Free Event June 18: Do The Ride Thing with Rob Crow's Gloomy Place & Systems Officer

DoSD is partnering with a bunch of sponsors and the East Village Association for a big free event next Saturday at Silo in Makers Quarter. The event 21+ and is totally free with RSVP.

Saturday, June 18, 2016
Rob Crow's Gloomy Place
Systems Officer
SILO @ Maker's Quarter
4-8pm
21+

FREE WITH RSVP

Best Thing Ever: Rob Crow Reads Children's Stories

Rob Crow posted this amazing gem on Facebook and commented, "To be clear, this is the first in a monthly series of musical stories for children called STORYTIME WITH ROB CROW." The man just never stops creating.

Rob Crow Previews Tracks From He Thinks He's People

Rob Crow's got some new music. The two tracks below will be on Rob Crow's solo release, He Thinks He's People, being released on Temporary Residence on October 18.

Rob Crow - Sophistructure by Temporary Residence Ltd

Rob Crow - Scalped by Temporary Residence Ltd

Creedle at Stimy's Memorial Show at Casbah, 2/16/11

Some shots of Creedle's set at the Casbah:







You can see more in my blog post or my Facebook page.

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All Images Copyright © Michael Klayman 2011, All Rights Reserved.
It's nice to ask for permission before downloading or linking to them.

YouTube: Optiganally Yours, 1.25.09

Here are a couple songs from the Optiganally Yours performance at the Casbah.

Optiganally Yours, Casbah, 1.25.08

If you're not here, you're missing out. I have nothing more to say about that.

Friday Night: Kite Flying Society, Red Pony Clock, Scarlet Symphony, Aleuchatistas, Sleeping People

Friday night I didn’t quite motivate early enough for the South Park Walkabout, but I did get Natalie and make it in time for Pussy Galore at the Whistle Stop. Kite Flying Society was already playing when we got there with movies running on a screen as a backdrop. It was that backdrop and the fact that the room was packed that I opted to keep my camera in my purse for most of the evening. Kite Flying’s set was of mostly new stuff that will be on their next release, tentatively expected to drop in September will all of it’s picnic-in-the-park style la la and ooh oooh goodness. It seems like Kelly’s backup vocals are more pronounced in the new material, which to me could never be a bad thing.

Kelly Duley and Dennis Tashima

Red Pony Clock also played but by that point, the bar was even more crowded and I was busy talking with friends. It seems a kinda theme at Whistle Stop, that bands play the soundtrack to socializing versus being a “show” where every shuts up and listens intently (or at least should shut up). I like Red Pony Clock’s quirky indie music and hope they were able to get a drummer for their tour.

When the band finished, the dj music cranked up, and though it was Sunset Rubdown (or was that Wolf Parade), I’m not much for yelling over music, so I headed to my next destination. Natalie stuck around with her friends who would give her a ride since she lives close by.

I headed to the Tower Bar for Scarlet Symphony. There was a short line that disappeared while I stood outside talking to Dustin and Andrew. Inside, Mick made me a special somethin’ somethin’ and I made my way toward the front where Abraham let me scoot in front. Scarlet Symphony is engaging but even more than that, their big fans are rabid, singing along with every song and dancing their asses off.

Scarlet Symphony

After a few songs and a few bumps too many, I decided that I didn’t want yet another night of wearing my drink and made my way out of the crowd. After a few more songs, I realized how late it had become and didn’t wanna go overboard with another drink, so I called it a night there, too.

I headed back home, dropped off my car and walked to the Ken, where Sleeping People were playing. I appreciate their talent and all, but was more content sitting at the bar as the night wound down. I met Derek, the bassist for Aleuchatistas who was really, really cool. They were on tour from North Carolina. He asked why I wasn’t in watching the band, I answered that I wasn’t in the mood for what I thought would be proggy mathy cock rock and he said, “then you should be glad you missed us, too.”

Derek (Aleuchatistas) & me

Though, for the record, Devlin, the Ken Club bartender loved them, and he pretty much doesn’t like 90% of the bands that play there. No offense to other bands, it just is what it is. So anyway, a high compliment to the Aleuchatistas (who have also never received less than an 8 on Pitchfork, if that has any standing with you.) Derek introduced me to his bandmates, we hung out for a while longer, until the lights were on and the bartenders were kicking everyone out.

Casey was having an after party and the Aleuchetistas were staying with him, but they were still unloading gear, so the band came to my house for a beer, until Casey and everyone was back home and ready for them to come over.

I went with them to Casey & Danny's and everyone was pretty mellow hanging out, geeking out on vinyl and Rob Crow talking about…wait, I have no idea what he was talking about.

Anyway, I stuck around until I realized 5 am was rapidly approaching and I had to be up relatively early on Saturday, so I said my goodbyes and was on my way...not a bad way to start a Friday.

Rob Crow: punk rock karaoke

Friday night I busted out the camera when Rob Crow sang at punk rock karaoke at the Tower Bar, but since the image was pretty much pure blackness, Ryan Orion turned the video into an MP3 for you. It's a You Send It file, but worth the download.

Rob Crow sings Dead Kennedys "Chemical Warfare"

Wednesday Newsy Bits

I had few newsy bits yesterday, so I just didn't post, and there's not much today, either, but here's a couple things that might be of interest to you.

San Diego bands that headed to Austin for SXSW (officially and unofficially) are back and recharging. Matt (Vinyl Radio) said they had a great time played a ton of shows and will fill me in on details this week. Dynamite Walls played and have some cool photoblogs on their MySpace here. If your band has info, send it my way via the links on the right.
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I posted a listing about a midnight movie at the Ken Theatre on Saturday being put on by Action Jackson. Just an FYI, that has been cancelled. I'll get to updating all the other listings later this evening.
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Last week, I posted a message from the band The Colour Revolt whose stuff got stolen in Dallas on their way to SXSW. The van and trailer have been recovered (empty) and some of their equipment has turned up at pawn shops in the region. Police are still investigating and trying to track down more stuff, but it is a good lesson to register all your serial numbers so in the event that some punk ganks your shit, you are somewhat protected.
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Local bands getting press:

From MTV:

The Locust's New Erections: The inaccessible art/noise band holed up with producer Alex Newport (Melvins, the Mars Volta) for their third undertaking. But breaking with their own tradition of breaking tradition, the San Diego spazz-outs made longer songs this time — that's right, don't expect "One Manometer Away From Mutually Assured Relocation" or "God Wants Us All to Work in Factories" to last less than a minute.

From Pitchfork Media:

Once upon a time, Rob Crow played in a San Diego trio called Heavy Vegetable (Remember: assonance was a cool thing in the early 90s). Crow would go on to do Pinback, Three Mile Pilot, the Ladies, Goblin Cock, solo stuff, and, sure, a few dozen other bands in the process, while the other members of Heavy V-- drummer Manolo Turner and bassist Travis Nelson-- pursued similarly intense careers in professional gardening and monk-dom, respectively/allegedly. Vocalist Eléa Tenuta, meanwhile, later played with Crow in Thingy.

From Fiddle While You Burn (blog):

Earthless @ Vice Saves Texas- F-ing mind blowing!! I'll write more about this later but these guys from San Diego absolutely killed with a sound that reminded me of a (perhaps) heavier Comets on Fire. Earthless were easily one of the 5 best bands I saw all week in Austin.

The Last To Know: Heavy Vegetable back together!

OK, so maybe not Heavy Vegetable, but the members of Heavy Vegetable now called Other Men. Story here on Stereogum.com.

...Only, Other Men has roots deeper than any of
Crow's other acts; the trio was once Heavy Vegetable, a band prone to "hyper
spastic mood-swings" that released two records before their breakup in '95.

The resulting story's a good one: Drummer
Manolo Turner became a gardener; bassist Travis Nelson took up residence in a
monastery in Thailand with silent monks, disappearing for years (you can't make
this shit up); and Rob went on to become our hero. Eleven years later, they got
the band back together for Wake Up Swimming, the first release on Rob's label
Robcore Records -- and yes, we absolutely adore it.

Ooh, I can feel it now. Other Men Headline MayDay, San Diego. fingers crossed.

Wednesday Night: Kite Flying Society & Grand Ole Party @ House of Blues Sidestage, 2/14/07

I don't know if I've mentioned, but I am slinging swag for Filter Magazine around town just for the measly pittance of a magazine subscription, occasional concert tickets and CDs. So after hanging Aqualung posters all around downtown at lunchtime, and stopping by M-Theory after work, I was a little pooped. Plus, it was the Season! Finale! of Beauty and The Geek, which was awesome because nice guy Nate got to show off his Cambridge based band, So Long Princess, which is a punk band whose songs are all about Star Wars. TV rocks, sometimes.

I finally motivated and by 9:30 I was in front of the Casbah trying to sell my one ticket to Rob Crow. Being Valentine's Day and all, not many people were flying solo, so it was challenging, but with the assistance of Ben the door guy being AWE.SOME., I sold the ticket and was headed to the House of Blues by 9:53.

Having stopped by after work to investigate the Pepper thing, I knew the show would start later than scheduled because the restaurant overbooked for Valentine's Day and the side stage shows cannot start until the dinner guests are gone.

Many of my friends were there, but it quickly occurred to me, why was I so eager to dump a Rob Crow ticket? I love Kite Flying Society and I love Grand Ole Party but man, the House of Blues kills me. Happy hour being an exception ($2 pints of Peroni!), it is freakin ridiculous there. There are a couple of bartenders that I've become friends with (in that patron/bartender way) and they were busting their asses but getting a drink was still a wait. (You don't get to complain about the wait if you're one of the jerks ordering goddamn martinis, by the way) A draft pint is $6 and after 10 pm they switch from glasses to plastic cups. If you want to serve my beer in a clear plastic cup then I expect to pay $5 for all I can drink and I'll write my name on the side of my cup in a black sharpie. Otherwise, I'll take a glass, thank you. Or even one of those heavy plastic pint glasses. But a keg cup? I don't think so. Should I drink my beer with a straw, too?

More than all that, though, is the sound quality. The concert hall blows. People who show up don't shut up. The sound is only good if you're within 4 feet of the stage and dead center. The SideStage is equally as ridiculous and made a lot of people hate the Silversun Pickups before they loved them. If you went to the bathroom at any time during the sidestage show back then or last night you wonder how any band could be considered good because the speakers isolate and distort only the lead vocals. God awful is an understatement.

Kite Flying Society took to the stage just before 11 pm. They played a good set of old and new stuff and a cover of the Cure which defintely took me back to the Valentine's Day dances in junior high. The House of Blues is so on it that before they finished their set, the house music came on throughout the restaurant and bar. Ricockulous. Anyway, here's the set list and some photos:










In between bands I was so inappropriately hit on by a man that I know that I probably should've just left because it made me grumpy. A 70 something year old man telling you he wants to make love to you would make you kinda vomit in your own mouth, too. Especially when that's your best Valentine's Day offer. ew.

But I stayed. The sound made Kristin sound pitchy but as good as it could be for that venue, I suppose. The hipsters have adopted GOP, so pretty much everyone was wearing stripes or polka dots and apparently the hipsters are now allowed to dance, so they were all groovin on the music. One guy yelled out "pure rock chaos" and this girl behind me was all excited. "'Turn On, Burn On', man, that's my jam," she told her friend. Here's their set list and some photos.









Don't misunderstand...like I said, I love both bands, but maybe I should've stayed for Rob Crow.

Valentine's Day

I skipped everything last night and opted for sleep. No wine, cheese, and dating advice. No Red Pony Clock or The Octopus Project. Just me and my dog.



But I am ready to get my ass out tonight. Guess I'm going to Rob Crow since I bought a ticket though I'm really missing out at the House of Blues sidestage for Grand Ole Party and Kite Flying Society. Kelly has a kissing booth!

Anyway, I keep gushing over Swim Party, but this time, I'm just stealing their artwork to wish all of you a happy valentine's day.

Tuesday Newsy Tidbits: The Clockwork Army, Buck-0-Nine, Rob Crow

There has been some debate about whether The Clockwork Army is over or not. Here's the official answer from Emily:

Basically, Scott quit the band, but I intend on
finishing the record. I mean, hell, how many chances do you get to record a
record with Pall Jenkins?! So yeah, Pall and I are finishing up the album and
I'lll worry about playing shows when that time comes. I was thinking about
changing the name to mark such a drastic change in the project, but I am still
going to continue making music.

You should've caught Emily last night at the Casbah. The Muslims are bringin it big time.
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Buck-O-Nine are recording a new album. You can read all about it on their MySpace blog. I was a huge fan back in the day so I'm interested to hear how the band has evolved over the years. Like ska or not, there were few shows in 1996 that could compete with a Buck-O-Nine show at the old Soma by USD.
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Don't forget tomorrow night Rob Crow starts his national tour here at home. I'll be there and you should be, too. According to a MySpace bulletin, the band will be featuring Travis Nelson and Manolo Turner (both of Heavy Vegetable) and Donny and Kenseth (both former Pinback back-up bandmates).
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Last night I was at the Hard Rock Café (more on that later) talking to Madison, the morning host from KPRI, when Jim Laslovic walks up. (I used to teach tennis to James, Jr.) He tells us that as of 6:15 Marty Shottenheimer was canned. Thinking this was huge breaking news, I excitedly text messaged several friends, only to find out that it was already all over the news. So much for feeling "in the know", but in my defense, at least I was out, not glued to my TV. So there. Daye, I'm talking to you.
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Not much in today's New Releases, but don't forget to get your 10% off any Insound order by entering coupon code "SXSW_Insound" good through March 16.

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Rob Crow wears cute socks (and other weekend pics)

Finally, I have some better than my other camera pics of this weekend. I had to delete pics, so I was trying to do my best with the memory available.

I'm gonna go from most recent to oldest from the weekend:

So the last camera I captured with the better camera is of Rookie Card (just Adam and Dylan) at The Hole, a subtly named gay bar.



These are of Rob Crow at the M-Theory In-store performance:





He will be at the Museum of Contemporary Art's Thursday Night Thing playing his solo stuff (but probably with the band)as well as in his band Aspects of Physics.



Rob Crow wears cool socks:



These are from Friday Night:

Republic of Letters





and AFTER them A Scribe Amidst the Lions (did I mention I was drunk):

Thursday Night in San Diego: A recap and Newsy Bits

I joined my friends Andrea, Kara, Francine, Dan and Matt at Bacchus for a happy hour wine tasting. 6 tastings for $5 is a bargain, especially when there are 9 or 10 different wines from which to choose for your tastings. Here's a picture for your pleasure, taken by the camera on Francine's phone.



Apps were half price though the selection limited being that Bacchus is a wine store and not a restaurant. With the happy hour prices, olives and crackers are $2.50, a cheese plate is $5, a meat and cheese plate is $7.50. In a "twist my arm" evening, after our tasting and subsequently sharing 2 bottles of wine from the store, we headed down G Street to 57°. Dan has wine stored there so we shared a few more bottles of wine. I was going to write a fake review of the Belly Up show because I am mad at myself that I bought a ticket and didn't use it, but honestly, a good night shant be cut short for a 25 minute ride up the coast. So yeah, I missed Ryan Calhoun, Anya Marina and Greg Laswell. But I played poker and drank wine in the VIP room of 57°: life is all about trade-offs.

Last night was also the anniversary party at Kate Ross which had a reception at the store and a fashion show afterward at Bluefoot Lounge. My favorite photographer was present and took some pics for your enjoyment. All photos taken by David Fennema. Take a look at his photoblog for other amazing photos.









In other newsy bits:

Rookie Card is looking for a bassist: BASSIST WANTED Want to play and harmonize with Rookie Card? Fun established indiepowerpop/altcountry band. Good songs, good times. We dig Wilco, Guided By Voices, Teenage Fanclub, Whit Strips, Old 97's, Big Star, etc. Contact Adam through the band's MySpace page here. The band has several upcoming shows, so check their MySpace for those dates as well.

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If you missed the live S&M show at the Beauty Bar on Wednesday, check out the pictures here. The photographer also has a great collection of pictures of Republic of Letters here. Catch Republic of Letters at the Ken Club on January 26.

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If you happened to be at the awesome Danielson concert at the Casbah last summer, then go show your love by voting for their video on MTVU. Don't be too cool for MTV. MTV sells records, more record sales equals more touring, more touring means bands stop treating San Diego like we're some podunk town and can be bypassed on tours as bands head from LA to Tempe. Voting ends tonight at midnight.

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Rob Crow is featured on Stereogum's blog today. Check it out here.

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Time for my Friday nap. Peace out...

Rob Crow In-Store!

This news from M-Theory:

Rob Crow In-Store 1/27 @ 3pm at the Mission Hills Store!

Pinback's own (and a million other great indie bands for that
matter) Rob Crow has a new solo record out on Tues 1/23rd. As opposed to some of his other solo output where the songs were a bit more varied in genre styles,
this new record really does sound like a lost Pinback record. With Rob's
signature vocal styling and melodic guitar hooks, it's instantly recognizable to
Pinback fans and will attract those not so familiar with his involvment in the
band. In other words, it kicks ass!

We're proud to announce an in-store performance
to promote the new CD on Sat. Jan 27th @ 3pm at the Mission Hills store.
Additionally, we have a limited supply of autographed Ladies CDs, free with
pre-order/purchase of Rob's new solo record. Ladies is another project Rob was
in recently that involved a collaboration with Zach Hill (from Hella). Mark it
down. Pre-order the CD. See you on the 27th!

Also, Rob Crow & Friends will be performing at the Casbah on February 14.