July 29–that’s this coming Tuesday–the band that I first mistook for an extremely enthusiastic new The Cure recording (am I the only one who thinks the new Cure single blows?) is coming to the El Rey. In listening to the Black Kids’ record I can say with certainty that the are HELLA NOT The Cure and that they do, indeed, rock. It should be a great show!

We’ve got tickets! Want to win a pair? Heh…this should be fun: Enter the LEAST p.c. band name you can make up–the least p.c. you can manage to squeak out without checking yourself into sensitivity training classes! We’ll pick the most atrocious, amusing entry. Foul language sometimes gets auto-screened, so watch it. This should be artful & clever, not crass. Ok, maybe a little crass.

This weekend is the Action on Film International Festival in Pasadena.  It will take place from July 25-31, 2008 at the LaemmleTheaters in Old Pas.  (One Colorado Blvd for the exact street addy). 

I have two tickets up for grabs for the first LA Showing of “The Red Canvas“.  This is an martial arts action film starring Ernie Reyes Jr, Lee Reyes, Maria Conchita Alonso, Sara Downing to drop a few names.

So far the movie has gotten some good reviews and press.  Nothing local, but Fox in Florida had this BIT.

Details: Sunday July 27, 2008 6:00PM at the Laemmle Theater, One Colorado, Pasadena CA.

How I got the tickets is part of the reason why I love LA.  My neighbor is a regular guy.  He studied hapkido to stay fit.  He got his black belt and teaches under his master over at Kim’s Hapkido here in Monrovia.  He has a lot of friends there.  They were lamenting one day what it would b3 like to do something different, take a risk.  Through a mutual friend they got the chance to do that.  They invested in this movie.  They even got little cameo roles in the movie.  Friends with common interests is a great way to push your boundary’s.  Not many cities can open up doors like that to friends.

The rules: send me an email.  Promise me you will send me a 25 words or less review and the set is yours.  frazgo@mail.com  Contest closes noon Thursday so I can get the tix express mailed to you.

Ayup, Messrs. Wakeling, Roger, Cox & Steele bring The Beat back to the Pacific Shore for a night of rock action (not the Mogwai style, but rock action nonetheless). Hooray! They play with The Fixx and The Alarm for a true Brit invasion. It’s this Thursday, the 24th, at the Fonda in Hollywood.

Fancy a spot of tea with the boys? Win a sweet pair of tickets by telling me any number of things: Your fave French New Wave flick! Your preferred method of transpo: Vespa or cafe racer? The Yardbirds or Eddie Cochran? Vince Noir or Howard Moon? (I swoon for Moon.) We’ll pick the most entertaining replies, so–be clever! [claps hands]

Or buy tickets here.

We sent Edwin, one of our contest winners, to the Wolf Parade show this last weekend. We are very happy because Edwin had a good time. Edwin, your smilin’ little face (which we can’t actually see, but if we could) makes it all worth while.

Here’s Edwin’s review of the show: “First off, I want to thank LA Metblogs for the tickets to the show. Thanks to taking a heavy load of summer classes and shitty hours at work, I’ve been dreadfully low on cash. It’s nice to be able to go out again without worrying about how short I’m going to be on rent this month, so thanks Lucinda and Metblogs!

My friend and I got to the Fonda just as Listening Party was starting their set. They were very good. A lot of eclectic songs, with sampled beats, delay pedals, and what I’m pretty sure was a drum set made of plastic buckets. I wouldn’t call them rip-offs though; they did things their own way and kept the crowd going better than most other opening bands. I recommend their track “Swift Runner”, which is available on their MySpace page.

Wolf Parade, though, was incredibly fucking amazing. I wasn’t sure how they would be live, but… (more…)

*shoot with a camera, now put yer gun away pal!

The guys over at the Foothill City Blog are running a contest.  Simple rule, shoot a picture of ANY LA Metro or So Cal city hall, or part thereof in the final image.  Enter it in a contest for nifty prizes.  Full rules, judge list and prizes at their “Take a shot at city hall” post that ran earlier today.

Be creative, have fun with it.  How you do it is wide open to interpretation.  When done upload your favorite three to the FCBlog Flickr Group tagged “cityhallcontest”. Flickr is the preferred method of entry.  If you are one of the three in LA who don’t flickr you can send your jpeg’s via email to centinel@thefcblog.com as a last resort.

There will be a prize for the worst photo submitted to the contest.  Could be a nice way to clear out the old recycle bin while you are at it.  The lucky winner in this category will get a coveted “mistakes will be made” t-shirt from the Proctor for Mayor collection.  Competition is tough for this one as cass71898 has already set her eyes on winning it for itself.  (You’d think since I volunteered to help with the judging they could just give me the shirt, but NOooo, I gotta pay the full 18.99 +tax and shipping like every other schmoe).

“Spent Shells” used with the permission of the ever popular Ruth666 from her Flickr Photostream.

Quirky, clever & ingenuitive, Wolf Parade are bringin’ their swingin’ show to the Fonda for two nights: Friday the 18th & Saturday the 19th! Opened for by Listening Party, the Parade o’ Wolves are sure to kick (bite?) ass. You wanna go? Sure you do! Win your tickets by entering, in the comments below, your favorite appearance of “wolves” in pop culture. I’m a particular fan of the Mod Wolves in The Mighty Boosh. You?

Be sure to leave me your email so I can contact you iffen’ you win. It’s really easy to win, actually: I usually don’t have a slew of entrants, so your chances of winning are quite swell, eps. if you’re clever and witty ‘n’ stuff. I cannot be bribed, but charm will get you everywhere.

Hieroglyphics (that’s the hip hop collective started by Del tha Funkee Homosapien in the 90s) is touring with Blue Scholars, Knobody, Musab & Prince Ali. These guys are serious classics in the hip-hop timeline with a die-hard fanbase. Wanna go? We’ve got your tickets into their show at the El Rey this Saturday the 12th.

To win, just enter a comment telling me what Egyptian hieroglyph you’d create if you could add to that pictorial library: I might add a couple wavy lines to indicate “bacon,” or an * inside an O for “bicycle,” or a rudimentary drawing of a leash for “Silver Lake dog walker.” Get it? Now you.

Oh, don’t forget to put your email into the comment form so I can contact you if you win.

No, I’m not telling you to cut off your hands at the El Rey tomorrow night. I am, however, telling you to leave a note in the comment section telling me what you would do–what magical invention you would create, or in what fascinating subject you would make a major breakthrough. If you won the Nobel Prize, what “science” would you have applied?! Do tell. Leave your email addy, so I can contact you if you win; winner gets an autographed CD & poster from We Are Scientists! The band, like, wrote on them! With their names! Possibly with KITTENS! Like in the picture!

They play with Cut Off Your Hands and the Blood Arm, both of whom are fantastic. This should be an awesome show. If you can’t get into this one (tickets are here) I also recommend Broken Ocean at the Viper Room and the Mae Shi with Die Rockers Die & Death to Anders at Spaceland.

Hi all y’all! Metroblogging has some more tickets for you. The luminous Nikka Costa is coming to the El Rey this Friday the 27th along with DJ C-Minus, and we’ve got a few pairs of tickets to give away. Wanna win? Tell me who Nikka’s godfather was down in the comments. Be sure to leave your email address in the email field so I can contact you if you win.

Wanna suck it up & buy tickets? Go here. Or myspace her here.  Or facebook. Or see an adorably lo-tek (but still bangin’) video here.

EDIT:

We haz winners! Sorry, no tickets left. Try the Warped Tour instead.

Last-minute ticket alert!!! We don’t even have time to make up a clever contest for this one. We’ll be choosing randomly from the first commenters to tell me their fave thing about tonight’s lineup at the Greek: Rilo Kiley, Lavender Diamond and Benji Hughes!

Leave an email I can reach you at asap.