I’ve heard from a semi-reliable source that tonight’s 10:30 PM “Special Guest” at the Hotel Cafe is The Cranberries‘ lead singer Dolores O’Riordan (MySpace), whose solo album, called Are You Listening, streets on May 8th.

(Photo courtesy of Dolores O’Riordan.)

UPDATE: Turns out the “Special Guest” was Alexi Murdoch (MySpace), per the Upcoming.org listing (and confirmed at Losanjealous). My semi-reliable source is now a little less reliable.

“If you don’t like porn, then get the fuck out!”

Yelled by the bartenders at Bar 107 in Downtown LA on Thursday night, that line marked the beginning of the release party for Vivid-Alt’s newest adult film Eastside Story, starring the previously-mentioned Dana DeArmond (MySpace) and Lexi Bardot (who coincidentally was just on The Howard Stern Show last Monday), and directed by Vena Virago.

More, including three photos (two of which are potentially NSFW), after the jump.

As if the cheering by the crowd when the party began wasn’t surreal enough, the abrupt switch from NCAA March Madness basketball to hardcore pornography on the overhead television sets certainly was. I’d imagine that the look on the faces of the patrons who didn’t know about this event was rather priceless.

I was only able to stick around for about an hour, but by the time I left the place was packed, and I’m sure the party continued until closing time.

More photos from the party, courtesy of Eon McKai (MySpace).

Adultcon 12, billed as “…the only convention in the world dedicated to meeting Adult entertainers in person” started on Friday and continues through Sunday at the LA Convention Center.

I’ve had a weird love-hate relationship in the past with Adultcon because of the retardedly-expensive price of admission and its poor organization. I’ve also heard from multiple sources about the fact that its organizer is a major asshole. And yet, the lines to gain entry been especially long as of the past few editions of this convention, so their publicity department must be doing something right.

So against my better judgement, I checked out it out on Saturday to see if things had changed.

More, including four photos, after the jump.

After paying for parking ($12.00), and spending about an hour in line (which at its peak, snaked outside of the convention center and along the west side of Staples Center to Figueroa) to buy a ticket ($35.00) and to get cleared by security, I finally made it into South Hall.

And within five minutes of walking around the convention floor and assessing the situation, I was bored. The amusement I’ve had in the past when it comes to seeing other guys, in a state of sensory overload, frantically photographing and videotaping the pornstars in front of them, was absent. And then there was the obnoxious house DJ, blasting music at such a eardrum-piercing level to try and keep the energy in the air flowing, that I was thankful I had my earplugs handy.

Thankfully, (and what ultimately made my experience worthwhile), there was Adultcon’s last saving grace: the strip club booths (which Erotica LA banned as of last year, perhaps to cater to a more mainstream audience), with the largest one belonging to the Spearmint Rhino.

The funny thing is that the Rhino DJ kept playing this virtual tug-of-war with the crowd by urging them to check out one of their strippers dancing on their mini-stage, but if they didn’t tip the rail surrounding the stage, he’d cut the show short, and the crowd would dissipate, only to reemerge when another dancer hit the stage.

There have also been instances at past Erotica LA conventions when the Rhino would ban photography and videotaping of their strippers dancing onstage at their booth (which meant that there was no crowd), but this wasn’t the case with Adultcon. So enjoy the photos.

More photos from the convention, courtesy of Karl Polverino.

On Friday, the LA-based The Ditty Bops (MySpace) and Jesca Hoop (MySpace) concluded their most recent tour with a performance (including a cover of “Lonesome Town”) at the Swedish American Hall inside Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco.

Abby DeWald and Amanda Barrett have been proponents of clean living and a vegan diet, but they’ve also embarked on a new environmental campaign that’s personified by their new (ironic) song “Summer Rains” and their “Paper Or Plastic” musical sketch.

More, including four additional photos from The Swedish American Hall as well as eight photos from McCabe’s Guitar Shop earlier this month, after the jump.

Since January, The Ditty Bops have launched a biweekly comic called The Environmentalist’s Dilemma and formed a nonprofit organization called You and I Save the World, whose first project is a Plastic Reduction Petition (also mentioned at the Santa Monica-based Bring Your Own).

At their performances earlier this month at McCabe’s (fellow environmentalist Daryl Hannah, who hosts a weekly vlog that uses The Ditty Bops’ “There’s a Girl” as its opening, was reportedly in attendance), DeWald and Barrett wore tops made from plastic shopping bags, which was a theme that Hoop herself adopted during the aforementioned tour with a top made of semi-transparent cling wrap.

In San Francisco, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi has proposed a ban on single-use plastic shopping bags that will be voted on this week, and as it so happened, Mirkarimi was present at last Friday’s show, where he presented DeWald and Barrett with a Certificate of Honor from the City of San Francisco in recognition of their pro-environmental stance.

In June, the duo embark on a self-described “farm tour” across the country. As of this writing, it is unknown if they’ll travel via bicycle as they did last summer.

Turesday, Kevin Bronson at BuzzBands reported that Eastern Conference Champions (MySpace)’ gear was stolen on Monday night from their tour van in Hollywood:

Eastern Conference Champions finished its February residency at the Silverlake Lounge with a bang on Monday night. Then, thieves lowered the boom on the Philadelphia-area trio.

The band’s van, parked on a side street in Hollywood off La Brea, was burglarized and ECC’s gear was stolen. “Every bit of it,” front man Josh Ostrander said this morning, still in shock. “Well, they left our T-shirts.”

More after the jump.

Ostrander said drummer Greg Lyons had driven the van to where he was staying, with the intention of taking it to the DMV office today to get it registered in California. Thieves broke the van’s window to gain entry and made off with guitars, amps, drums — “and even a television, which was bolted down,” Ostrander said.

ECC is now squarely in a bind. They are due to perform at the South by Southwest Music Festival in a little over two weeks, followed by tours with Mew, the Films and the View in advance of the June release of ECC’s full-length debut on Suretone Records.

The band later blogged (via Brooklyn Vegan) about their predicament:

Fuck. We just played the last night of our February residency on Monday to a packed house at the Silverlake Lounge, and then all of our gear gets stolen. The van was parked overnight on Sycamore, just east of LaBrea, between 4th and 6th streets. The next morning, our buddy, the green sherrod aka ‘94 Ford Econoline, was discovered with the passenger side window smashed and all the equipment gone. Everything. Guitars, Drums, Amps, Computers. Everything. The fuckers wiped us out. These pieces of shit even took the time to unscrew the useless TV and VCR out of the overhead console. And all of this happened on a quiet little neighborhood street.

The list of gear and serial numbers will be posted soon, please keep a look out on sites like craigslist or ebay for us. We really appreciate everyone’s help. On a brighter note, we’re getting ready to play SXSW and head out on the road for a solid two months with some great bands like Mew, The Films and The View. We hope to see you soon, have a few drinks together and curse the bastards that took our stuff. Thanks.

…josh/greg/vern

Other bands who’ve recently been victims of burglaries include the LA-based Hello Stranger (keytars), Diamond Night (van), Matt Pond (gear), Dinosaur Jr. (gear), and The Black and White Years (gear).

When the traffic light hit green, the 300 (on the left) had the better start, but the Mustang (on the right) quickly closed the gap and raced past the 300 northbound on Laurel Canyon Blvd. As quickly as it started, the race ended, as both cars eventually slowed down and made a right onto Hollywood.

More after the jump.

This was actually the second of two (and perhaps more?) races these two cars did, as their first one started at the intersection of Crescent Heights and Fountain.

Coincidentally, just 1 1/2 hours earlier and in that same neighborhood, Paris Hilton had her latest run-in with the law after exiting the Virgin Megastore parking structure.

Crescent Heights and Sunset is also the intersection that comedian Artie Lange had mentioned falling asleep at in his car when he was high on cocaine the morning of his intervention several years ago during his stint on MADtv.

Fresh off her performance with G. Love (MySpace) on Friday’s edition of Late Night With Conan O’Brien, San Diego-native and singer-songwriter Tristan Prettyman (MySpace), who’s been referred to as the female Jack Johnson (MySpace), returned from New York on Saturday to headline an acoustic set at Twiggs Coffee and Tea’s Green Room, with fans reportedly flying in from as far away as San Francisco, Chicago, and Connecticut.

Opening for her at Twiggs were Chris Torres (MySpace), Melissa Larkin (MySpace), and Molly Jensen (MySpace).

Prettyman is fascinated by celebrity tabloid gossip, so when I suggested beforehand that she perform her cover of “Toxic” as a tribute to Britney Spears’ recent most erratic behavior, she happily obliged. Speaking of newsworthy pop starlets, Prettyman also debuted the live version of “Lindsay [Lohan] Goes to Rehab” (as originally heard on Prettyman’s MySpace page and Stereogum), which was sung with song co-writer Anya Marina (MySpace), who just happened to be sitting in the audience.

More, including three photos, after the jump.

Prettyman elaborates on her brushes with female popstars in a recent interview with the San Diego Reader:

I met Ashley Simpson at the G Love show up in L.A. the other night, and then we went to this club, Hyde, afterwards, where I watched Ken Paves fix Jessica Simpson’s hair and dance real up close and against her all night. Christina Aguilera was there, too — she was cute as a button. None of them talked to me. I want to be, like, ‘Wow, y’all look so different off paper!’ I don’t really get that whole lifestyle. I was there for about ten minutes when I pretty much realized that I didn’t belong there. I grew up in San Diego, man — we go surfing and to the Saloon, we don’t go to clubs with paparazzi waiting outside.

And on a sidenote, it unfortunately looks like Prettyman’s set will be among the last for the San Diego coffeehouse:

Unfortunately, February 28, 2007 will be the last live music performance in our Green Room.

Our lease has always had a clause stating that we would have “no live music.”

Our landlords have been kind enough to overlook this clause until now. Noise levels coming from the Green Room, however, have been an on-going problem that we have been unable to keep under control. At this point, we have no option but to honor the “no live music” clause in our lease.

The Green Room has been a wonderful thing and we appreciate and thank all the musicians who have played here.

It was great fun, but it was just one of those things.

Thanks,
Dan and Bernie

LA-Underground has been at Fiona Apple (MySpace)’s shows lately, continuing a ten-year relationship that originated from a meeting at Spaceland.

So leave it to them to beat me to the punch in mentioning that Apple is doing two shows next week, to benefit Friends of Gungi, at Largo in the Fairfax District:

Gordon “Gungi” Paterson is a legendary figure in the music industry, having been a highly respected engineer, tour and production manager. From his early days in the UK with acts such as Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, he was a mainstay of the 80’s touring scene with bands like Megadeth, and continued through the 2000’s with bands such as Live, System Of A Down, Tears For Fears and most recently Fiona Apple. Gungi’s easily recognizable physical stature is only overshadowed by his immense heart, personality and positive attitude. Last summer, Gungi was diagnosed with cancer – A large lump was discovered in and around the lymph nodes in his neck.

The Monday, March 3rd show teams Apple with producer Jon Brion, who worked on the original version of Extraordinary Machine that was leaked onto the Internet, while the Friday, March 9th show teams Apple “and Friends” (according to the Largo website).

More after the jump.

At $75.00 per person (plus $15.00 minimum for dinner and drinks, so including gratuity, it’ll total about $100.00), cover is not cheap (which would explain why table reservations were still available as of earlier today), but considering the fact that her Hurricane Katrina benefit show (which was also held at Largo) was $250.00 per person, next week’s shows are an absolute bargain.

So bottom line… seeing Apple at such a small venue, with Jon Brion (at least for Monday), and the proceeds going to charity? Priceless.

Reports on previous Apple/Brion shows at Largo here and here.

UPDATE: Table reservations are all gone, but you can still show up and hang out at the bar.

Also, yesterday, Apple sent out the following e-mail to her mailing list:

Hello, lovely people!

fiona,here.

I’m writing to put word out that I am doing two shows at Largo on March 5th & 9th,for my wonderful friend,Gungi.

If you happened to have gone to any of my shows, this past year, and if you liked the way it sounded — that’s thanks to Gungi. He does a wonderful job, yes he does — but that is not why I love him. Gungi is one of those people that you just love, really actually LOVE, within five minutes of meeting him. As you may know, I am a girl prone to low-days. I don’t know how many times I got to soundcheck, in a grumpy nasty, teary rut, and when I saw Gungi, all nearly seven feet of him, across the empty theatre, and we waved to each other and he asked me how I was, I immediately got a jolt of life. It is nearly impossible to be in a bad mood around Gungi, even for me. — His face is a pep-talk! — His eyes are HUGS! He’s like some mystical, benevolent Giant, right out of a fairytale…. Well,I knew when I started writing this, that I wouldn’t be able to really say this right, but here’s the thing. He’s my friend. I love him. He’s helped me a lot when I have been in trouble. Now, he is in trouble, and I want to help him. To get his story, please visit www.friendsofgungi.com. If you can come to either of the shows at Largo, they should be pretty fun — Jon Brion, Dave palmer, David Garza, The Watkins (of Nickel Creek), and more… and if you don’t come, then maybe you’d like to donate 5 bucks, or something — whatever you decide, I thank you, for being there for me, for giving a damn, and for making noise and for listening.

with so much love,
Fiona

Countering the Oscars earlier tonight was the grand opening of a store called Family (MySpace), run by three illustrators, located right next to Largo in the Fairfax District:

Next Sunday night, Feb 25th, our big party celebrating a fully stocked shop, a finished window installation, hanging Matthew Thurber art extravaganza, and the name on the glass. Two Great Bands, Booze, art and lots of books, comics, zines, records and movies to puke on at 2:00 AM.
If you don’t come to this it means we are not friends anymore.

Music was provided by DJ Them Jeans (MySpace), No Age (MySpace), and Lavender Diamond (MySpace).

Six photos and a flyer after the jump.

(Special thanks to the hipsters who proceeded to stand directly in front of me while i was photographing the shows. Your douchebaggery knows no bounds.)

Brooklyn Vegan has been closely monitoring the fallout of EMI’s merger of Capitol Records and Virgin Records, with an “…anonymous, yet reputable tipster” reporting that 30 acts will be dropped from Capitol and four from Virgin:

Other artists rumored to be among those dropped [besides Kevin Devine]: The Dandy Warhols, Sound Team, Shout Out Louds, The Redwalls, Otep, Fischerspooner, The Vines, and Airbourne.

Employees are going too. Possibly Jax.

More after the jump.

Morningwood, Corinne Bailey Rae, The Decemberists, OK GO and Lily Allen are likely safe. Moby’s future is uncertain.

Meanwhile, there’s the saga of the LA-based singer-songwriter Annie Stela (MySpace), signed to Capitol Records and whose debut album Fool had been been in the works for three years. Unfortunately, the month it was finally scheduled for release was when the shit hit the proverbial fan, and as of this writing, it’s still in a state of limbo.

She blogged on January 13th:

…my debut album, Fool, will unfortunately not be in stores on January 23rd. My label, Capitol Records, has a parent company called EMI, who are in the midst of reporting a financial warning, laying off their two chairmen and potentially many other employees of Capitol (a financial warning, I’m told, means they’ve lost money the past two years and their shareholders are probably pissed). What this means is we’ve decided to see how all of this plays out before releasing my record so it doesn’t affect it…so yes, it sucks…but it will be best in the end.

She added on January 23rd:

…please know that there is no one who is more disappointed about this than me…I want nothing more than to get that record out and in all of your hands, and if there was ANYTHING I could do to change this situation I would. We have been working very hard to change this since the moment we knew the record was not coming out. If I could do any of the things Brandon suggested in his post without breeching my contract and getting sued for money I don’t have than I would in a second. Do not think for a moment that this delay isn’t something that saddens me greatly. Do not think for a moment that it was my idea.
If you’re upset, I urge you to please write Capitol or EMI…ask them what’s up and let them know you are not happy.

Stela opens for Bright Eyes (MySpace) at The El Rey Theatre on March 8th.

UPDATE: Kevin Bronson @ Buzz Bands offered his perspective:

…there are a lot of good bands on their own now. Unconfirmed word is that the list of free agents includes the likes of the Dandy Warhols, Shout Out Louds, Otep, the Vines, Airbourne, Sound Team, the Redwalls, Skye Sweetnam, Fischerspooner, Kevin Devine, Reeve Oliver, Melissa Auf Der Maur and Annie Stela (who is opening for Bright Eyes tonight at the sold-out El Rey Theatre show). There are probably more, but those names alone might make a pretty sweet roster for a mid-sized indie. “If the bands are OK with doing the indie thing,” one rep for an indie label says.

It will be interesting to watch the performance of Capitol’s keepers — big sellers Relient K and Yellowcard have new albums on the horizon. Also among those still around, and not many surprises here: Hurt, Street to Nowhere, OK Go, Mims, Corinne Bailey Rae, Saosin, Chingy, Lily Allen and the Decemberists.

Wouldn’t be surprised if Virgin pared its roster too — whispers are that locals Ima Robot and Over It have been dropped.

(Capitol Records photo courtesy of Brian Wallace.)