Matt Oliver

At the Vans Warped Tour official kick-off party and press conference at Club Nokia in downtown Los Angeles last week, creator Kevin Lyman marveled, "It's really cool--18 years and people still care!" Back in 1995, Lyman started the Warped Tour and showcased bands such as No Doubt and Sublime. Today, it's America's longest-running festival concert tour featuring punk, alternative, hip-hop, ska, pop, punk, electronica, alternative rock, reggae, emo, hardcore and more.  This year's installment features The Used, Falling In Reverse, Matt Toka, Dead Sara, It Boys, Tomorrows Bad Seeds, Vampires Everywhere, Justina, Cherry Bomb and Forever Came Calling. The tour will also be making its way to Europe, starting in London on Nov. 10.

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Ben Goetting

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You've got to love the refreshing straight-forwardness that comes with calling your event a "thing." Like the North Park Music Thing, a music and media conference next weekend at the Lafayette Hotel & Suites in San Diego. There's an opening night concert Friday, August 7 at the Casbah, headlined by fairly supergroup Midnight Rivals (featuring, among others, members of Rocket From the Crypt and Louis XIV), two days of workshops and panels on August 8 and 9, and a street festival that Sunday including the Night Marchers, pictured, Avi Buffalo, Black Heart Procession and the "yes, they still exist!" Presidents of the United States of America. Only $25 for everything.

Why is this relevant to Orange County? Well, one of the workshops features a very special (yes, feel free to interpret "special" in any dersive of juvenile way you would like) guest. Description after the jump!

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