1. Sure Michael Phelps can swim fast, but can he carve a pumpkin while doing that dolphin kick?
2. Blow a kiss at Tijuana's answer to Björk Friday night at the Loft.
3.Feeling "Lost at Sea" and arty?
4. The Creator's in town.
5. What's better than pineapples and pigs? Head over to Santee for a grand luau.
6. Reason no. 146 to stay out of bed Friday night: the Crystal Method at Spin.
More than 350 other things to keep you occupied this weekend.
Musical borders merge and evaporate when San Diego violinist Alex DePue (left) and Mexican guitarist Miguel De Hoyos play together. The two will do exactly that when they guest on the Oct. 13 edition of Fill In The Blank, my weekly Monday live music interview program on SignOnRadio.com.
DePue, who was featured in a Union-Tribune article last year, spent much of 2007 touring the world as a member of the band led by ex-Frank Zappa guitar great Steve Vai. De Hoyos, who is now based in Rosarito Beach, is a native of Monterrey. Like DePue, he is classically trained but is equally adept at rock, jazz, blues, flamenco and more.
On Monday's show, DePue and De Hoyos will perform two songs live from their new duo album, Underground Whispers. They'll also discuss their music and play a song or two from a few of their favorite albums by other artists. As always, we invited you to phone in your comments and questions when Fill In The Blank airs live Monday between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Just call our handy, toll-free number: (866) 818-6384.
Mates of State
In concert tonight, Friday Oct. 11 at HOB, opening for Santogold
Summary: Music to ride your scooter to or play at an indie coffeeshop somewhere in the Pacific Northwest
New Album: "re-arrange us"
Sounds like: A sepia-toned commercial for hipster modes of transportation, or a mid-career Ethan Hawke movie (Lisa what's her name, in the glasses), or some quirky film with a misunderstood, romantic and inevitably short actor who's changed his famous last name to gain indie cred. It's friendly music, that says get over your political persuasions and work out your problems and shake it off and look at the pretty colors. Made by husband-and-wife duo Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel who met in Kansas, Wiki says. It's harmony heavy and cute. And light as cotton candy slowly dissolving under Seattle's marine layer.
If you've taken a stroll down tourist turnpike in Balboa Park, chances are you've seen him. He's usually between the jugglers and scientologists who disguise themselves as good Samaritans giving away free stress tests. But if not, here he is. Mark Goffeney, aka Big Toe. He's been without arms since the day he was born but (here it comes, wait for it, wait for it) hasn't let that stop him from doing all the things one does in the pursuit of living a full life. Things like teaching yourself to drive when you're 13, giving the trombone a whirl, taking up karate, figuring out how to swim, mastering the guitar, starting a band, cutting a CD and being nominated for an Emmy. You know, normal stuff.
More about Mark here.
The sexy R&B songs of Jodi V
Album: "Seed of Love"
Distribution: B-Dub Music
Album art: Sweet and innocent at first glance. But, is that a bed? Is she wearing lingerie? Is that really what the album is called?
Personal style: On Broadway chic.
San Diegoness of sound: A pop and R&B singer in San Diego? Really?
As Big as Jodi V? As there is virtually no local competition, at least not on my desk, the singer is in a class by herself.
Best songs: "Uh Oh" and "Seed of Love"
Overall: This album is quite a surprise. Jodi V's vocals have a lot of range and she knows how to play with it. The singer sings low and seductive for ballads and switches to high and playful for pop hits. The record is brimming with catchy beat. And the lyrics about boys and nightclubs are written to sound genuine, like you're listening in on two girls at a bar. The result is a very charming album.
Our advice: The 10-song disc shines when the music is dance floor friendly, but gets weighed down by too many ballads.
Listen! Or buy a ringtone. Seriously.
I bet Vince McMahon is having one of those "why didn't I think of that" moments right now. The emperor of wrestling's foray into pro football, the XFL, was a huge bust and is known for one thing -- a running back named "He Hate Me." If McMahon had only realized that imitating the NFL would get him nowhere. The prudent thing to do would be what advertisers have known for a while now: Take something that works, something people like, add scantily clad models and the possibility of a cat fight, and -- poof! -- you've got a successful product.
Enter the Lingerie Football League, a 10-team, full-contact, professional football league for ladies launching in fall 2009. San Diego's very own franchise, the Seduction, will hold tryouts at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, in Kate Sessions Park.
"San Diego will be home to the LFL's San Diego Seduction, which will comprise of San Diego's most attractive and athletic women," the news release reads. "We will meet with many San Diego-based women during Saturday's mini-camp and test the ladies through a series of football drills."
Maybe Norv Turner will be there looking to discover a mauling model to replace Antonio Gates at tight end. He may get lucky, judging from the picture (above); these gridiron gals wear a lot less padding than those pansies on the Chargers.
The Lingerie Bowl, which started as a single game, pay-per-view event played at halftime of the 2004 Super Bowl, has been so successful that the organizers, Horizon Productions, decided the audience existed for a full league. The 10 franchises across the country include the Los Angeles Temptation, Phoenix Scorch, Seattle Mist, Dallas Desire, Chicago Bliss, New England Euphoria, Atlanta Steam, Miami Caliente and Tampa Breeze.
SPIN
2028 HANCOCK ST.
MIDDLETOWN
619-294-9590
Judging by the vacant, industrial surroundings, you'd swear this three-tiered labyrinth once housed a warehouse or an adult video megastore. Wrong. Not only was it specifically designed to be a nightclub, the black-lit lair serves as a refuge for those who refuse to call it a night after last call by keeping its doors open until 4 a.m.
Owners Chris Braga and Dave Dean did little to give the former Club Montage a physical makeover other than expand the VIP table service areas and move the DJ booth so that it sits at the head of the dance floor. The most important elements were already there: space for 600 bodies and an EAW sound system that's specifically designed to reproduce electronic music so that it engulfs you from head to toe rather than merely gnawing away at your eardrums.
Did we mention the Crystal Method's manning the turntables Friday night?
1. What's the opposite of musty dance performances like "The Nutcracker"? Probably this fresh choreographer showcase.
2. What's the small, mountain community with a telescope for spying on the cosmos? Hint: In Spanish the word means "pigeon house."
3. What's the coolest punk-soul act rocking asymmetric hair and neon prints today? Trust us and get your House of Blues tickets today.
The only way you lose is if you don't push play below.
Bob Dylan is in the house, so move over, Wall Street, and make like a rolling stone that's blowin' in the wind.
Sorry if we got carried away there, but, don't think twice if you're seeking a sound investment in these crazy scary economic times. Bob Dylan, your friendly avocational investment counselor is a man with a plan. At least he is for those of you with $5,000 to $25,000 in spare recreational cash sitting in your piggy (lipstick optional) bank.
Or, to quote from the press release that arrived this week:
The stock market is crashing. Home prices are diving too. So where should you invest your money? How about in a set of harmonicas, played and hand-signed by music icon Bob Dylan? The Hohner/Bob Dylan limited edition product collaborations will include a boxed set of seven harmonicas. Limited to twenty-five sets, they will be available for $25,000 each.
For $5,000 you can get a Marine Band harmonica in the key of C -- hand-signed by Dylan, and limited to one hundred pieces worldwide. Because this is Dylan's first and only endorsement of a musical instrument, who knows how much they'll appreciate?
Who knows, indeed? But surely Dylan harmonicas will appreciate more than, say, an official KISS casket or that ultra-rare 1994 bottle of Rap Musk all-night spray cologne that we still keep, unopened, on our desk, right next to out autographed photo of Pia Zadora (which in turn is mounted on a vintage Diamanda Galas poster?)
Continue reading "TANGLED UP IN DEBT? Bob Dylan harmonicas a sound investment" »
Dear Kenley,
I'm sorry I've been so mean to you lately.
This whole season you've been rude and disrespectful and bratty all while sending a vintage style dress down the runway week after week. To make it worse, you said the reason you were so awful is because you were raised by a tugboat captain. Come on, now.
But then you made a wedding dress (left). And it was the wedding dress I always dreamed of having. Plus you topped it off by creating an equally wonderful bridesmaid dress. And I was sorry you weren't my best friend back when I got married because you captured the whole vibe I was going for.
Also, when you opened up about your grandmother being the most fabulous person in the 1940s, well, it sort of explained why you're so attached to that aesthetic.
So congratulations on being one of the three designers to compete at Fashion Week.
Love Nina.
Read on to see who else made it:
Continue reading "PROJECT RUNWAY: In which women are awesome" »
Success is not always what it seems.
Just ask Duffy, the young singer who has been thrust into the international spotlight as both a solo star and a key figure in a growing retro pop-soul movement that also includes fellow United Kingdom vocal sensations Amy Winehouse, Joss Stone and the lone-named Adele and Estelle.
"People talk to me about success as if I know what it is," said Duffy, 24, whose Web site describes her as "your favorite Welsh soul diva."
"But I think success is what you feel when you are in your late 50s, with your feet up and a glass of whiskey in your hand. I'm not sure of the process. I'm still at the beginning of what I'm doing."
That, she is.
But Aimee Anne Duffy is quickly discovering that budding stardom can be an exciting adventure that is also intensely demanding, no matter whether you feel successful or not. A quick look at her schedule demonstrates just how demanding.
Duffy's late-September trip to New York saw her do a photo shoot for InStyle magazine. It was sandwiched between rehearsals for the Sept. 28 telecast of "Saturday Night Live," on which she performed two songs -- "Mercy" and "Stepping Stone" -- from her hit debut album, "Rockferry."
On Sept. 29, she jetted off for her first visit to Japan for a concert and a week of interviews and promotional appearances, before returning to the United States to film her debut yesterday on
PBS's "Austin City Limits."
Tonight, Duffy kicks off her first North American headlining tour with a San Diego show at Humphrey's Concerts by the Bay. After 10 dates on her own, she opens five East Coast arena shows for Coldplay, before launching a European tour that runs through the second week of December.
In which we nudge you from your laptop and into the night ...
- Say hello to Robin tonight at Bar Pink (info)
- Amore, on-screen and gratis (info)
- What every scary movie aspires to, and fails (info)
- You can scrimp on sushi (info)
- What's more interesting than burlesque? Apparently nothing (info)
- All manwhores, report to Kensington (info)
The economy's in a death spiral.
Even more reason for you to walk it out at the club, or hole up in imaginary, recession-proof Nintendo worlds. Really. Main Streeters are slurping up Kool-Aid, Campbell's Soup and Spam to scrimp, but we've read they simply refuse to cut back on entertainment.
Street's all about putting fun first. And trust us when we say catching Santogold (aka Brooklyn's Santi White) on her first headliner tour this Friday at HOB is your tight credit well spent.
Get a glimpse of her "Unstoppable" sound and Coachella performance below, and check out the email interview (she was saving her voice) we did with the genre-busting, trunk-rattling artist, too.
Diplo told us that you're a huge Devo fan (he was just here for Street Scene), that your roots are more punk rock than the music you're creating now. (We're not trying to get Diplo in trouble!) Talk about your influences. And if there's a category for your music?
Diplo is right, that Devo is my favorite band and a huge influence of mine. But as far as my roots being more punk rock than the music I'm creating now, that's not really accurate.
I grew up listening to Steel Pulse, Burning Spear, Fela Kuti, Nina Simone, Al Green, James Brown, Aretha, Zeppelin, Hendrix, The Doors, The Smiths, The Cure, Bad Brains, Cocteau Twins, Suicidal Tendencies, Bauhaus, The Police, and Salt N Pepa, all at the same time, all before I was 11 years old. These are all artists and genres of music that I've been influenced by throughout my life, and the music I'm making now as Santogold reflects these influences.
I think Wes [Diplo] might have been speaking about the music that I made with my band Stiffed, which was pretty much straight up post-punk, new wave.
We caught you at Coachella. And your live show is so much like a Public Enemy performance. Who're your dancers? How'd you come up with the look and feel of your shows?
My dancers, aka "SG1s," are a cross between Public Enemy's S1Ws, the Robert Palmer girls, and all the teenage dancers who film themselves and post their videos on YouTube. They're amazing and help make the show so fun. They're also two Southern girls from Houston, Texas,(relocated to Brooklyn) who have been friends for years and it's like being with family on the road.
In which we nudge you from your laptop and into the night ...
- Start your drinking games, folks (info)
- Will this crowd stay "Mellow" during the debate? (info)
- Maybe you know what you are eating tonight, but do you know what you'll dine on 10 years from now? (info)
- Super NES super fun in super South Park (info)
- A SPIDER??? Don't panic. Just go to this class and breathe (info)
Name: The Zombie
By: The Tractor Room
What's in it: rum, rum, rum and just a splash of rum. More specifically, Meyers dark rum, Bacardi white rum, Creole Shrub rum, fresh-pressed lemon and lime juice, paradise fruit juice and a swig of bitters to tone it all down.
Around this time of year, one tends to search for a liquid companion for cooing the voodoo doll, revisiting "Night of the Living Dead" or working up the courage to impress potential mates by reenacting the "Thriller" video at costume parties without looking like one spends way too much time locked in one's bedroom, performing for the mirror. Enter the Zombie, the ancestor of jungle juice that returned to Earth to teach you that Everclear is for frat boys. Born in Hollywood in the 1930s, the drink went down in the history books as a hit at the 1939 World Fair, probably because at that point in time most Americans had no idea so much booze (7 1/2 oz. to be exact) could be ingested in one sitting so painlessly. The cringe factor is minimal even though it's flammable (yes, it really will ignite), which means speaking anywhere near a fire for at least three hours after consumption is ill-advised. You'll find the recipe in any bartender's manual, but the Tractor Room wins the blue ribbon for classic cocktails done classy. Just look at the girth of that pineapple wedge.
