Cloud Gate 2
Photo by Jeff "Turbo" Corrigan
What was all the buzz in the scene this week? The launch of Dub Dorado at El-D on Wednesday nights. That’s right, the club finally has its entertainment license seven days a week and celebrated by stacking speakers to the roof and giving a packed house a nice woofer-friendly butt massage. I hadn’t seen some of these faces since the Landlord Jim’s days, but the healthy mix of scenesters and B-boys just seemed happy to have another dub night in Downtown again. Just don’t tell City College, lest they need a new parking lot.
Locals Only
Now that he no longer hosts The 91X Morning Show with Mat Diablo, which was cancelled last month, Matthew Bates (aka Mat Diablo) is looking for a new job.
He’s done with radio, he says, and he plans to pursue marketing in a different field. “I create communities. I create value. I’m gonna do that for another company that is not a radio or a television station,” he told CityBeat. “I’ve got several different options, nothing that is solidified yet.”
He’ll stay in San Diego, he says, and he’s met with companies that focus on action sports and music.
Meanwhile, some “tech savvy fans” have archived all of the show’s content and plan to make the show’s segments searchable and downloadable online, he said.
“I have nothing to do with this, but I’m aware of what’s going on,” he said. “If there’s a cease and desist sent to them, it’s out of my hands, because it’s not mine.”
To read an extended interview with Bates, go to lastblogonearth.com.
***Robin Nicholl has fronted The Fascination for more than five years, but he recently announced a sojourn to his native England. Does this mean the end of his pop-rock band? “At this point, I’m pretty over The Fascination,” Nicholl says via e-mail. “I kind of feel that for the last year or so we’ve been beating a dead horse, but who knows, maybe I just need a break. For now, we’re not officially breaking up, although I’m pretty sure the other two feel the same way I do. It’s just gotten to a point where I’m so sick of playing songs I wrote three years ago to the exact same people who loved those songs three years ago. When you know the names of most of the people watching you I feel it’s time to maybe move on…. Even if The Fascination does end up being dead I’m sure I’ll start something new when I get back.”
At Belly Up Tavern on Wednesday, June 2, rockers Cactus Twang will perform at a benefit for Resounding Joy, an organization that provides music therapy. The Duo-Tones and Jeff Moore will also play. At Bar Leucadian on Friday, June 4, punk band Black Seven will perform at a benefit food drive. On Saturday, June 5, the Hispanic Arts Theatre is hosting its annual fundraiser at Tango del Rey, featuring a musical revue directed by Carlos Mendoza and dance music by Manny Cepeda’s Ritmo Caribe. At Winston’s on Sunday, June 6, The Watchlist, Don McCloskey, Nothing Graceful and Joe Canseco will perform at a benefit for club friend Tyson Green.
On Wednesday, June 2, Whistle Stop Bar will host a premiere of new music videos by Dum Dum Girls, Ale Mania and Beaters, as well as videos by more than a dozen other bands. On Thursday, June 3, singer-songwriter / rapper Bushwalla will perform at Belly Up Tavern to celebrate the release of his new album, The Man Who Invented the Sky. Pigeon John and Rafter will also perform. At Tin Can Ale House that night, folk group The Vision of a Dying World will perform in celebration of their new 7-inch, which comprises three songs from their I Will Not Fear What I Don’t Understand EP. Miss Erika Davies, Jehova’s Fitness and Lonesome Sparrow will also perform. On Friday, June 4, Jesse LaMonaca and the Dime Novels will play at the Marble Room to mark the release of their new album, Until the Stars Came Out. Cactus Bob and Blackout Party’s Brian Holwerda are also on the bill. Also that night, prog-rockers He is the Painter will perform at SOMA to celebrate the release of their new CD. The Haven, Misc. Ailments, Jacks Last Bullet, If They Could Speak and The Foundation Of will open. On Saturday, June 5, experimental group Snuffaluffagus will perform at Tin Can Ale House to celebrate the release of their new CD, Brazil Wood Poetry. Mothlight, the Dusty Highway Band and teamAWESOME! will also play. Also that night, electro duo Inspired Flight will perform at The Casbah to celebrate the release of their debut record, We All Want to Fly. Jamuel Saxon and F.U.Z.Z. will also play. On Monday, June 7, blues rocker Johnny Mannion will perform at Humphrey’s Backstage Lounge to celebrate the release of his new CD, Bluer Than a Man Should Be.
—Seth Combs and Peter Holslin
The Enrique Experience
The Enrique…Experienced art show came and went, and, like a good scabies sore, it left a memorable impression. Deep-fried Oreos? Check. Walking in on a couple fucking inside the Port-a-Potty? Check. Hitler piñata? One-arm-salute check. I could’ve phoned it in this week and went meta on your ass with an Experienced Experience, but I somehow managed to leave the house on Sunday, lured by the “Active Duty Military” soirée at Rich’s in Hillcrest.
C’mon, a queer military party on Memorial Day weekend? It doesn’t get any better. Decked out in my camo best, I arrived at 1051 University Ave. ready to ask and tell.
Outside, a gaggle of gays munching on hotdogs sold from a cart, without so much as a hint of irony, let me know I was in for a doozy. Suddenly, I felt the stares. Screw ’em! I told myself—not since that Destiny’s Child video have Daisy Duke fatigues looked this good.
Inside, I was greeted by a Pamela Anderson Baywatch-era cutout propped next to a surfboard. Palm-tree-shaped inflatables were spread throughout, beach umbrellas hung from the ceiling, and Speedo-clad go-go boys danced atop the bar (one of them, for some reason, wielding a light saber). Hold on! Where are the hand-grenade-tinis, the physical exam line and the makeshift foxhole where I’d planned on getting squirted by friendly fire?
Turns out my wires got crossed and I missed the boot-camp bash by a day—it was Rich’s annual Summer Splash party, and there I was, Bridget Jones (with extra freak points for an “I heart Michael Jackson” button I’d decided to rock for flare) amidst a sea of judgy, spray-tanned Adonises.
I found comedic solace on the dance floor, which was something right out of Beach Blanket Bingo, albeit a version in which Annette Funicello is a shirtless daddy that loves to throw shade around, dancing to La Roux while juiced on GHB.
Longing for your own awkward moment? Rich’s will host a special Divas Reunion on June 5, for which patrons are expected to show up in drag. Pull an Enrique—dress up on the 6th.
—Enrique Limón
