Rosey's Diary: 3.3.09-3.11.09

You know, I had a conversation with a friend about blogging and I've been doing this since 2003. Crazy. It all started as these long diary-like posts where I rambled about everything I did and saw and everyone I talked to or hung out with. So while this might be unfamiliar to readers of this site, it's really the most natural way for me to write and the best way to get it done because it feels less like work and more like I'm just chatting with an old friend. That being said, I am picking up where I left off on that last "diary" post...at least I got past February and am finally writing about March, right? I'll probably keep labeling my posts as such, now that there are so many people contributing to this site these days and since someone jumped down my throat for all my "overdue recaps". So to read my 'diary', click 'keep on reading'.


3.3.09: Neko Case @ Casbah, Joel P West & Matt Curreri @ Soda Bar

I already wrote about spending the day at the Casbah for the free Neko Case show and hopefully you were following me on Twitter and were able to make it to the show because it was a good one. Neko Case played a long set and kept the crowd (well, maybe with the exception of photographers) happy, but as it was an early show with no opener, after the show I made my way to catch Joel P. West and Matt Curreri at Soda Bar. I was pretty exhausted from the day, however, so I didn't take photos, rather just hung out with my friends and enjoyed the show.



3.4.09: This was an all internet day for me, save for lunch with some friends at Souplantation and catching up on much needed sleep. This was the day the CityBeat demo review came out, so I have to admit I spent a day digesting the reviews.

3.5.09: It's no secret that I love Twitter and when Burger Lounge offered free fries to their Twitter followers, it seemed as good excuse as any to walk across the street from my apartment and meet some Twitter friends for a nice lunch. From there, Jake and I went to Gelato Vero to catch up with Daye. I also bumped into Josh from Silent Comedy and chatted a bit before heading home for a bit before making my way to TNT to see Writer and Joel P West as the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. The crowd was a little thin at the start, partly because now the City permit requires that the patio be fully enclosed with a temporary fence and open only to those 21 and up, but by the time the music was full swing, there was a healthy crowd there to enjoy both performances.



After the show, I met up with Petro, Kris, and their visiting friends for some beers at their apartment before they called it a night. From there, I joined Jake, Pall, Jimmy, Hoth, Gabriel and a few others who were at Lou Jones before we all walked to Ould Sod and watched some karaoke before it was finally time to call it a night. I know writing about this portion of the night sounds really boring, but in reality it was one of those rare nights that happens when you least expect it. I guess I should just thank those guys for letting me be a part of it.

3.6.09: Friday I woke up with a sore throat and a cold but I wasn't going to let it stop me from my evening plans. In retrospect that might've been a mistake because I got my ass kicked with illness, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

The night started picking up Dagart, meeting at Alex's, then grabbing Natalie on our way to National City for Hotel St. George @ X1FM Open Door Session.
Here are a couple pics I took:





Local Bands should all be trying to get on the Open Door. The crowd is all ages and exposes bands to prospective fans who might not otherwise know the band, there's people watching from across the world via the live stream, the sound is impeccable as a recording studio, and all bands should know how to stretch their performances to an hour when they're accustomed to sticking to 30-40 minute sets. Plus the bands are given a recording of their performance and it is added to the X1FM.com archives (then embedded here).

After the show, I grabbed dinner at In and Out before Alex took me to my car. The rest of them headed to Casbah, but I went to the Marquee to see The Howls, Matt Haeck & The Guiding Light, John Meeks. The venue is a converted church across the street from the Shell station on 25th, just north of the 94. The space is really cool and I'd been warned that there were shows there before that were peppered with religious sermons, which honestly would've made me walk out, but this was not the case at all and the people running it seem to be trying really hard to offer a cool spot for the under 21 crowd to be a part of the music scene, offering bands on weekends, open mic nights for poetry, spoken word, and music, and coming soon, "The Kids Are Alright" karaoke hosted by Adam Gimbel.

The arched ceilings and comfortable low vinyl couches were perfect for the alt-country sounds of The Howls, Matt Haeck, and John Meeks, and actually just what I needed as I felt illness creeping up on me. Since it was an old church, I kinda hoped there'd be hot chocolate and baked goods from grandma's, but maybe they'll work on refreshments in the future. My only complaint about the night is that between bands they played top 40 music that was louder than the bands had been. I know I wasn't the only one cringing as I listened to Fall Out Boy between bands.

As for the music, I'm already a fan of The Howls and John Meeks (who was backed by Jimmy Lavalle, Brian Holwerda, Hoth, and Matt Resovich), but I was glad to finally see Matt Haeck and The Guiding Light, who reminded me of Rocky Votolato both in style and appearance. My camera did not like the lighting, however, so you'll have to see him for yourself. At least you can kinda see the room in these couple snaps.



When the show ended somewhere between 10:30 and 11, I took off and made my way to the Casbah for Team Abraham's CD release show. I rejoined my friends from earlier in the night as well as seeing lots of other friendly faces that made it feel like a crazy house party more than a night at a bar, only I was sick and therefore perhaps the only sober person in the crowd. I wasn't there in time for Gray Ghosts, but noticed music in the Atari Lounge and remembered that Evan of the Parson Redheads was playing, so I went back to listen as best I could over the volume of the smoking patio and the DJ mix inside the venue. Evan was a trooper, though, and when a group of loud "Oh My God!" girls came in those of us listening just pulled up our stools to pay attention.



I'm not exagerrating about the non-sobriety of the crowd. As Team Abraham played and as Andrew mentioned, LJ threw her bra onstage and Dagart stripped to throw his boxers onstage. Nuts. The vibe between the crowd and the band made for a fun performance and I was a little sad I wasn't taking part in the rowdiness.



3.7.09: Saturday I woke up feeling better, so I took care of my household in the morning and then met up with friends and family at Blind Lady. My best friend was in town from Chicago after living in England for a while, so we hung out and caught up over the great organic pizzas and tasty beers that Blind Lady offers.


Eventually everyone had to go, but I was able to drag Todd with me to Jose's because I had to take pictures for an opportunity that seems to have now passed, but at least we had a couple good margaritas. After we ended up at Soda Bar for The Morning Benders and Cuckoo Chaos and I was in an alcohol mixed with cold medicine induced cloud so no pictures of that little adventure. Even Twitter failed that night. I guess it was going around.

I was feeling much better from my cold come Sunday and then I was hit like a truck by a flu that kept me at home and out of commission until Thursday night. Thank goodness for my wifi and Hulu.com as I pretty much laid in bed digesting medicine, liquids, and watching two entire seasons of Friday Night Lights over the course of four days along with my usual regiment of reading news and blogs and twitter and facebook and all these other glorious creations that can allow for someone to be out of commission for four days without feeling disconnected from their world. With that, I'll move on to the last of my diary posts that will make me all caught up.

fluf Playing This Saturday

There's been some excitement lately over some of the local band reunion shows that have happened over the past few months. Perhaps we get all excited about musicians resurrecting because they pretty much dropped off the planet. Bands like Creedle reuniting in December, or John Reis forming the Night Marchers seems to get everyone a little hopeful...like when are we gonna see Lucy's Fur Coat? Then there were other bands that came and went, but the musicians stayed active, so maybe there's a little less buzz about the whole thing. But that's not really fair and they deserve an equal amount of attention.

So I told you to lock in Sunday for Marco's night, but lock in Saturday night at the Casbah, too- cuz Fluf is playing and O rocks. Mmmm- Mangravy. They'll be joined by Buckfast Superbee, and Matt Curreri & The Ex-Friends.

Bonus Material: Ex-Friends Performing Carrie's Freckles

Sunday Recap (pt.1): ArtWalk & The Ex-Friends

Sunday was family day for me as I headed to ArtWalk with my mom, sisters, and brother in law. After getting some food at Mona Lisa, we walked the festival a little, most taking in the outdoor art exhibitors and people watching. Eventually I made my way to the little fountain/amphitheater area where Matt Curreri and the Ex-Friends were gonna play. The gloom burned off and the sun was out and I met up with Andrea and we bumped into Adam, Trisha, Dylan, and Laura Jane. It was cool, too, because Kevin of the Ex-Friends is a teacher so a bunch of his students were there.

The band had enough material to cover all of their hour and fifteen minute set and a lot of festival goers came and went throughout their set.





One elderly man in the crowd kept yelling for them to "keep going", even in between songs, also shouting out various songs by Zeppelin among others, like "'Gateway' to Heaven". I freaking love festival people.





Of course, the heckling pales to the freak with missing teeth walking around with a "free hugs" sign, but it was worth mentioning. ArtWalk seemed better planned this year, though admittedly I avoided confined art spaces. The Little Italy improvements, like the fountains and benches, really do a lot to make the event more pedestrian friendly. After a few hours it was time to go on our merry ways and I prepped myself for a Sunday evening concert.

Who do you love?

It's funny how since I've started this little bloggy thingy, people ask me what I'm listening to, as if my opinion matters. They ask what local bands are on my radar, and what I like in general. I sit at a desk all day and the reality is that I can literally sit at my desk all day without exchanging any conversation with anyone in the office, so I like listening to streaming radio for stimulation. I like the radio banter on Indie. I like listening to the DJs get buzzed on Wino Wednesdays, I like how Jonesy just rambles whatever the hell he wants, and I like the sports reports from Timothy Oliphant (of the HBO series Deadwood) and news from Liz Warner. All this and the MySpace music I listen to or the Insound music player, and I don't listen to a whole bunch of CDs. And after work, I'm too busy going out to shows, you know?

On the occasion that I do pop in a CD, here's what I've been listening to (new and old stuff):
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah- Some Loud Thunder: If Satan Said Dance, I better listen, right?
Gomez- How We Operate: This was one of my favorite albums last year and I'm listening to it a lot as I try to decide whether I want to see Cold War Kids at the Casbah, or sell my ticket and buy one for Gomez and Ben Kweller on the same night at the House of Blues. Gomez are coming from across the pond, CWK are just coming down from LA, but it might be the last chance to see them in a small venue. Also, seeing Gomez last year on a harbor cruise for a KPRI Private Listener Show was amazing but the live show (as pretty much all shows at the House of Blues) left something to be desired. This brings me to
Cold War Kids- Robbers and Cowards, Up In Rags (ep), With Our Wallets Full (ep): I love these guys and notice more and more bands (especially Monarchy bands) emulating their distinct onstage style.
The Long Winters- Putting the Days To Bed: A great show last year at the Casbah, but with the poor attendance, I can't blame them for skipping San Diego on the upcoming tour dates.
Rocky Votolato- Makers, Suicide Medicine: Rocky is hands down my favorite singer/songwriter and is playing at the Casbah on April 15. I hope that he's got some new material and hope he gets a good crowd because Barsuk seems to be more focused on their other artists these days (Menomena, Jesse Sykes, et al.)
Piers Faccini- Tearing Sky: Good gray day music. It will get heavy rotation if it does in fact rain this weekend as predicted by our meteorolgical "experts" of San Dieo news.
The Brian Jacket Letdown- Piratas: Last year when South played at the Casbah, I met Thomas, who was playing keyboards for the band on tour. The Brian Jacket Letdown is his fulltime band and they are planning on recording an album starting in April. Piratas is only a 2 song CD, but I like it a lot and the band is getting buzz in England because of a recent television appearance.

I also listen to local stuff and of course have been taking in the new Vinyl Radio, "A Better Time Coming" and listening to A Week's Worth and The Burning of Rome and still spinning Kite Flying Society's "Where Is The Glow?". I have been meaning to review some stuff, like Anna Troy "Ain't No Man" and Starcrossed "Waves" but haven't had the chance.

Since my local music collection is relatively sparse, mostly I catch my local fix live, which is why tonight's Casbah show should not be missed: The Roman Spring, Republic of Letters and Swim Party. Also some of the bands I love to see live include Old Man Hands, Matt Curreri and the Ex-Friends, Plural (did they break up?), Rafter, Bunky, among many, many others.

So there it is. Thinking about all of this, I think I need to go spend some money on Insound.

Weekend Recap: Sunday

I woke up to my phone ringing at aroun 12:30. In my panic during the night and with the fear of having to evacuate, I had called Sara, my parents, a couple old neighbors all numerous times with nobody answering. My parents were freaked as was Sara but as everything was ok, they felt better after talking to me.

I decided to watch the Chargers game from home since I'd not had much sleep. I also didn't have a good feeling about the game and didn't want to be around a bunch of people who take a loss personal, or turn into big shit talkers if the game does go their way. It's just my feeling that athletic franchises have no loyalty to their hometowns, so people who worship any team kinda puzzle me. I like watching sports. I do not however, think of myself as being on a team and don't understand the "we're gonna kick your asses" shit talking. That's just me.

I don't need to mention what an ugly game the Chargers played. Disappointing, yes. Surprising, no.

The rest of my Sunday was chill until 8 when Dave picked me up to head to the Belly Up. We arrived during Matt Curreri's set. He and Joanie and Ray Suen of Exfriends were playing minus Kevin on bass and no drums. I love Matt Curreri. I like his quirky songwriting, I like that he is reminiscent of Tweedy but still stands alone on his own songwriting merit. Ray Suen is just amazing on both violin and mandolin. Joanie seems to have backed down on her vocals since the last time I saw them and I like it better that way. The crowd was really responsive to their music, especially the two hecklers up front that Matt had to ask "don't you need to get another beer or something?"

When Rhett came out, it was almost sad. His voice was strained and I'm sure today he has full on larenghitis. He kept apologizing for his voice, for having to spit, and thanking the crowd for "pretending like (he) could sing". Still, he powered through and played some Old 97s stuff and lots of songs from both his solo releases. I have to admit (sorry to eveyone who is so much cooler than me) that I was a Rhett Miller fan first and then went backward to the Old 97's. I have seen Rhett solo and fronting the band and I love both but very differently. For all the struggling through his set, he was a good sport and the crowd wouldn't give up on him. And really, how could you walk out on the man who has, hands down, the most piercing eyes, the best hair, and the best booty shake in all of rock n roll?

Some girls in the front who had videotaped the entire show and the others that had bought Rhett two shots of Patrón were not happy that I chatted with the sound guy who climbed onstage to get me the setlist. But I do it all for you dear Blog Readers...

Doing San Diego Proud

Congratulations to Matt Curreri for scoring the opening slot for Rhett Miller at the Belly Up on January 14th. That's even better than Rookie Card opening for Soul Asylum, isn't it. I mean Soul Asylum may have sold more albums but Rhett's gotta be worth more for street cred. Care to weigh in, Mr. Gimbel?

Also, congrats to Augustana who will be performing "Boston" on The Late Show with David Letterman on January 3 before they embark on another headlining tour and then join up with the Goo Goo Dolls. Congrats, guys. Keep us up with any good stories from the road!