Photo by Shelly StrazisNO-GOIPO
Remember that blurb we wrote last month in our faboo Summer Guide, the one about how the International Pop Overthrow is, year after year, one of the better OC music festivals, and that you should pretty much plan your life around it when the schedule of bands is announced? Well, screw that. Turns out the IPO (which has always been more of an LA thing but in previous incarnations has also been kind enough to spend an afternoon and evening down our way) is bypassing OC entirely this year—so that'swhat Scarlet Crush is doing at the Derby in Los Feliz on July 27! Chief IPO founder and organizer David Bash tells us that it “didn't work out, schedule-wise” to bring the fest down to OC this year, mostly because the city of Stanton—that's right, blame Stanton; always works for us—decided to move their annual Summerfest (which the IPO had been a part of last year) from the end of July to mid-August, which completely messed up the IPO's scheduling. Bash says, “It would have been too logistically difficult to plan an outdoor show anywhere else, so I decided it would be best to forgo Orange County this year.” But, he adds, he hopes to be back in OC come '06.
SWITCHINGSUBJECTS
Lisa Loeb—she of the early '90s hit “Stay” and star of her own Food Network show with hubby Dweezil Zappa—will perform for free at Pepperland Music in Orange Saturday to promote her new vocal-guitar-piano companion book, TheWayItReallyIs. James Levesque, Loeb's publicist . . . wait, wait, not the same James Levesque who was the original bassist for seminal OC punk band Agent Orange? The same James Levesque who wrote “Living in Darkness”? Bullshit!But . . . it'strue!So just how does a guy go from Agent Orange to pushing Lisa Loeb? “I was in sales,” says James, “and my brother Steve needed help when his publicity company expanded. Selling is basically what publicity is.” So James, as long as we've got you on the horn, howzabout a story from punk's ye olden days? “The one I always like telling is when we played in LA with Black Flag and the Circle Jerks. Mike Ness was there, and about 10 LA punks were beating on him, but he never went down.” (Funny . . . we'd heard it was 100 punks.) “And one time we played El Dorado High with the Adolescents, and the teachers there didn't know what they had gotten into. There was so much slamming that teachers got knocked down, and some of them came back the next day wearing I SURVIVED THE AGENT ORANGE CONCERT T-shirts. I also remember being shocked over how much the Adolescents' 'Amoeba' sounded like Social Distortion's 'Atom Bomb.'” Thanks,James!Uhhh . . . where were we? Yes . . . that's Lisa Loeb at Pepperland Music, 850 N. Tustin St., Orange, (714) 639-0909. Sat., 4-6 p.m.
STOPBELIEVING!
To commemorate the too-cool-to-be-forgotten Journey show this Sunday at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater—yes, we speak Sarcasm—we offer here excerpts from two press releases we recently received:
“Did you know that Journey has not yet been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Most people we talk to assume that they are already there. We are the J2TH (Journey to the Hall) Committee, a group of hard-working individuals dedicated to the goal of seeing the band Journey, all members past and present, are [sic] inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. We need your help and support. Journey needs your help and support. For further information please visit our website, www.journeytothehalloffame.com . . .”
“TAKE A TRIP TO JOURNEYVILLE: This summer at Journey's 30th anniversary U.S. tour, dubbed 'The concert that takes you back . . . and into the future,' fans will experience a mixture of nostalgia, excitement and delight from the moment they arrive until the time they leave. In addition to being treated to an entire evening of music spanning Journey's entire history, this trek will include an added ingredient, 'Journeyville,' a festive area located near the front entrance at most of the venues. Fans will be treated to continuous video playback on large outdoor screens showing various moments throughout Journey's history such as classic music videos, behind-the-scenes clips and much more . . .”
