Here's where I'd be
From Dolly Parton to the Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra, we've got the best of the best live-music shows pegged
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 30
PLAN A: Singapore Sling, Mon Marie, The Meek @ Beauty Bar. Icelandic neo-psychedelics Singapore Sling are named not for a potent cocktail but an obscure Greek movie that deals with, among other things, necrophilia. Take that, Bjork. PLAN B: 8mm, Wendy Darling, Hello Sunshine @ U31. Sleek L.A. trip-hop trio 8mm call their music “the glamorous neo-noir love child of David Lynch, Aimee Mann and Portishead,” and, frankly, I can’t top that description. PLAN C: Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra, Crocodiles, 300% Dynamite @ The Casbah. There aren’t many musical acts—consisting of a “mad scientist” and his faithful singing robot, no less—that spend a decade making a “debut” four-album box set. In fact, like Santa Claus, Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra rides alone. BACKUP PLAN: Beres Hammond @ Wave House.
Thursday, July 31
PLAN A: Jay Reatard, Cheaptime, The Sess @ The Casbah. Find out why Jay is so wicked Reatarded right here. PLAN B: Greg Laswell, The White Buffalo @ Belly Up. Laswell takes a break from hanging with Ingrid Michaelson and necking with Mandy Moore to regale the hometown crowd with his latest and greatest, Three Flights from Alto Nido. PLAN C: Chromeo @ House of Blues. If Obama can’t broker peace in the Middle East, it’s worth giving this Arab/Jewish electrofunk duo (from New York via Montreal) a crack at it. BACKUP PLAN: Emmylou Harris @ Humphrey’s by the Bay.
Friday, Aug. 1
PLAN A: Paramore, Jack’s Mannequin, Phantom Planet @ Concerts on the Green (Qualcomm). This is your chance to find out why everyone loves/hates Paramore, power-poppers equally Fueled By Ramen and fueled by contempt. PLAN B: Grand Ole Party, Atoms, Crocodiles @ Che Café. I’ve exhausted my ability to write anything new about local indie-rock stalwarts Grand Ole Party. But their shows still kick ass. Plus, Atoms and Crocodiles are worthy contenders to be the next GOP. PLAN C: The Hold Steady @ The Casbah and Dolly Parton @ Humphrey’s by the Bay. Two strong shows that get a joint Plan C only because you’ll have to be really creative if you want to get into either one. BACKUP PLAN: Pinback @ Del Mar Race Track.
Saturday, Aug. 2
PLAN A: North by North Park @ Lafayette Hotel (and surrounding clubs). Check out our guide to NXNP on this page. PLAN B: Richard Cheese & Lounge Against the Machine @ House of Blues. If the NXNP pandemonium isn’t your thing, take it down a notch or six with Señor Queso’s delightfully schmaltzy covers of “Gin and Juice,” “Rape Me” and “Holiday in Cambodia.” PLAN C: Buckfast Superbee, Mr. Tube & The Flying Objects @ The Casbah. A decade after winning “Best New Artist” at the San Diego Music Awards, Buckfast releases Turn of the Radio Age into the wild. BACKUP PLANS: Missing Persons @ Anthology and Crocodiles, The Sess, Vision of a Dying World @ Ken Club.
Sunday, Aug. 3
PLAN A: Thao with The Get Down Stay Down, Calico Horse @ The Casbah. Thao is more subtle than a “Bag of Hammers,” but their folk rock still hits the ears with similar force. PLAN B: The Subways @ Epicentre. Garage-rock revivalists from Hertfordshire (outside London) best known for coaxing their loyal subjects to kneel before the “Rock & Roll Queen.” PLAN C: Cavalera Conspiracy, Dillinger Escape Plan @ SOMA. I knew this guy in high school who loved Sepultura and had the jean-jacket patches to prove it. That guy is probably really stoked that the brothers Cavalera have another thrash-metal project to salve the sting of their former band’s demise. BACKUP PLAN: Buddy Guy @ Viejas.
Monday, Aug. 4
PLAN A: Belinda Carlisle, The Human League, ABC, Dead or Alive, Naked Eyes @ Viejas Concerts in the Park. Heaven is a place on Earth where the look of love spins you right ’round (like a record, baby) and always leaves something there to remind me. PLAN B: Nomo @ The Casbah. Nomo is a self-described “post-Afrobeat dance explosion” from Michigan, not the fleeting Japanese pitching sensation Hideo Nomo. But both have a funky delivery. PLAN C: Huey Lewis & The News @ Humphrey’s by the Bay. They say the heart of Huey Lewis (if not rock ’n’ roll) is still buh-buh-beating, but from what I’ve seen lately, I don’t know that I believe ’em. BACKUP PLAN: Excuses for Skipping @ Beauty Bar.
Tuesday, Aug. 5
PLAN A: Lyle Lovett @ Humphrey’s by the Bay. If you’ve never listened to The Road to Ensenada while driving on the road to, uh, Ensenada, you’ve never fully experienced the Cowboy Man, otherwise best known for his 27-minute marriage to Julia Roberts. PLAN B: Steely Dan @ Pala Palomar Starlight Theater. The Eagles tried to cut Dan down with their “steely” knives, but they just couldn’t kill the beast that inexplicably won the 2001 Album of the Year (Two Against Nature) Grammy over Kid A, Midnite Vultures and The Marshall Mathers LP. Yes, I’m still bitter. BACKUP PLAN: Jesse Palter @ Anthology.
Published: 07/29/2008
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