Really Old Photos: HoB Anniversary Show

It's July 10. This show happened on May 22. Whatever. I'm looking through photos and there are a lot that I've never posted, but this one has been on the top of the list for a while.

House of Blues, May 22, 2010
OK, Go!
The Shout Out Louds
Earl Greyhound
Freelance Whales

Here are a couple photos from the day. Click 'keep on reading' for my full recap and more photos.






To be honest, I didn't really want to write about this show. It had a really rough start and though all the bands were great, the show never really felt quite right. Consider it a bad character trait...if something makes me uncomfortable enough, I pretend it doesn't exist. But then another part of my character likes order, so I can post any of the last two months of photos without getting these out of the way.

I'll rewind a little and tell you what I understood about this show. It was the 5th Anniversary of the San Diego House of Blues. The show was a daytime show, with doors at 1 and the show starting at 2 (which I had verified the night before with the production manager via text message), though there was even some confusion about that since each bands publicists believed that it was a nighttime show. I was later told that it had been moved to the day because of a private fundraising event that had a huge venue rental guarantee.

What I also understood was that this was a special show for the anniversary. It was actually two separate tours: OK Go! and Earl Greyhound had been touring, and The Shout Out Louds and Freelance Whales were touring. While merging the two tours together sounds like a bonus, it actually kinda sucked because it was very clear for this show that OK Go were "THE HEADLINERS!!!" and everyone else was just supporting "THE HEADLINERS!!!".

What happened that day was a clusterfuck. I've not been shy about my guestlist issues in the past, but that was compounded by the fact that doors opened late (after 1) and the bands started early (1:15). I was waiting to get my tickets and photo pass (which I'd made sure to be on two separate bands' lists just in case one of them forgot me). I was standing behind a couple who'd flown in from New Mexico to see their son playing drums in Freelance Whales. The box office had the lists from all the bands, but the House of Blues has to "process" the lists. (I'm unemployed and type 70+ wpm if they're hiring guest list processors, btw.) I've gotten used to this process delay, but the poor parents in front of me...Freelance Whales had already started, were only given a 20 minute set, so despite the fact that they were on the list, they bought two tickets just to get in. Watching them throw away $50+ like that made me cringe to my core. Fortunately, my stuff finally came through after waiting and I caught the last 2 songs of the Freelance Whales' set.

That of course was its own problem, because you're only supposed to photograph during the first three songs, so security came and tapped my shoulder, as expected, but I explained the box office situation and they let me slide, taking a couple photos from the crowd.







Earl Greyhound took the stage second and I didn't really have any strong feeling about the band except (1) those were the craziest leggings I've ever seen (2)that was the largest bass drum I've ever seen.






Once the show was underway, the show got better, minus that little thing about "THE HEADLINERS!!!". I mean, I really like OK GO. I think they give a great performance, and their music is made to be seen live and they're marketing geniuses, but the fact that they had a full length "HEADLINERS!!!" set while The Shout Out Louds only played 7 songs was incredibly disappointing. In my opinion, it was touted as a co-headlining show and the band that came all the way from Sweden probably won't be back right away, so they could've been given a little bit more time, especially considering their tour as headliners had been selling out in other cities. That said, the Shout Out Louds are fantastic. Go buy their records.







Finally it was time for "THE HEADLINERS!!!". And OK Go are definitely headliners. From beginning to end, the band is high energy and use a lot of gimmicks...blasting confetti, lit up jackets, laser beam guitars, jumping into the crowd, and more confetti. And it works. It really works. The crowd loves it. But sometimes they love it so much they seem to annoy the band. When singer Damien jumped into the crowd to sing a song, a few overzealous fans started shouting requests. He was annoyed, responded by turning his back to them and saying the worst way to request a song is in the middle of another one. He's right, but probably should've let it go. Still, I think they gave their fans everything they were looking for. I was happy to be there and happy to have finally gotten over any bumps and frustrations from earlier in the day.

Ticket Giveaway- HoB 5th Anniversary feat. Shout Out Louds, OK Go, Earl Greyhound, & Freelance Whales

Last week, Josh posted about OK Go after interviewing bassist Tim Nordwind. If you missed it, you can read it here. OK Go, however, are not the only reason to be excited about this show, with headliners Shout Out Louds touring on their third release, Work, Earl Greyhound touring on their sophomore release, Suspicious Package, and a band I've grown to love in the two times I've seen them perform live, Freelance Whales, whose debut Weathervanes is quickly making a name for the Brooklyn band.

I'll spare a long-winded post and just say that I am giving away a pair of tickets to the show, courtesy of Freelance Whales and Cornerstone Promotion. The show is Saturday, May 22 (TOMORROW!) and because it's a special anniversary show, it is a DAYTIME show, with doors opening at 1 pm.

To enter, send your full name and phone number to sddialedin at gmail and I'll pick a winner this afternoon.

OK Go - House of Blues- 5/22/2010

I won’t pretend like I had any clue what I was getting myself into when I was asked to talk to one of my favorite bands. I literally started listening to 24 hours of nothing but their records to try to figure out what to ask them. OK Go not only changed my outlook on music, but has been in the most coveted spots in my sun-shade since their first album was released in 2002. (I picked up their album in 2003.) But for those of you who are reading and don’t know who they are yet, here’s a couple reasons why you need to come out to their show on the 22nd at House of Blues.

They’re the guys that did that thing with the treadmill on youtube… You know that video right? Well they didn’t stop there, they also did that thing with the wallpaper, the boy band dance, the marching band and the giant machine doohickey. There are absolutely no words that can actually do justice to what I’m trying to say, so just watch their videos… (but don’t forget to comeback and read the rest of the article in a half hour!!!)
http://www.okgo.net/media/videos/

Welcome back… I told you they were awesome… but even before they were a world-wide internet sensation, they were fans of art. I had the chance to speak with Tim, the bass player, and even though they were running incredibly late, he took time out of his busy schedule to talk with me about music, art, and who to pick on my fantasy baseball team.

Tim and Damian (Lead Singer) have been obsessed with making art together for over twenty years. Which makes sense because Tim said the best description of their music that he has heard is “Arty Party”. Tim says, “Sometimes our songs are happy, sometimes they are sad, sometimes it’s a 29 dimensional representation and reflection of 7 different types of emotions… But we always try to write down our best and wildest and craziest ideas and kick you in the gut. Whether it’s a happy kick in the gut, a sad kick in the gut or a combination, we always hope that people will pick up on that.”

I didn’t want to focus on the “Treadmill” video, because it’s probably all that they had to answer on when traveling from town to town on their last 21 month tour. But Tim had nothing but great things to say about being a “Youtube Sensation”. “It’s become a wonderful space to put things that we’ve always done… We didn’t realize that it was going to be as huge as it was. We had just made up a dance to do at the end of our shows to amuse people, and our fans started doing the dance back to us. When we saw that it was such a viral and great thing, we tried it on treadmills.” Damian’s sister is also really into art, and came up with the choreography for all of their videos.

They’ve been name-dropped by Common, drawn on the Simpsons, featured on The Colbert Report and the Late Show, and to Tim’s knowledge, no one has been injured trying to dance on treadmills. But they’re still not done.

Their new video for “When the Morning Comes” has a Rupe Goldberg machine that took over six months of planning and work to entertain fans for about 4 minutes. “We’ve created a very special community that is built on these types of ideas, and we have some of the most creative and best fans in the world that really enjoy making these types of things as much as we do. We tried to keep most of the materials simple, and most of the parts are easily found in a thrift store…if your mom wanted to make this, she could… if she wanted to…”

The latest news from the band is that they have split from their major label and started their new label, Paracadute. “I think record labels are interested in one thing, and one thing only, and that is making money. We’re not as interested in that. We just want to make art. What it means to be a band in the 21st century is different than what it meant in the 1970’s. We’re having to be creative with distribution methods because people aren’t buying CD’s anymore… We are recording every show, and you can buy the show you just saw on a USB drive that’s shaped like a domino (in honor of the Rupe Goldberg machine) and the fans get the whole show five minutes after we’ve finished. This is something that we didn’t have the ability to do before that seems like a great idea.”

My last question was about their new album, “Of the Blue of the Colour of the Sky“. I had heard them talk about it on the Colbert Report, and wondered what the band thought of their new record. Tim said, “The process of making this record was so different that it makes me feel confident that we have been able to just write exactly what we feel, both musically and lyrically. It’s a record about hope. We wrote it in a rough political time, and the beginning of a tough economic time and it has made us very reflective. To me, it is reflective of how we hear music, and less about how we know how to play it. More than any of our records that we’ve made, this is a record that I like to listen to.”

Although he’s never had a “California burrito”, Tim said that he would definitely have to try it when they were in town. They’re extremely excited about the show, and you can definitely look for me up in front geeking out all over again.
You can buy tickets by going to http://www.houseofblues.com/tickets/eventdetail.asp?eventid=55621

OK, Go! Postponed

If you were planning on seeing OK, Go! tonight at the House of Blues, it's time to make some new Friday night plans. Damien has laryngitis and is under doctor's orders not to sing for 48 hours. The show will be rescheduled at a later date. There's always Grand Ol Party at The Soda Bar.

A Repost For Ok, Go! : AmEx Members Project

You've seen those American Express commercials about the Members Project, right? Well, I might not have reposted this, except if you take the time to read through the whole letter, you'll see that a Proctor & Gamble project is winning... can't they put up their own $5 million? Anyway, take the time to read through and go vote (if you have an AmEx card).
This message was originally posted by Damian of Ok, Go!



Hello people,

It's me, Damian, in Australia. We're getting ready for a short little tour here, which is exciting because, like absolutely everyone, I'm super into marsupials, and it's a rare chance for a boy like me to watch the toilet flush backwards.

I'm writing to ask for your help with a little good old-fashioned world-saving. My close friend and former band-mate*, Oliver, is one of the brains behind DonorsChoose.org, one of the coolest non-profits I know of. They're finalists to win a huge grant from the American Express Member's Project and they need your vote -- it'll only take a couple minutes of your time, and it'll do a lot of good.

DonorsChoose.org is a website listing public school teachers' best ideas for classroom projects. Public school teachers, who are so chronically under-funded that they often have to pay for books and materials out of their own pockets, submit projects they need money for, and real people like you and Jorge and my mom (bless her heart) can browse the various submissions and choose to directly help fund the ones that strike a chord. It's an ingeniously simple system that actually helps the people who need the help; 100% of the money ($13 million so far!) goes to classroom projects, unless donors specifically earmark their donation to help keep the lights on at DonorsChoose.org.

The AmEx grant is huge (up to $5 million), and chosen by an online vote open to all AmEx cardholders. If we vote DonorsChoose.org to victory, every penny will go to fund the more than ten thousand classroom projects in their database; DonorsChoose.org won't keep a dime. Which is pretty cool.

Right now, our heroes are in 2nd place behind a project that's semi-secretly funded by Procter & Gamble (a $68 billion pharmaceuticals/manufacturing mega-corporation with 140 thousand employees), who want the grant money to help distribute their "Pur" water filtering system. This affiliation isn't mentioned on the site, but the NY Times wrote about it last week. Here's the article, and here's another one from Consumerist.com.

So, if you have an American Express card (or one of these other ones), do me (and 250 thousand public school kids) a favor and vote for vote for DonorsChoose.org.. And if you don't have an AmEx (or an advanced Hogswarts degree in computer hackery), forward this email to people who might.

In any event, you should check out DonorsChoose.org and see what it's all about. We found a few projects that seemed particularly awesome and put them in this registry. Browse those if you like, or search for your own. Only good things will come of it.

Thanks all,

Damian

Monday Newsy Bits & Random Shit

Just some random stuff from Google today (since I already covered Habitat House and Street Scene):

I came across this good review (with MP3's) of Vinyl Radio. Check it out.
*****
Anyone remember seeing Zach De La Rocha's band Inside Out back in the day? After Rage Against the Machine released their first album, he came back and played at the Ché for what was at that point in my life, probably the best show I'd ever been to. Well, I was a little disappointed when I found this San Diego band using the same name. Someone should stop them. I mean, there's a definite market for wedding bands, so I'm not dissing them, but a new name, please?
*****
"Four San Diego girls will be in at Tower City Amphitheater tonight to cash in on their victory in OK Go's "Million Ways" MySpace/YouTube dance contest. Carly Tremblay, Alyssa Schott, Brooke Ellison, Katie Everds will be performing their version of the "Million Ways" dance with the band at the Cleveland show." (From Cleveland.Com)





*****

Last, I mentioned that in the final episode of Entourage, Vince was wearing a Vultures t-shirt. Maybe not San Diego's The Vultures, (there are three pages of bands called The Vultures on MySpace) but a shirt that said the Vultures nonetheless. I actually took a pic of my tv...





I'm guest blogging at SanDiegoish this week, so check them out for some more stuff from me.

ciao for now...

Super ridiculously long weekend recap: Snow Patrol, OK GO, Silversun Pickups, Orion Frequency, Republic of Letters, The Dissimilars, The Postals

The weekend is not quite over. Tonight I’ll be at the Ken Club with five bucks in hand to attend the benefit for Free Radio San Diego and you should be there, too. Support local enterprise and be there.

It has been an interesting music weekend for me in that the bands I witnessed couldn’t be more polar opposites. Friday night was spent at the Ken Club for The Postals, The Dissimilars, and Rich White Males.

This was my first time seeing The Postals, despite knowing Fred from his years of employment at the Ken Club and I always thought of him as such a quiet guy. He spent a year in the peace core teaching English in Moldova and according to him, drinking more vodka than most people should ever consume in a lifetime. His band is an aggressive punk band with that accelerated pace that bands have that allow them to play 20 songs in approximately 36 minutes. They were really fun to catch live.

They did not adequately prepare me, however, for my sweet quiet friend Jimmy when he took the stage with the Dissimilars. I mean, I guess I knew Jimmy had a thing with getting down to his tighty whities before, but he took advantage of the space in the room for sure. It was a lively performance, to say the least, and Jimmy knocked half my drink out of the glass in his mad offstage antics. Not quite as full contact as the Homeless Sexuals but not too far from it. And let me just say for the record, I don’t need to see any more of my friends onstage with their chones purposely partitioned so that one’s balls may be seen. I just don’t need to know my friends that intimately. Witness the madness.

By the time Rich White Males came on I was bouncing around the bar and laughing with Jimmy the Worm that I didn’t need to see his balls. It was only a few short months ago that I allowed him to crash at my pad when he was inebriated and had to sternly lecture, “I DON’T SPOON!” So anyway, Rich White Males played and fit the bill just fine with fast aggressive punk but it was drink o’clock and there were red headed sluts to be had. Oh, and to that stalker guy who told me you dumped your girlfriend and you were “just putting it out there,” I don’t know what made you think I care, but you freak me out so please maintain your distance in the future.

Saturday rolled around and I got up early to see if Shins tickets were onsale at Soma. They were not, but Andrea secured tickets on the Casbah site, so we’re golden. It will be my first show at the mainstage at Soma since it’s been in its current location. I couldn’t bring myself to do it for the White Stripes, DCFC, Muse and a ton of others, but I will suck it up and do it.

Still kinda sick, I rested most of the afternoon until it was time to head to the Open Air Theatre for Silversun Pickups, OK, GO, and Snow Patrol. I went with my old friend David, this kinda crazy New Zealander who I met just from seeing each other at shows like Keane, Starsailor and Stereophonics. Not quite thinking, we had a beer at my house before taking off and unfortunately arrived in time to catch SSPU in their last song, “Lazy Eye”. Bummer. This is the venue I’ve been waiting to see them in, too, because Brian is powerful onstage, too much so for HoB sidestage, the Belly Up, and Rimac is indoor so that brings standard arena issues, but the OAT is the perfect venue for his quiet mellow singing to build up into that scream that he does. Poo.

Ok, Go was next and I thoroughly enjoyed their set. I don’t own any of their CDs but I’ve seen them live a couple times and I like their sound, gimmicks and all. There was no choreography on this night, but some cool moments, nonetheless, like when Damian got the entire crowd to do the wave (“This is like an arena for sports, only there’s no sports.”) and when he got everyone in the crowd, during the second verse of “Tonight”, in lieu of lighers, to hold up cell phones, cameras, self-pleasuring devices, etc. for illumination. It was pretty cool. I don’t know all their song titles, but since they tend to follow the formula of repetitive choruses, here’s my completely inaccurate set list with titles I made up. (If you feel like doing the work, you can grade my accuracy of titles):

You Don’t Have to Be Alone (To Be Lonely)
Television, Television
Seemed Like A Good Idea
It’s Not Over Yet
Don’t Ask Me How I Am
Get Over It
Tonight
Invincible
Here It Goes Again
Do What You Want

I don’t know who put this show together, but despite being annoyed that I missed SSPU, this show was amazing in that the tickets said 7:30, the band started promptly, the set changes were fast but still long enough to grab a beer and return to your seat. My only complaint is the port a potty situation, but that is so standard at pretty much every event it’s just something you have to live with. A guy in front of me took a REALLY long time so I was dreading entering behind him, but fortunately he’d not been taking a dump but smoking a joint, so it could’ve been much worse.

While waiting in line for beer, I saw Brian, the singer of the Silversun Pickups, and we took this pic together. His shushing was because he was being incognito in the crowd and didn’t want any attention. If I hadn’t seen him with his girlfriend at the last show, I might’ve turned my head a little in his direction and napped a besito. Maybe next time.

Snow Patrol finally started and I was suddenly happy that all the cool indie crowd have disowned them a la Coldplay and they are comfortably in the mainstream because there’s something to be said for dancing in your seat, singing along, screaming, and being a total dork through the whole set. Not that I would do such things, just like I wasn’t totally crying during Run, but some people were and they were free to do so. Gary was really chatty which is really different from before, and not just chatty, but witty and funny. This was an amazing show in that it’s a huge venue (4,600 capacity) but still felt intimate. I took pictures, but my zoom disappoints, so this is the best of it.

I did compile the set-list by writing lyrics then going back and finding the nonsensical song titles, so here you go.

Spitting Games
Wow
Chocolate
Beginning To Get To Me
Headlights on Dark Roads
How to Be Dead
Grazed Knees
Chasing Cars
Shut Your Eyes
Set The Fire To The Third Bar
Somewhere a Clock Is Ticking
Make This Go On Forever
Ways & Means
Run
You’re All I Have

Encore:
The Finish Line
Open Your Eyes
Hands Open

The show was done by 10:45 or so, but my night was far from over. I headed out to The Alibi, had a drink, then went to the Sports Club to catch the last of the Nevermind The Cancer benefit. Republic of Letters was playing. They did their Nirvana covers and one of their originals and I found my friends and chilled out for a bit.

When they finished, we ventured to the Alibi to catch Orion Frequency. I, of course, had my earplugs, but Andrea and Kara did not, so we hung out on the patio until we heard the bass line of Waiting Room and came in to hear it. Everyone was going crazy for it and demanded that they play it again, and they did. A request for a third time was denied temporarily until they played their own song, then went back into Waiting Room. Sometimes you gotta give the people what they want. They were good sports about it all. After the show, I dropped the girls off and I was sound asleep with a quickness. Thank goodness today was a total day of rest for me…

In Anticipation of Snow Patrol, Silversun Pickups, and OK, Go

This Saturday is the Snow Patrol, Silversun Pickups, and OK, Go, show at the Open Air Theatre. I bought two tickets in pre-sale in hopes that I'd have a boyfriend by now.

HAHAHA. Ok, I'm totally kidding, but I did buy a pair assuming someone I know would want to go. Anyway, if you wanna go with me to the show, the ticket is $42.

The show is Saturday, doors at 7. I'll post the actual seat location when I have my tickets in front of me. E-mail me if you're interested.

House of Blues: Upcoming shows

Upcoming shows, most are on presale now, but can be purchased on Friday:

My Morning Jacket @ HoB Jan 2. $25
Blues Traveler @ HoB Jan 4. $25
Keller Williams @ HoB Jan 13. $22
G. Love @ HoB Jan 30 (limited all ages)& Jan 31(21+) . $25. (really? $25? maybe tristan prettyman will appear)
Los Amigos Invisibles & Si*Se @ HoB Feb 17. $22. (Si*Se is a great Rock en Espanol local band)
Snow Patrol, OK Go, & Silversun Pickups @ Open Air Theater Mar 3. $25-$32 (count on hefty service charges!)

Another Reason to see Silversun Pickups tonight:

The next time they play San Diego will be at the Open Air Theater on March 3. They and OK, Go! are opening for Snow Patrol. I can't believe how much I just paid for tickets in the presale.