Journal

Index for an Endless Blog:

• In the Beginning...
• Venues Visited
• Most Seen Band
• Favorite Venue (Local)
• Favorite Venue (Overall)
• Venue I'd Most Like To Blow Up
• Favorite Band 2007 (Local)
• Unexpectedly Awesome Award
• Crap-My-Pants Awesome Award
• Best new finds (live)
• Best Music DVD
• Other Band Highlights
• Best Overall Experience
• Other Memorable Moments
• 2007 Media Collage

In the Beginning...
So late last year I was sitting around bored, as usual, perusing the calendar for The Casbah to look into upcoming shows. Keep in mind I had only gone to maybe 15 shows total last year and less than a handful the years before that. Anyway, I then got really bored and looked at who had played there in the past: The Arcade Fire ($12 show), Gogol Bordello ($10 show), Explosions in the Sky ($10 show), The Decemberists ($10 show), Pinback ($15 show)...10 fucking dollars for most of these shows. All these bands that could now sell out venues 10 times bigger than The Casbah , and they all played in a span of a few months at 1 tiny venue. Where the hell had I been? I was probably sitting on my ass in 2004 picking my nose being just as bored as I was the night I looked this stuff up.
This year I decided I wouldn't let that happen. I wanted to expose myself to more than what just the local radio had to offer and experience what I had apparently been missing, even if it meant going to see bands i've never heard of and wade through the crap. Besides, the sit-around-and-do-nothing routine was getting old. In all, I went to see 47 shows at which I saw 101 bands at 16 different venues. I ended up seeing bands hailing everywhere from here in San Diego, to Mexico, Sweden, Iceland, the Ukraine and who the hell knows where else. And these were the origins of my crrrraaazzy adventures.

Venues:
In total I visited 16 unique venues in 2007:

San Diego, CA
The Belly Up (9x)
The Casbah (9x)
Canes (3x)
House of Blues (3x)
4th & B (3x)
Soma (3x)
The Whistlestop (2x)
Che Cafe (1x)
Copely Symphony Hall (1x)
Ace Parking Lots (1x)
Winstons (1x)
Brick By Brick (1x)
UCSD RIMAC (1x)

Los Angeles, CA
The Hollywood Bowl (3x)
Largo (3x)

Indio, CA
Coachella polo grounds (1x, 3 days)

Most seen band:
TIE between Dead Man's Party and Grand Ole Party (4x each). Either way it was some sort of party.

Favorite Venue 2007 (Local):
I have to give this one to The Casbah. I'm not a big fan of huuuuge venues and this place certainly doesn't fall in that category. It's got a good balance of reasonably priced drinks (though not the lowest I've seen) and great acts, new and old. Who doesn't love a place with christmas lights hung year 'round? And hell, some of the staff actually knows me now. Guess I have a bias.

Favorite Venue 2007 (Overall):
Largo. No need to think about that one. If you want to feel like you're getting an intimate performance in your living room with people like Fiona Apple or Colin Hay or even great new up and coming acts, then look no further (and it's really not much bigger than a living room). There are no windows, it's almost all candlelit and the stage is really just the corner of the room in front of some dinner tables. A very unassuming place on fairfax (from the outside) yet very intimate. The food is a bit pricey and the drinks aren't the cheapest (with $15 minimum at the bar), and depending on the act, you have to wait outside for a few hours to get in (unless you get lucky or have a reservation). It's all well worth it though.
See my Largo adventure journal from earlier this year.

Venue I'd Most Like To Blow Up:
This was really between Soma and 4th & B, but i'm going to have to go with 4th & B. It's a shame too, it could be so nice if it weren't for the Nazi staff. All I hear half the time I'm there is "I'm sorry you have to move", "You can't stand there sir", "You're going to have to find some place else to stand". This was never more apparent than at the Iron & Wine show. The main floor was all seating for this show, which was unexpected, and as most of the good spots were taken and I didn't feel like climbing over an ass-load of people to get too and from a seat I decided to stand in the back, as did a few others. 10 minutes in and they're shining flashlights in our eyes trying to herd us around like cattle. So I move literally about 2 feet directly to the left where I can't see anything due to a gargantuan pillar. As soon as I scoot over to see again, they rush over to move you around again. Pretty much as long as I stood where I couldn't see anything they had no problem. I finally attached myself to the pillar and moved around it until I could see. As long as a part of my body was touching that thing I seemed to be immune to the "Elite" staff and watched people, only inches away from me, get moved.


Bands / Performances

Favorite Band 2007 (Local):
There are a lot of good local bands in San Diego, but with the release of their first album, Humanimals, Grand Ole Party rose to the top of my list (and charts). It's just plain good rock and despite how tiny the singer/drummer Kristin Gundred is, she can really wale. I've been following them since some of their first performances here in San Diego and was excited to see them on the bill for Coachella '08.
Casbah Performance:


Unexpectedly Awesome Award:
This category is for a show I didn't a whole lot from, or didn't know what to expect, but ended up blowing me away. I'd have to say this goes to West Indian Girl. I enjoyed their first album ok , but that was like 3 years ago and they just kind of fell off my radar. Well they finally came out with a new album this year and ended up playing at Winstons in Ocean Beach. I thought, "what the hell, I've got nothing better to do". The opening bands weren't terribly impressive but as soon as West Indian Girl started their sound kicked my expectations ass. They played a very lengthy set, the singer chick could really belt it out, and I really dug their new material.

Crap-My-Pants Awesome Award:
And the Crap My Pants Awesome Award goes to....Gogol Bordello (House Of Blues performance). This may very well be, by far, the craziest most energetic live band
you will ever see. Had it not been for them this award would go to The Flaming Lips new year show (but does that count as 2006 or 2007?). By the end of this concert I was drenched head-to-toe in sweat, my shirt I had only worn twice was torn around the collar, I had crowd surfed my way to the stage to dance, my shoe laces were torn, my brow shoes turned black-ish from being jumped on, and my upper body was covered in bruises. I know, it sounds like a painful and taxing experience but it's very much in good spirit, as is their music. Eugene Hutz (the front-man) is from the Ukraine and was displaced after Trenoble . He lived the Gypsy life for many years, and has been determined to spread the spirit of his culture through his music, not in a preachy way, but rather through a combo of rock,reggae, metal, folk and many other styles. Every minute is simply like one big party. The best time I've had in ages. The only other experience that came close was their Coachella performance, which pretty much entailed all the same stuff, I just liked the smaller setting better. As Yahoo blogger "Rober of the Radish" put it: "This is maximum energy music that you either "get" or "don't get". And if you don't get it, try again."


Best new finds (live):
Sean Hayes: I saw him open for The Be Good Tanya's (ugh) and he became the only good thing about that night. Very mellow Damien Rice / Jack Johnson type of feel.
The Redwalls: On the other end of the spectrum there's The Redwalls. I'd never heard of them before seeing them open for The Polyphonic Spree (and I don't think anyone else at the Belly Up had either), but for every minute they played, the more the empty space in front of the stage faded away.
Vampire Weekend: This band I had only stumbled upon after seeing Grand Ole Party was opening for them. I instantly became interested in seeing them live. Apparently they've gathered quite a following without even having released an album, and they quickly sold out the Casbah show. Despite the lead singer claiming to have been losing his voice, they still delivered.


Best Music DVD:
I'm not really a fan of concert DVD's. With few exceptions, I just don't find them all that interesting if it's so-and-so's random Detroit concert or something. I need more substance to my music dvd's, and I think "Sigur Ros: Heima" struck that balance extremely well. "Heima", meaning "at home" or "homeland", follows Sigur Ros after their 2006 tour as they come home and play a series of unannounced free concert around their home country in Iceland. They don't, however, play at some boring concert venues, but rather in places like deserted fish factories, outsider art follies, far-flung community halls, sylvan fields, darkened caves and the hoofprint of Odin’s horse making for some of their smallest and largest performances to date. Their performances are inter-cut with small tidbits from the band and some incredible scenery and cinematography of Iceland itself which no doubt inspires much of their music. It's almost a film more about Iceland put to their music than the band itself. Even before seeing this, Iceland has always been near the top of places I want to visit in my life. There's so much interesting art that comes out of there and so much uncluttered land and history that never comes to peoples minds when they hear "Iceland". This DVD really shows that it's more than a small cold island that Bjork comes from. You can pick it up at Best Buy for fairly cheap. I believe it was about $18, and it's 2 discs (the second being most of the concerts on disc one without the inter-cuts, and a few other extras).



Trailer:


Full Length DVD (97 minutes):



Other Band Highlights (no particular order):
Stars
Gogol Bordello
Okkervil River
kingfisher and the halycon(aire)s
Amiina
Jon Brion
The Flaming Lips
Wolf Parade
West Indian Girl
Explosions in the Sky
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Iron & Wine
Vampire Weekend
Mute Math


Best Overall Experience:
Coachella. I think this was the best 3 days I've had in a loooong time in general, even beyond the previous years I went. I don't know what it was exactly. It wasn't that the lineup was any better than the past. The first year I didn't really know what to expect or what I was doing so it was a bit overwhelming. The second year was my first year camping so it was sort of the same thing. This year I knew what to expect and was just able to pace myself, enjoy myself and soak it all in. And to all those lame-o's that complain "oh it's too hot" or "oh that's a lot of money": grow a pair and live a little. I think Wayne Coyne's philosophy on it all sums it up:



Or don't, i'd rather not drag around people who can't appreciate good art and a kick ass experience. The secret: The music is only a small portion of the experience.


Other memorable moments:
The portly fellow in the undersized shirt strung out on meth doing The Mad Hot all through the 94.9 Holiday Hootenany
Meeting Doogie Howser at midnight in a random Subway restaurant in Hollywood (after the Decemberists Hollywood Bowl concert).
The crack head freak dancing / screaming at the 4th & B Les Claypool show.
The near-riot at the Coachella campgrounds...and pretty much everything at Coachella.
Jon Brion's all Beatles / classic rock 2nd set marathon
My SoCo Music Experience birthday, complete with hooters girls and Flaming Lips.
Waiting outside The Casbah in the cold to see Okkervil River even though I knew it was sold out and getting in anyway.
Dead Man's Party and the night of the ass grabbers.
Seeing The Fiery Furnaces...then waking up the next morning with San Diego burning to the ground.


2008 is already shaping up nicely with Rodrigo y Gabriela returning (after canceling shows due to exhaustion) and Explosions In the Sky coming back for a last performance before they "drop off the face of the earth".


2007 Media Collage






Funky dancer at SoCo Music Experience:


The Decemberists @ The Hollywood Bowl w/ The LA Philharmonic:
(Also see/hear my bootleg recording HERE)


The Flaming Lips Spaceship Landing, New Years:


Andrew Bird @ Coachella (Skin Is, My):


Gogol Bordello @ Coachella (Think Locally, Fuck Globally):


Arcade Fire @ Coachella (Antichirts Television Blues):


John Williams conducts one of his masterpieces (Superman Theme):

Sat 27 Oct – Dead Mans Party, Manganista

This may have been my 4th time seeing Dead Mans Party (aka Oingo Boingo tribute band) this year but it was certainly the best. Last years DMP halloween party at Canes was somewhat of a blur for me (who knew booze could do that). This time we got our moneys worth though, they went on from about 10:30 to 1:30am with a costume contest in between. The winners:

Spaceballs! (click for larger)


In the end I had my ass slapped by the reno 911 guy:


and my friend had his ass grabbed by a drunken male little bo-peep:

action shot just after the grab:


ahhhh what a night

Last week was such a crap week, starting with the crazy fires here in San Diego. But what really topped it off was the closing of OiNK. This was by far the best place to download high quality music, from the usual popular mainstream stuff to some of the most obscure albums out there. There's no telling how many new bands I discovered from that place. Hell, even one of my top artists, Astronatalis, was a member and posted some of his own difficult to find works up there. I feel like i'm in the dark ages now. The age of crap 128kbps soulseek downloads when cd's were spun by hand and copied via pencil and paper crafted from a tree you had to cut down yourself. Ok, maybe not that bad. I've moved on to some alternative places, but none I've found are anywhere near as extensive. I can only hold on the the hope that one day prophecy will come true and the great pig will return.

Today is the anniversary of Elliott Smith's death...Happy Sunday!!! I know, seems like a downer. Believe what you will about his girlfriend doing it or him doing it, the fact is he's gone. But if you get the chance, visit his unofficial memorial site on or near the date of his birth or death (4334 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029). The Decemberists were playing in LA last year on the day of so I made a stop by his memorial wall, not knowing exactly what to expect; It almost felt like a novelty thinking about it. You can think what you will about it though, sure he's got 428,000 listeners on last.fm, wow-impressive-people-liked-him, but when you're there and you see the candles, letters, drawings, packs of cigarettes and beer left for him it's a much more personal impact. Reading some of those letters about how much of an impact he had on the authors lives made me realize the importance of music and that we should really celebrate what he left behind and not just morn or question his death. On the subject, I should recommend Elliott Smith's New Moon which just came out this year. Few dead men can release new music like him. Happy Elliott Smith Day!!

Elliott Smith on The Jon Brion Show (See You Later):

Elliott Smith on Jon Brion Show - Say Yes blooper


Click for larger photo

Fri 19 Oct – West Indian Girl

Contemplating my end of the year awards (which i know EVERYONE is awaiting /sarcasm), Liv"e Act: Biggest Surprise" goes to West Indian Girl at this point. Sure I had liked them and heard them on the radio for years. 3, nearly 4 years without a new album though, and they sort of drifted to the wayside. Thankfully, my last.fm dashboard told me to check them out, and like a good little web 2.0 follower I did.

Ok, aside from the "Indian Girl" being one of the hottest women on the planet, and I can assure that's NOT the reason I was impressed, she can really wale. Robert (vocals/guitar), who basically looked like a ball of hair on shoulders, jams on for a seeming eternity without sounding tedious and boring. WhenMariqueen (aka "Indian Girl") busts out her vocals though she really takes center stage. I noticed they also added a megaphone a la Flaming Lips...er Butthole Surfers, but didn't go over the top with it and it really went well with their sound. Oddly enough, their bass player, Francis Ten, seemed more of the front-man than any of the lead vocalists. Well whatever works, and this obviously did as it blew my mind. If Amazon or iTunes is selling their newest album DRM-free i'm buyin', but they really are a dish best served live.

Soooo what do you get when you combine 2 of the best live bands in one week? A Hooters balloon, drunken heatstroke, hearing loss, bloody lip, countless bruises on the upper body and a mind so blown I don't know if I'll ever truly have it back.

Sat 25 Aug – SoCo Music Experience**
Apparently the Flaming Lips heard my birthday was coming up and decided to throw a little music festival thingy here in San Diego for me on my bday. Wayne gave me a call and asked "Hey, are you free on your birthday?" and of course I said yes, but I was a little short on cash so I didn't think I could go. So he was like "Since it's your birthday I'll make it free to get in". And so it was, we spent a whole day boozing in the heat downtown listening to some decent and some not so decent bands. When the Lips came up it was on like Donkey Kong. It seemed they were a little more political this time around compared to their new years show. I was also slightly disappointed that their spaceship didn't make a landing, but that's really a minuscule factor. Everything else was there, confetti, space bubble, dancing aliens and santa's, everything you'd expect (or not expect) from them.

**Parts of this entry may be complete bullshit.

Click to enlarge:






Mon 27 Aug – Gogol Bordello
Luckily I had a couple days to recover before going to this show because I'd need every ounce of energy just to not get trampled. This one topped any other live show I have seen, with MAYBE the exception of one other, that being this same band at Coachella. I liked seeing them in a smaller venue like this. Anywho, whereas The Lips put on a great show using gadgets, props and a host of other crazy stuff, these guys are just raw energy. They combine elements of gypsy, punk, reggae, and a handful of other styles to create one huge party atmosphere. Every single song they played had no less energy than the last and when it came time for the finale a bunch of us made our way to the front (either through crowd surfing or shear force) and got up on the stage for an orgy of pure craziness.

Finale where we all just go ape shit on stage:


By the end I looked like I had just got out of a swimming pool, I had weird scratches on my chest and red bruises on my back (which I didnt feel until a day or two afterwards), and my shoelaces were all black and torn apart. How these guys do this multiple times in a week is beyond me, but I'll be damned if it wasnt worth every bruise, scratch and decibel loss in my hearing.

Other videos from the night (not mine):
Think Locally, Fuck Globally:


Cover of a Manu Chao song:


Wonderlust King:

Sat 7 Jul – The Decemberists, Andrew Bird, Band of Horses

Prelude:
This is on I had been waiting for for a long while. I had my ticket months in advance and was ready to make a day of it once Saturday rolled around. The day started out with stopping by the 7-11 /Quik-E Mart on the way to LA. There was a line out the door but it only took a few minutes to get in. I loaded up on some Duff and a Squishee for good measure:



More Pictures

I then decided to make a stop by Amoeba Records, but apparently I labeled the location as something else on google maps and was surprised to end up at the Elliott Smith memorial wall. Soooo, with little time to spare I made my way to Universal Citywalk to get some dinner. It was happy hour at Carl Strauss so I had no choice but to down a couple rather large beers (they wouldn't serve anything smaller since it would be more than the large one). Luckily the shuttle for the bowl is right across the street-ish because i was feelin' it. I stopped for a little entertainment watching some chicks dance on stilts and seeing some mediocre band perform, and then was on my way to the bowl:



The Music:
As soon as I got there I found my seat, which was kick ass by the way (pre-sale pays off people), and then went into the bathroom to wire myself up for recording.
The first opening band was Band of Horses. I'm not too familiar with their work but what I have heard wasn't overly impressive. They were anok act. Kind of My Morning Jacket-ish.

The next act was Andrew Bird. At Coachella Andrew's set and The Decemberists set overlapped so I only got to see a bit of each. Next thing you know they're playing together here so it all worked out. It was absolutely amazing to hear him playing in such a huge place with the sound that the Hollywood Bowl has. It was a far cry from seeing him at the Belly Up with a handful of people last year.

Finally, there were The Decemberists with the LA Philharmonic Orchestra. A lot of their songs lend themselves to lush orchestral arrangements, but how many bands have a budget for full orchestra on their records? They opened with Crane Wife 1 & 2 which started simply and then slowly added and built the orchestral parts on at which point the crowd went nuts. A couple other highlights were The Infanta, which was just massive, and Odalisque which had a great arrangement, especially for a song that used no orchestral elements in the regular version. A littledisappointing was The Tain, which wasn't quite what I thought it would be with the orchestra, but always good to hear nonetheless.

Odalisque:


The Finale:
After about 4 more Guinness the show was finally over. To conclude the evening, I decided to get some food to soak up all that beer in my belly. What could be open at midnight though? A 24 hour Subway of course. I walk in and the only "customer" there is a homeless man sleeping in the corner. I get my sandwich and sit down to stuff my face when who walks in? I did a double take and it was indeed NPH (Neil Patrick Harris for the un-cool). "Shit, what do I do??" I thought. I didn't want an autograph because who really cares about a signature? I had just taken my camera out of my pocket and left it in the car thinking there would be no use for it in a Subway at midnight. I readied my phone camera and waited for my moment. As soon as he was done paying he stopped by the trash can for a split second and I jumped up, probably scaring the shit out of him, and asked if he was indeed NPH. He let me get a quick picture with him before he raced out the door. So this was the end of an incredible weekend:



Extra Shiz:
My recording of the entire show
Pictures
Youtube Playlist

What can I say? After the previous weeks barrage of shows and traveling north on an epic l.a. adventure, this week was a dud. I think I deserved a break, though, after that oh-so-exhausting week so this blog will be a shortie (relatively).

First off, lookie what came in the mail this week:



aaaaand...



Now if it were simply each of the bands playing on their own i'd reconsider, as they're both in L.A., I've seen Bright Eyes earlier this year and The Decemberists many times before (including at Coachella). Each with the full LA Philharmonic Orchestra though? There's something you may never see again. To see The Decemberists play their 20 minute rock epic, The Tain, with the orchestra will almost be worth admission alone.

The Tain by The Decemberists


Balance Restored
Problem: Sirius radio takes away time from mp3 player listening habits. Switching back and forth in the car requires many-a-dangerous maneuver.
$5 Solution: Phono jack splitter from Radioshack. Mute one device to listen to the other, keeping the roads safe and restoring a balance to listening habits.

This Weeks Top Artists
At #1: Shout Out Louds, mostly from their older album. Their new one leaked and I gave it a shot but it seems more subtle than the last. I must mull on this one.
#2: Ben Kweller. A refreshing find in the past month or so. I heard his album "On My Way" first, which as a whole was ok, but I liked his sound (especially the title song On My Way) and gave his self-titled album a shot. Me thinks I'll be downloading his 3rd album, Sha Sha, next.

Fortune Cookie Say:
Iron & Wine will be at #1 on next weeks chart. Their new album has leaked. I dig the band but a lot of their stuff is quiet and subtle so you've got to find the right mood. It seems, however, they've expanded their sound a bit on this new album and it's hitting some sort of musical g-spot. They're not rocking Tenacious D style or anything, but there's a more broad use of instrumentation and an overall groove you just get into. Me likes.

That does it for me this week. There's not much on the schedule for the next week either (sadly) so don't expect much more excitement in the next journal.

Naked As We Came by Iron & Wine