Don't know what to do this weekend? Heard Mentality's got you covered.
Tonight, Rumspringa appears with Mississippi Man at Alex's Bar in Long Beach. The LA-based band has been dealing with the obvious question about their name almost from the day they started (it's coming-of-age period for the Amish) but anyone expecting hushed singalongs about their clothes' lack of buttons or the like will be rightfully disappointed.
]
Instead, bring earplugs and appreciate how there's always another generation of LA groups out to raise some psych-inspired hell and sing along to something great like “Queer Eyed Boy.”
The Lazer Tag Tour at the Galaxy Concert Theatre, with Far East Movement and Hyper Crush topping the bill. Our featured artists in the music section this week, the LA-based Far East Movement have been working together for almost a decade now. They've done everything from getting movie and TV show placements, to touring earlier this summer with Robyn and Kelis–and opening for Lady Gaga in Japan earlier in the year. Their next album is now being recorded, so there's no reason not to see what they've got going.
Friday also finds a gathering of the lo-fi/chillwave/cassette culture/whatever-the-genre is tribes when Wavves headlines a show at the Glass House in Pomona. That'll be enough to get more than a few people going, but the rest of the bill has further interest, including the presence of the increasingly great Abe Vigoda. Another one of our featured artists this week, the band has turned out from being another crop of noise types based up at the Smell in LA to having their own way around rock & roll in a more straightforward vein, and they're bound to be playing something from their soon to be released album Crush.
As if Friday wasn't packed enough: Weird Al Yankovic. Need we say more? But in case the ock you've lived under for decades is just that immovable, nobody–but NOBODY–has so perfectly clued in to the eternal snotty 12-year-old nerd. His show at the Pacific Ampitheatre at the OC Fair (probably after checking in at the Al's Brain exhibit) will be the equivalent of the Rihanna show in LA the other week: a multimedia extravaganza for an audience that knows, and loves, without irony.
Saturday might be a good time for a change of pace with the Long Beach Jazz Festival, which actually starts the previous evening and runs through Sunday. Kicking off on Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Rainbow Lagoon in Long Beach, the headliners feature Dave Koz and Jonathan Butler. Sheila E.-who like Weird Al has readily transcended the decade she's most associated with, because she really is that good a percussion player–is also on the bill. Fitting for a member of one of the most famous musical families in America, the Escovedos.
