The Monday Show Low Down (Or "On Pernicious Recruiters And Nordic Prehistorics")

I was telling a friend the story today about how when I was seven I decided to make my own band – loosely based off an amalgam of KISS and Judas Priest – and began writing songs up on loose-leaf paper.

One was about the monster from the improbably Danish kaiju film Reptilicus and I imagined stage antics that involved throwing Pert Shampoo on the audience to simulate the giant reptile’s gloopy acid spit.

Another one, I forget the name, was about a guy who would throw you into the army if he caught you and who “had sideburns on his shoulders.”

I remember my older brother Bob reading over the lyrics and asking me, “Joe… What are sideburns?”

And I said, “You know…” and squirmed for awhile before finally admitting that I actually had no goddamn idea.

None of this has much to do with anything, but I was at a loss for an intro, so I thought I’d mention it and then artlessly shift into talking about what shows seem most worth seeing this week.

It’s Monday today and that means another free show from melancholy pop sweethearts Sea Wolf at Spaceland as part of their weekly residency. And if catching one of LA’s best current live acts gratis isn’t enough for you, they’ve upped the ante by adding indy rock stars Great Northern to the bill -- a band that you can tell are great because it’s right there in the name.

Otherwise, they’d just be “Northern” and how dumb would that be?

(They’re also playing Radio Free Silver Lake's first monthly Let's Independent! show on Tuesday, September 26th along with The Movies and The Western States Motel. Plug plug.)

On Tuesday, The Silver Jews will play The Henry Fonda Theater, Jason Lytle (from Grandaddy) appears at The Hotel Café, and garage blues gods The Black Keys perform a free in-store performance at Amoeba Music.

You can also catch The Black Keys at The Troubadour on Wednesday and at The Avalon on Thursday, the same night that our favorite band The Silversun Pickups play a free in-store at Amoeba.

Then next weekend, Chicago post rock giants Tortoise appear at The Troubadour and local experimental pop act The Happy Hollows play a free in-store at Sea Level Records at 4pm on Saturday.

In other news:
- Pitchfork reports that The Afghan Whigs have gotten back together to record new songs as part of a Rhino Records retrospective. Yeah, that pretty much destroyed our minds, too.
- Lamp rock’s finest Doveman is coming back to town – now with Glen Hansard from The Frames – on Saturday, October 21 at Largo.
- Fresno’s Rademacher is coming back to town, this time at Spaceland on Sept 24, which is a free residency night for Maxxfemm where The Pity Party and Angeles Drake will also play.
- The following bands have also announced show dates for LA: Islands, Eagles of Death Metal, The New Motherfuckers, Lou Barlow, Eskimo Hunter, Man Man, The Harpeth Trace, Kind Hearts & Coronets, Anavan, Teenage Talking Cars, Creekbird, Monster, Warm Climate, Magnolia Electric Company, and Bottomless Pit. (See the right-hand column for details.)