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, Sept. 3

PLAN A: Motorhead, Valient Thorr, Year Long Disaster @ House of Blues. To quote Steve Buscemi in Airheads: “Who would win in a fight—Lemmy or God? Trick question, asshole. Lemmy is God!” PLAN B: The Wombats, Pop Noir @ The Casbah. If the cutesy lyrics of “Let’s Dance to Joy Division” and “Moving to New York” don’t make your skin crawl, The Wombats will have you googly-eyed like a 13-year-old girl at a Jonas Brothers concert. PLAN C: The English Beat @ Del Mar Racetrack. It seems as though Dave Wakeling is obsessed with San Diego. Otherwise, there’s no way The English Beat would play here as often as they do.

Thursday, Sept. 4

PLAN A: 400 Blows, Triclops!, Followers @ Che Café. One of L.A.’s harshest bands (400 Blows), some Bay Area acid-punks (Triclops!) and a local prog band with a saxophonist (Followers) all do their best to freak you out. PLAN B: “Menage a Trois Tour” w/ French Cowboy, Papier Tigre, The Solace Bros. @ Beauty Bar. If Dischord Records relocated to France, Papier Tigre would be the first band they’d sign. These Frenchies sound like Q and Not U covering Unwound. PLAN C: The Modlins, Joanie Mendenhall, Matt Curreri & The Exfriends @ San Diego Sports Club. These three artists are each up for a San Diego Music Awards Best Pop Album honor, and, not coincidentally, they'll each be playing those albums in their entirety.

Friday, Sept. 5

PLAN A: The Intelligence @ Bar Pink. As mastermind of The Intelligence and A-Frames/Climax Golden Twins, Lars Finberg has positioned himself as the Pacific Northwest’s most interesting art-punk mystery man. PLAN B: Graf Orlock, Zann, Lewd Acts, Rogue State @ Che Café. Postmodernism + hardcore = postmodcore. Juxtaposing movie soundbites with incisive political lyrics, Graf Orlock say “fuck you” to copyright laws—and pretty much everything else, for that matter. BACKUP PLAN: Guttermouth, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Chaser, The Widows @ ’Canes.

Saturday, Sept. 6

PLAN A: Bob Dylan @ Qualcomm Concerts on the Green. He’s probably not going to play “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” or “Like a Rolling Stone,” but how can you complain? It’s Bob f-ing Dylan, for Christ’s sake! PLAN B: Witch, Earthless, Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound @ The Casbah. These three Tee Pee Records bands are going to play a little game of “Whichever band makes the most people go deaf, wins.” The only downside for the audience? All of them win. PLAN C: Xavier Rudd @ 4th & B. I’m subtracting points because of his association with Dave Matthews, but Rudd is a seriously talented, multi-instrumental Aussie whose music deserves better than the college frat crowd. BACKUP PLAN: Bamboo @ Epicentre.

Sunday, Sept. 7

PLAN A: Willie Nelson @ Harrah’s Rincon. Everyone’s favorite red-and-gray-headed stranger comes through to smoke some reefer, swing his braids and play a ratty old guitar with a big hole in it. PLAN B: Mad Juana @ Bar Pink. Former Hanoi Rocks and current New York Dolls bassist Sami Yaffa leads this Latin-tinged group of gypsies through a set of songs that could be the soundtrack to the apocalypse. BACKUP PLAN: The Burning of Rome, Feelings Mutual, Tape Deck Mountain, Tushushimare @ The Casbah.

Monday, Sept. 8

PLAN A: Alejandro Escovedo, Carrie Rodriguez @ Belly Up Tavern. Check out our Escovedo feature on this page. PLAN B: RoMak & The Space Pirates, Microphone Mike, Crocodiles, Qu’est-ce, Que C’est @ The Casbah. RoMak’s “post-good” electro-goth and Mike’s white-boy booty bass aren’t meant to be taken seriously, so arrive with tongue planted firmly in cheek.

Tuesday, Sept. 9

PLAN A: Bodies of Water, Throw Me the Statue, Jamuel Saxon @ The Casbah. Name-checking Erik Satie, Kate Bush and Os Mutantes as influences, Bodies of Water just might have the talent to back up their ambition. It’s like you fell asleep for a couple years and indie rock got all adventurous on your Shins-worshippin’ ass. PLAN B: Toadies, The Lions, Buckfast Superbee @ Belly Up Tavern. In the mid-’90s, they seemed like little more than grunge coattail-riders, but time has been kind to the reformed Toadies. Now, it’s as if they’ve always been the kind of dirty, ballsy rock band that doesn’t come from Texas often enough. How’s that for positive hindsight?