Tonight: Benefit for Local Musician/Artist Jona Tellez-Giron at Soda Bar

Local musician and artist Jona Tellez- Giron, formerly of The Vision of a Dying World and the Paddle Boat, recently had a major back surgery which has put him out of commission for 1-2 years. This means he will not be able to resume his job, or perform any sort of labor. We are pooling together to improve his situation with a series of benefit shows around San Diego, CA.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

The first benefit will take place Wed. MAY 19TH @ SODA BAR (36th and El Cajon Blvd.) 9pm, 21+
DONATION: $5
BANDS: Jamuel Saxon, Illuminauts, Primitive Noyes + DJ Jane W
ART: by JONArt (jona's paintings)

100% of the proceeds will go towards Jona's surgery fees and supplemental living expenses.

You can read more about Jona Tellez - Giron and his studio visit on SEZIO.org

Additionally, check out music from Primitive Noyes for free.

KMRC/SDRL Releases Local Compilation

Keith Milgaten, of The Vision of A Dying World, Jamuel Saxon, Black Mamba and a million other projects, has been working with local musicians for a number of years now, and he's released a FREE compilation.

I just finished the final touches to the first ever Keith Milgaten Recording Collective Compilation: "Recording is Rewarding"!

The purpose of this compilation is to display a portion my body of work over the past several years, and further inform people of the accomplishments and progress I have achieved over that time. That means 17 new tracks from various San Diego bands/ artists! I would like to encourage every listener to think about this comp in terms of what working with KMRC could do for the sound of your band/ musical project.

Here's the full track listing:

Recording is Rewarding: KMRC Compilation ‘09

1. The Paddle Boat - Air Conditioned Nightmare
2. Black Mamba - Lacewings
3. This Is Manic - Keep My Heart Beating
4. Tape Deck Mountain - On My Honor
5. The Vision of a Dying World - Mantra
6. Silverleaf - In Good Time
7. The Feelings Mutual - The Glitz
8. Gray Ghosts - Skeleton Summer
9. WITT - Happy Birthday
10. Red Feathers - The House
11. Wild Weekend - Knowing Wondering Why
12. Family Wagon - Hi & Goodbye
13. Calico Horse - HiFi Plane Ride
14. Sex Mannequin - Non Responsive
15. Jamuel Saxon - Unlockable (By the Key to You Heart)
16. Brovabey - Ghetto is Life
17. Magical Pocket Drop - Flatseed

all songs recorded, mixed and mastered by Keith Milgaten

I tried to post this last week, but so many people downloaded, we had to wait for it to be permanently hosted. Now it's up and you can download it FREE here. You can click the banner at the top of this page to contact Keith about your recording needs.

Overdue Recap: Charles Musket, Cuckoo Chaos, Boomsnake @ Ken Club, 11.7.08

On Friday, November 19, there were a million places I wanted to be, but by the time I got my shit together, I decided I didn't need to drive anywhere when there were two new bands I'd yet to see playing just steps from home. The lights were low the whole night, so I didn't even attempt photos, but I was finally able to check out Boomsnake, see Cuckoo Chaos in their first show at a venue, and see Charles Musket again.

Boomsnake are from Portland. Or I should say they formed in Portland but are originally all from Southern California, and have recently moved back to San Diego. They're a three piece and the vocals, for at least part of the show, are sung in a high register, a la Neil Young "Harvest". I really enjoyed them and I'm sure they'll be making a mark in the San Diego circuit.

Cuckoo Chaos is Jackson Milgaten's new band, with Jeremy from Vision of A Dying World, Craig from the Power-chords, and Jackson's roommate Scott, who takes the majority of vocal duties from behind his keyboards. In a style that Jackson and his circle have perfected, you can expect multi-layered harmonies and impressively in this project, some sweet banjo playing. You can catch them at this weekend's Sight & Sound at Planet Rooth Gallery.

Charles Musket is another local offshoot project with Anthony and Spencer from Red Feathers, Aaron from Scarlet Symphony, and Keith Milgaten from Vision of A Dying World, and as Aaron said, this is their fun project where they can all just let loose without any pretense and just have fun. Though I must say, if I could form a band just to 'have fun' that sounded this good, I'd be all over it. But I have no talent and all of these guys do, so I'll let them have their fun while I stand mesmerized in the audience by yet another amazing band to join the elite bands of San Diego.

In writing this, I really regret not even taking one photo, but what can I say? My camera has limits.Oh, but I did get this one the night before at The Ruby Room. cutes.

Overdue Recap: Random Weekend Notes

Even with all this time on my hands, I haven't been writing as much as I'd like, but I've not been slacking that's for sure. I have finally cleaned up my email accounts, tweaked the site a little bit, and tried to get myself in a position to find a job that makes me happy and fulfilled. Click 'keep on reading' for random stuff, a couple show recaps.

So back to the night I was cut. I was quite happy that I had some plans laid down for the weekend. Natalie came and met me and we attempted to use my flexible spending account at Rite Aid but something was funky with my card, so we decided to have a drink at the Ken Club. Uncle Dickie was there and bought the drinks for us. She left for dinner and I went home for dinner before heading back to the Ken for the show. Charles Musket, Calico Horse, and The Vision of A Dying World were playing, so it was a pretty packed house. I intended to catch the show, but it was my friend Scott's birthday, so I ended up hopping back and forth between the show and the bar. I was really impressed with Charles Musket, which is the new band from a couple Red Feathers and Aaron from Scarlet Symphony, so I look forward to seeing them around soon. I only watched pieces of Calico Horse and The Vision because Scotty had taken care of me on my birthday so I wanted to chill with him. We had a good night and enough shots to help me forget about the pain in my mouth and my employment status.



The next day after hanging around the house for a while, I decided I'd check out The Power-Chords at their in-store at Record City. That was a really good decision. First, I'd never been to Record City before and it is an amazing record store. I don't collect vinyl but this place made me wish I did. They also had free pizza from Luigi's in South Park, which I'd only heard about but had yet to try. Last, it had been a very long time since I'd seen The Power-Chords so I really wanted to see them again. The show was supposed to be at 3, but by the time they loaded in and hung out, they didn't start until about 4 but there were enough peeps there to keep me entertained while we waited.



The Power-Chords played their entire new album from beginning to end. They're songs are short and fast and the perfect band to enjoy while munching free pizza and soda in a badass record store.





Later that night was another Ken Club night. Dagart covered it already but I was there and thought I'd add some photos from the night.

It really was an incredible night of bands. Starting with Saint Motel who had a great stage setup with lamps, ficus trees, and the head of a buck, I was captivated by the organic feel of the stage and how it permeated the music and the entire set. The band is from LA and while this was their first time playing San Diego, it won't be their last if I have any say in it. After their set they were really sweet guys and even hooked me up with a CD.






The Flying Tourbillion Orchestra, also from LA, had their own collection of lamps onstage. As Dagart mentioned, they had some beautiful mixed melodies, but were also mixed in some dancey songs that frankly made me nervous that Kelli was going to step on the pedals behind her with all the dancing around, but she's a pro and didn't have any problems pulling off a great show.



By the time Swim Party played, the room was packed. It was their last show of the year and they brought out Natalie, Matt, and Eric at different times to play with them. Notice Natalie flipping me off, Band of Horses style. She's such a rock star.









Writer closed out the night but since the night started late, they left Swim Party's lights up on the stage. I took a few pictures up front then hung out with Evan in the back as we watched the crowd sway and dance and sing along to Writer. When they were done, the crowd demanded more and they obliged with one more song. Worth mentioning is that their next show will be on November 10th at the Casbah for the 2nd Anniversary of this website with Joel P West and a great band from San Francisco called Low Red Land.



After the show, everyone bailed, but I wasn't quite done for the night. I went to the warehouse party down in Mission Valley where Jake's friend Chuck was DJing. It was kinda crazy. It's a warehouse space and had full club DJs inside and one outside. Bryan, one of the guys who runs the stuff, originally tried to have local bands and it supposedly didn't do that great, but now they just flyer downtown at places like On Broadway where people don't mind dropping $20 for an after party. It was definitely not my scene, but it was fun hanging with Jake and Chuck and people watching. Oh, and people LOVE to have their picture taken.







The party went till well after 4 and Jake and his buddy came back to Kensington with me and we sat in the park until the sun came up. Eventually they bailed and eventually I decided I was finally tired enough to get some sleep.

The Vision of A Dying World & Paddleboat @ TNT

TNT is one of my favorite local recurring events in town, though I have to admit I haven't even gone into the museum the last few times I've attended. I'm there for the music and for hanging out with friends with cheap drinks in the open air. This time was no exception and I got to hang out with my bff Kristian who was visiting from LA.

The Paddle Boat played first, but I was at the side area listening and didn't pull out my camera. They sounded great as the three of them sat in chairs on the stage and they've got some great upcoming shows, so make sure you check them. The Paddle Boat is a side project of Jeremy from the Vision, and originally I believe it was just a solo project, but now Jackson is playing with him, along with Jane who plays clarinet and adds to the vocals.

A short while later, The Vision of A Dying World took the stage. Their unique sound makes them easily one of my favorite local bands made all the better because they're such good guys. Still, I was a little surprised to see that the boys seem to have an increasing female fanbase. Ladies love The Vision, apparently. Anyway, it was fun taking pictures of them because there was a slideshow of pop icons on the screen behind them while they played. I especially like the gremlin...

Anyway, after the set, Andrea convinced me that we should check out Howlin Rain and Black Mountain at the Casbah, so I'll get to that in another post.

Sun/Mon The words that accompany the pictures.

It was a really great week for me personally, albeit exhausting. Starting with the show on Sunday night all the way through Friday, it was quite fulfilling. I'll take it from the top.

Sunday I finally got to see sayvinyl, and it was an even better night because we were celebrating Andrea's birthday. You can see all the pics I posted here. I got to the show right at 7 pm and was one of the lucky handful of people to be there in time for the food, hosted by Bety's Mexican Restaurant in Encinitas. Abraham works there, so he hooked that up, though for future food contributors...make an extra tray of stuff for the Casbah staff, otherwise only about 10 people at the show actually get to sample your food, and the whole point is to get people into your restaurant, isn't it?

Anyway, A Beautiful Noise started the night and they sounded great. It was a challenge to take pics because the singer is so freakin tall, but their sound reminds me a lot of the early 90's Manchester stuff that I used to love...Stone Roses and The Charlatans UK and that first Blur album with "She's So High" on it. They also have some pretty instrumental stuff (thus the name). If you happen to catch them out, pic up their EP. They give them away free at shows and it's very good.

The Austin James Band was up second, and I really like them a lot, as I'd written here before but I ended up missing most of their set because we were all in the Atari Lounge, toasting Andrea's birthday and hanging out and mocking Tim while he was on-air. I did make sure to get my ass in for at least a few pics and their awesome rendition of The Band's The Weight. If you like layered harmonies, this is your band.

Last was sayvinyl and I was so glad to finally catch them live. There's something about the timing that kinda reminds me of Bright Eyes and I look forward to seeing them again soon. They are playing tonight at epicentre, but I don't think I can make it up there in time.

On Monday I went to The Casbah again, but missed The Donkeys. I watched The Vision Of A Dying World who make me happy as always, but I was pretty wiped out. I watched a couple songs from White Magic, but they rubbed me the wrong way. I don't know, maybe it was just me being grumpy, but when the chick kinda snapped at Jake on the soundboard, I kinda wanted to clock her. And she didn't really say anything, but the way she told him to "kill the reverb, I like to sound clean" was so irritating to me. So I left. Maybe I'm just more anti-Brooklyn than I thought.

As it turns out, I'm running late for a date with my niece...so I'll have to get to the rest of the week later. I'll post another Rocky video though.

The Pics: SayVinyl, Austin James Band, A Beautiful Noise, Andrea's Birthday

I'm still at the Ken Club and I will post comments about the last two days, but in the meantime, here are the pics...