Rock Picks: Sunset Strip Music Festival, Neil Innes, Cheap Trick

THURSDAY, JUNE 26

Tara Punzone

Tara Punzone

The Casualties are still mad at Ronald Reagan.

Frozen Pictures

Neil Innes: How sweet to be an idiot with a tiny guitar

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(Click to enlarge)

The Casualties are still mad at Ronald Reagan.

Frozen Pictures

(Click to enlarge)

Neil Innes: How sweet to be an idiot with a tiny guitar

(Click to enlarge)

Gilberto Gil rides a blue wave.

Sam Phillips at Largo

“I love you when you don’t do anything/When you’re useless, I love you more,” Sam Phillips declares on the title track of her new CD, Don’t Do Anything (Nonesuch). It’s such a relief and a rarity to hear someone in our fast-paced, competitive society say it’s okay to stop racing around in circles. Phillips gives us permission to think, to see things that are under the surface, things that don’t “matter.” She first came to attention as the Christian pop singer Leslie Phillips, but she’s worlds away from such a fluffy and simple beginning. Even folks who don’t subscribe to the Jesus myth are likely to get something out of Don’t Do Anything, which replaces the sanctimonious and smug bossiness of typical Christian music with something more artistic and deeply personal. Most of the songs are stripped down with lovely, non-flashy cello and violin accents from the Section Quartet. “My Career in Chemistry” pairs sly lyrics with Jay Bellerose’s clattering drums and guitarist Eric Gorfain’s “dancing molecules.” Such tracks as “Under the Night” and “No Explanations” are pushed along with little more than Phillips’ throbbing, lurking guitar, whose fuzzy distortion wonderfully contrasts her airy, dreamy singing. (Falling James)

Also playing Thursday:

BONEDADDYS, CROWN CITY ROCKERS at the Santa Monica Pier, 7 p.m.; EPMD, GRANDMASTER FLASH at Crash Mansion; THE MOVIES at the Echo; MEIKO at the Hotel Café; EVERCLEAR, SOUL ASYLUM, CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN at House of Blues; REVEREND PEYTON’S BIG DAMN BAND,THE DOLLYROTS, HAZELDEN at Safari Sam’s; LKN at Silverlake Lounge; OLIVER FUTURE, GRAY KID at Spaceland; DANNY B. HARVEY, JAKE LA BOTZ at Taix; L.A. GUNS, JANI LANE at the Whisky. 

FRIDAY, JUNE 27

The Casualties at Crash Mansion

While Britain’s original late-’70s punk bands were often just irreverent rock & roll acts with some funny clothes, the second, so-called “U.K. 82” wave of the genre took matters to cartoonish sonic and visual extremes: Discharge, the Exploited and GBH bolted oi’s relentless boom-chik beats and Motorhead’s wall of guitars to guttural, violent and hopeless utterances while cajoling their manes into vivid middle-finger Mohawks. New York’s Casualties faithfully revive this snarling mongrel sound (basic buzzy riffs, rigid rhythmic stabs, street-level gang vocals) and look (stud-armored leather jackets, star-burst hairdos) with an infectious sense of utter commitment and the infusion of some busy, bubbly bass lines. Like their early-’80s idols, some of whom are still treading the boards, the Casualties have proved amazingly durable — since forming in 1990, they’ve gradually converted both old-school diehards and fresh-faced Hot Topic–ers to their glorious anti-establishment racket. Also at the Vault 350, Sat. (Paul Rogers)

Sunset Strip Music Festival on the Sunset Strip

With all the hoo-ha over all the various Eastside indie happenings, the Sunset Strip, despite its lineage, is oft considered more an old movie set than a living, breathing scene. But the posse of clubs — including the Roxy, Viper Room, Key Club, House of Blues and Whisky a Go-Go — offers a reminder this weekend with the Sunset Strip Music Festival. Three days, a few dozen bands — and known hair-metal aficionado Larry King of CNN, to boot. The first-annual party features a decent roundup of rock and rap acts, including, in order of worthiness: Camper Van Beethoven, Dilated Peoples, Soul Asylum, Juliette & the Licks, and L.A. Guns featuring Jani Lane of Warrant. There are others, sure, but, really, how many bands can you actually see? Besides, we’re blinded by the entertainment potential of the Saturday-evening roundtable at House of Blues, featuring Strip icons Lou Adler, Mario Maglieri and Elmer Valentine, hosted by King. The festival continues at various Sunset Strip clubs, Thurs.-Sat., June 26-28. For more information, go to www.sunsetstripmusicfestival.com. (Randall Roberts)

U Roy at Dub Club at the Echoplex

In terms of his impact and influence, reggae spearhead U Roy is comparable only to Elvis Presley — an artist who gathered together all the current and prevailing musical sounds and supercharged the mixture with a individualistic, breakout style. His innovative late-’60s toasting, in conjunction with dub mastermind King Tubby’s captivating versions, galvanized the music’s entire sound, content and presentation, and spread like a fever that influenced virtually every one of his colleagues and initiated an entire new musical school. He’s appearing here on a dream bill that also features some of reggae’s most alluring and under-appreciated forces — the soulful drive of Stranger Cole, Cornell Campbell’s otherworldly falsetto, the rocksteady big wheel Pat Kelly. Once again, those zealous Dub Club cats have made us a gift for which the Rastafarians’ standard benediction of thanks and praise hardly seems sufficient. Campbell and U Roy also at Malibu Inn, Sun. (Jonny Whiteside)