Reports from the scene
Three Mile Pilot gets signed, Enrique experiences superstition and Fergie gets no love from local scenesters
Locals Only
When Chicago’s Touch and Go Records folded in February due to the bad economy, bands like Pinback, Three Mile Pilot and The Black Heart Procession were left without a label. While all three bands share members, Pinback was quickly snatched up by Brooklyn’s Temporary Residence Ltd., but Three Mile Pilot was even more desperate to find a home. They’d just reunited after a 10-year hiatus and were planning to record their fourth album. Last week, Temporary Residence announced that it had signed Three Mile Pilot and will release their new album in early 2010.
The Vaginals have made a rather creepy new video for their song “Squirmer,” which can be seen at www.myspace.com/vaginalsvaginals.
Singer-songwriter Astra Kelly will debut her new video for “All I Got” at a show at North Park’s U-31 on Wednesday, May 13. Lessons from Zeke and Pullman Standard will also play.
Despite being broken up, garage-punks The Sess are releasing a posthumous 7-inch vinyl record on Reno’s Slovenly Records with the songs “ABC” and “Brainruster.”
The Enrique Experience
Ingrid Bergman had Paris, but Chargers fans have Bay Park’s The High Dive Bar & Grill (1801 Morena Blvd.). Sure, it has the all the common dive staples, including an odd location (along the I-5 corridor), a beer selection on tap a dozen strong, a juke that goes back and forth between Guns N’ Roses and Tom Petty and décor rivaled only by a backwoods crack den (a framed Catholic Comics Vol. 10 hangs stoically; beside it, a sign that reads beware of attack gecko guards the kitchen door). There’s also a stuffed and mounted Chewbacca head and a knight’s suit of armor that, according to barmaid Mandy, got left behind after a crazy Renaissance Fair after-party.
But look past the vast helmet, beer-pull and round-tray collections that adorn the ceiling and walls and you’ll find a spot where fun times and the esoteric go hand in hand. This is Charger country after all, and no expense—no matter how superstitious, is spared in order to insure a win, whether it’s a voodoo doll in the likeness of coach Norv Turner or an altar to LaDainian Tomlinson complete with candles and gifts of frankincense, Icy Hot and 5-Hour Energy Drink.
“It came about one day while deciding that he was like a god. We were all talking, and one of us mentioned that gods have shrines, so we built him one,” co-owner Chad Cline told me.
He also described the pre-game ritual that includes food offerings to the shrine that got narrowed down by trial and error, from a hamburger that Cline swears cost one game to the now-proven formula of Red Raspberry Yoplait Yogurt with a sake bomb on the side, served while the Superman theme blares.
“That probably comes from a Catholic upbringing,” he said. “I don’t know if you’re Catholic, but they put on quite a good show.”
Text Confessions
So, what’s a text confession? If CityBeat’s Will K. Shilling happens to have your cell-phone number, you’ve likely received a text or 10 from him asking random music-related questions. Shilling has some of San Diego’s biggest names on speed dial, so we thought: Why not print some of their answers. This week’s subject: The Black Eyed Peas are back together after two solo albums from Fergie (a massive hit) and Will.I.Am (no so much) and are coming to Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre on May 8. See if you can spot a pattern in the responses.
Will’s text: What goes best with Black Eyed Peas?
Responses (unedited):
Chris Leyva (Blizzard): A diaper for gergie For the next street scene
Karissa Harvey (singer-songwriter): Meatloaf and Korn
Chris Cantore (deejay): not U2
Ian Taylor (Mondo Generator): doesn’t that hot tweeker chick pee her pants on stage??
Ed Decker (CityBeat columnist): Fergie’s intestines, ripped from her torso and slopped on the plate like spaghetti.
Dennis Borlek (CLA): Fat liped Qs? Smoked pork with sauted spinach and basil w/rice vinegar-don’t like mustard greens.
Mitch Wilson (No Knife): Urine Gone pee stain removal spray and whatever else would make them stop playing music
Kelly Duley (Gray Ghosts): a bon-fire, a leaf-blower, and some gasoline
Matt Rothenberg (Noise 292): Fleshy vegan pseudo-ham. Oh, or Fergie. Two options or one?
Al Guerra (deejay): It Depends…
