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

Ersi Arvizu at Bagramian Hall

“I wasn’t allowed in this man’s world/The holes in the wall became my windows of dreams,” Ersi Arvizu sings at the opening of her new CD, Friend for Life (Anti- Records), using boxing analogies to chart the ups and downs of her varied life. She was raised in East L.A., charting her first hit, “Gee Baby Gee,” in 1964 with the Sisters, her aptly named familial group. She eventually joined El Chicano before dropping out of sight again for many years. Now she’s back with a vengeance on this long-overdue solo album, filling in the blank spaces and missing decades with artful songs like the bilingual “En El Tambo,” where El Chicano’s visit to perform at Tehachapi State Prison led to some unexpected, soul-slamming revelations. Produced by Ry Cooder, who’ll be a part of her all-star band at tonight’s concert, the album has a contemplative wistfulness that extends through its jazzy, pop and traditional-folk-music settings. If you’ve ever wondered what real L.A. music sounds like, this is it. 900 W. Lincoln Ave., Montebello. (Falling James)

Gilberto Gil rides a blue wave.

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• Mr. T
• Gilberto Gil
• Nikka Costa
• Neil Innes
• Celebrity News

Nikka Costa at El Rey Theatre

Despite the media buzz that surrounded her 2001 American debut, Everybody Got Their Something, this well-connected L.A.-based soul siren hasn’t really succeeded in establishing much of a mainstream presence; casual listeners might remember “Like a Feather” from the Tommy Hilfiger spot it soundtracked a few years back, but no one’s in any danger of confusing Nikka Costa with Alicia Keys or Erykah Badu. Still, Costa has rightly cultivated an adoring cult, and that’s the audience she appears to be aiming for with the release this fall of Pebble to a Pearl, a funky new disc she made with her producer-husband Justin Stanley. It downplays the mixing-desk flash of her past two albums in favor of a back-to-basics approach that befits her new relationship with the long-running Stax label, which will issue Pebble in conjunction with Costa’s own Go Funk Yourself Records. Tonight’s show is part of a brief four-gig preview jaunt that winds up in New York on Monday. (Mikael Wood)

Neil Innes at the Egyptian Theatre

You might remember Neil Innes from the daft ’60s British group the Bonzo Dog Band, whose rendition of “Death Cab for Cutie” in the Beatles’ film Magical Mystery Tour inspired the name of a much-less-clever modern indie-rock band. Or perhaps you recall Innes as Ron Nasty in the wickedly brilliant Beatles parody the Rutles, or the songs that he wrote for Monty Python, such as “How Sweet to Be an Idiot,” whose endearingly heartbreaking melody transcended mere novelty status. Maybe you’ve never heard of Innes at all, which is where the new film The Seventh Python comes in. The documentary (which screens on Thursday, July 26, at this theater) celebrates the merry life and mad career of this songwriter, who’s often underrated because of his “joke” songs, but also writes gorgeous melodies along with those sarcastic lyrics. Tonight he’ll play a set encompassing his many phases and incarnations, which should make up for the keen disappointment when he appeared — but didn’t sing — during the festivities surrounding Rutlemania, Eric Idle’s slapdash theatrical revue of Innes’ music that played in Hollywood earlier this year. (Falling James)

Also playing Friday:

JESCA HOOP at Greek Theatre; DILATED PEOPLES, ACEYALONE at House of Blues; THE HEALTH CLUB at Pehrspace; HOT HOT HEAT at the Roxy; MICK TURNER at the Smell; INSECT SURFERS, BLACK WIDOWS at Taix; B-REAL at the Whisky.

SATURDAY, JUNE 28


The B-52’s at the Greek Theatre

Like so many old new-wave bands, the B-52’s could coast on their reputation and play their early hits for the rest of their lives. Unlike so many of their former peers, they and their sumptuously summery surf-rock tunes (“Rock Lobster,” “Private Idaho,” “Love Shack,” “Roam,” etc.) have aged surprisingly well. No one would really blame them if they chose to fade away on the oldies circuit, but the onetime Athens, Georgia, band have instead released an aptly titled comeback CD, Funplex, their first album of new material in 16 years. The title track has all of the group’s classic elements, with a kicky, handclaps-driven groove, Keith Strickland’s surging fuzz-punk guitar, and call-&-response chants with memorably disposable lyrics/slogans like “underneath the chandelier at the ATM machine” and “I’m your daytime waitress/Here’s your stupid 7-Up.” Fred Schneider’s punchy declamations are always witty, but what really makes the B-52’s soar is the giddily dreamy way Cindy Wilson’s and Kate Pierson’s sleek and sexy vocals twine together, particularly on the mystically spacy ode “Juliet of the Spirits.” (Falling James)