Here's where I'd be

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, Aug. 27

PLAN A: Eastern Conference Champions, Austin Nicolai, DJ Andrew Decade @ Beauty Bar. Local boy Austin Nicolai plays classicist pop in the vein of Harry Nilsson and John Lennon. It’s charming enough on its own, but the fact that he looks like a character from a Wes Anderson movie should keep the ladies swooning. PLAN B: HiFi Colossi, The Littlest Viking, Sex Mannequin @ The Casbah. The HiFi Colossi use the moniker HFICLSI, which is as difficult to understand as their music. Call it shrieking spazz-core for scene kids, unless you can come up with something better. BACKUP PLAN: “Commune” w/ Hotel St. George, Jersey Fresh DJs @ Whistle Stop Bar.

Thursday, Aug. 28

PLAN A: The Melvins, Big Business @ ’Canes. Add Washington’s most influential dirge-rock band (Melvins) to its younger, two-man counterpart (Business), and what do you get? A four-headed, double-drummer behemoth that scares the shit out of your girlfriend. PLAN B: Patty Griffin, Langhorne Slim @ Belly Up Tavern. On the other hand, Griffin’s soothing bluegrass and Slim’s country-folk will likely please your girlfriend. PLAN C: The Mannequin Men @ Bar Pink. This Chicago band bashes through a series of post-punk/garage gems, not unlike a sleazier version of fellow Chicagoans The Ponys.

Friday, Aug. 29

PLAN A: Matt & Kim, Best Fwends, Doctor Bird, The Anasazis @ Che Café. Matt & Kim is like Ben Folds Five for hipsters. If earnestness is the new irony, then they have quite a phenomenon on their hands. PLAN B: “Rub-A-Dub Fridays” w/ Dub Traffik Control, Get Your Dub On @ Belly Up Tavern. You won’t need to smoke to enjoy the final night of Belly Up’s summer dub night, hosted by San Diego’s foremost echo explorers, Dub Traffik. I promise. PLAN C: Writer CD release, Joel P. West @ Whistle Stop Bar. Our writer takes a stab at Writer on this page.

Saturday, Aug. 30

PLAN A: Polvo, Trans Am, Roxy Jones @ The Casbah. Yes, it’s Polvo, not Volvo. No, it’s not a used-car sale. They reunited to bring back prime ’90s indie rock, because you didn’t give it a good shot the first time around. PLAN B: Little Brother, Wylde Bunch, DJ D-Rock, Sighphur One @ ’Canes. LB is the perennial hip-hop underdog you can’t help but root for, and their Phonte might be the most underrated MC in America. PLAN C: “Dancing Night” w/ blackblack, DJs Fantastic Magic, Mario Orduno, Sir Charles, Brandon Welchez @ Whistle Stop Bar. L.A.’s blackblack sounds like Deerhoof with Kevin Haskins’ daughter on vocals. I’m not making this up. It actually is the Bauhaus founder’s daughter on the mic. BACKUP PLAN: “Burning Star Metal Fest” w/ D.I., Nihilist, Fueled by Fire, more @ Jumping Turtle.

Sunday, Aug. 31

PLAN A: “Burning Star Metal Fest” w/ Psyopus, Fuck the Facts, War from a Harlots Mouth, more @ Jumping Turtle. Here’s more technically flawless innovation during my unofficial “San Diego Metal Week.” If your idea of heavy-metal music consists of lazy stoners playing recycled Sabbath riffs, Psyopus gives you a much-needed kick in the ass. PLAN B: Mr. Lewis & The Funeral 5 @ Bar Pink. Imagine Tom Waits and Nick Cave scoring an absurdist comedy about getting blackout drunk, and you get the sounds of Mr. Lewis and his self-described “macabaret.” BACKUP PLAN: Love or Perish, The New Dress @ Ken Club.

Monday, Sept. 1

PLAN A: Past Lives, Kill Me Tomorrow, Crocodiles @ Che Café. When Seattle’s Blood Brothers split last year, three of the members formed Past Lives. Now free from the grating hissy fits of former BB singer Johnny Whitney, they’re shaping up to surpass the musical invention of their previous band. PLAN B: Southern Culture on the Skids, Slim Cessna’s Auto Club @ The Casbah. Jello Biafra has called Slim Cessna’s Auto Club “the country band that plays at the end of the world,” which is why he signed them to his Alternative Tentacles label. They poke at the dark underbelly of American music until its entrails spill all over the stage.

Tuesday, Sept. 2

PLAN A: Lee “Scratch” Perry, The Devastators @ Belly Up Tavern. Lee Perry is to insane dub genius what Kool Keith is to insane hip-hop genius. They both reside somewhere in the fourth dimension, a place that we mortals have yet to comprehend. PLAN B: Ice Cube @ 4th & B. It’s easy to forget that Cube was one of hip-hop’s great social commentators prior to becoming a family-friendly movie star. Let’s hope he rekindles some of that old fire for this show. BACKUP PLAN: “Connect Punk Nite” w/ DJs Nice Boys @ Ken Club.