30 September 2008, 757pm: The 3.0 magnitude bump recently felt, by my ass, on the hardwood floor while halfheartedly watching the closing credits of a three-year-old episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” serves as a friendly, if not altogether unsettling, reminder: It is time for my ass to get my ass off of the floor and start making his way over to the Temple Bar for the venue’s closing party tonight. End of an era and all that. Hop to it, ass.

Image: USGS Caltech Seismic

» Temple Bar to Close End of Month

HEADS UP

Oasis w/ Ryan Adams & The Cardinals @ STAPLES Center Thu 12/4

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Oasis return to town in support of their forthcoming Dig Out Your Own Soul LP. With Ryan Adams & The Cardinals in tow, they headline STAPLES Center December 4.

The ticket pre-sale is on morning at 10 a.m. The password is (obviously) WONDERWALL.

[TICKETS ]

You can win tickets from us now, so enter our drawering here:
[ENTER TO WIN OASIS / RYAN ADAMS TICKETS]

LOSANJEALOUS (Losanjealous):: The week begins. The economy is in the shitter, and Congress is flushing. Palin parties are being scheduled all over town for Thursday: Alaskan beer, Delaware lump crab dip for the crackers, shits and giggles all around. The University of Oklahoma remains undefeated. (Sorry USC.) The cards are being dealt in Commerce, the hybrid tomato vines show no sign of slowing their annual yield, the City of Industry now contains industries with an autumnal color palette. And over at some local music-and-culture blog by the name of Losanjealous, we take a look into the past – something we rarely do – and pull three dusty names from the vault, engage in conversation and, for lack of a more appropriate criminally overused phrase, play catchup. The names in question are:

• Mair
• NoSmell Bob
• Ron

The aforementioned names may ignite a smattering of recognition sparks for the longtime reader. But if you’ve been reading this website for less than a year, you likely have no idea who in the hell these people are and what their roles in the Losanjealous universe as we know it may be. Goddammit. It is my job to change all that this week. Stick around.

You may have spied it while stumbling drunkenly to your car after that last, unwise shot of Patron at La Cita. Peering over the roll-down bars, you’d spy a cavernous, basement-like structure, quiet in the late night hours that envelops Downtown Los Angeles. But visit during the day, and you’ll find a bustling market full of food stalls selling a wide variety of yummy ethnic fast-food, cheaper than the dirt they were grown in produce stands, and a variety of random vendors selling everything from mole by the pound to necklace charms depicting Jesus on a cross (with your sweetie’s name engraved underneath, natch).

Grand Central Market has been around since 1917. Across the street from the also historic, now out of commission Angel’s Flight, Angelenos would take a penny-ride to the open-air market which met the needs of newly immigrated families from all over the world. It’s been remodeled many times throughout the years, but it still has that old-world feel to it, which is a nice contrast to the high rise buildings and power-suited yuppies just a few blocks away in the Financial District.
»continue reading Under $10: Sarita’s Pupuseria

PICK OF THE WEEK

MY BLOODY VALENTINE
End of U.S. tour
2 shows:
Wed 10/1
Thurs 10/2
Santa Monica Civic
 
 
 

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BACK-TO-SCHOOL TICKET GIVEAWAY BLOWOUT CONTINUES
 
JAMIE LIDELL
Mon 9/29
Avalon | Info
[ENTER TO WIN] Contest closed.

CALEXICO
Mon 9/29
Henry Fonda
Info | [ENTER TO WIN]

DAN LE SAC VS. SCROOBIUS PIP
Tues 9/30 | The Echo
Info
[ENTER TO WIN] Contest closed.

STARS
Wed 9/24
Avalon | Info
[ENTER TO WIN] Contest closed.

DANDY WARHOLS
Fri 10/3
The Wiltern | Info
[ENTER TO WIN] Entry closed.

DEERHOOF
Fri 10/3
Avalon | Info
[ENTER TO WIN] Entry closed.

NIKKA COSTA
Fri 10/3 | El Rey
Info
[ENTER TO WIN] Entry closed.

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DAVID BYRNE
Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno
Fri 10/3
Greek Theater
Info
[ENTER TO WIN] Entry closed.
 
 

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LA WEEKLY DETOUR FESTIVAL
The Mars Volta, Gogol Bordello, Shiny Toy Guns, The Presets, Cut Copy, Matt Costa, The Submarines, The Mae Shi and many more.
Sat 10/4 | Downtown
Info
[ENTER TO WIN] Entry closed.
 

*Please include your full name and be sure you can make the show when entering contests.
 

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HEADS UP

Bajofondo @ The Roxy Sat 10/11
Supersuckers @ The Roxy Fri 10/17
Chris Cornell & Timbaland @ House of Blues Sat 10/25
Vic Chesnutt w/ Elf Power @ Echoplex Mon 11/10
Beck @ Club Nokia Mon 11/10
Lupe Fiasco @ Club Nokia Wed 11/12
B-52′s @ Club Nokia Sun 11/16
The Slits, Love Is All & Vivian Girls @ Echoplex Sun 11/16
Vivian Girls, Love Is All, Abe Vigoda & Nodzzz @ The Smell Tue 11/18
Matisyahu @ Club Nokia Tue 11/18
Lucinda Williams w/ Buick 6 @ The Wiltern Fri 11/21
Little Dragon w/ Jason Bentley @ The Roxy Fri 11/21
Sarah Silverman (“Jesus Is Magic” – late show) Fri 11/21
Sarah Silverman (“Jesus Is Magic” – early show) Fri 11/21
Nas @ Club Nokia Wed 11/26
Sergio Mendes @ Club Nokia Sat 11/29
Smashing Pumpkins @ Gibson Amphitheatre Wed 12/3
Smashing Pumpkins @ Gibson Amphitheatre Tue 12/2
Oasis @ Staples Center (On sale 10/3) Thu 12/4
AC/DC @ The Forum Mon 12/8
Rick Springfield @ Club Nokia Fri 12/12
Etta James & Root Band @ Club Nokia Sat 12/13
X & The New York Dolls (Merry Christmas with…) Sat 12/20
Madeleine Peyroux @ Club Nokia Sat 3/28

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MONDAY
Calexico @ Henry Fonda
Jamie Lidell @ Avalon
Jimmy Gneco of Ours w/ Cynthia Catania @ The Roxy
The Soul of John Black w/ Dionne Farris @ Temple Bar

»continue reading Losanjealous Concert Picks: Sept. 29 – Oct. 5

BREAKING: Michael Cera backlash brewing. First Defamer put it out there that M.C. is apparently passing on the long-rumored much-anticipated A.D. movie. Today, Wells springboards off this Sun.’s NYT profile and pretty much nails it.

But, to [over]simplify, maybe it’s just all about the damn fleece zip hoody sweatshirts.

Juno. (obvs.) One of a couple of hoodies donned by the character throughout the film, the signature one of course, the bright red track team pullover, while not a zippered hoody, still a hoody nonetheless.

Superbad. Progressing to a somewhat better fitting, more mature solid color hoody.

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Promisingly, this hoody is sungly fitted, suggesting a bit more confidence. Also of note, it appears from this photo still that this particular hoody mysteriously has its hood drawstrings completely retracted or removed entirely (the Freudians among you please feel free to go nuts with this bit).

A few weeks ago on this site, a self-styled “gonzo journalist” named DF wrote a feature about his experience at the all-you-can-eat pavilion (AYCEP) at Dodger Stadium. DF seems to think it there’s something amusing about seeing how many hot dogs he can cram down during a single baseball game.
»continue reading DF Visits All-You-Can-Eat Pavilion @ Dodger Stadium: A Reader Responds

»continue reading CSS (Cansei de Ser Sexy) @ Mayan Theater, September 23, 2008

Earlier this year, hillbilly punk duo Restaurant found themselves with a dilemma:

There are too many goddamned restaurants in Google for us to use this non-unique word as the name of our band.

Solution: Change name of the band to the decidedly more Soviet-friendly Restavrant.

Perhaps you caught the band at Mr. T’s Bowl, Echo or Tangier, back in the spring or even last year. Or maybe it was the one night per week when they actually have decent live music at Three Clubs. Maybe you even caught them at one of Little Radio Dave’s top secret Bar-B-Q parties down at South by Southwest. That’s all fine and well, but, you saw Restaurant. Not Restavrant. The name change is so new in fact, the label doesn’t even know which spelling to use at this point. Nor does myspace (check the URL). Christ! I haven’t been this confused since Daddy went Diddy.

So did the name change work? Only Google knows for sure. Find out this Friday at the Troubadour by googling “Restavrant Troubadour” and returning a disturbingly close-range image of yourself, at the Troubadour, which I will have uploaded from my perch at the bar. See you there. Watch out for flying license plates.

(UPDATE: Narnack [the band's label] has now diligently updated the band’s bio page following our lighthearted chops-busting blog post)

HEADS UP
Restavrant @ Troubadour (Record Release Party) Fri 9/26

» Restavrant: RETURNS TO THE TOMB OF GUILIANO MEDIDICI (09.30.08)

Storytelling songwriter David Berman occasionally draws on afternoons and is known in some circles as a fêted contemporary poet, probably letting 1,000 poems collect dust under his floorboards.

In an interview by mail, we can’t really talk nonchalantly about weather with the man behind Silver Jews, but we can approach the weather as a writing exercise—blending deep or analytical questions with phrasing you might answer on a “What primary color are you?” test.

Are the musician and the writer and the artist in you, roommates, neighbors, family or friends?

They are in some ways all strangers to my day to day self. I am always standing behind them and can’t see their faces….

Does your approach to making music take the same type of architecture as working with words?

Music in western rock and country doesn’t get written so much as blocked out.
There is no comparison between the recombination of a handful of guitar chords and the systems of language.

If your music had a landscape, what would it be?

»continue reading Electronic Correspondence with David Berman of Silver Jews

The Raconteurs are a solid band. Not the colloquial “solid” that equates to faint praise—i.e., “solid effort, sport”—as if mere molecular coherence alone is commendable—but in the fullest, multi-dimensional sense of the word, as in substantial, united, without division, genuine. Solid on record, solid live—perhaps even more so the latter.

The four-piece so-called super group, augmented for this tour by Mark Watrous on keys and a mean fiddle, expertly executed a rapturously received short and tight set of capital-R Rock, culled from their 2 records this past Monday, the first of a pair of nights in town at The Greek Theater. The crowd was a fun mix, industry cool dad types in denim dragging along long haired offspring in ill-fitting hoodies and $80 Beckham jerseys, Jack White fanboys and their dates (Overheard: Guy: “You’ve never seen Jack White before, have you? He’s a hell of a musician. Gal: “…”)

»continue reading Raconteurs: Rock, Solid at The Greek

PICK OF THE WEEK

OBAMA-RAMA
The Bird and The Bee (pictured), Lady Tigra, Willoughby, Electrocute, Hard Place, Polyamorous Affair, Wolfkin & DJ Lance Rock
Tues 9/23
Spaceland
Info
 

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BACK-TO-SCHOOL TICKET GIVEAWAY BLOWOUT
 
HOT CHIP w/ Drums of Death
Mon 9/22
The Wiltern | Info
[ENTER TO WIN] Contest closed.

CSS w/ Tilly & The Wall
Mon 9/22 & Tues 9/23
Mayan Theater
[ENTER MON] | [ENTER TUES]

OKKERVIL RIVER w/ Sea Wolf
Tues 9/23 | Henry Fonda
Info
[ENTER TO WIN] Contest closed.

BRAZILLIAN GIRLS
Wed 9/24
The Wiltern | Info
[ENTER TO WIN] Contest closed.

THE NEW YEAR w/ A Weather
Wed 9/24
The Echo | Info
[ENTER TO WIN] Contest closed.

COLD WAR KIDS
Thurs 9/24
Henry Fonda | Info
[ENTER TO WIN] Contest closed.

THE HIVES
& EAGLES OF DEATH METAL
Thurs 9/25 | Mayan Theater | Info
[ENTER TO WIN]

JUNO REACTOR | Thurs 9/25 | El Rey
Info |[ENTER TO WIN]
BONUS: Winners will receive a copy of the new J.R. CD Gods & Monsters at the show!

MSTRKRFT w/ Felix Cartal
Fri 9/26 | Henry Fonda
Sun 9/28 | El Rey
[ENTER FRI] | [ENTER SUN]

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WALKING WITH DINOSAURS
Thurs 9/25 Opening Night!
Staples Center | Runs 9/25 – 9/28
Tickets & Info | Official Website
[ENTER TO WIN] Contest closed.

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HEADS UP

Spectrum @ The Echo (Sonic Boom playing Spaceman 3 tunes) Sun 9/28
The Soul of John Black w/ Dionne Farris @ Temple Bar Mon 9/29
Kurt Warner w/ Chapin Sisters @ Echoplex (Lambchop) Thu 10/2
Tarfest Music Program @ El Rey (Love Lies Sleeping, Castledoor, DJ Diabetic (aka Shepard Fairey) and The Illuminoids) Sat 10/4
Low vs Diamond @ Glass House Thu 10/9
Joe Jackson @ The Grove of Anaheim Fri 10/17
Pete Rock @ Key Club Fri 10/24
White Lies @ The Roxy Thu 10/30
Temple Bar Closing Party hosted by Carlos Nino @ Temple Bar Tue 9/30
Jenny Lewis w/ Beachwood Sparks and Pierre De Reeder @ Orpheum Theatre Thu 10/30
Experience Hendrix @ Greek Theatre (Mitch Mitchell & Billy Cox, Buddy Guy, Jonny Lang, Robbie Krieger & more) Sun 11/2
The Dodos @ The Echo Sat 11/8
Dungen @ The Echo Wed 11/12
John Doe & Kathleen Edwards @ El Rey Thu 11/13
Little Ones @ The Echo Fri 11/14
Chelsea Handler @ Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza Fri 11/21
Kraak & Smaak @ Henry Fonda Fri 11/21
Holly Golightly and the Broke-Offs @ Spaceland Sat 11/29
Azure Ray @ Troubadour Sun 11/30
AC/DC @ The Forum Sat 12/6
Amanda Palmer @ Henry Fonda (of Dresden Dolls) Tue 12/16
Reverend Horton Heat w/ Manic Hispanic @ House of Blues Sun 2/22

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MONDAY
CSS w/ SSION @ Mayan Theatre
Dios (Malos) @ Spaceland
Does It Offend You, Yeah? @ Troubadour
Fleet Foxes @ El Rey
Hot Chip @ The Wiltern
The Raconteurs w/ The Kills @ Greek Theatre

»continue reading Losanjealous Concert Picks: September 22 – 28

4.29pm. September 13, 2008. Hollywood, CA. Countless readers have written in asking how DF spent the just-concluded roller derby mid-season hiatus, and the answer should have been obvious to all: rehab! But the twist is that this time DF’s addiction du jour was not Pez, or Yoo-Hoo, or even Scotch eggs, as in so many times past, but something even more powerfully addicting: the L.A. Derby Dolls. But DF is happy to report that the rehab was a complete success. He is completely cured of his derby addiction, and as such will not, repeat NOT, be attending tonight’s bout. And he is feeling calm and serene about it. Totally. Completely.

5.50pm. Still more or less calm and serene. Except for that shortness of breath. Remember: utter surrender to the Higher Power. And yet I’m still kind of breaking out in a sweat here. Be cool, DF, remember what they said in all those meetings: you must not worry about what you cannot control.

6.44pm. Control waning. Serenity evaporating. All right, that’s it. GET ME TO THE MOTHER-SHITTING DOLL FACTORY RIGHT GODDAMNED NOW!!!

»continue reading Blood on the Banked Track: L.A. Derby Dolls @ the Doll Factory, 9/13/2008