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Reviewer Magazine



Last Updated: 11/27/2009

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Gender: Male
Status: Single
Age: 45
Sign: Aquarius

City: San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles
State: California
Country: US
Signup Date: 12/30/2003

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Tuesday, December 08, 2009 

Purposefully Vague and Cryptic

DB Rielly music review

by Jenn Nastri Mr. D.B. Rielly has got it all down. A purposefully vague and cryptic web bio (“born in the hearts and minds of lonely widows and raised by traveling vacuum salesmen, schooled by rifle toting brides of God”), sepia toned photographs, a daguerreotype of a turn of the century (the 20th) performer holding an accordion, an album entitled Love Potions & Snake Oil. OK dude, we get it. All of these images and words setting the tone for exactly what you get. Music from another time, another era, forgotten in an age of autotune, processed beats, pop-punk, and emo. “Changed My Mind” begins with that backwoods twang of a guitar that calls to mind the deep south, collapsing porches of faded wood sharecropper shacks, moonshine, and sweat rolling off the back of your neck. The intro, leads into rolling steel guitar solos that make you want to close your eyes and loll your head, getting caught up and swept away in a way only blues riffs can. In comes the harmonica, just enough to punctuate in the background but not overpower. It's actually a bit of a surprise to hear Rielly's clear smooth voice singing, instead of the grizzled throaty voice you'd expect. He uses some cliché lyrics (prefacing one impressive solo with “Here I come”) but hell, that's what makes the blues the blues. Though the song follows the formula, it doesn't come across a stale, or trite, and the work on the guitar (he is on acoustic, Hiro Suzuki on steel & electric) is worth your 4 minutes alone. “Save All Your Kisses” is a ballad, sweet piano and what is that.... an accordion? Yup. Not your Weird Al or polka accordion, but it's there. It fills in the sound while Rielly repeats his request to “save all your kisses for me” to the love he's separated from. He channels Nick Lowe and dare I say even some John Cale with this song but injects it his own signature sound enough to call it his own. The song could be about any love separated by circumstance, but if it was written to appease a girl back home, she should welcome him home with all of those saved kisses, for sure. On the other side of love's coin is “I Got a Girlfriend”, an upbeat zydeco song that places you at some dance in bayou country. It's easy to imagine a packed dance hall of square dancers do-si-do-ing and twirling their partner round and round to the sounds of a Cajun influenced squeeze box and finger picked guitar riffs as Rielly sings about his girlfriend...that he met by kidnapping to keep for his very own in a Hefty bag under his bed. Imagine Guns N' Roses “Used to Love Her” but with a lot more accordion Along the same (musical) vein is “One of These Days”, another toe tapping country/zydeco tune about an on again off again relationship that is in the off again stage and he wants to make on again permanently. "Got A Mind” tells the story of the father of a rape victim with the desire to take justice into his own hands. Among a backdrop of slide guitar and banjo pickin Rielly asserts he's going to introduce the man that “stole his daughter's innocence” to Smith & Wesson, among other death sentences he proposes to administer. He repeats “I know it's a sin but I don't care” about his desire for more revenge than the law will allow, and the bare bones music accompaniment is just right for a narrative song like this. You follow the story with images in your mind, and the phrasing of words and language (“I got a mind to learn that man a lesson”, the inflection of the word “care” to “keer”) brings the song/story together with the flavour of deep south Americana. “Love Me Today” is another soft ballad, this time with an acoustic guitar to go with the piano of “Save All Your Kisses”. The drum beats in the background almost mimic that of a heartbeat and again the accordion brings a fuller sound to the entire composition of the song as Rielly doesn't ask to be loved forever, just today. Reviving and breathing life into a genre of music mostly reserved for Cajun country and Popeye's commercials is no small feat, especially while retaining the sound and style to satisfy purists and fans of the original American roots music, but I would say D.B. Rielly has done a pretty damn decent job of doing both. Though the persona may be a bit contrived and stereotypical, the music he backs it up with is 100% genuine.

6:40 AM 
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Thursday, November 26, 2009 
[Invitation]

Turkey Pizza for 2009

Photos by Reviewer Rob If any of you are in San Diego and find yourself in Ocean Beach wanting to partake of our Thanksgiving Holiday Turkey Pizza fest, head on over to the Newport Pizza & Ale House at around 4 or 5 this afternoon. It'll be the best turkey pizza complete with mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing - cranberry sauce optional - you've ever had (while supplies last). :D

9:36 PM 
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Monday, November 23, 2009 
[Art Scene]

The Art, Canvasses and Lifestyle of painter Kelsey Brookes..

Quint Contemporary Art, La Jolla
Gallery show through December 19

Review with slideshow photos and video interview of the artist
by the totally amazing Reviewer Rob Last Friday night was the art opening for San Diego painter Kelsey Brookes, and Reviewer Magazine was there. On November 20th a band I know of and have been meaning to go see, The Dabbers, were announced to be playing at an art show opening with another two-piece, Lions Cut. The night was held in a La Jolla gallery north of Kline and south of Silverado streets, between Fay and Girard Avenues. Although the thoroughfare the gallery's address is on is little more than service access alley for the businesses on Fay and Girard, barely big enough for two cars to pass each other, it's actually a designated city street called Drury Lane. Welcome to La Jolla, where the modest and commonplace are elevated to a quality level worthy of society's elite and royalty. La Jolla, where the actual name comes from a now intentionally mispelled Castilian Spanish phrase that was the original name for the La Jolla Shores area just east of the beach, "La Joya," and means The Hole (from the ocean the canyon behind The Shores looks like a hole with only one opening), is a community where nothing is truly common and all of its resident denizens are there because they've been vetted into a meritocracy of achievement, income or pedigree that transforms the banal into a product fit for conspicuous consumers and their entertainment. But as every translation of the name suggests, La Jolla about the land. Geographically, the scenic cluster of high hills on the San Diego coast called La Jolla is a very special place. The opening here was awesome because of the crowd, the live entertainment - which was a true coup for a painter doing a new show here - and the art itself. Kelsey Brookes' paintings are superlatively achieved canvasses. He's also a cool personality and it was nice to meet him. Not stuffy or pretentious at all, but a really cool mellow long-haired hippyish surfer dude that paints like a madman possessed with true visionary talent. Check out his video interview in screamingly high resolution with Reviewer Rob HERE. You need to make a trip out to Quint Contemporary Art Gallery in this fine resort/bedroom community and savor some of this quality art before December 19th when the show closes... ~RR From yardwear.net: Kelsey is a former biochemist who attributes his raw style to an education system "that refuses to teach scientists to draw". He abandoned biochemistry because "I thought I was going to be there for a few months to get myself some money. Three years later I was left wondering if I had become what I always despised - the funny guy at the water cooler ...except not so funny. I was the confused not so funny guy at the water cooler."

Quint Contemporary Art

Google Maps 7739 Drury Lane La Jolla, CA 92037 (858) 454-3409
Click the image below the allow the Flash slideshow to begin.
10:17 PM 
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Saturday, November 21, 2009 

Downtown Nightlife for the Artistically D.I.Y. Inclined

Video interview by Reviewer Rob Promoter Jon Block has begun a new night at Onyx in San Diego's Gaslamp District every second Saturday. In it various artists are featured doing live performances of their individual media in the two-level nightclub's large and plush basement space. Last weekend at the premier night there was a caricaturist painting canvases of volunteers from the crowd, an airbrush artist spraying designs of people's bodies, a painter working a large canvas, a jewelry designer showcasing her recycled-themed jewelry, and two bands providing live entertainment. Upstairs there was a DJ and packed dance floor. See Reviewer Magazine's video interview HERE. He tells us about the Voices theme's concept (after I reloaded the pocket cam with double A's, heh) and then takes us across the street into the club. .. Video Interview ..

7:13 PM 
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Monday, November 16, 2009 
hickoids

The Hickoids Waltz A-Cross-Dress Texas Saustex Media Reviewed by Kent Manthie  
The Hickoids are a punkabilly band from Austin, TX and their cowboys on acid psychobabble is a crazy mash-up. Their latest, Waltz A-Cross-Dress Texas is a punkabilly free-for-all. Of course, you wouldn’t get this album at all unless you had a healthy sense of humor. And, well, that’s the other thing about it - it’s an upbeat, party record, a virtual hootenanny, guarantee to lift the spirits of the most boring party. What it isn’t is a faux angst-filled cacophony of scream-o metal or some edgy straight-edge hardcore where you get the Republican platform in between guitar solos and drum rolls.  
When you’re talking about songs like “Queen of the Barbeque”, “Pennsylvania Mexicans” or “Jumping Bean Bolero”, you know you’re not listening to a deep concept album. No, just close your eyes and imagine yourself at a sweaty, packed, beer-soaked roadhouse where everyone’s drunk and the band’s crazy antics are just a fraction of the action going on. Then, out of nowhere, the penultimate cut on this CD, “Mr. Punk Rock Voodoo Man” has a little bit of Bad Brains splattered all over it, what with the “I and I” choruses and that reggae meets punk style that the Bad Brains are famous for.
Now, not to cast any aspersions on this cowbilly punktry stuff, in fact there is a certain kind of creativity and intelligence to come up with this kind of off-the-wall, satirical stuff and still pay close attention to the quality of the music, which is crisp and well produced and has a good anchor in the drums and bass and the guitars just go where they will. Even showing up here and there are other little southern fried bits of musicana - the steel-pedal guitar, a Mariachi band jamming at one point on “Jumping Bean Bolero” and an all around sense of good vibes and good times for all. See you real soon now, ya hear?  

-KM
5:07 PM 
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Saturday, November 14, 2009 

[Nightlife Reportage]

Plushification

OK... U-31 Cocktail Lounge isn't all that bad. After last night's show I reconsider my earlier unwritten review...
Review, photos and video by Reviewer Rob I first stepped into U-31 a couple of years ago or so just after their grand opening and was impressed with the remodel. It's really taken on a unique upscale persona of its own. Before the current owner took over, like everyplace else in this part of town, it was a crusty local dive, called Buster Daly's, that had a gritty charm with entertainment when bands couldn't get booked at a the Casbah. It was close to home for me since up until 2006 I lived less than two blocks away on Illinois Street. But now in the post-housing-bubble gentrification rush of all things urban and decaying this is another fine example of what was a former dirty watering hole gone semi-uptown. The room is large and utilitarian, with very few remnants persisting of its former rundown ambiance, and can be converted into anything from a dance hall to a banquet room or a comedy club and still not break character. The best feature however is the liquor wall behind the bar that's backlit and stacked with all your favorite spirits which require a ladder to reach the top of. On this night the crowd was typical for a coolclub scene: young, monied and good looking. May Star of Maystar Productions who also hosted the night was working the back booths being her usual cute and slightly snobby self. She's so image conscious I won't be surprised if she sends me a text asking that I delete that snobby comment or says something else overtly controlling, "LOL!". The first time I went there a couple of years ago maybe I was too early that evening but there was no crowd and the bartender was kind of bitchy. I speculated because of this that they'd have a hard time getting the club going and staying open. Now a couple of years later, at least on this Friday night, there was a lot of people drinking and having a good time and the early-shift bartenders, dressed like flappers, were friendly and a lot hotter than the time before. I ordered a Grand Marnier on the rocks and commented on Facebook that it was $7.50. Later in the night a second one was $10. The band this evening was Little Red Radio, from Los Angeles. When I walked up to the club earlier the lead singer was standing out front with some dudes and she was looking like some hard living stripper with a lot of miles on her. I didn't know it was the girl in the band that I was looking at but when they took the stage I wasn't surprised. The other singer and the band's keyboardist, both males, played barefoot while she kept her knee-high black boots on. They described their music in the post-set interview as electro-something, but you can check them out on myspace or watch it in Quicktime HERE and see for yourself; sorry about the sound distortion. You can donate a better video camera to Reviewer Magazine if you wish. On the whole it was a cool night. It's great to see nightlife improving on every corner in this social scene. You can click HERE for the Flash photo gallery from the Reviewer Magazine pocket Nikon camera and video recorder. ~RR Above left: Little Red Radio's lead singer, Lara. More of her is in the Flash photo gallery. Click the image below for the sidewalk interview and a clip of the show.

10:04 PM 
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Thursday, November 05, 2009 
[Art Scene]

FULL MOON: THE APOLLO MISSIONS

BY MICHAEL LIGHT

Show at Joseph Bellows Gallery on Girard Street in La Jolla through December 5, 2009
[All images reproduced below are from the book but are not necessarily included in the gallery show. The ones that are in the gallery show, however, are exceptional in their detail and you should not miss seeing them in person. -Editor] To commemorate the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 – the first landing on the Moon - Joseph Bellows Gallery is pleased to present FULL MOON: The Apollo Missions. The exhibition will feature photographs from Michael Light's book FULL MOON and will be on view until December 5th, 2009. Signed copies of the book are available at the gallery for $50.
At left: former La Jolla resident, astronaut Walter Schirra looks out the window in front of the commander's station on Apollo 7.
From 1963 – 1972 NASA's Apollo program landed six missions on the moon and yielded a wealth of scientific data as well as 32,000 photographs. From 1995-2000, photographer Michael Light worked with NASA's archives to revisit and reexamine these photographs. Light's project culminated in a book and museum exhibition entitled FULL MOON. The book was published in six languages in 1999 (the American by Knopf, New York), and the museum exhibition opened concurrently that summer at London's Hayward Gallery and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The photographs from that show are now on permanent display at the American Museum of Natural History's Rose Center for Earth and Space in Manhattan. In the years since, FULL MOON has come to be considered the definitive visual statement on the Apollo photographic archive. As a landscape photographer Michael Light is not only interested in the physical aspects of a place but also spaces where humans seem dwarfed by their natural surroundings, places where they confront powerful natural forces. To him the Moon was perfect subject. For FULL MOON, Light chose 129 of the 32,000 images from NASA's archives and wove them into a narrative that begins with launch and is followed by a walk in space, an orbit of the Moon, lunar landing and exploration, and a return to Earth. He focused on images that had not been seen before and aimed to create the effect of the viewer being in space by including views looking out the spacecrafts' windows and close-ups of the astronauts. He also shows us the sublime grandeur of the Moon itself. Close-up images show its surface details and textures while images shot from above reveal its vastness and mass. Light's selection and arrangement of these images lead the viewer on a thrilling journey to the Moon, and his project is imbued with the same sense of adventure and discovery inherent in the Apollo missions themselves. The photographs in the exhibition are all made using latest in direct-digital photographic printing processes from Light's drum scans of NASA masters. Light scanned at beyond-film grain resolution to capture every bit of information in the masters, and together with the subtlety allowed by digital image processing, these prints offer unprecedented clarity, scale and precision. There is nothing like them available through any channel, including NASA. Michael Light received his B.A from Amherst College and his M.F.A in photography from the San Francisco Art Institute. His photographs are in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Getty Research Library, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, AZ and the Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA among others. In 2007 he received a John Simon Memorial Foundation Guggenheim Fellowship for Photography. He currently lives and works in San Francisco, CA. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For more information please contact: Carol Lee Brosseau carollee@josephbellows.com Joseph Bellows Gallery 7661 Girard Avenue La Jolla, CA 92037 (858) 456-5620 josephbellows.com
Below: the moon's "dark side." This photo is in the gallery show, as a very large and incredibly detailed print. Other images from the book...

6:06 AM 
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Monday, November 02, 2009 


http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2009...

This is awesome. Check it out before the looters get it.

8:09 AM 
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009 

RAMMSTEIN RECORD, LIEBE IST FÜR ALLE DA, ENTERS BILLBOARD TOP 200 AT #13

The band’s highest U.S. debut coincides with #1 entries in several countries


LOS ANGELES (Oct. 28, 2009) – Rammstein’s sixth studio album, LIEBE IST FÜR ALLE DA, has entered Billboard’s Top 200 at #13 (#1 on the Heavy Music chart), marking the German sextet’s highest U.S. debut to date.

Worldwide chart positions reaffirm Rammstein’s status as one of the most internationally popular rock bands with seven #1 sales chart positions including their native Germany as well as platinum and gold certifications already awarded for numerous European countries.

LIEBE IST FÜR ALLE DA, arrived in stores on Oct. 20 through a marketing and distribution deal with Vagrant Records and Universal Music Germany.  The album was produced by Jacob Hellner and Rammstein with recording done at Northern California’s Sonoma Mountain Studio.  The first single from the 11-track release is “Pussy,” which was released as a digital single on Sept. 22 and accompanied by one of the year’s most viral videos.  




5:46 PM 
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Saturday, October 10, 2009 
illustratedhistory of VU

The Velvet Underground:  An Illustrated History of A Walk on the Wild Side


By Jim DeRogatis
Voyageur Press; MN, 2009


Reviewed by Kent Manthie


    45 years ago four eclectic New York art-school types melded together and, voila, The Velvet Underground was born.  Their name, taken from a book by Michael Leigh (The Velvet Underground, McFadden Books, 1963) was the beginning of their mission to be as outré as possible. 


    Soon they found themselves the darlings of Andy Warhol and his Factory gang.  As well as The Exploding Plastic Inevitable, another Warhol creation, VU was guided at first by Andy and were soon the “house band” for the wild, dream-like parties at the Factory in New York. 


    Just out now is a fabulous book celebrating 45 years of one of the most influential bands of all time, entitled An Illustrated History of The Velvet Underground. 


    While the Beatles were getting hung up on the Beach Boys (listen to Sgt. Pepper and then listen to Pet Sounds and you’ll see where the Beatles got the inspiration).  Along with Bob Dylan, Neil Young, John Lennon and Brian Wilson, Lou Reed remains one of the most innovative, inspiring and original songwriters whose influence has spanned four decades. 
... From Kent's Music blog. Read the complete review HERE.



12:00 AM 
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