Here's where I'd be
From local cats, Grand Ole Party and The Silent Comedy, to obscure movie bands like The Dan Band, we've got this week's live music covered
By Todd Kroviak
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, July 16
PLAN A: “Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival” w/ DragonForce, Mastodon, Slipknot, Disturbed @ Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre. DragonForce’s guitarists are known to bounce on trampolines while they shred through hyper-speed harmonic metal. I foresee an intense post-show game of D&D in their future. PLAN B: Joseph Arthur, Anna Ternheim @ Anthology. Arthur has released four EPs this year, and with a full-length scheduled for September, he edges out Ryan Adams for the title of “New York’s Most Painfully Prolific Songwriter.” PLAN C: Shannon & The Clams, Lady Vain @ Kensington Club. If the Black Lips had a female singer, they’d be Shannon & The Clams. It’s a drunken beach party without the sunburn and sand chafing. BACKUP PLAN: Aspects of Physics, Followers, Extra Life, Nate Baldwin @ The Casbah.
Thursday, July 17
PLAN A: The Night Marchers, Cheap Leis, The Creepy Creeps @ Belly Up Tavern. Give me surf-garage-punk in masks (Creeps), traditional Hawaiian music (Leis) and San Diego’s most kick-ass rock ’n’ roll entertainers (Marchers), and I’m a happy guy. PLAN B: Earlimart, The Parson Redheads, Team Abraham @ The Casbah. Aside from being the name of an indie-rock band from Silverlake, Earlimart is also a small town in Tulare County. At least they didn’t call themselves Visalia. PLAN C: Todd Rundgren @ House of Blues. He doesn’t want to work. He just wants to bang on the drum all day. Or all night, as the case may be. BACKUP PLAN: Fela Kuti Tribute @ World Beat Center.
Friday, July 18
PLAN A: Pierced Arrows @ Kensington Club. Continuing in the tradition of their legendary DIY garage-punk band Dead Moon, Fred and Toody Cole of Pierced Arrows are one of the all-time-great rock couples, proof that passion for music needn’t die with age. PLAN B: The Sess, Vision of a Dying World, Christmas Island @ Beauty Bar. As a snapshot of vital underground music in San Diego circa 2008, you could hardly do better than seeing these three groups in one night. PLAN C: The Dan Band @ House of Blues. “And I need you now tonight! I fuckin’ need you more than evah!” Yep, it’s the wedding band from Old School. BACKUP PLAN: Titanarum, Zech Marquis, End of Power @ Chasers.
Saturday, July 19
PLAN A: Grand Ole Party, Kill Me Tomorrow, Christmas Island @ The Casbah. See if GOP have heard enough bad Republican jokes in the feature story over here. PLAN B: OAKS, Ride the Sun, Get Your Death On @ O’Connells. As it stands, OAKS are more hard rock than metal. However, if their name is an acronym for On A Killing Spree, that ups the metal factor quite a bit. PLAN C: The Loons @ Bar Pink Elephant. Just when you think you’ve had it with retro rock, The Loons come along with enough charming Byrdsy choruses and psychedelic haziness to make you doubt yourself. BACKUP PLAN: Lanterns, The Silent Comedy, Brian Warren, The Union Line @ Che Café.
Sunday, July 20
PLAN A: N.E.R.D. @ House of Blues. See how Chad, Pharrell and Co. stack up to great fictional nerds on this page. PLAN B: Wolf Parade, Listening Party @ ’Canes. If this were actually a parade of wolves, there would be more ravaging of small animals and less keyboard-driven, esoteric indie rock. I can’t decide which would be more entertaining. PLAN C: Leon Russell, Olivia Pierson, Nathan James @ Belly Up Tavern. Russell is one of the finest session musicians in rock history. He’s played with The Stones, The Beach Boys and Jerry Lee Lewis; his nickname is “The Master of Space and Time”; and he looks like a lost member of ZZ Top. He wins. BACKUP PLAN: Chuck Ragan, Josh Hanson, Charlie Overbey @ The Casbah.
Monday, July 21
PLAN A: Dropkick Murphys, Civet @ House of Blues. Expect to leave looking like you were trampled by a soccer mob after diving into a pool filled with beer and sweat. PLAN B: Chikita Violenta, Summer Darling, DJ John Veeps @ Beauty Bar. Chikita Violenta translates to “Violent Banana” in English. OK, I made that up. You can just call them the Mexican version of Broken Social Scene. BACKUP PLAN: A Change of Pace, Houston Calls, We Shot the Moon @ SOMA.
Tuesday, July 22
PLAN A: Lucero, Jessica Lea Mayfield, Glossary @ The Casbah. Lucero’s Ben Nichols’ voice is so strained, you can visualize the veins popping out of his head as he sings. He sounds like a constipated Bruce Springsteen wailing over an Uncle Tupelo record. Which is actually a good thing. PLAN B: Feist @ Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay. I’m cool with Feist under two conditions: 1. She no longer licenses songs for iPod commercials and 2. I never have to hear “1, 2, 3, 4” again. PLAN C: Mundell Lowe, Kenny Burrell, Holly Hoffman @ Anthology. Slick jazz guitarist Mundell Lowe is still performing in his 80s, while most of his peers are in bed by the time Wheel of Fortune is over. BACKUP PLAN: Warrior Kings, Reggae Angels, Dash Eye @ Belly Up.
Published: 07/15/2008
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