R.I.P. B.Y.O.P.

Sad news folks: Nashville’s Be Your Own Pet have announced that they have decided to go their separate ways. For those of you who had the privilege to catch the band live, you can understand why it is a true loss. Very few bands could match the four-pieces live intensity on stage. Led by their just-drinking-age lead singer Jemina Pearl, the band would blaze through a 30-minute set full of punk tinged indie-rock that always left you wanting more. While no definitive reason has been listed for their break up, the band released the following announcement on their MySpace:

“To all our fans, we are sad to bring you the news that our upcoming shows in the UK are going to be our last as a band. We thank you for all your love and support these past few years. It’s been a blast, but the time has come for the tour of us to go our separate ways.”

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It’s a bird. It’s a plane! No! It’s free shows!

Tuesday, August 5

• The Carl Saunders Bebop Big Band | 7:00 pm at the Hollywood and Highland Center | Info Here
• Slowhand | 12:00 at Pershing Square | Info Here
• Riders of the Purple Sage | 6:00 pm at Memorial Park | Info Here

Wednesday, August 6

• Pedestrian | 8:00 pm at Pershing Square | Info Here

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Dolly Parton

Hell Yeah! Dolly Parton is at The Greek tonight and I will be there too! As a huge Dolly fan, I can’t imagine wanting to go to any other concert.  If you don’t share my fanaticism for the Backwoods Barbie, however,  there are definitely some other shows worth checking out.  The Honorary Title at the Troubadour will undoubtedly rock Santa Monica Blvd.  If you have a taste for black clothing, melancholy and rage, Wednesday 13 at The Whiskey will fix your cravings and blow your eardrums.  Whatever your preference, enjoy the music tonight.!

• Wednesday 13 | 6:00 PM at The Whiskey - Map | All Ages. Tickets $20 Buy Tickets
• Cubensis | 7:00 PM at The House of Blues Anaheim - Map |All Ages. Tickets $15 Buy Tickets
• Honorary Title | 7:00 PM at Troubadour - Map | All Ages. Tickets $12 Buy Tickets
• Me First & The Gimme Gimmes | 7:00 PM at House of Blue Sunset Strip- Map| 18+ Tickets. $14 Buy Tickets
• Reggae Night VII | 7:00 PM at The Hollywood Bowl - Map | All Ages. Tickets $10 - $123 Buy Tickets

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Yeap. I don’t think FREE could get any better than this. Here are your free shows for you August weekend.

Friday, August 1

• Huey Lewis on Jimmy Kimmel | 5:45 at the El Capitan | Info and Tickets Here
• Fresh Roots Jazz Festival | 12:00 pm at California Plaza | Info Here
• Fresh Roots Jazz Festival | 7:00 pm at California Plaza | Info Here
• Mother Jones | 5:00 pm at El Cariso Park, District 3 | Info Here
• Bill Fulton Band | 7:00 pm at Fair Oaks Park, District 5 | Info Here

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Looking for something to brighten up your week? There’s nothing like a free show to make everything a bit sweeter and it doesn’t get too much better than this week.

Monday, July 28

• Sounder, Princeton, Golden Animals, His Orchestra | 8:00 pm at Silverlake Lounge - Map
• Under the Influence of Giants | 9:00 pm at Spaceland - Map
• Jail Weddings | 8:30 pm at The Echo (Echoplex) - Map

Tuesday, July 29

• Anat Cohen | 7:00 pm at the Hollywood and Highland Center | Info Here
• Bryan Adams on Jimmy Kimmel | 6:15 at the El Capitan Theatre | Info and Tickets Here
• King Creole | 12:00 at Pershing Square | Info Here
• Taikoproject | 3:00 at Pasadena Public Library | Info Here

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Unless your jonzing for a Journey and Heart fix (though, judging by their upcoming sold out gig in Irvine, you might be), or looking forward to a dose of Three 6 Mafia (who won an Oscar for their opus on the trails and tribulations of pimpin’), there isn’t much in store this week for big venue ticket on sale. Some decent club shows hit Ticketmaster this week, but if you like rock or indie bands playing the big places, this might be a weekend to check out Batman for the second or third time (see you there).

For those of you who might have stopped believing after not getting tickets to Journey’s sold out show at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, my advice is to start believing again, unless you never stopped believing, which meant that you didn’t stop believing at all. Regardless, the good news for you fans is that Journey (with new lead singer Arnel Pineda) has added a show at the Greek Theater on September 30^th. Heart and Cheap Trick will open and tickets will set you back $55-$110 dollars and go on sale Saturday at 10am. Of course with service charges the price of those tickets won’t stop exceeding… your budget…

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The Canadians are coming! The Canadians are coming! Five of them to be exact: Dan Boeckner, Spencer Krug, Hadji Bakara, Arlen Thompson, Dante DeCaro make up the “experimental, indie” band known formally as Wolf Parade. The U.S. tour for their album “At Mount Zoomer” has begun and they are gracing the stage of The Music Box At the Henry Fonda (map) on Friday the 18th and Saturday the 19th at 8:00 P.M. (buy tickets now).

These guys are sure to put on a great show and they have the experience to support such an assumption with band member Dante DeCaro formerly of Hot Hot Heat and Spencer Krug formerly of Frog Eyes. Their sound has the familiarity of indie music that Angelenos need and a unique, fresh, simply awesome layer they desire. This band has been getting a bigger and bigger fan base since they formulated and signed with SubPop records in 2005 and this may be the last chance SoCal will have to see them in a small, intimate venue. They are putting on two shows and I highly suggest getting to one of them.

Photo by by Frankie Two Thumbs

Can’t think of any good leads today. That “Hellboy II” looks pretty cool though, right? Let’s just get to the on-sale info…

There are huge bands out there like Coldplay, Linkin Park and Green Day who can sell out an amphitheater. They are in mainstream magazines and sell a lot of records. Then there are bands that may not sell a lot of records per say, but have such a rabid fan-base that they are able to sell out multiple nights at a single, mid-level size venue. For example: Social Distortion rarely goes gold but can sell out twenty nights at local House of Blues’. Or Rancid who just sold out half a dozen nights in LA and the OC. Or how about Bad Religion who recently played many weekend shows at the Orange County House of Blues. None of those bands are “giant sellers”, but their fan base is rabid enough that they’ll spend the money to see them twice or three times in a two week window.

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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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Reggie and The Full Effect Plot Farewell Tour Hardcore/pop/punk/comedians Reggie and The Full Effect have announced their final tour ever. The tour begins August 20^th in Orlando, FL and is in support of the their fifth full length album “Last Stop: Crappy Town.”. For those of you who don’t know, Reggie is the brain child of former Get Up Kids keyboardist James Dewees, and is known for their hilarious, outlandish (yet strangely grounded) heavy metal/ pop performances. While I’m not exactly sold that this will be the final Reggie tour, it has been rumored that Dewees will become a permanent keyboardist of My Chemical Romance, whom Dewees toured with for their last album. The tour will feature support by Frank Iero’s (My Chemical Romance) side-project Leathermouth and will stop at the Avalon in Hollywood on August 26^th. For those of you who have never seen the Full Effect in their live glory should take this opportunity before the band goes the way of the dodo.

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It’s hot. And not a comfortable hot. Just hot. Wear your sunblock, drink your water, covet your shade and don’t do too much physical activity. On the other hand, feel free to break all the rules and join me at the Make Music Pasadena festival this Saturday to catch Kinky and the Ravonettes. Then curse me on Sunday morning when you look like a lobster with hair. If you want to stay in yet still spend money (kinda the American dream if you think about it), here are some concert on-sales to check out… [ Read The Full Story -> ]

The Honda Civic Tour ended its two month long trip at the Honda Center on Saturday Night. 8,000 people of all ages showed up to watch, and even a few started waiting in line at 6 in the morning.

Unfortunately, I missed Phantom Planet, but the rest of the bands were very good. Despite some malfunctions, The Hush Sound played a very solid set. Motion City Soundtrack (who, in my opinion, should have headlined), was very good, as always. Panic at the Disco rounded out the show with an hour and fifteen minutes of pleasure for the audience. Here are some pictures from the evening:

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