Things To Do In San Diego: October 30-31, 2012

I'm back. I flew back from Puerto Vallarta on Sunday, but since Monday is my designated day off, I prolonged my long weekend. But I'm back now and just stayed up all night to read/sort/archive 700 emails (wish that was an exaggeration) and now it's back to work and life in San Diego. I've got some videos to post, some photos from the past couple weeks, some voting guides, and some newsy bits that I never got around to posting. I'll also be giving away THREE PAIRS of tickets to Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots for next week when the show opens on Tuesday at the La Jolla Playhouse. Huge thanks to Jeff and Elliott for posting while I was gone, and to Chase for holding down the fort and taking care of my babies. Hopefully I'll have your weekend listings sometime today or tomorrow, and while I'm thinking about it, I might be on KPBS this Thursday for the weekend preview and I believe my Bowerbirds interview will air on this weekend's episode of SoundDiego. Expect a flood of posts, contests, bragging, and diaries. But first, I should go to sleep a few hours so I can enjoy a bike ride later this morning once the fog clears. Tuesday and Wednesday archives are after the jump. 

Jeff's Weekly Pick: Lord Huron @ The Casbah Thursday November 1, 2012

Ben Schneider has been performing under the name Lord Huron for a couple of years. During a visit to his Midwestern birthplace (Michigan) he penned the first songs while enjoying the natural beauty of the area. Constant touring without a proper full length album to his credit has not deterred the Los Angeles based musician. In fact, since signing to independent label IAMSOUND, Lord Huron is now armed with new songs from the recently released Lonesome Dreams. Leaning to the folk side of the indie rock spectrum, the album reveals a very polished production. The songs definitely show his talent as a songwriter. There are several styles evident throughout the album, and each subsequent listen evokes different feelings. One thing is certain: Lord Huron follows a path carved out his very own life experiences, and it is a joy when he shares a glimpse of them with the listener.

Once again, the nice people @ Sezio are presenting the live show, this time at the intimate Middletown venue. With twice the songs in the repertoire, a great night of music awaits those in attendance. Tickets can be purchased here.

Pacific Air and Jeans Wilder set the stage.

Watch a video of Time to Run below.

Saturday Night Late: Lost in the Trees @ Soda Bar October 27, 2012

Carolina folk rock band Lost in the Trees will be performing songs from their latest release, A Church That Fits Our Needs, tonight at Soda Bar. The orchestral style band is fronted by the imposing Ari Picker, who sings with a delicate softness to his tone. Formed in 2007, the band has members playing violin, tuba, french horn among its instruments. The resulting sound is songs that lure the listener in, like moths to a flame. The sophomore album is truly a thing of beauty and the live show should prove to be a memorable one. Having seen the band a few years ago and recently performing a live session on KCRW, it is readily apparent to see how the group is growing as a cohesive unit. Everyone is invited to see the band perform live tonight.

Midtown Dickens set the stage.

Watch a video of Red below.

The Tree Ring perform Saturday at the Birch North Park Theatre

Photo Courtesy of the Tree Ring

This article should only contain: “The Tree Ring, album release show, Saturday, Birch North Park Theatre” and that should be enough to convince you to go. But I am in the unique position of being a Point Loma Nazarene alum, which means I only had to look for the closest find a feather-hair-extension or a mustache (student’s or professor’s) to find a fan. The local five-piece chamber-pop group includes the prolific Joel P West, who recently wrote the music for the film “I am not a Hipster”, the multi-talented Kelly Bennett, who spends her days as the Arts Editor for Voice of San Diego, Douglas Welcome, Darla Hawn, and Jon Titterington. While the idea of strings-and-organ-heavy rock may turn off some, The Tree Ring’s music is always engrossing and often transcendent. They’re bringing their intimate and complex music to the Birch North Park Theatre tomorrow night to celebrate the release of their new album, "Brushbloom". You can listen to a few tracks embedded below before the album releases this Tuesday. The Shivers are opening. Be sure to get your tickets early here.

 

Things To Do In San Diego: October 25-29, 2012

By the time this posts in the morning, I'll be at the Tijuana airport waiting to board my flight to Puerto Vallarta. I am really looking forward to a weekend out of town, though I have to say I'm a little bit nervous because I don't know the last time I was without a mobile phone for any extended period of time. I did buy a Google tablet, so hopefully I will not be completely without wi-fi while I'm gone. I'll be back on Sunday, so I hope that you all have a fun pre-Halloween weekend. The Casbah is going to be super fun tonight so unless you have Puerto Vallarta as an excuse, you should definitely be there. Saturday through Monday archives are after the jump. 

Under the Radar: Night Moves @ Soda Bar Friday October 26, 2012

While it normally takes most bands a while to gain their footing musically, Minneapolis indie rockers Night Moves seem to have come out of nowhere packing quite a punch. The foursome (5 piece live) recently re-released a slightly changed version of their initial full length, Colored Emotions, via Domino Records. The album is a combination of many styles such as psychedelic, pop, soul, country twang and pop to name a few. The sound is their own and has been honed for the live setting. The current tour is the first chance for those in the cities on their tour map (lucky us) to see the band and find out what the buzz is all about. Don't miss the chance to see Night Moves this Friday @ Soda Bar. You can tell those who weren't there just how great the show was that they unfortunately missed.

Ditches and Future You set the stage.

Watch a live video of Horses below.

New Music Video from The Silent Comedy

Recently, we (The Silent Comedy) teamed up with the folks from The History Channel on a new project. After working with them for the Kevin Costner show, Hatfields and McCoys, we were happy to provide the trailer song for their latest show, The Men Who Built America.

We recorded the song Blood On The Rails especially for the trailer at Lost Ark Studio here in San Diego. The History crew also shot a music video for it, with scenes from the show scattered throughout. Take a look, and check out the song on iTunes if you dig it!

-Josh Z.

Jeff's Weekly Pick: Calexico @ Belly Up Thursday October 25, 2012

Few bands evoke the sounds of the desert Southwest better than Tucson-based collective Calexico. Joey Burns (guitar, vocals) and John Convertino (drums) formed the band over 15 years ago. Many styles comprise the sound the band is noted for, including Latin, country, jazz, and Americana to name a few. My overall impression is that of an Ennio Morricone soundtrack. In fact Calexico has written several film soundtracks. Addition of a horn section many years ago has created a more distinct orchestral sound. One of the first Casbah shows I witnessed featured Calexico as the headliner. Playing on the bigger stage at the Belly Up Tavern is an ideal venue to watch the band perform. This show will feature songs from Calexico's latest release, Algiers, as well as fan favorites from previous releases. Algiers was recorded in New Orleans and features songs that remind the listener just how far the band has traveled. The journey is still ongoing and if you have not seen this band before, now is the perfect opportunity to catch them in Solana Beach. A great way to get an early start on the weekend.

The Dodos set the stage.

Watch a video of  Splitter below.

Things To Do In San Diego: October 23-25, 2012

I had very specific plans for Monday, my designated day off. I was going to go buy a Google tablet, go costume shopping with Darren, and do all of my laundry in preparation for my trip. Instead, it was a lazy morning in bed with coffee and online shopping, with no tablet purchased and no costume found, but it was still a lovely morning. We eventually walked to have lunch at Tacos de Mexicali (which I was happy to find out is staying put on El Cajon Blvd at Swift, and am also happy that I am officially without crutches). Instead of laundry, well, I slept. A lot. I guess the weekend was more exhausting than I realized. I only really say this because this means I went to the Jason Lytle show at the Casbah prepared to work all night long after the show. I thought I'd get through the 400 or so unread emails, but instead, I got your listings together. Jordan sent in the weekend and Jeff did M-W for next week, but I wanted to make sure that we had it all covered for all of your Halloween fun while I'm away later this week, so five hours later, these are finally ready to post. There are a TON of events, and I even threw in a lot of the downtown clubs for good measure. I'm sure there are still some things we missed, but hopefully this will help you plan your weekend and Halloween night. KPBS has a great list of pumpkin patches and haunted houses, too. Tuesday through Thursday archives are after the jump. Now on to that inbox...

Wednesday Night Preview- Matt & Kim w/ Oberhofer @ HOB

 Photo Credit- Greg Andrews

This Wednesday night the House of Blues plays hosts to Brooklyn- based firecracker Matt & Kim.  Notorious for their imminently entertaining live shows, the indie rock duet brings a tenacious stage presence and exceptional musicianship along wherever they find themselves.  Playing in benefit of the recently released Lightning, Wednesday's show guarantees a high-energy set of danceable music to match their outstanding light show and intense performance.

More from their press release:

After blowing out New Year's Eve at NYC's Hammerstein Ballroom, Matt and Kim wrapped nearly two years of headlining and selling out their biggest venues yet, while making waves with festival appearances around the world. Matt and Kim set out to write and record their newest lp LIGHTNING. With their high energy shows very much in mind, the indie dance duo wrote a true-to-Matt-and-Kim-style album with Lightning and are beyond anxious to hit the stage and share live versions with their fans. There will be plenty to dance to and shout along with when the latest songs, as well familiar crowd favorites, are brought to life in an all-new stage show.

Things To Do In San Diego: October 22, 2012

On Sunday night I was in the middle of updating listings, Facebooking and Tweeting for the Casbah, and trying to decide if I was going out and I got a call requesting me to do merch at Soma for Crystal Castles. I'm not a big fan of doing merch at Soma, to be honest. At the Casbah, you deal with a capacity of 250 and figure maybe 10-20% of people might buy something or chat. At Soma, you're looking at 2000-2300 kids who all think they're the only person in the world and kids will literally throw money at you. And you have the people who ask to see every shirt in multiple sizes only to realize they don't have any money or a card to buy stuff anyway. It is kinda brutal and not especially enjoyable, but they were desperate so I headed down and completely forgot to repost the listings for the week. For that, I apologize. Here are this week's listings, and hopefully I'll have the weekend up in the next day or two before I jet off to Puerto Vallarta. This weekend is when all of the Halloween stuff typically goes down, so I'll have your usual shows on here, but if you know of parties or events that might miss my radar, please feel free to leave them in the comments so I can make sure everything is accounted for before I leave. Monday archives are after the jump.

Rosey's Diary: I Gotta Say It Was A Good Day

I got home a bit earlier than usual tonight so I thought I'd recount the weekend instead of waiting a couple weeks and trying to go through all the good stuff in one go. Plus it's raining outside and judging by the level of intoxication I witnessed tonight, Darren is probably going to be working pretty late tonight taxiing half of San Diego home. Also, judging by the number of my friends who asked about my crutches, apparently none of them actually read my blog anyway, so I can pretty much say whatever the hell I want without filters. Except you, Mom. I know you're reading. Don't mind the thing about the boobs.

Ume on Sunday at the Belly Up Tavern

Ume Photo Credit: Sandy Carson

With the recent flood of folk and electronic bands pouring into San Diego and popular music, it is always refreshing when a band melts your face off. Ume is going to be bringing the loud this Sunday night at the Belly Up Tavern. The three-piece outfit are quickly setting the standard, alongside the Joy Formidable, for what the next generation of alternative bands need to do to return to the heavier roots. Anthony Bourdain liked them enough to interview the band on an episode of "No Reservations" which can be viewed here. Ume is opening for the old guards of alternative rock that night, The Toadies and Helmet, two bands that have had an incredible influence on the genre. So make sure you get to the show early to hear why these two and other great bands like Jane’s Addiction and Smashing Pumpkins have asked Ume to open for them with songs like “The Conductor” and “Captive”, the latter can be listened to below.

 

Rocktoberfest Settimes

Rocktoberfest is here! On Saturday, the block behind West Coast Tavern converts to a full on rock show and alcohol garden. Tickets are $20 at the door.

Lineup & Settimes:

Mariachi El Bronx: 8:45-10pm (Main Stage)
The Silent Comedy: 7:55-8:40 (Second Stage)
Transfer: 7:10-7:50 (Main Stage)
Hyena: 6:25-7:05 (Second Stage)
Blackout Party: 5:45-6:20 (Main Stage)
Grand Tarantula: 5:10-5:40 (Second Stage)
Family Wagon: 4:35-5:05 (Main Stage)
New Mexico: 4:00-4:30 (Second Stage)

Euphoria Brass Band: 3:00-4:00 (roaming the parking lot)

There is an open photo policy in and out privileges with your wristband. This is a 21+ event.

See you there.

Things To Do In San Diego: October 19-21, 2012

Are you ready for the weekend? I certainly am. There are so many great things going on and you'll definitely have to weed through the listings to plan your days carefully. Personally I'm hoping for some fall weather and good times with Casbah shows everywhere, Rocktoberfest, and some QT with my special one. Somewhere in all the weekend madness, I hope to sleep and enjoy long relaxing mornings before diving back into the madness. Firday through Sunday archives are after the jump.

GABF and SDBW: Two of My Favorite Acronyms...

The Great American Beer Festival. Such a grandiose name for a beer festival; and it should be, considering there are over 2,700 beers, 666 breweries, 49,000 attendees and endless amounts of pretzel necklaces all within the confines of the Denver Convention Center. This past weekend marked the 31st year of the festival and it was nothing short of amazing, minus all the cropdusters walking around the convention floor. I was fortunate enough to make it out to the Mile High City and even though I wasn’t able to taste all 2,700 beers, I am proud to say that San Diego breweries took home 17 medals this year. That’s right, San Diego’s finest breweries got their taste of the gold, silver and bronze medals that were awarded to 84 different categories of beer. For your reading pleasure, here is a list of the local winners:

AleSmith Brewing Co. - Alesmith Decadence ‘10 Old Ale - Old Ale or Strong Ale - Bronze Medal
AleSmith Brewing Co. - AleSmith Grand Cru - Belgian Style Stong Specialty Ale - Bronze Medal
Alpine Beer Co. - Duet - American-Style India Pale Ale - Bronze Medal
Green Flash Brewing - Silva Stout - Wood and BarrelAged Strong Stout - Silver Medal
Green Flash Brewing - Green Flash Trippel - Belgian Style Abbey Ale - Gold Medal
Green Flash Brewing - Le Freak - American-Belgo-Style Ale - Gold Medal
Port Brewing Co. - Hot Rocks Lager - Indigenous Beer - Bronze Medal
Pizza Port Solana Beach - Oats - Oatmeal Stout - Gold Medal
Pizza Port Solana Beach - Seaside Stout - Classic Irish-Style Dry Stout - Gold Medal
Pizza Port Carlsbad - Twerp - Session Beer - Gold Medal
Pizza Port Carlsbad - 547 Haight - Imperial Red Ale - Bronze Medal
Pizza Port San Clemente - Way Heavy - Scotch Ale - Gold Medal
Pizza Port San Clemente - Order in the Port - American Style Stout - Gold Medal
The Beer Co. - The Manhattan Project - Wood and Barrel Aged Strong Beer - Gold Medal
The Lost Abbey - Track #8 - Experimental Beer - Bronze Medal
The Lost Abbey - Saint’s Devotion - Belgian and French Style Ale - Gold Medal
The Lost Abbey - Red Poppy - American Style Sour Ale - Silver Medal

Now that you’ve seen the winners, it wouldn’t hurt to pay them a visit and see if they have some of their award winning beers on tap! I’m particularly proud to see Alpine’s Duet amongst the winners.

You would think that after a Great American Beer Fest weekend, I would decide to take a break, right? Wrong! This weekend I’m heading up to the Santa Barbara Beer Festival where a whole lineup of central and southern California breweries will be pouring their finest brews. My band, The Green Almighty, is going to be playing a set at the fest, which I am extremely excited about, but I’ll make sure to keep an eye out for some of the San Diego breweries.

Also, don’t forget that San Diego Beer Week is coming up soon. Nov. 2nd - Nov. 11th to be exact. If you haven’t already, cruise on over to their events page here and start planning now because there are already some amazing events lined up! Are you gonna’ skip out of work early for some the events? I know I am!

Cheers,
Charles Eck

Rosey's Diary: San Diego, Livin' The Dream

It's been a couple weeks since I've written a diary post, so I'll try and catch up with the things I've forgotten to post or failed to mention since the last post (10.3.2012), but you how these get all long winded and such...to be perfectly honest, I write them more for myself than for you anyway, but if you have any interest, click 'read more' below. Oh, and remember how I told you that North Park was named the #13th hippest neighborhood in the country? My friends Pat & Kristian and their team and My SMN put together this cool little video series for North Park Main Street after getting a flood of media requests from people all over the country (and internationally) whose interest was piqued by the designation. You can see my nephew, Baby Ziggy, at 1:35.

Bowerbirds this Friday at the Casbah

 Bowerbirds: Phil Moore and Beth Tacular

San Diego will be treated to another great male and female fronted band this week as the Bowerbirds perform this Friday night at the Casbah. I was able to enjoy their rich, orchestral, folk music last time they performed at the Casbah and while their most recent release, “The Clearing”, has them drifting to louder regions than they have explored before, their performances never drift from feeling intimate. The harmony between Phil Moore and Beth Tacular is hard-earned, their relationship goes well beyond being bandmates and they have had their fair-share of troubles and conflict. Despite that, the Casbah will showcase such poignant songs as “In the Yard” and a personal favorite, “Tuck the Darkness In”, which can be listened to below.  Opening for the Bowerbirds is the dark folk band Strand of Oaks.  Tickets can be purchased in advance here.

91X Announces Wrex The Halls

I am sooo sorry for not posting this earlier in the week, but time just slipped by and I've more or less been offline for the last 30 hours. Enough about that...here's the lineup for this year's Wrex The Halls.
You have ONE HOUR left for presale tickets (Click the flyer) , or you can snatch them up tomorrow after 10am.

SHOW DATE: DECEMBER 7, 2012

VENUE: VIEJAS ARENA (AT SDSU)

ARTISTS: THE KILLERS, M83, PASSION PIT, TEGAN AND SARA, THE JOY FORMIDABLE, IMAGINE DRAGONS, YOUNGBLOOD HAWKE, AUDIO ADDICTION

DOORS/SHOW: 5PM/5:30PM

91X PRESALE: MONDAY, OCTOBER 15 at 8AM to THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18 at 10PM – password is: 91X

ONSALE: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19 at 10AM

Tickets range from $19.91-$74.91



Visit 91X for further information.

Under the Radar: Exitmusic @ Soda Bar tonight (Thursday)

The seemingly nonstop parade of touring bands visiting our beautiful seaside city continues tonight with Brooklyn-based Exitmusic playing at Soda Bar. Devon Church and Aleksa Palladino are partners in both the group and in life (married). To say that the duo have been busy would be putting it mildly, since Aleksa is also an accomplished actress, having recently appeared in HBO's Boardwalk Empire. The balancing act between the two professions can be a delicate one, but one that has only strengthened the resolve shown in their music. Touring around the globe to promote Exitmusic's latest full length, Passage, is part of the process. The music is very immediate, with dreamy pop and heavy almost goth like undertones. There is a lot of contrast evident in the music, with Aleksa's pulsating vocal delivery at the forefront. Two other members have been added for live performances. I urge those who are on the fence to head over to the City Heights venue for a great night of music.

Idyll Wild and Odd Shapes set the stage.

Watch a video of The Modern Age below.