LA Weekly

Remember, it’s still technically bike to work week, so if you’re working the clubs this weekend and feel like saving the earth, maybe you should two-wheel it. In LA. At night. Or skateboard maybe. Or okay how about you just bum a ride from your ex?

Friday:

So this week Michael Stipe revealed some of his roots, and confessed that when he bought that Patti Smith album as a teen that changed his life, he also bought a Foghat record. Which is awesome, and we couldn’t be happier about it. Stipe was living in Collinsville, Illinois then (I grew up in Edwardsville, Illinois, which was Collinsville’s archenemy), and Foghat was everywhere. Well, if you’d like to visit the road that Stipe ended up not traveling (think about consequences had he been floored not by the Patti Smith album but by Foghat Live), Foghat’s playing at the Canyon tonight.

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Okay, so on the surface perhaps a slow Thursday night in LA. No grand slams, it would seem, few hipster throw-downs. But I would like to present a few pieces of evidence that might provide a little nudge out the door tonight.

Item one: BLOWFLY.

Last year, I saw Blowfly open for Bonnie “Prince” Billy in Louisville when the ersatz Will Oldham performed the entirety of I See A Darkness. Oldham was the draw, of course. But Blowfly, known best for his ridiculously stoopid dirty records of the 70s, was a worthy foil to Oldham's pleasantly surly presentation. Blowfly's getting on in age, but that doesn't mean he doesn't still have very naughty thoughts. He follows Antiseen, Suckerstar, Angus Khan at the Knitting Factory.

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American Music Club, circa 2008

American Music Club’s new album, The Golden Age (Merge), begins with what seems to me two perfect Southern California couplets that capture a particular feeling and a particular breeze: "I wish that we were always high/I wish that we could swim in the sky/If we believe, we won’t fall/We’ll leave our lives and rise above it all.” It’s a hopeful introduction, a leap off a springboard and the consequent float, one that Eitzel and his band, guitarist Vudi, bassist Sean Hoffman and drummer Steve Didelot, manage to maintain throughout The Golden Age’s thirteen songs. Eitzel founded American Music Club in San Francisco nearly 25 years ago, returned in 2004 after a decade long hiatus to record their eighth album, Love Songs for Patriots. Last summer the band convened in Echo Park to record the follow-up, The Golden Age with producer Dave Trumfio. Eitzel recently spoke over the phone during the Arlington, Virginia stop on their four month European and American tour. The band will close the journey at the Echo this Friday, May 16.

LA Weekly:You were living in LA for a while this summer while you were working on The Golden Age, and I’m wondering whether any of that LA stuff made it onto the record.
Mark Eitzel: I think so. I mean, I was writing a lot in August in LA. Getting home late and having the door open all night long. My view was this parking lot [and] of this recording studio called The Ship.

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Our favorite local music collective/studio/radio station/creative non-profit/record label/DJ team/inspiration to us all, Dublab, is offering an amazing schedule of talent and mixes this week. Mindblowing, actually, and we've a mind to tune in, turn on and drop out for the next few days and simply appreciate the glory that is Dublab radio. The collective, which recently switched to non-profit status, is in the middle of their bi-annual Proton Drive, a fund-raising effort dedicated to keep the Dublab functioning.

The inimitable Neil Hamburger

Sadly, you already missed Jimmy Tamborello, but check the schedule out. We're pumped to hear what Neil Hamburger has in store for us tomorrow from noon to 2 p.m., given his recent Neil Hamburger Sings Country Winners release. Ditto the rest of tomorrow, actually, with Peanut Butter Wolf segueing into Anticon's Telephone Jim Jesus and directly into the remarkable Mia Doi Todd. Thursday's Lucky Dragons set should be interesting, as well.

And there's no way we're missing the final session: Tuesday, May 20th through Wednesday, May 21st: A 24-hour no-sleep session from 10am - 10am featuring Ale & frosty.

The complete schedule follows.

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Big ass night for Los Angeles music. If you're in from out of town, you picked a good frickin' Monday to be here. Fortify with a big dinner cuz there's no cover and you can whoop it up tonight and spend all your money on booze and cigarettes.

Le Switch

Top on the list is the great quadruple bill at the Echo, during week two of Le Switch's residency. The band is on everybody's lips right now, and reports on week one were uniformly positive. Next week will apparently be acoustic based, so if you want to get a major dose of the band doing it the way they do it, tonight's the night. To boot, a few other LA buzz bands will be filling out the bill. The much lauded Division Day; the Henry Clay People of Jax Art records; and the totally impressive pop band Princeton.

At Pehrspace, joy of joys, will be Harvey Sid Fisher. Yes. Oh yes. Here:

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If you're looking for some nookie this weekend, as in: your special one has been hesitatin', and you've been motivatin' but there is no reciprocatin', well, maybe you need to butter up with some Keith Sweat. For example:

Tonight you can check out Hot Buttered Sweat at the Greek Theatre on a bill with the Gap Band, the Emotions and One Way.

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There's no L.A. date, so don't get too excited, but the video itself is pretty funny:

And oh yeah - He's going to play some dates in Europe too, though the markets haven't been announced.

Now, more interesting than his hydra constellation map is his anti-scalping plan for the tickets. Think "ticket agencies" are scum of the earth? Yeah, well you're not alone. The Waits plan sounds pretty good:

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Shary Boyle at the Hammer Museum
By Casey Henry

No one has better appropriated the image of the chain-smoking single mother than Shary Boyle. Her expansive projections, featured with musical accompaniment by Dark Hand and Lamplight at the Hammer tonight, feature images of unnerving bestiality and near-mythical women both distorted and empowered. In Boyle's visual world, Woodland animals expel rainbow discharge into skipping arcs, and high school dropouts ride mythological creatures. Her 2004 book, Witness My Shame, features racy scenes of child sexuality, yet with a vomit-in-the-back-of-your-throat veracity that works without being overly sensational. You've possibly seen her work on the cover of Swan Lake's album Beast Moans, yet she's most recently perfecting her live action projections on tour with Will Oldham in a collaboration with Doug Paisley (Dark Hand). It's the kind of old-soul sort of music that begs to be illustrated by a subversive female narrator.

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By Ryan Colditz

Get the folk out of the city on Saturday and mosey on over to Clarmont (just a few miles past the Glass House in Pomona) for the 28th Annual Claremont Folk Music Festival, held at Sycamore Elementary School. Sounds boring, right?

WRONG.

A full day of art and music performances (Da Lion, The BladeRunners, Yuval Ron, Joel Rafael and Squeakin' Wheels) and workshops (drum making, flatpicking guitar and more) to benefit The Dorothy and Charles Chase Folk Music and Culture Education Fund (FMCEF). That's quite a mouthful, but it is all for a great cause. For a full list of what's happening, (there's a LOT going on), checkout the web link below. Still bored...

WAKE UP!

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Autechre - 4/14, Echoplex

Bad Religion - 3/4,5,11,13, House of Blues

Bamboozle (All-American Rejects, Jimmy Eat World, Paramore) - 4/5, Verizon Amphitheater

Bamboozle (My Chemical Romance, Anti-Flag, Saves the Day, Chiodos) - 4/6, Verizon Amphitheater

Bjorkestra - 3/9 , Safari Sam's

Black Keys - 4/1, Wiltern

Bone, Thugs n Harmony - 2/22, Crash Mansion

The Boredoms - 3/16, Music Box

Carla Bozulich - 3/20, Safari Sam's

British Sea Power - 2/27, Echo and 2/28, Spaceland

Brother Ali - 3/13. Troubadour

Cat Power - 2/29, Wiltern

Les Claypool, Tim Fite - 4/4, Wiltern

The Coup - 2/23, Crash Mansion

The Cribs (rescheduled form Dec.) - 4/4, El Rey

Kimya Dawson - Amoeba - 2/22, Amoeba (free, 7 pm)

Delta Spirit - 3/7, Troubadour

Duke Spirit - 3/5, Echo

Steve Earle - 3/25, Royce Hall, UCLA

Eels -4/16, El Rey

Explosions in the Sky - 3/17, Wiltern

Jose Gonzalez, Mia Doi Todd - 3/25, Wiltern

The Gossip - 4/19, Music Box

Gram Rabbit - 5/31, Safari Sam's

Grizzly Bear & LA Phil - 3/1, Disney Hall

GZA (performing Liquid Swords - 3/29, El Rey

Gutter Twins (Greg Dulli, Mark Lanegan) - 4/2, Avalon

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Hot on the heels of LA Weekly's map of Tom Petty's Los Angeles, and a few days prior to their appearance at the Super Bowl, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers today announced two summer shows in the L.A. area. The first will be on Wednesday, June 25 at the Hollywood Bowl; the second will be a month later at the Verizon Amphitheater on Friday, August 22. Tix on sale this Saturday.

In honor of the event, we offer you this great TP moment. Don't sit too close to your screen, lest you get a contact high.

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Great news from the L.A. Phil just arrived. Anyone who was at the recent Songs of the City series at Walt Disney Concert Hall and heard Daniel Rossen's voice echo through the room will understand: Don't miss this show.

LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC AND INDIE ROCK BAND GRIZZLY BEAR CO-HEADLINE FOR ONE-NIGHT-ONLY PROGRAM SPANNING CLASSICAL TO CONTEMPORARY REPERTOIRE

SATURDAY, MARCH 1, 2008, AT 9PM

Media support provided by 89.9 KCRW

Brooklyn-based indie rock band Grizzly Bear debuts at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Saturday, March 1, at 9 p.m. The Los Angeles Philharmonic and Grizzly Bear perform for this co-headlining concert that pairs orchestral and experimental-rock repertoire for a cohesive program that aims to break boundaries between genres and generations. The orchestra does not perform together with Grizzly Bear.

The first half of the program features the Los Angeles Philharmonic performing orchestral pieces specifically chosen to reflect the music that inspired Grizzly Bear to pursue their own musical endeavors. The second half of the program features Grizzly Bear performing a full set that includes songs from their most recent release Yellow Road, hailed as one of 2007’s best records by Pitchfork Media, calling it “an impeccably crafted psychedelic folk record…its delicate instrumentation is otherworldly…” The Guardian states “It's like wandering through Brian Wilson's mind on a clear day in 1967. . . [it’s not] to dip into; instead you dive in and sink to the bottom, at once drenched in emotion and uplifted.”

Grizzly Bear members Daniel Rossen (songwriting/guitar), Ed Droste (songwriting/guitar), Chris Taylor (clarinet/production) and Christopher Bear (drums), employ traditional and electronic instruments, including piano, bass, whistles, banjo and laptops. Their musical explorations traverse a landscape of lush instrumentation, haunting melodies, and lo-fi authenticity. Stereogum named Grizzly Bear’s Wordless Music Concert at the New York Society for Ethical Culture its favorite show of 2007.

GRIZZLY BEAR have approached song writing as a craft to master. Over the course of three releases, Horn of Plenty and Yellow House, and their recently released Friend EP, they’ve achieved mastery. Grizzly Bear is remarkable not just for their attention to detail but for their concern for how a song feels: flush with heart and melancholy, their music is seductive and intimate. This is experimental mood music with love for classics and standards. Its unique sound has resonated with critics and fans across the globe. Their sophomore effort, Yellow House received “Top 10 Album Of the Year” honors from respected media outlets such as the New York Times, New Yorker and Pitchforkmedia in 2006. From its original incarnation as a one man band of acoustic guitar, field tapes and drum machine; to it’s current state as a full band complete with drums, two guitars, bass, woodwinds, effects pedals, cradled by four part harmonies, Grizzly Bear’s music has made the leap from charming lo-fi folk rock to breathtaking, experimental cinematic pop. The talent between the four members of Grizzly Bear is evident from their deft playing, which also makes for a brilliant and engrossing live act.

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Questions to ponder:

Will they give Tenaglia his own stage to do a ten hour set, and if that's the case why didn't they book Villalobos?

How the hell did Linton Kwesi Johnson get on the bill - and holy crap, Linton Kwesi Johnson's on the bill!

Will Modeselektor finally and once and for all kick Justice's ass? And Busy P's, too?

Isn't it a little early for a Fatboy Slim renaissance, or a few years too late to toss him on the bill and expect us to care?

Sasha & Digweed but no Carl Craig? Is it too late to swap out?

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Ryan Adams - Royce Hall, Jan. 30 & 31

Dave Alvin - McCabe's Jan. 18 & 19

Autechre - Echo, April 4

Bad Religion - House of Blues, April 4 & 5

Big Sandy, Deke Dickerson - Safari Sam's, Dec. 28

Black Heart Procession - Spaceland, Jan. 11

Black Mountain - Troubadour, Feb. 5

Built to Spill, Meat Puppets - Feb. 22 & 23 (all ages, 8 p.m.)

Circle Jerks - Henry Fonda, Jan. 4

The Cool Kids - Echo, Jan. 19

Nikka Costa - Roxy, Dec. 30

DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist - Wiltern Feb. 15 and House of Blues Anaheim Feb. 14

Dead Meadow - Echo, Feb. 5

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Michael Hurley has been kicking around since 1965, when he released for Folkways Recordings his First Songs LP. Those songs introduced his aesthetic, one that has remained consistent in the intervening forty years and 21 albums: simple, joyous numbers accompanied on guitar and, occasionally, mouth trumpet (he squeezes his lips and blows a melody). That it's taken so long for him to be fetishized by the hipsters is amazing; it should have happened a decade ago. But if you're a Cat Power fan, you've heard a few of Hurley's best; Chan Marshall has covered his “Swee dee dee” and “Werewolf,” and though Hurley's voice is less flattering by far than hers, his originals cut to the bone. He's kind of an odd duck, Hurley is, and you can hear it in his songs. "Slurf Song," from the great Have Moicy album he recorded with the Holy Modal Rounders, rejoices in the bounty and pleasures of food -- pototoes, "perch from Lake Champlain," spaghetti -- before taking a blind-siding scatological turn. "Open Up," from his 1972 album Armchair Boogie, is a grand celebration of sex: "Freefalling, though the abyss/That's where I wanna be," sings Hurley. Hear, hear!

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There are several Christmas charity shows (and just plain Christmas themed shows) around time this month, like Snoop Dogg's Smokin' Christmas Party at the House of Blues on the 15th (and don't forget Snoop's timelessChristmas classic "Servin' Season!"), and Aimee Mann's second annual Christmas show which came early this year to the El Rey last Friday.

Indie 103's Christmas show benefiting firefighter toy drives is tomorrow at the Avalon featuring a small, but well-chosen line-up: Sea Wolf, Datarock, and Pinback. Spoon is playing too, but it seems like they're playing L.A. every time you turn around.

Finally, Pete Yorn is headlining the "Gimme Shelter" acoustic show at the Roxy on December 11. Matthew Sweet, Phantom Planet, Susanna Hoffs and Jesca Hoop are also playing that one.

All proceeds of “The Last Gimme Shelter” event will benefit The Spectrum Program, a school for autistic children located on the New Roads Private School campus in Santa Monica.

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Ryan Adams - Royce Hall, UCLA, Jan. 30 and Bridges Auditorium, Claremont, Jan. 22. Both shows on sale Saturday

Avenged Sevenfold, Atreyu, Suicidal Tendencies - San Diego Sports Arena, Dec. 7 - All ages

Andrew Bird, Handsome Family - Orpheum, Dec. 7

Black Ghosts, Mezzanine Owls, Tweak Bird, more - El Rey, Dec. 10

Boom Bip, Junkie XL - Viper Room, Dec. 6

The Bravery, The Sounds - Avalon, Dec. 9

Garth Brooks - Staples Center, Jan 26

Cornelius, Plaid - Disney Hall, Jan. 17

DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist - Wiltern, Feb. 15 - On sale Saturday

Jonathan Davis of Korn, solo - Orpheum, Dec 4. Tickets still available

Aretha Franklin - Nokia, Feb. 14

KRS One - Rhythm Lounge, Dec 7. Roxy, Jan. 18

Datarock, Spoon, Pinback, Sea Wolf (Indie 103 Xmas show) - Avalon, Dec. 5

Dean & Britta (of Luna) and Keren Ann - El Rey, Feb. 19. On sale Saturday

Deerhoof - Avalon, Dec. 10, All ages

Eagles of Death Metal - Roxy, New Year's Eve

G. Love & Special Sauce - Vault 350, Long Beach, Dec. 13

Gimme Shelter Benefit with Pete Yorn, Matthew Sweet, Susanna Hoffs, Phantom Planet, more - Roxy, Dec. 11

The Knitters - Safari Sam's, Dec. 14

Lamb of God, Killswitch Engage - Long Beach Arena, Dec. 15

Lemonheads, Raccoon - Troubadour, Dec. 1

Melvins - Echo, Dec. 30

Moving Units, Scissors for Lefty - Echo, Dec. 13, Free?! Yea for Camel cigarettes.

Naked Raygun - Knitting Factory, Dec. 7

Nikka Costa - Roxy, Dec. 30

Willie Nelson - Nokia, Feb. 13. Tickets on sale Monday.

Paris a Go-Go: Rufus Wainwright, Belinda Carlisle - Disney Hall, New Year's Eve

Rev. Horton Heat, Hank III, Nashville Pussy - Wiltern, Dec. 27

Salt n Pepa - House of Blues, New Year's Eve

Snoop Dogg's Smokin' Christmas Party - House of Blues, Dec. 15. On sale Saturday

The Supersuckers - Viper Room, Dec. 29, 30, 31

Thrill Kill Kult - Safari Sam's, Dec. 13

U.S. Bombs, The Dwarves - Vault 350, Long Beach, Jan. 12

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Every week or so, we'll update a list on concerts announced, shows going on sale, and other things happening soon that you may want to know about.

James Blunt - Wiltern, Feb. 7 with Sara Bareilles. Tickets go on sale Saturday

Cave Singers - Echoplex, Dec. 3

Circle Jerks - Henry Fonda, Jan 4. On Sale Saturday.

Germs / Adolescents - Key Club, Dec. 28

Iron & Wine with Califone - Orpheum, Nov. 28

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - El Rey, Dec. 4

KRS One - Rhythm Lounge, Dec 7. Roxy, Jan. 18

The Knitters - Safari Sam's, Dec. 14

Avril Lavigne (yeah, yeah, I know) - Honda Center, May 3. Gibson May 4. On Sale Saturday.

The Locust - Knitting Factory, Dec. 2

John Mayer (Acoustic/Trio/full band) - Nokia, Dec. 8.

Naked Raygun - Knitting Factory, Dec. 7

Sea Wolf - Rhythm Lounge, Dec. 1

Siouxsie - Henry Fonda, Feb 15, 16. On Sale Saturday

Social Distortion - House of Blues, December 19, 30, January 11, 12, 13 -

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - Honda Center, April 7. Tickets on sale Saturday

Joe Strummer Tribute with Love & Rockets, Zander Schloss, Mike Watt and more - Key Club, Dec. 22

Vampire Weekend - Echoplex, Dec. 3

Velvet Revolver/Alice in Chains - Gibson, Dec. 12

Wu-Tang Clan - December 28, House of Blues.

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