I love summer. I love free shows. Free music shows, that is! Catch some amazing acts for the week of July 3 - July 9!

Thursday, July 3

• One Hawai’i with Keali’i Reichel, Na Leo, Weldon Kekauoha and Hula Halau | 7:00 pm at the Santa Monica Pier | Info Here

Sunday, July 6

• Soul Shot | 12:00 pm at Point Fermin Park | Info Here
• 110 South | 3:00 pm at Point Fermin Park | Info Here
• Victor Cisneros y Alteza (Latin Pop) | 6:00 pm at Rosewood Park | Info Here
• Paul Wittenberg with Daniel Alfred Wachs (pianists) | 6:00 pm at the Leo S. Bing Theatre in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art | Info Here

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North African Vibes: Music from Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia
Thursday, July 31 | 8 pm
LACMA just added a new concert to it’s summer line-up, and its FREE! But you gotta reserve tickets now, they will go fast.

The region known as the Maghreb or North Africa is home to a vibrant array of musical styles reflecting its long history of blending indigenous and Islamic traditions with African, European, and Middle Eastern influences. This ensemble of distinguished singers and musicians will showcase captivating Arab-Andalusian melodies from Granada, the uplifting vocals of Jewish-heritage songs from across the Maghreb, and the pulsating rhythms of rai which have swept around the world and found a home in Los Angeles. Sponsored jointly by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies.

For three days the Hollywood Bowl will be celebrating Independence Day and the Dodgers 50th Anniversary with the July 4th Fireworks Spectacular: A Ball at the Bowl with the LA Dodgers. There will be amazing fireworks displays, appearances by Dodger super stars, and music by special guest Randy Newman. LA.CityZine has your free tickets into this event on July 2nd at 7:30pm! All you have to do is leave a comment below saying why you want to go and you will be entered to win two tickets to Hollywood Bowl on July 2nd.

Leave a comment soon because the winner will be announced June 30th at 5pm!

If you would like to buy tickets for another night you can do so here. Tickets range from $10-$114.

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Next Saturday, they will be showing Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd and their Looney Tunes friends on the Bowl’s big screens for the final Hollywood Bowl performance of Bug Bunny on Broadway. This show is great for the whole family and loved by many. But, apparently it’s time for an upgrade. The critically-acclaimed original version is about to be retired in preparation for a brand new version of the concert which will mark this concert’s 20th Anniversary in 2010. This will be your last chance to see the original Bugs Bunny on Broadway so don’t miss out! Buy tickets while you still can here or enter to win a Family Four Pack here!

The show begins at 8:00pm on Saturday, July 5th at the Hollywood Bowl located at 2301 N. Highland (Map).

Before we start on a weekend full of some pretty quality concert on-sales, I would like to state that, in an attempt to make the LA City Zine Concert On-Sale listings more Green and eco-friendly, your writer, Brian, will no longer be powered by coal and gasoline. Instead, Brian will run on a eco-friendly combination of caffeine and adrenaline. Remember, you can take steps at home to reduce your carbon footprint. Now that that is out of the way, check this out:

• For those of you who have been living under a rock lately (no offense, it’s probably much cooler down there) and don’t already know, Nine Inch Nails will end their spat of summer tour dates with a show September 6^th at the Forum with Deerhunter opening. Tickets are $36-$52 and go on sale Saturday at 10am (don’t be surprised if another show, or two, are added)

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Well people, it’s time. Time for The 2008 Cuervo Black US Air Guitar Championships. That’s right baby, they’ve got sponsors. Tonight at 8pm at the Troubadour, they will be shredding their hearts out for a chance to win the 2008 Regional Championships.  Bret from Flight of the Conchords will be guest judging the event.

To see a little sneak peek of what’s to come, check out last years winner William Ocean:

Free shows are in store for you! Here are the free shows for the week of June 26 - July 2:

Thursday, June 26

• Present Tense (Jazz) | 12:00 pm at Pershing Square | Info here
• Cyndi Lauper on Jimmy Kimmel | 6:15 pm at El Capitan Theatre | Info and Tickets here

Saturday, June 28

• Ruthann Friedman | 3:00 pm at Amoeba | Info here
• The Wrecking Crew | 8:00 pm at California Plaza | Info here
• The Undercover Girls | 3:00 at Sorensen Park | Info Here

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Last Sunday’s Warped Tour in Ventura left me with a wicked sunburn, sore joints, and a deep appreciation for the bands who distracted me from my discomfort with their infallibly upbeat attitudes and earnest performances.

At the Smartpunk stage, The Higher set the mood for my day with cheerfully energetic renditions of songs from their On Fire album. The catchy-as-hell “Histrionics” kept the audience dancing and singing along and put the lyric “One check, one love” in my head for the next half hour or so. An unexpected rocked-up cover of ‘N Sync’s “Bye Bye Bye” elicited a few boos from the crowd, although most people seemed to appreciate and enjoy the novelty. Undeterred, lead vocalist Seth Trotter kept things light afterward with a quick quip: “I think some of the metal crowd were mad that they knew that song.” The set ended with Trotter jumping onto the barricade during the crowd pleasing “Insurance?” to the delight of front-row fans.
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Gilberto Gil and Devendra Banhart will be performing June 29th at the Hollywood Bowl, and we’ve got your tickets right here. If you’re looking for some new music that you probably haven’t seen before you have to check out these guys. Both Gil and Banhart are guaranteed to bring something new and enjoyable to the Bowl next weekend and all you have to do to win tickets is sign up for our newsletter and then leave a comment below saying why you want to go. Once you do that, you will automatically be entered in a drawing for two tickets to the concert and the winner will be announced at noon on the 27th!

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CIAM takes “art-rock” to a new level with innovative U.S. debut performance Tuesday, June 24 on KCRW’s “Morning Becomes Eclectic,” and at Tangier, Los Angeles, at 9.30PM on Wednesday, June 25.

Los Angeles cutting-edge visual art will meet innovatively experimental music on Tuesday, June 24 when Los Angeles will be host to the first-ever American appearance of the multimedia London art rock group CIAM at KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic. Then on Wednesday, June 25^th, the multimedia ensemble brings its evocative, provocative perspective to the urban arts world with a rare groundbreaking rock concert and work from Europe’s top photographers and designers for their show at Tangier. CIAM is the five-piece brainchild of vocalist/guitarist Jeff Shapiro and viola/violinist Hadar Goldman, and Shapiro’s former Astrohound bandmate, drummer Chris Hall, programmer/sound architect/guitarist Farrell Lennon and bassist Mark Ferguson.

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I’ll be be honest with you, reader - I haven’t religiously listened to the radio since 2003. I have no idea what the latest hit is playing on the airwaves, but from my former life as a teenybopper circa 1998 I can tell you that this is peak time for capitalism in the form of cookie-cutter wrigglin’ and writhin’ music. Having thankfully grown out of that phase, I can also tell you that nothing quenches the thirst brought on by a summertime heat wave of same old candy pop hits than a talent- and passion-driven in-store performance by Martha Wainwright at Amoeba Music - a treat to those who prefer the smaller, more intimate venues that deliver as much punch as the standard stadium-sized event.

Martha has always been an accomplished artist, a living, breathing poster child for the credence “no man is an island”. With parents Loudon Wainwright and Kate McGarrigle, aunt Anna McGarrigle and brother Rufus Wainwright, her magnetism might as well have been written in the stars. At quarter after 6:00 p.m. Martha came onstage with her four-piece band, her blonde hair tinged with blue, and soft-spoken in demeanor until her fingers started strumming “Bleeding All Over You,” a song that features the title of her album and central lyric to make right-wing evangelists squirm in mild displeasure: I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got Feelings Too. The performance was ethereal, with accompanying vocals that seemed to symbolize the tumultuous feelings that come from a love complicated with too many cooks spoiling the figurative soup - a great first impression for the new listener, and a pleasant reminder for long-term admirers.

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Ventura’s Warped Tour at Seaside Park is tomorrow! This year, the Vans Warped Tour has teamed up with EarthEcho International to implement different “Eco-initiatives.” Visit the Kia Kevin Says stage, a stage run entirely on solar power. Check out the bands signing autographs and playing acoustic sets at the Warped Eco Initiative tent. Look for Warped Eco Initiative flags throughout the venue that will mark opportunities to take action. Most of all, have fun and enjoy all the wonderful bands that will be gracing the stages and tents!

Warped Tour moves around the country with a huge list of bands playing in  almost every city for thousands of festival-goers and musicians alike. There are definitely some ups and downs to that. LA.CityZine got a chance to interview The Action Design, Protest the Hero, and Pierce the Veil regarding their likes and dislikes about Warped Tour, bands they’re excited about seeing, and tips about staying cool in the heat.

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