Nevada City has birthed another indie starlet. I am proud.

Alela Diane (née Alela Menig) is making waves on various music blogs ’round the net. I hung out with her older brother in junior high school. Her dad was my orthodontist. He used to have me troubleshoot his $150,000 digital x-ray station because I was The Nerdy Guy. He made a retainer for my teeth with a Rage Against the Machine icon embedded in it.

Listen to a few of her songs, or go watch her perform while wandering the streets of Paris. (Other great Take Away Shows from La Blogothèque: Arcade Fire, Beirut, The Shins, and Vampire Weekend.)

Addendum: Here’s a neat article on the burgeoning music scene in Nevada City.

I just came across a music video (of sorts) for a song by Great Lake Swimmers that I’ve been in love with ever since it arrived at my doorstep on a Vice compilation this summer. Let me know if these embedded YouTube videos get to be a nuisance.

Via Jorn Barger, one of the internet’s most influential yet quiet ascetics.

Thank you, Facebook, for providing me today with this insightful and nuanced audit of San Diego’s musical taste:

To be fair, perhaps the blame lies with the people of San Diego and not Facebook’s summary of the given data. Regardless, the Jack Johnson/Sublime thing is pretty spot-on. The Oktoberfest in Ocean Beach that we briefly visited on Saturday was downright rotten with Reggae music. Guh.

Max and Amanda’s ceremony up in Nevada City was a blast. It was cool to see old high school, middle school, and elementary school friends, and getting boozy and rambunctious with them only made things more fun. My brother’s new kitten is insanely adorable, and I’m glad to have gotten a taste of mom’s traditional summer salsa.

Monday involved a sunny backyard, a refreshing pool, and twelve pounds of dry ice. Yeah, you wish your Labor Day was as cool. Later, come evening, we fed the crew with homemade pesto before catching Lady Dottie and the Diamonds at Tower Bar. So awesome.

I should be working on my freelance stuff. No rest for the wicked, as they say.

Since I last posted: Battles at Beauty Bar, a long-overdue visit from Brian Lio, meat overload at our Independence Day BBQ, the Muslims and the Vultures at Casbah, a free haircut, a visit from Troy, Daft Punk and Ratatat in L.A., Tokyo Police Club at Beauty Bar, my cousin’s wedding in Pauma Valley, as well as various other house parties, bar crawls and celebrations. The days are just packed.