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Yes, it’s awesome to throw DIY benefit shows to raise money for music education my daughter’s elementary school and great to help the community where my grandparents and in-laws have hung out. But on a purely selfish level, it gives me an excuse to work with some of my favorite bands and people. So while I have Mike Magrann committed to playing our February 9 show at Human Resources, I figured I’d ask him the latest about Channel 3. They were OG punks on Posh Boy records, they were on not one but two Rodney on the ROQ compilations, and now they are playing Save Music in Chinatown. Rad! CH3 seems to be playing more than ever. How did this run of shows begin? As we grow more, ahem, mature it is a lot tougher to get us four guys together for a weekend jaunt or two-week tour but we do okay. And it seems that playing out a lot breeds more gigs, ya know? If we can make a point to hit certain cities or go to Europe each summer, then we can count on the shows being a little better next time through. A few more familiar faces and–most importantly–we know the good places to eat! You’ve been touring with friends, playing festivals, and getting your portrait done by the dude who draws Allroy and Milo. Why are you playing our rinky dink benefit? Ha! It’s all due to the persistent nagging of one Martin Wong! But it’s actually an honor to be able to put your music to a good use, and music education is something near and dear to our hearts. Kimm and I, who are famously friends since second grade, always shared a love of music growing up and we actually learned to play guitars together at an after-school program in seventh grade. Besides, it’s always nice to play at venues out of the norm.  I mean, we’ve played enough 1 a.m. sets at mildewy dive bars to last a lifetime. Let us do a matinee with cookies and coffee once in a while, for God’s sake! Did your band play much in Chinatown back in the day? Got any stories? We played at Wong’s Chinatown venue once but it was well after its prime. But we did play a lot at Esther’s Santa Monica venue, where she would always chase us out of the kitchen for making out with girls and trying to steal beer! Our first-ever gig after making the Posh Boy EP was across town at the Brave Dog on 1st Street… Whenever I Google Channel 3 or look up the hashtag on Instagram, I always see Thai TV starlets. Do you know anything about that scene? I know, right? All I know is we get an awful lot of posts on our Facebook page in Lanna and Lao script! I don’t know what the hell they’re saying but a fan’s a fan, even if they do think they’re logging onto their fave soap opera page! Looking back, pre-Interweb, it was a pretty bad idea naming the band CH3. You Google...
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Yes, it’s awesome to throw DIY benefit shows to raise money for music education my daughter’s elementary school and great to help the community where my grandparents and in-laws have hung out. But on a purely selfish level, it gives me an excuse to work with some of my favorite bands and people. So while I have Mike Magrann committed to playing our February 9 show at Human Resources, I figured I’d ask him the latest about Channel 3. They were OG punks on Posh Boy records, they were on not one but two Rodney on the ROQ compilations, and now they are playing Save Music in Chinatown. Rad! CH3 seems to be playing more than ever. How did this run of shows begin? As we grow more, ahem, mature it is a lot tougher to get us four guys together for a weekend jaunt or two-week tour but we do okay. And it seems that playing out a lot breeds more gigs, ya know? If we can make a point to hit certain cities or go to Europe each summer, then we can count on the shows being a little better next time through. A few more familiar faces and–most importantly–we know the good places to eat! You’ve been touring with friends, playing festivals, and getting your portrait done by the dude who draws Allroy and Milo. Why are you playing our rinky dink benefit? Ha! It’s all due to the persistent nagging of one Martin Wong! But it’s actually an honor to be able to put your music to a good use, and music education is something near and dear to our hearts. Kimm and I, who are famously friends since second grade, always shared a love of music growing up and we actually learned to play guitars together at an after-school program in seventh grade. Besides, it’s always nice to play at venues out of the norm.  I mean, we’ve played enough 1 a.m. sets at mildewy dive bars to last a lifetime. Let us do a matinee with cookies and coffee once in a while, for God’s sake! Did your band play much in Chinatown back in the day? Got any stories? We played at Wong’s Chinatown venue once but it was well after its prime. But we did play a lot at Esther’s Santa Monica venue, where she would always chase us out of the kitchen for making out with girls and trying to steal beer! Our first-ever gig after making the Posh Boy EP was across town at the Brave Dog on 1st Street… Whenever I Google Channel 3 or look up the hashtag on Instagram, I always see Thai TV starlets. Do you know anything about that scene? I know, right? All I know is we get an awful lot of posts on our Facebook page in Lanna and Lao script! I don’t know what the hell they’re saying but a fan’s a fan, even if they do think they’re logging onto their fave soap opera page! Looking back, pre-Interweb, it was a pretty bad idea naming the band CH3. You Google...
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Photo: Ben Clark

I would have written about Sunday’s Save Music in Chinatown matinee at Human Resources earlier but I’ve been busy writing thank-you letters to friends, helpers, and supporters. The first DIY benefit gig that my wife and I organized to raise funds to pay for music education at our daughter’s school, Castelar Elementary, was awesome and Bob Forrest was a perfect start.

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Photo: Ben Clark

I would have written about Sunday’s Save Music in Chinatown matinee at Human Resources earlier but I’ve been busy writing thank-you letters to friends, helpers, and supporters. The first DIY benefit gig that my wife and I organized to raise funds to pay for music education at our daughter’s school, Castelar Elementary, was awesome and Bob Forrest was a perfect start.

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These days, going to four shows in seven days is a pretty rare and awesome treat for me. Even more amazingly, I took my five year-old daughter to three of them (not Channel Three at Alex’s Bar, above).

The Three O’Clock played their final reunion show at Fingerprints Music in Long Beach last Monday. I missed their shows at Coachella, The Glass House, and The Troubadour, and was stoked that they played a couple of in-stores to celebrate the release of their essential new CD which compiles demos, alternate mixes, and favorites. At Fingerprints the Paisley Underground standouts played the entire Baroque Hoedown EP, including their signature cover of The Easybeats’ “Sorry,” and three songs off of Sixteen Tambourines LP with “On My Own” and The Bee-Gee’s “In My Own Time.” Wow.

I recall my twin brother and I were promoted from junior high, our parents bought us $40 worth of records. Our first batch included The Clash’s London Calling, David Bowie’s Let’s Dance, and Baroque Hoedown. One of our first concerts was seeing them play at Magic Mountan on the very stage featured in KISS Meets The Phantom of The Park. Who would have thought that I’d be taking my daughter to heard that record performed in its entirety and meet the band? Yes, they were very cool…

On Friday afternoon, I took Eloise to see SISU celebrate the release of their great new EP at Origami Vinyl. It was incredibly hot and humid that afternoon and the acoustics are tough playing in the loft-like space, and maybe that’s why the band showed a really raw, almost dubby side that I never noticed before. The new songs sounded amazing. Too bad Eloise passed out as I carried her. Gotta arrange a lunch with my daughter, Sandy and Jules to make up for her missing the end of their set… She was bummed when she woke up at home because she loves them in SISU as well as Dum Dum Girls.

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