GROOVES

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Music Highlights 

The Donnas, Bratmobile at The Roxy 2/22. Historically, in rock n’ roll, girl groups have been forced into two camps: you’re either a good girl or a bad girl. The bad girls were earthy and fun, the ones you’d rather listen to and hang out with, and the good girls, well, you could turn up the volume some, and probably not upset gramma. The Donnas combine cuddly cuteness with balls to the wall (I know, wrong gender) guitar, 1-2-3-4 punk rock teen angst and tongue-in-cheek heavy metal. All of the members of the band have the first name of Donna, in the same way that all the members of the Ramones bore the same last name, and besides the converse tennis shoe style statement, they also share the Ramones’ exuberant Phil Spector-in-a-full-metal-jacket (kinda) power punk pop sound. All this while staying as cute and refreshing as a rebellious high school garage band rockin’ out just for the fun of it.
Radio Bemba at the Knitting Factory 2/22. Manu Chao, former frontman of punk rock en español band Manu Negra rips up the main stage. If you’re in the mood for something a little more subtle and wild, then take a ride to a land where spy movies meet spaghetti westerns on the hot rod drag strip of love, cruising the beach to shooting the curl with Double Naught Spy Car (in the AlterKnit Lounge).
George Clinton/Parliament/Funkadelic 2/22. at The House of Blues. Funk legend Mr. Clinton brings the house down once again at the House of Blues. Find out what all the fuss is about regarding this rhythm titan by showing up and sweating your booty off!
Rudy Ray Moore, Flash Express at Spaceland 2/23. With a vocabulary that would make even a trucker blush, 70s blaxploitation sex god Dolomite serves up his raunchy funk to the hipster crowd tonight. 
The Gourds (from Austin) at The Mint 2/25. As our own Tony Peyser describes them, "If The Band were from Texas, this is what they would have sounded like. For my money, they're the best Austin band going these days." With a band motto of "Music for the unwashed and well-read," their new album, Bolsa de Agua, is dedicated to Lone Star legend, Doug Sahm. If that doesn’t getcha to put on yer spurs an’ head for the Mint, Peyser has one more tidbit to entice ya, "If heaven has a rowdy section, The Gourds will be doing two shows nightly."
The Trailer Park Casanovas, Kids of Widney High at Children of the Night Benefit (Mr. T’s Bowl) 2/25. Sure to be an ultra cool night with bands galore, bowling and lots of underground borracho loco types coming together to benefit COTN a group that assists sexually-exploited teens.

Readings, Performances

Ron Athey, Tosh Berman, Fred Dewey, Lydia Lunch, Sylvere Lotringer, Tom Patchett, Sheree Rose, Jennifer Schlossberg & Jack Skelley 2/23 at Bob Flanagan’s Pain Journal tribute (Beyond Baroque). An "autobiographical diary" of the last year of poet/performance artist Bob Flanagan’s life. Flanagan ran the Wednesday Night Workshop at Beyond Baroque, and emerged nationally as the performance artist Supermasochist with artist Sheree Rose. He "remains one of the saintliest, most disturbing artists to have graced Los Angeles art. His life touched many, and tonight we give tribute."
Exene Cervenka, Watts Prophets, Seditious Beats, Micahel Datcher, and others at Spitting on The System (Track 16 Gallery) 2/23, 7:30pm. Performance and poetry by some hellions of the spoken word. 

The Week Ahead

Thursday, Feb 22

Christine Vierra at Harvelles
The Zen Tricksters at 14 Below

Friday, Feb 23

Mama’s Boys at Harvelles
The Dirty Knobs, Jibilimis, others at 14 Below

Saturday, Feb 24

Douglas Kahn, Achim Wollscheid, Damion Romero, Joe Colley at Activating the Medium Festival (Beyond Baroque). The Festival explores the medium of sound as art through performance, installation, and new concept technologies.
Kathleen Alcala at Cultura Latina Bookstore. Mexican feminist prose and more! 7pm. Free

Sunday, Feb 25

Max Bangwell at Harvelles
Tobias Wolff at LA Central Library. Author of This Boy’s Life, moderated by Mona Simpson.

Monday, Feb 26

The Jazz Crusaders, Ernestine Anderson, Barbara Morrison, Marlena Shaw, Rebecca Parris and many more at the Hollywood Park Casino 2/18 & 19. More info: 323.937.9066

Tuesday, Feb 27

Bebel Gilberto at The El Rey Theatre Inheriting the gift of music from her father Joao Gilberto, Bebel is blessed with a bombshell of a voice, collaborating with everyone from Kenny G to David Byrne along with her solo efforts.
Flicker #13: Independent Film Festival at Spaceland
Mardi Gras at Olvera Street. Free.
Plankton Man, others at The Satellite CD release party (Knitting Factory )
Carmen at The Opera Pacific. (thru 2/25)
Willie Nelson at The Sun Theater

Clubs

14 Below – 1348 14th St., Santa Monica 310.451.5040
Harvelle's Blues Club – Downhome westside spot since 1931. Mondays: Open mic night with The New Breed. Tuesdays: Bad Boy Jones. 1432 Fourth St., Santa Monica 310.395.1676
La Vecchia Cucina – Thursdays: Live Jazz from the Thom Rotella Band. Call 310.399.7979 for reservations. 2654 Main St., Santa Monica. 
Liquid Lounge - Gotham Hall presents: Thursdays: Mr. Parrish (House & Hip Hop), Fridays & Saturdays: 2 DJs, 3. Wednesdays International Techno, Tuesdays 70's & 80's Retro DJ 420. Sundays DJ William. (800) 384-8865 ext. 0 or go to www.gothamhall.com or www.salsasundays.com
Lush - Tuesdays: College Night with 80's dance music. Fri and Sat: Live Disco, no cover. 2020 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica. 310.829.1933
McCabes – Sunday of every month at 7pm: Free Talent Night, "Best in Santa Monica (at least)," featuring our talented and dedicated signups plus featured McStaff performers. 3101 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 310 828.4403 www.mccabes.com.
Rusty’s Surf Ranch - Every other Thursday: Women Who Cook. 256 Santa Monica Pier 310.393.PIER
Temple Bar – 1026 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica 310.393.6611. Mailing list, email whatbands@aol.com. 
The Brig - Mondays: Trip-hop & acid jazz with Star Lounge. 1515 Abbott Kinney.
The Friendship - 112 W. Channel, Santa Monica.
The Joint – Thu 2/8: Rick Ellis, Kool Whip, Paper Suit. Wed 2/14: Marc Harris Band. 8771 W. Pico Blvd. 310.275.2619
The West End - Thursdays: Live World music with Dodo Munoko, La Rumba Band, and DJ Ron Miller, Fridays: The Funky Hippeez, Flashback Saturdays with The M-80's. Tuesdays: Band showcase night. The West End. 5th & Arizona in Santa Monica. 310.313.3292 www.westendclubs.com

Coffeehouses and Other Spaces

Anastasia's Asylum – Live music nightly, no cover. 1028 Wilshire, Santa Monica. 310.394.7113
Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center - Critically acclaimed events, and weekly reading groups, including: Thursdays, 8pm: Beat Writing Class with with Venice West poets Philomene Long & John Thomas. "The San Francisco Renaissance, the New York School, and Venice West have all taken their place in American letters. This ongoing workshop will use techniques they pioneered. "Beat writing," says Philomene, "is a distinctly American literary form inspired by the rhythms of jazz and the controlled accident of Zen. I will start you off in this process. I will not promise I can stop it." For info/registration, call (310) 822-3006. Saturdays, 10-1pm and Sundays at 11am: "Life Stories" with Terrie Silverman. Sat. 1/27: Terrie Silverman’s "Life Stories" workshop performance at 7:30pm. Mondays, 8pm: Trinie Dalton’s Fiction Workshop, focusing on short stories, stories, and novels. Tuesdays, 8pm: Venice: Cindy Bailey, Creative Non-Fiction Workshop, focusing on non-fiction,memoir,and prose. FREE. Wednesday in February, 8pm: Free poetry workshop will be hosted by Steve Abee. 1st, 2nd @ 3rd Mondays: Monday Reading Circles, hosted by Will Slattery & Betzi Richardson. 310.822.3006. 681 Venice Blvd., Venice.
Duttons Books Brentwood – Critically acclaimed readings and events. for schedule: 310.476.6263 or go to http://www.duttonsbrentwood.com. 11975 San Vicente Blvd.
Legal Grind – Award winning coffee house offers legal help with your coffee.For complete info, schedule and more, go to www.legalgrind.com, or call 310.452.3160. 7640 Lincoln Blvd., Santa Monica, 90405. 
Midnight Special Bookstore - Open and featured readings, political discussions & groups, renowned authors and reading circles, computer and technology groups, science fiction book club and much more. Events Calender: Thu 2/22, 7:30pm: Internet and Web Development. Take control of your web presence. Topics range from homepage design, uploading instruction and evaluations of graphical HTML tools. If you want to build your own website this session is for you. Fri 2/23 8pm: Open Poetry reading. Sun 2/25, 10:30am to 1pm: The Linux Users of Los Angeles [LULA] hold their monthly "Install Fest." Bring your computer and let LULA experts help you activate this free and powerful operating system. More info: http://www.lula.org Tue 2/27, 7:30pm: Jon Cohen will read & discuss SHOTS IN THE DARK: The Wayward Search for an AIDS Vaccine. In his book, Cohen, a leading AIDS reporter, tells how the forces inside and outside the world of science have hindered the AIDS vaccine search, and, specific recommendations for accelerating AIDS vaccine research. Mailing list: Send a blank e-mail to internet@lists.MSBooks.com with SUBSCRIBE as the subject. 1318 3rd Street Promenade, Santa Monica, or go to www.msbooks.com. 
Mystic Joe - 2311 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica 310.829.6224
Novel Cafe - 212 Pier Ave., Santa Monica, no cover. 310.396.8566
Un-Urban Coffee House - 3301 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica 310 315 0056
Wednesday’s House – 2409 Main Street, Santa Monica 310.452.4486.