San Diego Music Encyclopedia & Database Online Now

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

HERE'S THIS WEEK'S NEW Overheard in San Diego

AND THE NEW Famous Former Neighbors

ROCK AROUND THE TOWN TONIGHT/WEDNESDAY, MAY 6

Live Music

• Johnny B Blues
  Coyote Bar & Grill
  

• Arturo Sandoval
  Anthology
  

• Pocket
  Anthology
  

• Son y Clave
  Café Sevilla
  

• Willovealot
  VFW Post 5179
  

• Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Stolen Babies, the Fuxedos
  Casbah
  

• The Austin James Band, Burning of Rome, Saucy Monkey
  U-31
  

• Michael Tiernan, Franklin Lounge, Colin Armstrong
  Belly Up Tavern
  

• William Basinski
  Loft
  

• San Diego Rocks!
  House of Blues

• The Gladstone Rags, Kera and the Lesbians, DJ G Rex - Beauty Bar

• Shant, Nick Z, Folding Mr. Lincoln, Tori Roze, Broken Fingers - The Bitter End

• A Life of Science - Brick by Brick

• Ray Correa - The Butcher Shop

• Burnett's Bliss - Café La Maze

• Oh No Not Stereo, the Photo Atlas, Bending Planets - 'Canes

• Mad Life - Dream Street Live

• Melissa McDonell - Friars Folly

• Lady Dottie & the Diamonds - Henry's Pub

• Joe Wood and the Lonely Ones - Hensley's Flying Elephant

• Dublin Fission - Hooleys Irish Pub & Grill

• Soul Persuaders - Humphrey's Backstage Lounge

• Piano Bar - Jack's La Jolla — Ocean Room

• The Soul Revue - Jimmy Love's

• Schugariver - Johnny V

• Graceland, Gino and the Lone Gunmen, the Wild Winds - The Jumping Turtle

• Jeff Moore & the Witch Doctors - The Kraken

• Rock the Folk Out, Jack Walden, Stewart Lewis, Tom Gross - Lestat's

• William Basinski - The Loft

• Mariner - Luc's Bistro

• Mike Gardner - Mas Fina Cantina

• Hocus - Mueller's College

• Red Llama Dog - O'Connells Pub and Nightclub

• The City Guard Band - Old Town State Historic Park

• Los Reyes del Ritmo - Osetra Watergrill

• Bill - Pacific Beach Bar & Grill

• Bill Magee Blues Band - Patrick's II

• Rhythm and the Method - PB Bar and Grill

• Mystery Train - Peter D's

• The Midwinters, The Attack, Immovable Objects - Radio Room

• The Ed Rapacci Duo - Red Fox Steakhouse

• Peter the Prince of Piano - Rei Do Gado Churrascuria

• Silent Lune - Ruby Room

• Trashcan Fires, Happy Birthday Secret Weapon - Soda Bar

• Monster Jamm - Tio Leo's

• Tomcat Courtney - The Turquoise, Café-Bar Europa

• Dropjoy - Winstons

DJ Events

• Get Swing Dancing!
  7:00 p.m., Firehouse Swing Dance
  

• Deep House Nite
  9:00 p.m., Bar Dynamite
  

• DJ Famous Dave
  9:00 p.m., Whiskey Girl
  

• Cookies with DJ Dirty Kurty
  9:00 p.m., Flame
  

• DJ Tony
  10:00 p.m., Pacific Beach Bar & Grill

• Karaoke with DJ the TJ - Patrick's Irish Pub Poway

• DJ Robin Roth and DJ Artistic - Bar Pink

• Music Trivia Night - 710 Beach Club

The Casbah now records select shows, available on CD immediately following show at the club & www.emusiclive.com.

  MY PERSONAL HOTPICK FOR TODAY...

Hocus - Mueller's College

  WHAT I’M LISTENING TO...

I came across the MySpace page for local punk rockers The Bugs/Dangerous Dave - all their songs clock in at around one and a half minutes, but my favorite was "Dave Navarro's Goatee F-cking Sucks," which made me fall off my chair laughing! There's a terrific video, with shots of Navarro that hopefully won't get the band sued. I was so inspired, I created a 45 single sleeve for the tune ----

Checkout the tune here - The Bugs/Dangerous Dave on MySpace

 RATT VS JUAN CROCIER’S DIRTY RATS

Former Rattman Juan Crocier has said he wants nothing to do with the newest Ratt partial-reunion – instead, he has his own rodent posse, Dirty Rats.

At www.thedirtyrats.com, Crocier’s mainpage reads “THE OTHER VOICE OF RATT” -------------

He posts “As most of you may know, we went out and played a few shows in early March. The shows were a lot of fun. Carlos Cavazo is back in the band (Ratt, ex-Quiet Riot). We're going out again this summer, so far we have July 16th, 17th and 18th booked and continue to book more shows.”

“We will soon be offering Dirty Rat shirts on Juancroucier.com so be looking out for those. I’ll be working on the Dirty Rats website in the coming months and getting that up to speed. We may also be opening The Cellar Message Board at Juancroucier.com again. I’m going back into the studio this summer to begin recording my next record.”

In summer 2007, Ratt partially reunited its classic lineup, with Stephen Pearcy, Warren DeMartini, and Bobby Blotzer. The late Robbin Crosby was replaced by guitaristt John Corabi. Ratt bassist Juan Crocier refused to participate, so he was replaced by Robbie Crane (from Vince Neil's band).

“The original band broke up fifteen years ago and there have been several questionable incarnations of it since then,” blogged former Ratt bassist Juan Croucier on his MySpace page last year. He said he wouldn’t participate in the current Ratt reunion tour with Pearcy.

“There has not been a sincere attempt at redemption by my former band mates, for their insidious and sometimes malicious wrongdoings in the past, toward me,” said. “Near the end of negotiations, ulterior motives prevailed and I was eventually simply stonewalled… their ignorant and unscrupulous habits came into focus once again; a stark reminder of our tumultuous and dysfunctional past.”

(Croucier then & now)

The “reunion” tour also featured Poison (insert your own rat poison joke here). Among the reactions to the announcement on Blabbermouth.com at the time:

“This is just sad.” (Dude Of Life)

“Please God, say it isn’t so.” (Mast O’ Dawn)

“Mulletfest 2007.” (IFH)

ANOTHER HARD ROCK HOTEL NIGHTCLUB OPERATOR LAWSUIT - this time for sexual harrassment

Mr. Cindy Crawford – aka Rande Gerber, whose company ran Moonstone Lounge and Sweetwater Saloon at the Hard Rock Hotel - is being sued for sexual harrassment by two women who worked at the Moonstone.

UPI reports: Shelly Scott and Gillian Walker allege in their suit filed in San Diego Count Superior Court in March that they both endured sexual harassment while working at the Gerber Group's Moonstone Lounge, TMZ.com reported Friday.

The women allege they lost their waitress jobs after refusing the sexual advances of staff members, including Gerber.

One of the women alleges Gerber attempted to kiss her and reach under her dress on one occasion in 2008, E! Online said.

A representative for Gerber dismissed the women's allegations. "These allegations were previously investigated and shown to be baseless. This lawsuit has no merit," the unidentified representative said. http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2009/05/02/UPI-NewsTrack-Entertainment-News/UPI-44671241287864/

Gerber is ALSO being sued over club operators allegedly roughing up patrons. As of Thursday, February 5, both bars are locked up, around 150 people have no job to go to, and the Hard Rock has announced that it severed its partnership with Gerber.

In a written statement, Hard Rock Hotel owners Tarsadia Hotels referenced “the wrongful conduct of some of the Gerber Group employees” and said the lawsuit seeking damages was filed “arising from their wrongful conduct.”

“In order to protect hotel guests and patrons, and the reputation of Hard Rock Hotel San Diego, Tarsadia was left with no alternative but to proceed with the termination of the agreement…Tarsadia Hotels has a zero tolerance of illegal and wrongful conduct, and has made every reasonable effort to have the Gerber Group correct the defaults.”

47 year-old Gerber operates a chain of venues called Midnight Oil, alongside his brothers Scott and Kenny, as the Gerber Group. Best known for the Whiskey chain of venues launched around 16 years ago, their website declares the company to be “pre-eminent tastemakers, with an uncanny ability to create chic, seductive bars with modern glamour that reflect the times and national moods.”

Gerber co-designed the Sweetwater Saloon on the main floor of downtown’s Hard Rock Hotel, as well as the Moonstone Lounge rooftop pool bar. Both opened in late 2007, with a splashy party covered attended by Rande Gerber with his supermodel wife Cindy Crawford (with whom he has two children), as well as Ashlee Simpson, and Pete Wentz.

“When I look at [San Diego],” he told San Diego Magazine, “it feels like Miami did years ago, with the vitality and anticipation to take off…it’s exciting to be part of a city with such spirit and people who are ready to shake it up a bit.”

Gerber told Riviera Magazine “San Diego just seemed like a great place because the people are really friendly, like to have a good time, and they drink…I look forward to spending more time in San Diego, and I plan to keep opening new spots.”

San Diego, you’ve been warned……

 SHINdy.tv is always out and about in San Diego covering all kinds of events from music to great causes... check out San Dieog's Modern Lifestyle Web T.V. here!

Hear Lindsay and I give you this month's music menu at myspace.com.

HEADS UP

5/17 - The Acoustic Alliance

5/31 - Couch Sessions

 Save the Dates!  Berkley Hart will release their new record LAS VEGAS with a performance at Swedenborg Hall on May 15th and 16th... get your tickets now!  Love those guys.

LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, CBS

Tu 5/5: Liev Schreiber, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Franz Ferdinand
We 5/6: Bruce Willis, Ben Harper & Relentless7
Th 5/7: Norm MacDonald, a Top Ten List presented by Leonard Nimoy, Animal Collective
Fr 5/8: Matthew Broderick, Brian Regan, Chris Cornell

Mo 5/11: Tom Hanks, the Killers with San Diegan Ray Suen
Tu 5/12: Alec Baldwin, Maya Rudolph, Chrisette Michele
We 5/13: Wynton Marsalis
Th 5/14: Kid Scientists, Teri Hatcher, Rick Ross with Magazeen
Fr 5/15: Tommy Tiernan, Mastodon

Mo 5/18: Ben Stiller, White Rabbits

THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO, NBC

Tu 5/5: Howie Mandel, Alec Greven, Robert Randolph & the Clark Sisters
We 5/6: Tim Allen, John Cho, Van Morrison
Th 5/7: Adam Sandler, Judd Apatow
Fr 5/8: Jamie Lee Curtis, Jonah Hill, Jewel

Mo 5/11: Russell Brand, Ciara
Tu 5/12: Dennis Miller, 8-year-old pianist Ethan Bortnick, Kelly Clarkson
We 5/13: Kevin Spacey
Th 5/14: Katie Couric, Ewan McGregor, the Decemberists
Fr 5/15: Kings of Leon

LATE LATE SHOW WITH CRAIG FERGUSON, CBS

Tu 5/5: George Hamilton, Jenny Lewis
We 5/6: Melina Kanakaredes, Nathan Fillion, Zac Brown Band
Th 5/7: Matthew McConaughey, Cokie Roberts
Fr 5/8: Amy Smart, Kunal Nayyar

Mo 5/11: Bryce Dallas Howard
Tu 5/12: Paulina Porizkova, Andy Nulman
We 5/13: Laurence Fishburne, Paula Poundstone

LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON, NBC

Tu 5/5: J.J. Abrams, Colin Quinn, Yusuf Islam AKA Cat Stevens
We 5/6: Amy Poehler, Diego Luna, Gael Garcia Bernal, the National
Th 5/7: Martha Stewart, Mike Epps, Ben Harper & Relentless7
Fr 5/8: Joan Rivers, Rachael Ray

Mo 5/11: Susan Sarandon, Randy Jackson, Soulja Boy
Tu 5/12: TBA
We 5/13: Jeff Goldblum, Jeff Probst, the Beat Freaks
Th 5/14: Will Ferrell, Maya Rudolph, Asher Roth
Fr 5/15: Damon Jr. & Shawn Wayans, Steve Kroft, Bo Burnham

LAST CALL WITH CARSON DALY, NBC

Tu 5/5: Lily Allen
We 5/6: Jimmy Fallon, Mistress Mary, Bobby Ray
Th 5/7: Tim Roth, Miranda Kerr, Black Kids
Fr 5/8: Matthew McConaughey, Kaley Cuoco, Ida Maria

Mo 5/11: Cassidy Freeman, Ben Harper & Relentless7 (R 4/17/09)

THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART, Comedy Central

Tu 5/5: Fareed Zakaria
We 5/6: George Stephanopoulos
Th 5/7: Ken Salazar

THE COLBERT REPORT, Comedy Central

Tu 5/5: Cliff Sloan, Paul Rieckhoff
We 5/6: Laurie Garrett
Th 5/7: Mitchell Joachim

Mo 5/11: Tamara Draut
Tu 5/12: Ron Howard
We 5/13: Michael Pollan
Th 5/14: Yusuf Islam AKA Cat Stevens

JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE, ABC

Tu 5/5: Zachary Quinto, the latest castoff from "Dancing With the Stars"
We 5/6: David Spade, Zoe Saldana, Black Eyed Peas
Th 5/7: Hugh Jackman, John Cho, Flo Rida
Fr 5/8: Chris Pine, Aziz Ansari, Scott Weiland

Mo 5/11: Rerun TBA
Tu 5/12: Paula Abdul, the latest "Dancing With the Stars" castoff, Todd Glass
We 5/13: Matthew Fox, Benjamin McKenzie, Ciara
Th 5/14: Adrien Brody, Steve "Lips" Kudlow and Robb Reiner, Airborne Toxic Event

 ROCKIN’ ROBINS (and Cockatoos, too!) – LOCAL RESEARCHER PROVES BIRDS ROCK!

People aren't the only ones who've got rhythm. Two reports published online on April 30th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, reveal that birds – and parrots in particular – can also bob their heads, tap their feet, and sway their bodies along to a musical beat. The findings show that a very basic aspect of the human response to music is shared with other species, according to the researchers.

 "We've discovered a cockatoo [named Snowball] that dances to the beat of human music," said Aniruddh Patel of The Neurosciences Institute in San Diego, lead author of one of the studies. "Using a controlled experiment, we've shown that if the music speeds up or slows down across a wide range, he adjusts the tempo of his dancing to stay synchronized to the beat." One of Snowball's favorite dancing tunes is none other than the Backstreet Boys' "Everybody."

"For a long time, people have thought that the ability to move to a beat was unique to humans," added Adena Schachner of Harvard University, who led the other study. "After all, there is no convincing evidence that our closest relatives, chimpanzees and other apes, can keep a beat, and there is similarly no evidence that our pet dogs and cats can line up their actions with a musical beat, in spite of extensive experience with humans. In this work, however, we found that entrainment [to music] is not uniquely human; we find strong evidence for it in birds, specifically in parrots."

 Before this discovery, "scientists who studied music and the brain thought that moving to a musical beat might be a uniquely human ability because we don't commonly see other animals moving rhythmically to music," Patel agreed. In fact, as far as they know, birds in the wild don't move in time with sounds, leaving many scientists to think that this ability might be an evolutionary specialization of the human brain for music cognition.

But that may not be so, the new studies suggest. They now suspect that the parrots' ability can be traced to another capacity they share with people: vocal learning or mimicry.

 Indeed, Schachner's group searched YouTube for videos of dancing animals. Of more than 1,000 videos that turned up, only those of vocal mimics – representing 14 parrot species and one species of elephant – showed evidence that they could really get into the groove. That result is in keeping with the notion, first proposed by Patel, that entrainment to a musical beat relies on the neural circuitry for complex vocal learning, which requires a tight link between auditory and motor circuits in the brain, they said.

"A natural question about these results is whether they generalize to other parrots, or more broadly, to other vocal-learning species," including songbirds, dolphins, elephants, and pinnipeds, a group including walruses and seals, Patel said.

The findings in birds also offer new insight into humans' relationship to music.

"Why humans produce and enjoy music is an evolutionary puzzle," Schachner's team wrote. "Although many theories have been proposed, little empirical evidence speaks to the issue. In particular, debate continues over the idea that the human music capacity was not selected for directly, but arose as the byproduct of other cognitive mechanisms. By supporting the idea that entrainment emerged as a byproduct of vocal mimicry in avian species, the current findings lend plausibility to the idea that the human entrainment capacity evolved as a byproduct of our capacity for vocal mimicry."

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-04/cp-bcd042309.php

 WHALES WANNA ROCK TOO (THO THEY'RE CHANGING THEIR TUNES)

Professor John Hildebrand, a blue whale expert at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD, has studied recordings of whales “singing” since the 1960s. He says the whales’ rhythmic underwater moaning, which often sounds musical, is becoming lower and deeper. “This is giving us an insight into the culture of blue whales, as they are clearly listening to each other’s songs and changing them,” he told the UK’s Sunday Telegraph. “It takes a conscious decision to make the calls deeper, so it is a reflection of what is going on in the population.”

According to Hildebrand, whale calls used to average 22Hz, whereas today the frequency is around 15Hz. “These animals have a finite lung capacity, so their songs are a trade off between frequency and volume. They can either make the song really loud, or really deep.” Most researchers think whale songs are intended to attract mates, or to communicate to others during the mating season.

The world’s largest animals, whales are enjoying a population growth, thanks to protections put in place after many species were nearly wiped out. It’s estimated that there are currently around 4,500 blue whales. “As their numbers have slowly increased after the devastation caused by whaling,” says Hildebrand, “they are having to communicate over smaller distances. So their songs don't need to be as loud, and they can make them deeper."

Those interested in hearing songs of the blue whale can find hundreds of recordings at the UCSD Sound Library.

Professor David Rothernberg, of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, says he communicates with whales through musical instruments mic’d to hydrophones. His book Thousand Mile Song describes underwater “jam sessions” he’s enjoyed with humpback whales.

“For me,” he told telegraph.co.uk, “I felt like they could recognise the music I was making and were responding to that. There was a very special interaction with a humpback, and he seemed to change his song so that, by the end, it was hard to tell which was the clarinet and which was the whale.”

The whales apparently respect and respond to musical innovation, being enraptured by and then mimicking any Beatles-like whales among them who come up with a new tune AND a new way of “singing” and performing it. “These are incredibly social animals, and they seem to change their songs regularly. When one of them innovates, this gets picked up by the rest of the population, and then they all start singing in the same way.”

 GUITARIST FOR LOCAL ‘80s ONE-HIT WONDER THE MONROES GOING SOLO

LOCALS ON YOUTUBE - 25 RARE AND AWESOME CLIPS, courtesy Bart Mendoza

1)     The Penetrators on News 8 –TV with Jesse Macias, interviews and “clips of Nervous Fingers” and recording  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRmqKdlTt2o

2)     A cool new clip from Echo Revolution awesome song! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYo9_2Ddzd8

3)     Umm, “Groovy” is the only description that can be applied to this great clip of Gary Puckett and Nancy Sinatra performing “Beggar/Spinnin Wheel” on a late sixties TV show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jIyXV7i8EE

4)     A great live video of Anya Marina performing “Move You” at SXSW http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCf2_rxr2yo

5)     The Kingston Trio – two commercials for 7-up – Great Nick Reynolds part!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysC80N9WEzc

6)     The Rice Brothers and their terrific country gospel group Brush Arbor on CBS-TV’s Johnny Cash Show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrqsvZLiSkU

7)     Steve Poltz & Gregory Page singing the National Anthem before a Padres game – terrific! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSb_05EbHC8

8)     Not sure why Tristan Prettyman’s “Madly” was ignored (except in Japan) but she made a nice video for it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANFZpOMUXFE

9)     Switchfoot performing Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8Rw4jNCSDE

10) Ratt’s Warren DiMartini trading licks with Micheal Shenker. A little goes a long way, but that’s some pretty good speed… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U__vtSWMGvk

11) Anyone wondering exactly how popular As I Lay Dying is should check out this really cool video of a “Meet & Greet” autograph signing with fans in Bangkok http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euuAMa5qi-E

12) She’s an opera singer of note, an occasional singer-songwriter and Miss U.S.O – here’s one of Victoria Robertson’s PSA’s for Selective Service: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ6RT_EdRSA

13) After moving to San Diego in 1959, folk/blues legend Judy Henske got her start in Pacific Beach Coffeehouses- Here is an AMAZING clip of her performing “Wade in the Water” in a circus big top circa 1962: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKjkUPzui7A

14) From the days when videos had story lines and actors even, here is North County’s country singer Juice Newton and her 1982 comedy video for “Love’s Been A Little Bit Hard On Me” on Capitol Records. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPlRcoYj32c

15) Iron Butterfly performs on TV’s Playboy After Dark, 1968, complete with Hugh Hefner cameo. Of course it’s “In A Gadda Da Vida”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33k9pRTfo2I

16) This one of Rosie Hamlin (of the Originals) is of a more recent vintage – there are no original clips circulating. She has been ill in recent years and no longer tours. This video of “Angel Baby” is from a 2002 PBS Special. Her voice is still great – she gets a standing ovation at the end.

BONUS CLIPS

Iron Butterfly on Playboy After Dark: No Hugh Hefner, but this is worth watching for the dancers alone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh0479oZC7A

Ratt, Bon Jovi, Kingdom Come and Britney Fox tackle "It's All Over Now" live in Japan, New Years Eve 1989. Most of these guys just seem to wander the stage aimlessly, though Pearcy takes the second verse; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnMrlnzpURQ

ALSO, courtesy Wayne Riker:

Local band Stone's Throw being introduced as the opening act at the 1984 Oylympic Village concert series in Los Angeles, playing the Cats & The Fiddle's "We Cats Will Swing For You":

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew8-3Tob9mE

Stone's Throw was a San Diego treasure for more than a decade between the mid '70s to '80s. They were a perennial winner of the "Best Vintage Jazz" category in The Reader's annual music awards. "With the other category winners, we got to play a composite concert each year at the La Paloma Theatre," says guitarist Wayne Riker. "The most recent Entertainer's Awards Concert I have listed in my little red book was on April 21st,1985, hosted by Larry Himmel at the La Paloma."

WHAT I DRINK AND WHERE I DRINK IT

I missed the deadline for this week's cover story, but here 'tis -----

What I Drink: Kahlúa White Russian

2 parts Kahlúa, 1 part vodka, 2 splashes of cream

Where I Drink It: Winstons, Ocean Beach

 Okay, let’s get one thing straight --- I don’t like hippies. Never had any use for them.

They don’t particularly offend me, other than maybe the ones who tend to reek of patchouli, bongwater, and Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap (“It makes my balls tingle”), but that’s usually just my nose taking offense. I simply find hippies naïve, annoying, unproductive, grandiose, simpleminded, undereducated, overmedicated, out of touch with reality, and just generally useless.

 That’s not even factoring in counterculture couture reminiscent of Sid and Marty Krofft after taking the brown acid at Woodstock.

So you can imagine how annoying it is to be mistaken for a hippie.

 Yeah, I haven’t cut my hair since the Carter administration. And my sideburns are probably older than you. But my reasons for cultivating a full-body beard  – unrelated to the matter at hand – have nothing to do with Granola, hemp, blacklights, flower power, Geodesic domes, biodiesel fuel, tree hugging, the I Ching, the Strawberry Alarm Clock, making a statement, waving a freak flag, giving it to “the Man,” or Jerry Garcia’s effin half-finger.

 So why do I keep finding my ass polishing the Pabst-soaked seats at Winstons in OB, surrounded by the very tie-dyed and squinty-eyed I nearly despise, a pair of Italian loafers lost in a sea of Birkenstocks, an Izod amidst pajama tops?

It’s Winstons’ killer White Russians, with ‘tenders who almost always pour a stiff two-parts Kahlúa. A lot of places will plop a weak-ass chocolate milk down in front of you, mildly stirred with some dollar-store Kahlúa copycat like Kamora, Kapali, or some other Krap. Winstons uses the real deal, and with real cream, mind you, not that gawdawful two percent, half-and-half, or (gag) skim milk they dump on you at airports and in Hell (and at airports IN Hell, which seem a near-certainly if one believes in eternal damnation).

Yeah, it’s kind of a foofoo drink. What can I say – I acquired a taste for it over the course of countless Tijuana trawls, stumbling through stygian underground infernos like El Pato, where one had to leap a sewage moat to use the restroom and the walls seemed to bleed urine.

(I once brought a visiting friend from rural New Hampshire to El Pato; as we made our way down the damp and uneven steps, past the doorman with one leg and two teeth, my friend asked me “Dude, am I on Scare Tactics?”)

 Winstons is surely a far safer - and more hygienic - place to whet my furry whistle. In addition, I’ve picked up enough patron chatter at Winstons for at least two dozen Overheard in San Diego comics, and I’ve jotted down dozens more I never got around to drawing. Fer instance: 

“My dad thinks I stole his bong.”

“I want to invest in incense.”

“The only thing that matters is mind over matter.”

“Your poncho smells like lentils.”

“My other bike has a banana seat.”

“I only use organic douche.”

“It makes my balls tingle”

And the immortal “Dude! Trails!”

Plus, great bands play at Winstons, most every night. Well, as long as you avoid the Deadheads who live up to that deceptively descriptive term to a nearly forensic degree (is any head deader than a Deadhead’s?). 

  So that’s where – for now – you can usually find me, marinating in Kahlúa and avoiding some looming eleventh hour Reader deadline.  

At least until the lure of TJ draws me back once again to the Zona Norte, to some gawdforsaken dungeon of the damned where I can almost guarantee my spent, abused, astonishingly scarred but nonetheless enviable corpse will someday be found ----

Related links

"Where Have All The Deadheads Gone?" Local flower children, after the head Deadhead was dead.

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/aug/31/rock-operas-leaving-town-plus-playing-with-michael/

 Our Favorite Drinks and Where We Drink Them

There are times, sometimes in the midst of otherwise polite conversation, when it comes out that I make my living writing for the Reader.... More 

 GETCHER FIX OF UPCOMING LOCAL-CENTRIC COMPILATION ALBUMS (hey, they can't all have catchy column titles.....)

 Local Taang Records is releasing compilations collecting the music of Oakland hardcore band Attitude Adjustment and ‘80s horror-rockers Kilslug. “We have deals with Fontana Records, which sells a lot of our releases in stores, and we have European [distribution] deals as well,” says Davit Buck at the long-lived label, which has put out around 200 releases since 1984. ‘Vinyl is the big thing for us right now…we sell a lot of limited edition collector’s records.”

 Buck (who also plays with The Homeless Sexuals) says there are many untold Tales of Taang waiting to be told. “Shane MacGowan [of the Pogues] was doing rehab at the Mission Beach Taang,” says Buck, who also alleges that the 2000 movie High Fidelity was modeled after Taang’s retail record shop. “They came into the L.A. store for weeks, and I’m sure they based the movie’s top ten stuff on Curtis [Casella, owner]. That’s how he interviews employees, he makes them list their top ten movies and albums and then decides whether to hire them from that.”

Taang act Blowfly appears at Radio Room on May 2.

 Chuck Schiele’s compilation of Ocean Beach-based performers, Waves, is set for a June release. “Everybody knows the jam band thing has a pretty strong foothold here,” says the Grams frontman and operator of StudiOB. “I work counter to that. We have more music energy in OB than any other neighborhood [in San Diego]. My role here has been to encourage every kind of music, and this compilation will be emblematic of that, with something for everybody.” A record release party will be held in conjunction with summer’s Ocean Beach Street Fair.

 Local Blindspot Records just released Do You Want to Be in the Show: A Tribute to the Jetset, the second in their series of compilation albums co-produced with Twist Records in the UK. “The Jetset was an excellent British band in the mid-eighties, with great pop songwriting that really shifted gears in their five album run,” says label honcho Bart Mendoza.

The Jetset has several connections to San Diego. “Key members had multiple extended visits to our city during the mid eighties, playing New Sounds and other local gigs, as well as using San Diego as a base for a few gigs up north.” Locals on the album include Mendoza’s band The Shambles, as well as the Spring Collection.

Blindspot’s upcoming 20/20 tribute album will also include The Shambles, as well as locals Sven-Erik Seaholm, Marie Haddad, Mark DeCerbo & Four Eyes, and the Spring Collection.

 TAANG! Records --- Blindspot Records

www.myspace.com/chuckschiele

BLAME ONE'S INDIE ALBUM MAKES THE HIP-HOP CHARTS (AND NOBODY'S MORE SURPRISED THAN HIM!)

 “Most indie artists don’t even make the chart,” says Blame One, whose self-released Days Chasing Days charted at number 39 on iTunes’ Best Selling Hip-Hop Albums in early April. At the time, nobody seemed more surprised than the 34 year-old Carlsbad advertising executive.

“I rap about living a normal life, raising two children and being a husband,” says Blame One, aka Jahson Rutkowki. “The challenge is trying to balance my home and 9-to 5-life with my music. Most younger artists don’t need to worry about raising a family at the same time.”

 Though no gangsta rapper, Rutkowki bristles at being lumped in with so-called whole-hop (wholesome hip-hop) or whitebread rap. “Not everything I say is something I would want my son and daughter to hear, because they’re not at an appropriate age to soak it all in, for what it is. I listen to underground and gangsta hip-hop music…most cats can relate to a person that is truthful, regardless of what genre they’re placed in.”

 

Asked about the local hip-hop scene, he says “The biggest problem is lack of understanding. When people hear ‘hip-hop,’ it’s always linked with negativity and violence. [Instead], we put our skills to the test. We focus on art, turntable tactics, dance, and microphone mastery, as opposed to violence. But most of San Diego has no idea of the difference between the two. Especially in the media.”

 

 Blame One moved to Vista in 1987 and formed the rock band Mystery's Extinction a few years later; that band split in 1999.

In late March of 2008, he was a MySpace featured artist, as well as being named Chairman’s Choice in XXL, one of the most widely distributed hip-hop magazines in the U.S. 

 Days Chasing Days was executive produced by DJ Exile, who has collaborated with and championed Rutkowki for years.

 

Blame One appears May 24 at the North County Beer and Music Festival.

http://www.myspace.com/rudebwoyblame

 

 

 

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  TAKES IT FROM THE STREETS TO THE INTERNET

“We’re looking for local bands to play the Bondi Bar every other Wednesday night, where Shindy.TV will shoot its internet TV show,” says production manager Brad Hurvitz. Though performers aren’t paid, “We provide them with professional video footage in exchange for their performance,” according to Hurvitz. “The price that bands normally get paid to perform is significantly less than the cost of making these videos.”

 

 

Launched in 2007, Shindy.TV hired Hurvitz around 8 months ago. “Running this event is the extent of my local music background,” he says, “though I’ve had some excellent guidance from a few friends, and I feel very much a part of the local music scene.”

 

How will Hurvitz find locals willing to swap sets for footage? “I find the majority of bands on MySpace. I start off at a random band’s page, give them a listen, decide whether they would be the right type of band to play…and either contact them or move on. I find the next band through their friends [list].”

 

As for “the right type of band,” that’s apparently not punk. “San Diego has been known as a punk-style city. Granted, we do have a lot of punk here, but we should not be labeled as a punk-only city.”

 

Performers are also being sought for last minute fill-ins. “If a band backs out last minute, on the off chance that the guitarist breaks his hand by tripping over a box of Cheez-its on the way to get a midnight snack, [we’ll need] a couple bands that would be interested in a last minute switcheroo.”

 

 The next Shindy.TV taping happens May 6 at the Bondi Bar.

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 LOST LOCAL SUPERGROUPS Part 1

 

 If ever a group was destined to have a volatile line-up, it was Mission: To Mars. The concept was to bring together front-men of several different local groups to see what the musical collaboration might yield. In the end the group lasted less than a year, but still recorded an album and a handful of outtakes, as well as several rehearsal tapes and films.

 

 Though the band had many line-up changes, only the core trio of Mike Kamoo(The Stereotypes, The Loons, The Melanies), Dylan Martinez (Static Halo, Rookie Card, Broken Dial Radio) and Bart Mendoza (Manual Scan, The Shambles, True Stories) made it to the recording stage.

 

The first line-up consisted of that trio, plus bassist Billy Lovcki (The Cables), though other commitments saw him exit after only a few weeks.

 

 Troubadour Gregory Page soon took his place (switching to guitar for his own tunes) and the group spent several evenings in December 2000 rehearsing for their live debut: opening for Superdrag on January 1, 2001, at Brick by Brick.

 

Page left  a few weeks after the show to concentrate on The Hatchet Brothers, with Hector Penalosa (The Zeros, Flying Colour) taking his place and Robert Boynton (If Tomorrow) joining on keyboards. This line up performed at the 2001 Adams Avenue Street Fair, but the group soon split.

 

Mission: to Mars was always planned to be a side project, which almost surely proved the main reason behind its speedy demise.

 

 The Rarities were a project that grew out of acoustic collaborations between Derek Duplessie (Desert Poets), Bart Mendoza (Manual Scan, The Shambles, True Stories) and Dylan Martinez (Static Halo, Rookie Card, Broken Dial Radio).Though still a high school student, Duplessie was a music veteran with several albums to his credit, as well as a 2000 appearance on television’s To Tell The Truth. His 12-string guitar was the key element to the bands sound, a mix of rock and folk influences.

With the addition of Danny Cress (The Coyote Problem, Citizen Band, True Stories), the group played numerous shows, both electric and unplugged and recorded an unreleased album, Year of Ashes, produced by Gregory Page.  Notable guests on the album include violinist Ray Suen (The Exfriends, Louis XIV) and keyboardist Martin Greaves (Mad Dogs & Englishmen).

The Rarities can be briefly seen rehearsing outside of San Diego nightclub, Dizzy’s, in the documentary, Why We Listen. A full concert set was filmed at Lestat's  for a proposed KPBS-TV program. The band split when Duplessie left for college.

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MORE NEW MUSIC STORIES THIS WEEK

	Busy for Gigs by Barnaby Monk Thursday 30 | Anaheim roots-rock revivalists Dusty Rhodes and the River Band flow into town tonight. The sextet is due to drop Place and Stage, the follow-up to rock-and-soul mash-up First You Live. Check the Space take ... More
	Mike Doughty by Dave Good From the first downbeat of a Mike Doughty , you know you're in for something crafty and powerful and maybe a little strange. He's a flawless modern craftsman, and that encourages a listener to embrace ... More
	Damien Jurado by William Crain I don't want to say that Damien Jurado is somber. Let's just say that he's the kind of guy who writes lyrics like "Happy birthday, John/ Where has your sweetheart gone?/ She left today with ... More
	Raising the Red Flag by Bart Mendoza Eighties electronic duo Red Flag performed for the first time in San Diego since 2002 on April 22 at the House of Blues. Originally a project of siblings Chris and Mark Reynolds, the show marked ... More
	The Live Sick Compilation by Rosa Jurjevics "Live clean, die nasty," as suggested in track three, "19:04," seems to be the prevailing theme of this rap album. The four men behind it -- Kostik, Tank, Mute, Kalibur -- paint a tough-as-nails portrait of themselves and the San Diego they inhabit ... More
	Twisted, Mashed, Blended by Jay Allen Sanford "'What Do All the People Know' was a fun song, and I still enjoy listening to it," says Rusty Jones, whose San Diego band the Monroes toured with Rick Springfield, Toto, and Greg Kihn in ... More
	The Anti-Coachella Fest? by Chris Woo Slab City lies at the southeast corner of the Salton Sea, where the Anza-Borrego Desert becomes the Colorado Desert. The "slabs" are what's left from WWII training facility Camp Dunlop. And there's an Olympic-sized swimming ... More
	Kiss My ASCAP by Ken Leighton From 1994 to 2004, guitarist Ryan Ruiz and bassist Steve Van Wyk played in Surf Report, a band known for retooling metal songs ("Ace of Spades," "Crazy Train") into instrumental surf tunes. They opened for ... More
	Po County, Eclipse79, SO3 by Brian Carver It was good; it had a great beat to it. It was something you could definitely listen to and move your head. The style of music was rap with a little bit of a Southern twist. They really ... More

 

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  http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/dec/29/15-years-ago-today---nirvana-at-sports-arena-plus-/

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 THE DAY NIRVANA PLAYED OFF THE RECORD: 10-24-91 - Detailed feature on Nirvana playing a tiny local record store, just as their first album was hitting the charts, featuring interviews with OTR staffers, rare video footage of the event, and more... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/03/the-day-nirvana-played-at-off-the-record

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THE DAY JIMI HENDRIX CAME TO TOWN - 5-24-69: From my extensive interviews with Hendrix bassist Noel Redding, here's the inside scoop on a legendary (and highly bootlegeed) local concert... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/03/the-day-jimi-hendrix-came-to-town

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THE DAY BEACH BOY BRIAN WILSON GOT BUSTED IN BALBOA PARK: In June 1978, Brian Wilson - without telling his wife or fellow bandmembers - decided (inexplicably) to escape his life entirely and hitchhike to Mexico. He wound up in San Diego a few days later, mentally fogged, barefoot, and unwashed. “He was on a binge," according to Stephen Love, brother of Beach Boy Mike Love and sometime-band manager..... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/18/the-day-beach-boy-brian-wilson-got-busted

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THE DAY THE MONKEES TURNED DEL MAR INTO CLARKSVILLE: 9-11-66 - Del Mar was renamed “Clarksville” for the day, as part of a promotion for the Monkees TV show, which would debut the following night. The Sunday event marked the first time the foursome ever performed music in public.... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/16/day-the-monkees-turned-del-mar-into-clarksville

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WHY MEXICANS HATED ELVIS: May 1959: While Elvis Presley’s popularity in the U.S. was arguably at its all-time peak, Mexico was in the midst of a huge anti-Elvis backlash. Tijuana tabloids called him a racist and homosexual, after the singer reportedly told gossip columnist Federico de León "I'd rather kiss three black girls than a Mexican." A Mexican woman in the same column was quoted saying "I'd rather kiss three dogs than one Elvis Presley”..... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/13/why-mexicans-hated-elvis-plus-celeb-sighting/

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Gary Wilson Interview  -  Exclusive chat with a mysterious local legend, who's in the midst of the most unexpected and unlikely comeback ever... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/dec/22/return-of-a-local-cult-hero-gary-wilson

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   50 Best Band Names of 2008  - and the stories behind them! 50 locals reveal the story of how they chose their band's name... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/dec/22/birth-of-a-bandname-50-locals-reveal

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"Lennon or McCartney?"  --We asked 25 local performers about their fave Beatle (and why), and got some surprising (and frequently revealing) answers... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/dec/13/we-asked-25-local-musicos-lennon-or-mccartney

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Local Musicos Talking Twilight Zone  - just in time for the annual TV Twilight Zone Marathon on the Sci-Fi Network, we asked 50 locals about their favorite all-time Zone episodes, plus "The Deepest Dimension Terror Anthology," the inside story of a locally-produced Twilight Zone-inspired comic book series by original Zone writer George Clayton Johnson... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/dec/18/whats-your-favorite-twilight-zone-25-local-musicos

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Undercover Chronicles 1 - I Was an Undercover Ticket Scalper - How I found out all about the local underground ticket resale market... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/nov/19/undercover-chronicles-1-i-was-an-undercover-ticket

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Undercover Chronicles 2 – I Was An Undercover Bouncer - How I found out what really goes on behind the concert barricades.....

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/nov/29/undeercover-shronicles-2-i-was-an-undercover-bounc

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Undercover Chronicles 3 – I Was An Undercover Concert Crasher - Not that we advocate lawbreaking, mind you, but it was a long time ago, and most of the places are long gone, so here's what I did and how I did it....

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/oct/30/how-i-snuck-into-around-100-local-concerts

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"...And San Diego Doesn't Think Much of Britney, Either" - Britney's history with our fine city is as troubled as it is funny.... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/dec/10/why-britney-spears-hates-san-diego

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"30 Celebs Reveal 'What I Like (or Hate) About San Diego" When interviewing celebs, I almost always ask what they know about San Diego. Here are a bunch of excerpted replies.... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/dec/06/30-celebrities-reveal-what-i-like-or-hate/

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           Secrets Behind Famous Former Neighbors And Overheard in San Diego  - Cartoonist confessions... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/dec/07/cartoonist-confessions-secrets-behind-overheard

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"Boy Shakira Is All My Fault"  - Didja know this famed America's Got Talent contestant was discovered by the Reader, and that we even named him Boy Shakira? You're welcome.... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/dec/07/cartoonist-confessions-secrets-behind-overheard

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 The Midnight Rambler - Life Between Deadlines  - Nearly every single night, at around 2AM, someone skateboards slowly past my house, always to the tune of an external music player (IE no ‘phones).... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/dec/07/cartoonist-confessions-secrets-behind-overheard

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   That Old House - Reflections on a Childhood Home  - This place still kind of haunts me... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/dec/07/cartoonist-confessions-secrets-behind-overheard

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"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.

More Before It Was the Gaslamp

 

"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).

More Battle of the Peeps - An Insider History of San Diego Porn Shops

"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.

More Drive-In Theaters in San Diego: Complete Illustrated History 1947 thru 2008

  

"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!

More Pussycat Theater History: When Cathouses Ruled CA

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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