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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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Henry Denander

​Poetry readings are boring. And I'm not just saying that as a guy whose sole exposure to the genre was a force-feeding of Maya Angelou in community college. Nope, I actually read -- and try to write -- the stuff and even I think most of these gatherings are really great if you are
suffering from insomnia and not much else.

Gerald Locklin agrees. The 70-year-old Long Beach writer (who also spent approximately two decades in Seal Beach) doesn't just get behind a podium, stick his face into a book and mumble through some poems. This guy goes for it, and by that I mean he makes this shit come alive. During a Locklin reading, audiences are bound to get a handful of really solid narrative poems about life in academia (of which he knows something about seeing how he begin teaching at Cal State Long Beach in 1965), jazz, art and day-to-day slices of life, but the highlight of these shows is when Locklin puts down the poems and moves away from the podium for a song-and-dance routine that never fails.

Locklin's repertoire is limitless, but lately he's been almost guaranteed to tap dance, sing a Lady Gaga routine and tell the story about the time he auditioned for a talent show when he was in elementary school. 

For the uneducated, it's easy to dismiss Locklin's showmanship as his way of hiding the fact that he can't write. Nothing could be further from the truth. With more than 125 published books and 3,000 published poems, short stories, articles, reviews and interview, Locklin is a master of the written word. Don't believe me? Well, you should because Charles Bukowski agreed. The two were friends and anyone who knows anything about Bukowksi knows his persona leads us to believe that he A. didn't care much for people and B. cared even less for other poets. To give a detailed account of his career would take up too much space, so visit his website at www.geraldlocklin.org. Trust me, I ain't getting paid to plug his site, so that must mean there's something worth checking out there.

In the meantime, Locklin is reading tomorrow night at Golden West College Community Room 102 (15744 Goldenwest St., Huntington Beach) with John Brantingham and Pam Arterburn. The reading begins at 8.  

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Myspace.com

The Cure

​​Not that you care, but last week, my girlfriend of 11 years and I broke up, which I guess makes me somewhat of an expert on the subject of really good records to listen to if you're feeling the loss of someone today. Like anyone who was with another person for a long enough time, it's nearly inevitable that certain songs, bands or records will remind me of that lost love, so here are five records I most certainly will not be listening to today.

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​Ten years ago, Jon Snodgrass was onstage at former Lake Forest venue The Gypsy Lounge. It was a Friday night on Valentine's Day, and his Colorado-based alt-country band Drag the River were performing to a receptive crowd. Then he--like many who have been drinking--had an idea that sounded amazing at the moment and not so amazing the next morning. Snodgrass announced to the audience that his group would play at the bar every Valentine's Day, and true to his word, they have. More >>

MySpace / Aaron Gautschi

A photo from 2008's Lightning In A Bottle Festival

​DoLab's Lightning In A Bottle fest starts Friday, and promises enough electrifying events to recharge a mid-size hybrid. But there are some especially special stand-outs inside that several-dozen strong line-up. Check out five mostly-local notables after the jump.
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As a policy, we've generally learned to love, accept and embrace the aural oddities of our little OC music scene wherever they should arise. And if you read this weeks Locals Only, which I know you did [if not, check it HERE] you know that the zombie shredders of Death Hymn Number 9 certainly qualify. Tonight they are playing a very messy show (as indicated on the flier) at the Tropic Lounge in Fullerton.

Joined by The Beat Killers and The Dynotones, Death Hymn will once again unleash their signature brand of instrumental gospel thrash to a room of unsuspecting beer drinkers. Anyone who has seen this band before knows that watching the look on people's faces as the band goes ape shit on their equipment is well worth the five dollar cover. Add that to the unpredictable shenanigans that occur on a nightly basis at Tropics and you have yourself a several certified reasons to get your ass to this show tonight (as if Adam West beckoning you with his sexy pose wasn't enough).

Now here's a flier with some potential. If you want people to show up to a concert hosted by the Sweet Relief musician's fund, why not go the literal route? Between the cigarette and the finger banging, we've got ourselves quite a visual metaphor here (looks like sweet relief to me). Impressive. Almost as impressive as watching bands like The Living Suns and Audacity create some sweet chaos inside the walls of what may be the smallest music venue in Orange County (if you can call it that).

In the past, watching people coming out of a show drenched in sweat and nursing close proximity-induced injuries (elbow to the eye, smashed foot) has always been part of eVocal's  charm. But tomorrow is sure to take things up a notch. In an event to raise money for Sweet Relief's mission to aid homeless and hungry musicians across the country, newly established label La Chupacabra Records is hosting the gig to raise money for the cause. Bands on tomorrow's line up are pretty much all names you've heard before: The Living Suns, Audacity, My Pet Saddle, Gestapo Khazi and Sons at Sea.

But when you look at how many great bands are playing the thought of "how the fuck are they going to cage all this craziness inside eVocal?" definitely crosses your mind at some point. Yeah, I'm right there with ya. Hopefully that curiosity is just enough to make you drive down to Costa Mesa to check it out for yourself. After all, at least some of your $5 cover is going to musicians in need, which is a worthy cause all by itself. Not to mention the fact that this is probably the best local line up you're going to see all week. The naked chick on the flier advises that you get there early.

More details about Sweet Relief HERE. 

In case you hadn't figured it out by now, the last time you missed Mayer Hawthorne and the County in the velvet, red belly of the Continental Room back in February, you REALLY missed out. Sharp-dressed, Motown seeping from every pour of his wiry pale frame, Hawthorne and his band delivered some serious grown-and-sexy soul vibes that made a lasting impression on any throw back junkie in the audience.

But it's okay, you might feel like an idiot now, but here's a great opportunity to redeem yourself. The band will be back at The Continental Room tonight for a full set of blaring horns, crooning harmonies and relentless rhythm. He's got plenty of songs streaming right now on his Myspace if you're interested (of course you are).

After completing an extensive tour of Europe alongside his label captain Peanut Butter Wolf (Stones Throw Records), Hawthorne is sure to come back to his OC stomping grounds in peak condition. Still don't know who I'm talking about? Try tuning into BBC radio sometime. Thanks to big name Brits like Mark Ronson endorsing Hawthorne's sound over the airwaves, he's become quite a hit across the pond with songs like "Just Aint' Gonna Work Out" and "Maybe So Maybe No".

With much of his music recorded entirely on his own (every instrument, every vocal) Hawthorne's prowess to recreate that golden Motor City sounds he grew up listening to in his home town of Michigan is only surpassed by his ability to make it fresh again. Check him out tonight at 9 p.m. for FREE! Trust me, you don't want to miss this again.
 

Okay, we might have already crowned a "flier of the week", but this one has to come in at a close second place. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it contains four bands that are the archetype of OC's loud, rude, no-frills punk scene. Maybe it's their request for me to "dance, skank and make love" all at one time that simply blows my mind. Or maybe it's because the suspect splotches of slime around the lips of a 1950s housewife just makes me laugh. Either way, you have to know that stirring up four chemically unbalanced bands in one small vile is bound to create an explosion.

Tonight, those bands include Slime Kings, Death Hymn Number 9, A.M. and Jungle Peeps. The so called "vile" is the cramped, paint-slathered space of Costa Mesa's eVocal. And for only $5, the ability to bear witness to a spontaneous combustion of unabashed attitude, twangy distortion, shouts and boot stomps seems like a very promising way to start the weekend. And besides great music, tonight's line up also promises some memorable song titles. Whether you're thrashing to "Batsh!t" by Jungle Peeps or Death Hymn's "I reckon your gonna die", chances are you'll walk away with plenty of recognizable jams to sing and scream along with the next time you see them play. And trust me, there will be a next time.