San Diego Musicians: Get on Staring at the Sun 10!!

I got the following from Timmy P and wanted to share it with all of you. Keep in mind that while you're submitting to be on the Staring At The Sun 10 compilation, Bart and Tim are two of the most influential music guys in town. Even if you don't win the slot, getting your music heard by these guys could lead to booking and other opportunities, so it's a no-brainer to get your music to them ASAP:

Attention San Diego County based musicians!

Blindspot Records and FM94.9’s local music show, the Local Pyle, hosted by Tim Pyles are teaming up for a special contest.

The winner receives a spot on the compilation album, Staring at the Sun Volume 10, and will headline one of the CD release shows later this summer. More details TBA.

The Staring at the Sun series spotlights San Diego’s music scene and the area’s top comics artist’s. This year’s edition will feature art from Chynna Clugston, creator of the acclaimed Blue Monday and Scooter Girl, as well as titles such as Legion of Superheroes. Staring at the Sun is given away free at a series of events throughout the summer.

All you have to do to enter is send in a CDr of your best track under 4:00. Your track must be received by June 2. (Extended to June 6)

Do you have a song in your set list that everyone thinks should be a hit or really gets a crowd going? That’s the song we’re looking for.

The contest is open to any genre. It doesn’t cost anything to enter the contest.

The winner will be selected by Tim Pyles and Bart Mendoza (of Blindspot Records) and announced June 10 on the Local Pyle Show.

Send music to:

FM949
Attn: Tim Pyles / SATS
1615 Murray Canyon Road, Suite 710
San Diego, CA 92108

Walk the Walk Presents Sight & Sound: 07.18.09

This month, Sight & Sound went up against two major heavyweights: the San Diego Pride Festival in Hillcrest and the StayClassy.org Padres Tailgate at Petco Park, with both events boasting some great local and national talent. Even so, S&S held their own, which was no surprise considering they had some ringers themselves. The visual and aural exhibition—hosted by Bart Mendoza, of Blindspot Records and The Shambles—offered up quite the selection this weekend.

But first, I’ve gotta tell you: This is just about the best $5.00 you could spend for a night out, or even to get your night started. Not only can you get an evening full of entertainment, you can also feel good about supporting the local music and art scene in general, and proceeds for this month’s event also went to benefit Pride and Little & Large. People who arrived before 8:00 p.m. received a free “adult beverage,” plus first dibs at free concert tickets from House of Blues. This last part alone was worth way more than the cover. HOB was giving away pairs of tickets to shows ranging from Journey and Sublime tribute bands to Gomez and Michael Franti & Spearhead, and a whole slew of others.

Back to the show . . .(click keep on reading for more)


At Planet Rooth & 4 Walls Gallery, past their current exhibit in the front, the back section of the gallery—essentially where all the art magic happens—housed a makeshift stage where the Afghan fusion trio of Brothers Nasrat opened up for Astra Kelly’s one-woman acoustic set.

In between these music sets, the Lotus Theater Collective performed a preview of what can only be described as the best bastardized versions of Shakespeare plays that one could hope for. What they were lacking in costumes, they made up for in witty dialogue and clever antics. (You can catch their full show, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare[abridged] by Adam Long, Daniel Singer, and Jess Winfield, at Swedenborg Hall, August 6th through 29th.)

Just beyond the workshop, in the small courtyard, the talented comic book artist Sean Dietrich was live painting. (He’s currently working on a painting depicting a quasi-tapeworm/lifesucking beast sporting a Commie hammer and sickle with three people dangling from it, all of the people appearing to have had the life sucked out of them. Hmmm. Also, for all the Comic Con fans, since he’s exhibiting his work at The Con this week, you can catch him out at various venues just about every night.)

Beyond the courtyard near what we’ll call the “outdoor stage,” the San Diego Art Journal and local abstract artist Mark Jesinoski hosted a booth with a giant canvas for a collective group art project. Kathleen, the Fire Fairy, and Silke Polanco entertained the crowd with their hypnotic, light-up hula hoops.

On the outdoor stage, opening for Monsters from Mars, was the Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra. Deeeelightful! The mastermind Professor B. Miller was dressed in a white lab coat and stood behind a fur podium, where he appeared to be mixing while dancing. The real star of the show, SPO-20, was a life-sized robot with a brain inside of a clear domelike head and devil horns on top, of course. On SPO-20’s torso, a mesmerizing round screen provided the perfect visual complements to the bizarre lyrics—all sung in a robot voice. He/they opened with “Ornithophobia,” a hilarious song about the possibility of poisonous birds.

Monsters from Mars headlined and finished off the night, in spite of some technical difficulties.

You just never know what to expect from Jon Block and Adam Rosen, the creators of Sight & Sound. According to Block, next month’s event will be revamped significantly and will undergo a major facelift.

Stay tuned.

San Diego Gots Stuffs

I recently got an e-mail from a guy in England who wants to move to San Diego next summer because he heard our music scene is where it's at, and he was looking for advice on breaking into the scene as a promoter or with a job at a club, booking, scouting, anything to be part of it.

That's the funny thing about media buzz, isn't it? What is 'out there' may or may not reflect what is really going on here. I've tried pretty hard to promote the thing I love most about this town because I know we do have an amazing music scene and community. There are a lot of other people who work hard to convert the masses, some successfully and others, not so much. It may not be all kumbaya- there's certainly competition- and bands have entirely different goals and strategies to achieve those goals, but when it comes down to it, the success of one band usually benefits the music scene as a whole. To me, it would be nice if it came together a bit more...if North Park Music Thing and Awesome Fast could coexist in harmony instead of one being the angry response to the other, but that's just the nature of the game, I guess. I'm just happy to be part of all of it.

There's not really any real point to all of this except that I chatted with CatDirt yesterday. It is because of him that this site exists, so it was nice kinda catching up and recounting how things have changed in the last few years with so many new venues (is Airport gonna be the next new music venue in town??), promoters, bloggers, and bands that have come and gone. Always an interesting conversation. Anyhow, he pointed me toward Vice Magazine that featured Beaters, who are playing a free show tonight at Whistle Stop. I miss talking to him about music because the guy knows everything. It's nice touching base with someone with his ear to the ground.

Incidentally, afterward I hung out with Miggs at Taang! records. I swear if you ever, hypothetically, need to find "that one band with that one guy that was in that other band before he died of a heroin overdose after their critically acclaimed punk album was released", Miggs has it or knows where to get it. There are a lot of people in town like that...Bart Mendoza, Larry Munroe, Tim Pyles, Daye Salani...every conversation is educational to say the least. San Diego may or may not live up to the hype, but I love this town either way.

p.s. I know the listings are getting a little ridiculous (there's SO MUCH STUFF), but hopefully we'll be moving the site soon and can remedy the situation.

Picture Post: The Local Pyle/ FM 94/9 presents

This will be almost a pure picture post because I am lazy. The show at the Casbah was fun last night and the food was yummy. Way to go, Tim Pyles! And thanks for the drink tickets, Bart! Everyone in attendance last night to the FREE show also received a FREE Staring At The Sun Compiliation, so if you were home watching the snoozefest that was the Oscars (at least according to every report I've heard), I'm very sorry for you.

I have to admit, for Tim Pyles events, they're as much fun for the bands as they are for seeing friends old and new, so I caught a little bit of each band's sets but also spent time catching up with friends in the patio and the Atari lounge.

Anna Troy's bluesy rock started off the evening:





The Shambles were up next and had a ton of support in the room. The Shambles have been a part of San Diego music for many years and it was cool to see them. I especially liked the song in Spanish.





Buzzkills were next, but alas, no pics.

Finally Vinyl Radio played. This was their first local show with their new drummer and I was able to sneak through the maniacal dancing up front to snap a couple photographs. They played some stuff off the forthcoming 8 track disc and people seemed to be loving it. While it was in the patio, Matt thanked the crowd for staying late and this man near me excitedly said, "It was worth it!"

Matt is such a rock star:











I thought I got pics of the new drummer and Keith but these are the best of what I've got. Sorry. More pics from the weekend to come.

Staring At The Sun Volume 5 to be released

This info from Bart Mendoza:

I just wanted to let you know about two events we're putting together to celebrate the release of Staring At The Sun Vol. 5, a FREE compilation of local music. The music on the disc is all over the place with a little bit of everything:-)

Feb. 8 Lestats / All Ages Event
Podunk Nowhere
The Grams
Mark DeCerbo & Four Eyes
Marie Haddad
$5 admission. All attendees recieve a free CD - All Ages. 9 p.m.

Feb. 25 The Casbah / 21 and up
Presented by Tim Pyles and FM94.9
Vinyl Radio
Buzzkill Romantics
The Shambles
Anna Troy
Free Show - Free Food - Free CD
Live FM94.9 Broadcast from the back bar aka The Atari Lounge
7:30 p.m. 21 and up. Free.

The CD includes music from all the above artists plus Will Edwards, Barbara Nesbitt, The Coyote Problem, Citizen Band, Berkley Hart, Christopher Dale's Superdoo, The Spring Collection, Heathen Kings of Olde and Blizzard. Also there is a bonus video of Scott Wilson's song "Coffeehouse 101" featuring cameos from over 50 local performers and music media types, from Troy Johnson to bluesman Robin Henkel!

Thanks
Bart