Top 10 Things About Covering Music for OC Weekly

5. Watching local bands blow up is hella fun--and makes us proud. It was great to see the Jakes evolve into MTV darlings Young the Giant, as championed by Morrissey and such. They even have a headlining show at OC Fair this summer!

4. OC Weekly gets to cover Long Beach, too. Okay, we get a lot of flak for this because it's technically in Los Angeles County. But because the OC and LB music scenes have more of an affinity than LA/LB or LA/OC, it's just historically been the natural state of the Weekly's music coverage. Honestly, covering LB made the job twice as fun.

3. Outdoor concerts are always pleasant affairs. Did I mention I survived two Wisconsin winters? It's hard to drag your ass out to watch shows when it's -17 degrees outside. And summers, when they held Summerfest, were sticky and humid. That will never be a problem in OC. The U.S. Open of Surfing, Doheny Days, Buskerfest, Punk Rock Picnic--all of it is held in perfect 75-degree weather.

2. Really huge acts perform at local venues (and sometimes don't). Weezer performed at Huntington Beach, U2 had a Honda Center stop, and Kings of Leon are at the Verizon Wireless every year. And when they do cancel an OC gig, it's a huge deal. Remember Monster Massive? And Playground Festival? Those events didn't pan out too well, but covering the news was really exciting for us. 

1. No matter what level of fame up-and-coming local musicians have, their quality is always world-class. Jeramiah Red, Nicole Vaughn and Her Lovely Band, and Railroad to Alaska may not be household-name famous yet, but they could very well be--and soon.