Sweet & Tender Hooligans at the Casbah, 12/29/07

If you were following along, I ended up staying on the smoking patio for the majority of the night. Kudos to Sweet & Tender Hooligans for bringin' it down once again, though this crowd seemed less rowdy than the night before. Still quite enthusiastic, however, from what I gathered in bathroom banter when I had the chance to sneak away from the merch table for a sec. I never got away long enough to take pics inside, but I did make sure that me and Jose got some pics on the patio before the night was done. Apologies to those of you who are tired of seeing my 'stupid face' on my own blog.





Sweet & Tender Hooligans Setlist, Casbah, 12/29/07




Typically, shows at the Casbah run in the $10 range, but for $18, I can say that Sweet & Tender Hooligans deliver with an exceptionally long set for the fans. And for $10, their shirts are well worth the price, although somehow, and I don't know how, I left the show without one. boo. I thought I'd catch last call at the Ken or something, but I was at the Casbah pretty much until 2 am, and this girl, I'm not really sure her connection to the band, but she gave me a Tiffany heart on a chain. She said something along the lines of she has a friend who works for Tiffany, so she gets some comp schwag, and she wanted to give this necklace to someone who would appreciate it, and it's absolutely beautiful and for some reason she gave it to me.

Like I keep saying...someone pinch me. It's cool enough that I get to see amazing shows, but when I get to connect with people, in bands or just fans of the bands, I know every second that I'm one lucky broad. Thank you, Sweet & Tender Hooligans. Thank you.

Sweet & Tender Hooligans at the Casbah, 12/28/07

If you read this blog frequently, you know how disappointed I was at Street Scene that even though I was backstage and got to meet a ton of bands, I missed out on meeting Joe Escalante. Joe is in the Vandals, and plays bass for Sweet & Tender Hooligans, but he's also the morning host on Indie 103.1, his show aptly called "The Last of the Famous International Morning Shows". I caught the band for a piece of their 3 hour set at Street Scene, but that was in no way a proper preview for seeing them last night at the Casbah. Not that the band was any less perfect than they were at Street Scene, but the crowd was something I never expected.

The fans clearly love The Smiths and Morrissey, but they equally love Sweet & Tender Hooligans. I arrived to a packed bar and the crowd was fanatical, with girls sitting on the stage, people jumping onstage to hug and kiss Jose, and literally ripping his clothes off. To be honest, I don't even know if Morrissey himself gets that kinda love anymore.

Here's the setlist from Friday, and I was told by Jose that tonight's show will have a different setlist.


Sweet & Tender Hooligans Setlist, 12/28/207, Casbah San Diego


Maneuvering to the front was a challenge, but I was able to snatch a spot on the side of the stage to get some pics of my hero, Joe Escalante. I'm bummed because I cannot stream the radio from my new job, but Joe still has some podcasts that can be downloaded. I still always highly recommend checking out his "Barely Legal Radio Program" where he gives entertainment industry related legal advice. As a blogger, the info he gives on trademarks, copyright law, and music law are immeasurably valuable.


























The show itself was amazing, and if you closed your eyes, you wouldn't be able to distinguish between Jose's voice and Morrissey's. Any fan of the Sweet & Tender Hooligans will tell you the same.

After the show, I got to meet Joe and his wife, and I was giddy like a teenager. And the two of them were nice enough to put up with me rambling and gushing.






People were asking for merch, so I asked the band why they didn't have any and they told me they just didn't have anyone to sell it. So here I am, sitting on the smoking patio, selling t-shirts and CDs while Adam Gimbel wraps up his Too Cool For Karaoke segment of the night. But it's clear, the natives are restless, and the weekend warriors are out in full force. Last night, as I arrived, four guys had already been kicked out for being too wasted and/or obnoxious. If I can, I'll try and sneak up for some more pics tonight, but truth be told, I'm just happy to be here listening.

Just a Note

I've got some recapping to do for the week, but I'll get to it later. Tonight I'm selling merch for The Sweet and Tender Hooligans, the most awesome Smiths/Morrissey cover band ever. Seriously. People jump onstage like Jose IS Morrissey. It's a little frightening, actually. But if you were even the slightest Smiths fan, I highly recommend this show. Come say hi to me, I'll be on the patio.

Street Scene 2007 Recap & Photos Day 2

By the time my ride arrived to pick me up on Sunday, I'd already missed some of the bands I'd hope to catch. I was also pretty bummed that I chose to wear shoes that ended up giving me blisters on both of my feet within the first hour of being at Street Scene. My friends and I headed to the 5 stage to catch People Under The Stairs for a while.




We were kinda unsure what kind of access we'd have for Sunday, but my friend Pete had arrived and told me he got me passes with Z-Trip so I headed back toward the entrance and caught a glimpse of Brett Dennen.


I went out of the venue only to find the tickets were en route. I ran into Steve from Dynamite Walls and Chris from Augustana, so we hung out at the will call until our passes arrived. At that point Natalie sent me a text that we had photo passes for The Album Leaf. After waiting about a half hour, the passes arrived and we entered through the artist entrance.

After hanging in the artist area for a while, Natalie and I mosied to the Album Leaf stage.






The sound on their stage was perfectly crisp though I didn't want to clutter up the photo pit for too long so I watched from a ways back for the majority of their set. I wanted to catch Paolo Nutini, so I headed back to the main stage to catch a few of his songs as well. "These Streets" sounded so amazing on that huge stage.


I had separated from Kristian so I met he and the rest of our friends in the electronica tent for Simian Mobile Disco. They were great, but it was a dj set so I didn't hang for long. At this point the moleskin the first aid guys gave me for my blisters had gotten dusty from the tent and I had forgotten my earplugs, so I took a couple pics but then was on my way.




Sexy and single...Kristian, Dave and Chris

In the tent I ran into the most famous bald head in San Diego, Mr. Tim Pyles.

I was running all over the place for most of the day. From the electronica tent, I went to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah for a few songs but this was my roughest point of the day...lack of earplugs, not enough sleep, blisters on my feet and I didn't hang at the stage for long.

I also had to catch Z-Trip for part of his set. It was familiar and felt like the same set he did at SoCo, but I knew he had a long set (an hour and a half) so I left to catch Spoon.


Britt and crew sounded awesome. I guess I've now seen them equally on small and large stages and I like both equally. I appreciate that the band is flexible and can pull off both quite well.

I then ran to see a couple songs by the Sweet and Tender Hooligans and I seriously think there are so many diehard fans of Morrissey and The Smiths, that I wouldn't doubt if the couple hundred people were at Street Scene only to see the Sweet and Tender Hooligans who really do the covers spot on.


Since Pete got me my passes, however, I had to make sure I arrived back at the electronic stage to catch his portion of the Z-Trip set. He blew it up yet again. The guy is amazing. I've mentioned before he's drumming for Z-Trip at the moment, but has also has played with Cake and Mike Doughty in the past. He blows me away everytime I see him.

After that, back to the artist tent for some tequila shots, a couple beers and a burrito before heading to catch Louis XIV on the main stage. Anya Marina came out to sing during "Finding Out True Love Is Blind" and Ray Suen has been playing violin with the band. He's definitely upping his demand by bands because he's absolutely amazing.

I spent the remainder of the night in the artist area. It was really fun back there, complete with a foosball table and an air hockey table, couches, and tv's to watch the acts.

Natalie and I had our geek out superfan moment backstage when we got the balls to approach Britt Daniels and get him to pose for some pics with us. He was really nice and didn't seem to mind us gushing like little schoolgirls.

Here's some more random backstage photos:

MC Flow & Crew

The one person I really wanted to meet was Joe Escalante of the Sweet & Tender Hooligans, The Vandals, and The Last of the Famous International Morning Show on Indie 103.1, but apparently he left as soon as their set ended because he has to get up early for his morning show. Bummer. I did talk to Jose for a while and he was really, really nice.

Jose, Sweet & Tender Hooligans

As things go, people were leaving and extra passes showed up, so we got The Roman Spring back in the artist area with us. Here's a pic of Joe.

Sean "Har Mar Superstar", Sean Na Na

All in all it was another amazing day at Street Scene. I am glad I took a chance and kept the faith about the event, and I know that no matter what form it takes next year, if it continues, I will be there. I hear the numbers didn't meet the expectations of LiveNation, but I enjoyed the space, the layout worked well, and the music was great. I guess the lawn stage suffered a bit from the Editors sound checking early which was lame, but as far as I could tell, the event went off without a hitch minus the usual complaints about charging for parking (when there is no alternative) and overpriced beer, but whatever. Those are pretty standard complaints about most shows.

I'm taking a night off from rock n roll and I'll try to get my things to do list up soon. Huge thanks to Dynamite Walls, Jason Burkhart, Conrado, Jake, The Album Leaf, Pete McNeal, Z-Trip, Kristian, Dave and especially to Chris for being my designated driver, and everyone else who was instrumental in making this an amazing weekend.