Mountain Views News          Saturday, April 16, 2011

10

ARTS & ENTERTAIMENT

 Mountain Views News Saturday, April 16, 2011 


CONGRATULATIONS TO MY YOUNG FRIEND "RED ROSIE" WHO BEAT OUT 20 OTHER 
CONTESTANTS TO WIN THE COVETED CROWN OF DOO DAH QUEEN 2011 

 

SUN. 4/17 - BARRY "BIG B" BRENNER @ FIREFLY BISTRO IN SOUTH PASADENA, 11am - 2pm. 1009 El 
Centro. 626-441-2443. Sunday BLUES Brunch! http://www.bigbbrenner.com

 

SUN. 4/17 - ADAMS’ PACK STATION is celebrating 75 Years with an afternoon of great live music. Chantry 
Flat, Angeles National Forest (From the 210 Fwy. take Santa Anita Avenue North until it dead-ends at the parking 
lot.) Festivities begin at noon with singer/songwriter John M. At 2pm the Arcadia Historic Society will be 
dedicating a new “History Lives Here” historical marker. The Cross Town Cowboys will be serenading the crowd 
from 2:30 - 4:30. Alex Perez and the Comets on Television at 4:30. Pulled pork sandwiches available.

SUN. 4/17 - "OPERA TO BROADWAY" VOCAL PERFORMANCES @ CAFE 322 IN SIERRA MADRE, 
7-10pm. 322 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. 626-836-5414. Full bar and great Italian food. Every Sunday evening. Get 
there early - they pack 'em in! 

 

4/19 - "TUESDAY NIGHT TRIVIA" @ CAFE 322 with QUIZMASTER DEANNA, 7pm*. $2 per person to play, 
up to 4 on a team, CASH or gift certificates to the top 3 teams. Fun and educational! 322 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. 
626-836-5414. *...with live music immediately following from COW BOP, 8:30 -11pm. Country Swing.

 TUES. 4/19 - "JC & Friends Songwriter Serenade" @ MATT DENNY'S ALEHOUSE & RESTAURANT IN ARCADIA, 
7 - 9:30pm. 145 E. Huntington Dr., between 1st & 2nd Aves. 626-462-0250. Full bar & kitchen, all ages. 
A weekly acoustic show of songwriters playing original songs, either as a solo or duo act, outside on the covered 
patio. This week's artists: Andrea Marchant, Harriet Schock, Taylor Begert. http://www.jchyke.com/

 

WED. 4/20 - LISA FINNIE & JOHN PALMER @ RED CARPET WINE & SPIRITS IN GLENDALE, 7 - 8pm. 
400 E. Glenoaks Blvd. Indoor musical delights and three-option tastings via the in-house Enomatics in the Red 
Carpet Wine Bar. www.redcarpetwine.com

 WED. 4/20 - The Mellow D'z @ Oceanview Bistro in Montrose from 7:30-10pm. 3826 Ocean View Blvd. 818-
248-2722. Great food and drinks to go with cool acoustic jams. www.ovbistro.com

 

"WEDNESDAY NIGHT PLATTER PARTY" @ THE BUCCANEER, 9pm. Bring your favorite vinyl records and 
play an entire side on the house turntable, commercial free! 70 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. 626-355-9045. No cover, 
full bar, friendly service!

 THURS. 4/21 - BARRY "BIG B" BRENNER @ FIREFLY BISTRO IN SOUTH PASADENA, 6 - 9pm. 1009 El 
Centro. 626-441-2443. Burgers, Brews & BLUES most Thursday nights. http://www.bigbbrenner.com/ 

 FRI. 4/22 - THE MELLOW D'z (Dave Osti & Deanna Cogan) @ Cafe 322 in Sierra Madre, 5:30 - 7:30pm. 322 
W. Sierra Madre Blvd. 626-836-5414. Great happy hour discounts on food and drinks from 4:30-6:30. Acoustic 
Rock faves.

 

FRI. 4/22 - SWING DANCE PARTY with FLAT TOP TOM & HIS JUMPCATS @ CAFE 322, 8 - 11pm. 322 W. 
Sierra Madre Blvd. 626-836-5414. Full bar, great Italian food, dance floor. 

 

FRI. 4/22 - PADDY'S PIG @ T. BOYLE'S TAVERN IN PASADENA, 9pm - midnight. 37 N. Catalina (in the alley 
- formerly Toe's Tavern and the Handlebars) 626-578-0957. No cover, full bar. Irish Roots Music. http://www.
tboylestavern.com/ 

 

SUN. 4/24 - BARRY "BIG B" BRENNER @ FIREFLY BISTRO IN SOUTH PASADENA, 11am - 2pm. 1009 El 
Centro. 626-441-2443. Sunday BLUES Brunch! http://www.bigbbrenner.com

 

SUN. 4/24 - "OPERA TO BROADWAY" VOCAL PERFORMANCES @ CAFE 322 IN SIERRA MADRE, 
7-10pm. 322 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. 626-836-5414. Full bar and great Italian food. Every Sunday evening. Get 
there early - they pack 'em in! 

 

TUES. 4/26 - "JC & Friends Songwriter Serenade" @ MATT DENNY'S ALEHOUSE & RESTAURANT IN ARCADIA, 
7 - 9:30pm. 145 E. Huntington Dr., between 1st & 2nd Aves. 626-462-0250. Full bar & kitchen, all ages. 
A weekly acoustic show of songwriters playing original songs, either as a solo or duo act, outside on the covered 
patio. This week's artists: Kevin Fisher, Jill Freeman, Byron Gore, Susan Reeves. http://www.jchyke.com/

 

4/26 - "TUESDAY NIGHT TRIVIA" @ CAFE 322 with QUIZMASTER DEANNA, 7pm*. $2 per person to play, 
up to 4 on a team, CASH or gift certificates to the top 3 teams. Fun and educational! 322 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. 
626-836-5414. *...with live music immeditately following from NEW ASTROTURF, Folk/Rock, Classic Country.

 WED. 4/27 - LISA FINNIE & JOHN PALMER @ RED CARPET WINE & SPIRITS IN GLENDALE, 7 - 8pm. 
400 E. Glenoaks Blvd. Indoor musical delights and three-option tastings via the in-house Enomatics in the Red 
Carpet Wine Bar. www.redcarpetwine.com

 

"WEDNESDAY NIGHT PLATTER PARTY" @ THE BUCCANEER, 9pm. Bring your favorite vinyl records and 
play an entire side on the house turntable, commercial free! 70 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. 626-355-9045. No cover, 
full bar, friendly service!

 

THURS. 4/28 - BARRY "BIG B" BRENNER @ FIREFLY BISTRO IN SOUTH PASADENA, 6 - 9pm. 1009 El 
Centro. 626-441-2443. Burgers, Brews & BLUES most Thursday nights. http://www.bigbbrenner.com/ 

Check out this incredible triple-bill and note early start time:

FRI. 4/29 - CAFE 322 in Sierra Madre, 322 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. Great happy hour discounts on food and 
drinks from 4:30-6:30.

THE MELLOW D'z , 5 - 7pm. 

and then - SNOTTY SCOTTY & THE HANKIES, 7 - 8:30pm.

but wait - there's more! LOVE (REVISTED), 8:30 - 11:30pm. 

$10 cover at some point. Call for info. & reservations: 626-836-5414.

Love Revisited consists of original Love guitarist Johnny Echols plus Baby Lemonade members Mike Randle, 
Dave Chapple and David Green, with occasional special guests (Forever Changes/ Da Capo era drummer), Michael 
Stuart and (Brian Wilson Trumpeter and Love tour member) Probyn Gregory. If you ask me, they might 
as well just have Snotty Scotty as their frontman since he does all their best songs and learned all his moves from 
Arthur Lee!

 

SAT. 4/30 - THE OCCASIONAL DOO DAH PARADE #34.5 - 11:00am in East Pasadena - on Colorado Blvd. 
between San Gabriel Blvd. & Altadena Dr. with Queen Red Rosie and Grand Marshal Ron Stivers, owner of Poo 
Bah Records (so why aren't we calling him the Grand Poo Bah?) Fab after-party at the American Legion at 179 
N. Vinedo Ave., featuring Snotty Scotty & The Hankies and Horses On Astroturf, $5 cover - goes to the bands. 
It's not to late to sign up as a parade entry: pasadenadoodahparade.info or volunteer to help: hurleypanne@
yahoo.com 

 Please remember to call and verify all info. before making plans. Everything is subject to change. This is show biz, 
after all... Hope to see you out & about, SierraMadreSue sierramadresue@yahoo.com


SEAN’S SHAMELESS 

REVIEWS: 

IDLE LABOR

 A resurrection of ‘80s new wave in 2011? I’m down 
for another go around. Craft Spell’s debut album, “Idle 
Labor”, is an influential album from those who did it best 
– New Order, The Cure and Tears For Fears. “Idle Labor” 
is an introspective, faintly despondant, reverie record 
that showcases singer/songwriter Justin Paul Vallesteros’ 
mesmerizing vocals, tenderness, and heartache. A dreamy, 
idealistic, straight from the bedroom produced album for the kids with the dreamer’s disease 
and those completely clinging onto a better, yet forgotten yesterday. I’m not advocating 
that Craft Spells are reinventing the wheel with their debut effort, but there is an innate 
catchiness and distinctiveness to their creative endeavor. 

 Everything you might expect from an ‘80s inspired record is found here. A recognizable 
atmosphere is set up with drum machines, synths, maudlin vocals, and dancing-alone-
in-my-bedroom sort of bass reverbs. There is an eclectic yet cluster of emerging bands 
these days with the same summery, dream-pop, lost-in-thought style. Even when one 
thinks this genre has become oversaturated, an album such as this gracefully arrives to 
reassure you a new component can be added into the mix. I can’t even keep up with all the 
subgenres anymore, but “Idle Labor” falls 
under glo-fi, chillwave, 80s new-romantic 
and bedroom-pop genres. At the end of 
day though, it doesn’t matter what category 
they’re associated with. Simply put, this is 
a beautiful, sensitive, somber, yet ironically 
inspiring work of art. I am enamored with 
this type of music persuasion and Craft 
Spells have easily established themselves as a 
band with a promising future. 

 However, Craft Spells isn’t headlining the revolution, but purely a significant player in the 
movement. Fans of indie darlings, Wild Nothing and Beach Fossils should find something 
commendable here to connect with. The party is short-lived though, as the album clocks in 
right under 37 minutes. I like to think of “Idle Labor” as a mixtape sort of album. You’ll listen 
it to, embrace it for all it represents and then after awhile you’ll put it to the side where it 
becomes lost in your drawers. Years later when you’re enduring another transitional period 
in life, you’ll come across this previously beloved mix. It’ll seamlessly feel impeccably aged 
when you first pop into your CD player. A few moments later, you’ll become hyponotized 
by the subtle beauty, nostalgic undertones, and perfect nuances for a second time around. 

Grade: 8.8 out of 10

Key Tracks: “Scandinavian Crush”, “The Fog Rose High”, “From The Morning Heat”, “Beauty 
Above All” 

Sean Kayden

Album: Idle Labor 

Artist: Craft Spells

Label: Captured Tracks

Release Date: March 29, 2011


The Book Report

Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan 

by Del Quentin Wilber

This is a minute by minute account of that perilous day, a day of chaos, 
crisis, prayer, heroism, and hope which is brought to life as never before. 
How much you think you know about what happened, you don’t. On 
March 30, 1981, President Reagan walked out of a hotel in Washington, 
D.C., and was shot . For years, few people knew the truth about how 
close the president came to dying, and no one has ever written a detailed 
narrative of that harrowing day. Now, drawing on exclusive new interviews, 
Wilber tells the electrifying story of a moment when the nation 
faced a crisis. With clarity, we see the Secret Service agent whose fast 
reflexes saved the president's life; the brilliant surgeons who operated on Reagan as he was 
losing half his blood; and the group of White House officials frantically trying to determine 
whether the country was under attack. Most especially, we encounter the man code named 
Rawhide, a leader of uncommon grace who inspired affection and awe in everyone who 
worked with him. Reagan was the only serving U.S. president to survive being shot in an 
assassination attempt. 

The Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancer 

by Siddhartha Mukherjee 

This book is an excellent, profoundly humane “biography” of cancer 
from its first documented appearances thousands of years ago through 
the epic battles in the twentieth century to cure, control, and conquer it 
to a radical new understanding of its essence. Physician Mukherjee examines 
cancer with a cellular biologist’s precision, a historian’s perspective, 
and a biographer’s passion. The result is an astonishingly lucid and 
eloquent chronicle of a disease humans have lived with and died from 
for ages. The story of cancer is a story of human ingenuity, resilience, 
and perseverance, but also misperception. He recounts centuries of discoveries, 
setbacks, and victories, told through the eyes of his predecessors 
& peers, who thought it would be easily vanquished in an all out 
“war against cancer.” The book reads like a literary thriller with cancer 
as the protagonist. The book is about the people who have soldiered through demanding 
regimens in order to survive and to increase our understanding of this disease. Riveting, 
and surprising, it is an illuminating book that provides hope and clarity to those seeking to 
demystify cancer and a look into the future of treatments. 

Both books can be ordered at Sierra Madre Books 836-3200!! 


Acting classes for REAL people, at the...
Join the “FOR THE LOVE OF ACTING” class.
Saturdays 2:00 to 5:00pm on our STAGE. No experience necessary! 
NEW BEGINNERS class starts APRIL 02. 
For reservations and class info, call June Chandler (626) 355-4572