News Nuggets

Since I was accused of using someone else's title with my news segments, here's what you get. I haven't done newsworthy items in a bit, but I thought I'd go back to my roots and share some info that I've heard in the past couple weeks.

1. Jon Jameson of Delta Spirit was thrown in jail! You can read all about it on his MySpace blog here.

I personally love his summary:

Morals of the story... don't take pills from my mom, stay on the I-10 when driving through Texas, not everyone with an 'assualt with a deadly weapon' charge is a bad guy, never enter Hudspeth County if possible, if you do have prescription pills keep the prescription with them, former Marine Texas State Troopers love Rage, cover all Obama propaganda when entering Texas and if you still end up in jail laugh at all the inside jokes.

2. The Muslims are changing their name? According to their MySpace Page and bulletins, the band will now be called "The Soft Pack".

Working on new material and firing on all cylinders, we feel strong about this one. It's a new chapter in our lives and hopefully yours.
Stay tuned to The Soft Pack page, as we will be posting new videos, music, and junk in the coming weeks. We are pumped.

(Thanks to Crystal for the head's up.)

3. The Paddle Boat have an EP that you can listen to on their MySpace page:

All four songs from our debut EP are now up on our page! The first two songs ("B-Side of a Life" & "Everything") will be released through Single Screen Records on a 7" 45rpm vinyl. A digital download of all four songs will come with the 7". It will also be available through iTunes for those who don't have record players and just want the digital version.

4. Gray Ghosts are here. A new band featuring Dustin & Kelly of Kite Flying Society, Frank of Down With Leo, Kevin of Ex-Friends, Matt of the Bloody Hollies, and Melanie on vocals and flute (though I don't know if she was in a band before). Their first show will be in January at Soda Bar. Here's from their bio:

Gray Ghosts is a six-piece indie pop band out of San Diego. Combining elements of rock, folk, pop, bubblegum and doo-wop. Gray Ghosts strive to emulate the fine songwriting craftsmanship of a bygone era while infusing it with a fiercely modern pop quirkiness all their own.

Gray Ghosts is knee deep in recording their debut EP, a 6 song affair featuring soaring harmonies, boy/girl vocals, warm storytelling, handclaps -- basically, the works.

Check them out on MySpace.

5. Last night was the final night of The Turf Supper Club before Tim, Sam and the othere pack it up and move to La Mesa to open Riviera Supper Club and Turquoise Room
(7777 University Ave) opening this month.

Overdue Recap: Crooked Fingers, Port O'Brien, Sarah Jaffe @ Casbah, 11.13.08

Last Thursday night, I decided to head to the Casbah and arrived early enough to see all the bands. Sarah Jaffe started the night off and had an incredible voice that ranged from sounding hard and with a heavy country tinge like Lucinda Williams all the way to a soft, sweet, haunting sound a la Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star. She was great and had amazing range, and the standup electro-bass added just the right sount to her acoustic guitar. I could've done without the 3 drunks talking on the side of the stage, but she tolerated them.



Then, the reason I was at the show, Port O'Brien hit the stage. I cannot get enough of this band, and I was up front for the whole set, anticipating the audience participation for "I Woke Up To Day" which has become their signature way to end their sets, providing a box of pots, pans, and other cooking utensils for everyone to clang together. But it wasn't just the closing song that was great. The whole set, with their Alaskan fisherman themes are all gorgeous.

Port O'Brien "Stuck On A Boat"




Last was Crooked Fingers, and in spite of the drunks screaming for Archers of Loaf, Eric Bachmann and his band played a mostly quiet and delicate set of folky rock. I first saw Crooked Fingers a few years back at Belly Up, and though the band seemed completely different, the music still complemented the beautiful voice behind the music.



Admittedly, I missed the end of the set because Bob gathered a bunch of people at the back bar to toast Tim Mays' birthday, but the drunk Archers of Loaf fans were pleased that the encore included some Archers hits.

After the show, Jake and I joined everyone at the Turf Club to close out the night until the clock ticked 2 and I turned back into a pumpkin.

Bye-bye Turf Club?

So I've been sitting on this information, but since I saw it in a MySpace bulletin, I guess the info is out there, so I'll repost here:

The bar that we all know and love, the place that one friend calls "The Happiest Place On Earth" may be closing down in November. What is certain is that the current owners of the building tripled the rent and are forcing the current owners out. The bottom line is that the place will never be the same. Ever. I always said that I would chain myself to the door if they ever tried to close it down. So if anyone has any ideas about how to avert this semi-disaster for the neighborhood (and let's face it, the city itself) let me know. we need to stop this.

Who's in?

Memorial Day weekend...the rest of the story

Another reason why I'd taken it easy on Saturday was because I had to get up on Sunday for the 1:00 Padres game. I'm glad I woke up relatively early, because my friend Sara, who had the tickets, was sick and canceled on me, so I had to find someone else to take with me. Matt said he could go, so we got the tickets from Sara, parked downtown, had the $6 burger and beer special at Maloney's (all game days) and trekked across downtown to the game. It was my first game since last season. Our seats were pretty cool, on Toyota Terrace between the 3 giant corporate suites at the field level and the radio and tv broadcast suites above them. There is only one row of seats where we were, mostly designated for people with disabilities, so it was pretty quiet, but we had a good time.



We were sitting right in front of Bob Uecker.



It was a beautiful sunny day, the perfect day to take in a game. Especially good because Trevor Hoffman got the save to clinch the sweep for the Pads.



After the game, I met some friends over at the Tower Bar for John Johnson's awesome BBQ, hung at home for a while, then met some friends out for a couple drinks. We met at the Turf Club but it was unreasonably packed, so we instead went to Bluefoot. When my friends decided to take off, I stayed behind and hung out with Peter (Roxy Jones) and my friend Little P for a bit. From there P and I went to the Zombie to finish off the night since he and I live close by. Happy to have Monday off, when I got home, I made it a late night, watching HBO OnDemand and some free music on Concert.tv. If you have OnDemand, I highly recommend watching the Jools Holland show with Stereophonics, Calexico and The Black Crowes. Toward the end, Kelly Jones of Sterophonics sings an awesome version of "Twice As Hard" with the Black Crowes. That was enough to knock me out and end my quasi all nighter.

I spent Monday with my family at my parents' house in Chula Vista. My sister and I busted into some of the old packrat boxes and I found some old flyers and stuff from concerts from back in the day that I'll post sporadically in the near future just for kicks. All in all, it was a pretty good weekend, I have to say. I hope everyone else can say the same. Now, onto a short work week...