Transfer <3's Kyle Proehl

Kyle Proehl wrote a quasi-Pitchfork review about Transfer's new EP a few weeks back on SignOnSanDiego's Street. In turn, Transfer made Kyle their "fan of the month" and gave him a beard of his very own. Just a little morning fun....

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And in SignOnSanDiego News:

Kyle Proehl was fired from Street. He posted on his blog here. And Kyle, I do care.

Also, Natalie is this week's "Street" person. You can find her in print in the Night & Day section, or click here. Actually, click here for the full article- and she gave me such a sweet shout out. Thanks, Natalie. Feel better soon.

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Pacific Beach and the Labor Day Fight

I wasn't at Pacific Beach on Monday for Labor Day. In fact, other than hanging out on the deck at Taang! Records (before it moved), having a couple beers before a show at Cane's or having picnics at Tourmaline, I can't really remember the last time I went to any local beach for any reason. It's not my thing, never has been. The beach "lifestyle" has never really appealed to me.

My sister, her husband, and Johanna live in PB, however, so I do pay attention to what goes on in their 'hood. I recently read the Reader cover story and now the news that there was a "riot" in PB on Labor Day Weekend, and all I can say is that I'm not surprised. I avoid PB for a host of reasons, but the frat-boy, "bro", high-fivin' mentality that pervades makes me gag. I avoid douchebags at all costs.

The thing is I know how it is; a whole group of people take the blame for the stupid few who can't handle their booze, who have too much testosterone and want to fight anyone who even looks at them, and who generally have no respect or concern for anyone or anything. In my experience, these people are usually transplants to San Diego via the military or SDSU who are here to live the life they saw on MTV spring break specials. They are probably 5% of the people who hang out in PB. Get them in one group and you have some serious groupthink and mob mentality. They may be few, but they are asshole enough to keep people like me from going to the beaches in PB. Ever.

As a person who believes strongly in personal rights and freedoms, I have never supported a booze ban on the beach. I never thought I would, either. But when you see these herds of assholes on the beach, as long as they are there, I won't be. And I pay the sunshine tax, too, so shouldn't I feel comfortable enjoying the beaches of San Diego? I still don't support a booze ban, but this situation definitely makes you think of ways to fix the problem: no booze on holidays? charging a fee to use the beach? limiting the amount of people on the beach at any given time? banning anyone who says dude or bro more than 5 times in 3 minutes?

In fairness, I've heard there are various stories about what happened. I can't seem to find the clip, but my dad said that the news showed that the "riot" started after police were called to break up a fight. One of the cops left his quad in the water, the tide started to pull the quad in the water, so a dude started pushing the quad out of the tide and the cop tackled him, not realizing he was actually just trying to help. From that, the initial melee ensued (supposedly). I'm sure with thousands of people on the beach, there are thousands of varying accounts, but just watching any of these videos and I know why I don't do the beach "scene". (Found the video. See it here.






More amateur (and dizzying) video here, here and here.

Clearly, if you care about booze on the beach, either for or against it, this is the time to step up and make your opinion count.

Read here for blog/comments.

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Street Scene kindaalmostreallyconfirmed At Del Mar Fairgrounds

From today's Union Trib:

Contract addresses drugs, obscenity at Street Scene

DEL MAR: The board that oversees operation of the
Del Mar Fairgrounds approved a contract yesterday to host the music festival
Street Scene on Sept. 22 and 23.

The contract, which has not yet been signed,
would prohibit Street Scene's Los Angeles-based producer from allowing the
display or sale of drug paraphernalia or any obscene or offensive material.

Last month, the board of directors for the 22nd
District Agricultural Association, which operates the fair, heard from substance
abuse prevention groups who were concerned about drug and alcohol use at Street
Scene. Yesterday, a few of those groups repeated their concerns, and thanked the
board for addressing them.

“I'm very confident that we can be the host
of this event and do it in a safe and secure manner,” said fairgrounds general
manager and CEO Tim Fennell. –E.F.

Now just sign the damn thing!!

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signonsandiego's Street section has a blog

You can check it out here. It has a clean format and the benefit (or detriment) of several writers. I guess they've formatted all the old blogs (liner notes, food stuff, etc.) and articles from Street to fit into this format, but this version is new. I like it.

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You Can't Be A Pimp and A Prostitute, Too

I just thought I'd throw a line from Icky Thump up for no particular reason.

Baby Heisman and Cat Dirt Sez have both commented on the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau's (ConVis) recently announced promotion of San Diego as a destination for our indie music scene. The Union Trib has an article on it. My Google alerts sent me to the website. Even my friend who works for the Chula Vista Convention and Visitors Bureau sent me a link. So yeah, I wasn't gonna blog about it. But here I am and it's on my brain, so let me pitch in my two cents.

First of all, I agree with CatDirt...who are the people commenting on "the scene"? Then again, I am not in music promotion, so maybe they really are a big deal and know their shit, but seems to me a lot of people writing about music these days or talking about music (on the radio) or promoting shows don't go out. They might know how to use 6 adjectives in a sentence to tell you exactly how a band sounds on CD but they aren't going to shows. I know. I go to shows. They are not there. One show a month doesn't count. Shit, four shows a month don't count if they are at any combination of the Sports Arena*, Coors Amphitheater, and House of Blues. Try the Tower Bar every once in a while. Or Over the Border. Or Scolari's. Or Surf n Saddle.

Apparently $1.1 Million dollars will be spent on marketing San Diego, including this Indie initiative. I say great. If we're gonna have commercials in Chicago and billboards in Atlanta, and radio spots in New York tellin people to come to San Diego anyway, better to promote our thriving music scene rather than just stick to Shamu, the Zoo, Legoland, our outlet centers, or leather skinned chicks sunbathing on La Jolla Shores. Yes, Tourists! Come to San Diego! Come check out our amazing bands! Send me an e-mail, tell me what you wanna hear, I'll tell you where to go. Unlike some people, I welcome you. I mean "Shamu" isn't even really named Shamu. Get over it. Come see our bands instead!

So everyone is bitching about the music selected. It's not cool enough. Not indie enough. Who are those people/bands anyway? They should've had (insert favorite local band here). I say good for the bands on there for having their name out enough that people completely out of touch with San Diego music were able to find them. Or maybe they're not outta touch but just have different methods in finding music (podcasts, for example). Good for you Adam Gimbel and Rookie Card. Good for the guys in A Weeks Worth, you know I love you. And good for you Bart Mendoza and The Shambles.

Newspapers and weeklies can say blogs are irrelevant; in return we bloggers can call them out of touch...the truth is we have similar goals. Yeah, they might be slow in reporting news. Yeah, we may not fact check. The fact that it's all out there and available should be praised. If "the man" wants to promote our city and use our musicians to do it, go with it. Few bands want to stay unknown and underground forever. Brooklyn has their scene, Portland has theirs, it's about freaking time people started paying attention to ours.

* By the way, apparently iPayOne stopped paying the bills for their naming rights, so we can happily go back to calling the Sports Arena the Sports Arena and remind people that it's called the Sports Arena because it was built for sports. It never was and never will be a worthwhile music venue despite that awesome scene in Almost Famous.

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Republic Of Letters

I'm sorry I failed to post this yesterday, but U-T writer Rich Baiocco wrote an article about Republic of Letters, this week's Amplify San Diego/SignOnSanDiego Band of The Week:

Despite not having released an official album yet, Republic Of Letters has
managed to stir up local buzz on the strength of a 2005 3-song demo, already
playing San Diego hotspots like The Casbah and the Ken Club, and nabbing air on
both 91X and 94.9. Founded by brothers Chris (guitar/lead vocals) and Nick Venti
(drums) with friend Martin Niwinski (bass), ROL's sound is a clash of frenetic
indie rock with the more atmospheric and melodic sounds of "No Code"-era Pearl
Jam. While Eddie Vedder goes for the baritone howl, Chris Venti's voice is more
of a gentle, high-pitched tone and helps keep the band's sound distinct.

With the addition of second guitarist Adrian Thorstensen last spring,
Republic recorded its debut EP at the end of 2006 and prepares for its release
this March. Promising local sets and a stop in Austin during SXSW should build
on the band's fan base and garner more shows.
Link to article here.

Thems my boys! A shout out to Rich for doing the article :)

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