Email Author CHRIS ZIEGLER

2011 Stories by CHRIS ZIEGLER

• My Superhero Offer One Last Horn Blast

  published September 15, 2011

  Let's go back to . . . say, 1996 or so, when ska had Orange County gripped tightly in its checkered fist. You'd hear horn sections honking at... More >>

• Korey Dane

  published September 15, 2011

  Long Beach’s Korey Dane does kind of what Townes Van Zandt did in between falling in holes and waitin’ round to die: lift up a guitar,... More >>

• Fear

  published September 15, 2011

  Behold Fear: the rulers of loud-fast-rules punk, with awesomely boneheaded lyrics and precision-machined music that made them one of the most... More >>

• Foster the People Pump Up the Volume

  published September 8, 2011

  Let's start with probably one of the best birthdays Foster the People front man Mark Foster ever had. Now, of course, playing to tens of... More >>

• New Fidelity

  published September 8, 2011

  New Fidelity’s recent self-released 45 (on white vinyl!) does something like much-loved South Bay band the Last did, too: ‘60s pop vibe... More >>

• Kendrick Lamar

  published September 1, 2011

  L.A. rappers Black Hippy are four up-and-comers who joined up to make what the L.A. Times called a “quasi-supergroup” and what... More >>

• John Vanderslice's Brave, Wild World

  published August 18, 2011

  John Vanderslice's new White Wilderness is something of an experiment in terror—his terror, not yours, so don't worry. For... More >>

• Body Language

  published August 18, 2011

  Brooklyn’s Body Language hit that soft and sweet spot between Warp Records-style electronica and retro-future girl groups such as... More >>

• Hanni El Khatib Is a Rock & Roll Schizo

  published August 11, 2011

  For Hanni El Khatib, rock & roll is about love and other crimes. Each of his record covers features a photo of a smashed-up car, and pretty... More >>

• An Evening With Steve Martin

  published August 11, 2011

  Back when Steve Martin was just another screwball trying to figure out what comedy was about and how he fit in, he decided a way out of anonymity... More >>

• You Say You Want a Devo-lution?

  published August 4, 2011

  Even when they first became a band, Devo knew a lot of things man wasn't exactly supposed to know. They knew that progress wasn't a given and... More >>

• Princeton Are the PCH Preservation Society

  published July 14, 2011

  LA band Princeton's 2009 album, Cocoon of Love (on Kanine) didn't sound like an LA album—not that you can exactly nail down what... More >>

• Crystal Antlers Hope for Better Luck This Time

  published July 7, 2011

  "Every time we do an interview, something terrible is happening," Crystal Antlers bassist/singer Jonny Bell told me in 2009. That would have... More >>

• Pageant of the Masters

  published July 7, 2011

  Let us now congratulate artist Sandow Birk, long lauded locally for his imaginative (and resonant) alternate-world work such as American... More >>

• The Chuck Dukowski Sextet

  published June 30, 2011

  Man, the Duke—how many righteous bassists are gonna keep coming out of the South Bay? Dukowski was the soulful dude on bass for Black Flag... More >>

• July 4 Spectacular: Elvis Lives

  published June 30, 2011

  Elvis impersonations won’t get any more epic than this until they open a Graceland-themed Gothic cathedral: On the Fourth of July, Orange... More >>

• Peter Murphy

  published June 23, 2011

  What a get for Detroit Bar: Mr. “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” himself, Peter Murphy! You’ll be close enough in this cozy little space... More >>

• Long Beach Bayou & Blues Festival

  published June 23, 2011

  They call him the Night Tripper, but they should call him one of the most legendary humans to ever sit behind a piano and tickle it until it goes... More >>

• Cerebral Ballzy Are Barfing Their Way to the Top

  published June 16, 2011

  Cerebral Ballzy's debut EP, You're Idle, was as unexpected and explosive as a grenade going off in your hand. It was four songs in... More >>

• Album Attack: Neutral Milk Hotel

  published June 16, 2011

  Long Beach’s Jesse Wilder knows quite a bit about taking a song apart and putting it back together. Besides his own band, ForceField ON,... More >>

• Black Lips

  published June 16, 2011

  Never thought way back in ’04, when these dudes were freaking around Que Sera (or wherever it was), the possibilities for them would be truly... More >>

• The Soft Hands

  published June 9, 2011

  Give it to the Soft Hands! After what guitarist/singer Matt Fry describes as a “damn long time,” this much-missed Long Beach trio set up... More >>

• Dim Mak Pickle Patch Tour

  published June 2, 2011

  Way back when, Steve Aoki was a guy in a pretty vicious hardcore band called Esperanza (did you think we were gonna say This Machine Kills?) who... More >>

• Bedouin Soundclash

  published June 2, 2011

  After drummer Pat Pengelly left amiably for law school in 2009, Canadian band Bedouin Soundclash found themselves becalmed for a moment. But just... More >>

• Memorial Day Madness

  published May 26, 2011

  Chris Reece’s bar and grill the Pike is the only thing in Long Beach worthy of both that name and the history: a local institution with... More >>