San Diego Newsy Bits: Ruby Room Shutters, Peter Holslin Splits and other stuff you already read on Facebook

I haven't done newsy bits in some time, and when a friend told me he heard the Ruby Room was closing, I decided I'd just wait to hear from Sean and Brittni, since I've gotten in trouble for prematurely opening my mouth. Today, that announcement came down the pipe:



For Immediate Release

Tuesday June 11, 2013

Thank you, San Diego. Ruby Room Closing Its Doors and Starting New Project

After 5 years, 1500+ shows, 19 parking lot festivals, 3 CityFests, countless art shows, numerous charity events, and several friends and drinks later, The Ruby Room will be closing its doors and changing ownership the week of June 11, 2013. Due to creative and directional differences, operators and half-owners Sean and Brittni Cute are selling their shares of the Hillcrest music venue to their business partner, and taking the name with them. “This isn’t goodbye,” Sean Cute states, “This is reincarnation. The body is still there, but the soul of The Ruby Room is moving on to take new form”.

The Cutes have already starting shopping for new locations for their next project in the San Diego area. “Live music and art is who we are, and you will be sure to find a bigger and better version of this with our new project. The talent in San Diego is vast and we feel so fortunate to be a part of it,” says Brittni.

The Cutes would like to personally thank the community of San Diego, the fabulous neighborhood of Hillcrest, the Hillcrest Business Association, all the artists, musicians, non-profits, promoters, patrons, journalists, friends, neighbors, and staff that have passed through the doors of The Ruby Room. “It takes involvement from everyone to make a creative project of this magnitude happen. This has been an extremely exciting chapter in our life,” adds Sean.

Sean Cute will also be stepping down as Secretary of the Hillcrest Business Association, although he plans to re-join following the opening of the new location. Sean says of Hillcrest: “Giving back to the community that I was a part of even before we opened The Ruby Room is a high priority. Our neighborhood is definitely something special.”

Although owners Sean and Brittni Cute have left, The Ruby Room name will change by mid-July. The new concept will be led by their former business partner, with less of an art and music orientation, and more focus on being a local tavern.

Artists themselves, the Cutes do have a few side projects cooking in the summer months. Sean is currently working on a self-penned book about the experience and exploits of owning a rock venue titled “What The Hell Do I Know”. Brittni will be giving her abstract photography career a resurgence, which has spanned New York, LA, London, and Milan.

In other news, you've all read and heard by now that Peter Holslin has stepped down as music editor of San Diego CityBeat. (In case you missed it, David Rolland wrote a nice bit about it here.) I just wanted to add that San Diego: Dialed In has always appreciated all of the great pieces Peter has written and we have been inspired by San Diego CityBeat through the years, and we look forward to working alongside Jeff Terich covering this great music scene.

In little news, the Black Cat recently got an upgraded license. I believe the new license allows them to have one mic, though I've already seen bands like Trailduster and others in the location. I would venture to guess you might see karaoke or some of the quieter bands on the scene who will really only bring positive traffic to the neighborhood. (Black Cat is in City Heights, at University between 42nd and Van Dyke, just east of the 15.) Keep an eye out in our listings for shows. I'll post them whenever I can find them.

There were other things I meant to tell you...like 4th&B is supposedly going to reopen...but right now the building looks like shit so I'll believe it when I see it. (CityBeat posted the story at the beginning of May). There's other stuff I'm supposed to tell you, like Adams Avenue submissions can be sent in to the Adams Avenue Business Association and that San Diego Music Thing has started to announce acts, but I'll give you full posts on those when I have more time. 

xoxo

SD@140bpm recommends........

Tonight Ocean Beats is moving away from their normal Ocean Beach Winston's location to bring the Bass to The Ruby Room in Hillcrest. Ocean Beats really packed the bill tonight, Girl Unit and SALVA alone are enough talent to draw a headlining crowd, the fact that they are playing together with great local support including URBN:LGND is going to make tonight a night to remember.

Girl Unit from the UK has a knack for making amazing sound spheres by combining vocal hooks with elements of R&B, Hip-Hop and electronic music.  Girl Unit's single Wut is known in the electronic community to be one of the best singles of 2010-2011 and he has shown he has a lot more in him with his great new Club Rez EP.

Salva is a San Francisco native now living in LA coming to San Diego fresh from the festival turned water park Lollapalooza and one of the most talked about DJ's at this years Lightning in a Bottle festival.

Make sure to get to the Ruby Room early as URBN:LGND is first on, even though she is listed as third on in the poster she is actually first on.  She gets on at 9:00 and if you RSVP on facebook it is only $10 to get in before 10:30.

The Set Times are:
9:00-10:30 URBN:LGND
10:30-11:30 Austin Speen and CRMNL
11:30-12:40  Girl Unit
12:40-1:40 Salva

Kool Keith: Live from the Ruby Room

---- the preface(Friday afternoon) ----

J.Rosey Jameson: who?
me: Parker Ebert. Me and my partner, JaySiskel wrote the piece on Devin the Dude last month.
J.Rosey Jameson: who?
me: Devin th...
J.Rosey: I know who Devin the Dude is, who the hell are you?? And what in the cheezandrice do you want?
me: Tickets. Im reviewing the Kool Keith show tomorrow night at the Ruby Room. Your receptionist Lily called. Told me come pick-up 3 tickets, for me, Siskel and our photographer Tony M.
J.Rosey: Tickets? 3?? Why? Whadyahave security? An entourage? Are you famous? Britney? Taking a date? There’s one of you. One ticket.
me: uhh..okay. Should I get it...from...at… the venue?
J.Rosey: How should I know? You're a writer. I don’t know how you do what you do. You're supposed to be slick, sly, resourceful, ear to the street, pulse of the city, stuff like that.. Figure it out. You think Bernstein’s boss let him into Nixons office?
me: uh, Bernstein didn’t go into Nix...
J.Rosey: That’s right! You think the Tribunes owner filmed ‘Deep Throats’ confession for the jury? You're a journalist. Get it done. Think on your feet like Axl Rose in 'BeverlyHillsCop' and get the h*ll out of my office. Have that review on my desk Monday morning. LILY!!! Fire whoever made this coffee and get me a new cup!
(Lily pops up, pushes me out as she goes in and slams the door).

-------Saturday (show night) -------
Not going to waste anytime with formalities, this was impressive. One a.m., 60-65 people. Every person in the venues at the stage but there’s no pushing. No catty glares. No tall guys in front of the shorties. Everyone has enough elbow room to throw their hands in the air. Keith rockets through a riveting 38min set with only one stop between songs(a 7min rant on skinny jeans. Yep…skinny jeans). Instead of seven 3min songs he gives us 90secs of 22 classics. And I do mean CLASSICS. The crowd goes crazy. They know every word. And I do mean EVERY. After 2 encores he steps off the stage. No one moves an inch. No one rushes him. No one accosts him. The mob freezes in place and applauds with fevered energy as Black Elvis coolly makes his way from fan to fan. Taking pictures, shaking hands and signing posters with each person. This is what’s most amazing about the night, the mutual respect exchanged between Keith and his fans. We don’t rush him and he doesn’t rush through his time with us. It’s easily one of the most genuine examples of art appreciation I’ve ever seen.

Kata at the Ruby Room, 11/3/10

I went to the Ruby Room at the beginning of this month to kill some time while waiting for my parent's plane to land. I had time to shoot just a couple songs from Kata's set.



It's been a bit of a revolving cast of players, especially in the drum chair. SD music titan Ben Johnson is one of the drummers these days.





Click over to my blog for more. If any bands want some nice shots of their performance/rehearsal, let me know.

Video: Republic of Letters "Stories"

It was a rainy Saturday just a few weeks ago when Republic of Letters invited friends and fans out to participate in the filming of their music video. The $1 beers at the Ruby Room for the event certainly helped. I wasn't there until the last few takes, but it was a fun afternoon, regardless. I wanted to be more of "the crowd" than have any cameos, kinda ducking away from any camera, so you won't actually see me in any shots, but I was there and happy to be a part of it.

Wednesday Night: ...students, Ultra Violent Lights, Blessed Deep Band @ Ruby Room

I asked my friend Aaron to do a quick write-up about the show tonight at the Ruby Room. I've already expressed that I'll be at The Soundtrack of Our Lives at the Casbah, and there are other great shows tonight, too, but I thought he could introduce you to the bands himself. (disclosure- Aaron manages ...students and Ultra Violent Lights)

Wednesday night will be a great night for music in San Diego. The Transit War's Mike Frey will be celebrating the release of his new solo project ...students' new album "New Habits" at Ruby Room. Frey started recording this album 2 years ago with friend Ilan Rubin of Nine Inch Nails/The New Regime fame after The Transit War went their separate ways. Frey has assembled an all star line up as a backing band with members of Spell Toronto, Denver Harbor, and Ilan Rubin will be making his first appearance on drums since last performing with NIN at the Wiltern Theatre in September. If you are a fan of Beck, Blur, Death Cab For Cutie, Julian Casablancas you will dig this. ...students new album is out today and available digitally only.

Also on the bill are brooklyn band Ultra Violent Lights which feature ex members of Fenix TX and Jubillee. The band released their debut album "Here in Filth" in November and have been crossing the US since. If you like Nirvana, Echo and the Bunnymen, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club you will love this band.

(Opening the show is Blessed Deep Band, and they're friends of one of my favorites, Low Red Land from SF, so get there early and show some love. -r)

MP3s (right click to download)

...students - New Habits

Ultra Violent Lights - Spiders Eat The Flies

Show Info:
Feb 24th 2010

...students, Ultra Violent Lights, Blessed Deep Band

Ruby Room
1271 University Avenue
San Diego, CA 92103
FREE SHOW
$1 Beers from 8-9pm

sd:dialedin Presents: Dynamite Walls, The Hard To Get, The Moviegoers Tonight at Ruby Room!

Save The Date: July 16, 2009

Save the date! A week from Thursday, I'm presenting a show at Ruby Room!

Featured bands will be Team Abraham, The Parson Redheads (from LA), and Ryan Blue. Make plans to join us, won't you?

AVicious plays "All Systems Go" - photo recap

SEE MORE AT AVICIO.US

If anyone has been to see Transfer in the last year or so you may have noticed that they have a lighting/video show that sets them apart from the pack. What you may not have noticed before is the video team that puts together it all together and plays it live - that's right PLAYS THE VIDEO LIVE via MIDI interfaces (at the Casbah, look towards the sound booth). We understand that the stage at the Casbah isn't quite the size to fit us and Transfer and so we resign ourselves to the dark and murky corners of the club so that the Transfer boys can shine. Well that changed this last Saturday when Matt Fraynd from Glorybound Productions offered up a stage at the debut of "All Systems Go" located at the Ruby Room for AVicious to rock themselves. We accepted the invitation to play along with DJ Groundfloor and Istatic for the night. What we didn't bet on were the hangovers that followed us from Austin.


AVicious took off from SXSW, where we were playing the Obscure Magpie 14-hr Party, at 8am with a rich sweat that only comes from humid weather and whiskey. The wrap party was the night before and we hit it hard thus getting to San Diego was a painful endeavor. I will not bore you with all of the details but we landed, picked up the vehicle, loaded in and hit the hotel for a nap. It was our oasis.



Here are some of the photos from the night:






SEE MORE AT AVICIO.US

Rosey's Diary: 2.25.09 - 3.03.09

I caught up with a few way overdue posts yesterday, but I quickly realized that part of the reason I haven't been writing is because I have been so incredibly busy, and when I have room to breathe, I have actually been giving myself time away from the computer. That said, I'll pick up where I left off at the end of February. If you care to read my diary, click 'keep on reading'.



2.25.09: AC Newman, Dent May @ Casbah, Karaoke @ Soda Bar

I sold merch for AC Newman and Dent May, so I didn't really get to see the show, but Dent May is this amazing band with a eukele as the centerpiece. I was a little surprised the show wasn't sold out, especially since there was such demand for Neko Case tickets just a week later, but there were plenty of people who told me that A.C. Newman's first album, A Slow Wonder changed their lives. Carl was kind enough to sign a tour poster for me at the end of the night.

The show ended quite early because the band was playing on KEXP the next morning and had to be up by 4 a.m., so this gave me time to hit the Soda Bar where I ran into friends on Kipper's Karaoke Night. They tried to get me to sing, but as I've said before, it is NEVER going to happen, so instead I played pool with a guy who lives around the corner from the bar and asked if I was a student at SDSU. Considering I graduated college in 1998, I have to say I was more than flattered. The bar was a bit slow so they closed down a little early and I was on my way to prepare for another day.

2.26.09: Kinky @ House of Blues, N.A.S.A.@ Casbah

The next night I made my way downtown with a Jonathan and Xavie to see Kinky. I had won 10 tickets from Kinky and thought I'd take my best friends who both had upcoming birthdays, but they couldn't make it after all, so I hooked up some friends with tickets. When we arrived, the line was crazy and the first band hadn't started, so we decided to hit up The Local. On Thursday nights they have $3 pints and other great drink specials, so we stayed there for quite some time, bumping into a few of my friends who were on a pub crawl. When we finally left to the show, Kinky was about to take the stage. I smuggled my camera in, as did half the audience, but could never really get close enough to the stage for any real results, so this is the best I got, and actually the photo on the left was taken from the balcony when we were getting drinks. It's funny that I get press releases so frequently from the band's publicity agency but they couldn't hook up a photo pass or tickets for the actual show. I don't hold it against the band at all and they gave a stellar performance and it seems to me that of all the shows I go to, the rock en espanol crowds are by far the most frenzied and enthusiastic at shows, perhaps because they don't happen very often.



After the show, we made our way to see N.A.S.A., a DJ duo, at the Casbah. It was fun and the crowd was in full dance party mode, but personally I just don't get the whole DJ thing. I felt like I was at Mr. Crown's or Safari in Tijuana back in 1993, which is all good and fun, but I guess I'm just always gonna be someone who prefers to see live bands. Maybe I should look into ecstasy?





2.27.09: Swim Party + Writer (Split 7" Release Party), Joel P West @ Whistle Stop

Because I was going to be on a music panel on Saturday, I opted to steer clear of any drinks on this night, which was a damn shame because all my favorite people were there and everyone was having a blast. Joel P West started off the night and where my photos as Whistle Stop generally suck, now that my camera is failing and making everyone purple, you can really see why I didn't really bother with photos that night:



Still, Joel told me he's taking some time to work on new songs and hopefully start recording a new album so I'm looking forward to that. He's a high school teacher so I guess spring break gave him some time to play shows including this one, one at Soda Bar, and another at TNT, all in the span of a week. His songs simultaneously make me happy and sad inside and his vocals backed by beautiful string arrangements make him an artist to watch.

To make it an extra special night, Writer and Swim Party were releasing their split 7" record and played together. Eli, Jaime, Andy, Petro, Alex, and Erik all played along, and even had Natalie on keys for a couple songs. For the most part they alternated between Swim Party and Writer songs that just made for this amazing superband that couldn't be drowned out by the beyond packed Whistle Stop.The $5 records can be purchased at either bands' shows.



2.28.09: Associated College Press Panel, Sight & Sound feat. Jamuel Saxon, Swim Party, Joanie Mendenhall, art, performers, and more. Hosted by ME! @ Planet Rooth Seth Combs B-day Party featuring Transfer @ Ruby Room

I had been invited by San Diego Union-Tribune music critic George Varga to be on a panel for the National Association of College Newspapers convention that was held in San Diego. Once I got over the feeling of "what the hell am I even doing here", we actually had a great discussion about music journalism and it was cool to be on a panel with Bart Mendoza, Marc Balanky, Keli Dailey, and my blog partner-in-crime, Natalie Kardos. Natalie and I stayed after for a while and chatted with some students until we finally had to bail so she could dye her hair blue. I didn't have much time to do anything after because I had to be at Planet Rooth by 6 to get squared away for my night of being MC for Sight & Sound. I know it's a bit of an oddity for someone like me who hates being photographed or onstage to be at two events in the same day where I was on a mic, but it ended up being a really good time...at least once I was able to introduce the bands. There was a long wait between my arrival and the festivities beginning, so Natalie and I walked to Sicilian Thing and had some pizza before returning. I took to my hosting duties, but the actors and carnival people just kinda did their own thing, starting before I got through my intros, so who am I to argue with thespians or a carnival woman with a painted clown face?

There was a contortionist, a young acrobat on a Chinese pole, a duo who did a scene from a play, and then Joanie Mendenhall playing solo. And, as self depracating as she can be, she sounded great. She wanted me to introduce her as a "five time San Diego Award loser."



After Joanie the crowd moved outside, where I introduced a comedy/acrobatic group called the Platt Brothers who had this choreographed dance routine that was pretty funny. I was really happy to be able to introduce Swim Party, and later beatboxer Generic, who ended up joining forced with Jamuel Saxon. It was also cool because some of the students that were at the conference earlier in the day came to the event. (Although their advisors left after an awkward jaunt into The Rubber Rose. They explained that they were from a conservative Jewish school on the east coast and I felt bad for not even thinking about warning them.)





I hung out for a few minutes after the show but I wanted to catch Transfer at Ruby Room, too, so I said my goodbyes and headed over. I missed the show, walking in during the band's last song, but I at least got to wish Seth a happy birthday and chat with Matt and Sean for a bit. I think I might try and do an sddialedin.com show soon, and it will likely be at The Ruby Room, so I'll keep y'all posted.


After all that goodness, I took a couple days off from going out and actually wrote a bunch, catching up from the previous month. Yikes. I think I need a better time management system. I'll pick up this diary post in the next post...

Transfer & AVicious - Ruby Room 2/28 - VIDEO!

I must confess that I have honestly never met Seth Combs whose birthday we were on hand to celebrate when we drove down to San Diego Saturday for the Ruby Room show. In fact I don't even think I met him that night. So I will take this chance to wish him a very happy birthday and to thank him for having an event designed to protest the most inhumane prop h8. Charity usually means that you drink a little more than you would during regular shows. That combined with so many good friends and so little will power equates to a VJ set with a bit more improv than normal. Good thing it worked. We had such a great time at this event. Meeting Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra was eye opening and I would put them on the MUST SEE list. Only Pauly from Rocky IV had a better relationship with his robot. McFlow was definitely good but how bout a round for the VJ's who lit up your set on the fly? Well, maybe next time. Ruby Room staff - big ups as they say for helping us so much at load in and throughout the night!

Here are videos from the show - Transfer, Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra & McFlow (subscribe to our YouTube - it's classy):

Overdue Recap: November Shows

Catching up. Yes, with November. Looking back, not only have I not been writing a whole lot, but I also gave up on taking pictures. Regardless, I'll go back in time for a quickie recap. I'll save the space and put it all after the jump if you're interested enough to click 'keep on reading'.


Rewinding back to Thanksgiving week, I started the week selling merch for O'Death. Old Devil and Tobyn Clark and the Tender Faeries opened but honestly I was out on the patio and didn't get to escape inside to catch the show, and even Natalie didn't feel she got any good pics. The bands were awesome though the crowd was really disappointing. There just weren't enough people there for how great O'Death is, though I came to a conclusion that their name certainly doesn't invite a crowd for how they actually sound. They're actually more Americana and folk than the name suggests and expected a lot more people to be there. The description on their MySpace page of Gothic/Country/Punk feels inaccurate. They'd work well with Murder By Death, and I think they actually are working on a split vinyl with that band. Neither here nor there, I guess. The band was gracious and at least I sold a handful of records. There was also some weird band business after, perhaps what happens when 5 smelly dudes spend far too much time together. I hope they sorted all that out since they're continuing with some major European touring.

The next night I decided at the last minute to check out Anti-Monday League. I caught a bit of the Subadons from Tijuana but the night was a little dead, so I decided I would check out El Dorado (it was their opening night). It wouldn't be right if I didn't stop at Chee-Chee first, so I hung out with Fred. We could see a line at El Dorado and I was a little shy, but Fred made me do recon, so I checked it out. Relative to downtown prices, I guess the drinks are cheap, but relative to Chee-Chee, not so much. It seems like a great option for a date and all the staff and bartenders are super friendly.


I stopped back at Chee-Chee before returning to Casbah for The Gift/Curse. Lighting sucked so I just hung out rocking out to the band and enjoying the tunes and didn't bother with pictures. There were quite a few more people out by the time I got back and for good reason...The Gift/Curse rock.

The next night I stayed home, regrettably missing Yeasayer which I've come to understand was a mistake, but driving to La Jolla just seemed like a drag and I have to watch the budget these days more than ever.

Thanksgiving Eve has long been one of my favorite nights to go out. It seems like people return home and are ready to party with eating a feast the only major goal the next day. I went out to dinner at Ken Grill with my cousin, who was visiting from LA, and Sara, and that ended up being a great time in and of itself, then we hit the Ken Club. When they called it a night around 11, they dropped me off at The Ruby Room which was a little disappointing only because I got there during Writer's last song. I expected them to play last. My friends that were supposed to be there weren't, but fortunately Petro, Alex, and Kris were, so we hung around for part of Jamuel Saxon's set before they had to go and they agreed to give me a ride back to the hood. They decided to grab some food and we met up at Petro & Kris' and watched DVDs of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia until Alex eventually dropped me off.

Thanksgiving with the family was chill. My sister and her husband took my niece to Arizona, so it was just my cousin, my parents and myself for Thanksgiving. After a whole day with the family, I visited my second family at the Ken Club.

Friday was another family day until nightfall, when my cousin and I went to El Dorado. I could've pretty much ended up anywhere, but I knew Connie would love the feel of the bar, so I guess we have a place to go when she comes to town that is divey enough for me and upscale enough for her. It meets right in the middle for us.

From El Dorado, she dropped me off at the Casbah. I missed the opening bands but was there in time for the headliner, Deerhunter.


The show was sold out and packed. Deerhunter gave a fierce performance though not really evident in my sloppy photos. The crowd was clearly pleased with the performance that was delivered as I heard some people talking about it like their minds were just blown. I hadn't planned very well and assumed I would know someone at the show, so unfortunately I spent half the show trying to find anyone who'd be willing to drive me to Kensington, and I'm ever so grateful that Peter ended up taking me. I owe him big for that.

My November closed out with another family day and a couple more shows. On Saturday I chilled out a bit until the evening when my mom, cousin and I did some shopping downtown, then decided to walk around in Coronado. We discovered a new spot that had opened the night before at the Ferry Landing. It's called Lil' Piggy's BBQ and it was awesome. We didn't eat a full meal, but after meeting the cook and talking to the people working there, my cousin ordered a kids meal ("The best hot dog I've ever had," she said) and it came with our choice of side so we went with the mac n'cheese, which on its own sells for $2 and was delicious. The chef also brought us some pulled pork and BBQ chicken to sample. So convinced, we ended up buying a plate to take home to my dad. My mom thinks the plate should come with Texas toast instead of just regular sliced white bread, but overall the food we sampled was delicious and my dad was happy with the feast we brought him. They have outdoor picnic table seating that has plastic wind guards and I think it will do well in Coronado. Theydo catering and sell full racks of ribs (which I'll try next time around), and they have a fridge with 100 different bottled beers.


After dropping my mom off in Chula Vista, Connie dropped me at home and I made my way to Casbah to see Team Abraham, The Parson Red Heads, and Blitzen Trapper.

I got there just as Team Abraham took the stage and they sounded great. The added female vocals work well for them. But I'm biased, right? (BTW, if you're on Twitter, follow them @TeamAbraham)


I've also written about The Parson Red Heads and Blitzen Trapper in the past. Both bands are excellent and I love seeing them live, so this bill, on a Saturday night, was a real treat. The Red Heads are happy and sweet and conjure up days laying around on a grass field and girls with daisy crowns in their hair. And I still maintain that the one guitarist looks like Buddy Jesus.




Closing out the night was Blitzen Trapper. I just love these guys and every time I see them it reminds me of just how warm they are, both in sound and stage presence. They are a band happy to be who they are and where they are and it shines in their performances. With the crowd singalongs, it's obvious they've gotten some devoted fans over time, too.



The next day they played an in-store at M-Theory and I figured I had time to get there since they don't usually start on time, but this one did, and it was short and I arrived in time for one song. I could kick myself. I was sure someone would post the video on YouTube, but can't seem to find any. I guess I've learned my lesson about taking my sweet time getting somewhere.


So that rounds out my November. I guess I will now attempt to catch up with December so I don't have anything hanging over my head as we roll into Christmas and 2009 and who knows what access I'll have to the web when I'm gone. Last time I got wi-fi but it wasn't cheap...