Rock Picks: Electric Daisy Carnival, Explosion in the Sky, Rodriguez

Also playing Wednesday:

Paul Oakenfold

Rodriguez

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More About

• Ronan Harris
• Hollywood
• Jeff Smith
• Etta James
• Folk Music

EULOGIES, BAD VEINS, AVI BUFFALO, A DECENT ANIMAL at the Echo; STONE TEMPLE PILOTS, KINGSIZE at House of Blues; FAR EAST MOVEMENT, BEARDO, CHRIS YOUNG, DR. HOLLYWOOD, DR. ROSEN ROSEN at the Roxy; FITZ & THE TANTRUMS at Spaceland.

THURSDAY, JULY 2

PLAYING FOR CHANGE BAND AT SANTA MONICA PIER
If you haven’t seen it already, Google “playing for change” and “Stand By Me.” A YouTube clip will pop up. Watch it unfold: A man named Roger Ridley introduces the song “Stand By Me,” and soon he’s playing it on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. His version alone is beautiful, but soon we fade to New Orleans, where another street singer, Grandpa Elliott, continues the song, with washboard accompaniment and Ridley’s little acoustic guitar line mixed in to create a cross-country collaboration. Cut to another street singer, this one in Amsterdam, who offers vocal counterpoint, the song building steam as instruments from street singers across the globe join in. It’s a chilling creation, this song, which by the end includes a Native American drum circle, a tambourine from France, a Brazilian ukulele player, a Russian cellist, a Congolese drummer and a South African vocal group. The video was envisioned and created by Grammy-winning producer/engineer Mark Johnson, who traveled the globe with a crew and recorded more than 100 musicians. The end result, a collection called Playing for Change, benefits street musicians and homeless populations around the world. A group of the street performers who created this song will play during the opening night of this year’s Twilight Dance Series at the Santa Monica Pier; the cause is awesome and the music, sublime. (Randall Roberts)

Also playing Thursday:

SHE WANTS REVENGE at the Echoplex; BLACK MATH HORSEMAN, CITAY, THE DRY SPELLS at the Silverlake Lounge; AMAZING BABY, BAND OF SKULLS, DAZZLER at the Hammer Museum; JOHN FOGERTY at the Hollywood Bowl; WARPED TOUR 2009 at Seaside Park (Ventura)