Rock Picks
For the week of November 10–16
Also playing Wednesday:
NAKED EYES, THOMAS DOLBY at Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts; JAMES BLUNT, STARSAILORat Gibson Amphitheatre; UK SUBS at Anarchy Library; DRONES, DEVASTATIONS at Spaceland.
THURSDAY, November 16
Sierra Leone’s Refugee All-Stars at the Malibu Performing Arts Center
Thrown together by Sierra Leone’s apocalyptic decade-plus civil war, the Refugee All-Stars have one of a hell a story to tell, and while the group has been heralded here with a load of effusive bullshit (coming as it does from a horde of overpaid rock-crit blowhards) that invariably speaks of “redemptive power” and “healing,” it’s always best to let the music do the talking, and, believe it, these cats won’t let your attention stray. Their high-stepping Afro-reggae grooves are put over with a natural-fact expertise, and the bare-bones lyrics are framed as a series of marvelously simple, effective metaphors that combine for an emphatically arresting earful, one providing the ideal way to convey these bruised, defiant messages. (Jonny Whiteside)
Also playing Thursday:
ROONEY, BEN LEEat Avalon; JOLIE HOLLAND, VETIVERat the Jensen Rec Center; JOHN LEGENDat the Wiltern; HOWARD TATE at Amoeba Music; ARIEL PINK, BEACH HOUSEat the Echo; RACHAEL YAMAGATA at the Hotel Café; JAMES BLUNT, STARSAILOR at House of Blues; LAS 15 LETRAS, CHENCHA BERRINCHES, KEVIN Kat the Knitting Factory; DOLLYROTS, RANDIESat the Scene; HELLO STRANGER, SOMETHING FOR ROCKETS, EMILIE SIMON at the Troubadour; CUT CHEMIST at the Viper Room.
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