prowess

so last night before eric and mark headed over to meet up with roy, gabe and chicken at The Habitat, and before matt and i got to work fine-tuning more vocals and making it so noone will ever know i messed up the bass part at 1 min 56 seconds in to [insert super secret song title here], there was a discussion on the word "prowess". actual, it wasn't really a discussion as much as it was a sentence, a sentence saying that the word "prowess" is only really ever used in either the context of superheroes, or immediately following the word "sexual". what does that have to do with anything? who knows. what i do know is that i just finished updating the left column of this blog : The Modlins are coming... : with the next 7 shows, all of which happen before the end of this month of March!

yes, the Modlins are coming to The Radio Room here in San Diego, The Que Sera in LBC, The Knitting Factory Hollywood, and then we go up, up to the Red Room in the PDX, Eugene's Black Forest, Olympia WA's LeVoyeur, back to the PDX for Mississippi Pizza, and then back home. Sadly, we are skipping NorCal entirely because apparently, noone wants us there. Oh well. With friends like these, you know?

Or something. Poster coming soon?

brought to you by the letter B

i'm not sure why, but in followup to my apparently-letter-A-sponsored Art Around Adams post, this one is brought to you by the letter B. seems like the letter B is, um, the bee's knees right about now. Beer starts with the letter B. Beards start with the letter B, and even though eric shaved his a bit ago, i'd say that the ghost of it still lingers (ha). at the Beauty Bar last thursday, following our Frantic Romantic buddies, Sayvinyl was sporting at least a couple of nice beards themselves, even if they only got 5 songs before Marshall made them clear out to keep the Annuals on schedule. but thats another story, one in which i got their God Forbid and am not regretting that purchase, but still, back to the letter B.

while eric has a few posts for the beloved Broken Social Scene, i'll attempt to hold my own with the B's. First: Beck! If you haven't heard/seen/read, there is a July 8th release date for Modern Guilt, and still lots of anticipation (by me) for him at SF Outside Lands (with tons more awesome) and the Hollywood Bowl (with Spoon and MGMT) in the upcoming months. useless me trivia : Beck, on his Midnite Vultures -era tour, was the first show i saw in ucsd's RIMAC arena, 8 years ago, two years prior to my move down to America's Finest City.

and more letter B news : tonight, our Boyish Charms friends are set to play back to back nights, tonight at the Beauty Bar, opening for The Submarines, and tomorrow at the Habitat, with Manuok, which could make for one heck of a double-header, with Apes of Wrath and Scarlet Symphony also at the Beauty Bar later tomorrow night.

and, speaking of the Apes of Wrath, and not the letter B, but now, the letter C, i'll take this time to announce the exciting Modlins news : mark your calendars : Monday July 28th : The Modlins return to The Casbah as part of Tim Pyles' Anti-Monday League, along with The Apes of Wrath, and our friends in The Happy Hollows. word.

If You Were Me (and not going on tour)

.... you'd have a pretty sweet line-up of show coming up. here's the breakdown (and extensive rambling since today is basically my friday) ....

Thursday, April 3rd:

if you were me, you would for sure hit up TNT at the MOCA in downtown. Exfriends are playing with F.U.Z.Z. and Longstay. according to the ex-friends mailinglist, they play from 9-10pm. after that, you'd better haul ass over to the beauty bar to catch Frantic Romantic, The May Fire and Fascination .... though now that you're thinking about it, last time the first band started at 9:30 (sorry Joanie! we started at 10 ... i didn't know!) so maybe this plan will be a failure. well, if you were me, you'd maybe have to skip the exfriends cause you already caught them last wednesday at the Ken, and you haven't seen frantic romantic in awhile (esp since their Alibi show got cancelled, and you're bummed about it). Anna Troy is also playing the Ken thursday, but you just saw her at the Casbah on sunday, so you can skip this one. bummer also, red pony clock is playing chasers and you haven't seen them in awhile .... geez. okay, thursday just sounds exhausting, so much good stuff.

but if you are me, you'll be playing The Beauty Bar in Vegas with The Roman Spring and Action Cat, you'll be up second. you will drink lots. there will be dancing.

Friday, April 4th:

holy! if you were me, you would be pissed that they didn't just add (The) Swim Party and The Henry Clay People to the "THE FEST" at the casbah. Casbah does it up again with The Sess, The Muslims, (the?) Vision of a dying world, (the?) red feathers, (the?) fantastic magic. so yeah, Ken Club's got a small but super sweet line up, Casbah brings the heat. You haven't seen the Sess or fantastic magic, and it's been awhile since you saw vision of a dying world. and you saw swim party last friday, but you really liked Henry Clay when they played Zombie Lounge a couple months ago. so again, you hate everyone. you'd probably learn how to split yourself in two, and send your doppelganger to one of the shows. (you also probably know at least one person who is strongly considering going to Viejas Dreamcatcher for Bret Michaels "Rock Of Love". and not in an ironic way).

but if you are me, you'll be playing at The Ruby Room in Phoenix with Sister Cities (who apparently are the next best thing since sliced bagels), The Former Young Americans and, of course, The Roman Spring. you are are also pretty happy the high is suppose to be 85 degrees as opposed to 105 the last time you played there.

Saturday, April 5th:

if you were me, you'd probably be tired from the work week. you'd do some laundry, maybe hit up Torpasta. Then you'd probably head to the casbah for a pretty sweet "out of towner" night. The Little Ones (from LA) are playing and ever since you were called a "Retro Rock version of The Little Ones" in Performer Magazine you've been meaning to check them out live. you've also heard good things about Ra Ra Riot and The Morning Benders, so you figure "yeah .... that sounds good." Echo Revolution is also playing the Beauty Bar that night for their CD release, so you thought about hitting that up, but since you caught them at the casbah for the Staring at the Sun CD release, you've had your fill for now.

... but if you are me, you just crossed into uncharted modlin terriority, and you're gearing up to play your first New Mexico show at The Tiki Lounge with Lousy Robot and Cherry Tempo. oh yeah, and THE ROMAN SPRING.

Sunday, April 6th:

YES!! boy are you happy. if you were me, you'd be loading up on some Stone Beers and heading to The Habitat to check out Dave Williams and Trash Can Fires. you love The Habitat, yes you do. and Roy, that guy's alright! afterwards, you've thankfully worked out the schedules and somehow managed to find away to catch everyone at the Zombie Lounge (including Writer and Joel P West) and everyone at the Ken (including Roxy Jones). you're pretty proud of yourself. look at you, so smug. you act like your shit don't stink. and it don't!

but if you are me, you'll be playing your last show of the tour at The Hut with Tucson locals Ultramaroon. did i mention Roman Spring will be playing too? Heck Yeah!

and if you are me, this will be your road map:

you also are wondering if this whole "if you were/if you are" thing makes any sense. you're sorta realizing it doesn't .... but you don't care either way, you're gonna keep doing it.

you also don't understand the concept of "labels for a post" and went ape shit.

you shouldn't quit your day job.

Tonight @ The Habitat!!!! FREE!!!!

just a reminder, tonight's show at the habitat. doors at 7pm, i think the bands start at 7:30pm. we're playing with the delightful indie pop/rock band The Besties from New York, fresh off their showcase in SXSW, and the Facets ... who I don't know much about about other than it's indie pop as well, and it features members of red pony clock, so really, can you go wrong? see you all there!

UPDATE: fyi, we're on last so in case you get out of dinner later and you think you already missed us, you might not have, so swing on by. but might i recommend just eating somewhere fast and nearby (luigi's?) so you can catch us all. maybe swing by the turf club for a drink before you head over. now doesn't that sound nice.

The Habitat

so you may notice our next show is in a couple fridays from now at The Habitat. I've talked to a few people who had no idea what or where the Habitat was. so just as a quick overview: The Habitat is a house on the corner of 21st and Broadway in Golden Hills (near downtown and south park). It doubles as a recording studio and a live music venue. shows are ALL AGES and FREE (UPDATE: rosey just tipped me off that due to some issues they've had, shows are no longer all ages. we'll double check with roy, but rosey's a pretty solid source of info. that makes my flyer a double loser now!), and a good time is guaranteed. for more info, check these links out:

The Habitat's Official Website - http://thehabitat.info/
The Habitat's Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/thehabitat
The Habitat's Yelp! Profile - http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-habitat-san-diego

and of course, we'll be playing there Friday March 21st with:

The Besties (from Brooklyn, NY) - http://www.thebesties.com/
and
The Facets (from Santa Monica?/San Diego?) - i believe featuring members (member?) of red pony clock. okay, i don't have my facts straight, but i think it's gonna be good.



here's my rejected flyer idea:





and the winning, "better" alex smith submission:

shows aplenty

the calendar is stacking up with shows. we're giving you nearly a month off from the mods before we come back. Hard. in addition to the previously announced 2/29 ken club and 3/7 beauty bar (both fridays for those who can't stand midweek shows) ... how about an all ages saturday show and a free sunday at the casbah? yeah, cause we're that nice. here's how it's looking ....

02/29/08 The Ken Club .... w/ Syndicate, Repeater
4079 Adams Ave
San Diego, CA 92116

03/07/08 The Beauty Bar ..... w/ Apes of Wrath, Music For Animals
4746 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

03/22/08 The Habitat (ALL AGES!!!) .... w/ The Facets, more TBA
21st & Broadway
San Diego, CA 92102

03/30/08 The Casbah - CD Release for Staring at the Sun Compilation
2501 Kettner Blvd
San Diego, CA 92101

The Casbah show will be extra good as we're playing with Secret Apollo, Anna Troy, Echo Revolution and Andy & The Haunted Honky Tonkers. apparently The show is FREE!!! (wha?!) ... a FREE compilation will be given out (free music,what/!?) and the drinks .... will still cost money. but with all that money you'll save at the door and on merch, you can now buy enough booze to get you and your friends drunk without breaking the bank (and still afford the taxi home). yay sundays!