What about that Be the Riottt press-list line?! Guardian intern Aaron Sankin got to sample it firsthand when he attended the music fest at Bill Graham Civic on Nov. 11. Here's what he thought:

Girl Talk explodes the Riottt; the one-man party-starter
made an appearance at the eventtt.

Call me a cynic, but it's tough for me to take seriously any concert that has its own manifesto. It's not that I don't think that concerts shouldn't try to affect social change now and again -- any time you can get many young-type people together in one place it would be stupid not to try to get them to get off their lazy, hipster asses and doing something positive for a change. But at the Be the Riottt music festival at the Bill Graham Civic last Saturday, I was having a tough time buying it. Here's the manifesto:

Y'know we all think Lady Sovereign seems like a tough little cookie but geez, she was all tears at the Mezzanine Tuesday night, Nov. 14. Griping that she couldn't hear herself in the monitors (her bus was also an hour late due to a breakdown), she sat down a song or two in and held her hands and apologized for being "diva-ish." Poor kid. And too bad for the tough dance girls all around me who seemed superpsyched to get some Sovereign ack-shun.

Lady Sovereign is killing us softly with her lack of song.
All photos by Kimberly Chun

But before that show, this past weekend, Nov. 10-12, was all about the beauty of Budget Rock at Stork Club -- and damn if that wasn't the bestest BR yet with incredible performances by Guilty Hearts, the Shrugs, Original Sins (Brother JT sang barefoot -- and was that the raddest, weirdest cover of "I Want Candy" ever?), SLA, and the Omens (pictured below). It was as if each band was taking the previous combo's crazed performance to heart and was determined to go that much further into total garage-rockin' madness. If every night could only be Budget Rock night...

The Omens rip it up at Budget Rock Nov. 10.

...But us turkeys are out and in the clubs once again! With much delay -- and lots of delay pedals -- we quickly wrap up our wearabouts. We being the royal we -- or the twice-as-tubby-we now that we have mowed through all that dark turkey meat, three different kinds of stuffing, several pies, and a few small children.

Aye, it's Daevid Allen. All photos by Kimberly Chun.

Dang, it was fun seeing Daevid Allen's University of Errors at the Hemlock back on Nov. 17. Citay rolled out the classic rock jams -- as well as a bitching George Harrison cover. Then the Gong and Soft Machine vet entered spieling in verse and singing olde SM tunes.

Lou Lou and the Guitar Fish wig out for Birdman Records at 12 Galaxies.

Later, after the turducken lovin' was done, on Nov. 25, we repaired to the Birdman Records holiday party and Dema birthday soiree at 12 Galaxies. Lots of quality Birdman entertainment was on the agenda -- and a weather-beaten once-lost, now-Tenderloin-based member of 13th Floor Elevators was in the haus. Brian Glaze and a solo-esque Greg Ashley performed. Too bad we missed Howlin' Rain and Time Flys later that eve - had to skee-daddle.

Brian Glaze gets down early in the evening at the Birdman shindig.

Greg Ashley pulls tapes, plays guitar, and goes solo-ish at 12 Galaxies.

That same night at Bottom of the Hill, Lemonaid was pouring it all out loud, slushy, and droney to a sparse crowd. Then Les Georges Leningrad got a few stomping with ear-bleed beats.

Les Georges Leningrad go batty.

When's our next four-day vacation?

Guardian intern Aaron Sankin caught Maceo Parker at the Fillmore on Nov. 22. Here’s what he thought:

Maceo Parker blows up. Courtesy of www.maceo.com

If you’re real funky you can pretty much do anything you want on stage. What are the odds that George Clinton could have gotten away with landing a pretend spaceship and pretending he was from another planet (Planet Funk in Groove Galaxy) if he played an acoustic guitar and sang songs about his feelings? Slim to none. But since he is George Freaking Clinton, quite possibly the funkiest cat to every walk on two legs, he has a free pass to dress, talk, and act however he damn well pleases.

The reason I bring this up: Maceo Parker may be just as funky as the prime Minster of Parliament Funkadelic. You’re probably asking yourself, “If this guy is so funky why have I never heard him?” Hey, man, back off -- no need to get all agitated.

You have heard him. Parker rose to prominence as the sax player in James Brown’s band. If you know anything about how the Hardest Working Man in Show Biz ran his band, you’ll know that he packed his band exclusively with the best musicians around (see: Bootsy Collins). Anyone with Brown’s seal of approval is sure to be a dynamite musician. So it’s a sure bet that Parker knows his way around a saxophone.