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The Black Heart Procession
The Black Heart Procession's new album, Six, will be released 10.6.9 on Temporary Residence Ltd. Listen to Rats

Barnaby Monk's Club Crawler
Thursday 2
Reggae’s dancehall duke Junior Reid makes his home nearest the genre’s roots in Kingston, Jamaica. Recording and touring since he was 15 years old, the 44-year-old former Black Uhuru vocalist doesn’t spend much time there but says his worldliness informs his dub riddims. Reid’s a vibrant performer who’s remained relevant by working with the likes of Alicia Keys, Lil Wayne, and the Soup Dragons (!?). Check out last year’s Live in Berkeley CD/DVD for a primer. Reid appears at Bay Park’s Brick by Brick alongside High Tide and Without Papers.... Hardcore head-trippers Long and Short of It’s CAW: An Unkindness of Ravens has been a steady listen around Reader offices this year for its Jesus Lizard juice and '80s art-core audacity. Ben Johnson’s the new David Yow. Question is: what do we do with the old David Yow? (Not to worry, Jesus Lizard is back at it and will be here in October, buds!) In the mean, get geared up at Radio Room tonight with Long and Short, Mount Vicious (SF), and the Archons.... More blippage: Heavy Cessna lands at the Ken with Revenge Club and Snake Babies...and bad-ass song-and-dance man Ben Vereen checks in at Anthology for two nights. Seriously, the cat’s a Broadway institution.

Friday 3

Supersuckers, hit the beach at Canes Saturday night. Rock-rolling cow-punk style for nigh on 20 years now, the Suckers make their hay onstage and are indeed an act to be reckoned with. Couple them with Stray Cat bass slapper Lee Rocker, who sets the seaside stage, and you’ve got the ingredients for an all-out barn-burner. Check out Rocker’s Alligator debut Black Cat Bone. Dude rules the rockabilly roost.... She doesn’t care about her bad reputation, and why should she? Joan Jett and the Blackhearts have had so many chart-toppers — “I Love Rock ’n Roll,” “Crimson and Clover,” “Do You Want to Touch Me,” just to name a few. Ms. Jett and the rest’ll ride the midway at the Del Mar Fairgrounds Friday night.... Else: well-aged SanFran punk band Samiam plays the Ken with North County warblers Tiltwheel...groove-oriented garage rockers Ded Pigeons drop on Soda Bar with dynamic duo the Dabbers...she-rockers Stone Foxes and Anna Troy join L.A. alts the Tender Box at Ruby Room...one-man band Pant Hoots and alt-pop act Thin Man split a bill at Bar Pink...and Casbah does its dance deal Jivewire for your pre-Fourth fling. more

Lights - Rites (Drag City) Eric Nielsen 6.27.9 Release date 7.21.9

This Lights album Rites kicks ass in a genre that doesn't kick too often. The first song on the album, Heavy Drops, sets up with gently saturated guitars with Richard Thompson keys driving Thelma and Louise up to and off the cliff, where suddenly you're floating, flying, with female soothings by Sophia Knapp and Linnea Vedder, slowly floating down to the river rocks shimmering. You veer up off the bottom with the rich "Heavy Drops Fall Down" chorus backed with some psychadelic wah wah guitar, punctuated by some great Jerry Garcia runs pushing the out with heavy Indian Jewelry tones. Suffice it to say the guitar playing on the entire album is delightful without being dickish or smarmy pop. more


Listen to Bjork's Voltaic
All is Full of Love

Declare Independence

MP3
Elizabeth & The Catapult - Taller Children
Sakura - Bannister
Bachelorette - Mindwarp (2009)

Magik Markers - Don't Talk In Your Sleep (2009)
Akron/Family - River (2009)
Senkay - Soon the Worms (2006)
thuja - untitled
spoelstra - i got issues the shape of italy
Neko Case - People Got A Lot of Nerve
High Mountain Tempel - The Glass Bead Game - The Ascended Master Moves On (Hang Gliding in Heaven)
The Sword - How Heavy This Axe

School of Rock Bulletin Board
School of Rock Story
6.16.9
M Sits in a Jam / Works In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida at Band Practice
Over the weekend, we jammed with a drummer-friend, and Maya sat in for about 10 minutes on the set while he played some heavier guitar. At first, she was a bit intimidated to play in front of a drummer (besides her teacher), but after a bit, jumped on the set and started right up with confidence.
more

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Eric and Krista Nielsen (admin at blogsandiego.com)
Keith Boyd Co-Editor (camelship at hotmail.com)
Barnaby Monk


Chris Dier
Chris Mutter (mutter at blogsandiego.com)

 



Free Tickets
X at the Belly Up 7.23.9 - One Ticket Email us your name and address and we'll pick a winner and mail you a ticket

Want free tickets to Stellastar and Wild Light at the Casbah on 7.30.9? Email us your name and we'll pick a winner +1 to be on the guest list

Same deal with Jessica Lea Mayfield at The Loft @ UCSD on 7.18.9 Email us your name and we'll pick a winner +1 to be on the guest list

Three Mile Pilot at the Belly Up 7.16.9 - One Ticket Email us your name and address and we'll pick a winner and mail you a ticket

Toots and the Maytals at the Belly Up 8.3.9 - One Ticket Email us your name and address and we'll pick a winner and mail you a ticket

Arrested Development at the Belly Up 8.22.9 Email us your name and we'll pick a winner +1 and mail you the tix

California is being dragged down by a minority of Republican State Assemblymen. We must defeat vulnerable Republican State Assemblymen to fix state finances! In SD County we must beat Martin Garrick in the 74th District and Nathan Fletcher in the 75th. They barely won 50% in the last election and those districts both voted for Obama.

BSD Music Vaults
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7.3.9 - The Tender Box at the Ruby Room
7.7.9 - Singer Songwriter Competition at Humphrey's Backstage Show Starts at 7:20pm. The Sign-in starts at 6:00pm - 7:00.
1st place $200 2nd place $100 3rd place $50 Top 5 Qualify for the 8.11.9 Showcase with a first place prize of $500 and a Showcase at Humphrey's Backstage. Free

7.10.9 - The Steps at the Casbah, Mentor.org Family Movie Night at Memorial Park
7.11.9 - Kill Me Tomorrow, Flexions, Bronze, DJ Mario Orduno at the Casbah
7.16.9 - Three Mile Pilot at the Belly Up
7.17.9 - Mentor.org Family Movie Night at Southcrest Park
7.18.9 - Jessica Lea Mayfield at the Loft at UCSD
7.23.9 - X at the Belly Up
7.24.9 - Pistolera at the Loft at UCSD, Mentor.org Family Movie Night at Mt. View Park
7.25.9 - Snoop Dogg and Slightly Stoopid at Cricket
7.29.9 - Castanets at the Casbah
7.30.9 - Stellastar at the Casbah
8.1.9 - Elizabeth & The Catapult at the Casbah, Freddie McGregor at the Worldbeat Center
8.2.9 - Reel Big Fish at the Wavehouse
8.22.9 - Arrested Development at the Belly up
8.3.9 - Toots and the Maytals at the Belly Up
8.28,29.9 - Street Scene Mastodon, Calexico, Devendra Banhart, Calexico, Wavves and more Downtown
9.24.9 - Taste of Downtown
10.4.9 - Dinosaur Jr at the Belly Up
10.14.9 - Jesus Lizard at the Casbah
10.20.9 - Bob Mould at The Belly Up
10.23.9 - The Scene Aesthetic at the Epicentre

Twitter - Eric Nielsen (senkay2), Chris Mutter (chrismutter) and Chris Dier (yesdier):
 
Upcoming Releases
6.23.9
Yahowha 13 - Magnificence Of The Memory

Astra - The Weirding

Tortoise - Beacons of Ancestorship
8.25.9
Willie Nelson - American Classic
9.8.9
Om - God is Good

9.22.9
Castanets - Texas Rose, The Thaw and The Beasts

 

 

 

 

 


 

 



 

I, Necrophiliac
By Rich Baiocco 02.12.07

I’m not a native of San Diego—and chances are neither are you—but I’ve lived here long enough to call it home, and long enough to take offense to Eileen Myles’ dismissive comments about San Diego’s arts scene in the City Beat cover story (Alone In San Diego, www.sdcitybeat.com/article.php?id=5298) a few weeks ago. First of all, who cares about Eileen Myles? Secondly, who cares about poetry? It’s 2007, and unless you have a band or a movie, it’s extremely difficult to make an artistic impact on society, or cultivate the type of vibrant, thriving scene that Myles was apparently looking for in San Diego. I can’t remember the last time I was so moved by a poem that I bothered to memorize it, yet I know all the words to almost every Justin Timberlake song and I don’t even really like him that much; it’s just saturation, numbers. Sure there are poetry readings here, but what usually comes out of them is less an awakening or a revolution and more a fleeting sense of community perpetuated by likeminded lonely poets desperate to be a part of something; maybe an inspiration or two, and maybe, just maybe, a good poem. And NYC, the “artist-friendly” mecca that Eileen Myles fled, is filled with so many more desperate loners per city block that a poet with even the slightest bit of hustle and enthusiasm can build a scene; but then what? It’s just numbers. It’s just poetry.

Any artist worth his or her salt in San Diego knows you need to get over yourself in this town. Yes, we’re isolated. Yes, we’re alienated. Get over it. Where does one get off expecting anyone to care that you wrote a poem, or painted some canvasses, or your band has a demo? You need to make the scene. On the resistance she’s received teaching challenging texts at UCSD Myles says, “I came here rewarded for being who I am, and this is my reward?” Big deal, you published a book. You think it stops there? Hit the pavement, press the flesh; do a reading at the Che Café. That’s your audience. UCSD has some talented artists on both sides of the desk, but it also has a lot of big buildings and big books for those artists to hide away in, and really, Academia is so far removed from having an impact on any sort of San Diego arts ‘scene’ that it’s laughable. Sure they’ll dangle a cushy professor job in front of you, and maybe a sense of entitlement, but a poet’s commitment is a lifelong struggle to stay relevant amidst one’s surroundings. For a poet in San Diego that means finding the pulse in a city whose inhabitants, as Myles suggests, just aren’t interested. But we are Ms. Myles. We are interested. Maybe we’re just not interested in someone who knocks us in the cover-story of our weekly without ever offering us anything outside of the classroom to respond to.

What I find fascinating about the Myles article is her poetic instincts to point out San Diego as a post-modern no-man’s land, and to even draw upon the beauty of its historical namesake: Saint Didacus of Alcala—a hermit and a healer. “After his death from some kind of infection, his corpse began to emit a strong, sweet fragrance. The corpse never went into rigor mortis, continued to smell sweet for years and was purported to heal those who came to pray next to it.” Says Myles, “a rotting corpse that just smells sweetly…I love that!” I couldn’t agree more, and it’s unfortunate that a poet so talented as to notice and love her city’s pure muse-like quality cannot find inspiration enough to take the ball and run with it so far as affecting an arts scene is concerned. I mean, San Diego is weird, and ironic, and doesn’t ask a single thing from you except to smell its sweet rot—and it doesn’t really ask that at all, but how beautiful is it to eat lunch at work in La Jolla and see F-18s flying overhead towards Miramar, or listen to a radio station contest where the majority of its contestants don’t even listen in to find out if they’ve won, or even the fact that someone is just now writing a response to an article published THREE WEEKS AGO? Myles also comments that it “could be possible to create another state in a place like this” and “if you can figure out how to be a poet in that—how to build a poetry scene around that—I think it would be the most post-modern poetry scene anywhere.” Well, I agree. And it’s happening (though probably not in the Gaslamp—however gritty it used to be, it’s obviously not anymore; stay modern and you’ll find the true grit.), and you can be a major player in it.

The way I see it, San Diego’s music scene contains the most potential energy for impact, and poets/writers/painters/sculptors/whatever need to ingratiate themselves into that scene to be relevant. Talk to Tim Pyles. Talk to Troy Johnson. Talk to Cat Dirt. How difficult would it be to do a reading in the Atari Lounge during an Anti-Monday League night, or do a reading at the next Golden Hills Block Party or SessionsFest 2? You’re talented as all hell, and I agree, this is your reward if you want to step up and take it. The audience is there. The youth hearts are there. The creative spirit is there. The scene is blooming and ready for people who can celebrate this city, not turn their backs on it, or condemn its offbeat casualness, or make lame half-hearted threats about moving to L.A. to get in touch with something ‘real’. Go if you need to, but don’t expect a corpse to cry for you. And wasn’t it Lou Reed—another NYC poet who made the scene around him—who said “suicides don’t need notes”? Quit knocking us and make the scene, poet!


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