Saturday, April 30, 2016

Win Tickets To The Subways at Casbah! (Monday Night)


The Subways are coming to the Casbah on Monday night, May 2nd, and my whole weekend has been non-stop chaotic and this was supposed to post yesterday, but it didn't so here it is. Leave a comment with your contact email if you wanna check out the show. I won't actually publish your info, but I'll email you if you're the winner. Who are the Subways? Full press release below.

THE SUBWAYS, perhaps best known by American audiences for their modern rock radio smash "Rock & Roll Queen", will return to the U.S. for a much-anticipated North American tour, their first since 2008. The band will be on the road supporting their new self-titled album, which is set for a US/Canadian release on April 16, 2016 (Record Store Day) via BODAN KUMA Recordings.

The album has been described as "near-perfect, punk-spirited noise" (KERRANG!) and "on par with the best things they have ever written... and finds the band energized, focused and battle-ready"
(Q MAGAZINE).

Billy Lunn, The Subways lead singer and guitarist, notes the new self-titled fourth album is, “100% The Subways, it’s all us, we wrote, produced, and mixed the album ourselves.“
(more after the jump)

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Upcoming Shows at Observatory North Park (Updated 4.26.2016)

It was quite the run there for a minute with all of the amazing Coachella acts that rolled through town. Now it's time for a little break and then a more realistic schedule with a couple shows a week instead of stacked night after night. I think my total run was seven nights at the Observatory in 10 days. Fun but exhausting. This week we've announced  new show with Tegan & Sara and the return of Hot Chip. May shows and beyond are after the jump.

Friday, April 29- Immortal Technique, 7pm, All Ages


Saturday, April 30- Flatbush Zombies, 7pm, All Ages




Monday, May 2- Baby Bash, MC Magic & Lil Sicko w/ Lil Black and Lil Demon, 8pm, 18+


Tuesday, May 3- Explosions In the Sky, Disappears, 8pm, 18+
Wednesday, May 4- Explosions In the Sky, Disappears, 8pm, 18+


Monday, April 25, 2016

Things To Do In San Diego: Monday, April 26-Sunday, May 1, 2016

It was such an insane week last week that I fully took advantage of Nova being sick over the weekend by lingering around the house and diving in to catch up on a ton of work. I'll be posting last week's show photos throughout the week, but we did take advantage of Nova finally feeling better on Sunday with a nice little walk around La Jolla Cove, even finding a hidden tree swing and this little guy, who apparently was waiting for his momma- who was fishing nearby- to return. This is with my zoom, so believe me when I say we were generously spaced away from him and even then, left rather quickly so we didn't draw too much attention to him. This week things slow down a lot, but it doesn't mean there aren't great shows this week. Monday through Sunday archives are after the jump.



Thursday, April 21, 2016

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, April 21- Sunday, April 24, 2016

The week carries on and it has been pretty nuts. In the past eight days, I was at Chvrches, Beach House, Foals, The Front Bottoms, Silversun Pickups, and The Arcs at the Observatory. And also Wild Wild Wets at Casbah, Foxtails Brigade at Soda Bar, and Wild Nothing at Casbah. But lest you think I live some amazing glamorous life, I have also have been dealing with a plumber the same amount of time. He has literally been here every single day and our problems are still not fixed. It would just be nice to go to the bathroom in our house instead of having to go across the yard to my studio. Super annoying. On top of that Nova got sick with a stomach bug (super fun with no toilet upstairs) and I've been fighting off a cold, so there's that, too. I just hope it's all resolved quickly because Darren and I have plans to go to UMO tonight and my DoSD Goose Island boat cruise on Friday, and possibly even CityBeat Festival of Beers on Saturday, but that's all contingent on Nova being well enough to have a sleepover. I'm including this pic of Brian Aubert from Silversun Pickups, not because it is a great photo, but one of my favorite things is to see musicians beaming, actually enjoying themselves and having fun onstage. Brian and the Silversuns always do, or at least they fake it really well. Thursday through Sunday archives are after the jump.



Photos: Foals at Observatory North Park, 4.18.2016

There were a ton of reasons why I was excited to see Foals on Sunday. Besides loving their records, I'd missed their last local appearance at 91X's X-Mas show, and before that, I don't think I'd seen them since their first record. The very first time I saw the band was the show at Brick By Brick and back then they were adhering to a harsh red light only policy, so between them and Crocodiles opening, taking photos was next to impossible unless you're brave/crazy/rude enough to shoot flash in such situations. So here it was, my first chance to really shoot the band and we got this funny directive that we could shoot the last four songs instead of the first three. The instructions couldn't have been more vague. The tour manager, in an effort to give more insight, told me "they play about 80 minutes, and do about 13-14 songs, so please gauge from there."

So I was sitting on the balcony with David & Dustin trying to count along and keep track but I just couldn't. I was looking directly down on the soundboard console, however, and noticed a setlist. So I took a photo, magnified it, copied the setlist into notepad, and found it much easier to follow along.


Here's the setlist as it was written:

Snake Oil
Olympic Airways
My Number
Balloons
Providence
Give It All
Mountain At My Gates
Spanish Sahara
Red Sox Pugie
Late Night
A Knife In The Ocean (noted as AKIO on the setlist)
Inhaler

What Went Down
Two Steps Twice

The problem was that while I was all smug knowing when I should go down, the other photographers and security had no idea. Was it the last four of total setlist, meaning 2 of the regular set and the 2 song encore, or 4 of the set before encore? Security thought the latter, let a bunch of photogs in prematurely, and then made the rest of us wait when they realized their mistake. I don't think this worked for Yannis so much, because he seemed a little agitated. On top of that, his mic was loose and dropping (which frustrated him enough that I narrowly missed being hit by his thrown mic stand) and then sorry, photogs, but get a clue. Everyone knows Yannis jumps into the crowd multiple times. When he's trying to find a clear space and you rush over to shoot, he can't safely clear you to the crowd. Get out of the way and stop interfering with his shtick.

All in all, it was an amazing show, and it felt like there were a couple extra songs slipped into the setlist, but I was too enchanted by the lights, the music, and the vibe to pay enough attention. More photos after the jump.


Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Upcoming Observatory Shows (4.20.2016)

I just had to update this list for other purposes, so I figured I would update here, too. I am especially excited about Glen Hansard at the Observatory on my birthday. I guess I know where I'll be celebrating 40. Everything on the books is below or after the jump.

Wednesday, April 20- The Arcs, 8pm, All Ages (SOLD OUT)


Thursday, April 21- Parov Stelar, Stelartronic & Anduze, 8pm, 18+



Friday, April 22- Deerhunter, 8pm, All Ages


Saturday, April 23- Dilated Peoples, 8pm, All Ages



Sunday, April 24- RuPaul's Drag Race: Battle of the Seasons, 8:30pm, All Ages



Photos: Beach House at The Observatory 4.15.2016

On Friday night, I continued my streak of Coachella bands when Beach House played the Observatory North Park. I'm pretty reluctant to share these photos because they're pretty miserable, but it was a struggle to even get the photo approval, with the label saying no but the management changing course, so I had to appreciate that I was one of two people in the pit for the show. I will say that what you see here are the best of what I took, with over 200 photos deleted. So I wouldn't even share if I wasn't stoked on the other shows I've captured in the past week.

With regard to the show, it was what I've come to expect from Beach House- brooding, dark, heavy overtones of melancholy. From a photography standpoint it was a lot of fog, backlights, and almost no direct lighting on the band. That said, it was a good show, and I was lucky to be with Darren and Nova on the balcony for the majority of it. I was a little bummed I didn't get to catch up with Jake M. He was a former San Diegan who was a sound guy at the Casbah before hitting the road with tons of bands and moving out of town, but now he's on monitors for the band, so I only got a quick wave while I was in the pit. I left during the encore to beat the Uber rush and was off on my merry way to catch Wild Wild Wets at Casbah. More pics after the jump.


Monday, April 18, 2016

Things To Do In San Diego: Monday, April 18-Wednesday, April 20, 2016

What a beautiful weekend we had here in San Diego. It was jam packed the whole weekend long...from Friday after school we went hiking in Mission Trails then we hit up Beach House at the Observatory. After Nova and Darren retired for the night, I caught Wild Wild Wets at Casbah then hung out with friends at the Ken Club. Saturday we had a plumber bringing us a shiny new toilet (you know you're old when this is a weekend highlight) then visited my parents, then did 12 miles on our bikes on the Bayshore Bikeway and then came home to unwind and catch my interview with Rob Crow on SoundDiego. Sunday was a return trip by the plumber (oops!), then after I finished my Sunday work we went to dog beach for a few hours before I made my way to see Foals at the Observatory. I was really on the fence after the show- Casbah had Laura Stevenson and Pants Karaoke was at Hideout, but I ran into Jeff and took the available ride home when I could. The reality is that I have a lot of work this week and I'm pretty much committed to at least one show or event per night. We've got a whole week of Goose Island Events with DoSD, and then Casbah has some serious Coachella shows across the board, so late Sunday at home wasn't the worst way to kick off the week. Mondday through Wednesday listings are after the jump. 



Thursday, April 14, 2016

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, April 14-Sunday, April 17, 2016

As I mentioned, I had an amazing time at Chvrches last night, and this picture didn't make the cut on yesterday's post, but I wanted to make sure I updated listings for tonight and this weekend as more things popped up, including Record Store Day on Saturday and Earth Fair on Sunday. You know I have to get political in here and urge you, if you do go to Earth Fair DO NOT SIGN THE CITIZENS INITIATIVE petition. Under the guise of 'saving our river' and 'no public money', they want to lock us in bonds and block what is left of our downtown waterfront. No public land, no public money, no tourist taxes...the NFL and the Chargers are not a charity. Anyway, let the Orange County Chargers form a new rivalry with the Las Vegas Raiders and let's redirect all that funding and tax revenue to infrastructure, parks and public facilities for all of San Diego, for all San Diegans. Okay. End rant. Thursday through Sunday archives are after the jump.  


Photos: Chvrches & Alvvays at Observatory, 4.1416

I generally don't post photos within hours after leaving the show, but I'm so backlogged that if I don't post these now, I probably never would. I will also say that I felt like I'd never been in a photo pit before. My pictures were pretty awful. I can usually get the basic photo gear I have, but I'm no match for the lovely Lauren Mayberry who probably meets my S-Health daily step target in the first 8 minutes of her set. I haven't seen an artist cover that much real estate of their stage in so long, but I guess when you're preparing for Coachella, you've got to do more than just hover at one mic the whole set.


This was a pretty magical show. For one, Darren and I saw Chvrches at House of Blues in our early dating days, so to be able to see them again (after they cancelled the year I was at Outside Lands) was pretty special. This was an all ages show, but after going to Third Eye Blind last week, I just couldn't imagine taking Nova to a sold out show at the Observatory. All the things we love about the venue...the great sightlines, the freedom to move around the room, the tiered flooring...do little to help your experience when you're 8 years old and 4 1/2 feet tall. So I did a significant amount of trying to talk Darren out of bringing Nova. He prevailed, however, and with a little help from my Observatory coworkers, we were magically able to sit in the balcony with no sightline problems whatsoever. It's hard to explain to her that this is special, this isn't how every show will always be, but it's magical nonetheless. Nova tried to predict each song as they were coming and sadly I didn't get a setlist pic, but it was an incredible show from start to finish. We might not get parent of the year awards for not putting her to bed until 11 on a school night, but I don't think she'll forget this night for a long time. Nor will we. More photos after the jump, including a few of Alvvays, who did a lovely job opening the show and redeemed me for missing their Soda Bar show last year.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Upcoming Shows At Observatory North Park (Updated 4.12.2016)

Here's the updated list of Observatory shows for the week.

Wednesday, April 13- Chvrches, ALVVAYS, 8pm, All Ages

Thursday, April 14- Bone Thugs N Harmony - Performing the "Art of War" album plus the classic hits, 8pm, 18+



Friday, April 15- Beach House, Ryan Chavira, 8pm, All Ages (SOLD OUT)




Sunday, April 17- Foals, Kiev, 8pm, All Ages




Upcoming Casbah and Casbah Presents Shows (Update 4.13.2016)

My last update of upcoming Casbah and Casbah Presents shows was at the beginning of the month and I swear, I'm just amazed sometime just how quickly things get booked and added. There are too many for me to point out, but some personal highlights for me include Broncho, Rhett Miller, Kurt Vile, The Joy Formidable, and M Ward.  Of course, those are all down the road...tonight I can't wait for Chvrches, and then the next two weeks are kind of insane. I've been a little run down, but hoping I can rally and get back on the scene. Shows after the weekend are after the jump.

Wed Apr 13 - Spencer Moody of Murder City Devils, Iska Dhaaf @ Casbah

Wed Apr 13 - Lord Huron @ Belly Up (SOLD OUT)

Wed Apr 13 - CHVRCHES, Alvvays @ The Observatory North Park (SOLD OUT)

Chvrches

Monday, April 11, 2016

Things To Do In San Diego: Monday, April 11-Wednesday, April 13, 2016

I didn't post all week but nothing super exciting to report. Work has been kind of crushing and I've got a lot of catching up to do. It was a good week, though, with a couple shows at the Irenic, a day at Safari Park, Friday I went to Third Eye Blind and Saturday Darren and I went to the Craft Beer Circus, then followed that with Bar Pink, Bottlecraft, Soda Bar, and Ken Club, all of which I paid for heavily on Sunday. This week I'm super looking forward to Chvrches and Alvvays and Foals at The Observatory, but I think I'm gonna lay low most of the week. Monday through Wednesday archives are after the jump.



Tuesday, April 05, 2016

Photos: The Struts @ House of Blues (3.30.2016)

The Struts returned to the House of Blues last week, and as expected, gave another high energy rock show. The energy throughout the sold out venue was unstoppable, and the crowd ate up everything the band was willing to give, especially since first US tour kicked off in the same spot just last year, noted several times throughout the set. Out of habit for all the social media accounts to which I have to post, I kept my camera solely trained on frontman Luke Spiller, but that isn't to say the whole band doesn't deserve props for maintaining high energy throughout the whole show. I shot a ton and you can see some of the photos after the jump.



Monday, April 04, 2016

Things To Do In San Diego: Monday, April 4-Sunday, April 10, 2016

It was a pretty great weekend as Nova's spring break came to a close. On Friday, we went up to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park to meet up with Nadia and my B-I-L. It was a perfect day up there, albeit pretty busy, but we always get away from the crowds by going up to the Bonsai Garden, the Old World Succulent Garden, around the back side of Tiger Trail, the African lookout, and ended the day checking out the 6 month old cheetah cubs. We had to rush out because I had to be at work by 6:45, but we pulled it off, and Nova helped me work the door at the Irenic for Peter Murphy. On Saturday, we mostly laid low besides dog park, and by night I worked at Geographer, then went to the Casbah for Dan Padilla's "first annual final show", and then closed the night at the Ken Club. Sunday was a work day but we still enjoyed lounging around the house and taking the dog to Grape St. Today is my parents' 46th anniversary, so big love to them today. This week has a ton going on and while San Diego thrives on tourism, it will be nice to have the city back to locals for a bit. Archives after the jump.

Friday, April 01, 2016

Upcoming Casbah & Casbah Presents Shows (Updated 4.1.2016)

Like I said in the Observatory post, I meant to post this earlier in the week but didn't have a chance. New shows include Dreams Made Flesh, Wreckless Eric, Arbor Labor Union, Oddisee, Aesop Rock, Cigarettes After Sex, Wye Oak, White Lung, Holy Fuck, David Bazan, Suuns, Oh Pep!, and Trails and Ways. Everything on the books is listed below. There's a few shows that are super close to selling out, including Dillinger Four, Wild Belle, and Dan Padilla's Last Show on Saturday. (Archive after the jump)

Upcoming Shows At Observatory North Park (Updated 4.1.2016)

I've been trying to add this post all week, but there were a bunch of new shows which means I was actually kinda swamped putting together marketing plans and radio proposals. I also decided to change how I list the shows, so now instead of door time, I have them listed by start time, and I include the day of the week because if you're like me, you get excited about a show and then realize it's not a night you can go out or whatever. I don't know if there's a glitch or tickets have been made available, but if there's a show marked as sold out, you might want to check the site and see if that's still the case. Archive after the jump.

Friday, April 1- Tyler The Creator, 7pm, All Ages



Saturday, April 2- William Singe - The Introduction Tour, 8pm, All Ages (SOLD OUT)

Thursday, April 7- moe., 8pm, 18+

Friday, April 8- Third Eye Blind, 8pm, All Ages


Things To Do In San Diego: Friday, April 1-Sunday, April 3, 2016

It has been a crazy busy week. On Monday I forced myself to stay home, but on Tuesday worked at Foxing and then went to Santigold, then Nova returned on Wednesday so we went to the zoo and then I went to see The Struts. I'd hoped to skip town on Thursday, but work was crushing and we couldn't get away. I'm not made to work 16 hour days, dammit! Tonight I'll be working at the Peter Murphy show then probably checking out Matthew Logan Vasquez at the Casbah, then working at Geographer on Saturday. I'll be committing some hours to work all weekend, but hopefully we can get out and enjoy the last few days of Nova's Spring Break, too. Archives after the jump.