Chris Victorio

Railroad to Alaska performs at last year's OC Music Awards

​The OC Music Awards announced the launch of its free iPhone app today featuring interviews, photos and playlists of bands participating in the nine-week competition. We here at Weekly World Headquarters were rightly hooked by the word "free," and proceeded to tap furiously at the faces of our phones summoning the bits and bytes of info to our tiny drives. More >>

​File this under "if everybody else is doing it, we may as well be doing it as well." After years of resistance, the Beatles have finally given into the temptation (or have adapted to the times) and have allowed the songs of their #1 album to be sold as ring tones. Though this would have been in news in 2006, it still stings a bit.

To me, the Beatles holding out was one of the last bastions of rock purity. Yes, there are a few bands left who are fighting completely digitizing their music (AC/DC comes to mind), but for the lads from Liverpool putting out their music in this fashion means that the digital revolution is almost complete and there's no turning back or any sense hiding from out now. Buying music online is not only an accepted practice, but in a few years, I wouldn't be surprised if it's the only way to purchase music. Having your music available on iTunes or Amazon is fine and dandy, but ringtones? I don't think I've heard an adult have a ringtone in years (and that's who I think EMI is targeting with this release).

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​Dear Sonny Moore,

Congratulations on winning three Grammy awards this year. You are undoubtedly very talented, and know how to get down during your set.

Forget what Dave Grohl said about DJs making music on their computers. I mean, he only performed with Deadmau5 at the Grammys right after he said that. He's probably mad it took him years and years to win a Grammy, while it only took you a year to win three.

That said, please know that I love your music, but I cannot stand your fans. If you get a chance, please tell them that these are five reasons they suck.

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Terence Love

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UPDATE, FEB 22 11:16 A.M.:  Nancy Sanchez may not be in a band called Ruby Red anymore, but the singer is in the black! For all those who didn't check in on her Kickstarter page last Friday to see if she made her album project funding goal, Sanchez reached $15,000 with about three hours left to go. The hardworking musician was at a gig when people started sending her texts with the good news. For added measure, she actually went $186 over the threshold by the expiration deadline as 116 backers came through in the clutch -- and then some

Heard Mentality send its congratulations and eagerly awaits the release of Ruby in L.A. here in OC. Adelante mujer!
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Andrew Youssef/OC Weekly

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Well, this is it. Irvine prog-rockers Thrice are really doing it--taking a break after 13 years together. Singer/guitarist Dustin Kensrue, guitarist Teppei Teranishi, bassist Eddie Breckenridge and drummer Riley Breckenridge (our 3hree Things columnist) will go on tour on May 4 in San Diego and end up in SoCal in June.

It's great that they're touring once more, but the words "Farewell Tour" sound so ominous and...final. If the band are just on hiatus, as they announced last November, shouldn't it be called something like a "Farewell For Now Tour"? The band will also be recording live audio along to the tour for a live album slated for release in late 2012. Animals As Leaders will open for them on all the dates.

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Todd Barnes/OC Weekly

Starfucker at Detroit Bar

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Starfucker, the indie pop sweethearts behind the music from Target's "Pepto Pink" commercial, is taking a break from recording and heading down to SoCal to properly fuck some stars. They'll be playing at The Observatory this Thursday, with Robert Delon & White Arrows.

Before they left the mystical land of Portland for the just-as-mystical land of Orange County, I was able to give their bassist, Shawn Glassford, a call and ask him about their sometimes chaotic name, non-heteronormative stage wear and what they have on the horizon. More >>

​Detroit Bar is hosting a benefit tomorrow night for Rebecca Willis, a 22-year-old Newport Beach resident. While crossing Newport Blvd. in Costa Mesa early last Saturday morning, Willis was hit by a car. The Register says "Willis broke bones throughout her body and is in an induced coma."

Family and friends described Willis as a warm-hearted and loving; she worked with a nonprofit called Invisible Children to raise awareness about Ugandan child soldiers and hosted many travelers at her home she shared with roommates via couchsurfing.org.
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​We are giving away two pairs of STRFKR tickets for their show at the Observatory on Feb. 23. And you know you don't want to miss it, because STRFKR = therapy. Just ask frontman Josh Hodges, who told us last year:  "I really didn't expect anything to come out of [Starfucker] except to be a therapeutic project for me."More >>

​David Bazan
February 20, 2012
Living Room Show

I had the pleasure of seeing David Bazan and his band at The Constellation Room in December of last year, and my subsequent gushing about how moving and intimate I'd found the show to be was met by a chorus of Bazan fans insisting I get my ass out to one of his incredible living room shows. Three months later, I had the good fortune of finding myself (and my ass) comfortably positioned on a couch in a living room with 20 or 30 other Bazan diehards to see the man do his thing.

They were right. It couldn't have been better.

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Mutya Bose

​Sinead O Connor
The El Rey Theater
Feb. 20, 2012

Sinead O'Connor cuts a tragic figure. When she debuted The Lion and the Cobra in 1987 she blew everyone away with her anger, passion and intensity. Twenty-five years later, her extreme antics (tearing up a photo of the Pope, getting ordained as a priest, calling for lovers on her site) have turned O'Connor's image in popular media as a laughable caricature.

Maybe it's because O'Connor never did what people wanted her to; she didn't sell sex, or pander to popular political opinions at the time. And if you're a woman with a differing opinion--a real one with conviction, not an "express yourself" platitude a la Lady Gaga--well, you're setting yourself up for ridicule no matter what.

I blame the Internet, of course. O'Connor should never have been given access to it. It's so easy, when you see pictures of her gaining weight, or her Twitter feed, or articles on her marriage, to forget. Forget that she has an amazing voice that can bring you to tears in seconds. That goosebumps and prickly back-of-your neck hairs are de rigeur at her shows. That her songs are personal stories that mirror many of our lives. That she cares about her audience, very much. And that, 25 years after her powerful debut, O'Connor's voice is still so beautiful and pure. And that she is still very much capable of delivering a highly emotional and exciting show. 

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