Clocked Out: Happy Sundays fest, Joe Bataan and more shows you shouldn't miss in Long Beach this summer
The city's longest-running dance night is turning 26 and will feature a Latin soul legend.
In the ~ almost ~ last words of Cameron Crowe's Russel Hammond in "Almost Famous" — I dig music. I really do. And I like to dig it in Long Beach as much as I can so I don't have to drive to LA.
I've rounded up some of the most notable musical happenings happening in town through this month and next so, get your pen and planner out.
Happy Sundays Fest - Aug. 24,25
Long Beach's homegrown "anti-festival" festival is returning to a string of bars and businesses in the Zaferia District. The whole ordeal is $free.99 and a great way to experience Long Beach's music and comedy scene in one of the city's culture-rich neighborhoods. This is the first year that the event is expanding to include Saturday. Here's the lineup.
The festival's founders are the husband and wife Long Beach locals behind Soft Palms, Scott Montoya (formerly of The Growlers) and Julia Kugel (The Coathangers, White Woods). You can catch their dreamy-pop-sultry set at The Bamboo Club on Sunday at 6 p.m.
Bands I'd highly (highly!) recommend catching are Hex Code, Self Improvement, Fartbarf, Dream Phases, Egg Drop Soup, and of course, local punk-rock celeb Mike Watt and the Missingmen. Also, you won't want to miss my good friend DJ Dennis Owens (of Long Beach's best funk and soul party, The Good Foot) spinning Saturday's afterparty at Alex's Bar at 11 p.m.
RSVP and get more information about Happy Sundays, a free music, comedy and space fest, here.
Surburban John - Aug. 18
If you want to hear and witness a true piece of niche Long Beach punk history, you should grab yourself a $10 ticket to this show at Supply and Demand this Sunday (Aug. 18). Surburban John features John McBurney and Vex Billingsgate/Bill Ranson, founding members of Suburban Lawns a Long Beach surf-punk band that formed in 1978.
Check out this video recorded live at KSCI Studios in Long Beach in 1981 for the TV show "New Wave Studios."
Su Tissue and her unsettling wail will be missing from Sunday's lineup as she fell off the music map years and years ago. But you can still hear John, Vex and drummer Jason Walker conjure the spirit of the cult, art school band.
Surburban John, Bastidas!, El Colmo and DJ Jim Smith will perform at Supply and Demand (2500 E. Anaheim St.) on Sunday, Aug. 18. Doors are at 7 p.m. and tickets are $10. More info here.
Good Foot! - Aug 16, Sept. 28
If you haven't yet been to a Good Foot, you haven't lived in Long Beach. Dennis Owens — a musician formerly of '90s bands Suburban Rhythm, Action League and Free Mortal Agents — held the very first Good Foot at Que Sera in 1998. The funk and soul vinyl night has been running in Long Beach on one schedule or another ever since. Today, you can catch Owens spinning records alongside resident DJs Scott Weaver, Lili de la Mora and sometimes Nick Aguilar (Frankie and the Witch Fingers) every third Friday at Alex's Bar, which has been its home since 2013.
Long Beach's longest-running dance night is turning 26 on Sept. 28 and in true Good Foot fashion, this celebration will be marked by a legend of Latin soul — Joe Bataan. The New York-based Bataan first entranced the airwaves with his 1967 hit, "Gypsy Woman." Mujer Mia off his 1973 "Salsoul" record, has long been a favorite of mine. I hope to hear it at the Good Foot next month.
Can't make it to the anniversary show? Stop into Alex's Bar this Friday (Aug. 16) for the Good Foot.
Tickets to the Good Foot's 26th-anniversary celebration on Sept. 28 with Dj Dennis Owens, Scott Weaver, DJ Lili Bird and a live performance from Joe Bataan are $42.75. Buy tickets here.
Did I mention that I moonlight as a DJ? Here's a shameless plug. My DJ collective and moving dance party, Dark Disco, is coming to Rosemallows Downtown this Friday for a SUMMER 360. BRAT edition. I'll be spinning darkwave, disco, hyperpop, electroclash 'n' whatever else gets the party moving. Come grab a drink and ask me about music or the Watchdog or whatever else.
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