Monthly Archives: March 2011



This show is gonna be awesome! We’re super excited to have CAPILLARY ACTION rollin’ in all the way from the north eastern United States. Wire Magazine describes them as a “…spectacle of virtuosity, with technical mastery of their instruments and a sophisticated understanding of melody and harmony.” While Pitchfork describes some of their music as having “…the pacing of a brawl, with quiet moments to catch your breath followed by furious passages of pounding rhythm and dissonant swells… wicked rhythmic turns, hints of jazz, and mind-bending guitar…”

As for the rest of the night, DEVFITS sounds extremely entertaining! I can not wait for Rob Crow (PINBACK) to unleash this wild combination of Devo and Misfits covers rolled into duct tape…

DEAD ANIMAL MOD will also be a new one for me, I haven’t had a listen yet but their name makes me feel guilty about eating meat.

Le Freak Sauce aka Bobby Bray, will be shredding down the guitar scales and tripping out your ears with his vocal style. High hitting falsettos, reminiscent of Yoko Ono or perhaps a cowboy riding through super sonic space waves with a ring modulator. Accompanied by Brandon Relf on the skins this homegrown San Diego duo INNERDS will boggle your brain with their own breed of “post prog-skronk space-tropicalia math-lounge.”

This show is happening at the CHE CAFE which is one of my favorite places in San Diego. An all ages venue which in the past has provided me with the opportunity to see some amazing musical acts like: Glass Candy and The Shattered Theatre (which was long before the band signed to ITALIANS DO IT BETTER ), Black Dice, GGGAH, The Locust, Q & Not U, Camera Obscura, White Mice, Aids Wolf, and Antioch Arrow to name a few. “Founded in 1980 by UCSD students, the Che originally began its life as a vegan cafe. The name “Che” in “Che Cafe” is not only a nod to the late Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara, it is also a backronym for “Cheap Healthy Eats.” The latter name was registered with the university administration in an attempt to avoid political scrutiny.” .

Support a rad venue and awesome music… Go to this show!
FaceBook Event page

Here’s the paper version of the flyer…



This collage is a collaboration piece that Bobby and I made. Mostly his idea on the collage and space images, the arm is covering the somatosensory cortex, which represents the sense of touch with in the body. I pasted the paper and did the photoshop edits for the flier… you can find it permanently in my here: “Paintings & Mixed Medias” – under: collaborations.

Mexicali is capital to the Mexican state of Baja California, the population of this metropolitan area is about 1 million. Mexicali borders the US city of Calexico which has a population of 39,000.

I left last week to visit this city for the first time with my boyfriend Bobby Bray and his band, INNERDS. The difference in population and culture was obvious at first glance. We crossed the border easily and quickly found ourselves in loud crowded streets, with many people walking around, cars honking and street vendors selling goods. A stark contrast from the desolate vibe of Calexico, where we had stopped to get a cup of coffee and meet up with one of the other bands that was playing that night, UPSILON ACRUX.

MONOCO BEER CLUB, is a mere five-minute drive from the border crossing, so we reached our destination quickly. This event was put together as a memorial show for Carlos Dautt, who died about a year ago. Here’s the flier for the show, made by ACAMONCHI

Since we had arrived early to set everything up the place was sparse with people. The employees at the bar were friendly, after we had finished loading everything up we sat down and they kindly offered us to any variety of their beer selection.

After relaxing from the drive we had the opportunity to check out the bar. This place is great, the downstairs area for the bands is about 150 capacity and set up like any place you might see here in the states for a bar their size. Equipt with a digital projector, P.A., and mixing board – all the necessities. Upstairs is what caught me off guard, a small stair well leads up to a smoking patio and adjacent to this is a gallery space filled with art. The artists’ names were unmarked, so if anyone has information as to who made what, please contact me because I would love to know. Some of these pieces were painted directly onto the wall, while others were properly framed, all of them were a pleasure to look at, here are a few of my favorites:




The first band to play were Mexicali natives THErapist. Their familiar disco-punk sound was entangled with honest screaming and a flattering steady high-hat beat. These guys are gonna be playing at San Diego’s Ruby Room on May 20th, be sure to check em out.






Next up NOISE BEAT PROPAGANDA, reminiscent of a Moving Units type sound. They have an EP which will be released later this year, not sure which record label they’ve decided on but their 2009 release entitled “We’re in love, yeah right!” was released on Poni Republic Netlabel.


HOSANNA also from Mexicali provoked a more pensive and somber sound, entangling a transition for the next two instrumental bands. KENSETH AND BRANDON (SLEEPING PEOPLE) followed next with a more upbeat experimental set. Then onto instrumental quartet UPSILON ACRUX, originally from San Diego now currently residing in Los Angeles. These guys don’t miss a beat and they’ve played with some amazing bands including: The Boredoms, The Ruins, Mission of Burma, the Locust, Don Caballero, Bad Dudes, the Fucking Champs, Dillinger Escape Plan, Anal Cunt, Devin Sarno and Nels Cline and Fred Frith, just to name of few.

Finally at around 2am INNERDS hits the floor with their own breed of post-prog skronk, space tropicalia, math lounge. Rumor has it they’re planning a west coast tour in September with 2UP (Japan) and Upsilon Acrux, so keep your eyes peeled! With 3 am pending, also known as closing time, my set was postponed till the next time around… We will definitely be heading east again some time soon, to see what else Mexicali has to offer!

With regards to my last written post, I just want to clarify that I haven’t been back to Porky’s Place in Zona Rio since I was about 21. I’ve heard that since then they have completely revamped and lost their dirty dance club vibe. Not quite sure what happened all that I can say is that things aren’t how they used to be.

So now when I leave to go dancing in Tijuana, I find myself heading off to “6TA” 6th street where it crosses at Revolution. Here the neighborhood is filled with dance clubs and smokey bars, so many that unless you have a native to show you around it might be a bit overwhelming. The past couple years have led me to a couple of favorite spots.

IndieGO! is located in “el callejon” which translates to little street or alley. Within this alley there are about four bars. IndieGO! is in the back on the left and on almost any given weekend a line forms down the street for entry. El callejon gets packed and you can expect to hear anything from house, techno, dance, punk or popular music.

La Mezcalera is where CLUB PURPLE found it’s home for about a year solid. House music is the jam here and they specialize in Oaxacan mescal, which is where the bar gets the name. Mescal is an alcohol made from the maguey plant which is a form of Agave. Available in 18 varieties, my favorite being the Anise flavored mescal.

Aside from the bar and club scene one of my favorite spots is Chandelier Boutique , where fashion is a plenty. This boutique celebrates art every month with the changing out of window displays, offering free will to local artists to express themselves. Diana Reyes aka Miss Lady D also resides here but you’ll find her in the back with a pair of sharp shears ready to re-invent your self-perception with a new hair style. She also is a very talented and creative make-up artist, so if you’re getting ready to go out on the town give this girl a call! This little spot makes me happy in so many ways, go check em out and see for yourself, they’re located on 11th near Pio Pico.

Finally there’s CECUT , which stands for, Centro Cultural Tijuana. This is the museum, it’s located minutes from border crossing and hosts an amazing ten thousand events a year. My favorite part of this iconic structure is the garden out back, Jardin Caracol, is filled with stone sculptures and luxurious plants, they also serve coffee and wine, giving you the chance to relax and take it all in while the sound of the street traffic slowly billows in.






Flier finished for the next Makeout Weird!

Here’s a link to the FB event page:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=182677338442377