There are a few weekends in San Diego that I consider favorites: the third weekend of May for the North Park Festival of Arts, that middle of July for Comic-Con, the last weekend of September for the Adams Avenue Street Fair, and the somewhat inconsistent but always fun San Diego Music Thing in the fall. This year, we're well into November for the annual music conference and there are so many great showcases as the event has moved far beyond just local acts. Your biggest problem is going to be which shows to choose, which will be a repeated meme this weekend. For me, I'll definitely be flashing my badge at the Observatory North Park for Blitzen Trapper and Yo La Tengo, and then I should have time to get to the Hideout for A.A. Bondy, who had to cancel his last scheduled San Diego appearance. But, there's hip-hop at the Merrow, dabble in rock and punk at Soda Bar, post-punk and rock at the Irenic or some post-hardcore at the Casbah.
Thursday, November 12:
- SDMT: A.A. Bondy, Sonny Boy Thorn, Old Tiger, Grampa Drew @ The Hideout
- SDMT: Soulside, Creative Adult, KATA, Keepers, Wildhoney, Records with Roger @ Casbah
- SDMT: Viet Cong, Mrs. Magician, Gateway Drugs @ The Irenic
- SDMT: Yo La Tengo, Blitzen Trapper @ The Observatory North Park
- SDMT: The Briefs, Widows, the Touchies, Diamond Lakes @ Soda Bar
- SDMT: Opoetik, DJ E3, Leon St. Heron, Generik & Aneken, The Concrete Project, Sound Collage @ The Merrow
- Recommended Dosage with the Kabbs and Elephant Stone @ Whistle Stop
- Grown Folks Music with the Husky Boy All Stars @ Bar Pink
- Dave Alvin and Phil Alvin, the Guilty Ones, Dead Rock West @ Belly Up
- Wyatt Blair, Runson Willis III, Other Bodies, San Pedro El Cortez @ Music Box
- Beach Goons, Bad Bikini, the Grinning Ghosts, Kan-Kan, Switch Blade Dad's @ Che Cafe
- Levi Dean, Whitney Lockhart @ Sycamore Den
- Pasadena, the Bumpin Uglies, Hazmat @ Winston's
- Ice Nine Kills, Wage War, My Enemies & I, the White Noise, Amaya Lights @ SOMA
- Creations @ Woody's Burgers
- Godsmack, Red Sun Rising @ Open Air Theatre
- The Israel Philharmonic @ San Diego Civic Theatre
- Tony P, John Anthony, Elisia Savoca @ Lestat's
- Gregory Page and His Accompanists @ Java Joe's
- DarkWaveGarden @ The Bancroft
- Markus Schulz @ Omnia
- Steph Johnson & Rob Thorsen @ Croce's Park West
- Jerome Dawson @ Humphreys Backstage Live
- Open Jam Session @ Winston's (6-9 p.m.)
- Beneath Oblivion, Amarok, Chrch, Griever, Garth Algar @ Til-Two Club
- Blue Largo @ Tio Leo's
- Rock Out Karaoke @ Tin Roof
- Progress @ Kava Lounge
- Charlie Rae @ Boar Cross'n
Rosemary Bystrak is the publicist for the Casbah and writes about the San Diego music scene, events and general musings about life in San Diego on San Diego: Dialed In. Follow her updates on Twitter or contact her directly.
