It's a whole lotta noise in a teeny tiny package: Deluxe Incinerator, C.I.P.'s three 3-inch CD collection of disc by Bay noise nabobs SIXES and Xome and Texas playmate Goat.

Xome in action. Courtesy of Lars Knudson.

I just opened this small package of bristling static, fuzz, and feedback, and I gotta say it's just the thing to stuff in your favorite noise fan's stocking.

Take a gander at C.I.P.'s Blake Edwards' evocative description of the project: "First I feel harsh noise is best delivered as a short, explosive, focused punch: a 60 or 70 minute CD of noise more often than not just loses impact after a while. Second, a traditional 'compilation' usually gives you six minutes maximum by any artist, which really isn't enough time for them to really stand out from the dozen or so other artists on the compilation. Similarly I want there to be more 'down time' between the tracks -- time to pop the CD out (or shuffle to the next one) so there was more dead time between the track so that each stood on its own. Last, I didn't want to create any sense of 'hierarchy' or listening order by placing the tracks all on one CD." SIXES, he writes, "delivers three tracks of blistering motor oil splashed across your eyes; deep ugly wrought tones scrape flesh right off the balls of your feet and serve it up to you in blood sauce." Yummo.

The limited edition release of 1,000 is available at cipsite.net; just the follow-through after you track down that 10-LP boxset California, which SIXES and Xome also popped up on.

P.S. Xome also appears Dec. 8, 7:30 p.m., as part of the Brutal Sound Effects Festival, a music and film event, at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission, SF. Check www.ybca.org or call (415) 978-2787 (ARTS).

Free stuff on a Saturday -- we are so there, after blowing our wads of nonexistent cash on holiday gifties.

Don't stare - it's Phil Crumar. Courtesy of asphodel.com.

First off: Phil Crumar, SF beat maker and Asphodel artist, will be ho-ho-ho-ing for the man, the Virgin man, that is -- when he performs Saturday, Dec. 2, 3 p.m., at the Megastore at Stockton and Market. Word has it Organer and the Court and Spark's Mike Taylor will be playing earlier at 2 p.m. Sounds like quality, quality local rock and hop -- on a chilly, sparkly weekend afternoon. Wanna meet next to the mint chocolate Citizen Cupcake cupcakes?

Later that evening -- if you're not going to see Jana Hunter in SF -- head over to the free opening of "Other World," curated by Bay Area artist Christine Shields, at Eleanor Harwood Gallery, 1295 Alabama at 25th Street, SF. It runs 7-10 p.m. The show offers "visions into the realm of spirits, shadows, forests, night creatures and those who have passed on. Worlds parallel to ours but less physical in nature sometimes seep into this world leaving curious images, sensations, or sounds. "Other World brings the work of 13 artists into one space creating a place in between this world and the Other." Or so the press release/email blast sayeth.

Artists in the show include Lara Allen, Adam J Ansell, Julianna Bright, Alice Cohen, Georganne Deen, Veronica De Jesus, Colter Jacobsen, Jason Mecier, Donal Mosher, Kyle Ranson, Amy Rathbone, Jovi Schnell, and Shields herself. There will be a performance by Mosher and music by SteepleChase.

While you're in the Mission on Dec. 2, stop into Needles and Pens, 3253 16th St., SF, for the reception for "The Dispossessed," which showcases new work by Monica Canilao. The opening runs 6-9 p.m., and Ghost Family provide the haunting sounds.

Boo! I mean, yeh! Free art!

That playwriting sonuvagun Sonny Smith is back in town. You can find him at 12 Galaxies Tuesday, Dec. 5, opening for Bob Frank and John Murray.

Smith describes Frank as "a gifted Memphis singer-songwriter who landed a one-album deal with Vanguard Records" back in the '70s. Frank's subsequent eponymous album "earned critical comparisons to Gordon Lightfoot, Ian Tyson"; the songwriter is apparently back after hooking up with his old Memphis pal Jim Dickinson.

Smith also sends the above photo from his tour travels. It's a sign posted outside a ruined church in the lower ninth ward of New Orleans.

The 49th Grammy nominations have been announced, and can we get a witness -- despite the feisty, principled stance by the Dixie Chicks and the continuing wonder of Mary J. Blige, are the Grammys still too hidebound and geriatric to really... matter?

Gnarlsome twosome.

I mean, we all pay attention to it, we've all been griping about it since the beginning of time -- but James Blunt, record of the year? Corinne Bailey Rae is cute n'all, but isn't Gnarls Barkley a complete shoo-in for this award? More nattering to come, for sure.

Our best wishes go out to the Coup and Mr. Lif, who were in a frightening bus crash on Dec. 2. The Bay Area hip-hop band's vehicle flipped and caught fire in Imperial, Calif., at 3:50 a.m. after a Friday night performance at the House of Blues. Now the Coup may have to cancel the rest of its tour with Lif.

Boots in better times. Credit: Alexander Warnow

Epitaph issued a press release stating: All occupants managed to get off of the bus before it became engulfed in flames and were transported to El Centro Regional Medical Center. However, Silk-E, Mr. Lif’s DJ, Wiz, the group’s bus driver, Glenn, incurred severe injuries requiring them to be flown to hospitals in San Diego and Palm Springs. Silk-E suffered several broken ribs and a punctured lung and Wiz suffered a deep laceration to the head and a broken leg.

Drifting aimlessly amid the holiday chaos? Tell me all about it. There's nothing like seasonal activity disarray (SAD) when it comes feeling sorry for yourself, grumpy, and liable to purchase the first bright shiny object to obliterate the pain.

So if you're feeling listless and confused, there's a few shows to check in lieu of pouting in front of the boob toob: The Powerful PWRFL (a.k.a., Kazu Nomura, who has been compared to Syd Barrett) will be here, riding a wave of cold air from Japan via Seattle. I dug the eclectic noise-maker's CD - but don't ask me to cough up the title of it. A big kid in a crazy red and white costume swiped it. But you can hear the sounds tonight, Dec. 20, at 21 Grand (with Liz Albee and George Cremaschi, the Norman Conquest, and darwinsbitch) and tomorrow, Dec. 21, at Stork Club, both in O-city. Word - well, if you consider PWRFL a word. Txt cltre scks.

Also up: the Winter Solstice Celebration at the lovely and creepy Chapel of the Chimes Mausoleum in Oakland.
"From the Darkness, Solace" is the theme for the event, tomorrow, Dec. 21, 7-11 p.m. More than 30 artists will kick out the original music throughout the columbarium in honor of the darkest day of the year. Dress warmly. Flashlights encouraged. $10-$20.

The lineup goes a little like this:

STAGE 1
SoRiah (throat singer)
Garth Powell (percussion)
Sarah Wilson (piano)
LX Rudis (synth)
Eric Glick Rieman (piano)

STAGE 2
Jeff Stott (oud)
Kanoko Nishi (koto)
Ernesto Diaz Infante (guitar)
Devin Hoff (Bass)

STAGE 3
Bob Marsh (cello)
Tako Oda (countertenor)
John Raskin (saxaphone)
Jen Baker (trombone)

STAGE 4
Tim Perkins (elec)
Johnathon Segal (multi)
Danielle Degruttola (cello)
Jess Roland (multi)
Lance Grabmiller (elec)

STAGE 5
Mike Perlmutter (reeds)
Stephen Kent (didgeridoo)
Sameer Gupta (tabla)
Shoko Hikage (koto)

Hey everyone loves Red Wine, eh? Well, show the love when Toph One celebrates his birthday with a little veeno and a heaping side of beats. This very special Red Wine Social happens tonight, Dec. 20, 10 p.m.-2 a.m., Dalva, 3121 16th at Valencia, SF. Other wheels of steelers include Doc Fu and Pause. And it's all free. So feel free.

Courtesy of True Skool's Web site.

Guardian contributor Max Goldberg caught Joanna Newsom's recent performance at Great American Music Hall. Here's his review:

Sans bangs and decked in red, Joanna Newsom played the last of a sold-out three-night stand at the Great American Music Hall Wednesday, Dec. 20. It was a performance concentrated and sustained enough to feel like a dream: no small thing given the general crush of people.

Joanna Newsom in all her furry finery.

The show, with its complete performance of Ys (Drag City), didn’t feel like a revelation so much as an acknowledgment (and a celebration with many from Nevada City, Newsoms and otherwise, in attendance. Ex-boyfriend Noah Georgeson and brother Pete Newsom turned in a flimsy opening set). Part of this was due to its being the last date of a seven-week tour, and part of it was because of the classical, note-for-note nature of the performance. Joanna Newsom conceived of this suite of songs, sweated it out, and we, her fans, have listened and begun to discover its place in our lives. Last night these paths converged.

The music’s live arrangements -- Van Dykes Parks’s dense orchestrations were pared down for a five-piece, Balkan-tinged band -- certainly added new shades, especially in the way Neal Morgan’s thudding drums sent the climaxes marching forward, as well as the lovely steel-strung sound-textures traded back and forth by Kevin Barker (banjo, acoustic guitar) and Ryan Francesconi (tambura, bouzouki, acoustic guitar). And much as Smogster (and current Newsom beau) Bill Callahan was missed for “Only Skin”’s final summons, Morgan’s lilting voice was the perfect counterpoint for Newsom’s – his softened hers, made hers sound a bit more country. Newsom’s maturation as a singer was one way the songs from The Milk-Eyed Mender (she book-ended Ys with “Bridges and Balloons,” “The Book of Right-On,” “Sadie,” and “Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie”) were recast. Her voice is still awestruck, but it’s lost some of its hiccup -- smoothed out so that you can still see the folds -- for Ys.

I was struck by how simple the songs from the first album seemed post-Ys, almost like little lullabies (especially closer “Clam, Crab…”). The scale of the new compositions is such that the old songs feel like a breath, something that can be plainly felt rather than fought out, gnashed, destroyed, and won over again and again. The way she so fearlessly gives herself over to soaring on the back of some emotion or image and then pulls back to take a longer view, often recalling a line and melody from earlier in the song, is frankly overwhelming. Time and time again, she plunges into a fast-moving river, all the while being extraordinarily careful not to let us let go of those movements that brought us into the song in the first place. Endurance is certainly a factor here, and when she brought the band back out in the encore for a new long song, the scales tipped: it was too much -- we were spent. It’s no wonder given the way the listeners on the Great American’s upper-levels seemed to lean over the balcony’s edge. With all eyes on Newsom, the focus was at times nearly unbearable.

As always, it was a treat to see her play the harp, those spindly hands realizing the complex rhythm-melody interlays as if they were talking to one another. I caught myself waiting for the long, low strings to be plucked to see (and feel) their resonance. With Ys, she was directing as much as playing, shaping the album anew rather than running it through -- she took hold of the notes and found the words, each one the right one.

Whoa, I go crazy - James Brown in his casket. Who would have thought it could happen? To the hardest working of us all?

Newsday reports that a gold casket carrying the Godfather of Soul's body, drawn by two white horses, arrived at the Apollo Theater today as thousands of fans lining the street erupted in chants.

Died on Christmas day. Courtesy of AFP