A few weeks ago, KPRI FM hosted another harbor cruise on the Inspiration Hornblower featuring Portugal. The Man. The band was on a promotional tour, playing for stations all over the place in anticipation of the release of their record, In The Mountain In The Cloud, which dropped on July 19. The boat was packed, and though I didn't have a seat saved up front like I have in the past, I decided to shoot most of it anyway...I missed a few songs because I had to swap batteries and the guys weren't much for in-between song banter, trying to knock out as many songs as they could on the 2 hour cruise, but I think you can get a good idea of the amazing set they performed.
Portugal.The Man has announced a full fall tour, including a San Diego date on September 30th at the House of Blues. Additionally, Alberta Cross will be the support band for the tour, and you can catch them starting tomorrow for a four-Wednesday residency at the Casbah. Alberta Cross has a new single called "Money For The Weekend" which doubles as your password to get into their Casbah show for only $5 (instead of $8). Just say "Money For The Weekend" to the doorguy and you'll get the discount.
This week KPRI sponsored another free Hornblower cruise. On Wednesday night, a huge crowd (probably the biggest I've seen this season)experienced the Big Bay with Guster. The band is currently on a radio only tour to promote their new record Easy Wonderful which drops on October 5th (though you can preorder now). I've seen the band a couple times before but this time was exceptional. The band was completely engaging and though apparently experiencing sleep deprivation, they were in good spirits and goofed around without overdoing it. I was fortunate enough to meet John who was kind enough to invite me to share the front row bench with him. The weather was perfect, though we saw lightning off in the distance. To close the set, the band unplugged all of their gear, climbed into the center of the crowd and played "Jesus On The Radio" completely unplugged and without mics. I've posted a couple of the new tracks below, with the full playlist in order at the bottome. Enjoy! (make sure you select the HD view)
I can probably also note that they have another one next Tuesday with John Ondrasik of Five For Fighting. Once again I'll attempt to capture the night for those of you who can't be there. Tickets for that one are long gone.
Over the weekend, I had three people tell me they missed me actually writing. I tweet and update all the time, and I do little headers here and there, but I've maybe gotten more self-conscious about bleeding my whole life on the internet. But today I feel like writing. Some psychotic person is harassing my family and friends on Facebook and some other looney is harassing my friends while some troll feels the need to berate me on Twitter, I guess mostly reminding me that I live out loud and gushing about my life is what I do. To read all about it, click 'keep on reading' at the end of this post.
So I'll say it was a brilliant weekend for me. And by "weekend", I'll start with Thursday. After I went to the zoo for the Galapagos Turtle event, I headed to the Hard Rock Hotel for the San Diego Music & Technology Conference. I mostly sat in the back as I listened with one ear as I tried to get some work done on my laptop, but I found the panels to be interesting and informative. Electronic music and the culture are things I try to understand, because even as the panelists agree, watching someone turn knobs or push buttons is insanely boring, but the discussions about new technology and instruments and the innovation around that world were incredibly fascinating and I was happy to be there. I even won a prize from SoundCloud that I gave to Josh, but apparently it would serve me better as a blogger than he as a musician, so we'll see what it entails and I might look into using it here.
After SDMT&C, I headed up to the San Diego Woman's Club. I was selling merch for Mason Jennings and I got there an hour before I had to be there, but was able to catch Mason soundchecking on the grand piano, which was pretty amazing considering there were only 3 other people in the room. By the time we opened up, Mason played for about 90 minutes, after which he stayed until the very last person got a photo and autograph. I was joking all night that Mason Jennings deserves his own chapter in Stuff White People Like which is not a criticism, but there was a very specific demographic at the show. Coming from an advertising background this fascinates me; it's something I pay attention to regularly.
After the show and the final autographs, I made my way to West Coast Tavern, where Brett from Emersen had finished his set and Republic of Letters were setting up. They played a stripped down set without Nick on drums, and though I love their full sound with the whole band, it was great hearing this iteration of the band as well. After the set we stuck around a while before calling it a night.
On Friday morning it was back to the Hard Rock Hotel for the San Diego Music & Technology conference. They had a great social media panel that went above and beyond the usual obvious twitter and facebook information, and some rad panels on lighting, sound design, and Moldover was just fascinating discussing his homemade instruments. I had to leave before closing remarks to get to the post office before closing, but decided to wander over to Analog for happy hour. Aaron Thompson was there and he shared that he's been asked to play bass on a European tour with Fenix TX, so stay tuned for some guest blog posts as he shares his stories and adventures from the road.
After some tasty food, I went to the Casbah where I was able to see Menomena soundcheck. The show was sold out and all of the bands were fantastic, but I felt a bit claustrophobic and left during Menomena to catch Judgement Day at the Soda Bar. They totally kicked ass per usual. Afterward me and the band headed to Malinda & Jake's where they were staying and hung out for a couple hours until I called one of my favorite cabs and called it a night.
On Saturday I sold merch for the early show at the Casbah with Southern Culture on The Skids. I always forget how great this band is live and they're an absolute pleasure to work for, with all of their merch organized and they have a great wireless credit card machine which allowed for a successful day of sales, even though they were running low on merch at the end of their tour. After the show, I stuck around for some Booty Bassment before heading up the hill to the final House Party Girls party. Apparently cops had already broken up the bands, but the party was in full swing when I arrived so I stayed until the last shot of tequila was consumed before heading home (with wet feet after stepping into a small pond in the backyard). Good luck to Heather and Amanda as they jetset around the world for some awesome travel through Mexico, Thailand and Europe. We'll be here ready to party when you come back to visit.
Finally Sunday was the KPRI harbor cruise on the Hornblower with Dawes. I don't think I've ever watched videos so much in my life...these guys were so great and though in my mind I imagined big burly bearded Portland-ish duded, they're LA boys and adorable as all hell. I look forward to their full band set in November at the Casbah.
From the cruise terminal we crossed downtown to hit up Artwalk By The Bay and to see The Heavy Guilt play. If you haven't seen them perform, they're playing at the Adams Avenue Street Fair this weekend and I suggest you catch them.
After heading home and taking a nap (and realizing that my face was tragically sunburnt, complete with sunglass marks like a raccoon), it was up to the Belly Up for Local Natives. I love those kids and it was an awesome show.
Needless to say, I was completely worthless on Monday, though I went back to the Belly Up for an amazing show with Calexico and a fantastic opening band called Sergio Mendoza y La Orkesta from Tucson. Go see them when you can. I hope to get some videos up soon, but with nearly a dozen people on stage, they don't quite capture the awesome.
Last night I went to SDSU to see Phoenix and Neon Indian, and I'll post those pics soonish, too. The craziness never stops, as tonight I'll be checking out the Gaglione Brothers media party, a Pyles session with In Transit Audio, and The Jim Jones Revue at the Casbah. Tomorrow night while I urge you to go check out Meg & Bryan over at West Coast Tavern for a free show, I'll be selling merch for Dungen at the Casbah, and though I haven't completely mapped out the weekend, I know I'll be at the Adams Avenue Street Fair, at the Beauty Bar on Sunday night for their closing party (and one of a few of my birthday celebrations). Monday I'll be at the Felice Brothers who are awesome on their own, but even better knowing that there's a possibility that Conor Oberst will be there...can't ring in my midnight birthday a better way! There's a lot of other birthday celebrating happening for me next week, but make sure you RSVP for the SoundDiego Live event at West Coast Tavern next Thursday with my boys d/wolves as well as an hour of hosted Karl Strauss beer and apps. That should make for a great pre-party before heading to FLUXX for another FLUXX live show with Transfer, The Silent Comedy, Jared Mees and the Grown Children, and Little Hurricane.
On Sunday morning I was scooped up and headed down to the cruise terminal to catch another KPRI Hornblower cruise, this time with the band Dawes out of Los Angeles. Most of the cruises happen at sunset, so I knew that a free Sunday cruise (while the local Chargers game was blacked out) would be crowded. Fortunately photographer Steve saved me a seat so that I could shoot the show. Wylie, the bassist was unable to attend because he had to fly to New York for his grandfather's funeral, so Taylor played guitar with the rest of the band (brother Griffin and bandmate Alex) helping out with harmonies. It was an amazing set (despite my sunburnt face) and though it was unfortunate that Wylie couldn't be there, we got an incredible performance. Taylor's guitar wasn't even plugged into an amp, just had a single mic on it. He tried out a couple new songs on the crowd, too. The band will be ending their full fall tour at the Casbah on November 27 and I highly recommend getting your tickets for the show. Be sure to check out their site for lots of great videos, an awesome performance on Yours Truly, as well as their most recent Daytrotter session. These were a few of my favorites of the day:
Here's the full playlist from the day. Click the right or left arrows to navigate through them.
It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of KPRI fm and their free summer concerts. Last night kicked off their 2010 season with the Hornblower as they brought Hockey to perform before they head off on an extensive European tour. I shot a lot of video and while it was chilly up on the deck, the music and vibes kept everyone warm for the duration of the nearly one hour set. There was a great turnout and the deck was full throughout the performance as the sky went from baby blue to a deep violet.
The rest of my videos are still uploading, but I posted the bands last song first just because I wanted to show that when I said the crowd was diverse, I meant it. The cruise is a 21+ event, but multiple generations were represented. I especially loved the dancing grandma.
To get your invites to these exclusive concerts, make sure you're a registered Freeq and listen to KPRI for show announcements. Then check your inbox on how to get tickets. By kicking off with Hockey, KPRI is promising another amazing summer with the Hornblower. For the rest of my videos, check my YouTube page. I now have over 1000 videos to explore!!
By the way, people often ask what I use to shoot my videos. These videos were shot with my Sony Cybershot DSC-H20 which shoots in HD. For this specific video, I had the camera directly in front of the speaker (I was wearing earplugs, of course), so you can hear what a great condenser the mic has. And I'm not paid to say so...just after seeing videos on YouTube with the most wretched noise, I'm happy with the cameras I use and the quality of video they deliver, shoddy videography on my part notwithstanding.
Last night, KPRI presented yet another free show on San Diego Hornblower Excursions, this time featuring New Yorker Diane Birch. At all of 21, the girl has got some pipes and though I hadn't heard any of her music going in (though apparently she was on GMA or one of those morning shows last week) I was definitely impressed. She performed with a full band and even got the crowd to their feet when she played a cover of Tom Petty. She also did that awful Haddaway song from Night At The Roxbury, "What Is Love?", and turned it into a surprisingly beautiful ballad. That takes some serious talent, and Diane has it in droves. She also told a funny story about growing up in a religious household with a preacher for a father, and being a moody goth teenager that hung out at clubs all night thinking she was slick by telling them she was babysitting. She'd roll home at 5 or 6 in the morning with her ghoulish makeup to find them waiting. She has a song called "Don't Wait Up", that was probably my favorite song of the night, that you should really check out.
I was a little disappointed that the usual 5 or 6 people weren't recording any of the show, and I was in a bad spot to do so, but eventually I moved around to the side of the stage when it got too cold for people and they retreated to the second level of the boat, so apologies that I was recording directly into the stage lighting, but it was the best I could do. These are the final four songs from the night.
KPRI has one more free cruise coming up at the end of the month, so make sure you're registered as a Freeq for their e-mail list. You can find the other videos if you 'keep on reading'.
No matter how much I blog, tweet, or try to encourage people to enjoy this fair city, I'm always still a bit surprised that everyone doesn't know about certain gems in San Diego. I'm not the only one...Tim Pyles, Chris Cantore, Street, CityBeat, and a slew of others regularly talk up what's going on around town, and that doesn't even touch on all the information shared daily via Twitter...
I only hope that when this site moves, I can do more to get the word out about some of the amazing stuff right under our noses. KPRI, for a very long time, was a North County station and most people hadn't heard of it. I'll acknowledge that it's a AAA station, so their cutting edge music sometimes sways to the mellow side of the spectrum, but the freedom the station has because of their true independence (one of only a handful of privately owned stations in the country), they offer something truly unique and with their enhanced tower, they can now be heard just about anywhere in the county.
I've been a registered frequent listener for many years now. When I worked downtown I got to see a lot of their free shows...Jay Farrar, Rhett Miller, Shawn Colvin to name a few. And with their Hornblower shows, I will never take for granted how amazing it is to get to go on a free harbor cruise in our beautiful bay, but I've never been disappointed by any of the stellar performers that they bring to San Diego.
Last night was another such special night as we rode around the bay listening to Andrew Bird perform as tankers, helicopters, boaters, and sea lions passed us by. There was a great turnout for the event--they almost reached their 500 person capacity--and unlike many of the performers, Andrew performed with his full band. Words cannot begin to describe how fantastic the show was (even though I got a little queasy for the first time ever on a harbor cruise).
The next performance will be on July 21 and feature Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek who has a fantastic new record out. You have to sign up for the emails to hear about the events and it wouldn't hurt to program the station into your dial. We have a rare market that has unique stations (KPRI, FM 94/9, Sophie, to name a few) that really reward listeners with music. Click here to register. They've got a couple events brewing that you will not want to miss. I promise.
I try to avoid dumb fangirl pics, but Oz took a few of us in the green room to meet Andrew after the set and he was such a sweetie I thought I had to post. Dude makes me look like an oompa loompa, but whatevs.
Last week, I had the pleasure of taking another cruise around San Diego's big bay with one of my favorite performers. Believe me, after the disaster of a show earlier that week (with a band that shall not be mentioned but shares the name of a sour citrus candy), it was great seeing a musician that is happy and at least by all appearances, has his shit together. The boat was a bit chilly and windier than usual which is pretty evident in the videos, but I still think these are some reasonably decent recordings. Oh, and after the show I chatted with Rhett about NARM (the convention for record merchandisers where he played a showcase at On Broadway) and music and just about how awesome he is. A glance from those eyes could knock anyone out. *swoon* Huge thanks to KPRI and Hornblower for continuing to deliver amazing music to San Diego.
Here's a video. The rest if you 'keep on reading'.
On Tuesday, I thought it was Wednesday. On Wednesday, I thought it was Thursday at one point, and Tuesday at another. Clearly, I am all out of whack, but it's finally Thursday which is as good as the weekend, no?
Last night I had plans to go to a KPRI private listener show on the Hornblower Cruises with a performance by Tim Finn of Split Enz, Crowded House, and, of course, The Finn Brothers. I had pretty much talked myself out of it because I just thought I needed some time to chill at home, but then I got a text from my friend, the ever rumor starting Daye, telling me that he heard that Neil Finn and Eddie Vedder might be joining Tim. How could I skip that, even if there was less than 1% chance that it was true?
There were a ton of people waiting in line which scared me a bit, but I had no problem getting on the boat, going through the back stairs, and positioning myself right up front. Chris from Republic of Letters was there with gf Stephanie, so they joined me up front. Tim Finn's new solo album, Imaginary Kingdom, isn't gonna blow your mind in a way that some new progressive artsy indie album might, but for the late Gen-Xers and pre-boomers on board who have been diehard fans for over 20 years, this is a classic and beautiful set of satisfying songs that are easy to digest and with themes of growing, aging, accomplishment, and family, this album should have a least a few hot singles on radios with a AAA format, like KPRi. For me, there's just always been something about the voices of the Finn Brothers that isn't easily replicated. Add that to a nice 2 hour cruise in the harbor of San Diego, and even without Eddie and Neil, the show was beyond worthwhile.
Bret Adams accompanied Tim on this particular night.
As Tim went into a final song, the tour manager came and knelt next to me and I asked if I could have a setlist at the end of the show. When it did end, two über fans jumped into the area that he played and, I'm not kidding, were trying to wrestle the set list out of the tour manager's hands. He explained that the band keeps one list and told them he'd already promised one for me, but it was almost frightening seeing two middle aged men going apeshit. It didn't help later when the autograph line kept moving locations, and the same two started in the front of the line and ended up in the end.
That setlist is not completely accurate because Tim threw in a couple requests, including "Six months in a leaky boat" to stay with a nautical theme. To wind down the night, as the boat pulled in to dock, we got a fireworks show from Petco Park that were illuminating the night sky and drew attention to the evening's full moon that finally broke out of the clouds. And with that, I was off the boat and off to the Casbah.
