The Ska Parade World Turns

>>>After 10 years and more than 500 shows, Tazy Phyllipz has finally changed the name of his renowned Ska Parade radio program (currently airing every Saturday at noon on KUCI-FM 88.9). The new moniker: SP Radio One. We say “finally” because the show over the past few years has evolved to embrace a wide variety of non-ska genres, and not just on the playlist—Tazy has had everything from the world-percussion rhythms of Ozomatli to the hillbilly howling of BR5-49 to the spins of DJ Me DJ You to the hip-hop of Ugly Duckling, all of whom have performed exclusive live sets in the SP Radio One studio. We here at LowBallAss Chatter welcome the name change, knowing that in these corporate climes it could've been far, far worse—Verizon Wireless Ska Parade, anyone?

>>>GET UP, GET ON UP Don't bother going unless you have a ticket—the show surely must be sold out by now—but if you haven't heard, Kansas City's Get Up Kids are playing Chain Reaction this Sunday. The show is something of a coup for Chain Reaction—the Kids are major players in the indie underground, and they're even more popular now than they were a year ago when they played a similar last-minute show at Koo's Art Cafe that attracted such a huge, throbbing crowd it often looked like the mob would burst through the fragile walls. Also on the bill are the Anniversary, Koufax and a mysterious fourth band—rumors have been circulating about everyone from Jimmy Eat World to Rocket From the Crypt, but it's more than likely just some band you've never heard of. Still, don't call the club and hassle them with questions—even they don't know who it will be.

>>>POORMAN UPDATE Jim Trenton, a.k.a. Poorman, the ex-KROQ DJ and current Newport Beach resident, is back with another project benefiting local indie bands—not unlike Anti-Radio, his short-lived AM experience that hopped around a couple of stations two years ago before fading out. This time, he's turned to the telly with PTV, which airs every Friday night at 1 a.m. (which, of course, is technically Saturday morning) on UPN Channel 13. It's similar in format to Anti-Radio, in that the bands that get the most viewer votes after their first appearance earn regular airplay on the show. But there's a price bands have to pay for citywide TV exposure: $250, which covers a camera crew, shoot and editing expenses. (Poorman says bands are more than welcome to offset the cost by attracting sponsors for the show.) PTV is taped at several clubs in the greater LA area, and on Tuesday nights, they're at the Lava Lounge in Long Beach, where local bands like Jesus Wore Dickies, Shave, and Johnny Jones N the Suffering Halos have shot segments. Poorman also tells LowBallAssChatter that PTV is a bona fide hit—for a 1 a.m. show, anyway—and that ratings have quintupled since it debuted three months ago (“We almost beat Star Trek: Voyager!” he says). If you're in a band and into being on the tube, buzz the PTV line at (949) 451-4500 or e-mail po******@ao*.com (yep, that's three o's in “pooorman”). Oh—Poorman also wants to mention that he co-owns the show with model/actress/musician Beverly Taylor, who is responsible for PTV's “Liquid Ladies” segment. Poorman assures us that “they're the Fly Girls of the new millennium!” Okay. There.

>>>WHAT'S THAT NOISE? It's all too easy for LowBallAssChatter to turn a blind butt cheek to music-industry websites. For one, there's so many of them. For two, there's so goddamn many of them. But anyhoo, Newport Beach-based loudenergy.com promises to cry if it isn't paid some attention soon, and if there's one thing we can't stand, it's emotionally distraught websites. “We're here for the artist—we're trying to give something back to the artist community,” says loudenergy. com's Terry Karges in a quite frustrated and intense manner. “We're doing something important!” The company is the first of its kind to offer artists on the site 100 percent of the profits from the sales of their music. Bad Religion, Sugar Ray, Social Distortion, No Doubt and Reel Big Fish, among others, are a few of the bands already committed to selling their CDs on the site. The site also boasts a forum in which big-name producers who've signed on to the loudenergy.com project can listen to songs posted by artists and offer constructive criticism. And that's not all—but it's all we're going to tell you about here. For more info, visit them at www.loudenergy.com.

>>>GAMES ROCK STARS PLAY The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Stone Temple Pilots teamed up for a pair of shows Sept. 1-2 at the old Irvine Meadows Amphitheater (you know what it's called now, but we're still holding out). LowBallAssChatter spies tipped us that when the bands were in OC, they both made camp at the Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Niguel—and we all know nothing screams “alternative rock” quite like the Ritz-Carlton. Plus, they both performed the very rock-star act of registering under fake names—the Peppers used “Ron Jeremy” (who, if you didn't know, is a greasy, bloated porn celeb) while the Pilots used “Creamy Goodness.”

>>>RAMBLING, INCOHERENT, GRAMMATICALLY INCORRECT LETTER O' TH' MONTH (In response to Rich Kane's blistering review of the recent OC Who show—mistakes intact): “I go to alot of shows you name it I'am sure I was there.So this Rich Kane sucks,and the fonts that he used to write his bad article is so old and lame give him a clue to get with it.”

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