The 84th annual Academy Awards are happening Sunday, Feb. 26. While planting yourself on the sofa in front of the TV sounds OK, why not get in the spirit and have a red-carpet kind of a night out on the town? Here's a roundup of a few interesting Oscars parties in San Diego:

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The experimental-electronic-music community is reeling over the death of James Huntington, a local beatmaker and promoter who performed under the name Hm.t Dm.t.

Indie-folk outfit The Vision of a Dying World has been put to rest.

In a heartfelt announcement posted on his website, main man Jackson Milgaten bade farewell to the project, which he started nearly a decade ago with his brother, Keith. 

"For most of the project’s existence we were just kids who had very little idea what we were doing," he writes, "but we always played from the heart and that is all that really matters to me."

If you don't have a high-definition flat-screen TV, or you suck at making guacamole and cheese dip, maybe your best bet is watching the big game at one of San Diego's fine drinking establishments. We've rounded up 11 spots where you can take in the Super Bowl this Sunday:

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If you regularly tune into alt-rock radio, you've probably heard of The Swami. Every Saturday night for seven years, he hosted the Swami Sound System on FM 94/9, a showcase of underground hits and little-known gems that he'd unearthed from vast piles of vinyl and plastic. The Swami's obscure tastes and momentous monologues earned him a reputation as one of San Diego's most revolutionary radio DJs, a maverick the likes of which have become increasingly rare in the world of corporate-owned commercial radio.

In a move that caught the local music scene by surprise, John “Swami” Reis announced on Saturday that he’s done with Swami Sound System, his weekly show on FM 94/9.  "I am going to sorely miss my earballs being assaulted by your bombastic arsenal of punkness," Bryan Blake wrote. "Maybe from time to time, maybe you could post what you're listening to from time to time? I know that I am adding several groups to my Pandora from what you were playing on 94/9." "...this means you're taking time out to write more songs right??!"

Remember @ShitMyDadSays? 

Back in August 2009, a San Diego resident named Justin Halpern started a Twitter feed to relay all of the funny things his cantankerous dad purportedly said. While some doubted the veracity of Halpern's tweets, you couldn't deny the hilarity and cutting insight of the salty gems. Take, for example, this line from Oct. 21: "Bullshit. War ain't over till people stop shooting. You can't say you're done taking a crap if shit's still coming out of your ass."

Soon after Halpern started the Twitter feed, it took on a life of its own, garnering attention from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and leading to the creation of a short-lived, poorly-received sitcom. Now, more than two years later, the meme is still going strong, with videos regularly popping up on YouTube documenting the shit that all sorts of people say. There's a video of "Shit Yogis Say," there are multiple videos of "Shit Hipsters Say," and there's also a video of "Shit Nobody Says." (Alas, none of this shit's half as funny as the shit Halpern's dad says.)

The other day, the meme made its way back to San Diego when a video titled "Shit people say at concerts" was posted on YouTube (watch below). Made by Belly Up Tavern staffers Beau Doiron and Meryl Klemow, the video relays all the weird, funny things that concertgoers say at the Solana Beach venue. In one clip, a shirtless Doiron standing at the lost and found table says: "Uh, I lost my shirt." 

But you have to wonder—do people actually say this shit? 

I asked Doiron just that when he posted the video on my Facebook wall yesterday. "o yeah," he replied in a comment, "we gathered our info from venue employees."

Correction (1/10): I just talked with Gregory Prout, a volunteer who manages the Ché Café's finances, and he says that the fundraising effort wasn't quite as successful as I previously reported. The I Promise music festival raised about $7,000, Prout says, and the venue has raised about $6,000 through other donation efforts. Jesse Kranzler, who's been integral to the fundraising effort and helped organize I Promise, told me that the total donations were around $17,000. In fact, Prout says that the total money raised strictly through donations is about $13,000, though the venue also has money in the bank from other sources. We're sorry for the errors. The Ché, however, has still been saved.

***

The Ché Café has been saved. 

As we reported last week, friends of the cash-strapped venue have been leading an effort to raise $12,000 in funds needed to cover insurance fees, which are due in March. If they couldn't come through with the cash, the Ché would've had to stop putting on shows.

The fundraising effort culminated this weekend with I Promise, a three-day benefit festival that featured a cross-section of bands that are near-and-dear to the venue. Jesse Kranzler, one of the fest's organizers, says it brought in about $8,000. The venue had previously raised about $9,000 through donations to a benefit website and other efforts, bringing the total donations to around $17,000. The surplus will help cover back-taxes and other debts, Kranzler says. 

The sold-out indie-rock showcase on Saturday night, featuring noise-rock heavies No Age and Crystal Antlers, was the Ché's highest-grossing concert of all time, Kranzler says, bringing in about $4,000. I went on Sunday night for the experimental-noise show and the turnout was pretty big that night, too. 

One of the highlights on Sunday was Realization Orchestra, a new band featuring members of Ty Segall and Weatherbox. They looked like DEVO in their purple jumpsuits, but their extremely weird, yet technically proficient, sound had more to do with iconoclasts like John Zorn and Captain Beefheart. They were clearly having tons of fun, which made their unpredictable compositions all the more enjoyable. 

I was also happy to see L.A. spazz-rock legends XBXRX. The last time I saw them at the Ché, back in the early '00s, their singer jumped around the space like a freaky sprite, climbing the rafters and bringing everyone together in an epic group hug in a thoroughly chaotic 15-minute set that ended when one of the members broke his nose. They've grown sludgier and more metal in the decade since, but they still wrought absolute mayhem on Sunday, climbing the rafters, detuning their guitars and even stepping offstage to do push-ups and sit-ups amid the crowd. All the while, a guy in a wheelchair gamely held his own in the mosh pit. Awesome!

The big draw, however, was Health, a noise-rock band that emerged out of The Smell, an all-ages club in L.A. Their thrilling set featured a mix of spastic noise jams and nightclub-ready electro-rock anthems; masters of contrast, they let out jarring bursts of noise over sing-song vocals and pummeling drums. My God, what a sight to see they were. Their bassist whipped around his long hair like some kind of rock 'n' roll angel. Their savage drummer, with his big build and curly hair, had the look of an ancient warrior. 

Towards the end of Health's set, Kranzler stepped onstage to let everybody know that the fundraiser was a success, tossing a handful of confetti at the crowd. After the show, people behind the fundraising effort were all smiles. The fundraiser didn't just save this all-volunteer, all-ages venue, they said. It reinvigorated it. 

This week, CityBeat writers shared their favorite albums of the year. But we're not done making lists. Here, cantankerous music writer Seth Combs gives you his 10 worst music videos of the year. 

 

10.) Lykke Li "I Follow Rivers" 

Wow, I'm not sure what director Talik Saleh said to Li when they were discussing the treatement for this video, but I would imagine it went something like this: "So, Lykke, I can call you Lykke, right? OK, so the chorus of the song goes 'I'll follow you,' so I was thinking we'd have you following somebody. Brilliant, right? Oh, and we'll do it in the snow. I was thinking you could lose your shoes at one point, but don't worry, we'll have a stunt double with nice feet for that scene. One more thing—I was thinking we could hire the most amateur camera crew in all of Great Britain. That way it'll be all shakey and artsy looking. I know one guy with multiple sclerosis. He'd be great." 

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