Celebrate your Black Heart tonight at the Casbah ---
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NEW COMPREHENSIVE LOCAL MUSIC DATABASE IS LAUNCHED
IT'S DONE!!!! And growing every hour....
If you wanna see a list of over 1,5000 San Diego bands, with links to full profiles, photos, discographies, articles, MP3s, etc, checkout http://www.sandiegoreader.com/bands/search/
Believe it or not, you can click on ANY LOCAL MUSICIAN'S NAME (around 4,500 musicos listed!) and bring up bios of every notable band they've ever been in! Try it here with Rob Crow ---
AND, if that wasn't cool 'nuff, click on an instrument, say like this here link to "Drums" - BAM, a list of EVERY DRUMMER IN SAN DIEGO!!!
We've been working on this massively cross-linked Local Music Database for over two years now, covering a century of San Diego history --- if you're a local performer who wants to add or edit a page, go to http://www.sandiegoreader.com/band/edit/
More anon!!!! JAS
THE RETURN OF BLACK HEART PROCESSION – Tonight/Thursday at the Casbah (Sanford/Monk/Hemmingson)
With the emergence of Mr. Tube & the Flying Objects, the rebirth of Three Mile Pilot, and almost three years of radio silence casting a...pall over Pall Jenkins’s soul-wrecked rock act The Black Heart Procession, hometown fans of the band can’t help but wonder, wherefore art thou saw songs and blinking bauble? Other than a couple of fest sets last year for the international indie hits (Adams Ave. and last month’s Melvins-curated All Tomorrows Parties in Minehead, England), the BHP camp has been pretty quiet since 2006’s rock-steady return The Spell. Get your dose of dark pop when the Procession processes into The Casbah tonight and Spaceland (<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />
The Black Heart Procession was launched in 1997 by Pall Jenkins (Ugly Casanova) and Tobias Nathanial, both from Three Mile Pilot. Other frequent members include violinist Matt Resovich (the Album Leaf), James LaValle (the Album Leaf and ex-Tristeza), and others.
Resovich is one of those musicians who keeps busy and often commits to many projects at a time. He’s performed with the Black Heart Procession, the Album Leaf, Mung, and Battling Maxo over the past decade, carving a niche with fans of eclectic and electronic music.
“My first childhood memory pertains to my current occupation,” says Resovich. “I told my parents I wanted to be a ‘fiddler on the roof’ just like the guy in the movie. They must have been stoked on my complete lack of economic sense.”
The Black Heart Procession is the best known of Resovich’s projects, formed in 1997. This band records and tours when the members have the time.
“By playing in the Black Heart Procession and the Album Leaf, I’ve gotten to tour extensively in the U.S.A., Europe, and Asia,” he says. “These are priceless memories, but a standout would have to be last summer’s show at the Hollywood Bowl with the Album Leaf, if only because I grew up attending bowl concerts ever since I can remember. To be on the stage looking out was a unique and awesome feeling.”
Resovich (under the moniker of side-project Roll Film) and his electric violin can be heard on the 2007 independent film Impaler, a documentary about Jonathon “the Impaler” Sharkey’s candidacy for governor of Minnesota in 2006. His other instrumental act is Toytester, “a computer-and-me” act of experimental sound and dance beats.
As for Black Heart Procession, according to Wikipedia, "Each one of their first four albums 1 through Amore del Tropico is what people would consider a concept album, progressive with a musical and lyrical theme. One major theme continues over many albums in a song called "The Waiter," which currently has five parts spanning from the first album to the newest album, The Spell. With this latest album, though, they seemed to have moved away from the entire conceptual idea, at least musically, with more songs that one would consider radio-friendly, although the same overall tone and sounds are still there."
Tobias Nathaniel lives in Portland, Oregon, while Pall Jenkins remains in San Diego. To make The Spell in 2006, the band assembled a new recording studio -- SDRL -- in San Diego, and then traveled between there and Portland to write and rehearse the material. They hit the U.K. in December '08, but tonight's Casbah gig is one of the few hometown appearances in recent memory ---
2501 Kettner Boulevard - 619-232-4355
Get Directions
ROCK AROUND TOWN TONIGHT, Thursday 1-29:
Rebecca Jade |
Anthology |
The Burnsville Band | Patrick's II |
The Fabulous Pelicans | Valley View |
Freefall | Epazote |
West Indian Girl | Belly Up |
Goodnight Caulfield and Sleep for Sleepers | Epicentre |
Hoenig Pilc Project | Athenaeum |
Brian Wilson | House of Blues |
The Black Heart Procession | Casbah |
DJ Night | Ramona Mainstage |
Boombox Thursdays | AC Lounge |
DJs SG, Dubz, Teknikscian | Bar Dynamite |
Rollingstone.com has added Anya Marina to their "breaking artist" profiles - Sounds Like: The dozen songs on Slow and Steady Seduction Phase II are a mixture of Liz Phair sex appeal and Boswell Sisters cabaret with a dash of Jung. "You can have a side to you that's overt and raw, but usually it's reserved for the bedroom or your innermost thoughts of your mind," she tells Rolling Stone. "Some artists are used to going there and that's part of their shtick. I didn't want to put on airs." She credits the intensity of her singing on "Afterparty At Jimmy's" to turning out the lights in the studio and taking her shirt off. "It was fun; it was nice." Vital Stats: • Marina's father is a Jungian psychologist who, instead of asking how her homework was coming along, would probe her about how her relationships were developing. If he were to ask her that question today, the answer would apparently be: slowly. Marina was recently on her fifth date with a guy who was trying to talk through why things weren't working out between them. "It was a f-cking three-hour long conversation," she says. "I'm thinking 'dude, you've never even tried to kiss me and we're talking about why we're not dating.' Sometimes you can't talk it out. Just shut the f-ck up and throw me on the bed." • Slow and Steady Seduction Phase II was produced in tandem by Britt Daniel, of Spoon, and Brian Karscig, of Louis XIV, both of whom she met in her travels as a local radio jock. "Brian and I did 10 songs in San Diego together," she says. "He pushed me to yell and do stuff I hadn't done before. Working with Britt was like working with myself. I think both of us are songwriters that are used to woodshedding alone so working together was pretty illuminating. We did a few songs together up in his house. It was the ideal workday: he totally gave me that space which is great, I'd wake, fry up an egg, make some tea, go to the basement for a while, break for lunch, do normal life stuff, come back home and finish up some stuff. He made me laugh so hard. I'd order him around, we'd laugh some more. Then we'd go out and see a show at night. It was like being married." • Marina comes from a long line of musicians. Her grandfather, she says, was a saxophonist who auditioned for Benny Goodman's orchestra — but didn't get in because he couldn't read music. Her grandmother was a professional pianist in jazz and Dixieland bands. Her dad, a Miles Davis and Nina Simone fan, plays trumpet and piano; her mother, a Russian, favors dark, Gypsy folk in minor keys. "Music to go through the cold winters to," she says. "Then, of course, we had Barbra Streisand and Liza Minelli." Hear It Now: Marina will be on the road through April, which is the next time any poor sap can expect a date with her. In the meantime, catch an exclusive acoustic performance of "All the Same to Me." www.rollingstone.com/blogs/breaking/2009/01/breaking-anya-marina.php Related links
CATHRYN BEEKS’ WEEKLY LISTEN LOCAL HOTSHEET
A must see! This Friday, Jan. 30th
Cowboy Jack Johnson presents The Hank Show (Hank Williams, Sr. tribute
band) and BAND IN BLACK (Johnny Cash tribute band)
at 4th & B: A double show of vintage replica country
music from the 1940s to 1960s, with authentic singing style, costumes
and instrumentation. From ‘Hey, Good Lookin’ and Your Cheatin’
Heart to ‘Folsom Prison’ and ‘Ring of Fire'. Tell yer friends!
Wednesday, February 4th:
Backstage at The Bitter End with 8:00 Victoria Rose, 8:30
Melissa Vaughan, 9:00 Mark Jackson Band, 10:00 Dave
Perskie and Session 73, 11:00 Jacqueline Grace
Artist of the Week: Victoria Rose is a highly acclaimed 7 string classical guitarist who plays a plethora of your favorite songs with a style all her own...
Link of the Week: We're proud to announce that TakeLessons.com is a new Listen Local partner, offering voice and instrument lessons and helping teachers find students, too. Visit the site and let them know Cathryn Beeks and Listen Local sent you!
I'm going to be more proactive about promoting my own band, The Cathryn Beeks Ordeal. Next weekend we begin work on the new album at Berkley Sound and we have some great shows coming up...Pretty exciting stuff happening... join The Cathryn Beeks Ordeal's mailing list and be part of the family! www.myspace.com/cathrynbeeksordeal
MORE CATHRYN BEEKS ON THE READER SITE: Musician Interviews (Dec. 30, 2004), Musician Interviews (April 5, 2007), Blurt (March 26, 2008), Hometown CD Review (Oct. 15, 2008)
CATHRYN BEEKS MP3S:
www.sandiegoreader.com/bands/cathryn-beeks-ordeal
ListenLocalSD.com | The Calendar | FAQs | Venues and Partners |Contact
COVER ME BADD'S BEATLES U.S. TO PERFORM DOWNTOWN ON THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BEATLES' LEGENDARY ROOFTOP SHOW
This Friday, forty years later to the minute (minus the eight hour time difference), San Diego legends Cover Me Badd are bringing back their famed Beatles U.S. act to celebrate the anniversary of the Beatles' last semi-public performance. In the spirit of the Fab Four playing a rooftop lunchtime set to an unsuspecting London, the Beatles U.S. will play the same songs that John, Paul, George, Ringo and organist Billy Preston played on January 30, 1969.
Though the exact time and location is being kept under wraps, several clues were divulged at a recent secret press conference that no one was invited to.
According to singer Adam Gimbel, "People should head to Horton Plaza and be sure to bring their ice skates. When they see that the ice skating rink has been taken down for the season and look skyward in disappointment, they might just see us."
When questioned about what time the set will take place, Gimbel inexplicably yelled out the name of Herman's Hermits singer Peter Noone exactly twelve times. He then bragged about how the Beatles never did encores, but they might be doing one at 8pm.
The everchanging Cover Me Badd formed The Beatles U.S. two years ago for a Beatlesque installment of the Tribute! concert series at Safari Sam's in Los Angeles. Though the show was barely attended, two videos from the band's set ended up on Youtube and have been viewed over 35,000 times.
Two of the group's main members, Adam Gimbel and Dylan Martinez are no strangers to having thousands of people watch them play the Beatles online. Their "real" band Rookie Card played "Back In The USSR" outside of their album release show several years ago just as a plane flew overhead in a bit of incredible timing. A video of the performance was mentioned in a San Diego Reader cover story and has become the stuff of legend.
The group vowed to reform when the time was right and the time was right several months ago when they insisted on playing the first event on the roof of the newly re-opened 10th Avenue Theater in San Diego's East Village. Noticing that the 40th anniversary was just a few months away, they vowed to find somewhere right downtown to play on January 30th.
Gimbel inquired with almost every building that has a roof in downtown San Diego about hosting the event but they all had either tented for winter, had never heard of McCartney's pre-Wings material or wanted $15,000.
Luckily, the kind folks at Westfield's Horton Plaza stepped forward to give the band a place to play, so that they too could be part of something so historic.
When the Beatles were trying to come up with a place to film their last performance for the film that eventually became Let It Be, they talked about doing it on a boat, at the Royal Albert Hall in London and even in Africa.
Strangely enough, there are rumors of an outtake from the movie where John Lennon turns to Yoko Ono and mumbles something about "an MC Esher styled shopping mall that smells like cinnamon buns in San Diego....near Broadway and 3rd Street."
Rather than play on a roof where no one could see them, the Beatles US decided to comply with Lennon's wishes and play somewhere a bit more retail oriented. Ever charitable, the band is playing FOR FREE while requesting donations for their friends, local soul/funk outfit The Tightenups, who recently had their rehearsal space robbed of several thousand dollars worth of equipment.
Though world-famous Beatle coverband the Bootleg Beatles played the same famous fifth story roof that the Beatles played at 3 Saville Row in London ten years ago, local council and police have cancelled this year's recreation due to "health and safety reasons".
Not surprisingly, all eyes have turned towards a shopping mall in San Diego, California for the next best thing. Those seeking 100% faithful renditions, fake accents, period-perfect costuming or even an actual roof need not attend. Like all Cover Me Badd acts, the Beatles US puts more of a twist (and a shout) on things than most Beatle copycat bands.
An elevated time is guaranteed for all!
http://www.CoverMeBadd.com --- http://www.myspace.com/TheTightenups
http://www.westfield.com/hortonplaza
SECRET LOCATION: maybe Westfield's Horton Plaza at Broadway Circle, downtown San Diego
SECRET DATE: probably 40 years after January 30, 1969
SECRET STARTING TIMES: rhymes with "moon" (plus 8pm for those who won’t ditch work)
SECRET REASON WHY: Because when someone breaks into your friends’ rehearsal space and steals thousands of dollars worth of equipment, you learn Beatles songs and take to the skies.
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ROOKIE CARD GETS BACK IN THE
BEATLES ROOFTOP CONCERT RECREATED IN
(DJ Dave Mason popping in; and a visit from the Blue Meanies)
The crowd on the rooftop grew exponentially as the afternoon wore on – consider that the day's equipment had to be hauled up to the roof by ropes and you can see it was an effort to reach that summit, but smiles were the order of the day. Smiles were visible even on the faces of drivers on Adams Avenue who slowed or stopped to watch. Ironically while The Beatles were shut down fairly quickly by the police during their rooftop performance, in this case it took authorities several hours to arrive. However, under threat of fines and equipment confiscation, the afternoon ended, though not before a final rendition of “Get Back.” The best part about the day? Take your pick. The camaraderie of the crowd, the sing-a-longs, or maybe the neighborhood introductions made amongst those who came out to take in the music. From the mother who brought out a table and chairs from her shop to have her kids watch the bands to the elderly couple that rode up on bicycles, there was a wonderful cross section of area residents and visitors. (courtesy http://abbeyrd.best.vwh.net/news/1125upontheroof.html) *************************************DAVE HUMPHRIES: 4-TIME APPLE REJECT!
February 1964: the Beatles taught the world to play. “Do You Wanna Know A Secret” and “Love Me Do” dominated the U.S. charts in the wake of the group’s U.S. landing. British songwriter Dave Humphries remembers it well – he was there. Humphries moved to San Diego in 1996, but at one time the native of Durham City in northeast England was known as someone on the periphery of the Beatles story and as “the man rejected by Apple Records [four times] more than anyone else alive.” Humphries’ appearance at the 2003 Beatlefair allowed him to meet and play with another figure from the Beatles’ past, Tony Sheridan, for whom the fab four played on their first-ever recording “My Bonnie,” credited to Tony Sheridan And the Silver Beetles. While Sheridan was at BeatleFair, Humphries talked him into co-writing and recording a song in Mission Hills, “38 Days,” which appears on a CD self-released by Humphries. This recording was made easier due to Sheridan’s longtime keyboard player Wolfgang Grasekamp living in La Mesa, another recent transplant to San Diego.(Humphries with the Beatles' original recording frontman, Tony Sheridan)
Humphries also tried to get one-time Beatles drummer Pete Best to participate in the “38 Days” recording, since Best was in town at the same time for a BeatleFair. Local rumor has reported Best’s reaction to the invitation to be “Show me the money.” Pete Best’s agent reports that he’s paid $4,000 to appear anywhere and upwards of $6,000 to $10,000 if he’s to actually perform. Being booted from the Beatles seems to finally be paying off. Dave Humphries' album 38 Days earned him a nomination at the 2006 San Diego Music Awards. The disc includes two tracks featuring Tony Sheridan on guitar. His newest record, And So It Goes..., from Blindspot Records, was produced by Mike Kamoo (the Stereotypes) and Wolfgang Grasekamp at Kamoo's Earthling Studios. Kamoo makes a guest appearance on the album, as do Bart Mendoza (the Shambles), Todd Hidden (ex-Rockola member), and Tony Sheridan on 5 of the 11 tracks. The album received airplay on BBC Radio Merseyside's Juke Box Jury on March 29, 2008, in a show hosted by Spencer Leigh, documentary writer and author of the Merseybeat book Let's Go Down to the Cellar. Humphries' shares his recollection of the night John Lennon died, 28 years ago next week, on December 8, 1980: "It was just like another normal December morning in Durham, northeast England, cloudy and a little cold. I heard my dad go off to work and before long would hear my mother shout up the stairs, 'Are you getting up?' But today she didn't do that, today it was 'John Lennon has been shot.'" "A sick feeling consumed me. I didn't know how to handle this. Of course we'd had deaths in the family, but this was different, it felt as if my youth had been torn away. My hero was gone, a man whom I felt I had known personally since 1963, a man I admired, a man who together with his three mates inspired me, made me laugh out loud, made me pick up the guitar, a man murdered by a bastard with a gun. I recall the BBC showed Help! that night. I didn't watch, didn't see any of the news reports, couldn't; I don't know now how I got through the days or nights. I tried to avoid friends, couldn't discuss it -- just felt raw. It was months before I could listen to John's voice without filling up and breaking down. John, who gave so much to the world, murdered for what?" ************************************************** WHY AL KOOPER HATES LOCAL WRITERS (BUT LOVES SAN DIEGO) Earlier this month, the legendary Al Kooper made another appearance at the old Normal Heights church that hosts the Acoustic Music San Diego series. Our own William Crain wrote an excellent Of Note about the man himself – go ahead and checkitout, I’ll wait - http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2009/jan/07/al-kooper Another Reader contrib, Josh Board, attended a 2005 Kooper show at AMSD and wrote about it for our Blurt column. As I found out when I later contacted Mr. Kooper, he wasn’t at all happy with Josh’s piece. www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2005/jan/27/when-i-asked-al-kooper Two things in particular seemed to irk him – Josh wrote “The sold-out show started more than half an hour late,” a claim disputed by venue operator Carey Driscoll. Josh also related some questions he asked Kooper before the show, apparently with Kooper assuming him to be just another patron rather than a reporter. But the biggie, apparently, was Josh’ toss-off comment in Blurt that “Anyone's got to sing better than Kooper.” So fast forward to October 2005 – I contacted Kooper through AMSD to see if he’d care to contribute a capsule to a Reader article asking people where they were and what they were doing on the day John Lennon was killed. Kooper, it turns out, was actually recording with George Harrison at the time of Lennon’s murder – however, it didn’t look good for the Reader getting Kooper to tell the tale, once I got this email: AL KOOPER: “IF I am not mistaken, Josh Board is a writer for your magazine. He has insulted me in print and very unprofessionally ‘interviewed’ me. That has really soured me on your publication. If I am wrong and he does not write a column in your paper, I am interested.” Well, he was not wrong, and he sent me further clarification on his position: AL KOOPER: “Y'know, Jay when it says ‘....the worst singer in the world...’ - San Diego Reader, it really doesn’t matter who does what. And when he interrupts my soundcheck just to get his personal stuff signed (which I do because he knows Carey), and he misquotes me in what he claims in print, is an interview, it all reflects on the San Diego Reader, whether you know him or not. So tell Josh the guy that spent that day with George Harrison wouldn’t do the piece because of Josh's underhanded assassination job. Maybe it will improve his style. It wasn’t that he said bad stuff about me – it’s that he interrupted me to get his personal stuff SIGNED BY ME, and then assassinated me claiming he interviewed me. Bad journalism hurts us all. Hopefully, this time it hurts him. I am truly sorry because it’s certainly not YOUR fault.” Now, to be fair, Kooper has long had an adversarial history with journalists. Including other locals. The late, great musician/writer/all-around-great-guy Buddy Blue wrote a piece for his Blue Notes column that also seemed to take potshots at the man (photo courtesy buddyblue.net): BUDDY BLUE: “As a lifelong advocate of the vastly under-appreciated Kooper, I was quite disappointed to find him personally somewhere between stand-offish to downright butt-headed when we met a few months ago at his local concert. Still, I can't deny the man his props: this, the first real Kooper solo album in 30 years (!!), is also his very best; 70 minutes of amalgamated pop/blues/jazz/soul triumph nearly the equal of his unconquerable Blood Sweat & Tears masterpiece, Child Is Father To The Man. The songs, performances, arrangements, production; all approach something frighteningly close to perfection. Welcome back. Butthead.” Kooper actually took the time to write Blue a lengthy thought-out email, which I don’t think Buddy would mind me sharing with you now: AL KOOPER: “Sorry I couldn’t live up to your expectations, or be the man you'd hoped I'd be. I was certainly happy to meet you. But I'm just another slug getting ready to play a two hour show and clear my head out to do the best I can for people who went out of their way to come see me. Then I sit in a corner and sign every possible piece of memorabilia that people bring for an hour, pack up all my own sh-t (no roadie or posse, Jack) and then travel two hours to my next hotel. Surely, you've been through this dude - Maybe you were never the prince people hoped u might be when they encountered you b4 or after a show. I don’t recall treating you badly at all. You're one of my heroes, fer chrissakes - for writing that DCT piece.... so let me pass on a little advice to you. It’s actually my mantra that has kept me virtually sane for the last 47 years of my professional life – ‘If you don’t expect anything, you're NEVER disappointed.’ Try it on, bud. It fits great - in biz and in life." "Your friend in words & music, Al Kooper." I have to side with Kooper in both instances ----- I can see why he felt unfairly maligned, without having actually done any specific thing to justify the published commentaries (surely there are far worse singers, making much more money for their warblings – Kooper may not be Caruso, but I’VE never heard him sing a note that I’d call a bum one). So, anyway, thanks to an assist from Carey at AMSD, Al Kooper did finally agree to tell me about the day he heard John Lennon had been murdered. Here’s Kooper’s commentary, which is, as he requested, presented exactly as he wrote it ---- AL KOOPER: “I was born an insomniac. Tests later revealed that when I eventually fell asleep, I would immediately descend into the deepest sleep there is; one that takes normal folks 3 to 6 hours to reach; the filet mignon of bedtime. I usually only sleep two to four hours each evening.” “On the evening of December 8th, I was living in London in the UK and had just returned from George Harrison's home, where I was helping to record Somewhere In England, his latest album-in-progress. I had a bit of a nap on the two hour drive home in fellow musician Ray Cooper's Rolls Royce, so I was kinda up for the night. The TV usually went blank at midnight and I would switch the radio on routinely so that I had company in the wee hours.” “The news in London because of the time change came about 2:30 AM. It started with news that John had been shot.” “I was aghast. It quickly followed that he was dead. Stunned, I went back and forth optioning calling George as I'm sure I was one of a handful of Brits who HAD this info. I couldn’t be the one to tell him, I reasoned. He's gonna need that sleep he's getting now, I surmised knowing the British media.” “At 9 AM, I called Ray Cooper who was co-producer of the album, and after a lengthy chat, we decided to go ahead with the session - that it might keep George from dwelling in sadness all day. Armed with a few bottles of excellent wine, we arrived there about noon. A gaggle of reporters greeted us at the main gate standing in the English rain. We sidestepped their enqueries, locked the gate and drove up to the house.” “George was white. He hugged us both and we began the days work. We stopped three times during the next ten hours. Phone calls from Ringo, Paul & Yoko. He began rewriting lyrics to a track we had just cut the day before. In ensuing days, McCartney put backing vocals on, joining George & Ringo on that track and oh yes, the insomniac Wurlizer pianist from New York who was one of the first to purchase 'She Loves You' approximately 16 years before.” “That track soon evolved into an honest musical tribute to John, and became a #1 single in the US scant months later. By ten PM, he was exhausted and a bit inebriated. He thanked us both for coming and headed for the arms of Morpheus. Ray & I headed back to London, glad we had done what we could for George that day.” “I shall never forget that 24 hour period as long as I live.” ************************************************THE BEATLES [MUSIC] IN
THE BEATLES [FOR REAL!] IN
www.moosenet.com/beatles/beatsd.html
) The Beatles: 8-28-65, Balboa Stadium For the Beatles’ one and only local appearance, the band played around forty minutes, with some of the show surreptitiously recorded by KGTV chief photographer Lee Louis, who smuggled in a 16mm film camera. 6-16-76 – Paul McCartney and Wings at San Diego Sports Arena: McCartney brought his Wings Over America tour to the Sports Arena just as Wings at the Speed of Sound was topping the U.S. charts. "They flew in on a private jet, [and] people literally wept when McCartney hit the stage," recalls local music historian and Shambles front man Bart Mendoza. "He played a hit-filled show, lasting just over two hours, and included a few Beatles tunes -- 'I've Just Seen a Face,' 'Lady Madonna,' etc. -- but stuck heavily to his solo tunes." Mendoza says that a high point came with "a pyrotechnic-laden 'Live and Let Die.' But the defining moment was likely those first two seconds as the crowd realized that, yes, he was about to play 'Yesterday.' It was pandemonium." Several songs from this show appear on the bootleg album Oriental Nightfish, produced in 1977 by Reading Railroad Records (aka Hoffman Avenue Industries, Inc.). A double LP on colored vinyl, San Diego cuts include "Jet," "Magneto and Titanium Man," "My Love," "Soily," and "Beware My Love." ****************************************** ********************************************UNEXPECTED BEATLES ART - The Fab Four turn up in the oddest places...
******************************************* **********************************************LOCAL LENNON DOCUMENTARY: JOHN LENNON - WHY WE LISTEN
A locally-produced documentary about Lennon has been created in association with Southwestern College. It’s told through the insights of four local musicians known for making music highly influenced by the Beatles in general, and by Lennon in particular: Peter Bolland (of the Coyote Problem), Bart Mendoza (the Shambles, Manual Scan), producer Sven-Erik Seaholm and singer/songwriter Michael Tiernan. Broken here into four parts, it includes audio and video footage of Lennon. Part 1: Part 2 Part 3: Part 4: **********************************************MAHARISHI COMIX & STORIES: MEATLESS MAHARISHI MEETS THE BEATLES, or YOGI MAKES A BOO-BOO
Weird Beatles Merchandise - WTF were these licensors (and bootleggers) thinking... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/feb/06/my-brunch-with-yoko-plus-weird-beatles
My Brunch With Yoko - Brunch with a Beatle bride... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/feb/06/my-brunch-with-yoko-plus-weird-beatles
Yoko Ono Comics and Stories - When Johnny Met Yoko, with dialogue and captions paraphrased from published Lennon interviews. Plus John Lennon: A Life in the Day
"Lennon or McCartney?" --We asked 25 local performers about their fave Beatle (and why), and got some surprising (and frequently revealing) answers...
CELEBRITY HOUSE HUNTING IN SAN DIEGO - Real estate broker Jeff Paiste has squired several famous musicians around San Diego in their search for decent digs to lease or rent, including Bread frontman David Gates and the late George Harrison.... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/13/celebrity-house-hunting-in-san-diego
"Joey Molland Interview" - Badfinger's last man standing, Joey Molland, reveals more about the tragic story of Badfinger, as well as meeting and working with John Lennon, George Harrison, and Todd Rundgren, plus the Concert for Bangladesh, and more. http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/aug/21/x-jam-cancellation-controversy-plus-how-i-snuck-in/
"The Day John Lennon Was Shot" - Local celebs share their recollections of December 8, 1980, plus guest essays from Al Kooper (who was recording with George Harrison that day) and others.... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2009/jan/25/john-lennon-12-8-1980-we-ask-local-celebs-where-we/
LEGO ALBUM COVER RECREATIONS! Those wacky kidsters at toyzone.com put together this great tribute to OCD Legoholics everywhere...
Thanks to: http://www.brickshelf.com
Thanks to: http://www.flickr.com
Thanks to: http://www.flickr.com
Thanks to: http://www.brickshelf.com
Thanks to: http://www.flickr.com
Thanks to: http://www.flickr.com
Thanks to: http://www.flickr.com
Thanks to: http://www.brickshelf.com
Thanks to: http://www.geocities.co.jp
Thanks to: http://www.flickr.com
Thanks to: http://www.brickshelf.com
Thanks to: http://www.brickshelf.com
Thanks to: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=142497
Thanks to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/minifig/73566812/in/set-1718298/
Thanks to: http://www.brickshelf.com
Thanks to: http://www.brickshelf.com
(Thanx to Bart Mendoza for the link - http://www.thetoyzone.com/20-album-covers-recreated-in-lego/#comment-2635 )
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MORE BLOG ENTRIES:
"Pussycat Theaters - When 'Cathouses Ruled California" -- for the first time, the detailed inside story of the west coast Pussycat Theater chain of adult moviehouses, which peaked in the '70s but later died out. Told by those who actually ran the theaters! http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/aug/07/pussycat-theater-history-when-cathouses-ruled-ca-n/
"Before It Was The Gaslamp: Balboa's Last Stand" - Cover story 6-21-07: In the late 70s/early 80s, I worked at downtown San Diego's grindhouse all-night movie theaters, for the owner of the Pussycat Theatre chain, Vince Miranda - this detailed feature recalls those dayz, the death of the Balboa Theatre, etc.
"Battle Of The Peeps" - feature article about a weird gig I had in the mid-'80s, running a strip club called Jolar, for the nation's second biggest pornographer, Harry Mohney (Deja Vu Showgirls founder).
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/oct/23/battle-of-the-peeps---an-insider-history-of-san-di/
"Field Of Screens" - Cover story 7-6-06: Complete theater-by-theater history of San Diego drive-ins thru the years, including a few which screened X-rated fare for awhile.
THE KOMPLETE KISS KOMIX KRONICLES - Comprehensive collection of stuff I’ve done about working with Kiss on a comic book series, along with a bunch of never-before-seen artifacts from the Kiss Komix archives AND an article by Kiss comic author Spike Steffenhagen, offering his own very-different take, ala Rashomon, on the same events I describe in my essay...
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/12/komplete-kiss-komix-kronicles
ROCK 'N' ROLL COMICS: THE INSIDE STORY - In 1989, local Revolutionary Comics ("Unauthorized And Proud Of It") launched Rock 'N' Roll Comics, featuring unlicensed biographies of rock stars, most of which I wrote. Some performers, like Frank Zappa and Kiss, were supportive, while others like New Kids On The Block considered our comics akin to bootlegs and sued. In June 1992, publisher Todd Loren was found dead in his San Diego condo, brutally murdered...
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/12/rock-n-roll-comics-the-inside-story
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK VS REVOLUTIONARY COMICS - The inside story of how a hugely successful boy band tried to sue local-based Rock 'N' Roll Comics over an unauthorized biography of the group, sparking a court case that established, for the very first time, first amendment rights for comic books. Illustrated by comic superstar Stuart Immonen (Superman, etc.)...
OVER A MILLION CARNAL COMICS ARE IN PRINT - Here's how and why we made some of the top-selling erotic comics of all time, right here in San Diego, including what Gene Simmons has to do with it all, backstage tales of porn stars, and more confessions of a comic pornographer...
COMICS AND CENSORSHIP - DON'T BE AFRAID, IT'S ONLY A COMIC BOOK - A local-centric history of comic book censorship, and the fight for the rights of comic creators...
TWILIGHT ZONE AND STAR TREK WRITER GEORGE CLAYTON JOHNSON PRESENTS - The inside story of a local horror comic book series featuring Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, plus sci-fi king Larry Niven, Zap Comix co-founder Spain Rodriguez, Matthew Alice artist Rick Geary, Vampire Lestat painter Daerick Gross, yours truly JAS, and many more...
THE BIRTH OF IMAGE COMICS: INSIDE STORY OF A LOCAL PUBLISHING POWERHOUSE - Illustrated tale revealing how Spawn creator Todd McFarlane and local comic artist Jim Lee (the Punisher, etc.) conspired to create the ultimate creator-owned comic books...
THE ROCKETEER AND OTHER FAMOUS '80S COMICS BEGAN RIGHT HERE IN SAN DIEGO - Here's a detailed history of local Pacific Comics, who recruited comic superstars like Jack Kirby to create one of the first successful indie comic book lines. Pioneers in the fight for comic creators' rights and royalties, former employees and operators reveal how they did it, and what went so terribly wrong...
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/08/pacific-comic
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Like this blog? Here are some related links:
OVERHEARD IN SAN DIEGO - Several years' worth of this comic strip, which debuted in the Reader in 1996: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/photos/galleries/overheard-san-diego/
FAMOUS FORMER NEIGHBORS - Over 100 comic strips online, with mini-bios of famous San Diegans: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/photos/galleries/famous-former-neighbors/
SAN DIEGO READER MUSIC MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/sandiegoreadermusic
JAY ALLEN SANFORD MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/jayallensanford
Celebrate your Black Heart tonight at the Casbah ---
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NEW COMPREHENSIVE LOCAL MUSIC DATABASE IS LAUNCHED
IT'S DONE!!!! And growing every hour....
If you wanna see a list of over 1,5000 San Diego bands, with links to full profiles, photos, discographies, articles, MP3s, etc, checkout http://www.sandiegoreader.com/bands/search/
Believe it or not, you can click on ANY LOCAL MUSICIAN'S NAME (around 4,500 musicos listed!) and bring up bios of every notable band they've ever been in! Try it here with Rob Crow ---
AND, if that wasn't cool 'nuff, click on an instrument, say like this here link to "Drums" - BAM, a list of EVERY DRUMMER IN SAN DIEGO!!!
We've been working on this massively cross-linked Local Music Database for over two years now, covering a century of San Diego history --- if you're a local performer who wants to add or edit a page, go to http://www.sandiegoreader.com/band/edit/
More anon!!!! JAS
THE RETURN OF BLACK HEART PROCESSION – Tonight/Thursday at the Casbah (Sanford/Monk/Hemmingson)
With the emergence of Mr. Tube & the Flying Objects, the rebirth of Three Mile Pilot, and almost three years of radio silence casting a...pall over Pall Jenkins’s soul-wrecked rock act The Black Heart Procession, hometown fans of the band can’t help but wonder, wherefore art thou saw songs and blinking bauble? Other than a couple of fest sets last year for the international indie hits (Adams Ave. and last month’s Melvins-curated All Tomorrows Parties in Minehead, England), the BHP camp has been pretty quiet since 2006’s rock-steady return The Spell. Get your dose of dark pop when the Procession processes into The Casbah tonight and Spaceland (<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />
The Black Heart Procession was launched in 1997 by Pall Jenkins (Ugly Casanova) and Tobias Nathanial, both from Three Mile Pilot. Other frequent members include violinist Matt Resovich (the Album Leaf), James LaValle (the Album Leaf and ex-Tristeza), and others.
Resovich is one of those musicians who keeps busy and often commits to many projects at a time. He’s performed with the Black Heart Procession, the Album Leaf, Mung, and Battling Maxo over the past decade, carving a niche with fans of eclectic and electronic music.
“My first childhood memory pertains to my current occupation,” says Resovich. “I told my parents I wanted to be a ‘fiddler on the roof’ just like the guy in the movie. They must have been stoked on my complete lack of economic sense.”
The Black Heart Procession is the best known of Resovich’s projects, formed in 1997. This band records and tours when the members have the time.
“By playing in the Black Heart Procession and the Album Leaf, I’ve gotten to tour extensively in the U.S.A., Europe, and Asia,” he says. “These are priceless memories, but a standout would have to be last summer’s show at the Hollywood Bowl with the Album Leaf, if only because I grew up attending bowl concerts ever since I can remember. To be on the stage looking out was a unique and awesome feeling.”
Resovich (under the moniker of side-project Roll Film) and his electric violin can be heard on the 2007 independent film Impaler, a documentary about Jonathon “the Impaler” Sharkey’s candidacy for governor of Minnesota in 2006. His other instrumental act is Toytester, “a computer-and-me” act of experimental sound and dance beats.
As for Black Heart Procession, according to Wikipedia, "Each one of their first four albums 1 through Amore del Tropico is what people would consider a concept album, progressive with a musical and lyrical theme. One major theme continues over many albums in a song called "The Waiter," which currently has five parts spanning from the first album to the newest album, The Spell. With this latest album, though, they seemed to have moved away from the entire conceptual idea, at least musically, with more songs that one would consider radio-friendly, although the same overall tone and sounds are still there."
Tobias Nathaniel lives in Portland, Oregon, while Pall Jenkins remains in San Diego. To make The Spell in 2006, the band assembled a new recording studio -- SDRL -- in San Diego, and then traveled between there and Portland to write and rehearse the material. They hit the U.K. in December '08, but tonight's Casbah gig is one of the few hometown appearances in recent memory ---
2501 Kettner Boulevard - 619-232-4355
Get Directions
ROCK AROUND TOWN TONIGHT, Thursday 1-29:
Rebecca Jade |
Anthology |
The Burnsville Band | Patrick's II |
The Fabulous Pelicans | Valley View |
Freefall | Epazote |
West Indian Girl | Belly Up |
Goodnight Caulfield and Sleep for Sleepers | Epicentre |
Hoenig Pilc Project | Athenaeum |
Brian Wilson | House of Blues |
The Black Heart Procession | Casbah |
DJ Night | Ramona Mainstage |
Boombox Thursdays | AC Lounge |
DJs SG, Dubz, Teknikscian | Bar Dynamite |
Rollingstone.com has added Anya Marina to their "breaking artist" profiles - Sounds Like: The dozen songs on Slow and Steady Seduction Phase II are a mixture of Liz Phair sex appeal and Boswell Sisters cabaret with a dash of Jung. "You can have a side to you that's overt and raw, but usually it's reserved for the bedroom or your innermost thoughts of your mind," she tells Rolling Stone. "Some artists are used to going there and that's part of their shtick. I didn't want to put on airs." She credits the intensity of her singing on "Afterparty At Jimmy's" to turning out the lights in the studio and taking her shirt off. "It was fun; it was nice." Vital Stats: • Marina's father is a Jungian psychologist who, instead of asking how her homework was coming along, would probe her about how her relationships were developing. If he were to ask her that question today, the answer would apparently be: slowly. Marina was recently on her fifth date with a guy who was trying to talk through why things weren't working out between them. "It was a f-cking three-hour long conversation," she says. "I'm thinking 'dude, you've never even tried to kiss me and we're talking about why we're not dating.' Sometimes you can't talk it out. Just shut the f-ck up and throw me on the bed." • Slow and Steady Seduction Phase II was produced in tandem by Britt Daniel, of Spoon, and Brian Karscig, of Louis XIV, both of whom she met in her travels as a local radio jock. "Brian and I did 10 songs in San Diego together," she says. "He pushed me to yell and do stuff I hadn't done before. Working with Britt was like working with myself. I think both of us are songwriters that are used to woodshedding alone so working together was pretty illuminating. We did a few songs together up in his house. It was the ideal workday: he totally gave me that space which is great, I'd wake, fry up an egg, make some tea, go to the basement for a while, break for lunch, do normal life stuff, come back home and finish up some stuff. He made me laugh so hard. I'd order him around, we'd laugh some more. Then we'd go out and see a show at night. It was like being married." • Marina comes from a long line of musicians. Her grandfather, she says, was a saxophonist who auditioned for Benny Goodman's orchestra — but didn't get in because he couldn't read music. Her grandmother was a professional pianist in jazz and Dixieland bands. Her dad, a Miles Davis and Nina Simone fan, plays trumpet and piano; her mother, a Russian, favors dark, Gypsy folk in minor keys. "Music to go through the cold winters to," she says. "Then, of course, we had Barbra Streisand and Liza Minelli." Hear It Now: Marina will be on the road through April, which is the next time any poor sap can expect a date with her. In the meantime, catch an exclusive acoustic performance of "All the Same to Me." www.rollingstone.com/blogs/breaking/2009/01/breaking-anya-marina.php Related links
CATHRYN BEEKS’ WEEKLY LISTEN LOCAL HOTSHEET
A must see! This Friday, Jan. 30th
Cowboy Jack Johnson presents The Hank Show (Hank Williams, Sr. tribute
band) and BAND IN BLACK (Johnny Cash tribute band)
at 4th & B: A double show of vintage replica country
music from the 1940s to 1960s, with authentic singing style, costumes
and instrumentation. From ‘Hey, Good Lookin’ and Your Cheatin’
Heart to ‘Folsom Prison’ and ‘Ring of Fire'. Tell yer friends!
Wednesday, February 4th:
Backstage at The Bitter End with 8:00 Victoria Rose, 8:30
Melissa Vaughan, 9:00 Mark Jackson Band, 10:00 Dave
Perskie and Session 73, 11:00 Jacqueline Grace
Artist of the Week: Victoria Rose is a highly acclaimed 7 string classical guitarist who plays a plethora of your favorite songs with a style all her own...
Link of the Week: We're proud to announce that TakeLessons.com is a new Listen Local partner, offering voice and instrument lessons and helping teachers find students, too. Visit the site and let them know Cathryn Beeks and Listen Local sent you!
I'm going to be more proactive about promoting my own band, The Cathryn Beeks Ordeal. Next weekend we begin work on the new album at Berkley Sound and we have some great shows coming up...Pretty exciting stuff happening... join The Cathryn Beeks Ordeal's mailing list and be part of the family! www.myspace.com/cathrynbeeksordeal
MORE CATHRYN BEEKS ON THE READER SITE: Musician Interviews (Dec. 30, 2004), Musician Interviews (April 5, 2007), Blurt (March 26, 2008), Hometown CD Review (Oct. 15, 2008)
CATHRYN BEEKS MP3S:
www.sandiegoreader.com/bands/cathryn-beeks-ordeal
ListenLocalSD.com | The Calendar | FAQs | Venues and Partners |Contact
COVER ME BADD'S BEATLES U.S. TO PERFORM DOWNTOWN ON THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BEATLES' LEGENDARY ROOFTOP SHOW
This Friday, forty years later to the minute (minus the eight hour time difference), San Diego legends Cover Me Badd are bringing back their famed Beatles U.S. act to celebrate the anniversary of the Beatles' last semi-public performance. In the spirit of the Fab Four playing a rooftop lunchtime set to an unsuspecting London, the Beatles U.S. will play the same songs that John, Paul, George, Ringo and organist Billy Preston played on January 30, 1969.
Though the exact time and location is being kept under wraps, several clues were divulged at a recent secret press conference that no one was invited to.
According to singer Adam Gimbel, "People should head to Horton Plaza and be sure to bring their ice skates. When they see that the ice skating rink has been taken down for the season and look skyward in disappointment, they might just see us."
When questioned about what time the set will take place, Gimbel inexplicably yelled out the name of Herman's Hermits singer Peter Noone exactly twelve times. He then bragged about how the Beatles never did encores, but they might be doing one at 8pm.
The everchanging Cover Me Badd formed The Beatles U.S. two years ago for a Beatlesque installment of the Tribute! concert series at Safari Sam's in Los Angeles. Though the show was barely attended, two videos from the band's set ended up on Youtube and have been viewed over 35,000 times.
Two of the group's main members, Adam Gimbel and Dylan Martinez are no strangers to having thousands of people watch them play the Beatles online. Their "real" band Rookie Card played "Back In The USSR" outside of their album release show several years ago just as a plane flew overhead in a bit of incredible timing. A video of the performance was mentioned in a San Diego Reader cover story and has become the stuff of legend.
The group vowed to reform when the time was right and the time was right several months ago when they insisted on playing the first event on the roof of the newly re-opened 10th Avenue Theater in San Diego's East Village. Noticing that the 40th anniversary was just a few months away, they vowed to find somewhere right downtown to play on January 30th.
Gimbel inquired with almost every building that has a roof in downtown San Diego about hosting the event but they all had either tented for winter, had never heard of McCartney's pre-Wings material or wanted $15,000.
Luckily, the kind folks at Westfield's Horton Plaza stepped forward to give the band a place to play, so that they too could be part of something so historic.
When the Beatles were trying to come up with a place to film their last performance for the film that eventually became Let It Be, they talked about doing it on a boat, at the Royal Albert Hall in London and even in Africa.
Strangely enough, there are rumors of an outtake from the movie where John Lennon turns to Yoko Ono and mumbles something about "an MC Esher styled shopping mall that smells like cinnamon buns in San Diego....near Broadway and 3rd Street."
Rather than play on a roof where no one could see them, the Beatles US decided to comply with Lennon's wishes and play somewhere a bit more retail oriented. Ever charitable, the band is playing FOR FREE while requesting donations for their friends, local soul/funk outfit The Tightenups, who recently had their rehearsal space robbed of several thousand dollars worth of equipment.
Though world-famous Beatle coverband the Bootleg Beatles played the same famous fifth story roof that the Beatles played at 3 Saville Row in London ten years ago, local council and police have cancelled this year's recreation due to "health and safety reasons".
Not surprisingly, all eyes have turned towards a shopping mall in San Diego, California for the next best thing. Those seeking 100% faithful renditions, fake accents, period-perfect costuming or even an actual roof need not attend. Like all Cover Me Badd acts, the Beatles US puts more of a twist (and a shout) on things than most Beatle copycat bands.
An elevated time is guaranteed for all!
http://www.CoverMeBadd.com --- http://www.myspace.com/TheTightenups
http://www.westfield.com/hortonplaza
SECRET LOCATION: maybe Westfield's Horton Plaza at Broadway Circle, downtown San Diego
SECRET DATE: probably 40 years after January 30, 1969
SECRET STARTING TIMES: rhymes with "moon" (plus 8pm for those who won’t ditch work)
SECRET REASON WHY: Because when someone breaks into your friends’ rehearsal space and steals thousands of dollars worth of equipment, you learn Beatles songs and take to the skies.
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ROOKIE CARD GETS BACK IN THE
BEATLES ROOFTOP CONCERT RECREATED IN
(DJ Dave Mason popping in; and a visit from the Blue Meanies)
The crowd on the rooftop grew exponentially as the afternoon wore on – consider that the day's equipment had to be hauled up to the roof by ropes and you can see it was an effort to reach that summit, but smiles were the order of the day. Smiles were visible even on the faces of drivers on Adams Avenue who slowed or stopped to watch. Ironically while The Beatles were shut down fairly quickly by the police during their rooftop performance, in this case it took authorities several hours to arrive. However, under threat of fines and equipment confiscation, the afternoon ended, though not before a final rendition of “Get Back.” The best part about the day? Take your pick. The camaraderie of the crowd, the sing-a-longs, or maybe the neighborhood introductions made amongst those who came out to take in the music. From the mother who brought out a table and chairs from her shop to have her kids watch the bands to the elderly couple that rode up on bicycles, there was a wonderful cross section of area residents and visitors. (courtesy http://abbeyrd.best.vwh.net/news/1125upontheroof.html) *************************************DAVE HUMPHRIES: 4-TIME APPLE REJECT!
February 1964: the Beatles taught the world to play. “Do You Wanna Know A Secret” and “Love Me Do” dominated the U.S. charts in the wake of the group’s U.S. landing. British songwriter Dave Humphries remembers it well – he was there. Humphries moved to San Diego in 1996, but at one time the native of Durham City in northeast England was known as someone on the periphery of the Beatles story and as “the man rejected by Apple Records [four times] more than anyone else alive.” Humphries’ appearance at the 2003 Beatlefair allowed him to meet and play with another figure from the Beatles’ past, Tony Sheridan, for whom the fab four played on their first-ever recording “My Bonnie,” credited to Tony Sheridan And the Silver Beetles. While Sheridan was at BeatleFair, Humphries talked him into co-writing and recording a song in Mission Hills, “38 Days,” which appears on a CD self-released by Humphries. This recording was made easier due to Sheridan’s longtime keyboard player Wolfgang Grasekamp living in La Mesa, another recent transplant to San Diego.(Humphries with the Beatles' original recording frontman, Tony Sheridan)
Humphries also tried to get one-time Beatles drummer Pete Best to participate in the “38 Days” recording, since Best was in town at the same time for a BeatleFair. Local rumor has reported Best’s reaction to the invitation to be “Show me the money.” Pete Best’s agent reports that he’s paid $4,000 to appear anywhere and upwards of $6,000 to $10,000 if he’s to actually perform. Being booted from the Beatles seems to finally be paying off. Dave Humphries' album 38 Days earned him a nomination at the 2006 San Diego Music Awards. The disc includes two tracks featuring Tony Sheridan on guitar. His newest record, And So It Goes..., from Blindspot Records, was produced by Mike Kamoo (the Stereotypes) and Wolfgang Grasekamp at Kamoo's Earthling Studios. Kamoo makes a guest appearance on the album, as do Bart Mendoza (the Shambles), Todd Hidden (ex-Rockola member), and Tony Sheridan on 5 of the 11 tracks. The album received airplay on BBC Radio Merseyside's Juke Box Jury on March 29, 2008, in a show hosted by Spencer Leigh, documentary writer and author of the Merseybeat book Let's Go Down to the Cellar. Humphries' shares his recollection of the night John Lennon died, 28 years ago next week, on December 8, 1980: "It was just like another normal December morning in Durham, northeast England, cloudy and a little cold. I heard my dad go off to work and before long would hear my mother shout up the stairs, 'Are you getting up?' But today she didn't do that, today it was 'John Lennon has been shot.'" "A sick feeling consumed me. I didn't know how to handle this. Of course we'd had deaths in the family, but this was different, it felt as if my youth had been torn away. My hero was gone, a man whom I felt I had known personally since 1963, a man I admired, a man who together with his three mates inspired me, made me laugh out loud, made me pick up the guitar, a man murdered by a bastard with a gun. I recall the BBC showed Help! that night. I didn't watch, didn't see any of the news reports, couldn't; I don't know now how I got through the days or nights. I tried to avoid friends, couldn't discuss it -- just felt raw. It was months before I could listen to John's voice without filling up and breaking down. John, who gave so much to the world, murdered for what?" ************************************************** WHY AL KOOPER HATES LOCAL WRITERS (BUT LOVES SAN DIEGO) Earlier this month, the legendary Al Kooper made another appearance at the old Normal Heights church that hosts the Acoustic Music San Diego series. Our own William Crain wrote an excellent Of Note about the man himself – go ahead and checkitout, I’ll wait - http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2009/jan/07/al-kooper Another Reader contrib, Josh Board, attended a 2005 Kooper show at AMSD and wrote about it for our Blurt column. As I found out when I later contacted Mr. Kooper, he wasn’t at all happy with Josh’s piece. www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2005/jan/27/when-i-asked-al-kooper Two things in particular seemed to irk him – Josh wrote “The sold-out show started more than half an hour late,” a claim disputed by venue operator Carey Driscoll. Josh also related some questions he asked Kooper before the show, apparently with Kooper assuming him to be just another patron rather than a reporter. But the biggie, apparently, was Josh’ toss-off comment in Blurt that “Anyone's got to sing better than Kooper.” So fast forward to October 2005 – I contacted Kooper through AMSD to see if he’d care to contribute a capsule to a Reader article asking people where they were and what they were doing on the day John Lennon was killed. Kooper, it turns out, was actually recording with George Harrison at the time of Lennon’s murder – however, it didn’t look good for the Reader getting Kooper to tell the tale, once I got this email: AL KOOPER: “IF I am not mistaken, Josh Board is a writer for your magazine. He has insulted me in print and very unprofessionally ‘interviewed’ me. That has really soured me on your publication. If I am wrong and he does not write a column in your paper, I am interested.” Well, he was not wrong, and he sent me further clarification on his position: AL KOOPER: “Y'know, Jay when it says ‘....the worst singer in the world...’ - San Diego Reader, it really doesn’t matter who does what. And when he interrupts my soundcheck just to get his personal stuff signed (which I do because he knows Carey), and he misquotes me in what he claims in print, is an interview, it all reflects on the San Diego Reader, whether you know him or not. So tell Josh the guy that spent that day with George Harrison wouldn’t do the piece because of Josh's underhanded assassination job. Maybe it will improve his style. It wasn’t that he said bad stuff about me – it’s that he interrupted me to get his personal stuff SIGNED BY ME, and then assassinated me claiming he interviewed me. Bad journalism hurts us all. Hopefully, this time it hurts him. I am truly sorry because it’s certainly not YOUR fault.” Now, to be fair, Kooper has long had an adversarial history with journalists. Including other locals. The late, great musician/writer/all-around-great-guy Buddy Blue wrote a piece for his Blue Notes column that also seemed to take potshots at the man (photo courtesy buddyblue.net): BUDDY BLUE: “As a lifelong advocate of the vastly under-appreciated Kooper, I was quite disappointed to find him personally somewhere between stand-offish to downright butt-headed when we met a few months ago at his local concert. Still, I can't deny the man his props: this, the first real Kooper solo album in 30 years (!!), is also his very best; 70 minutes of amalgamated pop/blues/jazz/soul triumph nearly the equal of his unconquerable Blood Sweat & Tears masterpiece, Child Is Father To The Man. The songs, performances, arrangements, production; all approach something frighteningly close to perfection. Welcome back. Butthead.” Kooper actually took the time to write Blue a lengthy thought-out email, which I don’t think Buddy would mind me sharing with you now: AL KOOPER: “Sorry I couldn’t live up to your expectations, or be the man you'd hoped I'd be. I was certainly happy to meet you. But I'm just another slug getting ready to play a two hour show and clear my head out to do the best I can for people who went out of their way to come see me. Then I sit in a corner and sign every possible piece of memorabilia that people bring for an hour, pack up all my own sh-t (no roadie or posse, Jack) and then travel two hours to my next hotel. Surely, you've been through this dude - Maybe you were never the prince people hoped u might be when they encountered you b4 or after a show. I don’t recall treating you badly at all. You're one of my heroes, fer chrissakes - for writing that DCT piece.... so let me pass on a little advice to you. It’s actually my mantra that has kept me virtually sane for the last 47 years of my professional life – ‘If you don’t expect anything, you're NEVER disappointed.’ Try it on, bud. It fits great - in biz and in life." "Your friend in words & music, Al Kooper." I have to side with Kooper in both instances ----- I can see why he felt unfairly maligned, without having actually done any specific thing to justify the published commentaries (surely there are far worse singers, making much more money for their warblings – Kooper may not be Caruso, but I’VE never heard him sing a note that I’d call a bum one). So, anyway, thanks to an assist from Carey at AMSD, Al Kooper did finally agree to tell me about the day he heard John Lennon had been murdered. Here’s Kooper’s commentary, which is, as he requested, presented exactly as he wrote it ---- AL KOOPER: “I was born an insomniac. Tests later revealed that when I eventually fell asleep, I would immediately descend into the deepest sleep there is; one that takes normal folks 3 to 6 hours to reach; the filet mignon of bedtime. I usually only sleep two to four hours each evening.” “On the evening of December 8th, I was living in London in the UK and had just returned from George Harrison's home, where I was helping to record Somewhere In England, his latest album-in-progress. I had a bit of a nap on the two hour drive home in fellow musician Ray Cooper's Rolls Royce, so I was kinda up for the night. The TV usually went blank at midnight and I would switch the radio on routinely so that I had company in the wee hours.” “The news in London because of the time change came about 2:30 AM. It started with news that John had been shot.” “I was aghast. It quickly followed that he was dead. Stunned, I went back and forth optioning calling George as I'm sure I was one of a handful of Brits who HAD this info. I couldn’t be the one to tell him, I reasoned. He's gonna need that sleep he's getting now, I surmised knowing the British media.” “At 9 AM, I called Ray Cooper who was co-producer of the album, and after a lengthy chat, we decided to go ahead with the session - that it might keep George from dwelling in sadness all day. Armed with a few bottles of excellent wine, we arrived there about noon. A gaggle of reporters greeted us at the main gate standing in the English rain. We sidestepped their enqueries, locked the gate and drove up to the house.” “George was white. He hugged us both and we began the days work. We stopped three times during the next ten hours. Phone calls from Ringo, Paul & Yoko. He began rewriting lyrics to a track we had just cut the day before. In ensuing days, McCartney put backing vocals on, joining George & Ringo on that track and oh yes, the insomniac Wurlizer pianist from New York who was one of the first to purchase 'She Loves You' approximately 16 years before.” “That track soon evolved into an honest musical tribute to John, and became a #1 single in the US scant months later. By ten PM, he was exhausted and a bit inebriated. He thanked us both for coming and headed for the arms of Morpheus. Ray & I headed back to London, glad we had done what we could for George that day.” “I shall never forget that 24 hour period as long as I live.” ************************************************THE BEATLES [MUSIC] IN
THE BEATLES [FOR REAL!] IN
www.moosenet.com/beatles/beatsd.html
) The Beatles: 8-28-65, Balboa Stadium For the Beatles’ one and only local appearance, the band played around forty minutes, with some of the show surreptitiously recorded by KGTV chief photographer Lee Louis, who smuggled in a 16mm film camera. 6-16-76 – Paul McCartney and Wings at San Diego Sports Arena: McCartney brought his Wings Over America tour to the Sports Arena just as Wings at the Speed of Sound was topping the U.S. charts. "They flew in on a private jet, [and] people literally wept when McCartney hit the stage," recalls local music historian and Shambles front man Bart Mendoza. "He played a hit-filled show, lasting just over two hours, and included a few Beatles tunes -- 'I've Just Seen a Face,' 'Lady Madonna,' etc. -- but stuck heavily to his solo tunes." Mendoza says that a high point came with "a pyrotechnic-laden 'Live and Let Die.' But the defining moment was likely those first two seconds as the crowd realized that, yes, he was about to play 'Yesterday.' It was pandemonium." Several songs from this show appear on the bootleg album Oriental Nightfish, produced in 1977 by Reading Railroad Records (aka Hoffman Avenue Industries, Inc.). A double LP on colored vinyl, San Diego cuts include "Jet," "Magneto and Titanium Man," "My Love," "Soily," and "Beware My Love." ****************************************** ********************************************UNEXPECTED BEATLES ART - The Fab Four turn up in the oddest places...
******************************************* **********************************************LOCAL LENNON DOCUMENTARY: JOHN LENNON - WHY WE LISTEN
A locally-produced documentary about Lennon has been created in association with Southwestern College. It’s told through the insights of four local musicians known for making music highly influenced by the Beatles in general, and by Lennon in particular: Peter Bolland (of the Coyote Problem), Bart Mendoza (the Shambles, Manual Scan), producer Sven-Erik Seaholm and singer/songwriter Michael Tiernan. Broken here into four parts, it includes audio and video footage of Lennon. Part 1: Part 2 Part 3: Part 4: **********************************************MAHARISHI COMIX & STORIES: MEATLESS MAHARISHI MEETS THE BEATLES, or YOGI MAKES A BOO-BOO
Weird Beatles Merchandise - WTF were these licensors (and bootleggers) thinking... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/feb/06/my-brunch-with-yoko-plus-weird-beatles
My Brunch With Yoko - Brunch with a Beatle bride... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/feb/06/my-brunch-with-yoko-plus-weird-beatles
Yoko Ono Comics and Stories - When Johnny Met Yoko, with dialogue and captions paraphrased from published Lennon interviews. Plus John Lennon: A Life in the Day
"Lennon or McCartney?" --We asked 25 local performers about their fave Beatle (and why), and got some surprising (and frequently revealing) answers...
CELEBRITY HOUSE HUNTING IN SAN DIEGO - Real estate broker Jeff Paiste has squired several famous musicians around San Diego in their search for decent digs to lease or rent, including Bread frontman David Gates and the late George Harrison.... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/13/celebrity-house-hunting-in-san-diego
"Joey Molland Interview" - Badfinger's last man standing, Joey Molland, reveals more about the tragic story of Badfinger, as well as meeting and working with John Lennon, George Harrison, and Todd Rundgren, plus the Concert for Bangladesh, and more. http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/aug/21/x-jam-cancellation-controversy-plus-how-i-snuck-in/
"The Day John Lennon Was Shot" - Local celebs share their recollections of December 8, 1980, plus guest essays from Al Kooper (who was recording with George Harrison that day) and others.... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2009/jan/25/john-lennon-12-8-1980-we-ask-local-celebs-where-we/
LEGO ALBUM COVER RECREATIONS! Those wacky kidsters at toyzone.com put together this great tribute to OCD Legoholics everywhere...
Thanks to: http://www.brickshelf.com
Thanks to: http://www.flickr.com
Thanks to: http://www.flickr.com
Thanks to: http://www.brickshelf.com
Thanks to: http://www.flickr.com
Thanks to: http://www.flickr.com
Thanks to: http://www.flickr.com
Thanks to: http://www.brickshelf.com
Thanks to: http://www.geocities.co.jp
Thanks to: http://www.flickr.com
Thanks to: http://www.brickshelf.com
Thanks to: http://www.brickshelf.com
Thanks to: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=142497
Thanks to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/minifig/73566812/in/set-1718298/
Thanks to: http://www.brickshelf.com
Thanks to: http://www.brickshelf.com
(Thanx to Bart Mendoza for the link - http://www.thetoyzone.com/20-album-covers-recreated-in-lego/#comment-2635 )
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MORE BLOG ENTRIES:
"Pussycat Theaters - When 'Cathouses Ruled California" -- for the first time, the detailed inside story of the west coast Pussycat Theater chain of adult moviehouses, which peaked in the '70s but later died out. Told by those who actually ran the theaters! http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/aug/07/pussycat-theater-history-when-cathouses-ruled-ca-n/
"Before It Was The Gaslamp: Balboa's Last Stand" - Cover story 6-21-07: In the late 70s/early 80s, I worked at downtown San Diego's grindhouse all-night movie theaters, for the owner of the Pussycat Theatre chain, Vince Miranda - this detailed feature recalls those dayz, the death of the Balboa Theatre, etc.
"Battle Of The Peeps" - feature article about a weird gig I had in the mid-'80s, running a strip club called Jolar, for the nation's second biggest pornographer, Harry Mohney (Deja Vu Showgirls founder).
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/oct/23/battle-of-the-peeps---an-insider-history-of-san-di/
"Field Of Screens" - Cover story 7-6-06: Complete theater-by-theater history of San Diego drive-ins thru the years, including a few which screened X-rated fare for awhile.
THE KOMPLETE KISS KOMIX KRONICLES - Comprehensive collection of stuff I’ve done about working with Kiss on a comic book series, along with a bunch of never-before-seen artifacts from the Kiss Komix archives AND an article by Kiss comic author Spike Steffenhagen, offering his own very-different take, ala Rashomon, on the same events I describe in my essay...
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/12/komplete-kiss-komix-kronicles
ROCK 'N' ROLL COMICS: THE INSIDE STORY - In 1989, local Revolutionary Comics ("Unauthorized And Proud Of It") launched Rock 'N' Roll Comics, featuring unlicensed biographies of rock stars, most of which I wrote. Some performers, like Frank Zappa and Kiss, were supportive, while others like New Kids On The Block considered our comics akin to bootlegs and sued. In June 1992, publisher Todd Loren was found dead in his San Diego condo, brutally murdered...
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/12/rock-n-roll-comics-the-inside-story
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK VS REVOLUTIONARY COMICS - The inside story of how a hugely successful boy band tried to sue local-based Rock 'N' Roll Comics over an unauthorized biography of the group, sparking a court case that established, for the very first time, first amendment rights for comic books. Illustrated by comic superstar Stuart Immonen (Superman, etc.)...
OVER A MILLION CARNAL COMICS ARE IN PRINT - Here's how and why we made some of the top-selling erotic comics of all time, right here in San Diego, including what Gene Simmons has to do with it all, backstage tales of porn stars, and more confessions of a comic pornographer...
COMICS AND CENSORSHIP - DON'T BE AFRAID, IT'S ONLY A COMIC BOOK - A local-centric history of comic book censorship, and the fight for the rights of comic creators...
TWILIGHT ZONE AND STAR TREK WRITER GEORGE CLAYTON JOHNSON PRESENTS - The inside story of a local horror comic book series featuring Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, plus sci-fi king Larry Niven, Zap Comix co-founder Spain Rodriguez, Matthew Alice artist Rick Geary, Vampire Lestat painter Daerick Gross, yours truly JAS, and many more...
THE BIRTH OF IMAGE COMICS: INSIDE STORY OF A LOCAL PUBLISHING POWERHOUSE - Illustrated tale revealing how Spawn creator Todd McFarlane and local comic artist Jim Lee (the Punisher, etc.) conspired to create the ultimate creator-owned comic books...
THE ROCKETEER AND OTHER FAMOUS '80S COMICS BEGAN RIGHT HERE IN SAN DIEGO - Here's a detailed history of local Pacific Comics, who recruited comic superstars like Jack Kirby to create one of the first successful indie comic book lines. Pioneers in the fight for comic creators' rights and royalties, former employees and operators reveal how they did it, and what went so terribly wrong...
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/08/pacific-comic
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Like this blog? Here are some related links:
OVERHEARD IN SAN DIEGO - Several years' worth of this comic strip, which debuted in the Reader in 1996: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/photos/galleries/overheard-san-diego/
FAMOUS FORMER NEIGHBORS - Over 100 comic strips online, with mini-bios of famous San Diegans: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/photos/galleries/famous-former-neighbors/
SAN DIEGO READER MUSIC MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/sandiegoreadermusic
JAY ALLEN SANFORD MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/jayallensanford