NBC SoundDiego Session: Jesse LaMonaca and the Dime Novels

I can't believe it was almost a month ago that we recorded this SoundDiego Live session with Jesse LaMonaca and the Dime Novels. I only posted one of the songs, and since I know you're coming to check him out tonight at the NBC party, I thought I'd finally share the other video we shot that day. This is "Wildcat". You'll also be treated to the lovely music of John Meeks, The Tree Ring, and if you're invited to the private 3rd floor party, Stevie & The Hi-Stax and Red Fox Tails.

View more videos at: http://www.nbcsandiego.com.

Should be a pretty crazy night. I don't know about you, but I'll be attempting to catch Writer at the Casbah after the party and then make it to FLUXX for Louis XIV. Wish me luck.

Things To Do In San Diego: NBCSanDiego Party, 3.10.2011

I told you there's a bunch of stuff going on this Thursday, so maybe you can find a way to do more things in one night than usual.

NBCSanDiego is "rebranding" which means they changed some logos, updated their website and lost the peacock for all intents and purposes. Who really cares what it means, if it means a free party? Come see The Tree Ring, Jesse LaMonaca and the Dime Novels, and John Meeks in the W Living Room. Click the flier for more info.

Celebrate 10 Years of Holiday Matinee

Holiday Matinee is celebrating their 10th Anniversary by doing what they do best...giving back. Join Dave Brown and the crew at the W hotel this Wednesday night when 25% of all food and drink purchases goes to Friends of Toms, providing shoes for needy children around the world. Check out more info here.

Recap: Chocolate & Wine @ W Hotel, Art By Aaron Chang

I'm still knee deep in backlogged posts, but I just got home from the W Hotel, and it was a great event and I wanted to encourage people to go down tomorrow to check out an art opening by Aaron Chang, a pro surfer and amazing photographer. His art was already up tonight.

Jake and I were there for the wine & chocolate tasting. The wine was provided by Whole Foods (from Thornton Winery) and the organic chocolate came from Chuao Chocolatier (with stores in North County including UTC. Also available at Whole Foods) The pairings were delicious...4 chocolates and 4 wines, but it was plenty to get a good feel for both. I'm not even a chocolate person...I'll take meat and cheese over sweets anyday, but this chocolate was incredible.

(BTW, I just found out that Chuao is having a toy drive this weekend. Bring an unwrapped toy to any location Friday through Sunday and get a free Chocopod.)


More pics if you 'keep on reading'


After a brief introduction about the wine and food, we had at it. All these events at the W are free and open to the public, though they prefer and RSVP just to get a sense of how many people will attend. I've mentioned in the past that I've done wine, sake, and tequila tastings and they were barely attended. One time I was the only person there.


This event had a good amount of people and we chatted with a couple friends that Jake ran into and I wandered to take pics.

The art by Aaron Chang really fits well in Magnet, the lobby of the W Hotel, which has always had a SoCal beachy feel (despite the insistence of downtempo techno always playing in the background.) Three screens hang over the seating area with these huge displays of various fins behind, then there are some large photographs that can be viewed on the mezzanine.


And just for kicks, we went up to Beach, since it was Jake's first time at the W San Diego. It was pretty empty, save for the couple that probably should've been in their room (ahem).



Anyway, that was our quick little 2 hour stint at the W. My belly is happy and I'll probably be back tomorrow to meet Aaron before walking over to TNT. Surf enthusiasts, drink enthusiasts, and San Diego enthusiasts should definitely check it out. I'll be sure to keep posting the W events because I've never been disappointed.

Joseph Arthur, Anthology, 7/23/08

Wednesday night was a long night that started early. With Dagart, my preferred partner in crime (PPIC) in tow, we made our way downtown around 6:30 to attend the beer and sake festival held at the W Hotel and hosted by the Japan Society of San Diego.

I won the tickets from a giveaway on X1FM.com and I really don't know how much I should gush about the event, but it was awesome. Of course, it was 'sampling', so the first couple pours of sake seemed weak, but it didn't take long to realize, between bites of ahi from Jade Theatre and spoonfuls of goodness from Nobu, that those little sips of sake quickly add up. We sampled several sakes before moving upstairs to the Beach for the beer tasting. Once there we found more food and got some heftier pours with the beer sampling. I ran into a couple old friends while enjoying the rooftop. And, for the record, I didn't bring out my camera once at this event.

After a couple hours of drinking and snacking on the various samples, it was time for us to walk over to Anthology. Talk about a change of scenery that smacks you in the face. Where the W was packed elbow-to-elbow, Anthology was virtually empty, with less than 50 people there for the show, and with the set-up of dinner tables, it looked even more sparse and you could hear a pin drop. Unfortunately we missed the opener, but at least our timing worked out and we arrived between acts. We were on the guest list, but I was also supposed to have photo privileges. Not having prior experience at a show for the venue, I wasn't sure exactly how that would work, but the hostess said, "oh, cool, we'll just let the security know". We ran into Jake and Malinda and hung with them for a bit and also Jeff, who was nice enough to buy us a round of drinks.

When Joseph hit the stage, he obviously noticed how empty the venue was and immediately asked that everyone move closer to the stage, which made for a much better show, but it was just unfortunate that he wasn't playing the Casbah or something where he might've had a bigger draw. On the other hand, the sound there was incredible and the few people there hung on every word, every lyric, every note. He played a couple songs then played mostly requests, which was kinda funny to hear how many of his own songs he doesn't remember. It made me remember how much the guy writes. His latest EP was in a series of four released over the last year, but on top of that, I had to stop subscribing to his MySpace blog because he just posted way too much for me to ever keep up with. The guy bleeds and breathes words. And we were lucky enough to be there to watch it happen live.

If you missed it, I posted video here. See more pictures if you 'keep on reading'.


The really crazy part of that night was after Anthology was all said and done, we went to the Casbah. Unfortunately, Aspects of Physics canceled because one of the dudes cut his hand on a glass. It was wrapped but he had to elevate and you could still see it bleeding through the gauze, so it was pretty gnarly. Still, we hung out with some friends before acknowledging it was late and time to call it a night. It's these nights...the 3 venue in one night nights...that make me really love and appreciate this city.

Wednesday Night Recap: Free Booze @ W, Maps & Atlases, Nurses, and Roxy Jones @ Casbah

My original plan for Tuesday was to be a responsible citizen and go to a MoveOn meeting to "virtually" meet the candidates for the '08 election. Then I was reminded that it was the second Tuesday of the month, which means "Palate" at the W Hotel, where liquor vendors come in and let you sample their booze for free. It's not always booze, once it was tea, but most of the time it's booze. In my past experience, these events are poorly publicized and thus poorly attended and this one was no exception. For the tequila tasting, I was the only person there. For the sake tasting, it was just Andrea and I (and my pregnant sister who could only smell the sake). This time there were 8 of us there to try the German Wines from Truly Fine Wine, an importer and wholesaler.



I'll put the rest of the pics up on the food blog, but there was plenty of wine to go around, and that is the food after the 8 of us were done. It sucked for Damon and Sabrina, but obviously we didn't really mind getting extra pours. The event was supposed to last an hour, but we stayed till close to 8.



After a quick stop at home, it was back out to the Casbah. Roxy Jones started the show early but I took some pretty awful pics of them (due to my poor skills) so you can pretty much look up all my other entries about them. I've seen them plenty in the last few months and love the added bass, but I've said that so much I'm boring myself. Thanks to Peter for the shirt and putting me on the list.

Though Maps and Atlases were the touring band, they played second. I didn't know anything about them, and even now after the show has settled in and I've absorbed their CD a couple times, I can't express how much I enjoyed their set and have no way of describing what I saw. They're from Chicago and play mathy prog rock but there's so much more than that can explain. I recorded one of their songs, but I'll have to upload that some other day. They were damn good and lots of jaws were dropped when their set finished.









After the set, the band proved to be one of the nicest bands I've met and truly appreciative of the crowd and they were as excited as the rest of the crowd to see Nurses.



I don't wanna embarrass Dave, but the chin and cheek dimples when he sings were killin me. Cute.

Anyway, Nurses finished up the night. Everyone has been talking up this band a lot lately. Originally from Idaho, they now reside in Temecula but hope to move into a more central area of San Diego. They were good, but I wasn't feeling CatDirt's comparison to The New Motherfuckers at all. They had this cool 70s vibe mixed with carnival type sounds and whistles. Someone told me they are San Diego's own Arcade Fire, and I guess I hear that comparison a little more. Regardless of who they sound like, I had a great time watching them and can't wait to get really shitfaced with them sometime...

These pictures give some indication of bartender Ben's generosity throughout the evening:







You know when I start taking pics in the MTV angle, it's time to put the camera away for the night... I didn't even get a picture of the 4th guy in the band with his awesome handlebar moustache...



Hopefully I can throw the videos up on vMix promptly, but I don't really do anything promptly, do I? The show ended early but quite a few people were hanging around chatting with the bands and whatnot, but we did eventually head home before becoming pumpkins. I think tonight might require me to just stay in for an evening...my dog deserves it.