This Week: La Escalera Fest Ocho

I had to kinda dig around to find the info for La Escalera Fest Ocho, which takes over several bars this weekend including The Office, Tower Bar, Bar Pink, Soda Bar, Spaec, and Moustache in Tijuana, so I thought I'd share the actual poster with all the time breakdowns. For tickets and more information, go here. I imagine any last minute cancellations or such will be posted on their Facebook page. And if you're going, please do yourself a favor and walk or catch a rideshare. We don't need a bunch of drunk punks on Jump bikes or Lime Scooters breaking skulls and getting DUIs.

Awesome Fest Presents CANCELLED! February 15-17, 2019

I love the Awesome Fest peeps and this weekend they've rallied together a new event called CANCELLED!, which of course can be confusing because actual shows are canceled all the time. But despite all of that, you should really get your hands on tickets ASAP because I've never known an Awesome Fest event that didn't sell out in advance and it becomes exceedingly impossible to sweet talk your way into the shows without a wristband. The events are spread between Soda Bar and Space by night, and Bar Pink and The Office by day. Plus, it's super cheap and you've got a three day weekend so you'll have all of Monday to recover from the vast amounts of PBR consumed all weekend. Tickets are $25 for the whole weekend, but you have to buy before Friday (while they last!). Day passes are available, too, for $15 Friday, $20 Saturday, and $15 Sunday.

GET YOUR TICKETS HERE. 

The full lineup and schedule is after the jump, but I also included lineups (without times) in the regular listings.

This Weekend: San Diego Music Thing!!

The weekend is nearly upon us and so it's time to talk about the San Diego Music Thing. I've actually been a little bit surprised at how so many of my own friends don't know about or understand what exactly goes on, so here's the basic rundown.

Friday, September 14 and Saturday, September 15, sees the return of the San Diego Music Thing. Think of it less as a "festival" and more of a conference. In the daytime, there are workshops and keynote speakers at the Lafayette Hotel. Topics like Music Industry 101, Marketing, Publishing, and Touring will all be covered. Keynote speakers include Martin Atkins of Public Image Ltd, Wayne Kramer of MC5, and Chuck D of Public Enemy.

By night, the city's music venues open up with showcases featuring local and touring bands. You can see the full schedule here, but I'll also put them after the jump so you can get them on your mobile device easily throughout the weekend.

It seems the biggest point of confusion is the ticketing, so just to clear things up, you can buy tickets here. You can buy a wristband for the full weekend for $55 or for just one day for $35. These wristbands get you into all of the workshops, panels, and keynotes as well as ANY of the nighttime showcases (based on venue capacity, of course). There are also PRESALE tickets for certain showcases available on the same ticketing page. This is recommended if you're not interested or available for the daytime events and you know you just want to go to one venue for the night. For the showcases that don't have presales, they too, will be charging cover at the doors for people without wristbands. The cover charges are usually $10 per venue. If you have a wristband, you do not need to purchase additional venue tickets, but venues will be subject to capacity so plan your nights accordingly. It's gonna be tough hopping around, but I think I'll be hitting up Bar Pink, Casbah, and Sunset Temple on Friday night, with Bar Pink, Claire de Lune, and the Casbah on my Saturday agenda. Of course, that could all change depending on transportation, so we'll see, but you can be sure I'll be Foursquaring/Tweeting all weekend.

Full schedule after the jump.

Awesome Fest Five: Keep It Awesome, Keep It Fast

Awesome Fest/Fast is back for it's fifth year (third year in San Diego). For what started as a relatively small event, the Fest has turned into a force to be reckoned with, now occupying four of San Diego's main venues for three days/nights with wristband-only access to see the best of underground punk, garage, and shit too cool to have a genre. These are bands you'll find on the pages of Razorcake; Pitchfork- not so much. Organizers limited ticket sales to 400, and they're close to sold out, with NO passes available onsite. Once you miss preregistration, you're out.

Awesome Fest attracts bands and fans from around the country. This year's bands include Shark Pants, Muhammad Ali, Be My Doppelganger, Toys That Kill, Madison Bloodbath, Soviettes, David Dondero, Rumspringer and more. The DIY ethos keeps the event growing year after year. "At AwesomeFest, there are no corporate sponsors or no direct dealings with any managers. All bands playing have been personally asked by one of the organizers." Like last year, night shows happen on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Soda Bar and Eleven, while afternoon shows are on Saturday and Sunday at The Office and U-31. Additionally, they've added a pre-fest shows on Thursday at Soda Bar and Eleven, a lawn party on Saturday, and a foos ball tournament at Luigi's on Sunday.

Organizers encourage attendees to have fun while respecting the hotel and venues that host them, while the bars are staffed up and ready for some heavy drinking. A bartender told me, "last year we ordered a pallet of PBR. That's 100 cases, 12 tall cans per case. We ran out by Saturday afternoon. It is easily our biggest weekend of the year."

All the information you need can be found here.
Passes
Bands
Schedule

Update: I just got off the phone with Davey and there are less than 10 passes left. Buy them now, or try the message board. Pre-Awesome shows are $7 each or $10 for both, but there will be no paid admissions allowed at any of the venues during Fest. You must have an event wristband to get into any of the shows.

Photography Exhibit Features San Diego Musicians

In perfect timing with the San Diego Music Awards, local photographer and artist Kevan Christine has created an exhibit entitled "Musicians | Volume1" featuring many San Diego musicians.

The point of the project to to show that there are wonderfully talented musicians and bands out there that push and struggle every day to have their music heard. They don't do it for the uncertain promise of glamour, money or rows of screaming fans. They do it because they have to. They have to create in order to live and breath.

This first installment features nineteen solo musicians and bands from across the United States. Volume 1 is a specific focus on the musicians in my hometown of San Diego, California. While all the musicians involved are of a wide variety of genres they all have a common ground....music is life and without it there would be no purpose.

The project will be on exhibit September 12 - October 8, 2009 at The Office in North Park. The opening reception will be the night of September 12 with live music by a few of the participating musicians (Scheduled: Patrick Dunn, Don't Bore Nina, Dropjoy)

News Regarding Tower Bar & other stomping grounds

This is not an "official" announcement, but more of a 'keep it in mind' warning. Apparently the Tower Bar received a letter to cease all shows. The bar (supposedly) does not have a cabaret license and after complaints from a neighbor, the SDPD has issued the letter. Mick is in Europe right now, so I haven't personally confirmed anything with him, but just an FYI in case you were planning on checking out the shows this weekend that you might want to have a Plan B just in case the bands are forced to cancel. SDPD, as we all know, has been cracking down on venues regularly over the past year, and as far as I know, has put a cap on new cabaret licenses as well as making it a complete pain in the ass for venues who have a lapse in the license.

In other news, Street reported today that Bar Pink Elephant got a C&D from a chain of clubs based out of New York, Pink Elephant Club, for use of the name, so our North Park bar will simply be known as "The Pink". whatevs. New York swankster clubs can suck it.

Bar Pink Elephant was also in the news this week when Dang was interviewed about a growing graffiti problem in North Park. According to the report, we're not just talking people tagging the bathroom walls, but Dang said vandals got the bar on a busy night and actually spray painted the floor of the stage area. If anyone witnessed this or any other acts of vandalism, the police want to hear from you and are giving rewards for tips that lead to the arrests of these assholes.

Last, rumor has it that a certain Hillcrest club is in escrow. That's all I can say about that right now, but I think this is one sale many bands will surely benefit from if it goes through.

Man, so many changes, huh? "The Office" (formerly Scolari's) is open, the Zombie Lounge is in it's transition to become "The Radio Room", Avalon is part of North By Northpark and hopefully will become the all-ages venue it set out to be. Add Toronado to North Park hotspots getting hipster buzz and you can see the rapid change in our area. For better or for worse...