Stream new Dr. Dog

Dr. Dog has (or is it have?) a new record, Be The Void, dropping on February 7. That same night, they'll be gracing the Belly Up. Get tickets now because it will likely sell out. And while it's cool that you can pre-order the record, I'd suggest listening to the free stream and waiting until the night of the show since most bands get their biggest merch cut when you buy it from them while they're on tour. I've only gotten through three tracks and I already love this record.

Jeffs Weekly Pick: Eleanor Friedberger @ The Casbah Thursday Feb. 2, 2012

As the shortest month of the year approaches (leap) one can become overwhelmed with all the live music shows happening in San Diego. This is the time of year when many albums are released and artists tour to promote their records. There are exceptions, however, case in point: Eleanor Friedberger , one half of The Fiery Furnaces duo, released a solo effort last summer. Titled appropriately Last Summer, Eleanor opened for The Kills here in San Diego last September. I asked her about her infrequent visits to our city and she agreed. Well, she is kicking off a West Coast tour right here at The Casbah this Thursday (Feb. 2). She will be joined by a backing band of Matt Asti (MGMT), Ahmed Gallab (Yeasayer, Caribou) and John Eatherly (Be Your Own Pet, Turbo Fruits). Needless to say, her music shows her quite comfortable in her own skin. While The Fiery Furnaces are original and somewhat experimental in their songs, Eleanor has shown the ability to write songs and create something new and essential on her own. If you are a fan of The Fiery Furnaces, there is plenty to like on this solo record. For those who want to see Eleanor in a somewhat different light (cast out of her brother’s shadow), Thursday’s intimate show promises to deliver a night of great music.

Dominant Legs set the stage.

Watch a video of Heaven below.


Eleanor Friedberger - Heaven from Merge Records on Vimeo.

Rosey's Diary: January 12-30, 2012

It has been a while since I've posted a diary post, so I thought I might as well start one off, even if my wine is gone before I can finish and have to pick it up on another day. I mean, I kinda already know that this post is going to come in parts because I would like to post separately about NAMM, Alabama Shakes, Nada Surf, and a couple other things that have come up over the month, but this is gonna be the abbreviated version of my month. I dare you to keep reading after the jump.

Things To Do In San Diego: January 30-February 2, 2012

This past weekend was crazy to say the least. My housing situation, it was pretty phenomenal, so let's focus on that and get on with this week the best we can, shall we? I can't believe it's already going to be February! That said, there are so many great shows coming this month, your head just might explode a few times. Monday through Thursday archives are after the jump.

Things To Do In San Diego: January 27-29, 2012

This week has been slightly insane, no? I slacked and didn't get weekend listings done, so I thought I should at least get tonight's done and then I can get onto the rest of the weekend and maybe do next week's too. Tonight there are some great shows around town and apologies to the Styletones, but I have to be at the Casbah for The Howls CD release, but both promise to be awesome.   Weekend archives are after the jump.

Starfucker w/ Pal & Drome + Painted Palms @ Casbah- 01.09.12

Earlier this month at the Casbah the anti-Monday league played host to a sold out show of electronica-based music to dance to.  Local act Pal & Drome opened for San Francisco-via-Lousiana trio Painted Palms who set the stage for Portland, OR indie synth rockers Starfucker.  Continue reading below.

San Diego: Dialed In Turns 5,000!

I was just about to start working on a project when I looked at my screen and saw 4,999 POSTS at the top of the screen.

HOLY. SHIT.

This is my 5,000th entry on San Diego: Dialed In. I really wish I had something epic to say or I could go into a fake-Oscars speech and start thanking people and being subtly self-congratulatory but really, I just want to thank everyone who continues to read my site. I've been on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster lately and I seriously would lose my mind if I didn't have such amazing friends and family and music to feed my soul.

I will use this opportunity to be super-promo girl, however, and remind you of some upcoming shows.

• Thursday Night is SoundDiego Live at McFadden's featuring Stephen Rey and the Slicks, Kera & The Lesbians, and the Garage To Glory winner. It's FREE and you can RSVP here and come hang out with me and the rest of the SoundDiego team.
• This Friday is The Howls CD release party at the Casbah with Jesse LaMonaca and the Dime Novels, Family Wagon, and Old Tiger. Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek will be joining The Howls for some songs and it promises to be a really good night. The record is phenomenal and you're gonna want to get your hands on a copy.
• Saturday night is the big Bring On The Bright Lights show at 4th&B featuring one of my all time favorite bands, Nada Surf. The Soft Pack, Cuckoo Chaos, and Republic of Letters will open the show. Grab tickets here.
• The last event is a 'save the date'...Jesse LaMonaca and the Dime Novels have their album release show at the Casbah on February 18. They'll be joined by The Blackout Party, Black Sands, and The Fire Eaters in the Atari lounge. I can't wait for you all to hear this record because I feel like I've been a part of the band's process for the last year. You can buy tickets in advance here.

Finally, my friends over at Cantaloop Media interviewed me and made me their Local Spotlight. Check it out and support the local scene, not just in San Diego but in Tijuana, too!

thank you. all of you.
xoxo,

rosey

San Diego Radio Shake-up

On Friday I was crammed in the back of my friend's truck on my way to NAMM when I got a press release from 91X with the subject "91X Begins Hunt For New Program Director". Here's the press release.


San Diego’s Heritage Alternative Rock Station
91X Begins Hunt For New Program Director

91X announced this week the departure of Program Director and afternoon drive host Garrett Capone, who has accepted a position as VP of Promotion at Crush Management. Capone ends his almost 5 year run at 91X, leaving the station in the top position in ratings in multiple demographic categories among rock stations in San Diego. Capone’s final day will be February 29th.

91X has already begun the search for his replacement.

“Over the years Capone has made tremendous contributions to the success of 91X on numerous fronts,” says Gregg Wolfson, Vice President and General Manager of Local Media San Diego. “91X and LMSD are grateful to have had him at the helm of 91X during very competitive times.”

91X is owned and operated by Local Media San Diego, a privately held San Diego-based company. LMSD also operates Z90.3 (XHTZ-FM) and Magic 92.5 (XHRM-FM).

This will be an interesting twist at 91X. Now that Halloran is back on the air, will he step back into the position? Will someone jump ship from another local station to fill the slot? Will someone come in from another market to takeover the position? Should I email Wolfy and throw myself into the running? More importantly, will there be sweeping changes at the station or will the new PD just be a figurehead to keep things more or less status quo? As stations have moved further from specialty programming to focus-group decided playlists, will anyone even notice?

As for Capone, I wish him well in his future endeavors with Crush Management. Here's a blip about Crush, according to the company tagline on a recent press-release about a partnership with Crush and Grooveshark:

Jonathan Daniel and Bob McLynn are two former musicians who have been through the major-label wringer and lived not only to tell, but to apply what they've learned to creating one of the most successful and innovative music management companies in the business. They brought the public Grammy-nominated, multiplatinum global superstars Fall Out Boy, reignited Train's success with a Grammy-winning, multiplatinum best selling song of 2010, and have had worldwide hits with Travie McCoy as a solo artist as well as with his band, Gym Class Heroes, not to mention multiple hits from Cobra Starship and more.

In other local radio news, over the weekend John Reis took to Facebook to announce his final show on FM 94/9. After seven years of hosting the Saturday night specialty show, Swami SoundSystem, the reasons for the end are as yet unannounced. Of the 207 comments left on the thread, speculation and snark took over, from people joking that Mikey must've demanded a raise to Reis leaving to focus on a Rocket From The Crypt world tour. It is possible that it is just another of the specialty cuts that took away features like "The Local Member of The Day" and "Desert Island Discs". Let's hope these were just compromises to make the extra hour of commercial free radio from 9-10am possible and that the rest of the station's specialty shows (FTP, The Local Pyle, Big Sonic Chill) stay intact.  Additionally, the stirrings that Reis is focusing on Swami Records and a Hot Snakes tour make me believe that this was a mutual parting.

New Video: Low Volts "History Told Me"

Back during Rocktoberfest, I was standing with the guys in Everest while Low Volts was onstage. They were commenting on how good looking and great sounding he was, and when I said, "he's also amazingly creative and a brilliant designer," they looked at me and said, "Man, I hate that guy."  To call Tim Lowman a triple-threat is to undervalue just how talented and all around awesome he is. He's got a new video for your eyeballs and earholes, so check it out.



If you still don't have Twist Shake Grind Break, check it out here and pick it up at the next show. If you live out of town, you can buy it from BandCamp, or I'm sure you can message him and paypal and he'll send you a physical copy.

Wilco at Symphony Hall, 1.22.2012

Last night I had the pleasure of joining a group of friends at the Wilco show at Copley Symphony Hall. I'm not sure how my friend procured such killer seats (8th row center) but I don't really care either. It was my first time paying for a concert ticket in a very long time and it was well worth the cost.

I've had the good fortune of seeing the band at least twice before as well as the Jeff Tweedy show at Spreckels, but it was really cool running into so many friends who were seeing the band for the first time.

There were 8 tickets in our group, so before the show we met at Stout where it was happy hour (which is GREAT on a Sunday) and watched the majority of the game. I haven't watched much football this season, but I still think it's a bummer when two East Coast teams go to the big game. SF should've had that.

Anyway, I left the group to catch White Denim open the show. Looking at the Casbah calendar archives, I think the first time I met them was when I was doing merch for Tapes n Tapes (2008), and they've played the Casbah three times since, so I was familiar with their sound. It was a bit boomy on the large stage and it was hard to make out the vocals, but it was still good and I was happy to see the band coming up. It's nice that the good things can happen to the bands who stick around, not just the flash in the pan overnight lo-fi bullshit we're Pitchforked with everyday.

I know I probably should've asked for a photo pass, but honestly it hadn't occurred to me. I just figured photogs would not be allowed, so of course I reverted to high school Rosey and smuggled in my cameras. I was trying to be respectful and mostly just recorded audio for myself (though you can hear two songs that I uploaded to the Casbah's Facebook page).  Here's the other thing and I know I sound lame and old and like a total whiner, but I was really looking forward to a seated show. When Wilco came out and the crowd stood for the majority of the show, I have to say I was pretty disappointed. For one, my favorite Wilco songs and moments are the quieter closed eye moments which are better experienced while seated. For another, I'm 5'3"! I had a great view from my seat as everyone is more or less the same height when seated. When everyone stood, I couldn't see a goddamn thing, especially behind the 5'10" woman in front of me. I was kinda pouting about this, but by the time the band got to California Stars (yes, it took that long...I told you I've been in a funk lately) I was finally in it.

By that time Jeff Tweedy had finally started addressing the crowd and the band seemed to be having a great time. Jeff showed off his history in San Diego by shouting out the Casbah. As an introduction to "Box Full of Letters", Tweedy said, "This song, um, I don't know if we played it the last time we were here. We might not...we might not have played it since the Casbah. Remember that place? Is it still going? " The crowd cheered and some dude in front of me kept yelling, "It's thriving!" They started the song and he stopped it for too much reverb. "That's exactly what it sounded like at the Casbah. One more time. Sorry." After the song, Jeff clarified. "Just to be clear, I wasn't saying that the Casbah sounded bad. Alright? Don't go tweeting that bullshit. I'm just saying that's what we sounded like when we played the Casbah. We have nothing but fond, fond memories of the Casbah. In fact. we're all going there right after the show."

I was sitting next to D.A. Kolodenko (read his funny article about the SD vs SF Burrito War) and after a while he realized I was in my Casbah hoodie and told me I should give it to Jeff. The thought had already crossed my mind, so after the band's last song of the set, "Shot In The Arm" I made my way up front where Erik & Jessica and their friends had seats and I chucked my Casbah hoodie onto the stage. After the band left the stage, a tech picked it up and when the band returned to the stage, Jeff was carrying the hoodie like a flag, then asked if I wanted it back and I shook my head, that it was for him, and  at one point he tied it around his waist and then he tried putting it on the bass drum, though it fell off as soon as Glenn started playing. Tweedy again commented on the Casbah. "You know what would be really embarrassing? If it turns out that we've never played the Casbah. Now I'm starting to have my doubts. I think it was Uncle Tupelo. Well, it was fun while it lasted." Indeed, it was Uncle Tupelo.

The show was great and I want to give super massive thanks to Sean for getting the tickets, to Mocha Joe for the ride to and from the show, to D.A. for putting me up to chucking my hoodie, and to Justin Q for grabbing me a setlist. I heard at the end of the night that some usher had my hoodie though I hope somehow, some way, it got back to Jeff.

p.s. My shots are taken from 8 rows back with point and shoot Sony Cybershots. Owl & Bear had a photo pass so keep an eye out for some real pics of the show.

New Video: A Scribe Amidst The Lions "Fever Rose"

This new year has already been chock-full of new music releases. One such release was the split 7" put out by La Escalera Records featuring A Scribe Amidst The Lions and Sour Soul. Scribe made a video for their single, "Fever Rose" and you can check it out below.



You can stream the three tracks from the split 7" below.


You can also listen to/buy A Scribe Amidst The Lion's 2011 EP The Lidless Kind.

Things To Do In San Diego: January 23-26, 2012

I usually have something to say at the beginning of the week about the upcoming week of music and indeed, there are some great shows this week, but I have to admit, I have been in a bit of a funk lately and I just can't seem to shake it. I'm trying to keep my head up and keep afloat, and hopefully some good live music will do the trick.  I will try to get weekend listings up early, but keep in mind that on Friday night, The Howls CD release show is at the Casbah and The Styletones have their album release at Winston's. Then on Saturday night, Nada Surf return, this time to 4th & B and the new album is great so you don't wanna miss it.  Monday through Thursday archives are after the jump.

Nada Surf 'The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy' NPR First Listen

NPR is streaming the new Nada Surf record, The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy. The San Diego show is only a week out, so make sure you grab your tickets by clicking the flier below. The show is at 4th & B and features Nada Surf, The Soft Pack, and Republic of Letters.

Shit People Say At Concerts

Facebook has it's trends, and unless you've been under a rock, you've noticed that everyone has been posting "Shit People Say" videos. The trend is pretty annoying, to be honest, but when Meryl and Beau of the Belly Up made this video, I had to laugh and thought I'd share. They've been making some great Belly Up promo videos in general, so make sure you like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter to see their videos.

Unfortunately, they didn't capture the idiot drunk girl that I encounter at every show at the front of the stage throwing elbows in everyone's faces proclaiming "It's a concert and I'm just dancing!"

'I Am Not A Hipster' named in Top 10 Best Music Films at Sundance by Rolling Stone

While I've been up at NAMM, Sundance kicked off in Park City, Utah, and the local-project-that-could has been getting some attention. Destin Cretton's film, I Am Not A Hipster, was named one of the top 10 best music films at Sundance by Rolling Stone. Personally, I cannot wait to see the film and hopefully there will be a local screening at some point soon, but in the meantime, here's the trailer and the full soundtrack available for streaming.


I AM NOT A HIPSTER (the movie) from Destin Daniel Cretton on Vimeo.

Things To Do In San Diego: January 19-22, 2012

So I wasn't tech savvy enough to figure out how to blackout my site yesterday, but the online activism was incredibly successful. SOPA looks like it's dead for now but PIPA is still up for vote in the Senate, so stay on your senators and call everyday. I'm heading up to NAMM today so I won't be posting much the next couple days, but there's a whole lot of goodness in town for your earholes. It's also San Diego Restaurant Week, so go support local businesses. My braised shortribs at Banker's Hill were scrumptious and I definitely recommend checking that place out. Archives after the jump.

Tuesday Night: Sundress at Soda Bar

There's a band from Denton, Texas, coming to San Diego this week and I have a small suspicion that Cullen sent them my way, so I thought I'd repost. Catch them at Soda Bar on Tuesday night.
From the press release:

Sundress is an American Psychedelic-Pop band, formed in 2010 by principle members Ryan McAdams, bassist Drew McCary and guitarist Kennon Talley. After several name and line up changes, the band added keyboardist Jim Harrington and drummer Derek Kocich to round out its current lineup. Sundress' brand of ethereal dream-pop marries many influences ranging from Pink Floyd and The Beatles to Slowdive and Sparklehorse.

Sundress have self-released two EPs (Fever - 2010; Sundress - 2011) that led to enthusiastic praise from the likes of the Dallas Observer, Consequence of Sound, I Guess I'm Floating, Rawkblog, You Ain't No Picasso, Knox Road, Austin Town Hall, and more. Since their inception the band has played almost every major festival in Texas (SXSW, Nx35 Conferette) to supporting the likes of Tame Impala, Pains of Being Pure At Heart, Washed Out, Stardeath and White Dwarfs, and Ringo Deathstar

Things To Do In San Diego: January 16-18, 2012

I hope that you have the good fortune to have today off in honor of Martin Luther King Day. I've been so preoccupied with my landlord bullshit that I was really slacking on work lately, so I stayed up laptopping all night so as not to go into a Monday with 492 unread emails staring at me. I'm happy that I at least got that sorted out but I still have so many things that I've been putting off. I'm posting all of this week's listings (all the way through Sunday!) because NAMM is this week, and if things go as planned, I'm gonna cut outta town. I also might participate in the SOPA/PIPA web blackout on Wednesday, so I thought I'd give you the benefit of planning out your week just in case I pull the site offline for 12 hours. I haven't been to a show since Friday night, so I'm looking forward to the Casbah tonight. Last night was way sold out, but tonight (at least for now) has tickets available, so if you were on the fence about going, there's still a chance. Monday  through Wednesday archives are after the jump.

Things To Do In San Diego: January 13-15, 2012

I have to say that tonight is one of those nights that I wish I had a jetpack to zoom me from bar to bar and show to show because there are so many rad bands playing around town tonight. For sure I'll be at the Casbah because I booked The Whiskey Saints to open for Everest and it feels like a proud mama moment. At the same time, I know my Guilts are gonna tear up the night at Winston's and maybe if I'm lucky I'll end up on the false peninsula. Who knows? Let's just get through the good stuff and let the rest fall into place, yeah?  Archives are after the jump.

TRANSFER and The Silent Comedy Double Header

TRANSFER and The Silent Comedy play a double header on Sunday and Monday to celebrate The Casbah's 23rd Anniversary Concert Series. This epic flyer is for Sunday...

click on the image for TIX

And THIS epic flyer is for Monday.

Click on the image for TIX

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