Orange County Music Blog

Pamela Littky

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There are many reasons to dislike Owl City, the electro tweepop project spearheaded by Owatonna, Minnesota 23-year-old Adam Young. For one thing the moniker is horrible. You can name yourself after a town or a continent - say, Boston or Chicago or Europe - but you can't name yourself after a city with the word "City" in the title. That's why there are no bands named "New York City" or "Oklahoma City." The fact that it's a pretend city makes it worse.

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We first learned of the OC Music Fest 13 months ago, when then-music editor Dave Segal blogged about its "Be The Shirt band/artist T-shirt design contest." No word on if a winner for that was ever announced, since the festival, once scheduled for May 8-10, clearly never happened.

​I wrote about Walk In Medical (pictured here in a now-outdated lineup) back in late November, in our Locals Only section. I though their EP, The Recluse, was promising, and am glad to see that they're still going and got some coverage from another publication, newly debuted local start-up OC Music Magazine. The article is here, and details the band's songwriting process and lineup changes. Only one weird thing: when writing about this year's addition of new bassist David Sachs, it neglects to mention that it is, in fact, the same David Sachs that is the "Publishing Editor" of OC Music Magazine.

Well, kinda...

For those who can stay up late, MTV has announced a novel concept called AMTV. The show, which airs from 3-9 a.m. Monday through Thursday, does nothing but air music videos for six hours. Call me crazy, but this might be the start of something new. I mean, I could even see this expanding into hours when people are actually awake.

I'm not sure if AMTV is going for something particular because two nights ago I saw Billy Idol's "White Wedding" followed by some Kelly Clarkson song. Some maybe it's the shuffle method. Whatever. At least it's not another reality show.

In related news, does anyone remember when MTV2 was supposed to be where videos were shown? The first (and only) time I ever watched that channel, I got a killer back-to-back of Public Enemy and Weezer. Two weeks later it was "The Real World San Jose" or something like that.

And no, I'm not linking to MTV's site. They don't need the help.

Holy shit! Last night I saw a commerical for the deluxe edition of Pearl Jam's debut Ten. I've been on this Earth for a mere 29 years, but suddenly I feel very, very, very old.

This re-issue includes a remastered version of the record and a remix done by long-time PJ producer Brendan O'Brien, six bonus tracks and a DVD of the group's 1992 performance on "MTV Unplugged."

By the time Ten came out in 1991, I was by no means a music novice. My tape collection (yes kids, there were these things called tapes) was pretty rad thanks to a healthy dose of Alice in Chains, Metallica, Guns n Roses, MC Hammer, the Beastie Boys, the Beatles, Living Colour and Nirvana, but I never liked those bands enough to buy a t-shirt.

Ten changed that.

I begged my mom to take me to the mall (cut me some slack, this was the 8th grade) to buy the band's infamous "nine out of 10 kids prefer crayons to guys" shirt. When you're in junior high, that's not just a cool band slogan, it's a fucking political statement. I didn't know then what statement I was making, nor do I know now, but I was definitely saying something.

By the time Pearl Jam's follow-up Vs. came out, my fandom was running pretty rampant. In fact, my cassette copy is called Five Against One, the album's original title. I listened to Vs. or Five Against One a handful of times and thought it was a solid come back to Ten.

But all was not well for me and Pearl Jam. In an ironic twist of fate, the grunge hype that I was spoonfed led me to check out other bands, those who were loosely or directly associated with the grunge all-stars of the early 1990s. So in a matter of weeks, Pearl Jam was out and Mudhoney was in. From there it was Black Flag, the Germs and the Descendents and I haven't thought about Pearl Jam since (although I never lost my love of Nirvana -- for some reason, they remained cool while Pearl Jam became really lame).

But I digress. This Ten reissue seems like a pretty good deal, unless you consider every motherfucker in America already owns this album. Seriously, I'm going to stop buying records and just wait a decade later until the re-issue comes out. Then I get what I want plus a whole lot more. Or wait...since the world's gone tech crazy, why not just gives record buyers (assuming those still exist) these complete packages from day one?

I know, it's wrong of me to take out my re-issue hate on Pearl Jam. They didn't start the fire and I'm sure it will continue to go on and on and on and on.

And let me go on record as saying this: All you fellow early '90s grunge rockers out there need to understand that music trends work in 20-year cycles. This means flannel and Big Muff pedals are about to make a major comeback, which leaves us with two options: Embrace this and frolic like we are young and dumb again or recognize how old and lame we've become and do our best to not jump off the nearest tall building.

Hey, so I guess it's St. Patrick's Day. Yay?

I've never been much for the holiday--I don't really see the point in an occasion when the only point is to drink, and yet it frequently falls on a weeknight. See also de Mayo, Cinco. Plus, there's unpleasant memories due to a St. Patrick's Day cover story I had to write two years ago at a different paper. So many shitty St. Patrick's Day events. Blarf. (It doesn't bother, me, though that it's basically a meaningless excuse to party--those are great, as long as you don't have to work the next day, like say, New Year's Eve.)

Anyway, I figured we'd celebrate this time with some Irish bands that don't really sound like Irish bands, because the whole fake-Celctic thing has been down to death by the insufferable likes of Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys. So, how about the Thrills? They sound like the kind of sunny pop that could come from right here in Orange County! Heck, they were actually on The O.C. Here's a live version of "Whatever Happened To Corey Haim," from 2004's Let's Battle Bohemia. I'd include the regular video, but embedding has been disabled. By request, even.

The Prospector in Long Beach is a cool place: good shows, good folks, good fun. But it seems that they're not above false advertising. Shame. Terrible, terrible shame.

In a shocking bit of chicanery, they posted a MySpace bulletin late this afternoon, saying only "KARAOKE TONIGHT WITH REID AND WADE!!!" in the subject. And the body itself was only this video:

Tickets are on sale now for a show April 11 at the House of Blues. Headlining the bill is a group called Tragedy. What's interesting about this is the venue says the show is a heavy metal tribute to the Bee Gees.

I don't know where to begin. For once in my life, I am at a loss for words. Never before have I thought that the disco-friendly Bee Gees would ever get a heavy metal makeover, but maybe Obama's right: change is on the way.

Please click their MySpace page for what is definitely the most unique version of "Stayin' Alive" I've ever heard.

Wait...I'm no longer at a loss for words. Since this is a mix of disco and metal, what drugs do I bring? Weed? Coke? Cheap booze? And how should I dress? Dirty long hair or clean flowing long hair? Jean jacket or vest? Do I bring my bros and try to pick up wasted hesher chicks or bring my bros and pick up wasted disco chicks? Dancing shoes or shit-kickers?

Oh, that's right. Neither. I can't stand the Bee Gees or metal (or tribute bands), so I probably won't be there.But you should go and tell me all about it.

"FREE MORAL AGENTS TONIGHT! QUEENS OF STONE AGE TOMORROW FREE"

That was the subject of a MySpace bulletin posted last night on Detroit Bar's account; now, I don't think they actually thought anyone would be fooled into think that the Queens of the Stone Age would be playing there free tonight, but it is kind of funny. Some would say false advertising, but those people should probably seriously lighten up.

What that subject did refer to, though, was the show tonight with Sweethead, featuring Troy Van Leeuwen, who plays a variety of instruments for Queens of the Stone Age. It's a show that we might have missed if not for that cleverly worded MySpace bulletin. Who's the real fool now?