Apr 14, 2015 Announcing Save Music in Chinatown 6: Dengue Fever, Birdstriking, Chui Wan, Deadly Cradle Death
At some point of every episode of The A-Team, John “Hannibal” Smith would say, “I love it when a plan comes together.” But sometimes you don’t plan something and it still happens the way it’s supposed to. And that’s even better because it feels like fate.
When we were still planning the fifth Save Music in Chinatown benefit, a friend was working on a skateboard video and needed to replace a song that lacked clearance. Did I have a contact with Carsick Cars? I hit up a mutual friend who happens to help the Beijing post punks with touring in the U.S. and got the ball rolling for our sixth show.
The skate soundtrack never worked out, but the conversation that ensued did allow me to tell Ricky Maymi about the all-ages matinees that my wife and I started to support music education at the Chinatown public elementary school that our daughter attends. I told him that we’d love to have any of the Chinese bands that he works with play our shows. It was perfect timing because the founding member for Brian Jonestown Massacre and champion of Chinese underground music was just starting to book a U.S. tour for Chui Wan.
I was able to help the band secure some shows around SoCal and make it worth their while to stick around long after the Austin Psych Fest, where they’d be playing with the Flaming Lips, Jesus & Mary Chain, METZ, Oh Sees, and a bunch of other great acts. How cool was that?
But even better, Birdstriking will be arriving in the States and joining Chui Wan just before our benefit would take place. Another killer band from Beijing–this one a little heavier and punker and featuring a member of Carsick Cars. Rad!
Completing the trifecta of Beijing sets would be Deadly Cradle Death, a noisy experimental project featuring members of both bands. It is amazing and appropriate to have punks from China play for kids in Chinatown–if not actually blowing out their little eardrums, then to help raise money for music education at their school.
At our previous show, it was ridiculously cool of Tony Bee to hand his band to us on a silver platter. The Adolescents are a legendary group that plays much, much larger shows with three or four slam pits and stage diving. For them to play a mellow little matinee for families and kids with a bake sale was unbelievable. (But, hey, so has Mike Watt & The Secondmen, The Gears, Bob Forrest, Money Mark, Channel Three, Chuck Dukowski Sextet, California, The Bicycle Thief, Evil Hearted You, Hector Penalosa from The Zeros, Deradoorian, Lucky Dragons… )
Dengue Fever is another band where I know members but would never have dared to ask them to play one of our humble gigs. Yet my friend Josh, who manages the band and happens to do PR for Adolescents, asked me if I’d be interested in having them play a benefit. I’ve been a huge fan of Dengue Fever since hearing a demo on KXLU, am so proud of their evolution, and can’t believe they’ll be headlining the next gig for my daughter’s school.
Of course there are others helping out: Nate The Man will go above and beyond in his support as usual; Miran Kim is sharing fabulous artwork that we’re turning into a poster; and Gabie, Steve, and Max will let me go on their KCHUNG and KXLU radio shows to push the event. Is it too early to mention my new friends Todd and Daryl at RazorCake who let me blab out Save Music in Chinatown on their podcast? And even more friends will donate very cool stuff for the raffle, supply goodies and coffee for the event (Thanks to Julia/Imprint/interTrend!), and help out with the sound system once we figure out what we need to do at our new spot. Our pals at Human Resources were double-booked, so we are trying out the Grand Star–right next to the Bruce Lee statue!
Thanks to everyone who has ever played shows, donated goods, helped out, spread the word, attended, or even just wished us the best. We couldn’t have done it without you, hope we never lose you, and look forward to seeing you on May 31.
For more information on Save Music in Chinatown 6, visit the event page on Facebook and ticketing link at Eventbrite. And thanks for reading and following Imprint on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.