July 16th, 2012
Bethany’s Best Coast Hits Union Transfer Tonight To Rub In Our Face How Great California Is
Bethany. It’s a name, isn’t it? If you’re anyone who’s gotten any whiffs of a Real Housewives of Anything in the past few years, you may have heard of Bethenny Frankel, the NY Housewife and creator of “Skinny Bitch” stuff (margaritas, wine, sangria, white cranberry cosmos, etc.). If you’re a person who knows who both Bethany and Bethenny are, can you not see them as related? By that we mean, they’re both just a little bit DUMB. But at the same time, there’s nothing inherently disturbing, masochistic or threatening about them. They’re just being Bethany/Bethenny, and turning it into a profit. In case you didn’t know about a band called Wavves, they’re practically Best Coast’s brother band, and Bethany’s boyfriend is the head honcho of that surf rock stoner band. THEY’RE A POWERFUL DREAM COUPLE! They take bong rips and play with vinyl and giggle about how successful and psuedo-rich they are living in the hills of Southern California. You can read all about it in SPIN’s summer issue (it’s a little annoying). But who can deny that their music isn’t bad, that they have made a name for themselves by making music, and that they tour successfully and put on good shows? It is a vicious double-edged sword and one that Best Coast fans want to swallow on the Venice Beach boardwalk for weed money. Check out what THE MAN B McManus has to say about them and then go see Bethany’s Best Coast for yourselves:
Best Coast
Just as there’s no convincing the haters that Best Coast and Bethany Costentino aren’t deserving of scorn, there’s no use trying to tell their biggest fans they aren’t worthy of worship. People remain bitterly divided on the group—praising them as sun-soaked saviors of lush guitar-centric dreamscapes or saying their music will reduce your brain to “liquid shit,” as PW’s own Elliott Sharp did in these pages early last year. Both have a point. Let’s all agree on one thing: Best Coast’s recent cover of Fleetwood Mac’s 1975 smash hit “Rihannon”—where they swapped the original’s dark, witchy melancholia with wake-and-bake good vibes and Stevie Nicks’ guttural vocal bite with Costentino’s kitten lick—is absolute dog shit. -Brian McManus
8:30pm. $18-$20. With Those Darlins. Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden St. utphilly.com
