The Monday Show Low Down (Or “I Drove All The Way From Bridgeport Just To Make It With You”)

Man, I went to Sunset Junction over the weekend and boy is my face red. I bet that’s the case for a lot of the area’s most dedicated show-goers, since some of the best local bands (Sea Wolf, The Airborne Toxic Event, Division Day, The Movies, and the like) had sets during the hottest, no shade parts of both days.

You’ll likely see a lot of sunburned people at the free Monday night residencies tonight, a red badge of courage that hopefully won’t lead to the basal cell carcinoma of courage.

Anyway, let’s stop living in the goddamn past and take a look at this week…

Monday, August 20
- Low Vs. Diamond, Oliver Future, The Lonely H, & The Scare @ Spaceland (FREE)
- The Crash Kings, Birds and Batteries, The Waking Hours, & Walker Young @ The Silver Lake Lounge (FREE)
- Manic, Minutes til Midnight, Policy, & Dead Ponies @ The Echo (FREE)
- RX Bandits @ The Troubadour
- Adeline @ Tangier
- The Hanks & The Beautiful and The Damned @ The Viper Room
- I Make This Sound, Chris Black, Erich Von Kneip, & Cat Hair Ensemble @ Bordello
- Talib Kweli @ Amoeba Music
- The Frustrations & Terrible Twos @ The Scene
- The Beastie Boys @ The Greek
- The Little Lebowski Urban Archievers, Johnny Nobody, JR Juggernaut, & Audiocination @ Mr T’s Bowl
- Two Sheds, Foot Foot, Lucky Dragons, & Devon Williams @ Pehrspace

DECISION:
Out of everyone playing tonight, my main pick is probably Two Sheds from Sacramento at Pehrspace. They don’t make it out here too often, so it’s a rare goddamn treat for folks like myself who heart their country-tinged indie pop musics.

Tuesday, August 21
- Earlimart CD Release Party w/ The Pity Party & The Parson Redheads @ The Jensen Rec Center
- Foreign Born CD Release Party w/ In Waves & Nevenka @ The Echo
- The Beastie Boys @ The Wiltern
- The Henry Clay People, Shiloe, The New Room, & The Wallburds @ The Scene
- Mini Lov @ The Cat Club
- Mormon Tuesdays @ Mr T’s Bowl
- King Elementary & Into the Presence @ Spaceland
- Modlins, Hot TV, & Park Lights @ The Silver Lake Lounge
- The Finches, Shammer’d, & The Bushes @ Bordello
- Kissing Cousins, The Garden Angels, The Petes, Ragsy, & More @ Safari Sam’s

DECISION:
Last Friday night’s Earlimart CD release event in (gasp!) Santa Monica was quite possibly the most fun I’ve had at a show this year. The Happy Hollows played a bunch of new songs off their upcoming album, Castledoor put on a fucking phenomenal performance, and Earlimart played one of the most stellar sets I’ve seen from them yet.

If you missed it, they’re playing on Tuesday with The Parson Red Heads and The Pity Party at The Jensen Rec Center, which is probably a little closer to home for most of y’all.

And right down the street, Foreign Born will be celebrating the release of their great new album at The Echo with the also rad In Waves.

Wednesday, August 22
- Cydney Robinson, Chris Black, Dustin Boyer, The Preacher’s Son, & Frankel @ The Silver Lake Lounge
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ The Mayan
- Dub Club @ Echoplex
- Saucy Minx, Ponette, Waterlaso, & Out of Town @ Mr T’s Bowl
- Club Underground @ The Echo
- The Beastie Boys @ The Wiltern
- Wheels on Fire & Quan & the Chinese Take-Outs @ The Scene
- Aimee Mann @ Largo
- Kiss or Kill w/ The Invisible Humans, The King Cheetah, The Letter Openers, & The Foundation @ El Cid
- Indie 103.1 presents CLUB NME @ Spaceland
- Suicide Club, Wartapes, Policy, & The Flying Tourbillon Orchestra @ Bordello
- The Cary Brothers & Stars of Track And Field @ The Troubadour
- The Stevenson Ranch Davidians & Winter Flowers @ The Echo

DECISION:
It’s your last chance to see Michael Orendy’s indie pop gem Frankel before he hits the road to tour with Earlimart for awhile.

Thursday, August 23
- Daniel Johnston @ The Henry Fonda
- Aimee Mann @ Largo
- Wind Swept Planes, Extraordinary Pigeons, Gator Surprise, Tik///Tik, & Rale @ The Smell
- Marissa Nadler, Friends of Dean Martinez, & Mountain Home @ Spaceland
- Now Blog This! w/ The Deadly Syndrome, Le Switch, Aushua, & Phoenix and the Turtle @ The Scene
- Hell Ya! Night @ The Echo
- The Weather Underground, My Pet Saddle, & Carlos Guitarlos @ The Silver Lake Lounge
- The Guilty Hearts, The Jinxes, Thee Cormans, The Babes, Rover’s Pinky, Las Pantuflas, & more @ Mr Ts Bowl
- No Age & The Mae Shi @ The Troubadour

DECISION:
The Now Blog This! event at The Scene -- where each band is hand-picked by a different excellent local blog -- on Thursday night promises to be one of the best shows this month. I mean, seeing The Deadly Syndrome and Le Switch separately is fantastic, but together? More on this soon...

Friday, August 24
- Bert Jansch @ The Troubadour
- Minus The Bear @ Fingerprints
- Aimee Mann @ Largo
- The Lava Children, The Vox Jaguars, The Natural Disasters, & Muso @ Mr T’s Bowl
- Argo & The Spires @ El Cid
- Castaneda, The Coral Sea, & The Frequency @ Spaceland
- Jeremy Jay, The Brian Wakefield Experience, The Sundells, & Weyou @ The Smell
- The Hour of the Shipwreck @ The Good Hurt
- United by Sound, Woven, Last American Buffalo, & More @ Safari Sam’s
- The Gears, The Billybones, The Scrid Hunters, & Comprehend @ The Scene
- Marilyn Manson & Slayer @ Verizon Wireless Ampitheatre
- Daniel Johnston @ The Henry Fonda

DECISION:
I’ve meant to see The Lava Children play for officially forever now, but The Spires (who are always great) are playing at El Cid...

Saturday, August 25
- Fuck Yeah Fest featuring The Explosion, The Fuse!, Lavender Diamond, Busdriver, Boom Bip, American Steel, Entrance, The Mae Shi, Fleshies, Bobby Birdman, Thee More Shallows, Greg Ashely of Gris Gris, Upsilon Acrux, Residual Echoes, Imaad Wasif, Times New Viking, Hit Me Back, Love or Perish, Devon Williams, Japanese Motors, & more @ the EchoPlex, the Echo, the Rec Center, BBC Clothing, & Taix
- Au Revoir Simone & Princeton @ Troubadour
- Psychic TV @ The Henry Fonda
- Sirhan Sirhan & Dead Ponies @ The Scene
- Blue Mask, HDR, The Probe, Pat Todd and The Rank Outsiders, Backbiter, Chairs of Perception, Amadans, Lofty Canaanites, Motorcycle Black Madonnas, Freda Rente, Swords of Fatima, Ghidrah, Brain Dead Prophets, Madamn Grislee, The Charmkin Rebellion, Poolhouse, & Dopeheads on Mopeds, & more @ Mr T’s Bowl
- Bolero, War Children, & The Tyde @ Spaceland
- They Shoot Horses Don’t They Abe Vigoda, 60 Watt Kid, & The Deadly Finns @ The Smell
- The Youngs @ The Prospector (Long Beach)
- Weatherground, Emi Kasai Band, The Last Holy Fools, & Right Hand Band @ The Cocaine at Live Jazz
- The Airborne Toxic Event @ The KGB Gallery
- Grant Lee Phillips @ Largo
- Sam Sparro's CD Release Event w/ Casxio & Roc @ Bordello
- Rademacher, Death To Anders, The Vox Jaguars, & Valentino @ Pehrspace

DECISION:
There’s a lot of great weird and borderline inaccessible bands playing at Fuck Yeah Fest on Saturday, while Au Revoir Simone and Princeton play heart-breaking pop music over at The Troubadour, Fresno’s Rademacher join Death to Anders at Pehrspace, and The Airborne Toxic Event sneak off to some place called The KGB Gallery.

Sunday, August 26
- Fuck Yeah Fest featuring Deerhunter, Indian Jewelry, The Blood Arm, Midnight Movies, Jay Reatard, Foreign Born, Pissed Jeans, No Age, xBxRx, Darker My Love, The Nice Boys, Langhorne Slim, Great Northern, Triclops, Red Fang, Best Fwends, Whispertown 2000, Moonrats, Rumspringa, The Strange Boys, 60 Watt Kid, Abe Vigoda, The Muslims, The Prayers, Bad Dudes, Jail Wedding, & more @ @ the EchoPlex, the Echo, the Rec Center, BBC Clothing, & Taix
- Hello Menno, The French Semester, Codpiece, & Manhattan Murder Mystery @ The Scene
- Celebrate $1 Million @ The Troubadour
- The Real McKenzies @ The El Rey
- The Eagle Rock Bowling & Drinking Club w/ Underwater City Poeple, Pussy Cow, Silver Needle, & Meghan Toohey @ All-Star Lanes
- City of Progress, Gregory Miles Harris, & Sticky Yeti @ Mr T’s Bowl
- Part Time Punks Fuck Yeah Fest After Party @ The Echo
- Darren Hanlon, Doris, & The Brook Lee Catastrophe @ Tangier
- Lion of Panjshir @ UCLA Fowler Museum

DECISION:
Sunday is day two of Fuck Yeah Fest, featuring even more great weird and borderline inaccessible bands. Definitely worth running around a few different venues for.

That’s it. Did I miss anything? Lemme know.