Chris Ziegler reported for us back in October about Koo's returning to Santa Ana and taking over programming at the long-dormant Yost Theater, and now shows are beginning to pop up on the venue's schedule. It's a move that generated some degree of grousing--particularly around November's SoundDowntown festival, which was organized by Koo's founder Dennis Lluy and used the Yost among other venues--namely, that it marks gentrification of downtown Santa Ana. (One commenter in the above linked story said, "Dennis is a gentrifying basterd who stole the Yost from the non-profit that had it reopened." The spelling errors are his.) But fans of arts and culture have to be pleased that there's another place where good acts are being booked in Orange County.

LA's adorable lounge-pop duo The Bird and the Bee (pictured), who released Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future this past Tuesday, will be there Thursday, Feb. 26. Singer/songwriter Richard Swift is on tap for March 14, and LA-based psychedelic folk group The Parson Red Heads on March 25.

For more info, check Koo's Web site.

April 18 is Record Store Day. The National Association of Recording Merchandisers is sponsoring this celebration of "the unique culture of indie record stores all year long" with sales, in stores and other mayhem. NAMBLA, I mean, NARM has the backing of fellow sponsors Music Monitor Network, the Coalition of Independent Music Stores and the Alliance of Independent Music Stores. It has the historical success of Record Store Day 2008, which saw sales spike at independent record stores all across the land. And it has the musical celebrity endorsements of such talent as Chuck Berry, Ziggy Marley, the Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne, Norah Jones and Sir Paul McCartney, who says, "There's nothing as glamorous to me as a record store. When I recently played Amoeba in LA, I realized what fantastic memories such a collection of music brings back when you see it all in one place. This is why I'm more than happy to support Record Store Day and I hope that these kinds of stores will be there for us all for many years to come. Cheers!" Ben Harper even gave a shout out to a store where I blew all my college loans, Rhino Records in Claremont.

Yeah, Record Store Day has everything going for it . . . except Orange County. According to the online map, we are but a desert of little pop up thingies indicating participating venues.
No Vinyl Solution of Huntington Beach, no Pepperland of Orange, no TKO Records of Fountain Valley. I'm not saying those places aren't holding events tied to Record Store Day, I'm saying they are not part of the NARM's map that shows Fingerprints in Long Beach being the closest store that is. If you have something against Fingerprints (shame on you!) or spending money is all of Los Angeles, your next closest choices are Lou's Records in Encinitas and Mad Platter in Riverside.

The gas to get to one of those should equal about a used disc and a half.

I wanted to be the first person in the blogosphere to comment on what bands you should see at Coachella. So here goes.

The Aggrolites -- LA's best white boy reggae/soul/funk band. They wear cool clothes and know how to throw a dance party.

Thievery Corporation -- Maybe you know them, maybe you don't. The only time I went to Coachella (hello 2003), I saw these guys and they were great. Killer dance/groove stuff. Or maybe that was the weed talking.

Superchunk -- They're still around?

Bob Mould Band -- Worth seeing for the off off off off off chance he plays "Everything Falls Apart," which I'd bet he won't.

The Night Marchers -- John Reis' latest band. Most musicians get shittier as time goes on. For some reason, he gets better.

Paul McCartney -- Duh.

Morrissey -- Hey Morrissey, shit or get off the pot. We want the Smiths.

Leonard Cohen -- My girlfriend would kill me if I didn't mention her favorite Canadian singer/songwriter.

Crystal Method -- Watch out for the brown acid, maaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnn.

Amy Winehouse -- Insert your own joke here.

The Cure -- If I was ever going to slit my wrists in a bathtub like some romantic noir flick, Disintegration would be playing in the background.

Public Enemy -- I'm fully aware that it's 2009, not 1989, but shouldn't their name be bigger on the flyer?

 

I reserve the right to add to this list up until the festival closes April 19.

Until you've stepped inside the doors of Cafe Lu, then you have no idea how sexy the words "Vietnamese coffee house" can be. But anyone of their loyal Santa Ana customers can tell you that in addition to decent brew, giant TVs and cigarette smoke, this is the only place where you can get hot refills from even hotter, scantily clad Vietnamese servers. It's like the perfect merger between Starbucks and Hooters...only it actually exists! And what could be better than that?

Well, tomorrow night, the girls of Cafe Lu are hosting a party at Shark Club in Costa Mesa in honor of their new photo calendar. As if Shark Club's ultra decadent barrage of  booze,hot music, neon lights and entertainment weren't enough, try adding 20 beautiful Cafe Lu girls to the mix.

Remember that one special Lu waitress you've been slobbering over every day for months? Well, she'll probably be there. And even if you walk away without her number, at least you can check out the calendar and spare yourself the amount of gas it takes to get coffee twice a day.

Until you've stepped inside the doors of Cafe Lu, then you have no idea how sexy the words "Vietnamese coffee house" can be. But anyone of their loyal Santa Ana customers can tell you that in addition to decent brew, giant TVs and cigarette smoke, this is the only place where you can get hot refills from even hotter, scantily clad Vietnamese servers. It's like the perfect merger between Starbucks and Hooters...only it actually exists! And what could be better than that? Well, tomorrow night, the girls of Cafe Lu are hosting a party at Shark Club in Costa Mesa in honor of their new photo calendar. As if Shark Club's ultra decadent barrage of  booze,hot music, neon lights and entertainment weren't enough, try adding 20 beautiful Cafe Lu girls to the mix. Remember that one special Lu waitress you've been slobbering over every day for months? Well, she'll probably be there. And even if you walk away without her number, at least you can checkout the calendar and spare yourself the amount of gas it takes to get coffee twice a day.

Long Beach's Haymaker is playing the Westside Bar & Grill tomorrow night at 9 p.m. Normally I'd post this on the day of the show, but I hate last-minute notices, so don't say you didn't have ample time.

Haymaker is a four-piece that plays twangy Americana rock that sometimes gets labeled alt-country. I'm not one for labels, so check out their tunes and you can decide where their discs should be stocked at your local record store.

Singer/guitarists J.W. and Mike Bay trade off lead vocals, and unlike others who try this, Haymaker doesn't lose a step when each takes the mic. And regardless of who's singing, you're getting something close to a modern day Creedence Clearwater Revival, which is to say they're catchy and (I can't believe I'm about to type this), a lil bit country and a lil bit rock 'n' roll. 

The best part is...it's FREE!!!!!!!

The Westside Bar & Grill is located at 512 W. 19th St.

Paul Tollett, the impresario behind the annual Coachella Music and Arts Festival, has heard the millions of voices crying out in terror, and is looking to suddenly silence them. Yes, there's still no lineup announcement. But, in the tradition of positive thinking, that's not a bad thing--its a good thing! Here's him, via the LA Times Pop & Hiss music blog:

"I know everybody is going crazy, but we're not stalling, we're still working on the show. Everything we do is in service of the show, not in service of the announcement of the show. Believe me, we're excited to tell everybody and we want to tell everybody, but the show is still being put together."

Don't worry Coachella fans; we will be serviced. In the meantime, enjoy the cool picture up there that I took of Tilly & the Wall from 2007's Coachella. Look at how much fun that looks! Those were the days. Those days. In 2007. At Coachella. Ah, memories.

I'll be returning to my college radio roots today and appearing on UC Irvine's station, KUCI, at noon. I'll be on their all-local music show Press Pass, presumably talking about--and listening to--local music. You can listen online, so what better way to spend your midday than hearing my dulcet tones? Oh, and the tunes, those should be good, too. Anaheim's We Are the Pilots will be live in-studio.

Check out the interview that erstwhile Aural Reporter Chris Ziegler did with Press Pass host Ashley Eliot here.

Back in October, the inestimable Rich Kane blogged What the hell is the OC Music Festival?, wondering about the proposed OC Music Festival scheduled for May 2009 that we had heard about but knew precious few details about--minor things like where it was to be held, for instance.

Well, we still know very little, but we do know that the May 2009 date isn't happening (makes sense, since, y'know, there's still no information about the festival out there). According to the offical Web site, it's now scheduled for "a mild weekend in the fall of 2009." O...K. Wackily, they have a link to buy tickets, but it doesn't actually work. Bummer!

Still looks as ambitious as ever, at least based on this "venue map." Hey, an OC Weekly logo. I can't wait to go chill in the Eco-Zone!