Reports from the scene

View from a stool

Matt Resovich may be the hardest-working man in San Diego music, and although you may have never heard of him, you’ve likely heard of the bands he plays with: everyone from The Album Leaf and The Black Heart Procession to newcomers like John Meeks and Little White Teeth. While certainly a proficient multi-instrumentalist, Resovich plays a really mean violin, which had him running from venue to venue on July 29 to perform with both Leaf and Teeth.

But it was his solo performance at The Casbah on Monday (opening for Black Mamba and Lymbyc Systym) where music fans could truly get an idea of just how rare and special a musician he is. Playing under the name Roll Film—a not-so-subtle nod to his scoring work for films like Impaler—he played a short, mostly instrumental, set that had everyone in the room enthralled (and one guy drunkenly waltzing alone). Using an assortment of pedals, he loops his violin, keyboard and guitar sounds into what can only be described as a one-man Southern psychedelic dirge that would make even the devil cry.

He ended the set with a cover of the Pink Floyd obscurity “Green is the Colour,” his voice taking on a Bill Callahan matter-of-factness that made lyrics like “white is the light that shines through the dress that you wore” sound like the soundtrack to a Civil War soldier coming home to make love to his wife. One couldn’t help but think that if Pitchfork or No Depression had been there, they’d be proclaiming him one of most underrated musicians around. Resovich’s music is just that full of light.

 

Locals only

A new festival is coming to North Park called Awesome Fast. Spread out across three days (Sept. 4 through 6) and four venues, the festival will include local and national acts of the punk and hard-rock persuasion. Band highlights include Jon Cougar Concentration Camp, Bumbklatt, Breaker Breaker One Niner and End Tiltwheel. “There will be no corporate sponsors, no workshops, or classes on ‘how to tour’ or ‘how to get signed,’ just good music,” says the fest’s website. Passes are $30.

A new band, Geodesics, has been formed by David Francis (The After Party) and George Whyne (Starline Theorie). Although no music has been posted on their MySpace site and the two are still trying to round out the group with other musicians, Francis describes the band’s sound as “very ’70s, heavy, soulful, sexy.”

Those who missed the Publicists! show at Radio Room on Friday night missed the final performance from the band—frontman Ryan Johnson is moving to the Midwest. The band released their debut album, Stories, earlier this year, and they still plan to release a video for the song “Not Hiding.”

Punks Northern Towns will celebrate the release of their debut album Wednesday, Aug. 12, at The Casbah. Titled Good as Gold, the record is being released on 10-inch colored vinyl (which includes a digital download card) on Swagger City Records.

Alt-rockers Heavy Glow will release their second EP of the year within the next month. The EP was recorded in L.A and will be titled The Filth and the Fury.

 

The Enrique Experience

It’s been eight months since Chula Vista was dubbed one of America’s 10 most boring cities by Forbes, along with other gems such as Santa Ana and Gilbert, Ariz. (“the hay shipping capital of the U.S.”), and with the extension of the “Adopt a Cat” campaign being the top news story on the city’s website, Chula Vista officials ain’t helping change that anytime soon.

However, almost 100 years into its incorporation as a charter city, you gotta give credit to the South Bay hub’s seemingly never-ending supply of dive bars. From the Lost in Translation feel of The Jade Lounge to the south-of-the-border vibe at Baja Lobster & Club to the Arkansas-backwoods atmosphere at Wild Wooly’s Saloon, the place is a veritable United Nations of dives.

Enter the Coin-Toss (3121⁄2 Broadway). Next to the 97¢ Plus Store (’cause 99 cents is just too ritzy), this no-frills hole in the wall, where even the bravest of yelpers dare not step foot, is home to CV’s best early-morning happy hour, boasting $2 beer specials starting at 10 a.m. (that’s 8 p.m. Ho Chi Minh City time) every day. The long bar, reminiscent of the brothel scene in Miss Saigon, is flanked by two 1990s-chic cylindrical fake fish tanks—faux sealife included—and an array of crimson lights that gives a shimmery glow to an extensive collection of plastic plants, rivaled only by the once-yearly TJ Maxx parking-lot sale. The worn burgundy carpet and crimson-felt pool table duo, along with a stable of at least a dozen stretch-mini-dress-wearing ladies finish off the, shall we say, red-light-district feel.

One of them, who’d been giving me the glad eye all night long, approached me, and as she felt my shirt up and down, all I could think of is that I would have to either burn it or douse it with Purell. Lucky for me, in a saved-by-the-bell moment, she had signed up for karaoke, and her song, Berlin’s Take My Breath Away was up. Who knows? Perhaps for $60 she would have.

Forbes, eat your heart out.

Night moves

Our semi-regular guide to the after-dark events we’re either crazy about or just really looking forward to.

Grown Folk Shit @ El Dorado: If you were disappointed by that Original “P” Parliament Funkadelic show at Del Mar, then this will likely be your boogie-funk highlight of the year. Why? Because DJ Dam-Funk is stopping by to sit in with the Grown Folk band and spin the best jams that have made his Monday night “Funkmosphere” parties in L.A. the things of sweaty legend. Thursday, Aug. 6.

Boris MD @ On Broadway: Boris has a background in musical theory and has been steadily garnering a buzz the past three years. And, yes, he really is a doctor, so anyone who passes out from dancing to this O.C.-based DJ’s lovely mix of trance and house might just get on-the-spot mouth-to-mouth. Saturday, Aug. 8.

The Crystal Method @ Hard Rock Hotel: OK, so the revered electro duo is playing the poolside Intervention party, which starts at 11 a.m., but there are opening sets from DJs Sid Vicious, Loczi and Fresh One, so come evening time, expect the Method to get you in the mood for the weekend all over again. Sunday, Aug. 9.

The Bloody Beetroots @ Voyeur: A major score for San Diego nightlife, the illusive Beetroots are beloved by electro fans and indie-rock kids alike for their hard-hitting beats and punk sensibility. We just scored a copy of their Aphex Twin-meets-Justice debut, Romborama, and it lives up to the hype. Sunday, Aug. 9.