Reports from the scene
Kelly Alvarez wastes no time, Leonard Cohen polishes his act and more after-dark news
Locals only
While singer-guitarist Maren Parusel has left Wild Weekend to focus on a burgeoning solo career that’s already included shows at South by Southwest, fellow Wild girl Kelly Alvarez has wasted no time in starting a new solo project. She’s posted new demos under the name Junglefever with plans to record them for a future vinyl release. www.myspace.com/junglefeverxo.
Another new project was recently unveiled by North County musician Gabe Lehner (Inspired Flight, Mechanical Cats) called Mr. Mustard, but you may want to keep it on the down-low. Like DJ Dangermouse’s The Grey Album, Mr. Mustard is a Beatles remix project. Lehner has posted 10 remixes on MySpace (www.myspace.com/mistermustardremixes) but, to avoid running afoul of copyright laws, maintains that the project is a tribute and won’t net any money. He’ll play some of the remixes live at Soda Bar on Monday, April 20.
Demetrius Antuna (The Dropscience, Goodbye Blue Monday) will unveil his new band, MNML, at a Thursday, April 16, show at Bar Pink. Fever Sleeves will headline. Joined by bandmates Alex Trecha and Jason Hooper, Antuna describes the MNML sound as “kind of quiet and kind of loud, kind of sweet and kind of evil, kind of structured and kind of improv, kind of fun and kind of serious.” www.myspace.com/mnmlsnds.
Indie-rockers Verso will release their new album, Crime of Love, at a Wednesday, April 22, CD-release show at the Ruby Room. Sex Mannequin and The Anasazis will open.
View from a stool
Arguably one of Leonard Cohen’s best tunes is the first track on side two of his debut, Songs of Leonard Cohen, released in 1967. That song, “So Long Marianne,” has a lot going for it—from the fleeting mandolin to the punchy female backing vocals. But its most endearing feature is that it’s flawed: The two tracks of rhythm guitar that open the otherwise perfect pop-folk song don’t match up—one is slightly out of time with the other.
If early-career Leonard Cohen shunned studio perfection, later-career Cohen embraced it with apocalyptic, synth-o-riffic songs like “First We Take Manhattan” and “Everybody Knows.” Then there’s late-late-career Leonard Cohen, who, at age 74, is on tour for the first time in 15 years. Cohen performed at Copley Symphony Hall on April 7 and will appear at the Coachella Music Festival this weekend.
The live sound verged, at times, more toward smooth jazz than the minimalism and experimentation that defined Cohen’s early and later music, respectively. At times his backing band seemed like a mismatch for the songs—to return to the example of “So Long Marianne,” Cohen’s trio of backup singers sang their part without a hint of the defiance that made the original so good. It was a polished, scripted show that didn’t deviate much from his recently released CD, Live in London.
But does it matter? He’s still fucking Leonard Cohen. Like Nick Drake and Tom Waits, Cohen is one of those legends who never achieved super-stardom but whose influence extends far beyond his name. He penned the song “Hallelujah,” but most folks think Jeff Buckley or Rufus Wainwright wrote it. And Cohen seems OK with that. Backing band aside, his performance was that of a humble guy who’s found his place in the world. Or, as he put it at one point between songs, “What happens when the man searching for salvation finds it?”
The Enrique Experience
“Hi, hookers! I’m so happy to be here today, I could just throw up blood,” a bright-eyed Dixie Longate told the crowd gathered at The Center in Hillcrest for a benefit performance of Dixie’s Tupperware Party.
Born in an Alabama trailer park, young Dixie had big dreams and, thanks to her discovery of Aqua Net at age 6, even bigger hair. Between husbands, someone mentioned that she could make money throwing parties and selling “plastic crap.” And a star was born.
“My parole officer started me up in this in order to get my kids back. He roped me in by tellin’ me I could go to parties and drink for free,” she told CityBeat in her Southern twang. By chance, she caught the eye of a New York theater producer who helped her develop an off-Broadway play that earned her a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance, which Longate has now taken on the road, making her the nation’s top-selling Tupperware lady—no joke.
With the energy of a meth’d-out trucker, she demonstrated the versatility of the pieces, encouraging audience members to “think outside her box” and proving that this was anything but the Tupperware parties of yore. She hawked items like the “rectangular cake taker,” that, she said, is “perfect for church” and holds a three-layer sheet cake on one side of its platform or 18 cupcakes on the other, or “34 Jell-O shots—enough for you and your pastor.” Other items included a chip and dip set “large enough to hold cheese cubes and a Guatemalan baby,” an ergonomic cork screw “so easy, even a child can use it—mine do” and a drip-less tumbler that doesn’t spill even when the straw is taken off. “It seals right up, just like a vagina,” she quipped.
The night ended with a “rimming contest” where rival teams gently seal the lids around the rim of a “FlatOut!” collapsible container set, which, after you’re done using them, can flatten to just half of an inch. “And trust me,” she said, “it’s about the only time when half an inch of thickness is enough.”
Text Confessions
What’s a text confession? Well, if CityBeat’s Will K. Shilling happens to have your cell-phone number, you’ve likely received a text or 10 from him asking rather random music-related questions. Shilling has some of San Diego’s biggest musical names on speed dial, so we thought: Why not print some of their even-more random answers? This week’s subject: Power-rockers Foreigner who play Viejas Casino & Turf Club on Sunday, April 19.
Will’s text: “I wanna know what Luv is, what can u show me?”
Responses (unedited):
Jennifer Correia (X1FM radio): Showing is knowing. It is called a tingling force!
Michael Hernandez (Lualta): ))====D~~~~ (o)(o)
Kristen Gundred (Grand Ole Party): Falling in love over a weekend in tj, secretly eloping, Googling yr husband (Brandon from crocodiles) while yr on tour
Deana Segretario (The Mint L.A.): I wanna feel it... i know you can show me
Patrick C. Sheehy (XETV): I know that lou graham is a damn dirty foreiner. Put him on a bus back to mexcio!!
Tim Pyles (94/9): Liquor in the front, poker in the rear
Morgan Young (drummer, DJ): Love is a man with enough sack to buy tampons for his lady Love is lowering the toilet seat for her. Love is all you need.
Jennifer White (Sophie 103.7): Not much, but u can text a couple of my slutty friends if u want
