndicate before, I thought I should take a few. And, by the way, I thought they were great- quite dancey but with enough rock not to lose my interest and the band uses the stage well. I like Chase as a frontman and that he's not burdened with an instrument so he can really get into his vocals.
After the band, we didn't stick around for Monsters From Mars for very long since I thought I'd catch them the next day at TNT. That didn't happen, but Jake and I hit up El Dorado. That night was when he found out he was moving to LA, so we decided to partake in one of my favorite things to do in San Diego and we drove to La Jolla and sat and Windansea Beach. There is something incredible about being at the beach when there is nobody else around. And we were total rebels and had a bottle of wine (in plastic cups). Screw you, Prop D.
The next day I ended up skipping out on TNT because I stayed at home to watch the Chargers game instead. The next night was December Nights which I posted about here.
On Saturday night, I really wanted to see Amenity at the Warehouse in Barrio Logan, but I couldn't find anyone to go with and I wasn't about to go to a warehouse by myself, but right around 7:45 I got a call asking me to do merch for The Sea & Cake at Casbah, so I couldn't turn it down (especially since I'd been considering going to the show anyway). The show was sold out and I was really surprised that The Sea & Cake were only selling CDs and vinyl, but it made my work for the night pretty simple. The Focus Group opened the show and it's too bad they didn't have anything to peddle because people were definitely asking for merch after their set. I ended up selling for the other opening band, The Ugly Suit, and when they weren't playing, they hung out with me on the patio for most of the night. They were a great group of guys and I recommend keeping them on your radar because their performance kicked ass. Six young guys from Oklahoma City who really have their sound together.
I didn't get to see any of The Sea & Cake's performance, unfortunately, but I did almost sell my shirt to a guy from TJ and I met lots of good people on the patio that night. After the show, some twitter friends came over for a while for a mild after party and I ended up staying up well after they all left which made Sunday a pretty useless day in front of the TV and laptop.
I didn't do anything major on Monday except for swinging by Lestat's to see Dagart play a couple songs at Open Mic. His songs were awesome and I can't wait to see him do it again, but I was really only out for about 30 minutes before returning home for more tv and web stuff.
I went out on Tuesday, for the Longwave show, which I posted some video from here. What I didn't mention that I totally missed Eulogies, who started at 9pm on the dot and were finishing as I arrived at 9:40. I was really bummed to have missed them, but I guess the singer was sick and they wanted to get back to LA. Dammit. Dave from Film School was doing their sound, so I at least got to chat with him a bit before they took off and hopefully we can get the band back down here soon.
A Beautiful Noise played second and were great, though there was a 6 person camera crew filming so I didn't bother much with pictures. This was the best I could do:
Then there was Longwave who I can't stop gushing about. I loved their set as it was almost all from their new album, Secrets Are Sinister, and some songs from The Strangest Things thrown in for good measure. (see setlist below)
So I guess that's where I'll wrap up this post. It is 6:30 a.m. and I'm leaving to Vegas at 9 a.m., so I should at least attempt to take a nap before it is time to go. I'm hoping to get caught up while in Vegas. I don't like doing these long diary posts any more than most people probably like reading them, but I'm a creature of habit and frankly, this is how this site started in the first place. Bare with me.
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