Buy a blues belter’s bra!

Contents:

1 – Candye Kane’s Kupps-4-Sale

2 – What Do Touring Bands Think of San Diego?

3 – The Casbah’s Atari Lounge – '80s Time Warp: Life’s A Game

4 – How I Snuck Into Around 100 Local Concerts

5 – The Sound Chronicles Parts 1 - 4

Turn On, Tunes In, Drop Out: A History of Personal Music Players

Sound Guys Sound Off: Local Soundboard Operators

Concerts Are Making You Deaf: An Audiological Overview

Horn If You’re Honky: Car Horns and the Honkies Who Love Them

CANDYE KANE’S BRAS-4-SALE

Well-endowed blues chanteuse Candye Kane seems comfortable with public fixation on her 44GGG size breasts (though she no longer plays piano by slapping them on the keys). On her website candyekane.com, she sells pillows made from her own bras.

"They are each guaranteed to be worn by me and no two are alike,” she says. The price? Around $300 each (per bra, not per cup), plus $20 shipping, She says she was inspired to create boob-art by fans who constantly ask to purchase her used bras and panties.

"If the fans want to take them apart to masturbate on, that's okay. But I make the pillows so beautiful that they would never want to take them apart." According to the website sales pitch, “Custom designs and lettering will also be considered. Color choices may not always be possible. It depends which bra will be leaving my underwear drawer!”

Kane says she’s gotten interest from retail stores, but that she currently recycles her undergarments on a per-order basis. A 50% deposit is required upon ordering and it takes 8 – 10 weeks to get your custom Candye Kane Therapeutic Bra Pillow.

“They are beautiful, one of a kind, conversation pieces and they are the next best thing to resting your head on my own 44GGs…they really are fun, soft, comfortable and add to the decor of any home!" She’s talking about the bras, guys - the breasts aren’t for sale or rent.

WHAT DO TOURING BANDS THINK OF <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />SAN DIEGO?

This week, we’re checking out tour commentary from Cleveland Ohio roots-rock quartet

A.J. Leland.

Bassist Brian Sabin (aka Syban) keeps a diary of the band’s geographical and cultural upheaval, with segments posted at a Cleveland newspaper website, morningjournal.com. The band’s first local paying gig was a “happy hour” set at Winston’s, which Sabin called “a dusty, retro beach bar.”

“Winston's windowless green tile entryway was papered with a multicolored collection of flyers reminiscent of bands gone by,” Sabin reports. “With the exception of the bartender and four burly men sporting cutoff T-shirts huddled around a Golden Tee 2005 game, there wasn't another soul in sight.”

Reportedly, the bartender told them it’s a miracle if anyone shows up for a Saturday afternoon set. “Our first song sent the Golden Tee crew packing, likely in search of a bar with more gaming and less blaring rock music. Thankfully, they were quickly replaced by a glazed Texan who introduced himself as Vino…during our second set, Vino was a bubbling bastion of support, hollering encouragement after every song.”

“A few more people wandered in during that second set…by the time we stepped onstage for our third and final set, we counted almost 18 people in the bar.” He says the intimate gathering of “drinkers and listeners” were increasingly enthusiastic about their set. “We ended to a chorus of clapping and Vino yelling at everyone in the bar ‘I told y'all, AJ Leland ruled, but you didn't believe me, now look at you, you dumb (use your imagination)! AJ Leland rules!’…we had our first California fan.”

Sabin says the bartender told him that the almost-20 person crowd was “an exceptional feat,” and promised to recommend the band to Winston’s promoter.

“Night had fallen by the time we left the club, but we felt like our star was rising at last. After all, we had nowhere to go but up.”

Now on to

the Corrs...

In England, one of the most popular nightly TV programs is So Graham Norton, which airs on BBC Channel 4. Musical guests have included Ozzy Osbourne, Phil Collins, Marilyn Manson, and Cher.

In one episode, Andrea Corr of the Irish folk band the Corrs discussed her first visit to San Diego. The band’s U.S. label, Atlantic Records, had arranged a series of promotional showcase performances for the all-sibling quartet, just as their first single “Runaway” was released, from their September 1995 debut album “Forgiven Not Forgotten.” The gigs were intended to introduce the group to radio programmers and concert promoters, and Corr mentioned one of them taking place in San Diego. While she didn’t say exactly where they played, she evidently didn’t recall the occasion with much fondness.

“We did this gig and the record company invited media people to come, and the bribery was lots of alcohol. Which was fine but we went on a bit late so they consumed an awful lot of alcohol. We played to a definitely mild response and it kind of got bad at the end…we had just gotten off [the stage] and we were kind of depressed, going ‘that was really awful’ and [Corrs violinst] Sharon comes in [the dressing room] going ‘Some guy just puked on me!’”

[Norton’s audience erupts into hysterical laughter]

“Then, after that, we got back into the van and we’re about to pull off and I see these people are coming toward the van. I recognized this skinhead girl from the gig and I kind of go, oh, they were at the gig, go ahead and wave at them, they might be fans or something. So they come over and every one of us is sort of waving at the fans and all of a sudden they start kicking the guard! We said ‘Let’s get out of here!’”

[more giddy laughter from the British audience]

In the band’s biography at their website www.corrsonline.com, it’s noted that “The Corrs had one of their worst experiences, when a San Diego's [sp] radio station got them to serenade one of their listeners in the pouring rain.”

Andrea Corr is quoted here as saying “That was pretty humiliating…we eventually laughed our heads off at it. But at the time it was beyond, it was disgusting.”

Wait – someone from IRELAND, complaining about bad weather in SAN DIEGO?!?!? WTF -

“The Atari Lounge is there so you can take a break from the band or get away from someone you don't want to talk to," says Casbah owner Tim Mays of the club's back room full of vintage video games, pinball machines, and pool tables.

"We've had games here since we first moved to this location in early 1994. The Jurassic Park and Guns N' Roses pinball machines were pretty popular for a long time. We also had a sit-down Pac-Man that was hugely popular. Someone [a Casbah customer] actually bought it from the guys who own and maintain our machines."

(brettbanducci.com)

Sandy Thomas, bassist for O.B.-based Xlent, says, "I spent a year in the Atari Lounge living in a total '80s time warp, going for the 'perfect Pac-Man.' That's surviving through 255 screens and eating every single dot, every ghost, every fruit and energizer, and never missing a single one. I reached the million-point mark five different times, but I only broke two million once. Believe it or not, that actually got me laid, and that score should add a million to my Pac-Man points." A perfect Pac-Man score is 3,333,360.

"For ten years I'd been telling people about a video game I loved as a kid called Star Castle," says Rookie Card singer/guitarist Adam Gimbel. "It was actually black and white, with colored plastic on the monitor to make the center rings red and yellow. No one believed me. When I moved back to San Diego ten years ago, there it was in the Atari Lounge."

As of this writing, the club's arcade games include Galaga, Off Road, Centipede, a Donkey Kong console that only works sporadically, and a tabletop Ms. Pac-Man nearly always stacked with the quarters of waiting players.

"I'm a Ms. Pac-Man snob," says singer-songwriter Marie Haddad. "Not just any machine will do. It has to be a sit-down table version, and it has to be fast. Sure, there are other Ms. Pac-Man's around town, but the joystick doesn't respond like the Casbah's, or it's a stand-up machine, or it's geriatric slow." She says her high score is "somewhere in the 95,000s," and her dot-gobbling prowess earns her occasional perks. "I was back there playing between sets, and a guy who'd been playing Galaga turned around to watch me...before I finished my game, he bought me a vodka tonic and called me 'the Eddie Van Halen of Ms. Pac-Man. '"

Grant Reinero of the Focus Group likes how the tabletop Ms. Pac-Man allows players to battle head-to-head. "One time I was in the Atari Lounge by myself, and I was sitting at the Ms. Pac-Man and searching my pockets for a quarter. Nothing. No change at all. In defeat, I resigned myself to just sitting there and watching the game's demo screen over and over."

"Just then, a girl's voice cut through the sludgy tones bellowing out of the main room. 'Are you gonna play?' I looked up to see a raven-like beauty in an antique dress. She pushed her hair back behind her ears and sat down at the other end of the game."

"'I don't have a quarter,' I said. She reached into the pocket of her dress and produced two quarters. 'Wanna play me?'"

"We took turns jamming the joystick in a mad frenzy. The flashing screen lit up her perfect pale features as we played. What began as a friendly game soon gave way to a ruthless power-pellet--eating contest. With my last turn I lost myself in the maze, becoming the insatiable yellow creature on the screen. The ghosts finally cornered and killed me, and I screamed out loud."

"I looked up to see her staring back at me, her chest heaving with excitement, her eyes wide with adrenaline. I told her, 'That's the best I've ever played,' and in one motion she grabbed the back of my neck, pulled my cheek to her lips, and whispered in my ear, 'Thanks for the game.' "

Two other Atari Lounge consoles are currently down, with the busted skateboarding game rumored to be replaced soon with either Space Invaders or Tempest. The Casbah's pool tables are always in good repair, and one cue-ball clash has become the stuff of local legend.

"Eddie Vedder and I played a game of pool many, many years ago," owner Mays told Bart Mendoza. "He came down one night to see Jonathan Richman…He came in incognito with a floppy brim hat and a jacket , we got to talking to him, he was a really great friendly guy, very straight forward. And there were some people hanging out in the back playing pool."

"So anyway, Eddie and I are playing pool, and I don't know how it came up, but he said 'If I win, I get your bar, if you win, you get my publishing deal.' So I thought, Okay. And he beat me pretty handily. He actually beat everybody he played that night."

"Anyway, six or eight months later I get a call from someone who said they heard on the radio that Eddie Veddar had bought the Casbah. Then I got more phone calls. Apparently, and I just found this out recently, Mike Halloran told Marco Collins [ex 91X DJ, then at Seattle radio] the story, so Marco Collins put the story out there and it got picked up. Needless to say, when Eddie comes in, we take care of him, just so he doesn't call in his note."

   How I Snuck Into Around 100 Local Concerts -- Not that we advocate breaking the law, mind you -- most of these venues are long gone, and the statutes of limitations have passed, so here's what I did and how I did it.    http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/aug/21/viejas-pays-20k-to-local-cover-band-plus-casb74f5f/

Turn On, Tunes In, Drop Out -- A History of Personal Music Players http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/aug/21/viejas-pays-20k-to-local-cover-band-plus-casb74f5f/

       Soundmen Sound Off -- Locals talk about the perks and perils of running the soundboard. Includes former Grateful Dead/Owsley sound guy Jimbo James, Jeff Kelley of Price of Dope and more. http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/aug/21/viejas-pays-20k-to-local-cover-band-plus-casb74f5f/

         Concerts Are Making You Deaf -- The research is done and the results are in - your ears are f-ucked! An audiological overview, including interviews with locals who know a bit about ear damage. http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/aug/21/viejas-pays-20k-to-local-cover-band-plus-casb74f5f/

        Horn If You're Honky -- Musical car horns, and the honkies who love them. Can your car horn really help you pick up women? Who's buying car horns that sound like machine gun fire? Do women need No Honking Zones to feel safe on the sidewalk?  http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/aug/21/viejas-pays-20k-to-local-cover-band-plus-casb74f5f/