Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Fifty on Their Heels - Tower Bar! 06/02/07! GO!

Go! Go! Go! (I sound like Ricky Martin! hahaha)


SATURDAY - 6/2/7
SAN DIEGO RECORD RELEASE PARTY
Fifty on Their Heels
Teenage Talking Cars(Los Angeles)
Chief Death Rage(Texas)
Tower Bar
Doors 9 Show 10
$5/21+

And go if you're in the area or up for a road trip!

SUNDAY - 6/3/7
LOS ANGELES RECORD RELEASE PARTY
@ Part Time Punks (The Echo)
The Deadly Finas (ex-Go Go Go Airheart)
Fifty on Their Heels
$5/18+

John Mayer plays at The Ivy in San Diego

So I just heard that John Mayer entertained at a private shindig aka grand opening at The Ivy Hotel in San Diego last Thursday, May 24th.

He played for the VIP crowd and I guess they all had a great time.

Where way my invite? hahahaha

Jessica Simpson tagged along for this performance and they both stayed at the hotel. Other guests staying that weekend - Mark Wahlberg.

2007 Street Scene at Del Mar Fairgrounds

I have it under good authority that Street Scene WILL be at The Del Mar Fairgrounds this year.

There will be 5 stages to choose from. They will have 2 small stages, 2 big stages, and an even bigger stage. This probably means that they'll have a good variety of acts and perhaps more than last year.

They'll have a V.I.P section and 2 large backstage areas and a major food court section in one of the buildings.

What else? Um, nothing else for now.

I'll keep you posted.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

SummerBeat..CityBeat's Splashin' Art and Fashion Show

This may be a lot of fun and it benefits the San Diego Music Foundation. They are asking for a $7 donation at the door.

There is a hosted VIP Bar from 6-8pm, which you have to RSVP for.
The fashion show features Pure Boutique, Pt. Loma Boardroom, Kate Ross, Gila Rut (where I get my hair did), and several others.

There will be a ton of art from Jorge Tellaeche, Michael James Armstrong, among others and over by the pool will be DJ Claire, Vegitation, and DJ Mark E. Quark spinning.

Lafayette Hotel
2223 El Cajon Blvd., SD CA

Starts at 6pm...

Addiquit at The Casbah (Sunday 5 27 07) Free Show!

FM 94/9 is having a free show this Sunday the 27th at the Casbah.

It's an early show since it's also JiveWire, one big dance party!


I don't know what the order is but...

Buddy Akai
Addiquit
Microphone Mike

will all be playing and then various DJs (DJ Bunny & DJ Cobra) in the main room and in the Atari room.


And free food while it lasts!

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

UCSD SunGod Festival Pictures: T.I., Third Eye Blind, Ozomatli & Ben Kweller

Days late, but as promised here are a few pictures.

Ben Kweller


T.I.


Click on this link to see more pictures on my Flickr account.

UCSD SunGod Pictures on Flickr

Queens of the Stone Age Presale (LA)

Here you go...

Queens of the Stone Age are playing at the Pacific Ampitheater in Los Angeles on July 22nd, 2007.

Pre-sale begins tomorrow (Thursday) May 24th at 10am through ticketmaster.

Password: SICK

Tickets are $39.50 and their is a 6 ticket limit.

Enjoy!

Monday, May 21, 2007

UCSD SunGod Festival 05/18/07 with T.I., Third Eye Blind, Ben Kweller, Fifty on Their Heels, Ozomatli...

I know, I know, this is late. I had a busy weekend. I look like a lobster at the moment.


I enjoyed myself at this concert. I had mixed feelings going in because I'm not a big fan of the venue or of it's parking situation. My night started off with having a hard time finding parking and having to listen to Fifty on Their Heelswhile driving around. I was hoping to see them on stage, but what can I do. They sounded great, really clear and crisp from the parking lot and while I was walking towards the Rimac Ticket Window for my ticket (Thanks Cat Dirt!).

You can find a really, really good review of the concert over at Cat Dirt Sez. It's a lot fresher and probably more detailed than mine will be. I mean, it's been a couple of days. :)

Walking in around 7ish, I noticed that they were holding back the line and not allowing people to come in. I heard that they were holding this particular group of people for about 15 minutes. Perhaps it was the fact that all UCSD students got in free. I'm sure they were trying to regulate so that the security guards wouldn't get into trouble.

No beer or beer garden, which sucked, but was nice. I spent way less than I thought I would. They had your tasty fair food and some super cool big plastic slides. The stages were set-up right next to each other and the bands came on promptly at their said times. I liked the fact that I didn't have to wait 15-30 minutes in between acts - as one ended, the other went right on. I LOVED that.

The backstage goodies and seating area was a real treat. Plenty of food, drinks, and coffee, which kept me going towards the end of the night. It was great to be able to sit on a chair and not on the grass when I got tired. And it was fun to sit there and see people get carted away by the police. Do people ever learn?

The first band I saw was Ben Kweller. I had heard of the name, but not of the music. I was super suprised with the crowd reaction. He had a fairly large crowd and they were singing along to his songs. He played guitar and some keys and was the lead vocalist. He had a bass player and a drummer. I'm not a huge fan, but he did pretty good. He sounded like Weezer at times and he had a cool jazz number mixed in. From what I heard, they will be touring around California and they will be appearing on the Craig Ferguson show sometime this week?

Third Eye Blind came on next and man was I not ready for what was about to happen. They had a huge crowd and there were still people coming in during the set. They were supposed to play for an hour, but being 3EB, they played longer. They played a lot of their hits and people were singing along like crazy. When he played "Graduate" the place lit up. I'm sure there were a ton of graduates in attendence. They had a lit Third Eye Blind sign on stage, which was cool. Steven Jenkins came out looking normal, except for the velvet jacket and the top hat he wore during some songs. He did a great job working the crowd and keeping them with him. I like Third Eye Blind, and I sang along, but it got way too long towards the end. They should have stuck to their hits and dropped the lesser-known songs. I took a ton of pictures, which will be posted later and some video of Jenkins singing and of the crowd singing along. I'm not happy with the sound quality, but you'll get the general idea. Two songs were cut out because of them going over their time (God of Wine and Slow Motion). Why do they even want to play those songs?

Set List:

1) Losing a Whole Year
2) Crystal Baller
3) wounded
4) narcolepsy
5) never let you go
6) 1000 julys
7) graduate
8) deep inside you
9) motorcycle drive by
10) summer town
11) jumper
12) jumper
13) semi charmed life
encore
How's it Going to Be

Yeah, "Jumper" is on their twice. It's not a typo. This was the extended remix - WAY TOO LONG...

Ozomatli was up next. During Third Eye Blind's last song, you could hear Ozomatli fans chanting "Ozomatli" rather loudly. I found it funny and well-deserved as 3EB was well over their set-time. They came out in their usual fashion. I have seen Ozomatli several times over the many years they have been around and I still think that their original members rocked it and while they're still alive and kicking, it's not the same in my eyes. They had a great crowd, people dancing, and singing. After taking some pictures, I went and grabbed some coffee and chocolate to refuel and be ready for T.I.

There was a lot of anticipation for T.I. I had never seen him and I like his music, not love it, but like it. I think he's a total cutie and has talent. I managed to get a couple of pics of him walking onto the stage and when he walked right by me, I couldn't help but notice how small he was. I think he's my height or perhaps a tad bit smaller and he's so thin! But he still looked good. He came out in this gray hoodie and jeans and stole the show. He had 3 guys on stage with him, not including his DJ. He was all over the stage and all about the crowd, even asking if there were "any freaks" out there, if you know what I mean. And of course the whole crowd screamed. I would totally go see him at another concert. I think it would be fun. It might be a completely different crowd than the one at UCSD, but I bet you it would be fun.

I have to say many thanks to the CatDirt Family for including me in this little adventure. I had a great time and enjoyed myself immensly. I was super tired when I got home and woke up singing "How's it going to be" by Third Eye Blind. hahaha

Pictures to follow...

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Allen Toussaint with A.J. Croce at Birch North Park Theater

Where do I begin?

I was not impressed with the way the Birch North Park Theater is run. It was disorganized. They have volunteers working there that are not so smart. I found out they get paid $35 a show and most of the volunteers take whichever seats they can find and stay there - even hide when a PAYING customer comes up to them and asks them to move because they are in his/her seat. You would think the volunteer would get up and move, but no. Security just gets a chair from the back and sits the paying customer at the end of the aisle. It was shit like this that probably won't get me back to the theater.

The sound. It wasn't that great. A.J., the piano, the guitars, they were not microphoned properly. The sound was way too low. They didn't even have the monitors on for the first 2 or 3 songs. The seats were too small and a bit uncomfortable.

A.J. Croce took the stage promptly at 8pm and started on the piano. This was my first time seeing him and I liked him. I wish he would've played more songs off of his Cantos CD. I think he only did two. He is super talented. He was awesome on the piano and the guitar. His band consisted of a gentleman named Michael, who I think tours with A.J. on a regular basis. He was on an acoustic guitar the whole time and you can tell that his parts weren't scripted for the most part. He just played what he heard/felt.

He plays the type of music that I don't normally listen to, but I can respect. I've always been a sucker for the piano, so I was entertained. He did his rendition of "Maybe I'm Amazed," originally by Paul McCartney. I think he does it better than McCartney and it's one of my favorites of A.J.'s. He told stories between each song, and sometimes the stories were longer than the songs. It wasn't too bad - he made me laugh, but more songs would have definitely been better. He didn't have a set list and was taking suggestions from the audience, so that was cool.

There was a brief intermission before Allen Toussaint took the stage and since I knew we weren't going to stay for the whole set, we decided to forgo our 5th row seats and sit in the back so we could sneak out. Well, the volunteer told us we couldn't do that and that we had to take our proper seats and I got pissed off because we were trying to be polite - stupid volunteer. So we left.

I heard that Allen Toussaint was great and he played for 90 minutes and then after his set, A.J. and Toussaint did this dueling piano/piano forte type thing that was really cool.

Overall, it was an okay experience. The venue really turned me off, but A.J. made it worth it.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Maroon 5 at Epicenter 05/13/07

Fan of Maroon 5?

They're having a secret show on Sunday, May 13th at the Epicenter at 7pm.

It's first come, first serve, so be prepared to wait in line.

It is Mother's Day, so you might get lucky and get there to see very few people.

I'm still up in the air about attending. I don't know if I want to wait in line.

We'll see.

but if anyone goes, let me know how it is...

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Slayer and Marilyn Manson?

I was reading Rosey's SD:Dialed In and she announced that Marilyn Manson and Slayer are teaming up to tour together. Bleeding Through and one other band will be opening for them. Their tour starts July 25th in West Palm Beach, Florida and ends on September 1st in San Antonio, Texas. They're stopping in San Diego on August 25th at the iPayOne Center.

What?

Yes!

I'm so there.

Thanks Rosey!

Wolfmother at Viejas 05/08/07 Review

Where do I begin? I guess it all began in the parking lot drinking with the boys - AGAIN!

We arrived while the opener (Zombie Brides, I think) were on. We got to see the last two songs, but I really wasn't paying attention because I was distracted by the merchandise. I found it very cleverly placed. As soon as you walk in, it's to your left. You can't miss it. It's a great way to get people to buy, buy, buy. I unfortunately didn't buy anything because, well, the merchandise available online is much better than what they were offering. I did change my mind towards the end of the night, so I went to see if they had the hoodie in my size, but they were sold out. Good job guys!

I think that Wolfmother did an incredible job playing to a sold-out crowd in San Diego. They started with Dimension and then went right into their album favorites. They played a couple of new songs, but not too many. They basically stuck to their debut album. Rumor is that they are working on a new album - cross your fingers because if their news songs are any indication of what their next album is like, it will rock, rock, rock. And another rumor floating around is that they will be getting a new guitar player. I hope it's an addition and not a replacement.

They played for about an hour and a half and that's pretty good considering they only have one album out. At least half of the songs were stretched out beyond the recording time on the album, so it was interesting to see where they went with it. They have a lot of simple parts that they turned into these huge waves of sound. I found it great the first couple of times, but then I got a bit bored with it. I understand, but at the same time, eh.

The lead guitarist, Andrew Stockdale changed guitars at least 5 times, I stopped counting after 5. He used at least 3 different guitars, if not more. He even brought out a double-neck guitar and shredded away. I dug his guitar playing and I really liked the drumming of Myles Heskett. He kept it simple, yet complex and added the right touches when they were needed, and he was kind of cute. The surprise for me was the Bass player, Chris Ross. He was making me laugh. Everytime he jumped on the keys, he would explode. I mean he was throwing that thing around so hard I thought it was going to break and fall apart. I swear he had some sort of hydraulics on that thing!

The crowd went wild towards the end, especially when they played Woman. People were crowd surfing, especially the young ones. Didn't anyone tell them that if they get dropped, they fall hard? I don't think so because I saw one or two little boys limp away. hehehe It was very cute. I saw a lot of high school kids, elementary school kids, fathers and sons and boys that were more concerned with their hair than with the band. And we of course had our flashers. According to the boys I was with, it was nothing particular. I think the word flat-chested was mentioned.

Waiting in line to pick up some beer (3 for $24 - it was cheaper than Coors!), I overheard a guy talking to his friend about how "Wolfmother is our generations Led Zeppelin." I don't necesarilly agree with this. I think this statement is said over and over again because they sound so much like them, but they have their own sound, in their own right.

I truly loved this concert. I think it was money and time well spent. If you get a chance to see them, do it.

I took pictures, but they're shitty, so I won't waste time and post them.

Click if you want to check out Wolfmother's Website

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

CatDirt Sez Blog...

...has the exclusive on a really cool Fifty on Their Heels show happening on May 18th! Go check it out.

CatDirt Sez

Monday, May 07, 2007

I feel like a douche

for not going to either Fifty on Their Heels shows. I really, really do.

Well, there's always next time. I feel so bad, I'm even contemplating Mexicali. Road trip?

Oh. WOLFMOTHER tomorrow!!!! yes!

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Fifty on Their Heels (Beauty Bar 05/04/07) (Che Cafe 05/05/07)

They've been on hiatus for a while now, so it'd be a great time to check them out. And you can't miss The New Motherfuckers. They're from Los Angeles brought to us by CatDirt Records. I've seen them a couple of times and I have never been disappointed. I have their EP downloaded into my iTunes and it gets regular play.

I'll be at the Beauty Bar on Friday.

Go!


FRIDAY 05/04/07

Fifty on Their Heels
The New Motherfuckers(Los Angeles)
DJ's Vega and Saul Q
Beauty Bar San Diego
21+/$5


SATURDAY 05/05/07

CAT DIRT PRESENTS
Fifty on Their Heels
The Muslims
The New Motherfuckers
The Corvinas
Che Cafe
ALL AGES/$5

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

KROQ Weenie Roast Y Fiesta Pre-Sale

If you're in the LA area or willing to travel to LA, KROQ is having their annual Weenie Roast this year.

The Killers, Linkin Park, Social Distortion, Korn, Interpol, Bad Religion, Queens of the Stone Age, Rise Against, 30 Seconds to Mars, Tim Armstrong, The Bravery, Peter Bjorn and John, Silversun Pickups, Tiger Army and the Plain White T's are all slated to make an appearance at the Verizon Wireless Ampitheater on May 19, 2007.

Pre-sale starts tomorrow (05/03/07) at 4pm. They go on-sale to the public on Saturday, May 5th at Noon.

It's all through Ticketmaster.

Password: SOMBRERO

Tickets are $55 for the lawn and $65 for seats.

Is Linkin Park really trying to make a comeback? Yuck. Sorry to all the fans out there - I just can't stand them.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Scarlet Symphony to reunite? FM 94.9 Indie Jam

According to Chick Rawker Scarlett Symphony will be reuniting and playing at FM 94.9's Indie Jam taking place at Southwestern College in Chula Vista on Sunday June 10th.

I've seen them once, a long while ago and I enjoyed their stuff. I think a friend even has an old EP of theirs. I may have to check out 94.9's Indie Jam this year, they have announced a good line-up of Interpol, Kings of Leon, Spoon, The Living Things, Aggrolites, and Test Your Reflex. Tickets are only $40 with no service charge and $1 of every ticket goes to the About The Music fund. Tickets go on-sale on the 12th. You can buy them online through the Casbah or in person at M-Theory Records in Mission Hills and at either one of the two San Diego Hydroponics and Organics locations

San Diego County Fair News

New to the San Diego County Fair this year is the fact that the previously 21 and up stage (Coors Light Rock-On Stage) will be all-ages! They will have a beer garden near the stage for the drinkers.

Good? Bad?

I'm in the middle about it. I liked buying my drinking and walking to the front of the stage. I hope they don't put the beer garden in some weird place near the stage. We'll see.

Also, Lady Dottie and the Diamonds will be playing as well.

You can see the rest of the line-up for the Coors Light Rock-On Stage