This Week: La Escalera Fest Ocho

I had to kinda dig around to find the info for La Escalera Fest Ocho, which takes over several bars this weekend including The Office, Tower Bar, Bar Pink, Soda Bar, Spaec, and Moustache in Tijuana, so I thought I'd share the actual poster with all the time breakdowns. For tickets and more information, go here. I imagine any last minute cancellations or such will be posted on their Facebook page. And if you're going, please do yourself a favor and walk or catch a rideshare. We don't need a bunch of drunk punks on Jump bikes or Lime Scooters breaking skulls and getting DUIs.

SDPD Crashes Through Tower Bar

On Saturday night, Tower Bar had a show including Whining Pussys, Idiot Bombs!, Ghost Town Gamblers, and Hyperactive Slackers. While mid-set and with Davey Quinn (aka Davey Tiltwheel) guesting on drums at approximately 1:20am, an SDPD cruiser was allegedly hit-and-run by a drunk driver who side-swiped the police car, launching it through the wall.

Davey posted to Facebook, "I keep feeling the impact on my back-- like an upright body slam," while Antonio Talamantes posted, "Didn't really sleep at all last night. It was a really close call. I keep thinking about the string of events that happened all week which ultimately put Davey in that location on stage at that time. But he's ok. We're all ok." Later, Davey posted that he did eventually go to a doctor for X-rays and evaluation and while in pain, he is okay.
(Images used are from Davey and Antonio's Facebook pages)

As most people know, a car famously crashed into the Tower Bar in 1964, killing a patron and injuring 7 others. Owners Mick Rossler and Dannielle Cobb were not present at the time of the crash but commented, "Bummer. Cuz we don't have enough going on right now.....Fu**!!," and in explainging the incident,"Someone sideswiped the cop. Pushed him to crash through the bar. Luckily nobody was hurt but our friend was playing drums with his back to that wall when it happened. Luckily he's ok. It's fucked!!"

Like most people in this music community, I love Davey and wish him the best and a speedy recovery. Obviously this could have been far worse and I don't know what we'd do without him around as much for contributions to the scene, but for his sense of humor, and his tech skills that has saved my ass a dozen times. Apparently there will be a gofundme set up to help him cover expenses and lost wages while he heals and recovers. I will post the link as soon as it is made available.

From the San Diego Union Tribune, April 26th, 1964

Pyles Session: The Soft Pack, 2.2.2010

Last week The Soft Pack had a homecoming in San Diego on the day their new self-titled record was released. Pyles recorded a session with the band at Capricorn Studios and invited a few of us along to hang out. It was fun getting to hang out with Pyles, O, McHank (who was celebrating his birthday) and Jeff, and of course we were all super paparazzi with our cameras.

Capricorn is a super-cool studio downtown near Pokez. Brian showed us around and I noticed how many bands have recorded there...if you're looking for space, you should definitely check them out. We waited around for the band to arrive, enjoying some cold beverages and the boys geeked out on gear talk.

The Soft Pack arrived a little after we did, we helped unload the gear, they set up and then went right into the session. They played a handful of songs and will air on an upcoming Local 94/9 show. Afterward I took some band shots and hit the road before going to their free show at the Tower Bar later that night.


I'd arranged an interview through their publicist, but since I prefer to be behind the camera than in front of it, I wrote down all the questions I had for them, and they kinda went with it where they wanted. You can see that here:



The band had also spent all day Saturday playing 10 shows and there's a great video of that.

THE SOFT PACK RECORD RELEASE/TEN SHOWS IN ONE DAY from VIDEOTHING.COM on Vimeo.

Their show at Tower Bar was really fun and felt like the old days. You can see some of my photos from the day and night after the jump if you click 'keep on reading'. The poor guys had to take off after their show to get to LA at the crack of dawn for a flight to New York where they landed and took a bus to Philly, played a show, then had a show in NYC before flying off to England. The big news is that besides playing Coachella this summer (and planning a date in SD that I can't yet reveal), they're gonna be on The Late Show with David Letterman on Friday night. Big thanks to Brian at Capricorn, Pyles, Matt, Matty, Brian and Dave in the band for the session and the vinyl, Kemado Records, and FTW! media for making the day so much fun.

Update: O just added this video to his site:






O and Brian talking gear


It was McHank's birthday


Pyles: The man behind the session















































































Mick at the Tower Bar always has the BEST movies running in the bar

Recap: Greg Laswell @ Casbah 10.29.08

Last night, Greg Laswell performed the second of two shows at the Casbah. Matt Curreri and The Ex-Friends opened the night. Unfortunately, I arrived after they had finished, but if you read this site, you know I love them, and unlike the people who were there but were supposedly loud and chatty near the bar, I would've been up front and center, most likely making faces at Kevin.

Greg Laswell has been on tour for quite some time now. He said the longest he was home in 6 months was 9 days. Unfortunately for us, "home" is now Los Angeles, so we don't even get the good fortune of seeing him around the neighborhood anymore, but his tour has come through a few times, so he always makes sure to give San Diego his love.

He's touring with a full band, so even his saddest songs sound a bit more upbeat, though at times they take a break and he graces the crowd with the most beautifully sad songs you have ever heard, taking the time between the songs to tell little stories about the origins of his music. He plays music from both his full length albums and his EP, and though I didn't keep track or get a setlist, I'm having trouble even trying to think of any songs he didn't play.

Without dissing the crowd, I have to say it was a very non-Casbah crowd. As Greg played, there was a 4 foot gap between he and the crowd. A couple people were sitting on the floor. Girls giggled at his every word while their boyfriends talked at the bar. It reminded me of being 17 at Java Joe's and swooning over Steve Poltz.

Anyway, it was a great show and even though all the lights at the Casbah are now functional, my pics are terrible, so you only get video .

"Sing, Theresa Says"


The show was done by midnight, so Jake and I checked out the Tower Bar where Miggs (from Taang! Records) was spinning records and we geeked out on Shazam on Jake's iPhone. It was great seeing Mick again; I hadn't been to the Tower since they've stopped hosting live music, and it's one of my favorite dives so hopefully I can work it into my rotation more frequently.

The Muslims, Tower Bar, 4.2.08

I should've posted these pics sooner, especially since two days later, The Muslims were named a "Band To Watch" on Stereogum.com. If you don't read the site, it's one of the few music blogs I really read. I know it's probably surprising, I should be reading a lot more of them, but honestly, there's so much to take in across the web and honestly, it does me little good to read about 200 bands that will never bother to come to San Diego, so I pay attention to the press releases I get, my Google Alerts, and my favorite local blogs and rags and beyond that, I'm still as clueless as the next person, unless someone directs me to the next great band I should've had on my radar, like, totally like, um, 6 months ago, you mean you haven't heard of them yet?

Well, fortunately we get to have The Muslims in our own backyard and even though they've kinda relocated up the 5, they are still loyal to their home and have plenty of opportunities to catch them.

I never got around to posting these pics because I was so sprung on my noche rockera with Beto Cuevas, but they're so freaking rad and really, I guess it's been some time since I posted pics of them with their couple of lineup tweaks, so here are the pics from The Tower Bar.






Did I mention that was a really great night? Work was definitely painful the next day...

Beto Cuevas @ 4th & B, 4.2.08

I have to admit that it wasn't until I was generating my "Things To Do" list for the week that I realized that Beto Cuevas was playing at 4th & B. And even with that information, I had to Google his name before I realized that Beto was the singer of one of my favorite "rock en espanol" bands when I was in college, La Ley. I'd seen them at least once in the past, if not more, but at the time, I went to so many Spanish rock shows that it's all kind of a giant blur...one of the reasons I'm grateful that I can blog about it all now- because even if I forget, it's committed to my virtual backup memory. But after tonight, I guarantee I won't forget.

My night started out with dinner with my sister, my niece, Kristian, and his friend. We had to wait a bit for a table but it made our Ponce's meal that much better. After dinner it might have been quite easy to slip into food coma, but I thought I needed a good deviation from my norm and what better than Beto's show where I knew I'd be surrounded by a bunch of strangers outside of my normal scene and routine?

I arrived, and as it seemed the stars aligned, found my friend who walked me into the show and hooked up a photo pass. The show started and I raced to get into the photo pit for the first three songs and was surprised to see just how many photographers were shooting the show. Giant cameras and all, I dodged my way around the all male photogs trying to get some shots.
After a few from the left, I moved to the right, only to bump into some giant man, who when he saw my little point and shoot digital camera, searched for my credentials by grabbing me by my jacket. Yeah, Dude, you have a photo pass. I have a fucking ALL ACCESS photo pass, so kiss my ass. If there had been a moment of quiet, I would've liked to tell him that if he ever laid hands on me again I'd break his $3000 camera. I took as many pics as I could and then when the time came, filtered back into the crowd, where the illumination of 30 digital cameras actually pleased my line of sight to the stage.

There's something that I will always love about "latin" rock stars. They definitely move with more poise and control onstage than most bands, and I feel like I understand how bands back in the day could stir girls (and even straight men) into a frenzy, because most English speaking bands lack it today, but it's still a huge part of the show for musicians like Beto (and La Ley back when they were still together), Moenia, Juanes, Mana, and others of their ilk. They choreograph some uber sexy stage moves. It's a beautiful thing to witness, though I still felt like a bit of an outsider, and was still not quite getting into it more than the bobbing of my head to the music.
But then I stepped outside and the most amazing thing happened. A stranger approached and spoke to me in Spanish. Asking where I was from, and in not so many words, asking why I was there, then assuming because I had the photo pass that I had no interest in the band, just the shots...but before long, we were talking and turns out he's a Mexicano born and bred in P.B. and so while he chose to speak to me mostly in Spanish, was ok when I resorted to my shitty Spanish and mostly English. We talked for some time before reentering the venue where he told me that La Ley was/is his all time favorite band.

To me, there was something amazing about being at a show that I was enjoying but maybe not really "feeling", and meeting someone who explained how much he loved the old band, this musician, his voice, and even explaining some of the lyrics that perhaps I'd thought I understood. Everything took on a whole new meaning as this perfect stranger took the time to translate and explain the words that were beyond my Spanish vocabulary.

We grabbed a couple drinks at the bar as we chatted endlessly about the music, the show, his travels, my writing, the way the lyrics refer to politics, family, and all the things that inherently matter, particularly from the perspective of his people, mi gente, even if I wasn't raised puro, all while enjoying the show and the energy around us. And it was an amazing thing. There were things he'd say in English for my benefit, and then things that just don't translate that had to be spoken in Spanish, and while I'm always proud of my heritage and ethnicity, this particular circumstance reminded me that while I might not have grown up with frijoles on the stove, this is a part of who I am and made me want to explore that part of me just a little bit deeper. Oh yeah, and turns out my ambassador lives less than two blocks away from me. Is that what Jewish people call kismet?

Beto Cuevas Setlist, 4th & B, 3.2.08


After the show we chatted for a few, then I was off to the Tower Bar where I caught The Muslims set. I'll have to take a look at those pics and see if they're even worth posting, but the set was as good as ever and the drummer now has a standing drum set, meaning everything is set high and he stands while he plays which is a cool touch to their sound and feel.

Needless to say, I should've been asleep hours ago but it was an amazing night and I've got lots of plans for Thursday, Friday and the rest of the weekend, so I had to get this all published before I let time pass and the memory fade. Gracias por todo, mi carino amigo nuevo...