​Metalachi and the Go To Elevens
DiPiazza's Long Beach
Jan. 27, 2012

It's not every Saturday night when I walk into a venue and there's a band on stage playing Spinal Tap's uber-classic "Stonehenge." But it should be because that was pretty much the most awesome way to start an evening.


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Daniel Kohn

Reed ready to sign

On Friday, Lou Reed, did an in-store at Fingerprints in Long Beach. As expected, there were fans from all walks of love at the beloved record store. The line, per usual, extended from the store's front on 4th St. and around Elm. Unlike the recent Brian Wilson signing, there were less people and alas, less time for the Velvet Underground impresinario to sign. However, all wasn't lost as Reed performed a poetry reading during the middle of the signing session. As we waited on-line for the Long Island-native to make his way to the store, here are some of our favorite people we encountered and what they had signed.More >>

www.ThomasMcConville.com

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Two things pop into my head when I hear the term "musical joke." One is something along the lines of Tenacious D or those classic Adam Sandler Saturday Night Live sketches. You know--stuff that's meant to be funny.

The other is a lot less positive and brings to mind the word "trainwreck." We've all heard/seen this sort of musical joke, usually in the form of a teenage garage band playing a show three weeks after buying instruments, our crazy uncles thinking they are on stage at the Staples Center when in fact they are botching a Bob Dylan tune on their couches or Madonna.

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Ryan Ritchie

​The Spell, Mr. Elevator & The Brain Hotel and Ambush Freqs
Blue Cafe
Dec. 31, 2011

You know you went to a good show when you're 100 percent sober on New Year's Eve, your date flakes on you a few hours before leaving, no girls even come close to kissing you at midnight and you still have a really great time. That's exactly what happened to me Saturday at the Blue Cafe, which made me the happiest sober dude in all of Long Beach.

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Chris Victorio/OC Weekly

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Jeremy Eichenbaum

​Champagne. Kisses at midnight. Some dude throwing up.

These are what we've come to expect at New Year's Eve parties, which is why I'm headed to the Blue Cafe in Long Beach to see the Spell, Ambush Freqs and Mr. Elevator & the Brain Hotel. I'm no psychic (although I play one on this blog), so here's what I'm planning on seeing this Saturday evening.
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Ryan Ritchie

​Snoop Dogg and Wiz KhalifaMore >>

Mary Bell/OC Weekly

Delta Spirit at BuskerFest in Long Beach in 2010

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South By Southwest revealed a whole slew of new acts confirmed to play at official showcases during the annual music and film conference in Austin. This is the third list of musicians to be released. The venues and dates they will be playing at have not yet been announced, but they will play sometime between March 13 and 18. Notable acts include Delta Spirit, Stars, Blitzen Trapper, Built to Spill and Metric.

Countless rising bands have attributed a large part of their success to playing at the massive city-wide music conference held each spring. See the entire list as well as which three local bands have been added below. 
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Lilledeshan Bose/OC Weekly

Brian Wilson with his wife Melinda. Click here to see more photos frrom the night.

​Brian Wilson owes the world nothing. Nope, not you, mega fan. Nor you, guy who owns a mint condition 45 of Heroes And Villains. Nor you, guy who traded in his Sublime records for a copy of Pet Sounds.

But Wilson made a super rare public appearance and held an autograph session for the long awaited, never-completed-album-until-now, The Smile Sessions boxed set. Did he have to do it? Of course not. But he did and he chose the perfect venue for the evening: Fingerprints Records.

Wilson signed non-stop for a little over two hours for approximately 350 fans filing politely in from a line stretching down 4th St. and around Elm. The flock consisted of the old, the young, the hip and the not-so-hip, all holding onto prized copies of favorite LPs or brand new CDs. Here's a sampling of the kind of people we met in line.
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​The word "legend" applies only to a few people on this planet. One of those people is Brian Wilson. The man behind the Beach Boys is a bona fide musical genius and most certainly a legend in my book, which is why everyone reading this should stop what they are doing and go to Fingerprints in Long Beach right now because Wilson will be there Tuesday at 7 p.m. signing copies of the Smile Sessions box set.

Pretty awesome, right? Right.

However -- and it pains me to say this -- don't expect much from Wilson other than his signature on your record. I "met" Wilson once and have done two phone interviews with him and to say he is uncomfortable around people he doesn't know is like saying Pet Sounds is just "some record."

The time I "met" him went like this: I was backstage at a Brian Wilson/Paul Simon show at the Greek Theatre. There was a small room of about 20 people waiting for the post-gig meet and greet, which should have been titled the "Brian Wilson walks into a doorway, sees 20 people waiting for him, makes a face like he caught his parents having sex, then tries to escape before anyone notices but can't because the entire room starts clapping as he is quietly high-tailing it out of there."


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