Price and Seating: $12, general admission

Parking Situation: There's a $5 parking lot under the mini-mall that contains the Knitting Factory, Tower Records Outlet (which sucks), and expensive movie theaters. The price is worth ducking out of Hollywood Boulevard traffic and minimizing the chance of people breaking into your car looking for tourist loot.

Slam Potential: San Diego's Locust has earned a reputation as the preeminent kings of scream-o violence, but the up-and-coming Lightning Bolt set up their instruments on the floor, effectively punching a black hole in the crowd that sucks everyone in the band's direction with brutal results.

Potential Ear Damage: Four-fold ringing.

Cattle Decapitation combined the hard chops of Helmet and depraved vibes of Slayer with jock singer who alternated between a low growl and evil shriek. His style was sketchy and schizophrenic, and it would have been funny if he held a ventriloquist dummy. Next up was Rhode Island's Lightning Bolt, a pure source of musical power. There was something Butthole Surfer-esque about their fuzzed-out singing and tribal pounding, but the 100 percent guitar solos made it strong. I hadn't entered a slam pit for years; this time it came to me, and it was great. Somewhere between Bauhaus and SNL's "Sprockets," Arab on Radar had too much art and not enough rock, so I retreated to the lobby to rest up for The Locust. When the stylish waifs from San Diego came onstage, they were sporting some new head-to-toe costumes that looked more like larvae than locusts, but the sound was fully developed. Imagine spastic jolts of metallic hard jazz spiced up with occasional yells. Yeah, little kids can do that, too, but The Locust start and stop on a dime, as if invisible fire wires connected the members' membrane-covered heads. This show was totally sold out and rightfully so. I emerged from the show sweaty, thrashed, and cleansed.

Price and Seating: Free stranding room, bleacher seats, picnic benches, and spring horses

Parking Situation: There's a small parking lot by the tennis courts.

Slam Potential: Only when bases are loaded on the softball field. I have yet to see above-the-rim action on the basketball courts.

Potential Ear Damage: No, but there may be brain damage involved.

Every week when the Giant Robot softball team practices, we see a homeless man wandering around singing opera in a low baritone that echoes down the valley of apartment buildings. Exactly what he sings is unclear, but he's pretty good. I thought the music was coming from a car stereo at first. When we play it's too dark to tell exactly what he looks like, but his voice is unmistakable. I usually see him on Mondays at dusk, but he may perform on other evenings as well.