Overdue Recap: Langhorne Slim & Silverbird @ Beauty Bar, Verso @ Ken Club, and the rest of that weekend...

It's so nice to have a free day to catch up with life, no?

A week ago Friday was a great day for me. Work was all caught up and I got to help out on a project that I can't really detail, but it incorporated local music and I was stoked to do it. I was even let off work early, and on my ride home, I was told that I would be rewarded for my efforts with a bottle of vodka. I got home when there was still a bit of daylight, straightened up my house and chilled out until Andrea and Amy showed up. We decided to have some pre-show cocktails so we called a cab who showed up relatively quickly. We were buzzing with energy and a couple drinks.

When we arrived, we met up with the guys in Langhorne Slim. Andrea had brought them some hats from The Village Hat Shop to try out, and they chose a couple. We ordered some more drinks and chilled until the bands started.

Silverbird started off the show. Justin was sporting a new haircut, and this variation of the band only had Justin's guitars, Robin's keys, and the relatively new bassist (sorry, forgot his name). Since they've been without a regular drummer, Justin used a tambourine with a foot pedal to accompany the music. They sounded really great- Justin's heartfelt voice kinda crushes me a little everytime I hear it- so I'm definitely looking forward to them getting in the studio and laying down an album.





I spend a lot of time going to shows, but it's rare for me to actively have a 'ladies night', so we kept well lubed. I finally met Sarah, the new Beauty Bar manager, and we got to hang out a bit and talk about what she's doing with the place, and I think she's got some good things planned. Dustin is helping out with the booking there, too, which I think is a good injection of new blood. Sarah also hooked me up with a couple poker chips, so our good night was propelled to a great one. On top of all that, Abraham was there and said he'd drive us home. Night set, we went back on the patio to watch Langhorne Slim and the War Eagles.

I love this band, and I'm glad that they've got a full length because listening to an EP can only hold you over for so long. I've seen them a few times now, namely with Two Gallants and when they toured with Rocky Votolato, and the energy they have on stage is great. Even with Slim jumpin all over the stage, the other musicians hold their own and really, Paul just kills on that stand up bass.







After the set, we briefly hung out, and Andrea gave one of the hats she brought to Brandon, so here's him reluctantly modeling his new hat. (Check out the Village Hat Shop Online.)



After the show, we headed back to Kensington. I guess that is the point in the night where I had that moment of clarity...like perhaps I should've had dinner before all those cocktails. Oops. We walked over to the Ken and caught the end of The Verso's set. I'll have to check them out again when I'm not all googly eyed.





Afterward, we all came back to my house, and I quickly made my way into bed while my friends entertained themselves. The next morning, they were all up, shiny and bright after crashing in my living room, and convinced me that we should get some lunch. We headed to Bluefoot for some beer while our stuffed pizza was cooking at Lefty's. I'd only ever had fries from Lefty's before and let me tell ya, call me converted. They have some of the best pizza sauce I've ever tasted and it was delicious food to cure the h.o. The Upas Street football crew rolled in and we hung out for a bit, but after a couple hours, it was nap o'clock so I suppose you could say my Friday night finally ended about 3 pm Saturday.

Later that night, I rallied and went to the Ken Club for Swim Party, The Roman Spring, and the Focus Group. It was a great show for all three bands, though I didn't take pictures (you can read Natalie's review here). Late in the night, my friend Sara came to hang out, so we hopped between the band room and the bar, catching up with one another since it had been ages since we'd hung out. Of course, convenience is key, and after the bar, some friends came over. My neighbor was gone so we blasted MgmT and Sub Society and Prince and a whole bunch of other music until it was time for everyone to head home around 4 or 5 in the morning.

Last thing for me for last weekend was SuperBowl Sunday which was really chill with my family at my sister's house in PB. The game was great, but of course, I was obsessed with my niece Johanna. Talent scouts, my e-mail is in the about me section of this page :)

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Tonight's Silverbird Show is on at Heavy Press

While I haven't gathered more info on the situation over at Scolari's I have been informed that tonight's show has found a new home.

River City, Silverbird, and Red Feathers will now be playing at Heavy Press, 2312 El Cajon Blvd. Because Heavy Press is a print shop, the show is now open to all ages (though grownups can BYOB). Plan on getting there around 9-ish.

The bonus is that the print shop has this wood on the walls that should really complement the organic sounds of these amazing bands. I know there's a lot going on tonight, but if you haven't checked out Silverbird and Red Feathers, this would be a great place to finally do it, and while I haven't seen River City, they sound awesome, too. (Hear them on MySpace) Plus, who isn't a fan of bands playing in non-traditional venues every once in a while?

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Friday Recap Part 2: Silverbird At Beauty Bar & Afterparty

(written on Monday)
I'm not trying to be insensitive to anyone who found this site because they sought fire information, but when I woke up today, I intended to do my normal thing here- write about music in San Diego. Because I've been watching the news for almost 17 hours, I need to unfry my brain, so I'm gonna retrace the weekend as I promised I would a couple days ago.


When I left off, I had left the Matt Pond PA show at the Casbah to head to the Beauty Bar. When I got there, it was absolutely packed. I had missed SayVinyl, but walked in on a full Beauty Bar with full ass booty shakin to the tunes being spun by Gabe Vega. I promptly found Erika who poured me a sweet drink, then made my way to the patio for Silverbird.

(After all the fire blogging, I didn't get to continue this post until Thursday)
I was pleased to see that T-Bone was still 'filling in' until the band finds a new drummer, but in my own reality, I think of him as being an essential part to the band. He has a minimal setup, but plays it all just right to accompany what is an amazing alt-country band, and the fact that he is singing along, albeit without a mic, shows his passion for this music. He is the perfect fit, if only he wasn't already committed to 15 (grossly exaggerated) other San Diego bands.

Anyway, the show was beautiful, and here are the best pics I could grab from my crap camera.

OK, actually these pics might be in reverse order, because here's Anna Banana with Arnie from Arm The Angels, and we took this pic after the set, but nonetheless...here are the pics.

By the way, I should mention that I've seen Silverbird a handful of times but never had any recordings, and I found myself singing along to just about every song on their setlist. Admittedly, there are local bands that I love that will probably never gain an audience beyond San Diego, and then there are bands that you just know are going to break. Maybe not find worldwide million album sales or shit like that, but who will find their niche audience and be successful. I would like to think that Silverbird is one of those bands that people notice beyond our county lines because they are amazing. They could easily tour with Son Volt or Ryan Adams if those guys were open to touring with bands that are as good as they are.
















So long story short, after the set I headed to the Ken. Anna and her friends came, too, as did Bubba from Silverbird. (By the way, that does officially count as 3 shows in one night, because we caught the ska tunes of the Hi-Lights. There were people skankin but that's just really not where my heart is so we hung back on the bar side of the Ken.) We were close to bar time, so we did some shots, then a herd of people came to my place and we drank and talked and drank and logged online to watch funny youtube videos (namely the owner of Apertivo going apeshit on people; not once but twice) and then finally everyone made their way home as I hit the hay.

I know in the afterhours everyone seems to speak nonsensically and there's a whole bunch of drama that can arise, but I had such a great time with friends, both new ones and old ones, that it almost feels perverse, catching people in the raw being completely honest. To me, therein lies the beauty of an after party.

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Friday Recap: Silverbird, Silent Comedy @ Beauty Bar

After spending the evening with my parents, my sister and brother in law and my new niece I was actually wiped. All that tequila from the night before probably didn't help, but I fought through being tired and arrived at the Beauty Bar as Silvedbird finished their first song.

Once I was there, I was so happy that I made the effort. Justin's beautiful vocals with the amazing lap steel took me to a happy place and I was having such a good time. I have seen Silverbird at least 3 times now, and this time, I don't know if it's that outdoor patio, but the sound was just really all I needed to hear on this night to take me out of all the shit that I was feeling.

It was cool to see people, who I know indirectly, playing such a great show and captivating so many people in that space. I wasn't really going to try to take pictures...the patio was quite crowded, but there was space in the corner, so I did snap a couple.







I also grabbed the setlist:

Silverbird Setlist, 8/3/07, Beauty Bar

At that point in the night, I ran into Lynn, who told me to stick around for Silent Comedy and goddamn was she right. Dressed in clothes you'd see on HBO's Deadwood, the themes of their songs fit right in with the prohibition era, but don't let the look fool you because the band totally rocked. I ended up buying a CD with the rationalization that it was either $10 to the band or $6 to the bar and what would I have to show for that? I'm so overwhelmed with all this new music I have, so with this month of unemployment, I fully intend to get some of all these amazing local CDs loaded onto the iPod.

Oh, back to the band. The patio was packed and people were dancing along through the whole set. They switched instruments frequently and they were fun to try to capture as they jumped all over the stage. For each OK shot I got, there are 3 or 4 out of focus to go along. It was a nice little challenge formy little sony.














Silent Comedy, Beauty Bar, 8/3/07

I was a little bummed I didn't get a chance to meet "Bubba" after the show, but maybe next time. I don't know what it is about that place but the second the bands finish, I'm hitting the door and am outta there. I finished my night at the Ken Club, hanging out with Sandra and Ernie which was cool because it has been a long time since I've been able to do that. When I got home later, I was internetting til the wee hours until I realized I needed some zzzs and called it a night.

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Recap Catch Up: Weekend, Anti Monday League

It's Wednesday and it appears that the heap of my computer issues have been resolved, thought I know that damn virus is here somewhere and will make itself known again at some point today.

Regardless, I took some pics that I've yet to post, so I thought I should post.

First, I mentioned my little sister's birthday on Saturday. All my mom's daycare kids were there. My mom had this agenda for the party and all the parents were there, too. So it was fun, especially watching the kids cheat on the limbo and getting to act as a judge during the dance contest. It was actually a really a good time for me. I had the privilege of working at my mom's daycare for 6 months a couple years back and I would do it all again if it paid my bills. Since it doesn't, I enjoy my chances to hang with the kids whose needs are simple and whose personalities are already well established.

Still, after the party, I was beat, got home later than planned, didn't wake up from my nap and completely missed everything happening on Saturday night. I'm not to broken up about that, though, since I probably needed the sleep.

Sunday I didn't do a whole lot, but I did go to dinner and the park with my family. Since Claudia had a friend at her birthday and was acting "too cool" for pictures at her party, I made sure to get her on Sunday.

I really had planned on going to see Inigo at the Zombie Lounge but it was kinda nice just vegging out at home and watching my HBO shows.

I did motivate on Monday night, however. I went to Anti-Monday League at the Casbah. I missed The Amalgamated, but was there in time to see Mighty Six-Ninety. Tim told me that they are from LA, but the singer is originally from Oceanside and considers San Diego "home".

There are some very distinct memories that I have from my childhood, filled with a lot of holes but sorta just flashes of moments. I very distinctly walking down my street, bowl haircut, tank top, red shorts, like the old gym ones that had white edging, knee high socks, sneakers, and carrying on my shoulder a little silver radio in which I was booming "My Sharona" on my then, favorite radio station, Mighty 690. It was pre-91X, I was maybe 5?, and the station was playing the stuff of the early 80's.

It is with good reason, then, that Might Six-Ninety chose the name they have. Their sound goes back to the 80's...right in there with Echo and the Bunnymen or early Depeche Mode and the like. I think he has a great voice for that style of music and I didn't have any issues that there wasn't much originality to their sound. Derivative music doesn't bother me at all when it's good. I could easily see them in a high school dance scene in any of John Waters' older movies.

Manganista was the final band of the night. I don't know if I expected them to be a bit harder (-ista to me usually means hardcore), or if I was in an off mood or what, but I wasn't really into their sound. I mean, I'm pretty averse to anything even near reggae anyway, but it felt to me like a scene in a movie where the characters are outside drinking maitais in the Bahamas and there's a band playing rock songs with a calypso reggae twist on them. Maybe it was their opening with "Mother And Child Reunion" that just made me feel like it was karaoke. They had a decent sized crowd to see them compared to Mighty Six-Ninety, so I know I stand alone on my general feeling, but they just weren't my thing. I met a couple of them after the show and they were definitely cool guys and apparently Andrea went to high school with several of them. They are playing at Pride on Saturday...maybe the sunshine and a wild crowd will give a different perspective.

Anyway, I didn't go out last night, so no recap, but apologies for completely blanking on my listings. Silverbird played at the Belly Up with Bartender's Bible and the Deere Johns and I thought I had it listed but apparently I did not. Sorry to Justin and Bubba and crew.

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Thursday Recap: TNT, Silverbird @ Casbah, Flosstradamus @ Beauty Bar

As I mentioned, last night was super fun. I would say "off the chain", "off the hook", or "off the hizzle" if I spoke that way, but I do not, so I will stick to "super fun".

TNT was a bust for me because I got there too late. The lines were ridiculous and holding people back due to capacity issues is lame. Since the bands were on the trolley deck/patio, there should be an alternate entrance to skip the museum entirely. I realize it defeats the purpose in a sense, but so does standing in a line of 50 people for an hour. The line at the original museum wasn't any shorter and for some reason security was not giving wristbands at the patio (where there were b-boys breakdancing). When an event grows, they need to add points of entry and bars, not reduce them. TNT has just gotten too big to even be fun, I missed all the bands just trying to find parking, so after finding CatDirt and CatDirtWife, we had a beer at St. Tropez and headed to the Casbah.

We didn't pay much attention to Suzan Hurtuk. I thought she sounded good but I was not in a quiet music mood, so we hung out at the back bar during her performance.

When Silverbird played, the bar filled up quite a bit. It was only their second performance and my first time catching them. I liked them, though they were less alt-country than I expected. I thought they kinda sounded like Jellyfish with a splash of alt-country (but not much). Here are the pics:



Here's Morgan, who is drummer of Silverbird, not Vinyl Radio






After Silverbird, we headed to the Beauty Bar for some booty shaking. I was told I was on the list but was not, but found Rotny and he said I was in. Was there really a free Powder Room list? I don't know, because other people "on the list" had to pay.

I was happy to see Bryant behind the bar because he pours 'em like I like 'em.



Flosstradamus was rad. They got me to dance. And I DO NOT dance.









Man, am I beat today. I did introduce myself to the guys when their hands were freee. Everyone who knows Kristian, loves Kristian, so when I said I was his friend, their faces lit up. Nice. I hope Saturday night there turns out as cool.

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Catdirt is right.

I'm listening to the tracks on the Silverbird myspace page. Good stuff. And here I was a mile and a half away listening to ska...

How about a Silverbird/Old Man Hands/Bull and Train show? Like a Thursday night at the Ken Club?? Or the new Mondays at the Casbah put together by Tim Pyles? Anyone?

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