This weekend wants us to recall a time when hairspray didn't ruin the ozone layer, the Internet didn't exist and you had to sit through commercials to watch your favorite shows.
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Friday, June 25
This Friday, the Psychedelic Furs continue the latest in their series of
near annual summer American tours with an appearance at the Grove in
Anaheim, with She Wants Revenge perhaps justifiably opening for them,
given that group's clear embrace of early eighties UK sounds. But back
to the Furs themselves–while they've settled into a nostalgia act for
some time now, it's an attractively powerful one, having actually grown
in stature and popularity over recent years. Richard Butler's raspy but
always emotional voice and often mesmerizing lyrics, in combination
with the able, immediate work musicians including bassist Tim Butler,
Richard's brother, remains something powerful. You can still win tickets to their show here.
Saturday, June 26
On Saturday, A Flock of Seagulls continue the eighties nostalgia
with their own newest tour, appearing at the Coach House in San Juan
Capistrano with When in Rome opening. In contrast to the
almost-never-uncool Psychedelic Furs, A Flock of Seagulls are often
regarded only with humor these days, a time-and-place group like the
Strawberry Alarm Clock was for the late sixties or O-Zone was for the
boyband era. But despite all the jokes one can make about lead
singer/keyboardist Mike Score's now long gone hairdo, songs like “I Ran
So Far Away,” “Wishing” and especially “Space Age Love Song” remain
surprisingly elegant, powerful numbers, thanks especially to underrated
genius guitarist Paul Reynolds. He's long since gone from the band but
one hopes they all still know how to make it work.
Also on Saturday, the Yeastie Boys, our Locals Only subjects for
the week, will be bringing their 'all we do all clowns and we do them
punk' approach to a show at the Doll Hut in Anaheim–the 1st Annual
Clown Jam, no less, with Desperation Squad and Plan 9 from Anaheim among
others on the bill. Though their name may provoke groans in pun haters
everywhere — and not just from Beastie Boys fans, seeing as there was
already a Yeastie Girls in the 1990s–it's all about, as noted, clowns
and punk when it comes to the Yeastie Boys, who do in fact sometimes
include girls. Somehow this all makes sense in the end, but in the
meantime, perfect your Shakes the Clown imitation and, should you dare,
go out and see a bunch of Bozos do songs like “Clownifornia Uber Alles”
and “Clown Riot.”
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Elsewhere on Saturday, Fishbone bring their eternally fluid
combination of playing whatever the heck they want to at Ska in the Park
at the Fox Theatre in Pomona. It's no surprise that the band are
headlining such a festival, as so much of the band's early SoCal fame
came from such amazing songs as “Party at Ground Zero,” but the real
thing to understand is that Fishbone–our deserved featured artists in
the music section this week–were and are a great band, not needing
any additional qualifiers. Groups like the Roots and Ozomatli–and
many others worldwide–owe something to their pioneering spirit,
itself drawing on equally wide ranging bands like Parliament-Funkadelic
beforehand, while the capering antics of the legendary Angelo Moore
almost hide the fact that the entire band are skilled individual as well
as group performers.
Yet again on Saturday, meanwhile, Powerman 5000 are out to remind
everyone trying to pretend otherwise that nu-metal did exist with a show
at the Galaxy Concert Theatre in Santa Ana. To be fair, both the
group's perceived sonic compatriots and the minor family connection on
the part of singer Spider One — Rob Zombie's brother — obscure the
fact that Powerman 5000 had a knack for immediate pop hooks underneath
all the compressed scuzz, which was all they really shared with most of
the chain wallet brigade to start with. The hyperdramatics of their
biggest hit “When Worlds Collide” puts together the trash culture
references and emotional melodrama nicely and if they've never quite
reached that scale again, there's always something to be said for a band
that keeps going with they know best.
Sunday, June 27
On Sunday, Costa Mesa's the Growlers put on what's bound to be
another fine show at the Detroit Bar, but it's their touring partners
that makes for another reason to come out — LA's Entrance Band, who
have already played a couple of shows down here to great attention. The
story of how the one-man act known first as Entrance moves from somewhat
cryptically insular home recordings to full-on dawn-of-the-seventies
riff rock insanity is a bit of a minor legend already in modern
psychedelic circles, but the point is that he made the move well and has
gone from strength to strength with time. Teaming up with the Growlers
just makes for an even better combination, so show up and grow your hair
out. (You can also win tickets to this show here!)
