Recommended Shows In San Diego September 10-15, 2013

Now that San Diego is relatively free from the annual summer visitors from the north and east, let's see what is looming on the musical horizon. Culminating in the 2 day conference known as the San Diego Music Thing this Friday and Saturday, there are some quality shows in and around the event.

On Tuesday Oklahoma garage rockers Broncho blast off at the Casbah...Gold Fields (Australia) bring their catchy electronica to El Dorado downtown...

Neko Case makes a rare local appearance at the House of Blues on Wednesday...her latest album with the long title might be her best yet...Seattle's Pickwick open for a terrific show....Minus the Bear play the Belly Up...

The Love Language open for On An On at Soda Bar on Thursday...the Raleigh natives recently released Ruby Red...highly recommended...

Rather than choose any particular show(s) for the SDMT, I will only highlight the ticket link here...

If that isn't enough, check out French Canadian singer Beatrice Martin, aka Coeur de Pirate, at the Casbah on Sunday...Gayle Skidmore opens...

One of the best weeks of music is straight ahead for music fans of all ages in San Diego...

Watch a video of Night Still Comes from Neko Case below.



Watch a video of Dark Again from Gold Fields below.

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.

Neko Case @ The Casbah, 3.3.09

Yesterday I spent the whole afternoon at the Casbah, sending updates via Twitter about the status of the wristbands for the free Neko Case show. It was a really fun day though I'll say off the bat that I didn't meet Neko except for an awkward "We need to get in the office" exchange as I was coming out and some kinda random overheard conversations to the photographers from the tour manager. "Neko wants you to use flash. She's 38 and doesn't want to look it. She doesn't want weird shadows." They also announced (for the first time ever at the Casbah?) that there was no photography allowed.

Anyway, the show was fun by the time it finally happened and Neko Case sounded good inside the Casbah, though I opted to listen from the smoking patio (which was a non-smoking patio for the night at the request of Neko) and that worked just fine for me. I have to say that this was a fly in show and as such, the band had about 20 bags of luggage piled in the office. It shocked me that with all that crap, they didn't even bring CDs to sell on the day her album was released. Are you kidding me? Would you rather people download? I don't know, but seemed like a total missed opportunity.

We weren't allowed to take pictures (MySpace got the exclusive) but I can at least post what I got. So there's a picture of line of people waiting for wristbands at 3 pm, the setlist, some of the bands instruments, and a post-show photo.

















It was funny that the show ended so early because by the end of it all, it felt like a full night, but I made my way to the Soda Bar for Joel P West, Matt Curreri and Paddle Boat and made a good night even better.

Free Neko Case Show At The Casbah Tonight (Presented By MySpace and TurboTax Free Federal Edition)

I'm at the Casbah now and as of 4:50 pm, there are still 40 wristbands available for the Neko Case show tonight. Come by and get your wristband, then come back when doors open at 7pm. The show starts at 8. I'll be updating until the show on Twitter @sddialedin. Follow me!

NEKO CASE TO PLAY A FREE MYSPACE SECRET SHOW ON TUESDAY AT CASBAH

MySpace Secret Shows has announced their next FREE secret show, and I'm pleased to announce that it is with one Neko Case at the Casbah on Tuesday, March 3.

PRESENTED BY TURBOTAX FEDERAL FREE EDITION



TUESDAY
MARCH 3, 2009
FREE! 21 AND UP!
Doors @ 7:00 PM

DETAILS BELOW

@ The Casbah
2501 Kettner Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92101

PLEASE NOTE: This show is first come, first served, so get there early and stay in line.

In addition, if you are one of the first 15 people with a print out showing TurboTax in your top friends, you will be guaranteed entrance to the show