91X, it’s for charity

The 91X “Stuff a Scion” Benefit Concert was rescheduled due to rain three times, but the weather didn’t deter this San Diego station from finally throwing together a great free event on Wednesday, November 24 (Thanksgiving Eve) to support the San Diego Food Bank. I don’t think a Scion was ever physically stuffed, but there were definitely several barrels of food collected for the cause.

Free food from Los Primos left me stuffed and alleviated the question of how in the world I was going to eat dinner that night.

The Howls opened the event rocking the dealership lot with their catchy, swinging vocals and rooted Americana/Blues style guitar parts stemming from the likes of Wilco and Tom Petty.

The Silent Comedy took on the night, jumping and dancing per usual but also in attempt to stay warm. Across the street at the neighboring dealers, lights from the car alarms twinkled like Christmas lights in the cold night air as the musical raucous shook up the PB community.

Before, between and after the sets, a raffle to smash pumpkins for Smashing Pumpkins tickets (aka 91X Wrex the Halls tickets) kept crowds and Thomas thoroughly entertained; discovering that glitter is more hilarious when it comes out of an exploding pumpkin.

All I wanted for 91X-mas was a snuggie. I must have been a good girl cause I won the coveted snuggie pair with lift tickets to Bear Mountain. Too bad my little man likes it too!

Rocktoberfest, a formal affair: 10/23/2010

It was only a month ago that FM94.9, together with West Coast Tavern, pulled together an awesome lineup of mostly local bands for their take on an October tradition at Rocktoberfest. The event got off to a slow start mostly due to the misty weather and an odd schedule. The event started around noon but bands didn’t start playing until 2 or 3 p.m. 

Speaking as an avid North Park community advocate, this event was a pleasant boost for many of the businesses since it allowed in and outs, bringing people and sales to many of the North Park bars, restaurants and stores.  Taking place on 29th Street, alongside and behind the Birch North Park Theatre, organizers made use of the space as best as they could. The stage near the entrance was apparently placed backwards and the stairs ended up in the walkway rather than in the back stage area. But other than those details, the flow seemed fine. It was definitely an awesome day for music. 

Before the bands, German folk dancers entertained the few who were awake and down to have an early brew.

Little Hurricane opened up the event. This was my first time seeing them and was pleasantly surprised. Their energy was enough to get me pumped up for the day ahead.

Check out the attention to detail. An amp made from an old nightstand, complete with lamp and cowboy boots placed just so.

For sure, this was a day for bands donning suits, vests and ties… with The Styletones, Fitz & the Tantrums and The Silent Comedy all sporting the formal looks. Here is Steve Harris of the Styletones, dancing with the crowd.

After a bit of a break at Bar Pink, North Park Sushi ($9 happy hour pitchers) and West Coast Tavern, we came back to enjoy the rest of the event.

This is one of my favorite photos of the day with Fitz and the Tantrums (aside from the guy’s head in front of me).

Another great shot…

Get Back Loretta continued to heat up the crowd. I tried to capture the steam coming off Steven’s neck but no luck. I did get Isaac in action though.

Finishing off the evening with a bang, The Silent Comedy killed it. Fans and new-comers danced and sang along as one of our favorite bands brought it home (again).

Note: by this point, my picture-taking skills had deteriorated and I mostly just enjoyed the music, so this is the best I got. Artsy, no?

What I Learned Today… the classics

Composer John Williams wrote the theme songs for Indiana Jones, Star Wars AND the Olympics.

When tasked with finding the Olympics theme song (full title: Bugler’s Dream and Olympic Fanfare Medley) at work, I discovered this little factoid. I never really paid much attention to the similarities between the three works, but now it is crystal clear. The man is a genius. Take a listen for yourself:

Raider’s March (Indiana Jones theme song)

Main Title/Rebel Blockade Runner (Star Wars theme song)

Bugler’s Dream and Olympic Fanfare Medley (Olympics theme song)

Other great works of John Williams include scores for Jaws, E.T., Superman, Hook, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List and Harry Potter films.

Instant Karma

Many of you know I skate under the pseudonym, Karma Electra. If not, where have you been? Often I have had discussions with other skaters about “what would your song be?” Say if you did an awesome move, jumped over a fallen skater, landed a monstrous hit on the opposing jammer or just needed a little extra motivation… the DJ would play YOUR song. Kind of like baseball players have. Kind of.

Anyhow, my song would be “Instant Karma” for many obvious reasons. How can you ignore such spot on lyrics as “Instant Karma’s gonna get you/
Gonna knock you off your feet…” It is nothing like “The Eye of the Tiger” or anything. But it is inspirational and fitting. So in honor of John Lennon’s birthday, here is John Lennon with the Plastic Ono Elephants Memory Band singing MY song. If I close my eyes, I can hear the crowd cheering for me as I blast my way out of the pack for my second or third grand slam. “We all shine on…”

Adam’s Avenue Street Fair: 9/25-26/2010

The hottest weekend of the year happened to fall on one outdoor event that our family never misses: Adam’s Avenue Street Fair. Musicians were melting and turnout was low, but that didn’t stop us from sweating the limited shade and dancing on the scorching asphalt. We came out to celebrate our fourth anniversary of the day Roger proposed to me in the back of the Ould Sod. The day also happened to be the fifth anniversary of the first time we kissed/made out in the same location. Although the Ould Sod is no longer part of our destination, the Street Fair holds a particular warmth in our hearts. Plus we have the new luxury of cooling our heels and filling up on good beer and food at the recently expanded Blind Lady Ale House. While we were there, our favorite reporter from the UT, Nina Garin took in a couple of words from Roger about our celebrations.

We had a few acts we wanted to check out while we were there, one being the ever-so sexy Smart Brothers. This harmonious trio (then duo, now back to trio) changed up their act a bit going from beautiful ballads in a southern old-fashioned barbershop style to a straight-up rock n’ roll group that prompts you to move your feet in more than a top-tapping sort of way. Different but still good. 

Citizen Band rocks my world. The most Americana band in San Diego hands down. Only slightly sad Jeff Berkley didn’t wear the Derby Dolls hat I gave him. But seriously… this guy wears that hat nearly everywhere.

Exene hit the spot on Saturday. Her vocals sounded better than previous shows and I had second and third motions on that fact. Combined with the vocal power of Cindy Wasserman, her acoustic set really did make my day.

Dead Rock West features my two favorite vocalists, Frank Lee Drennen and Cindy Wasserman, who belt out their emotions from their hearts. Love, love, love these two.

I stood in the shadows as Peter Case took the stage. The sun and beer had fried my brain by this point in the weekend.  

Here is one of my favorite photos taken of Thomas at the Street Fair. It’s the color, composition, shadows, the heat you can feel radiating off his cheeks and the dude dancing in the street. Justified.