Here's where I'd be
Bowling with Ladytron and the rest of this week's live musical happenings
These are bands we especially dig, not
full listings. For those, please see
Concerts and Clubs.
For more top shows featuring local acts, please see Nightgeist.
Wednesday, May 28
PLAN A: Ladyhawk, Neva Dinova, Team Abraham @ The Casbah. If it were anatomically possible, CityBeat’s Todd Kroviak might be willing to bear Ladyhawk’s children. Listen to their woeful tales of reckless abandon and you’ll understand why. PLAN B: The National, Ferraby Lionheart @ House of Blues. Brooklyn baritone indie-rockers take a respite from touring arenas and amphitheatres with R.E.M. and Modest Mouse to go slumming at HOB. PLAN C: Jaguar Love @ Beauty Bar. Having former Blood Brothers copulate with a former member of Pretty Girls Make Graves apparently will result in a post-punk band, if not chlamydia. BACKUP PLAN: The Swingin’ Kings @ Belly Up.
Thursday, May 29
PLAN A: Miss Massive Snowflake @ Chasers. Shane de Leon brings his ethereal electronic rock to Chasers minus the creepy (but captivating) prepubescent vocalists he employs on albums like Queen’s Headache. It’s for the best; the kids kinda weird me out. PLAN B: Vagabond Opera, Max Fields @ The Casbah. Finally, a band that truly appreciates all the wonders—and quirky jazz-cabaret odes to Marlene Dietrich—that the accordion can bring. PLAN C: Kenny Chesney, LeAnn Rimes @ Cricket Wireless. For all his chart-topping singles, Chesney single-handedly set country music back 50 years with “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy.” But at least the song gave me fodder for a toast at my sister’s wedding. BACKUP PLAN: Battle Hooch, Lanterns, Crystal Antlers @ Beauty Bar.
Friday, May 30
PLAN A: Swervedriver, Film School @ The Casbah. Stop staring at your freaking shoes and look at our Swervedriver feature here. PLAN B: Four Sides of Bob Dylan @ Dizzy’s (San Diego Wine & Culinary Center). Kind of like a real-life version of I’m Not There with a quartet of local musicians playing the role of everyone’s favorite troll-looking troubadour. PLAN C: Sully Erna @ Viejas (Dreamcatcher). Say what you will about the Testy McTestosterone lead singer of Godsmack, but don’t pretend you don’t have a slight, inexplicable desire to join the Navy every time you hear “Awake.” Besides, it was this or Kottonmouth Kings. BACKUP PLAN: Kottonmouth Kings @ House of Blues.
Saturday, May 31
PLAN A: Ladytron, Datarock @ Belly Up. It’s not often you get a chance to watch two acclaimed Euro electro-pop groups perform and try to pick up a 7-10 split (see “Nightgeist”). This is one of those chances. PLAN B: Dieselboy @ Static Lounge. Diesel is the most widely acclaimed American drum-and-bass DJ since, well, himself—considering he’s credited with spearheading the genre’s manifest destiny in North America. PLAN C: Blackmarket @ Beauty Bar. This isn’t a rockabilly band from New York, a drum-and-bass outfit from Montreal, a music promoter from Las Vegas or a general term for where you can illicitly purchase a 12-year-old Taiwanese boy. No, this Blackmarket is an indie-rock band from Arizona that’s apparently really obsessed with a chick named “Sheila.” BACKUP PLAN: Neil Hamburger Country Winners Revue @ The Casbah.
Sunday, June 1
PLAN A: Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon @ All Over the Place. More than 40 bands are joined by thousands of people in short shorts, some “Running Elvi” and Pat Benetar (at Concerts on the Green) for the most exhausting (and bizarre) fusion of music and sport since OK Go discovered the treadmill. PLAN B: The Fiery Furnaces, Grand Ole Party @ Belly Up. Brooklyn indie-rock siblings do their darnedest to not get up-staged by San Diego darlings. They can always pull out the Angelina Jolie brother-sister makeout session if GOP really kills in the opening slot. PLAN C: OAKS, Archons, Damnweevil @ The Casbah. Local metal militia OAKS celebrates the release of Bravo! while you celebrate the simple pleasures of kicking the guy standing next to you in the head. BACKUP PLAN: Nightmare of You, The Graduate, Edison Glass @ SOMA.
Monday, June 2
PLAN A: The Swayback, The Burning of Rome, Django James @ The Casbah. Buzz-heavy Denver indie-rockers Swayback are the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon link to this week’s column, given their past and forthcoming opening slots for Swervedriver, Fiery Furnaces and GOP. PLAN B: Tempo No Tempo @ Beauty Bar. A dance-rock band from Berkeley that’s not afraid to get a little garage-rock grit under its painted (and chipped) fingernails. BACKUP PLAN: She is a Liar, Rise of Caligula, Black Ambulance @ Zombie Lounge.
Tuesday, June 3
PLAN A: The Cure @ Cox Arena. Seth Combs has a remedy for what ails Cure fans here. PLAN B: My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult @ Beauty Bar. Veteran electro-industrial kingpins prove that communal living doesn’t have to be all about polygamy and pioneer dresses. But the polygamy doesn’t hurt. PLAN C: The Black Angels, The Warlocks @ The Casbah. Psychedelic rock from Austin (Black Angels) and L.A. (Warlocks) whose names—and music—were inspired by The Velvet Underground and The Grateful Dead, respectively. BACKUP PLAN: George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic @ Belly Up.
Published: 05/27/2008
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