Atoms, The Prayers & The Fascination @ The Che Cafe on 7/14/06

First of all, Cat Dirt loves the Che Cafe. What an outstanding venue! Nestled in the forgiving bosom of the UCSD campus, with it's darling sliding glass doors, numerous eucalyptus trees and lovely courtyard. Is there a better all ages venue in all of san diego county? Cat Dirt thinks not! Cat Dirt is adding the Che to it's priority venue list along with the SDSC. Cat Dirt waits for the day when Fifty on Their Heels can play a show there, until then, I will have to admire from afar. Or up close, I suppose.

Last night it was Atoms, The Prayers & The Fascination. Although the Prayers were the putative headliners, Cat Dirt thought it was clear that it was Atoms-fever. Is there a better all ages band in San Diego? Cat Dirt doesn't think so. Cat Dirt thinks Atoms ought be headlining SOMA, let alone headlining Epicentre, but that's just one Cat's opinion.

Here is the sole photo I took of the Fascination:



I should say that there was a fourth band on the bill- if someone writes me I will add the name. Anywho, the Fascinatioin are a power three piece. Their first song really caught my ear- kind of a Wolfmotherish vibe to it. The other songs- not so much. Kind of a power-pop/pop-punk vibe that was not Cat Dirt's cup of tea. Also, the lead singer has some kind of english/australian/new zealand/south african accent, that Cat Dirt was unable to place. I will seek clarification on that.

Next up it was the headliner-in-practice, Atoms. Cat Dirt is developing a real fondness for Atoms- I just like their whole dynamic. It's kooky and fun- and revolutinary, something that I caught in the lyrics for the first time last night.

            
             One thing I wanted to point out about the Atoms is how darling and kick ass their drummer is. They hide her behind the boys, but I think she is really cool! Here is a pic I managed to snap by sliding around to the side of the stage during the set. Her name is Christy.


            
Joey- the lead singer/occasional guitarist/keyboardist, was on fire last night. Cat Dirt loves his incitement of the crowd. Go Joey!

             The Prayers closed the show. Cat Dirt is going to reserve his review for a later, date- no doubt he will have ample opportunity to see, and review the Prayers in the future. Cat Dirt will say this- doesn't that singer/guitarist on the right kind of remind you of Pete Doherty(Babyshambles)?

            


Fifty on Their Heels in Vegas TONIGHT!!!
The Sess and The Prayers in LA TOMORROW!!!
UV Tigers and The Prayers in SD TONIGHT!!!

Great weekend! Someone send pictures of the vegas show, a'ight?

The Panorama Bar @ Berghain in East Berlin

No cameras allowed- ours got confiscated. But here is a blurry outside photo(taken without flash, after we left the club. It's a large building, but the club is contained on a single floor- where you can see the lights.

;

;This is the website for the club/venue.

Basically, the place is a temple for minimal house. Not as cool as the Weekend Party, which is contained on the 35th floor of east berlin tower office, but cool- many of the fixtures from the former occupant(power plant) remain. which gives it that industrial/minimal vibe. Luke Slater was playing there the next night, but we skipped it, on account from being exhausted from watching the world cup third place game with one million others.

;We only stayed till 2 AM, the place was barely getting going. We were also down the street from the sage club, which had Andrew W.K.(!) playing on that same saturday night that. The entrance is actually located INSIDE an old U-Bahn(subway) station- like on the landing of the stairway descending into the station. When we were coming back from Basement Jaxx on sunday night, there was some kind of coversation going on between the shaved head russian bouncer and a bunch of guys in work boots. Cool!

Show Review: Poupee De Son, PARIS FRANCE 6/30/06

         Here is the original post I did on Poupee de Son @ the club La Fleche D'or(golden skin/fleece) in Paris, France.

         We missed all the bands because we thought the show started at midnight, when in reality it started at 8. oops!

         Here is the golden fleece they had hanging up, artistic shot by Cat DIrt Wife.


The pictures don't particularly capture it, so some description is in order.


One, it's past three A.M. Two, the tempature is 80+ inside, with 50 or more humidity, so everyone is just pouring buckets of sweat. And smoking, everyone is smoking. In attendance is coming-real-soon-to-us ed-banger-breakout artist Justice. I'm pretty sure that Gaspirator, one member of justice, was the crazy bearded cat playing with the eq while other dj's were spinning(!). We gave him a Fifty on Their Heels CD.


I'm pretty sure this is a picture of Vicarious Bliss(Ed Banger/Skint). He was off the hook- crazy crowd reaction. Reminded me of the Kid 606/Funkstorung bill I caught over the holidays '05 in San Francsico. But the crowd was mad into it. Mind blowing!

Los Angeles: 1955-1985 n'aissance de un capitale artistique 6/29/06 @ The Centre Pompidou PARIS, FRANCE

Art Review
Los Angeles 1955-1985
The Birth of An Artistic Capital
The Pomidou Center, Paris France


This is a picture of a Black Flag and Minute Man record put out by Los Angeles label SST in the early 80s. Punk records = museum art.

Of course I'd go to Paris to see an exhibition about Los Angeles, and, as they so winningly refer to it in the essay "socal". I even bought the english language catalogue, which is awesome. My favorite museum visit since the Guggenheim Matthew Barney takeover. Although, the Jewish Museum in Berlin a few days later, was pretty good, too.

Anyway, one of the essays discuseed how the los angeles art scene in the 50s flourished because it was ignored by contemporary patrons and critics, something to do with the art coming out of new york at the time.

Only on till July 17th, and then it's gone, so hurry!!!

Click on the introduction link to see the clip.

Travel/World Cup Blog: "I was at the World Cup Final in Berlin 2006"

So I was. We got there in time for the third place game and the final. Of the two the third place game was better, because the (german) crowd was super fired up. We went to see both games at the fan mile, which starts at the brandenburg gate and then extends through the tiergarten, which is berlin's "central park", except that instead of having been developed by a progressive political party, it had been transferred from its status as the private hunting reserve of the hozenhollen famiy!


Here is the entrance to the fan mile, notice the apparent size discepancy(illusory) between the giant inflatable fifa soccer ball and the brandenburg gate, itself a powerful symbol of 19th and 20th century german nationalism.



We were at the back of the fan mile- this utter mayhem extended about 3/4 of a mile beyond us, with a screen every couple hundred of feet. we were there for... ten hours on the night of the third place game.



World Cup is a time to make friends, said the english language signs on the side of the autobahn leading to berlin, and we made friends with... this guy? who brought a suitcase of pinned butterfly's to the world cup final, but only busted it out after his eighth beer.

So the whole thing was really incredible- the final was a let down compared to the third place game, but the Cafe Moskau party with Bassment Jaxx was much better then the night at Panorama bar the night before(more on that later).

Basement Jaxx @ Cafe Moskau(Puma) in Berlin on 7/9/6

First we went to see the world cup final at the fan mile in berlin, with about a million people, give or take a hundred thousand or so. it was a let down compared to the third place game, featuring GERMANY crushing Portugal in dramatic fashion, which was a blast.

So then we went to see Basement Jaxx at Cafe Moskau. It was sponsored by multi national (italian based) corporation Puma, which provided a full slate of free shows. I surmise from the photos in the near by U Bahn that Cafe Moskau was a glitzy spot for the communist elite, so if you can just get that swanky, cool vibe: russian gangster, eastern european communism, and, of course, basement jaxx, who cat dirt last saw at Coachella 2005- where they were GREAT!



Things you need to know about the scene: a lot of germans on e. italy won the world cup, and puma is an italian firm, so all of the corporate vips are also on e. And Basement Jaxx was AWESOME! They played to a packed house for over two hours.



The club itself was super cool, as this below photo shows. Also, check out the celining in the above pictures. I mean, the place was designed the east berlin political elite circa the 50's? 60's? 70's? It's underground- a secret labyrinthe of decadence whose existence was kept from the people of east germany. This is all surmise- they had some killer photos of the way it "used to be" at the place- including photos of cafe moskau back in the (communist) day.



I just think the design of the bar is super cool. We were hanging out in the back corner with a couple of canadians, who shall remain nameless, but were pretty cool. they seemed happy just to see people who spoke english. anyway, the guy works in the world of music, which was interesting- he had worked with ministry of sound in london and nettwerk records, in canada. has other business interests, etc. Only in Berlin! On the night of the world cup! at Basement Jaxx!

So that's one part of the trip.

Other trip highlights:
Poupee de Son Show Review(Paris, France) July 2006
Panorama Bar(Berlin, Germany) July 2006

July 12th @ sdsc: the sess, delta spirit, que c'est, $5

Cat dirt is still kicking it here in Berlin. Last night we checked out the world cup final with about one million people, and then caught bassment jaxx at club moskau in east berlin. More on that later.

Check out the show on Wednesday 7/12 @ sdsc

The sess
The delta spirit
Que c'est ce qu'est

21+/$5
Doors 9/show 10

Next Tuesday 7/18 @ sdsc

Fifty on their heels
Grand ole party mc flow

Same price, start time

Chicken! @ moose lodge
Fifty on their heels
The glossines
And special guest

7/29

Chicken! In august(8/19)
Uv tigers
Que c'est ce qu'est
@ moose lodge


Are you ready for this? San diego represent!