On Hiatus.

I'm still alive, though I've been out of commission for the last couple of weeks. and it looks like it might stay that way, at least 'til the end of the week. My computer is down. This brings a lot of my usual routine to a grinding halt. God, it sucks to be so dependent on technology. It should be up and running within the next few days. I don't usually get a chance to do any blogging from work, so it'll be a few days til I get back to it. I will be out of town for three of the four weeks in February. I won't be going far, but I won't be home. I'll have some catching up to do for possibly this weekend.

In the works:
some live reviews - Meho Plaza/Oso, Calico Horse/MGMT/Yeasayers, Dwarves/Cell Block 5, Buzzkill Romantics, A couple of record reviews, "Banning is a Shithole," "The Assclowns," and a Post-Mortem Scolari's assessment: a review of Chaser's as a venue.

Chasers is Scolari's is Dead.

So, I was neck deep in a fucking eulogy for Scolari's Office when I read the following bulletin from T-Bone and the entire (ex) Scolari's staff. I had a feeling...
_____________________________________________
[The Bad News:
On Tuesday January 22nd the owners of Scolaris Office decided to pull the plug on all entertainment until after the bar officially changed hands, leaving over eighty bands without a place to play This after promising we could book shows through April. The employees at Scolari's are outraged by this affront to not only the bands but all our patrons as well.

The Good News(We hope):
Donny has worked out a deal with the owner of Chasers to become the new bar manager. We are moving the entire staff over to Chasers including doormen, bartenders and Karaoke hosts(and hopefully trivia night hosts,c'mon Kipper!) piece by piece. We know Chasers has a bad rep right now but with the right people running the show and the right clientele(that means you) we can make it awesome

In Conclusion:
All shows are still a go (with a few exceptions due to shows already scheduled at Chasers,please see below) If you have a problem with moving the show please let me know so we can discuss it . Karaoke is happening every Wednesday and Sunday including tonight!! Daryl is the host and Donny will be the bartender.

Scolari's was an amazing place that I will miss dearly, it had it's downsides and drawbacks but it touched a lot of lives. Please leave your condolences and memories as comments and please help us make Chasers even better than Scolari's.

Thanks
T-Bone and the entire staff

These are the only dates that are already booked at Chasers:
Sat.Jan 25th
Fri.Feb 1st
Sat.Feb 2nd
Sat.Mar 1st
Sat.Mar 8th

I am very sorry to the bands whose shows fall on these nights. Let's reschedule them if possible]
______________________________________
Here is the post I was about to publish:
______________________________

R.I.P.

Change, Growth, or Decay?

I was going to reply to a post on SdDialedIn concerning Scolari's having been sold (I know it's already like 2 weeks old, but I've been unavailable since then). However, I decided to give my full response as a new post. In particular, I wanted to respond to this quote from Rosey, who said "Anyway, lots of changes a' comin' in the San Diego bar scene, it appears. For now, I'm ok with that."

I don't think I'm ok with it, and I wanted to rant about the current state of North Park music venues.

Scolari's Office.

Yeah, the day crowd is full of uber-creepy drug-addled inebriates that often intermingle with the night crowd, there's an ever present aroma of old beer, vomit, and urine, and some nights the live band is unbearably loud and/or unbelievably awful. Sounds terrible enough. Well, the bar that my friends and I have affectionately referred to as "Scolala's" over the years, has been sold and will soon undergo 'remodeling'. I'm really not sure exactly what that entails, but I'm doubtful that we can just consider what's happening to Scolari's "growth." I'm very weary of what's to happen. I was in the bar the day that Chandra was told who would get to keep their jobs. Both T-Bone and Chandra, bartenders there, seemed pretty distraught over the whole thing. After starting at Scolari's that night (a couple of Friday's ago), Bryan and I decided to give the newer bars a spin. We had a drink at the Pink Elephant, and then walked to U-31. At both bars, we ended up trying to finish our drinks as quickly as we could so that we could get the hell out of there and go back to Scolari's. On our way back, we ran into Chandra and T-Bone, who had both decided the take a look into the Pink Elephant. We met right at the corner of 30th and University, and with unanimous disappointment, walked back to Scolari's after Chandra turned to us and said "Let's go home." I think we spent the last hour before last call in a very nearly empty Scolari's dancing to Marky Mark and the Funky bunch (I stood on the pool table and dropped my pants saying "Yeah, come on, feel it! Yeah, come on, Dance!") and Madonna. I fear that Scolari's just won't be home anymore. I've lived in San Diego for 10 years, and lived within 2 miles of Scolari's for the last 6 years at 5 different addresses (including a the apartment complex next to Claire De Lune across the alley from Scolari's that I got booted from after they were approved for condo conversion). That is/was the appeal of Scolari's to me, that regardless of what was going on around town, no matter where I had been before, Scolari's was always there. I don't know how many times I've been to shows at the Casbah, the Che, The Tower, The Ken, The Zombie, Pink Elephant, or the Brass Rail.... and ended my night at Scolari's office afterwards. It's almost as many times as I've been to Scolari's without any idea who was going to play, only to be totally blown away by a band. Before I ever met Cullen or the Jasons, I saw The North Atlantic at Scolari's. I had no idea who was playing, and had never heard of the North Atlantic. I ended becoming good friends with them after instantly becoming a fan at Scolari's. I even took pictures. Scolari's is an institution. Playing Scolari's is a rite of passage. I have a lot of doubts about it being the same after 'remodeling.' Worries about the Bro-deo clowns infiltrating North Park aside, consider the potential consequences from the performers point of view. The canceling of their entire entertainment calendar doesn't show much consideration by the management for what the institution means for bands. This does not bode well for touring bands in particular. Different management is no doubt going to mean a different live music model. There is NO other venue in San Diego that has a more effective model for live music. There is no cover ever. I've never booked or played a show where the bar didn't have at least something to give bands as the end of the night, and always free drinks for performers.

Now, let's consider the alternatives comparatively.

U-31
I had just played U-31 with Batwings the Wednesday before our little walk. I really felt like they have a huge opportunity to take a commanding role as the premiere live music venue in North Park, but I don't think they are going to take it. I was impressed by the new layout, they have a nice PA, and they are building a stage (eh). It's really nice and cozy there. The room's a bit echo-ey but not to bad. After having played, we were informed that the owner/manager was weary about having us on the bill at all. Maybe it was because we are considerably more "aggressive" or "noisy" than the other bands on the bill. I understand that, we're not for everyone, but I still get the feeling that this doesn't indicate that they are going to make a dent with the multitude of bands that would otherwise book Scolari's... Then I was there on a Friday. No bands, just a DJ. It was not necessarily my vibe, but it seemed wildly successful. There were tons of people there. Bryan and I sat down, and in the ten minutes we were there witnessed several cases of attempted dance-rape (like most Man Diego dance venues, women were waaay outnumbered). It was kind of surreal, actually. The point is, if they could pack the place without live music, why would they go out of their way to book smaller touring independent bands? Simple answer is, they aren't going to. A lot of the staff are Beauty Bar transplants, and a lot of the security was recruited from the mixed martial arts (like UFC) gym down the block. It's AC Lounge all over again. They might have shows at first, but that'll fade just like the live music at Club Blue Foot did. Residual Buster Daly's clientele should be pleased with the change, as well as the transplanted Beauty Bar crowd.

Bar Pink Elephant
They seemed to have quickly carved a niche that seems to work just fine. There's a happy balance of new patrons, residual Dino's hip-hoppers, Fancy haircut hipsters, Punks bored with or sick of the mildew smell at Scolari's, and everything in between. Live music is a part of the equation, but a comfortably small one.

Zombie Lounge
Even when there are only five fucking people at the Zombie Lounge they charge a cover to pay for the fucking DJs who get paid on a guarantee. I like the Zombie (when there's no cover, but they have their rockabilly/greaser niche carved pretty deep. They've got their thing going.

The Ken
They might have a better PA, but hires out for a sound guy, which could mean less money for bands. Most bands we've played with are dissatisfied with the sound afterward anyway. More often than not, the Ken charges a cover. They also allow complete separation between patrons and performers. The captive audience, or the unsuspecting audience is huge for bands who tour or play out as a means of promotion. The bookers don't go to the shows that they book. They have their heads up their asses most of the time. Booking there is an absolute headache without an 'in.'

Chaser's
This place is even scummier, with even more shady regulars than Scolari's, but still my best guess for a "replacement." They've got a great layout so that the strictly sit down and drink contingent can still see what's going on on stage without necessarily having to be as bothered by it if they don't want to be. Also, I now live like 2 blocks from there (though I've only been there once).

Shooterz
I can't think of a single good thing coming from the sale of Shooterz to the owners of PB Bar and Grill. I doubt they have any interest in hosting live music anyway.

Club Bluefoot
They had a very short-lived opportunity to be a significant live music venue, but fucked that up. They seemingly instantaneously established a clientele that didn't seem to have more than a casual interest in live music.
_______________________________________

Scolari's is fucking dead!...?

Could this be the end of an era? Seriously, I leave town for a few days and return to find that my computer has taken a dump on me, and now this! What the fuck? I smell a boycott, I just wish the staff well. Chandra, T-Bone, Javi, Eric, Kocomo, Donny, Tony, Darrell, and everybody else... good luck.

a myspace bulletin from Scolari's office posted just minutes ago reads:

" ALL SHOWS CANCELLED AT THE OFFICE PLEASE READ!

I am so sad to have to post this bulletin. I just received a phone call telling me that all entertainment at Scolaris office has been cancelled. I have been told that it has something to do with complaints and police reports. The bar was recently sold, so I think this may be a major factor. I have expressed to the management how this will affect bands tour schedules and how much time, effort and money bands have put into playing at Scolaris. We are working on moving everything to another bar and will let you know as soon as something develops.

Bands, please feel free to message me and I will do my best to find you somewhere to play. Unfortunately due to the number of bands that this will affect I can't guarantee anything"

Reactions so far:
Matt S. (Bartender's Bible, The Long and Short of It):

"It was only a matter of time, but the yuppies win again. All I can say is fuck Bar Dynamite, fuck the developers, and fuck anyone who bought one of those hideous condos. "

The Dissimilars:

"To the new owners of Scolari's Office and the residents of the condos across the street:

Suck our dicks.

Love,
The Dissimilars"

Death on Mars:

"This is truly a shame. That place is an institution in the local and national music scene, as many of us know. Hopefully something can happen to continue the tradition of being a kickass place to see, hear and experience what live music is all about. Viva Scolari's Office!!!"

My reaction on behalf of Batwings:

"What the fuck are we going to do now!?

We had a show booked for the 16th of February that we were very excited for. We had confirmed Channing Cope (which now features Brandon Relf from Sleeping People on drums!), Totally Serious (members of Bad Dudes), The Evening Episode (members of An Angle and Scene Index), and us. It was to be a special occasion for us too, as we would be joined by our former guitarist Todd Price on stage for the very last time. WHAT THE FUCK!

Please, if you have any ideas about how to save this show, let us know. At very least, we need to find another show for The Evening Episode, who will be on tour at the time.

www.myspace.com/theeveningepisode

if T-Bone and Chandra get canned, there will be no reason to ever go back to Scolari's Office."

I am disturbed.

I am substituting for a high school History class. Apparently, the teacher did not expect to be sick today. There are no lesson plans whatsoever, and it's the first day of the semester. This sucks considering they are on a block schedule and each class is an hour and fifty minutes long. There's a TV in the classroom, and an interesting show keeps the kids behaved. So, I just let the kids watch whatever they wanted. All the previous classes had decided on the Cartoon Network, or Nickelodeon. So, during the last period of the day I started reading a bit and stopped paying attention to what they were watching until I heard an Adolescents song in the background of an episode of Wildboyz.  Shit, all I need is for the kids to come back and tell their teacher that they watched an Chameleon eat a bug out of Knoxville's ass, or Steve-o shooting mezcal and eating the worm, or Pontius trimming ass hair from his bikini line. Awesome. I'm a terrible sub. Later, a group of students had been sitting in a circle talking. When I changed the channel, the volume on the next program got much quieter, but their game of "never have I ever" didn't . What the fuck is going on....

I can't believe I get paid for this shit. 

May the lord have mercy on the next generation.

Calico Horse and Bunky @ Scolari's Office

On Friday Dec 28, 2007 I went to Scolari's Office to see Calico Horse. Singer/guitarist/pianist, Emily Neveu, is a very talented artist and musician, and a friend of mine. She did the artwork for Cat Dirt's Sessions Fest poster as well as all the artwork for the band. She had a short stint as the bassist for The Muslims. While the band was still called The Clockwork Army they changed drummers more than Spinal Tap. They even tried out and turned down the drummer for now defunct Alta Voz, which always made me scratch my head. They recorded the aptly named A Catalyst for Change Ep, and came out of the year long process with only two members. The new lineup consists of Dave Pettijohn on bass (the only other surviving member of The Clockwork Army), and two Loud+Clear Records alumni, Matt Mournian on guitar (singer/guitarist of Goodbye Blue Monday), and Tom (I don't know his last name) on drums (Comfortable For You, Lily White, and a Drive Like Jehu cover band). They only played a 6 song set which was a little dissapointing, but Emily was sick, and didn't seem to be in the highest spirits. She seemed a little irritated that she and the two other members had to wait on stage for Matt. She has a very powerful voice, and it didn't seem too affected by her illness. She played guitar on all but one song, during which she played the piano. The songs during which she played guitar seemed a bit thin. It seemed as though Matt's guitar didn't play much of a substantive role. As for the song that she played piano, on the other hand, I'd guess that Matt had a stronger role in writing the song, but it was easily the fullest, most spirited song of the set. I did really enjoy the set, but in general, they all seemed kind of stoic. Petti's amp became unplugged a couple of times, and he just kind of casually strolled over to plug it back in. They didn't play anything off of the A Catalyst for Change Ep. One of the songs they have up on their myspace profile, "Awake in the Clouds," reminds me of the chorus in "Lose Me" by Denali, but Emily's voice is a bit deeper than Mara Davis'. They have a ton of potential, especially considering they have somewhat of an "all-star" lineup. I've always been a big fan of Comfortable for You, Goodbye Blue Monday, and everything that Emily has done previously, so I'll be anxiously awaiting a healthy and more prolific Calico Horse.

Bunky is always fun. I really enjoy it when band appears to be having a good time while they play. If you've never seen them, Emily Joyce sings while playing the drums, which is impressive. She's also a bartender at the Casbah. Rosey at Sddialedin, who saw Bunky two days later when they played again at the Casbah said "Emily has one of the sweetest voices in San Diego, and the fact that she's always laughing and joking and giggling onstage, makes her so endearing, even when she thinks she's mauling a new song. The horn section separates the band from most others, and with Rafter on guitar, you've got a sure fire crowd pleasin' band with the batch of us in the front all singing and bopping along to the music." I didn't take any pictures of Bunky. I was kind of drunk by then. There are some of Rosey's pictures from their Casbah show here.

Your New Years Resolution! (Batwings Returns)

Just before the new year, Batwings had to make some adjustments, and we took a small hiatus. We're back to play our first show in San Diego with new songs, and new member, Larry Stage. Unfortunately, Todd Price has left the band. It was a very amicable split, and we are excited for Todd as he moves on to do other things. We could never thank him enough for what he did for us as a band. We wouldn't have ever been in a band at all if we hadn't met Todd. We will be playing one more show with Todd in February as a sort of goodbye and thank you. But tomorrow (Friday January 4th) we are going to debut some of the new material, but more importantly, we set up the show for our new out of town friends Planets, Manacle, and Short Hair, from Reno. It's going to be awesome. I've already posted a little bit about Planets here.

The tour for Planets, Short Hair, and Manacle will continue with an all ages show at the Che Cafe. They will all be playing with Japandi on Sunday the 6th.

You've been warned.

The San Diego Reader and moral dilema.

I realized I was about to write quite a bit, and I wanted to make a completely separate post about this. My post about Larry Harmon who writes for the Reader prompted some responses that got me thinking.

The original post is here.

One response was: "I do not feel so inclined to trust Larry's musical opinions because I do not think a responsible commentator of subculture would write for The Reader."

I didn't know this, but the owner of the Reader is a large contributor to anti-abortion campaigns among other things.

Here's an article from Sign on San diego that was posted:
"Parental notice bankrolled by weekly's owner"
and one from a Planned Parenthood site
"Publisher funds anti-abortion measure"

My Response: "I would hardly call Larry "responsible." Nor would I refer to him as a "commentator of subculture." That assigns some sort of responsibility. Larry Harmon doesn't have an agenda. He likes drugs, alcohol, and punk rock music. He used to work writing fake sex letters for porno magazines. Satanism is a pretty consistent theme in his Genetic Disorder zine. I don't fucking trust him, but I like him. He's funny. He's pissed off countless readers in each of the forums he's written in, and I'm sure the number will grow, but I think that's a good thing. He's a black spot in a sea of white. San Diego is far and wide a conservative predominantly christian republican city. San Diego is the 6th largest city in the country and The Reader is the 3rd largest weekly in the country. The fact that Larry has been allowed to write for them is an accomplishment in and of itself. I'm not saying Larry is an activist or has any political/religious convictions. He's a writer, and the Reader is the biggest game in town. When the Reader ran a cover story on abortion headlined "What Becomes of San Diego County's 20,000 Fetuses Each Year," and anti-abortion groups were allowed to run full-page ads with photos of fetuses, it "outraged the Reader staff and remains a nearly taboo topic at the paper." But they didn't quit. There wasn't a protest. It hasn't been boycotted. I think that if they were told what to write, or not allowed to write what they want, they'd have quit. So, are you selling out for contributing to a weekly paper that funds the anti-abortion Prop 85. Yeah, probably. Most of San Diego doesn't have any problem with that. However, wouldn't it be rad to write about dealing drugs, satan, and a band called Heroin in some fucking looney Christian fanatic's weekly magazine."

Then I read up a little more, and I got to thinking, but still thought I should be cautious with my words. Abortion is such a freakin' touchy subject, and even the most seemingly uncouth of your friends might surprise you with some deep seeded convitctions. You really can't make assumptions about what people believe.

The next response: "Rich males telling women what to do with their bodies...it's a BIG DEAL to me as a woman. I didn't call Larry a sell out. I'm sure he's a swell guy. I have no personal opinion of him just that I feel writing for the Reader is irresponsible no matter who the person is or their gender. Jim Holman is a monster and I feel very strongly about that. How quaint, that an alternative newspaper is not allowed to have open discourse over their owner's political machine. Apathy is Jim Holman's best friend and a woman's worst nightmare."

Woah. wait a minute. I had to ask myself. Am I being apathetic or dismissive?
In general, I didn't mean to be apathetic, the fact that the owner of the Reader provided the majority of the funding for the yes on Prop. 85 campaign was news to me. Proposition 85 would have required minors to notify their parents before having an abortion. It was in fact defeated, I think mostly based on the idea that for some children, notifying parents might create a dangerous situation. The issue was not whether or not they would be allowed to have one, but I know Holman is an avid pro life supporter.

Therein lies the dilemma. So, maybe you don't agree with his politics. I believe everyone is entitled to their own beliefs and opinions. However, do you want to help pay for a campaign you don't support? Is your readership helping support the pro-life campaign? Is limiting your convictions to not buying ad space in the Reader or working for the Reader a cop out? Is the solution for the Reader to just go away? How do you make the 3rd largest weekly in the country go away? Do more people know what Holman does with his money? Do employees at The Reader necessarily know? How much have Holman's values affected the content of the paper? Does it matter whether or not the content is affected? How likely is it that both writers and readers just don't know about Holman? Should pro-choice staff at the Reader feel guilty or resign? Have I just not been paying attention? Am I just completely ignorant? If you are pro-choice do you need to stop eating Domino's Pizza, drinking Don Sebastiani wines, and reading the San Diego Reader? ...I don't know.

Just to clarify, I don't think that the quote "a nearly taboo topic at the paper," was intended to mean staff were "not allowed to have open discourse." It's a little too ambiguous to say what that means for the staff at work, or the content of the paper. Also, I think it's an interesting note that the paper had been operating for nearly 16 years before Holman ever got involved with the pro-life campaign. The same article says the paper was modeled on left-wing papers like the Village Voice, and though Holman didn't necessarily have that mind set, he didnt start the Reader for any reason other than to make money. The fact that he spends that money conservative republican politics totally fucking sucks. Why am I just now finding out?

Please, tell me what you think.

"oh, and I bought another Sonic Youth Album. It sucked, it was just noise"

I went and saw Juno last night. Go watch it. It's chock full of music references, a soundtrack that blows fucking Zack Braff's dumb ass out of the water, and a very cute and wonderful little love story that will have couples cuddling on the way out, and the single folks slitting their wrists. The main characters, Juno MacGuff and Paulie Bleeker, are played by Ellen Page and Michael Cera, respectively. Ellen Page (Juno) is absolutely adorable in this (She played Shadowcat in the third X-Men movie, and in some crappy looking street justice To Catch a Predator movie called Hard Candy). She plays a (perhaps unrealistically) charistmatic whip-smart high school junior with razor sharp sense of sarcasm and wit. She gets knocked up after first time sex with sort of boyfriend, played by Michael Cera (the timid kid from Superbad and Arrested Development). He plays the same kind of character in each of his roles, but he plays it well. This is a first for writer Diablo Cody, and I hope it's not the last. The movie ends with the characters performing "Anyone Else But You" originally by the Modly Peaches, which is pretty amazing. "Up Up, Down Down, left right left right, B A, start. Just because we use cheats doesn't mean we're not smart." Genius!



I also saw a trailer for a black and white animated movie called Persepolis based on autobiographical graphic novels by Marjane Satrapi about growing up during the Islamic revolution that looked really good.

If it works out I think they should totally make the graphic novel series, Maus, into movie.

Imperial Teen @ The Casbah.

After about a five year hiatus, Imperial Teen returned to the Casbah on Dec 15th, 2007. Their new album, The Hair the TV the Baby and the Band, is maybe not as dancey as 2002's On, but is the same brand of very underrated power pop/rock that lies somewhere between Belle and Sebastian and the Rentals or Weezer. Beautiful harmonies, delicate melodies, and fuzzy rock-out-without-trying choruses. They're all getting a little older (Roddy's 45), but they are still at it. Roddy and Will are still very hip gay dudes, they were both very sharply dressed. They played stuff from all four albums. Drummer, Lynn Truell, sang lead on a new song "Shim Sham" and gave up percussive duties to Roddy to play bass on a couple of songs during the encore. The place wasn't empty, but it was far from packed, which was actually quite a treat. Everyone there was a very enthusiastic fan, with lots of dancing room. Guitarist Roddy Bottum (former Faith No More Keyboardist) kind of looks like the guy from UCB, Ian Roberts, I think.

You've got to be fucking kidding me.

What the fuck! So, they decide to compile a soundtrack to the movie "Control," the brilliant profile of the life of Joy Division's Ian Curtis. Ok. The soundtrack is filled with great original songs from the period, and some classic Joy Division songs... oh and one Joy Division cover... hmmm.... Sweet, I guess. I mean another Joy Division cover to top off the list of tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of Joy Division covers. The one stop shop for indie credability: a Joy Division cover. Who, pray tell, could be next on the long, tasteless, unoriginal, undistinguished list?

That'd be awesome if it was like the Bravery or the fucking Killers or some lame shit like that...
Wait, no fucking way!
You're kidding right?
What?
The Killers?!
The Fucking KILLERS!?
Oh, Christ I hate the Killers. Every time Brandon Flowers puts his hand on his hip and dips like "I'm a little teapot," I wanna fucking slap him.
The Killers?
How pathetic. Jeeezus.
So much respect and reverence for Ian Curtis and Joy Division, and they get The Killers to cover Shadowplay? Why don't they just get Fall Out Boy to do an acoustic massacre, I mean cover, of like the most covered song ever, by one of the most abused-by-cover band ever, "Love Will Tear us Apart." That'd really shine a light on the memory of Joy Division, really capture the song's spirit you know. Wait, what? No fuck! You have got to be kidding me. That's brilliant. Aww, this is awesome.



The only Joy DIvision covers I've ever liked were when Swing Kids did Warsaw and The Aisler's Set did Walked in Line for John Peel. I heard Xui Xui played a decent live cover of Ceremony, but have never heard it...

The fucking Killers though... man that's hilarious.