A December Rock N' Roll Wonderland

FM 94/9's Tim Pyles guides you through December's live music festivities

Merry Christmahanakwanzaka to all and I hope you get everything you want or need. All I need is a good show, a cool beverage and a lot of fans for the band. It’s fun to be a fan of a band -- it’s not like your favorite football team that lets you down. Bands rarely let you down. Sure, it happens, but they usually come to rock because the show must always go on! Here are some shows I'm liking for the month and I will make it to a bunch of them, but not all. Party on, folks.
 
Dec. 2 at the Casbah: Grizzly Business, Spero and Shane Hall & the Diabolicals rock the Casbah. I’m partial to this show, since I booked it and it’s Anti-Monday League.
 
Dec. 3 at the Belly Up: B.B. King: A blues legend!
 
Dec. 4 at Soda Bar: Bring some canned food and save some dough for Beware Of Darkness, Cold & Lovely and Queen Caveat.
 
Dec. 5 at the Casbah: The Olms, with Simon Petty opening. The Olms features Pete Yorn and J.D. King. Read the recent SoundDiego show preview here.
 
Dec. 6 at the Casbah: Cadillac Tramps, The Creepy Creeps, Hard Fall Hearts and the nFormals. The kings of cholo punk!
 
Dec. 7 at Soda Bar: MS MR at Soda Bar. This is a make up show for when they had to cancel in October due to health issues.
 
Dec. 8 at the Belly Up: Two legendary bands on one bill: X and the Blasters!
 
Dec. 9 at the Casbah: Sundrop Electric, Love and the Skull with Young Wants. This is Anti-Monday League!
 
Dec. 10 at the Griffin: Schitzophonics! Pat Beers on guitar is something to be witnessed. Can I get a witness?
 
Dec. 11 at Balboa Theatre: The Black Crowes are baaacck to shake your moneymaker!
 
Dec. 12 at Hard Rock Hotel: The Touchies and the Frights play for free at Maryjane’s Underground inside the Hard Rock.  Free complimentary cocktail hour sponsored by 619 Vodka if you RSVP and you can do that here: http://hardrockhotelsd.com/dining-&-nightlife/maryjanes
 
Dec. 13 at SOMA: Slightly Stoopid roll into SOMA. This is an intimate show for them these days.
 
Dec. 14 at the Casbah: Lee Ranaldo and the Dust. Yes, this is the same Lee from Sonic Youth.
 
Dec. 15 at the House of Blues: Icona Pop and K. Flay. A Swedish electro pop duo that is all the rage.
 
Dec. 16 at the Casbah: Pool Party, Bulletins plus Danny and the Tramp for another Anti-Monday League event.
 
Dec. 17 at Tin Can: Lovers: three girls that want to entertain you with their electro acoustic music.
 
Dec. 18 at the Belly Up: Polica play Solana Beach. Come hear tracks from their new record "Shulamith." It’s alterna-synthpop.
 
Dec. 19 at the Casbah: Pere Ubu is an experimental rock band from Cleveland that formed in the mid-'70s.
 
Dec. 20 at Soda Bar: Holograms, Tropical Popsicle and TV Ghost -- Holograms is a Swedish post-punk, rock n' roll band.
 
Dec. 21 at the Belly Up: San Diego acid jazz legends the Greyboy Allstars play a hometown show!
 
Dec. 22 at the Casbah: El Vez and Rosie Flores bring their MEXMAS Show to the Casbah. It’s gonna be a brown Christmas.
 
Take a few nights off…
 
Dec. 26 at the Belly Up: The Growlers are beachy garage rock from Costa Mesa, with the Abigails and Mystic Braves opening.
 
Dec. 27 at Soda Bar: Mrs. Magician, Census and The Rosalyns. The Swami approves of this show.
 
Dec. 28 at Soda Bar: Come say goodbye to Cuckoo Chaos, as it's, sadly, their last show. With Snuffaluffagus and the Most Hi.
 
Take a couple more nights off, you deserve it and you need to save up some energy for New Years Eve!
 
Dec. 31 at Soda Bar: This NYE party features the return of a local favorite that people have been begging for: Scarlet Symphony. Zodiac Death Valley and Hills Like Elephants open.
 
I’m sure you will have lots of choices for New Years Eve, but my picks are above. Whatever you do when you go out this holiday season, make sure to use a cab or a service like Uber to get home safely, as we'd like you to be with us for the long haul. Thank you for reading, listening to the Local 94/9 and supporting live music around San Diego -- Happy Holidays to you all! 
 

Tim Pyles, a longtime local who grew up in La Jolla, is the unofficial mayor of local music who hosts The Local 94/9 via FM94/9 every Sunday from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. He also books local acts at the Casbah, hosts the weekly Anti-Monday League, books/hosts the monthly Maryjane's Underground at the House Of Blues and is an entertainment writer for Pacific San Diego Magazine. Check out his website thelocalpyle.com and and follow him on Twitter @thelocalpyle. You can reach him directly here pyleste@yahoo.com

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