Playing Blog Catch-Up: CLA & Diablo Dimes at the Casbah

Well, at least I've made it through the first week of my catch up posts. By Sunday, the 16th, I was pretty wiped from two late nights in a row, so I stayed home and spent the majority of the night writing my CityBeat column for the week. Fortunately, I submitted a lot more words than I needed, so I didn't have to scramble later in the week for my column that published today. That meant I stayed home Monday night, too, because those Things To Do lists I do take a long time to throw together, and my house needed some attention.

By Tuesday, I was ready to go back out for more good times, and headed to the Casbah for C.L.A. and Diablo Dimes, though I missed Royal Campaign.

I was a fan of C.L.A. back in the day, though I rarely got the chance to see them with Steve Foth because I was underage. Still, it was nice to see Dennis Borlek and Steve Poltz playing those old tunes and bringing back some memories of listening to Lou Niles on Loudspeaker back in the day.





I watched some of the show, as various people made their way to the stage to pound pints of Guiness, but I also hung out in the Atari Lounge for a while with Wendy who recently moved back to San Diego.



After CLA, Diablo Dimes played, and his voice still kills me every time I see him. And the kazoo? Yeah, what can words can really impress how cool that is?







That was pretty much my night, headed home and was asleep before my head even hit the pillow.

Friday: Harley Davidson San Diego presents Diablo Dimes

It was interesting to see Diablo Dimes for a second night in a row, this time seeing him perform solo. Apparently, he blew out his voice at TNT the night before, so throughout his performance he kept suggesting that the crowd "close (their) eyes and imagine (he's) an 80 year old man." The wear on his voice gave him the sound of a 1930's troubadour with the gravel in his voice akin to Tom Waits.





It was kind of an open house at San Diego Harley Davidson- a chance to show the new model year 2008 bikes as well as participating in "Kettner Nights". There was beer and snacks and people just chatting and wandering around the store. If you've never been, it's worth checking out. From the street, it appears to be a small storefront, but the buillding is huge and there are a ton of bikes on display as well as cool Harley merch; shot glasses, apparrel, jewelery, and a case of random things like zippos, watches, and a Harley imprinted axe. (An axe? Never know when you might need one, I guess.) Ty, the GM, was super cool and it was a fun time to just chill. A group of my friends came out and we hung out until Diablo finished up his second set. My only complaint was one guy kinda getting in people's face about tipping. For an "open house" event, the tip jar is pretty obvious enough to most adults, and if they brought cash, they'd pony up to leave a tip to the girl opening their cans and bottles of beer. Having someone kinda demand a tip was a little obnoxious, and I don't even think he worked there. (I hope he doesn't, anyway)

Anyway, it was a good time there, but something made me sick. Don't know if it was just kinda getting sick again, or still fighting whatever I had at the week before, or the change in weather, but I had hopes of a big Friday and instead went home thinking I would lay down for a little bit and instead crashed out. I missed John Vanderslice at the Casbah, missed the show at the Ken, missed all of Friday night basically. I hate it when that happens, but sometimes, you can't fight what your body is telling you.

Thursday Recap Preview: Chuck E Cheese's, TNT, Swedish Models, Republic of Letters, Archways at the Casbah

I have a bunch of stuff to post from last night, but I'm gonna head over to San Diego Harley Davidson, then the Casbah, then the Ken Club so I won't be back online until the wee hours, so you'll have to check back this weekend for all the recaps.



I'll be writing about Emma's 4th Birthday Party (and how addicted I am to Skee Ball)



Diablo Dimes at TNT (and the premiere of Absolut 100- 100 proof vodka)

Then Archways, Republic of Letters and the Swedish Models at the Casbah. (I missed the first band)

Republic of Letters "Swept Away"

I'll write about all of it later, but for now, it's time to get this weekend started.