Vote For My Piece o Shit Car!

I really don't know that I should completely expose myself like this, but I entered a contest to win the VW bus from Little Miss Sunshine. It had to be 60 seconds and you had to use the VMIX site to create a slideshow, and the uploaded video is really fucked up compared to how my final preview looked, so I'll blame vMix. My transitions and captions got all fucked up from how they looked when I edited, but it is what it is and I can't fix it now. I think my entry comes in over 60 seconds, but the vMix helpdesk has notified me that it was, in fact, a glitch in the system, so all entries will still be considered in spite of their length. There were less than 50 entries nationwide, so chances are relatively good.

I used a song by Get Back Loretta("You Gotta Believe") that was available on the site. Public votes count for 25% of the score, so won't you help me out and vote??

The link to all the entries is here. Mine is called "San Diego Hooptie" and is in the fourth column, eleventh row. I would embed it here, but the code is all screwed up. If you have a second, come and vote.

Hey bands, Looking to play in San Diego?

This is a bulletin from The Honey Bee Hive:

the bee hive is currently booking dates;
jan 19, 20,22,and 29th
febuary 4, 5,11,12,18,19,23,25,and 26
contact richie @ 619-517-2030
these dates will fill fast so contact asap

I have to admit, the one show I went to at the HBH was a little disappointing but I think that was a fluke(too much cover for a "troupe" is all I'm saying). Anyway, it's a good alternative venue to the usual suspects. From my experience, I would say if you book a show there, it's up to you to promote and get the bodies in the door, but you can just make it your own party with all your own friends. And that ain't too shabby if you ask me.

Things To Do: January 7-10

Sunday, January 7:

• Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks @ The Casbah $16
• Hot Like a Robot, The Secret Stolen, All Ages @ The Zombie Lounge
• Eve White Eve Black, The She He He's, Starcrossed @ SD Sports Club

Weekend Recap: The Roman Spring, A Week's Worth, etc...

What a great first weekend of a new year. I started my weekend after my halfday of work on Friday by scooting home and taking care of business, then heading downtown with Sara to see The Holiday. It’s standard romantic comedy fare, which translates to me crying over silly moments and trying to decide who I love more…Jack Black or Jude Law. I enjoyed the movie and recommend it if you’re already feeling a bit of nostalgia for Christmas.

After the movie I picked up Andrea and we headed to Happy Hour to meet Scott and Sophie (CatDirt and CatDirtWife). They were going to the show at Horton House/Stockton House. Troy Johnson was initiated and showed up at the bar, too, along with Seth Combs. In all honesty, if my night had ended there, I would’ve been fine with that because we were having such a good time, but alas, we all had other plans.

Andrea and I made it to the Casbah just as the Roman Spring had started their set. This is my second time seeing them and I really noticed a lot of growth and a more fluid sound. Tim took more risks with guitar solos and I think the sound mix was just a lot better than the last time I saw them.

As expected, it was a packed house, which is just a great commentary on San Diego local music at the moment. The Prayers were on next and I’ll definitely have to check them out another time when there isn’t so much to otherwise be distracted by. I ventured out to the patio during their set and pretty much remained there throughout the remainder of the show. I went in a couple times for Grand Ole Party and UV Tigers but I feel like I’ve seen both bands in the past 6 months more than I’ve seen my own mother, so there was nothing new going on and I didn’t feel compelled to pay close attention.

Saturday night I wasn’t much motivated to do anything. Knowing the I’m going to the Casbah tonight (Sunday) as well as tomorrow for the Anti Monday League show, I decided that I’ll have to catch Swim Party and Modern Rifles somewhere else. Transfer is another band I’ve seen quite a bit lately, too, so I wasn’t concerned about missing them. Matt called and told me there was some sidestage show happening at the House of Blues. He told me that Vinyl Radio and Grand Ole Party were originally supposed to play, but now the lineup was Lady Dottie and The Diamonds and Delta Spirit. I headed to his house and we ventured downtown. On the ride I got a preview of the rough tracks of the new Vinyl Radio and it is strong. Some mixing needs to be done, but the preproduced product sounds great already. You can still pick up their free CD at various locations. They had a bunch at the Casbah on Friday but I don’t know how many were left. There should be more there for the show tomorrow.

After grabbing some bar fare and a couple drinks, we came to find out that both bands had cancelled and now the show was just going to be Buddy Akai, though I suppose I would’ve known this had I checked the MySpace bulletins.

I’ve seen Buddy Akai before and I enjoy them for what they are, but when manager Erika Jessup (of the Beauty Bar) told us that the band might not play because their laptop was missing we both kinda cringed. Matt is of the belief that computers have no business on stage. I’m not that extreme, but my feeling is that a band should be able to pull off a decent set with or without a laptop. Later that night, Shiloh and Jason and I had a discussion about it and they shed some light on the value of a computer for the electro-rock that bands like Buddy Akai play, but I’m not sure I’m sold. I feel like their sound has already run its course and isn’t really a style with any longevity or staying power once the resurgence of the 80’s passes and we inevitably draw from another era. The boys from Augustana were at the show but left after the first song.

Matt and I were pretty tired from having to wait so long for their set to even start, so we took a cue from Augustana and left after the second song. I picked up my car and wasn’t ready to call it a night so I decided to head to Rosie O’Grady’s in hopes of catching A Weeks Worth and also as a bit of surveillance to check out the bar as a venue. I really believe that bands need to play different venues. The Beauty Bar, The Casbah, The Ken Club and the Sports Club all have their merits, but the crowds at these bars draw from the same pool. There are also places like Brick By Brick or Dream Street or Winston’s that have their own qualities that might help in expanded exposure, even if it seems like nobody is paying attention, as was the case for Rosie’s.

I’ve lived down the street from Rosie’s for seven years now and have to admit this was maybe my fourth time there. I’ve never seen a band play there. I found a stool along the bar and ordered up a Smithwick’s (Rosie’s has a good beer selection) and eventually A Week’s Worth started playing.

They are a local three piece and I have to say I really enjoyed their performance, although I caught them at the end of the night for their final abbreviated set. There’s something about that bar that is foreign to me. Like I love the look of the bar, but the crowd is built in, whether there’s a band or karaoke or whatever, so to me not being a local, you get the feeling like you wish you could transport 50 friends there. Everyone was talking through the music that I kept thinking of the scene in Beautiful Girls when the Afghan Whigs play live but as just background music in the bar. Aside from some random chick dancing up front, nobody seemed to be paying attention to the music except for me and the two guys next to me because we were right near the band’s setup, and the woman taking pictures.

Still, none of that takes away from the fact that A Weeks Worth are a good band. I’ve been laying on my bed and have listened to their album twice all the way through and I am trying to find a way to describe the music but I’m coming up blank. I guess the fact that I can lay on my bed and listen to a self produced local album all the way through twice should alone say something. I’m feeling Nada Surf, early Better Than Ezra, Longwave…somewhere along those lines. Just do yourself a favor and listen to them.

After the show I came home and was ready to settle into a late night movie but Jason and Shiloh came over so we watched Next on MTV for a bit, played a late night game of Scene It! and then called it a night. They took off around 4:30 and I nestled in for sleep.

At this moment I plan on heading to the Casbah tonight for Stephen Malkmus, but Sunday’s are hard, so we’ll see how I feel about it in 4 hours or so. In the meantime, I hope everyone had a good weekend and I’ll be updating the Things to Do shortly.

Things To Do: January 5- January 10 2007

I'm really bummed I missed Loam last night, but it's another great weekend in San Diego, so get out and see some music. I myself plan on being at the Casbah pretty much all weekend. Maybe I should just take a sleeping bag. There are plenty of other good and worthy things happening this weekend, so don't waste your time at home.

Friday, January 5:

$10 is nothing when it's a donation to a cancer center!

• Grand Ole Party, UV Tigers, The Roman Spring, The Prayers @ The Casbah $8

• Orion Frequency, Fever Sleeves, Lily White, The Secret Six @ The Ken Club
• Beautiful Trouble, Fono, Call Down Fire, Kemistry @ Cane's
• Homeless Sexuals, FleXXbronco, The Susceptibles @ Zombie Lounge
• NoFX, Strike Anywhere, Dead to me, Love Equals Death @ Soma
• KRS One, Deep Rooted @ 4th and B
• Molly Jensen & Anya Marina @ Lestat's 9:30
• Barrington Levy @ Belly Up
• Andrew Jackson Jihad, Porches, Pleasure Mammal (all from AZ) with The Vision of a Dying World @ The Horton House...3286 F Street. Bring donations for touring bands.
• Mario Escovedo and Friends @ The Whistle Stop

Saturday, January 6:

• Transfer, Swim Party, Modern Rifles, Paperplanes @ Casbah $10
• Hialeah, The Valley Areana @ The Alibi
• A Week's Worth, The Micromanics @ Rosie O'Grady's (two sets, 11p-1a) (FREE!!)

• Sultry Savage, Monsters From Mars @ Ken Club
• Charles Rowland and The Vultures, The Muslims @ Beauty Bar
• Dennis Quaid and the Sharks @ Belly Up
• While you're getting ready to go out, tune in to KPRI, 102.1 FM, from 8-9p. They will be broadcasting the Snow Patrol show that was recorded from the House Of Blues on 9/28/06 (where I spent my 30th birthday). Feel free to burn it to DVD and send me a copy!!
• Downs Family @ Honey Bee Hive
• The Binge, Critical Me, The Revents, All Ages @ O'Connell's

Sultry Savage Burlesque

Ophelia Handful, one of the many performers from the Sultry Savage Burlesque shows, is up for Miss Viva Las Veas. Help our local girl out by voting for her here. Sultry Savage Burlesque will be at the Ken Club on Saturday night with Monsters From Mars.

New Night: cocktails in kensington, this monday

Like I need another excuse to go to the Ken Club:

Ok so we are going to start a new night at The Ken Club this Monday. We will continue to do Whiskey Rebellion also but they will be switching off every other Monday. The new night will be called Cocktails In Kensington and will be hosted by Wendy O'Rourke. We are very excited about this night and hope that you all come and check it out and will also continue to come to Whiskey Rebellion. Wendy's new night will be a lounge night. We will have cocktail and martini specials. Please check out our new page at http://www.myspace.com/144847071 and add us. Hope to see all of you this Monday and every Monday.

Peter

Come check it out. If you don't happen to live in walking distance like I do, take a cab. Them pours can be heavy...

This just in: Greg Laswell

Greg Laswell's cover of "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" will be featured in the season premiere of The Hills on MTV, January 15th. Like I wasn't already gonna watch LC anyway. Seriously, twist my arm.

One Thousand Pictures

This is a bulletin posted by One Thousand Pictures. This really surprises me because the label (for some reason) sent me a shitload of stickers a few months back for no reason except that maybe I joined the mailing list when they played with SF band Every Move A Picture last year at the Casbah. I'll dig through my old (offline) blog and see if I can find my old review of that show. I was at the show as a volunteer for Music For America and was registering voters so I missed a lot of the show itself, but I definitely enjoyed myself. Anyhow, I hope they at least get their masters back so they can release their material themselves. Who needs a major record deal anyway?

Hello FRIENDS!!!

The new year has brought some rather large changes
our way, some of you already know of these changes but i believe most of you do
not. Fairly recently I received a phone call and I was informed that
our band "Onethousand pictures" was dropped from our exsisting label and our
record is not coming out. It was definately a surprise to us. On top of that,
you might have noticed that Abe (bass) and Andy (2nd guitar) have been removed
from our line up. We parted on extremely good terms but they are no longer
playing with us.

I understand that this bulletin seems like total
downer but Reid, Svend and myself are in great spirits and are more motivated
than ever to write, perform and make this band a greater success along with your
help. All of you mean the world to us, honestly. Your messages and your comments
really encourage us and make us feel great about what we do. I can't thank you
all enough for your love and support. Many of you are true believers in what we
create in this band and I want you to know that you are in fact a large
part of our final product. It's your love, hope, and encouragment that truly
inspire us to do what we do. Though the record is not coming out, I want to
share as much of our music with you as possible. If you are interested please
let us know.

Also keep an eye out for upcoming shows we will be
playing and new songs posted. ALL is good!!! We look forward to continuing our
journey with all of you, its been great so far. 2007 is going to bring great
things....i feel it. So here is a toast to "new beginnings!" I love you guys.
Hope to hear from you all real soon. Give.Hope

Love -evan

Things To Do: January 4

Look, I'm not above whoring out my blog. This is clearly evidenced by my google ads (which none of you seem to click because I haven't made a penny) but anyway, let's make a deal...you put me on your guest list, I post your flier. Simple as that. (Swim Party, I'm talking to you!) Or you just have an awesome benefit à la Blasphemous Guitars and you're posted. So thank you, Tim (Roman Spring), your fliers are now posted. New additions to my "things to do" are in bold type.

Also, no recaps thus far this week. I've been binging on "Bad Girls Club" and other bad television, and last night at Lancer's was pretty chill, so no stories to tell except that I kicked ass in pool (sorry, Andrea).

I'm really looking forward to new music coming out soon, both locally and nationally...if you haven't heard the new Modest Mouse single "dashboard", go listen to it on their MySpace page here. The new Arcade Fire track "Intervention" is great, too. Do a little research and you can access the download, though you should donate to their cause. I really like the Clap Your Hands Say Yeah tracks that I've heard, too, though they take some listening to for full appreciation.

Also, some stuff is coming out locally. If you catch Reeve Oliver live, pick up their new ep with some tracks from their forthcoming album and stuff that they wrote after recording... Vinyl Radio had a bit of a CD fiasco (i.e. sending the wrong music to be pressed), so they've decided to give away their ep since their album will be out soon. There were some copies at Taang! Records. If they're gone, let me know and I'll force Matt to replenish the supply. I expect they will also have some to hand out at the show on Monday.

Also, sorry to anyone with an RSS feed for posting, reposting, etc. My internet is giving me issues.

That's about all I've gots for now.

Thursday, January 4:

• Truckee Brothers, Loam, Dead Rock West @ Casbah $7 (Loam was my soundtrack for my first two years of college)
• Vena Cava, Dan Padilla, Tulsa (from SF), Behind the Wagon, Vanja James @ Zombie Lounge
• Barrington Levy @ Belly Up
• Blues Traveler @ House of Blues

Things To Do: January 3

Wednesday, January 3:

• Half Price Drinks @ The Tower Bar from 8-11
• Lady Dottie and The Diamonds @ Henry's Pub
• Seven Dead, Pussywhipped @ San Diego Sports Club for Pussy Galore
• Metal Skool @ Typhoon Saloon
• Jalopy and Sons Of Beaches @ Winston's. $8. All proceeds go to Ocean Beach Teen Center, a non-profit 501(c).
• The Blackout Party @ O'Connell's (Free)

Addiquit

As I mentioned in my post about the Casbah show last week, Addiquit was wasted. After writing that, Addiquit friend requested me on MySpace. So yeah, here's more about the performance, in this week's CityBeat.


Here's a piece from Troy:

The buzz got even louder at the venue—not about her music, but about whether the stumbling, slurring MC was coherent enough to play. Eventually, she did stagger on stage and performed a 10-minute set that was part drunken spectacle and part promise, in which she freestyled and asserted “I’m a street bitch” over and over to a small, gawking crowd.

“I know I was too [intoxicated]…. The Casbah was the first ‘big show’ for me,” she later said, saying it wasn’t nerves that caused her to drink up. “I think I’ve set the record for being thrown out of bars here in San Diego. My friend suggested I play the next show at lunchtime.”

As Donald Trump says, we believe in second chances.

Things To Do: January 2

This is how the week is shaping up...I will update and repost as I get updates.

Tonight, January 2:

• My Morning Jacket & Elvis Perkins in Deerland @ House of Blues (If you don't have a ticket to this show, there will be a live broadcast on FM 94/9 around 9:30)
• Corey Cava's Birthday at the Tower Bar, featuring In The Red and Batwings. Also, tonight's competitive eating contest will feature Hostess cupcakes, Twinkies, and Bologna Sandwiches. Yum! (free to participate)
• Ken Club Karaoke

Best of Show

I wasn't going to do any year end lists, but now that the year is over, I would like to list my 10 favorite shows of 2006.

10. Danielson @ The Casbah, 6/4
9. The Long Winters @ The Casbah, 9/11
8. Wolf Parade @ Casbah, 1/3
7. Gomez on the Hornblower Cruise, KPRI Private Listener Concert, 5/25
6. Death Cab for Cutie, Spoon, Mates of State @ Embarcadero 8/15
5. Snow Patrol @ House Of Blues, 9/28
4. Lucero, Rocky Votolato, William Elliott Whitmore @ Casbah 10/15
3. 94/9 Holiday Hootenanny, Featuring Modest Mouse, The Shins, Pete Yorn, Silversun Pickups, 12/9
2. Manu Chao @ Embarcadero, 7/30
1. Two Gallants & Cold War Kids 4/5

Good Job, 94/9!

94/9 Presents TV on The Radio @ Belly Up Tavern on April 1. Tickets are $15. Woo-hoo. If anyone is going to be at the BUT this week, let me know and I'll give you money so I don't have to pay a service charge.

Recap:New Year's Eve

As I have repeatedly mentioned with regards to New Year's Eve, it is a rookie night. If anything it's a nuisance that people who, on every other night of the year, would be on their sofas watching Leno, decide it's the one night a year to go out and drink ridiculous amounts of beer and shots, and then mix it all up with cheap champagne at midnight for the ultimate in drunkenness.

Per my plan, I stayed home. My friend Sara lives in the apartment upstairs from me, so we made a Trader Joe's shopping trip on Saturday and cooked appetizers and dinner on Sunday night. Stef came over and we were all stuffed...Santa Maria style tri-tip, Sour Cream and Goat Cheese mashed potatoes, spinich and artichoke dip with mediterranean flatbreat, and Gruyere and Carmelized Onion puff pastry bites.

As the night passed, Stef was on her way and Sara was ready to hit the couch, so at 11:20 I made my way to the Ken Club. It was pretty packed and there were plenty of people already at one too many, but enough of my friends were there to keep me entertained. At midnight, there was a lot of champagne to go around and after a while I ventured over to see the Creepy Creeps. Both Thee Corsairs and Monsters From Mars cancelled for whatever reason, so the Creepy Creeps played most of the night.

In all my years going to the Ken Club, this was my first time watching the Creepy Creeps. Donning powder blue tuxedos with white frilly tuxedo shirts underneath, Elvis pompadour wigs, and faces painted a ghoulish green, they rocked the stage. The music is driven by what sounds the organ and has a groocy retro rock sound. There were two go go dancers in front of the stage on lit up risers who spastically dance to the music. People in the crowd were dancing a kinda rapid twist and looked cool while doing it. The band was still going when I decided to call it quits.

A friend and I decided to check out another friend's party about half a block down the street from the bar. I should know better than to show up at a party at 1:45. Throughout my entire night, I'd had a beer and a half with dinner and 2 vodka tonics between 11:30 and 1:45. I was not even buzzed. I showed up to the party where everyone was drunk, people were making out all over the place, and people frantically tried to get every last drop out of the bottles of booze that were left. Not for me at all. I called it a night and decided I would save my steam for all the great shows that are coming up in the next couple weeks. Things to do this week coming shortly!

A Degree Don't Mean Shit

I have a degree in "Multimedia Communications", i.e. web publishing, graphic design, 3-d design, animation, etc. I am not in any of those fields because I really suck at all of them. This was the best I could come up with in an hour.

Happy Tuesday

Reasons to refrain from crying ab0ut having to go back to work:

1. Indie 103 played the new Arcade Fire single, "Intervention" and then shortly thereafter played Thom Yorke's Neil Young cover of "After the Gold Rush". This is why I stream LA radio.

2. Lots of blog reading to catch up on. Cat Dirt! Chickrawker! Dooce! Smoke And Ashes! Postsecret! Stereogum!

3. I bought some Rafter CDs the other night that I haven't had the chance to open yet. I got '10 songs' and 'Music For Total Chickens', and also got an Asthmatic Kitty sampler (22 songs!) and a side project thing(?) called Wack Ass Bitch 'Death Style'.

All this definitely compensates for the fact that I kept waking up having dreams about Perez Hilton fighting Paris Hilton to a soundtrack of Lady Sovereign's 'Love Me or Hate Me'. Which reminds me...I haven't touched TMZ in a couple weeks, either.

Should old acquaintance be forgot

I just wanted to take a sec to express my love to all my friends out there and thank pretty much everyone who contributed to making 2006 so cool. I had an amazing year and I know that it is due to all my amazing and talented friends out there. I love that this blog and myspace have created new relationships for me and also helped me find many old friends that I otherwise might have completely lost touch with forever. I love that the music scene in San Diego is so abundant and it makes me proud of my native town to see all these people contributing their voices to such a thriving scene. I know that like any year, 2007 will have its own ups and downs, but I look forward to all of it and sharing it with all of you.

Happy New Year.

Rafter & Mr. Tube @ The Tower Bar

It's New Year's Eve! Who wants to sit at a computer and write? This will be short.

I just need to say, if you weren't at the Tower Bar last night, I'd like to know your excuse. Rafter Band was awesome. Mr. Tube dropped some soul funk rock lovin. The Tower bar was packed. I really haven't seen it like that since the early days of Lady Dottie and the Diamonds or for the rare show like Gang Green or The Spits, but indie kids REPRESENT. I have to admit, I thought you thought you were too good to venture out that way but no, you showed up in droves...even so much that people left because it was so damn crowded. Granted, each band has like 80 people in it so they take up plenty of space themselves, but both bands rocked the place and the PBR was clearly pumping through the crowd's blood. Mick even had to have Matty tend bar because he didn't expect that kind of crowd. Best Eve of New Year's Eve ever.