Subject: Music Awards

• Congrats To KUCI And Cold War Kids...

  ..for honorable nominations in this year's Plug Awards. Wha Plug? Indie backpatters sez: PLUG is different from all of the institutional accolades for the music industry – the American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, Radio Music Awards, GRAMMY Awards, Teen Choice Awards, MTV Music Awards, etc. etc. Those are all devoted to recognizing the mainstream hits. Very rarely do these honors reach, let alone embrace, independent music or the community of artists and fans who now represent mo

  November 15, 2006

• Slayer Give Good Head... Protection

  Southern Cali thrash-metal legends Slayer are branching out into motorcycle-helmet designing. Working with O'Neal USA, the band known for classics like Reign in Blood and South of Heaven and being sampled by Public Enemy on "She Watch Channel Zero?!" lent their memorable artwork to the RockHard line of helmets, which go on sale Feb. 25. Remember, God Hates Us All, so best wear something that's gonna protect your noggin while riding your boss hog. You can read the full press release after the

  February 4, 2008

• The Grammys: Drunk on Winehouse

  Every year the Grammy Awards ceremony proves—among other things—how far out of step my tastes are with mainstream music, a state of affairs with which I came to terms, oh, in the early '80s. It also reveals the dearth of imagination/adventurousness of the nominating committee. Most of the music that charts and excites people of mainstream sensibilities just strikes me as bland and insipid. Must be the way I'm hard-wired. I like weird, edgy shit, generally speaking, the sort of stuff the powe

  February 11, 2008

• Video - Jewlicious 4.0 with Matisyahu

  Last weekend we spent some time at Jewlicious 4.0, the fourth installment of a festival aimed at young Jewish people from all over Southern California and beyond. Grammy nominated Raggae artist and Chassidic Jew Matisyahu made a surprise appearance that brought the event up to epic status. Here's the video:

  March 3, 2008

• I Love You Porgy

  February 12, 2009

• Kaba Modern to Perform at the VMA Pre-Show

  Though UC Irvine-based hip-hop dance troupe only placed a disappointing third (when evvveryone knew they should have at least been second—c'mon America!) in the debut season of MTV's Best American Dance Crew, they're back for another competition: The chance to present at Sunday's Video Music Awards and $25,000 to their charity of choice. Viewers tuned in last Saturday as the top dance crews from both Season One and Two reconvened to dance to VMA-nominated videos—audiences then voted on th

  September 5, 2008

• Dropping Some NYC

  January 18, 2001

• Tickets for KIIS 102.7 FM Jingle Ball Going Fast

  As far as these things go, the lineup for this year's "KIIS 102.7 FM Jingle Ball," Dec. 6 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, is fairly impressive. And by "these things," of course I mean a concert where pre-fab, manufactured teeny bopper acts perform 15 minute sets in the name of promoting a radio station owned by a scary multinational corporation (in this instance, Clear Channel). But still. Solid. So it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that tickets, which just went on sale this past Saturday,

  November 10, 2008

• LowBallVideoChatter: LynnMarie & the Boxhounds, "Squeeze Box" (plus Grammy rant)

  God, I hate the stupid fucking Grammy Awards, an annual music industry wank-off that I've seriously been railing against ever since I was 12 -- in 1980, the year wus-pop icon Christopher Cross swept all the big awards, beating out classic recordings like Pink Floyd's The Wall (which somehow flew under the radar of crotchity Grammy voters to score an Album of the Year nomination) and the Clash's London Calling (which wasn't nominated for a single damned thing. The Clash were finally given an hono

  December 4, 2008

• On-Sale Saturday: LL Cool J, Bone Thugs, More

  Not a ton of stuff this week--but we've already had Britney Spears and Snoop, so what more do you want? There are some good new ones: the ridiculously ripped LL Cool J, for instance. Find 'em after the jump!

  December 5, 2008

• OC Music Awards

  April 2, 2009

• TONIGHT: First Installment of the OC Music Awards Showcases

  The OC Music Awards are still a ways away--April 4 at the Grove of Anaheim--but tonight is the start of the weekly Tuesday night OC Music Awards Showcases at Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa. Much better than watching a House reopeat (spoiler: House figures out the mystery illness towards the end of the episode).Tonight they've got folk singer Will Crum at 9, Melanoid at 9:45, Michael Rosas at 10:30 and Ryan Baxley--pictured!--at 11:15. Future weeks will include OC Weekly-approved acts like The Sweet

  January 6, 2009

• Luke Allen Responds to This Week's 'Sound Guy' Column

  In this week's Sound Guy column, I talk about the OC Music Awards showcases, and discuss how the lineups have been rather similar, genre-wise. Luke Allen, the head of the OC Music Awards, emailed me back with these thoughts, which I think were worth sharing: I hear you on the similarity of the artists performing in the showcases and can attribute that to two main factors: -          The two categories that make up the showcases which are a battle o

  January 23, 2009

• TONIGHT: Erykah Badu at the Grove of Anaheim

  The Grove of Anaheim will surprise you sometimes. They'll go a couple weeks without too many shows of note, then they'll come at you with a bunch of stuff all at once, and you're like "hey! Grove of Anaheim! alright!" This is one of those weeks: tomorrow, Taking Back Sunday. Friday, B-Real of Cypress Hill and Bizzy Bone of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. Tonight? Neo-soul progenitor Erykah Badu, pictured. Badu has won over fans, critics and whoever the people are that give away Grammy awards for more than

  June 2, 2009

• Watch Ikey Owens (and the Rest of the Mars Volta) Win a Grammy

  The Mars Volta--featuring Long Beach's Ikey Owens, of Free Moral Agents and Look Daggers, on keyboards--won the "Best Hard Rock" Grammy last night for "Wax Simulacra." Since the Grammys only show a handful of the awards on the telecast (there are a lot of Grammys, like a lot) their award was accepted in front of a rather sparse crowd. But hey, it's a Grammy! And they beat Judas Priest and Motley Crue. That's right. Judas Priest and Motley Crue were up for the Best Hard Rock Grammy. In 2009. Yup.

  February 9, 2009

• KUCI Releases Local Music Compilation

  UC Irvine-based community radio station KUCI has released an online-only local music compilation, featuring artists that have been/will be part of the OC Music Awards live showcases. It's 10 tracks for $5, with 40% of the money going to KUCI, 30% going to the artists involved, and 30% going to the independent, student-run label Binary Sounds. Artists include Venus Infers, Stereofix, Moostache and the Jakes, who just played the OC Music Awards showcase at Chain Reaction last night.Click here if y

  February 11, 2009

• TONIGHT: Final OC Music Awards Showcase at Gypsy Lounge

  The 10-Tuesday run of OC Music Awards showcases started with four gigs at Detroit Bar, followed by two at Chain Reaction, and two more at eVocal, before moving to the Gypsy Lounge in Lake Forest last week. But nothing lasts forever (and we both know hearts can change), and the final showcase is tonight at the Gyp. Performing: Stacy Clark (pictured), AJ Degrasse, Justin Grennan and HUMANLAB--acts displaying (showcasing, if you will) more of a soul-tinged, piano-based sound than previous showcases

  March 10, 2009

• Full List of OC Music Awards Winners

  Venus Infers, a band we've (along with just about everyone else, it seems) been singing the praises of for a while, were the big winners Saturday at the OC Music Awards, picking up the victory in three categories--best indie, best alternative (not sure how those two are defined, but OK) and best album for The Truth About Venus Infers. A veritable OC Music Award hat trick!The event itself, at the Grove of Anaheim, went off well, with a professional air and just generally felt like a big deal and

  April 6, 2009

• [Sound Guy] The OC Music Awards Push the Envelope

  March 5, 2009

• [Sound Guy] Digging Who's Onstage at OC Music Award Showcases—and Wondering Who Isn't

  January 22, 2009

• The Colors!

  January 15, 2009

• All in the Family

  January 15, 2009

• Ruling and Regulating

  October 30, 2008

• Silver Streak

  July 24, 2008

• Diva Divinity

  Bootyliciousness and divadom
  

  August 30, 2007

• Sitting There On the Group W Bench

  The Guthrie Family Legacy Tour

  April 26, 2007

• Soul Stirrers

  Soweto Gospel Choir

  April 12, 2007

• No Sir, I Don't Like Him

  March 15, 2007

• Underdogs

  The Family Stone with Sly Stone

  January 11, 2007

• Trendzilla

  August 3, 2006

• Me Talk Pretty Sunday

  April 20, 2006

• Does Martin Brown Hate Jesus?

  March 25, 2004

• Diary of a Mad County

  March 13, 2003

• Jazz Is Not a Dirty Word

  November 28, 2002

• Do Not Disturb the Sexy!

  September 26, 2002

• Not Unlistenable

  April 4, 2002

• Stone Temple Doll Hut?

  April 26, 2001

• Don't You Know Me?

  March 15, 2001

• Sex, Smoke and Shyness

  February 17, 2000

• Teddy Morgan Is Easy on the Ears

  December 2, 1999

• Hes Big in Germany

  June 17, 1999

• The Motels

  July 9, 2009

• Incoming: The Big Pink, Le Loup at Detroit Bar

  Tom BeardThe Big Pink, lovin' life.​If you're not still reeling from the OMG TOTALLY SHOCKING AND CONTROVERSIAL MTV Video Music Awards (that Kanye West, will he ever learn?), you might be pleased to hear about some neato shows coming our way in the near future, featuring bands that may not be featured on nationally televised award shows but are pretty cool nonetheless.

  September 14, 2009

• Kanye West and Lady Gaga Set to Bring VMA Controversy to Anaheim

  Chris Victorio​Heard anything about Kanye West lately? The usually reserved rapper/producer/tireless self-promoter has uncharacteristically made a tiny amount of headlines these last couple of days, but you've probably missed them. (Seriously, though, it must be weird to be called a jackass by the president, off the record to not.)Well, now that he's gotten all of the "crushing happy moments in beloved teenage girls' lives" out of his system, he's about to start a new tour, one that's coming t

  September 15, 2009

• Kanye West Photoshop Craze in Full Effect

  ​Move over, lolcats. The hot new Photoshopped macro thing is all about Kanye West, playing off the infamous Taylor Swift Incident (TM) at Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards. You can find dozens of such images--of wildly varying degrees of funniness--right here. It's weird how many of them have to do with Pokemon. The Mortal Kombat one up there is probably my favorite right now (not sure why, but Reptile is probably the funniest MK character to reference in that spot), though a couple more good on

  September 16, 2009

• Travis Barker: More Hip Hop than Hip Hop

  ​Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker has had plenty of side gigs over the years. Box Car Racer and 44 both featured other Blink members, while a duo called TRV$DJAM included his friend Adam Goldstein. Known as DJ AM, Goldstein, of course, was with Barker in a Learjet crash that killed four people in September, 2008, and he died late last month in an apparent drug overdose.

  September 17, 2009

• SoCal Acoustic Live Competition

  October 15, 2009

• Dance Music Pick of the Week: Morgan Page (Tonight!) at Code

  ​ For too long DJ culture has been reclusive and wary of the mainstream. It's an understandable stance: After disco sucked, core dance music went underground, burned by its flirtation with the charts and subsequent bashing. Generations beyond disco, many spinners still take the underground stance, eschewing pop flavors and marketing. But that ethos is changing rapidly as the millennial generation of kids takes over clubland. Mash-ups, samples, and '80s tunes are all fair game.

  September 24, 2009

• Kanye West/Lady Gaga Anaheim Show (And Tour) in Doubt?

  S. Affandi, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.​That previously announced Kanye West/Lady Gaga "Fame Kills" tour, scheduled to stop at the Honda Center in Anaheim on November 15? Yeah, now there's some amount of uncertainty to if that whole thing's actually happening.

  September 17, 2009

• Before It Gets Old: Kanye Interrupts Obama

  Sure, you're probably already way beyond sick of hearing about Kanye West at the MTV Video Music Awards (or possibly just sick from Lady Gaga's fake blood-stained performance, but we thought it was pretty rad). But this mash-up video by "freeyourpixels," briefly exploring the heretofore unknown connection between Kanye and Joe Wilson, is just so obvious--yet elegant in its simplicity and perfectly executed--it's no surprise it was up within a couple hours of the actual VMA incident. It's already

  September 14, 2009