Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Things To Do In San Diego: Tuesday, January 30-Monday, February 5, 2018


I didn't realize sportsball was like a national holiday, but apparently shows just die on Super Bowl weekend.  It's also the beginning of the month, so not everyone is properly represented here. It was a very good week, St. Vincent was AMAZING and it will be hard to beat her live show. I'll get all the photos up soon, but for now, listings archives are after the jump.

Monday, January 29, 2018

San Diego Music Award Nominees Released


The San Diego Music Foundation announced this year's San Diego Music Awards nominees. Public vote categories can be found here. The full press release is after the jump. This year's award ceremony will be at the House of Blues on Monday March 19.

The 2018 San Diego Music Awards nominees are:

Best Singer / Songwriter
Grampadrew
Jimmy Ruelas
Lindsay White
Sarah Rogo
Lee Coulter
Shane Hall

Best Jazz
Danny Green
Euphoria Brass Band
Jason Hanna
Montalban Quintet
Nathan Hubbard
Sue Palmer & her Motel Swing Orchestra

Best Blues
Bill Magee Blues Band
Black Market III
Mercedes Moore
Missy Andersen
Stoney B Blues band
Whitney Shay

Best Country or Americana
Berkley Hart
Morgan Leigh Band
Nena Anderson
Sara Petite
Shawn Rohlf
The Moves Collective

Best Hip Hop/Rap
DJ Pnutz
Odessa Kane
C-Hecc
Riston Diggs
TC Doe
Vokab Kompany

Best Indie/Alternative
Authentic Sellout
Bad Kids
Buckfast Superbee
The Bassics
The Heavy Guilt
The Verigolds

Best Pop
Birdy Bardot
Ki
The Ordeal
Tolan Shaw
The Phantoms
The Midnight Pine

Best Rock
Bossfight
Earthless
The Farmers
The Oxen
The Routine
The Schizophonics

Best World Music
B-Side Players
Doornob Collective
Hirie
Split Finger
Todo Mundo
Tribal Theory

Best Jazz Album
Dave Scott - One Big Beautiful World
Lori Bell & Ron Satterfield - Blue(s)
Matt Smith Neu Jazz Trio - I Am Calm
Patrick Yandall - A Journey Home
Rebecca Jade & Peter Sprague - Planet Cole Porter
Wayne Riker - Soulfully Sliding

Best Blues Album
Chickenbone Slim - The Big Beat
Fuzzy Rankin - The Blues
Robin Henkel - Slippery Like a Watermelon Seed
John January & Linda Berry - Chemistry 101
Mohavi Soul - Hometown Blues
Nathan James - What I Believe

Best Country or Americana Album
Jeff Berkley - Whore House, Hot Sauce & Souvenirs
Nancarrow - Hot Chicken
Ryan Hiller - Big Medicine
Sara Petite - Road Less Traveled
Tim Flannery - Last of the Old Dogs
Trouble in the Wind - Pineapple Moon

Best Hip Hop/Rap Album
1019 The Numberman - Solus Superstes
Audio Cord - Stanz the Six 9teener
Biggie Babylon - Hash Tag Hip Hop N Dance
Bloodstone - Rapolutionary
No1MC - Conditional Struggle
Saviorself - Nasty City

Best Indie/Alternative Album
Aviator Stash - s/t
Grizzly Business - Spanish Old Fashioned
Imagery Machine - Skydriver
Sights & Sages - Double Plus
Skyterra - Over The Edge
Splavender - Hallucinations & Hospitalizations

Best Pop Album
Marie Hadad - Stories from Atlantis
Nina Francis - Between Dreams
Astra Kelly - Chasing the Light
Michael Tiernan - Love & a Gun
Sister Speak - The Stand
Steven Ybarra - The American Dream

Best Rock Album
Electric Mud - Dangerous Promises
Mittens - Endlessly
Superunloader - Twice in Half
Taken by Canadians - s/t
The Paragraphs - It's Always Never
Dirty Sweet - Once More Unto the Breach

Best World Music Album
B-Side Players - California Brown
Mango Habanenro - Live
Marujah - Marujah Rising
Mike Pinto - Hotel Rendezvous
Strictly Skunk - s/t
Tribal Seeds - Roots Party

Best Local Recording
Ambassadors of Soul - Just Make It Funky
Comanche Moon - Derailed
Sham Saints - Out of Tune
The G. Burns Jug Band - The Fever
Veronica May - Awakened
Wish & the Well - Darling Darling

Best Live Performer
Joshua White
Mrs. Henry
Surefire Soul Ensemble
The Creepy Creeps
The Schizophonics
Trouble in the Wind

Best New Artist
Belladon
Jumbotron
Sights & Sages
Well Well Well
Stephanie Brown & The Surrealistics
The Goldettes

Artist of the Year
Casey Hensley Band
Parker Meridien
Gilbert Castellanos
The Redwoods Collective
The Schizophonics
Trouble in the Wind

Song of the Year
Ariel Levine - Sunshine Part 2: On My Color TV
Aviator Stash - Lazy Summer Days
Buckfast Superbee - Sex it Sells
Little Hurricane - OTL
P.O.D. - Soundboy Killa
Switchfoot - If the House Burns Down Tonight

Album of the Year
Cindy Lee Berryhill - The Adventurist
Jack Tempchin - Peaceful, Easy Feeling
Joshua White - 13 Short Stories
Ariel Levine - Let the Machine Get It
Little Hurricane - Same Sun, Same Moon
Parker Meridien - Fists Like Gott

For complete event information or to purchase tickets, visit sandiegomusicawards.com.
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Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Photos: Wolf Parade at The Observatory North Park, January 23, 2018

I'd really been looking forward to seeing Wolf Parade at the Observatory. I'm not sure if I missed something, but as far as I can tell, they played the Casbah, then played Cane's in 2007 and again in 2008, and haven't been back since. It seems impossible that it has been that long, so maybe if you know otherwise, let me know.


We took Nova and a friend to the Safari Park all afternoon, so by the time we were back and I finished my work, I'd kinda lost some motivation to race out of the house and I had a funny feeling, so I decided to text my friend in the box office to confirm that I was on the list with a photo pass. Sadly, I was not. My confirmation was sent to me 5 days prior, and I knew I should've reached out today to confirm, but late night/kid/Safari Park made me a little flaky. So it was approaching 8pm and I had no tickets. I scrambled to reach out to the label and to the venue production manager to see if the tour manager could last minute add me. By 8:30, I hadn't heard back and had kind of resigned myself to staying in, when the rep got back to me with the tour manager's info at the same time the production manager told me it was a go...and it turns out the TM is Lewis, who was last here for Metz, but who I've sold merch for a dozen times for bands like Yuck, Christopher Owens, and several others. So hooray, the pass came through, by 8:45 I was out of the house, and got to the Observatory with 10 minutes to spare before Wolf Parade started. 


All of this is to say that after all that effort (and my little facebook tantrum), I wish I had better photos to share. Sometimes the lighting and the subjects are just magic, and sometimes I just ain't got it. The show itself was great, albeit kinda low energy because, as Spencer explained, the band members had all passed the flu to one another and were still suffering. Throughout the hour and a half set, Spencer had to leave the stage or back off the gear a few times. I expected a lot more of a crowd, but maybe it had been too long, maybe people are just not aware of the new record, maybe everyone is still too poor after the holidays. Whatever the case, I'm glad I rallied, got my shit together, and made it to the show.


Setlist:
Lazarus Online
Soldiers Grin
Grounds For Divorce
You're Dreaming
Valley Boy
Incantation
Fine Young Cannibals
Baby Blue
Flies on the Sun
Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts
This Heart's On Fire
I'll Believe In Anything

Cloud Shadow on the Mountain
Shine A Light
Kissing the Beehive


The show finished at 10:30 on the dot, and while it was super great, it was exactly as much show as I could handle because my back was killing me. Between Vegas, going out on Monday night, and spending the day at the Safari Park I was completely wiped out. Thanks to Wolf Parade for coming back to San Diego, I hope you all get better soon. Thanks to Bekah and Rikki and Lewis for scrambling for me at the last minute. I hope they Wolf Parade doesn't wait a decade to come back, and I hope they didn't just give 500 music fans the flu.

Now fingers crossed, let's hope I can secure my photo pass for St Vincent on Saturday.

More photos after the jump.

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Things To Do In San Diego: Tuesday, January 23-Monday, January 29, 2018


I hope people still bother looking at these listings because they seem to take longer and longer every week. We have sooo much music in San Diego, as well as a ton of venues with super terrible websites, and I look through all of them. Anyway, to catch up, besides my weekend trip to Vegas, last week Nova tried out for the Blast (because her AllStar coach recommended trying out even if no way we're joining). On Tuesday night I went to the Buck-O-Nine and Mustard Plug show and Thursday I went to Surfer Blood. This week I'm looking forward to Wolf Parade, Jessica Lea Mayfield, The Deep Dark Woods, St Vincent, and Pinback. We're going to Safari Park today, too, so of course I'm looking forward to that. Tuesday through Monday listings are after the jump.

Monday, January 22, 2018

Road Trip: The National at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, 1.20.18

Over the weekend I took a road trip to Vegas with my friend Jeff to see The National at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. It's been awhile since he and I have done a road trip show but knowing he bought the tickets months ago and who am I to argue? It was a quick trip, just 30 hours away from my family...We left San Diego early Saturday morning, arrived in the afternoon and checked in to the hotel, gambled a little, had an amazing fancy steak dinner at MB, then caught the show. I had a photo pass to the band's show in San Diego back in October so I reached out to the publicists again, and after some back and forth, I was still holding out hope for a photo pass in Vegas. It never happened, but fortunately we chatted with the box office before the show and they seemed to have an open policy so long as there's no "detachable lens", so I decided to take my Samsung point and shoot into the venue. I was afraid I wouldn't pass the metal detectors, but clearly cameras aren't what they were looking for, and despite the massive line to get into the show, getting in took very little time at all.

The show was incredible. There was no opener but before they came to the stage, the lights dimmed and the house music went to Big Thief's "Shark Smile", probably because the band will be opening some 2018 tour dates in the Southeast, and then, because it was the day of the Women's March, played "Women of the World Take Over".

So let me say something about my pictures...I'm 5'3" and was about 6-10 rows of people from the stage, depending on how many people tried to shove in front of us. Several people had their phones out and above their heads almost the entirety of the show, so I'm trying to focus my camera over the shoulder of the guy in front of me, working around cell phones, trying to not be obnoxious myself. The band members are barely lit with the exception of Matt. I think it's intentional, but I really tried to get pics of the others, especially Bryce and Aaron, who are also up front, but nothing decent came out. It would definitely appear I'm trained just on Matt, but I think that's kind of the way the band prefers it.

Thursday, January 18, 2018

Photos: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at House of Blues, January 15, 2018

The first time I remember seeing Black Rebel Motorcycle Club was at a free daytime festival held in downtown several years ago. Let's just say it is much easier to shoot them in daylight. I know the lighting director is supposed to help keep a certain mystique about the band but the first three songs were often a "spray and pray" situation...I focus on the microphones then rapid fire, hoping something works. The band was awesome as always and delivered a solid two hour set. I was exhausted after a marathon weekend and a long daytime hike at the beach, but Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is at the top of their game and should not be missed. I took about a zillion photos, some of them are below and after the jump. 

Setlist (from Setlist.FM)
Setlist
Spook
Little Thing Gone Wild
King of Bones
Beat the Devil's Tattoo
Ain't No Easy Way
Berlin
Bandung Hum
Conscience Killer
Haunt
Question of Faith
White Palms
Stop
Echo
Carried From the Start
Jailhouse Rock (Elvis Presley cover) (Rob solo.)
Shuffle Your Feet
All Rise
In Like the Rose
Six Barrel Shotgun
Spread Your Love

Encore:
Red Eyes and Tears
Ninth Configuration
Whatever Happened to My Rock 'n' Roll (Punk Song) 





Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Things To Do In San Diego: Tuesday, January 16-Monday, January 22, 2018


I had one of those unexpectedly awesome weekends. I had planned on going to Dirty Sweet on Friday and thinking that would be the big hoorah for my weekend, but then my cousin came down from LA, we ended up in OB--stopping into Pizza Port, walking along the cliffwalk, then back at Pizza Port, and then we took all the kids to my mom's and continued hitting up Chula Vista breweries and tap rooms on 3rd Avenue (with my 19 year old sister dropping us off and picking us up, then driving us all to my house) then catching a ride to Casbah for Red Aunts and The Goldettes. Definitely didn't plan on that kind of marathon, but then Sunday was chill and I worked at Luna who were super awesome, and then Monday was another amazing day where we went to the Balboa for lunch, then took the dog to Sunset Cliffs. I forget how much I love the beach in January and February. After a short nap, I went to BRMC and that's where we are now. Listings through Monday are after the jump. I've got a trip to Vegas this weekend but I might still hit some shows this week like Buck-O-Nine, Surfer Blood and the SoundDiego party on Friday. We'll see how it goes.

Friday, January 12, 2018

Things To Do In San Diego: Friday, January 12-Monday, January 15, 2018


I did a few extra posts this week, so I thought I'd update the listings since they got a little buried. I thought that with Nova finally being done with soccer that my whole week would just open up but have you tried entertaining a 10 year old lately? Holy cow. This generation is so screwed that they can't just go out and ride their bikes or knock on neighbors kids' doors to see if they can play...everything is arranged and supervised and exhausting. It's a holiday weekend, though, so hopefully we'll get out and find some fun things to do. I haven't shot any shows in a spell, but I've got never ending Safari Park photos so here's one of Nova's lion friends that plays with her whenever we visit. Saturday through Monday listings are after the jump.

San Diego Music Venue Shuffle & News

It's been a while since I've posted a "newsy bits" type post around here but it seems like there's so much happening that it's time to tell you what I can share of what I know.


By now, you've surely heard that Tim Mays is now a partial owner of Soda Bar, which he purchased with Cory Stier, Andrew Montoya, and Angie Ollman. Jeff wrote about it for CityBeat and Dustin wrote about it for SoundDiego with the particulars. Obviously I work for Tim so I'll just let their articles do the talking, but I do know that some minor changes have already taken place, like the removal of the pole directly in front of the stage and expect a good interior paint job to spruce it up. As a music fan, this can really only be a good move to continue to bring great up-and-coming acts to San Diego.


Another part of all of this is that the Irenic posted a press release to their site earlier this month (h/t Josh Krimston) announcing they would once again be hosting shows. As you may have heard, the venue had told us back in 2017 that they would cease to have shows. Unfortunately, even if they're back online, that means a setback of booking because I'm sure we'd already have a dozen things booked between now and SXSW, but keep an eye out for more shows produced by Casbah and Soda Bar. For now, Casbah has moved Enter Shikari from Music Box to the Irenic on  February 25. In the meantime, Casbah added a couple shows at places like House of Blues Voodoo Room and Soma Sidestage to make up for what we thought was the loss of a venue. There is another spot Casbah was looking to get on board that might end up being an all ages alternative if needed in the future.

In other news, everyone keeps asking me what I know about the Observatory after they canceled last week's show with Sweet and Tender Hooligans and then again this week with K.Flay. They've gone radio silent on social media and tend to hold all their information close to the chest, but here's the official line from the venue:
We had to reschedule our K. Flay show due to a brief closure for maintenance repairs.It'll all be finished soon and we will be ready to rock on Thurs, Jan 18th for Big Boi & The Cool Kids.
For ticketholders to K. Flay, the show has been rescheduled to May 8. The Sweet & Tender Hooligans show was rescheduled to February 16. 

In downtown news, the Quartyard is almost back. Though I don't know if I'll forgive them for the way they tragically let their potted trees die while they were in storage near the Derby Dollhouse, the stage is back being built out on the corner of Market and 13th, just a block east of their former location on Park and Market. The footprint is much smaller and I'm not sure they'll have all of the amenities as before, but a couple shows have already been booked, including Moose Blood on April 2 and Frankie Cosmos, Ian Sweet, and SOAR on April 10.

Lastly, in case you missed it, George Varga penned an awesome love letter to the San Diego Music Scene in the U-T.  Read the full article here.

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Photos: Chicano Batman at The Observatory, December 30, 2017


It was such a treat to have Chicano Batman back in San Diego. When I saw them for the first time at the Griffin five or six years back, it was hard to imagine that they'd gain such an eclectic following in San Diego, but here they are selling out The Observatory with an audience varying from white indie-rockers to cholos and Xicanas and everybody in between.


Darren had been fighting off the sickness that has knocked out much of San Diego, but he was finally feeling somewhat better and no longer contagious, so it was sweet that he was able to come for this show since we'd been anticipating it for so long, especially since we'd missed BeerX and had such terrible sightlines when we caught them at Music Box.

Anyhow, if you missed it, check out this politically charged video for "Freedom Is Free". More pictures after the jump.




Tuesday, January 09, 2018

Garett Michaels Named Program Director of 91X San Diego

Garett is PD at 91X! He came, was at 94/9, then he left to Seattle, then came back and did the radio hopscotch and now he's PD at 91X. Though does that mean he just took Hillary's job? Maybe not. I think she is Music Director. These kinds of moves in the market don't tend to be isolated, so keep an eye out for some other movement around town. Full press release below.

Photo Courtesy Facebook. Tommy Hough (For City Council 2018!!) & Garett Michaels

Veteran radio programmer and consultant Garett Michaels has been named Program Director of 91X (XTRA-FM).

Michaels’ San Diego radio roots date back to 2002 as the founding Program Director of KBZT-FM, a position he held for nearly a decade.  After spending two years as the Program Director of KNDD-FM “107.7 The End” in Seattle, Michaels returned to San Diego in December 2015 to become Program Director of KFMB-FM, and was responsible for the rebrand of JACK-FM to the highly successful launch of 100.7 KFM-BFM.

In January 2017, following the end of the joint operating agreement between Local Media San Diego and Midwest Television, Michaels decided to exercise his option to leave the KFMB Stations, and has been serving as consultant to 91X ever since. 

“After spending the last year consulting and working with the team, I couldn’t be more excited to officially join Local Media San Diego”, said Michaels.  “It's an honor to be a part of 91X, a station that represents the San Diego lifestyle, has deep roots serving our local community, and is truly one of the icons of the Alternative format.  I’m thankful to Gregg Wolfson, Norm McKee and the LMSD Board for making this possible.”

“Garett is the best man for the job,” said LMSD Vice President / General Manager Gregg Wolfson.  “His knowledge of San Diego, expertise in alternative radio, and leadership skills provide us much confidence as we celebrate 91X’s 35th birthday.”

Things To Do In San Diego: Tuesday, January 9-Thursday, January 11, 2018


I promised I would get these done and then in the process I realized that next Monday is MLK day so I'm glad I switched up my week anyway. Today you get another Safari Park cell phone shot from Sunday since I didn't get to shoot Milky Chance after all. It was actually super cute, because mama and baby were down in the valley and came out of a little stream (why their coloration is so dark in this photo), then walked the perimeter of the fence and playfully jousting with another grouping of rhinos. Turns out the 3 year old's mom is preggers, so it's pretty special to catch them all hanging out by the lookout. It seems to be a pretty slow start to the year so far, but tonight I'll be slinging merch for Suzanne Santo, I'll try to hit Dirty Sweet on Friday, and on Sunday I'll be selling for Luna. Tuesday through Thursday archives are after the jump.

Monday, January 08, 2018

Things To Do In San Diego: Monday, January 8, 2017


The past week was super busy with Nova back in town from St Louis and all. This weekend she wrapped up her soccer all-star tournaments and is back to her normal self after the flu. I didn't do too many shows last week, but did catch Shades McCool at Soda Bar and the Casbah Petty tribute was epic. Typically I spend my Sundays working on the listings for the subsequent week, but I'm wiped out so I'll get around to the rest of the week on Monday.

Tuesday, January 02, 2018

Things To Do In San Diego: Tuesday, January 2-Sunday, January 7, 2018


 Darren and I had our last fight of 2017. Not really, but it was funny that at 11pm we found ourselves disagreeing about how to spent the last hour of the year. I was sure we were home for the night, especially after having spent most of the week alternating between the couch and the bed and sleeping on rotations so one of us coughing wouldn't wake the other and because we were able to make it to Chicano Batman on Saturday night. Of course, after the show he didn't go to the Ken Club and stay till closing so maybe he didn't get the party out of his system, but I just felt like at that point of the night and with both of us already in our pajamas, and since both of us are usually working on NYE, why not just chill together? And I have never not cried during Auld Lang Syne, which is always super embarrassing. Darren went for a walk and checked out Adams Avenue and was like, "uh, no" and we watched the ball drop on TV. Today we laughed as we listened to some girl at Sprouts complaining, "ohmygod, we waitied like, forever, for a car, and then it was like, twenty dollars to like, go a mile." I don't regret staying home. Nova comes home from St. Louis today and had the flu, so maybe we'll all just take a raincheck and celebrate the lunar new year instead. Your Tuesday through Sunday archives are after the jump. 2018 is an election year. Let's make it amazing.