Wednesday, November 22, 2006

News & Notes: The Fallen Stars, Coachella

Whew! Been awhile, eh?

Last Saturday night, Nov. 18, I caught a great bill at Marlin's Bar in Huntington Beach. I caught the entire hour-long set from a band I had never seen before, the quartet The Fallen Stars. Look for my feature on the band in the Orange County Register this Friday, Nov. 24.

The band delivered a great set. Wonderful songs, a strong chemistry on stage, everything really clicked. Inspired by a range of artists from Gram Parsons and Fleetwood Mac to Wilco and the Clash, the band plays frequently and there is no excuse not to catch them if you are in So Cal. Check out the band at www.MySpace.com/TheFallenStars.

Walter Clevenger & the Dairy Kings headlined. As always the band was terrific, and singer-songwriter Kenny Howes was filling in on keys for the night. Anyone who missed Walter & company can see him play a free show at the Galaxy Theatre on a bill with Scarlet Crush on Friday night, Dec. 1. Visit http://www.myspace.com/breweryrecords for more details about that special night...

Did you hear the latest? Coachella has been announced and it's growing from two days to three days. April 27, 28 and 29. How are we all to survive? Pray for cool days and cool music. It's only five months away...

Monday, November 06, 2006

DADA at the Coach House (a lifetime ago)

Has it really been more than a week since I caught DADA at the Coach House? Yes, it was way back on Saturday, Oct. 28th. And it was a great show that ran well past midnight.

I could go on and on about how the trio performed its usual blend of power-pop, alt-rock and jamming to great effect. But long-time fans of the band know all about that. What's impressive is how despite a lack of commercial airplay (at least here in So Cal) and relative lack of support by the media, the fans keep filling the Coach House whenever drummer-vocalist Phil Leavitt, bassist-vocalist Joie Calio and guitarist-vocalist Michael Gurley take the stage together.

At the Oct. 28 show, the band played plenty of classics ("Dizz Knee Land," "Dim," "Dorina"), but they also played a number of great new originals off the 2007 EP "A Friend of Pat Robertson." Talk about some great new songs! Gurley sang with hushed power during ""If Tears Were Balloons." And the song "72 Hours" was wonderful too. Another magical night courtesy of dada!