Roger and I decided to head down to Art Around Adams this Saturday to check out a bit of what was going on prior to going to the bout. We arrived around 1pm to grab lunch at the little Greek place next store to the Ould Sod.

It appeared that people were beginning to set up, but it was hard to tell if it was for the event or if this was just a normal Saturday afternoon.

After lunch, Roger and I decided to take a walk down to the Ken Club where the first performers, the Apes of Wrath were scheduled to play starting at 2pm. I have heard a lot of good things about this band from someone who I don’t really trust their opinion when it comes to local music, but I felt that I should at least give them a shot.

Let me start off with the fact that I already hate their name. That alone has been keeping me from seeing this band. it really gives me a bad taste in my mouth for some reason. Again, I felt I needed to put this aside to truly get a sense of the band. Weird side note: the first reference to “Apes of Wrath” is from the title of a Bugs Bunny short from 1959, not from Planet of the Apes (1968).

So my impression of Apes of Wrath is that that are a very tight group. They performed like they have played together for decades. The lead guitarist was able to compliment the songs with his beautiful riffs that seemed to flow effortlessly. my overall impression was that they were a band that had it together and could possibly go somewhere with it if that is what they wanted. Their songs sounded like they could have been from the Killers or the Bravery. I still am stuck on the name. Change the name, and you may have something.

After the set at the Ken Club, we decided to head over to Lestat’s to watch Danyavaad. It was great to see Greg in his pjs playing his electric sitar. The normal line up with the Shimmy Sisters were not there, but the belly dancing was still entertaining enough to draw a crowd including Tan Sister Radio, who were just hanging out before their set later in the day at Ken Club.

As Roger and I were heading out we saw Society playing in front of Smitty’s Services with a decent size crowd around them. We discussed whether the event was a success or how the event could be measured as a success or a failure. Each of the performance venues had a fair number of people at them but just walking around on Adam’s there didn’t seem to be more than the usual Saturday afternoon strollers.

The lack of a crowd could have been because it was early in the event, and I hope so. I watched X1FM pack up and leave at 3:30pm because they had other (better) places to be. Lame. I assume that they will continue to have this event and make it better each year. I hope with the idea of reconsidering headlining the Go Duo.

I really was not expecting to leave the house Friday night, ready to just curl up in bed to a good movie. But realizing something potentially fun was happening just 8 blocks from where we live, we headed out the door. First stop, Chicken Pie Shop for an incredibly good, inexpensive and quick meal. Then just a few more blocks to the Lafayette Hotel where City Beat was having a summer kickoff party.

We were not really in a party mood, but it was great to see people and hang out. Knowing that the party only lasted until 10 pm was a great incentive for going… not that I am old or anything.

The cover was a $10 suggested donation to cover costs of the event and then to the San Diego Music Foundation, City Beat’s charity of choice. I am assuming that much of the money will go to the upcoming North By North Park music seminars in August for those who need help navigating the music business.

I totally wish that I brought my camera because the decor was incredible with accent lighting and a cat walk in the middle of the pool. The layout of of the event seemed perfect. I was quite impressed.

We arrived a bit late, only catching the tale end of the fashion show that featured North Park’s and Hillcrest’s fashion boutiques and vintage shops including Wear It Again Sam and Mimi in Red.

We really came to watch Transfer play poolside since it had been a long while. The lead singer, Matt Molarius has a voice that reminds me of the late Jeff Buckley. Their melodic songs can put you in a trance and inspire a wild imagination.

There must be something about live music performances that rub the cops the wrong way. The same thing that happened at the North Park Festival of the Arts, happened at the Lafayette. Right before the last song, a cop told the drummer that they had to be done at 9 pm. They told the cop that they had one more… which was more like two songs. Half way through the song, this woman (maybe the hotel owner?) was looking crazed like she was going to pull the plug. Transfer ended at 9:09 pm. Funny thing is that a DJ was playing after this… equally as loud and with equal draw. I will never understand.

I barely got to see the fashion vendors or the artistic display of live art advertised as Field Trip since I spent the rest of the evening dancing and spinning around the pool area with my friend’s four year old daughter, Emma. This seemed like a good ending to a chill night.

Thursday night Roger and I went to music trivia at the Whistle Stop hosted by Adam Gimbel of Rookie Card and Cover Me Badd fame (or just plain famous). There were seven teams this month, a bit more than usual with it being the one year anniversary. Well, the anniversary wasn’t the reason, Adam just put more effort into advertising because it was the anniversary.

Our usual team was not available so Roger and I joined forces with a few others that we knew, an set out to think of our name. Personally I find this to be the most challenging part of the game. I feel compelled to be creative and come up with the most entertaining name in the crowd. But this just never happens. I wish someone would just come up with a name for us so that we don’t have to spend the few minutes before the game agonizing over a name that really doesn’t matter anyway. I would be happy being Team D or Team Blue.

The game is made for those that know music, all music… I don’t know anyone who could ever cover all parts. It is best to have people on your team that know different types of music. Yes, an expert in rap or current hits would be helpful. The first part of the game is straight up answering trivia questions with a set amount of time. Sometimes there is clues in the background music, but sometimes not. Thursday, the background music was name the artist/song on the side of the normal trivia.

After a break with a dry t-shirt contest, there is a name that tune section with a local band/artist playing the tunes. This month’s band was the Go Duo. Not so much a duo with 8 members on stage. Watching this band perform probably was the most difficult and painful experience ever. Purposely out of tune, both instrumentally and vocally making each song nearly impossible to determine. Both Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and Bette Midler’s “Wind Beneath My Wings” were hardly recognizable save for the lyrics.

But the difficulty of the game was not my gripe. The issue was that the combinations of sounds that came out of the instruments and their mouths was so gut wrenching, like nails on a chalkboard. I cannot understand what this band’s purpose is. The music is not really music… and I am not just judging on their name that tune performance. They played a couple of their own songs prior to the second half of the game. What ever they are trying to accomplish, I really don’t want to be there for it. They finished off with “We are the World” by USA for Africa (yeah, I had to ask Roger the name of the band again because who really keeps that in their head)… a 7 minute song. By the end, people were clapping just glad that they had stopped.

We got third place… We were satisfied with our score because we were glad that we didn’t know all of Mariah Carey’s hits or the name of the January song by the Goo Goo Dolls.

As many may or may not know, I had the opportunity to book and manage the main stage for the North Park Festival of the Arts this past weekend.

The story behind this is that I have attended this festival in the past but found that it was extremely lacking in a number of ways. As an event planner by trade and by nature, I couldn’t resist in offering my help. I didn’t want to step on anyones toes so I waited. When they were deciding who was doing what, no one claimed the main stage so I stepped up. Kevin Hellman joined in later mainly with the Festival of Beers, but couldn’t resist at trying to help with the main stage.

In the end the line up was:
The Paul Green School of Rock Music
Tan Sister Radio
Silent Comedy
Get Back Loretta
Truckee Brothers
Steve Poltz

The festival itself hosts 4 stages: a dance stage, an open mic style stage, a Latin American music stage (formally world music), and the main stage (with rock bands). The dance stage is the only stage that did not go through some sort of revitalization this year.

The day of the festival I was there at 8:15 a.m. they were just starting to put together the stage… I knew then that it was going to be a difficult day. When the stage was finally put together, the School of Rock kids had gathered, ready for a sound check. I had a stage, but no sound. I radioed the festival coordinator to find out about sound set up. I was informed that the sound crew was one hour behind. I proceeded to ask if that meant that my stage was going to be one hour behind. Although I did not hear a direct answer from him, the answer turned out to be “yes.”

So although late and continued to have monitor problems, we did our best to catch up and with my preplanned cushions, we manged to fished the day at 6:03 p.m. Only three minutes past the festival permit… with SDPD glaring down my back.

The day was awesome, the sound was shitty (for the bands at least), but everyone seemed to have a great time. Here are my personal highlights for the day:

By far, Tan Sister Radio was the biggest hit of the day. The best I can describe is that they are a three piece band sounding a bit Pixiesque with bit of punk and Elliot Smith, each who are 17 years old with skills that can rival any professional musician in San Diego. They rocked out in their own set and were invited up to perform in two more sets (Truckees and Poltz). Hereditary or not, they are destined for greatness.

Adam Gimbel stretched out one of the long breaks, as they were trying to fix the monitors, with Tan Sister Radio with a beat poetry, jazz rendition of the stage sponsor information.

Silent Comedy and Get Back Loretta blow me away… I don’t think I have ever seen them so on their mark.

The Truckee Brothers finally overcame their frustration with the sound when Steve came to the stage. Seriously, you can’t be mad playing with Steve…

But, by far my favorite moment of the day was watching Tan Sister Radio while they were sitting on the back of the stage watching the Truckee Brothers. Two girls, who couldn’t of been any older than nine, nervously coming up with CD’s in hand to ask for their autographs. It was the most awesome/adorable thing that I’ve seen in my entire life.

Unfortunately, my camera battery died as I was taking my first photo of the day. So if you have any good shots, particularly of Tan Sister Radio with their new fans, please send them my way.