Phil Nisco

The Grilled Cheese Spot Is Spot-On

[Hole In the Wall] Aron Habiger's Santa Ana restaurant makes nothing but grilled-cheese sandwiches—brilliant!

The Crosby to Open Grilled Cheese Sandwich Restaurant!

Anyone who has ever been to the Crosby in downtown SanTana knows the brilliance of its Starving Artist grilled-cheese sandwich, a Gruyere beauty paired with a shooter of tomato sauce that runs for a ridiculous five bucks. Now, the guys behind it are taking it to the next level, opening the Grilled C ... More >>

[Sound Guy] MyReview of the MySpace Pages of Local Acts

Dennis Lluy of Koo's Cafe Brings a Bunch of Bands to Santa Ana With the SoundDowntown Festival

The Crosby Still Not Ready for Prime Time

We like the Crosby, we really do. We cheered their fight against the idiot SanTana bureaucrats. We like co-owners Chris Alfaro, Phil Nisco and Marc Yamaoka 'cause they always sport a smile and some weird-ass T-shirt (one of their workers was wearing one with Steve Urkel's mugshot--I remember that ep ... More >>

[Sprawl of Sound] OC Weekly's Music Editor Bids Farewell, Bittersweetly

The Crosby's "Official" Grand Opening Party

Better late than never? Sure! Weekly cover boys Phil Nisco, Chris Alfaro and Mark Yamaoka turned a weekend long extravaganza into The Crosby’s Official Grand Opening Party. So what if they opened two months ago? According to Nisco, the lineup of events this weekend just seemed like the perfect opp ... More >>

[Sprawl of Sound] The Crosby's Grand Opening, Nigerian Music Not by Fela Kuti

[Sprawl of Sound] Getting Wowed by Autechre's Live Show, Gaslamp Killer at the Now-Open Crosby

Spit Monthly Debuts at The Crosby Tonight

LA DJs Gaslamp Killer and Kutmah kick off their monthly event Spit (happening on first Thursdays at 9 p.m.), bringing the rhythmic fire tonight at the newly opened Crosby club in Santa Ana (we missed the "soft opening" April 1 because we were out of town, damn it). Want to hear hip-hop being mold ... More >>

[Sprawl of Sound] Black Ghosts In the Booth, Gaslamp Killer On Disc, and the Crosby (Finally) Opens

OC Bands Free the Robots, God's Good Soldiers, Dusty Rhodes and the River Band at South By Southwest

Sneak Peek of The Crosby

Phil Nisco and Chris Alfaro of Free the Robots/The Crosby. Please. Open. Via this video of a Free the Robots practice session for their NYC show. Plus, you get some Big Apple footage. Progress definitely has been made at The Crosby, the venue that, we predicted back in September, would revoluti ... More >>

Sprawl of Sound

Rewind, Selectah! The best releases and shows of 2007

Sprawl of Sound

Punk, Funk and Ganked: The Clinic Shrugs Off Barbs, Orgone’s Funk Proves Reich’s Theory Wasn’t Bunk, Crosby’s Ill Fortunes

Free the Robots, Detroit Bar (Busywork), September 26, 2007

Click the photo for more snaps from the show. I had absurdly high expectations for Free the Robots' OC live debut—and, knock me over with a feather, those expectations were exceeded. That experience is so rare, I'd almost forgotten what it feels like. Seeing Free the Robots (SanTana impresario/mu ... More >>

Free the Robots' Live OC Debut

Alfaro (far left) and Nisco (second from right) will be soundbombing Detroit Bar tonight. Recent OC Weekly cover boys Chris Alfaro (aka Free the Robots) and Phil Nisco (Black Lung Pop) will be joining forces tonight for their first live performance in an Orange County venue. The Santa Ana musicia ... More >>

Three the Hard Way

Marc Yamaoka, Phil Nisco and Chris Alfaro wanted to open a hot new nightspot—But first, they had to fight Santa Ana City Hall