Notes from the smoking patio

I have a confession to make: I always get Dave Mustaine confused with Sebastian Bach. Then I remember that Mustaine is the whiny malcontent from Megadeth who got booted from Metallica, and Bach is the whiny malcontent from Skid Row who shows up on every reality series and/or nostalgia program VH-1 has ever produced. But, as it turns out, Mustaine is really just a big teddy bear. The La Mesa native (and Fallbrook resident) recently joined forces with Hasbro Toys to donate “pallets of toys” (i.e. a whole lotta toys)—through the Toys For Tots program—to Camp Pendleton, the town of Fallbrook and North Coast Church (based in Vista).

Mustaine and his wife Pam reportedly organized the donations after witnessing the devastation left by the wildfires that ravaged San Diego County earlier this year. “We live in a little town,” Mustaine said in a written statement, “and this is nothing any neighbor wouldn’t do for another neighbor.” There’s no word whether or not copies of Megadeth’s Countdown to Extinction made it onto the pallets o’ toys. But we can always hope.

—Nathan Dinsdale

Reeve Oliver has said (in a MySpace blog) that the recording process for the band’s new album, Touchtone Inferno, was like being “15 months pregnant.” Reeve celebrated the birth of Inferno (available on iTunes) on Dec. 20 at The Casbah, but the celebration wasn’t without complications. First, there was a major gas leak inside the club that required a visit from SDG&E (the problem was quickly resolved) before the show. Then, as the band was about to take the stage, paintballs began raining down on patrons standing outside the club. The shots were fired from a nearby apartment and resulted in the arrival of at least four police cars. Nobody was injured, though a lot of people were irritated. Residents of the apartment reportedly told police that the shooter was a friend who had already left the premises (the apartment-dwellers were given a warning). But, despite the drama, neither Reeve Oliver nor their fans seemed fazed—the band powered through a nearly two-hour set.  

If you don’t want to sit at home on New Year’s Eve watching Ryan Secrest, overpriced hotel shindigs aren’t your thing and you don’t want to battle the crowds at the N.Y.E. shows featured on Page 32, there are some other great local shows planned. You’ll probably have to pay a cover (in most cases), but it’ll be far less than you’ll find elsewhere. Among the offerings: The Ken Club will feature Transfer, Get Back Loretta, Vitro and Microphone Mike; Bar Pink Elephant will host Ziggy Shuffledust and The Baja Bugs; and Tower Bar will be home to Wild Weekend and “punk karaoke,” which features a backing band of local all-stars (songs and a sign-up list are on the bar’s MySpace page).

Coronado’s The Wrong Trousers garnered some Internet buzz earlier this year when they posted a video of themselves performing a cover of The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star” on YouTube. The low-fi, single-camera video—which features the band peforming on the Prado in Balboa Park—was enough to get the Trousers noticed by strangers at the Coachella music festival. Now the video has been recognized as one of the top 50 staff-picked videos of the year on tastemaking music site PitchforkMedia in a field that includes bands like Justice, Feist, Cat Power, Spoon and even Snoop Dogg. The band celebrated the release of its debut full-length (One And Counting) on Dec. 21 at Lestat’s and will perform next at Mueller College in University Heights on Saturday, Jan. 12.

Radio stations 91X and 94/9 have been going head-to-head in San Diego, fighting for ratings and market share of the alt-rock crowd. In the latest Arbitron ratings, 94/9 surged ahead of 91X, while 91X’s recent “Nightmare Before Xmas” show—held Dec. 9 at San Diego Sports Arena and featuring bands like Angels and Airwaves and Bad Religion—reportedly sold less than 2,000 tickets for a venue that can hold more than 14,000. (According to 91X program director Phil Manning, between 3,000 and 3,500 people attended the show, including those with free tickets.) Meanwhile, 94/9 sold out its “Holiday Hootenanny”—which featured Queens of the Stone Age, Louis XIV and Pinback, among others—on Dec. 15 at UCSD’s RIMAC Arena (capacity: 5,000). Underlying the battle for ratings are rumors that 91X will be shuffling its on-air lineup in the coming year. The recent departure of Jennifer White, who left 91X to take over the morning slot at Sophie 103.7-FM, has raised questions about the future of the 91X morning show. Meanwhile, 91X jock (and former creative director) Kallao has also left the station, though there has been no official announcement about the circumstances leading to his departure.   

--Rosey Bystrak