French rock band Phoenix has canceled its Spectrum Festival headling performance tonight, June 27, due to illness: word has it vocalist Thomas Mars has a virus. Still, the Spectrum Fest sallies forth - the artists on the bill will continue to perform.
Phoenix's publicists report that all tickets will either be refunded or honored for the band’s next show in San Francisco (ticket holders should see their point of purchase for details). And according to Joan Rosenberg at Goldenvoice, Phoenix's next in SF will be at the Warfield Sept. 18.
Spectrum Festival
Sat/27, 9 p.m., $27.50-$70
Regency Ballroom
Van Ness and Sutter, SF
www.goldenvoice.com
Super Ego: Mophono, wet jocks, tiny spoons, lazers
By Marke B.
Some smooth and mellow Mophono pho' ya
Oh, the transient grunts and groans of the dance floor: Just got word yesterday that the eagerly awaited appearance of disco progenitor Nicky Siano at Paradise Lounge has been cancelled -- my deep throat tells me there were sound and venue concerns (although I love the 'Dise!). In any case, there's plenty of other things to hold your ear-nterest and get you bangin' this weekend. Besides my rundown in this week's Super Ego column, below are some more earth shakers and affairs.
-----------
He loves me, he loves me not
Wanna spoon?
I had absolutely no idea that those little plastics coffee spoons from McDonald's were banned because of illicit uses (or perceived one, anyway.) You'd think after all this time, plastic + noses = OK. But no. In any case, snort in luxurious style with the unveiling of a perfect publicity stunt: renowned hip mens' clothiers and artists Ju$t Another Rich Kid, Nice Collective, Terence Koh, and more have designed cute, exclusive, and most likely expensive little Bolivian helpers (watch that terrorism funding!). They'll be giving the dish at Harput's from 6pm-9pm tonight (expect beautiful people), and then there'll be a kiki afterparty at Triple Crown. Don't try to force your way into the stalls. It's all called "He loves me, he loves me not" which brings to mind a kinky game somehow.
Local future blap fave raves Lazer Sword are back from their whirlwind Euro tour with an uptempo live set to get you moving, supported by Bay man of intrinsic deep dance knowledge, Mophono at, yes, the Paradise. Put 'em up and get down, child -- and let's see if those speakers still work.
Why, yes, I DO host a wet jock strap contest. Come down to Bus Station John's retro bathhouse disco monthly, The Rod, at Deco this Friday around midnight and see me and Hunky Beau scare up a willing and wet bevy of gorgeous, unclad alternaqueer boys -- and see who'll win $100. (No muscle queens need apply, thanks.) Then stay and dance until 3am to the best disco you've only ever heard sampled in other songs before. It's fun and a little scary: frisson alert!
Fri/8, 10pm-3am, $7. Deco, 510 Larkin, SF. www.decosf.com
In the future when vids are vinyl, and vinyl is -- what? La Chanson de Roland, maybe -- people might claim that Kutiman, the Israeli Vegas Pro genius who collages up backwater YouTube vids into breathtaking electronic atmospheric joyrides (see the complete work at http://thru-you.com), was the DJ Shadow of the '00s.
Kutiman, "I M New"
I think those people would be wrong (and there are already a number of them). Searching through the all the minor dreck of YouTube to fish out suitable usable samples and build them into destabilized microsymphonies can surely be compared to Shadow's impeccable crate-diving technique. And the dense sound both derive from their purely sample-driven compositions elicits a similar melancholy (why is that?). But Shadow traded in rarity nostalgia -- who the hell else had that 78, man? -- whereas Kutiman's brilliant corners are purely of the moment and completely accessible to all. Except for one of them, now set to "private," ha.
Kutiman is also way more international in musical scope than Shadow -- something perhaps more necessary in our globalized age, that Shadow could only hint towards in his Endtroducing... '90s heyday -- which brings Kutiman more in line with the likes of that other frequent Bay boy Amon Tobin, another sample-based innovator who opened the West's ears to a different native music contextuality and who eschewed nostalgia in favor of up-to-the-minute headtrip breaks.
SXSW: Petering out with PJ Harvey, AIDS Wolf, Moriarty, Sons of Albion, and more
By the light of the moon: PJ Harvey and John Parrish at Stubb's.
South by Southwest peters out with... Peter, Bjorn and John. Actually, not really - I dig those Scandinavian whistle-bait popsters and they were playing multiple shows - but there were other less familiar artists and rare diversions to seek out on Saturday, March 21, in Austin, Texas.
The sweet 'n' sunny Saturday morn started with slowly with some quality, low-price thrifting at Texas Thrift Store (Joanna Newsom and folk-psych gals would have appreciated the dusty rose, homemade patchwork vest and nautilus-shell purse) and a visit to western wear superstore Shepler's, both off I-35. Then off to the Convention Center - which, by the end of the week during each SXSW, starts to seem a little like home (that is, if home was strewn with fat bundles of The Austin Chronicle and free bottles of Fuze green tea). There, Neil Young's famed manager Elliott Roberts and his documentarian Larry Johnson talked up Young's forthcoming series of box sets, starting with Neil Young Archives Volume 1 (1963-1972), on BluRay, DVD, and CD. Pretty amazing stuff - the BluRay edition will offer interactive components that will allow Young and company to offer up new photos, music, and film when they become available (one example, Robert said, are the Mynah Birds recordings made by Young and Rick James, which aren't the now-locked box set - they just managed to license the tracks from Motown so when they're available the BluRay owners will be notified and can likely download them directly).
SXSW: Explosions as Sahm, Floyd are toasted, the Bronx pounds, Tara Jane O'Neil tears it, Explode into Colors does just that
Back to the basics: The Bronx whip it out March 18. All photos by Kimberly Chun.
Get away from the grip-and-grin events and rambles through parties that offer free drinks and barbecue (though Jackpine Social Club's Nick Tangborn supposedly threw an ace bash yesterday for ex-Parkside honcho Sean's Batter Blaster pancake spray product) - there's music out there if you seek it out. The corporate sponsors may be relatively absent, but there's still plenty of intrigue, sonically, if you seek it out: PJ Harvey and John Parish, J. Tillman of Fleet Foxes going solo, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Blk Jck, We Have Band, et al.
One great budding band of women: Portland, Ore., trio Explode Into Colors. An all-power two-drum approach draws from the Slits and Gang of Four to fashion impassioned, sinewy primal punk. Fully formed and in full possession of their own voice. The group played March 18's Finally Punk-curated all-ages music-made-by-women show at Ms. Bea's, which also included Pocahaunted, Yellow Fever, Micachu, and the East Bay's Splinters.
More Mochi: 215 the Freshest Kids hurl some words at Daly City Records' Pre-SXSW/St. Patrick's Day Party at Beso Cantina March 17. All photos by Kimberly Chun.
Or is a whimper more accurate. Yes, the signs are in the air and in the program, as we scan the pages of the official guide and the unofficial day party lists. Welcome to South by Southwest on the downlow, rocked by the turbulent winds blowing off a global economic meltdown.
The big conference keynote names like Pete Townshend, Neil Young, Robert Plant, and Lou Reed? This year we get the uber-talented and esteemed but nonetheless much less sexy - sorry, Quince - Quincy Jones. Instead of the Stooges and Morrissey, we will have onstage interviews with Carlene Carter and the Hold Steady. The corporate banners are still here, but with a not-quite-as-splashy, diminished presence - just where is that MySpace South By Party Bus? The major labels and glossy publications are quieter than usual - whither the Vice party? Is there a Vice party?
Instead Rachael Ray - wholesome indie rock fan incarnate - is serving up the New York Dolls and the aforementioned Hold Steady at her showcase. Hey, after all, we're all eating in these days - we can use some new recipes. This is SXSW on the cheap, forced onto a low-budg diet by a still-suffering music biz. Yes, music continues unabated, but can its makers afford to make it out here this year? The underground bashes around SXSW appear to slowing down or maybe they just aren't on the public radar - in any case I still want to make Todd P's Ms. Bea free all-ages shows and the French Legation outdoor bills - now Arthur-free (R.I.P.). We'll see if there's anything as fun as Dan Deacon and Fucked Up's guerrilla throwdowns shaking up the university campus and the bridge, after hours.
Besides following your priorities and getting green drunk (even ecologically drunk) tomorrow night, here's six four-star musical events totally worth tottering off your pub stool toward. But don't mistake that leprechaun for your designated driver! Call a cab, Molly O'Shaumessy!
St. Patty's Day Punk Bash
With La Plebe, Ribzy, Get Dead, Abrupt, Dope Charge, and Excuse the Blood.
Tue/17, 6pm, $8
Elbo Room
647 Valencia, SF
(415) 552-7788 www.elbo.com
A Very Special St. Patrick's Day 45 Club
The funky side of soul on 45 rpm with dX the Funky Grandpaw, Dirty Dishes, and English Steve.
Tue/17, 9pm, $2.
Knockout
3223 Mission, SF
(415) 550-6994 www.theknockoutsf.com
Farley's Coffee 20th Anniversary and St. Patrick's Day Celebration
Bagpipes and Irish music from 9am-noon; 8pm music and dancing, with a performance from local faves Soul Delights.
Tue/17, 9am-10pm, free
Farley's coffeehouse
1315 18th St, SF
(415) 648-1545 www.farleyscoffee.com
Food Stamp Tuesdays
This new monthly (second Tuesdays) kicks off with a cheap drink Patty's Day special at the usually pretty pricey Vessel. With disco soul glammers from DJs Miss Juanita More, Initials P.B. and Pete Notori
Tue/17, 5pm-midnight, free
Vessel
85 Campton Place, SF
(415) 433-8585 www.vesselsf.com
Get Wild St. Patty's
New crazy-boots band The Primitivas, featuring members of the La-Teenos and the Guardian's own Dulcinea Gonzalez will funk up Aunt Charlies, with DJ Alexis and hostesses Hunx and Liza Thorn.
Tue/17, 10pm, cheap
Aunt Charlie's Lounge
133 Turk, SF www.auntcharlieslounge.com
Well, we all know the RSVP list to the free Noise Pop opening party with Deerhunter at the Mezzanine is closed (though try going early - rumor has it you're likely to get in anyway). But, hey, here's yet another chance to catch Deerhunter: a "MySpace Secret Show" at Rickshaw Stop with the Pains of Being Pure at Heart (look for a story on their label Slumerland in an upcoming issue of the Guardian).
DEERHUNTER
With the Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Wed/25, 8 p.m., free Rickshaw Stop
155 Fell, SF
(415) 861-2011
Sing of Iron and Wine: Tickets go on sale today at 10 a.m. for Swedish American shows
This in from Cafe du Nord:
"We just announced a two-night run with Iron and Wine at the Swedish American Hall on May 6 and 7. The shows are going to be very special, intimate evenings, with set lists being determined by fans via the Iron and Wine Web site.
"Tickets are going on sale this Friday, Feb. 20, at 10 a.m. and are of course expected to go very quickly. Tickets are available at www.cafedunord.com. Tickets are will-call only. They are non-transferable. No hard tickets will be issued at any point. Purchaser must present ID at the door to claim tickets.
IRON AND WINE
With Yogoman Burning Band (May 6th only) and Magic Leaves (May 7th only)
May 6-7, 7:30 p.m., $25, all ages
Swedish American Hall
2174 Market, SF
(415) 861-5016 www.cafedunord.com
News from Recombinant Media Labs, over the transom yesterday:
"As some of you may or may not know, the Recombinant Media Labs facility located south of Market on Brannan Street in San Francisco closed its doors last spring. No formal announcements were made at that time due to legal complexities surrounding the closing. No further remarks will be made on this matter, but I think we can all agree that the RML Soma facility will be greatly missed. For those who are curious about what the future hold for Recombinant Media Labs please be on notice: RML is back in view.
"After Asphodel, Ltd. gave birth and support to the worldwide Recombinant Festivals of the '90s, and then to the artist residency lab from 2005 through 2007 the RML nomadic initiative re-emerged after traveling in '08 between Europe and North America, seeking new nodes of operation for performance, installation and exhibition. RML has moved on with fresh partnerships and independent alliances to resurface in a number of international configurations, which will be announced in the seasons to come.
Grim news: Chicago indie label Touch and Go pronounced its distribution arm well and dead in a press release yesterday, with an unknown number of pink-slipped staff to take down their concert posters and fold their vintage T's. Little known but critical to its operations, the powerhouse's distribution outfit has provided as many as 20 record labels manufacturing and distributing services since its conception 28 years ago.
The label itself most emphatically won't fold and will continue to release records from its fabled back catalog. But various media sources are clueless as to whether the imprint will sign any new bands in the future. Small mercy - the records slated for release this upcoming spring season are still getting the greenlight go-ahead. Phew.
Hip-hop mixes it up: 'We All We Got' kicks off at Levende
New weekly hip-hop mixer? Sure, you got it; here's the word from the organizers:
"San Francisco - We All We Got, a new weekly mixer, hip-hop open mic, and live performance party in San Francisco is the place for Bay Area artists, musicians, producers, managers, designers, and creatives to connect. Hosted by Revolutionary Poet Sellassie, We All We Got is designed to expose interesting and determined talent, cultivate relationships, showcase independent hip-hop artists and keep the dance floor moving with KPFA's Hard Knock Radio DJ Mike Biggz. Bring your CD, get on the open mic, discover and listen to new artists, build allies, and connect. We All We Got is every Wednesday at Levende Lounge, San Francisco.
"Advocates of independent music, Inhouse Talent's Gina Gallo and Sellassie see the opportunity to contribute to the local arts community among ambitious, forthcoming artists and offer a platform to perform. Hip-hop artist Sellassie states, 'We are the future' and realizes the vast talent here in the Bay Area. 'Local promoters bring in all these other rappers from all over the country for shows and have stars right here in the Bay.'
"SAN FRANCISCO (February 18, 2009) -- The nation's oldest ongoing blues festival has announced that the 2009 show has been canceled due to lack of funding. After 36 continuous years of presenting the blues by the bay, the iconic blues festival will forgo its annual September presentation this year.
"'The combination of rising production costs and lack of sponsorship support leaves me no choice but to cancel this year's show,' said founder Tom Mazzolini, who has also been the show's sole producer since the first festival in 1973. 'I'm sad to say this, but we may well have seen the last San Francisco Blues Festival.'
Does Coachella or Bonnaroo have the better lineup?
By Danica Li
It's about time that the lineups for the two biggest of the bigwig music festivals on the continent, Coachella and Bonnaroo, leaked online, precipitated by a now traditional annual flurry of bizarre Internet rumors, faux photo-manipped posters, and jittery, cross-fingered posts on Stereogum. Naturally there's plenty of cross-pollination between the two, and no stunners, except that Phish hasn't played Bonnaroo ever before, where most of the bands on both lineups are religious frequenters of music festivals as well-established as South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, and as far-flung as the Roskilde Festival in Denmark and Punkkelpop in Belgium.
The big names aren't so dimunitive, but then Coachella has a long and storied history of luring in bomb marquee reunions that it's struggled to live up to since the legendary Pixies jammed together onstage in 2004. Paul McCartney headlines on Friday, the Killers on Saturday, and the Cure on Sunday. My Bloody Valentine's playing on Sunday, too, while Leonard Cohen, Superchunk, Okkervil River, Morrissey, MSTRKRFT, Franz Ferdinand, Girl Talk, Crystal Castles, TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Throbbing Gristle, and Lykke Li are all scheduled to play during the fest's three days of music, California sunshine, and wacky art installations.
"On paper it wouldn't really seem like these two bands, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti and Vivian Girls, would have that much in common, but the two bands have struck up a friendship that has resulted in a 13-date tour this spring, which will end with both bands making their first appearances at Coachella. Both bands have other upcoming tour dates, Vivian Girls will open a string of dates for M. Ward, including an appearance at the Apollo, and will be playing SXSW. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti will tour in March with Canadians Duchess Says and have a couple one-off shows in L.A. with Animal Collective and Gang Gang Dance."
Theory of devolution: Ariel Pink's "Politely Declined."
News from Bay Area hip-hop duo Zion I's camp: Their new record, The Takeover, arrives Feb. 17, along with a show at 330 Ritch. Word has it that there will also be a Feb. 13 listening party at the pair's studio-office, the Zoo. Sounds like the group is reaching out and expanding - even during belt-tightening times.
ZION I
Feb. 17, 10 p.m., call for price
330 Ritch, SF
(415) 541-9574
www.330ritch.com
“Normally known as the man who brings you the fabulous Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in Golden Gate Park each year, this weekend you will have the chance to see Warren Hellman in his other guise: that of humble banjo player. Warren will be sitting in with the inimitable Ron Thomason (leader and humorist of Dry Branch Fire Squad) and Heidi Clare (fiddler and clogger extraordinaire, formerly with old-time band Reeltime Travelers) at their show in Sausalito on Saturday, Jan. 31. A good time is guaranteed by all so get there early to get a seat!”
RON THOMASON, WARREN HELLMAN, AND HEIDI CLARE
Sat/31, 8 p.m., $15 donation
Sausalito Presbyterian Church
112 Bulkley, Sausalito
(415) 383-8716
Bettye LaVette to perform at Inauguration, alongside Beyonce, U2, Mary J. Blige, Springsteen, and others
Let it reign: Bettye LaVette on the Who's “Love Reign O’er Me.”
This in from Bettye LaVette's people:
"Bettye LaVette is starting off 2009 with a bang by performing Sam Cooke’s revered anthem “A Change Is Gonna Come” at Barack Obama’s Inaugural Celebration kicking off at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday, Jan. 18. A partial list of additional musical performers includes, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Sheryl Crow, Herbie Hancock, John Legend, Usher Raymond IV, Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, U2 and Stevie Wonder. Among those reading historical passages will be Jack Black, Steve Carrell, Rosario Dawson, Jamie Foxx, Tom Hanks, Martin Luther King III, Queen Latifah, Laura Linney and Denzel Washington.
"At the moment, 'Bettye is speechless.'
"HBO will televise the event on an open channel (Sunday, Jan. 18 live at 2:30 p.m. ET and 11:30 a.m. PT and later from 7-9 p.m. ET/PT), working with all of its distributors to allow Americans across the country with access to cable, telcos or satellite television to join in the Opening Celebration for free. It will also be streamed live on www.hbo.com. Since the actual event is free and open to the public, more than 800,000 are expected in the audience.
SFJAZZ announces the lineup of its 10th Anniversary Spring Season
This in from SFJAZZ's people (a total aside: I'm looking forward to Brad Mehldau, Jenny Scheinman, pictured below, as well as Seun Kuti, pictured above. And you know Allen Toussaint and Tinariwen are going to be awesome):
"Randall Kline, the Executive Artistic Director of SFJAZZ - the leading non-profit jazz organization on the West Coast and the presenter of the San Francisco Jazz Festival today announced the complete artist lineup for the 10th Anniversary SFJAZZ Spring Season. The unique and spectacular four-month-long concert series begins on March 6 and continues through June 21. The season will present some of the most illustrious names in jazz, world, and related music including McCoy Tyner, Branford Marsalis, Madeleine Peyroux, Bill Frisell’s Disfarmer Project, Ahmad Jamal, Jenny Scheinman, John Scofield and the Piety Street Band, Kayhan Kalhor and Brooklyn Rider, Tinariwen, Chris Potter Underground, Will Bernard, Mariza, CéU, Mingus Dynasty with John Handy, Allen Toussaint, Karrin Allyson, Idan Raichel, Michael Feinstein: the Sinatra Project, Brad Mehldau, Richard Bona and Lionel Loueke, Roy Hargrove, James Carter, Kenny Burrell, Michael Wolff, Hiromi’s Sonicbloom, and many others.
“'For 26 years, SFJAZZ has been guided by a simple principle: we absolutely love music—and we want to present it in the best possible context for all those who share our passion,' said Kline. 'In 2000, we took a huge step forward in that mission by launching the SFJAZZ Spring Season, marking our expansion into a year-round concert presenting organization. Over the last 10 years, the Spring Season has grown exponentially. This year we will present nearly 40 concerts over four months, purposefully matching each artist with the ideal venue for a high-quality listening experience. Our aim is to reflect the tighter, more culturally close-knit nature of today’s world, and the positively open-minded, "multi-culti" city that we call home - San Francisco.'
Lady Sovereign gives up a new song via her MySpace
News from the Lady Sovereign camp:
"Lady Sovereign is back and got her own label through EMI and has a new record for April. She has just put up a new song on her MySpace for fans to download.
"Midget Records is her label that has a global partnership with EMI. Her upcoming record is called Jigsaw and will be out April 7, 2009."
The song is "I Got You Dancing" and it's a free download on the performer's Web site as well. The lady calls it "an early Christmas gift" and goes on to write: "Hey, hey! Just to let you now I'm alive!... I just finished writing the new album in London... The album is the next chapter. It's a massive leap forward for mankind!!! Love, Sov."
"After months of searching for just the right home for their new album, Lynne and Brian a saw a light on in the far off cabin at Southern Records. A kind maiden at Southern welcomed them in, sat them beside the hearth, and fed them delicious English soup and beer. Well worn from their travels the two musicians listened intently as the label maiden told them tales of battles fought, won, and lost in the kingdom of Indierocklandia. Her eyes were true and her words sure. Their amulet - the one the wizard of the glenn gave them to reveil trickery - confirmed that she was pure of heart. She invited them to stay. They accepted, and and together Lynne and Brian placed the only copy of Nests of Waves and Wire on the great oak table. This is where our story begins...
Matt Pond PA unleashes 'The Freeep" - and plenty of thoughts to boot
Matt Pond PA has a new free EP available for download. From the band's peeps and site:
"We took ourselves captive, and became our own producers, manufacturers, and distributors. It was a deferential revolt against inertia, a clearing of the throat to answer the quiet. Or maybe it was an inevitable reaction to seeing Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.
Don't let the name fool you: MC Frontalot is serious about rapping. He just does it a bit differently than most other hip-hop artists.
Frontalot (real name: Damian Hess) has been called "the godfather of nerdcore" for his role in establishing a genre where it's cool to be uncool. He raps about everything from Internet porn to Magic: the Gathering - exposing nerds to hip-hop culture, and vice versa. Along with his band, he's the subject of the documentary Nerdcore Rising, currently screening in select theaters. In a phone interview, I chatted with Hess about the film and the direction nerdcore is taking. He performs at the Uptown Night Club tonight.
SFBG: My first question is about the name - is it ironic, or do you feel as though you actually front?
Damian Hess: I mean, I picked it out originally because I thought there'd be no other rapper who would want to steal that from me. Because rappers generally eschew fronting and, you know, try to convince everyone that they're not fronting at all.
"Cobb's Comedy Club will host a taping of VBS.tv's Soft Focus with Ian Svenonius. Svenonius will interview Jello Biafra as well as Alan and Richard Bishop of the Sun City Girls in front of a live audience. The taping is free and open to the public. You must RSVP with your name and e-mail address at www.viceland.com/softfocussf."
SOFT FOCUS
With host Ian Svenonius featuring interviews with Richard and Alan Bishop and Jello Biafra
Wed/19, 6:30 p.m.
Cobb's Comedy Club
915 Columbus, SF
Space is limited; RSVP at www.viceland.com/softfocussf
It would be hard to take someone seriously if they told you they were addicted to music. The notion of addiction might have more purchase for books or movies, but listening to music compulsively seems like a given for this generation. Music "helps" - in the broadest sense of that word: it can be restorative or push you into productive discomfort, and can help articulate feelings that might not get very far on language alone.
It’s easy to listen to Love Is All’s new album, A Hundred Things Keep Me up at Night (What’s Your Rupture), like water, two times a day easy, on the bus trying to calm down. With each listen, the disc becomes less like a collection of songs and more like a collection of vignettes, ones that seem to capture something important about what it feels like to be in the midst of your second adolescence.
Vocalist Josephine Olausson knows how to throw a good tantrum, but even amid the more blown-out sentiments of “Give It Back,” her delivery is so much more than merely spiteful as she delivers the lines: “All the love I gave you, give it back / Every time I praised you, I’m keeping track / Every minute on the phone / It was only cos I felt so alone.”
Neon beat: Mi Ami live. Photo courtesy of the band's MySpace page.
This in from Quarterstick Records:
"Quarterstick Records, Touch and Go's partner label for the last 17-plus years, is pleased to welcome San Francisco drum punk trio Mi Ami to the fold. Featuring two key members of Dischord's hyper-percussive Black Eyes (Daniel Martin-McCormick on vocals and guitar and Jacob Long on bass) as well as Damon Palermo on drums, Mi Ami builds on the promise of Black Eyes' spastic energy and renowned live performances, but steers it into a more focused, volatile, and personal direction.
"Mi Ami's first single on Quarterstick, "Echononecho," will be released as a 12-inch and digitally Jan. 27, 2009, with the follow-up full-length, Watersports, out Feb. 17, 2009. The band fully takes flight and thrives in the live setting, with shows turning into all-out pulsating rhythmic throwdowns, so save up some energy and be sure to catch them on their extensive tours throughout 2009."
The Breeders' Kim Deal on ATP, 'Milk,' pop, voting, and more
Old-school ballin': the Breeders' "Cannonball."
Ah, Kim Deal - how down-to-earth cool can you be? Here's more from the Breeders leader and Pixies bassist - we talked on Obama... I mean, election day. For the first part of this interview, see this week's Sonic Reducer.
SFBG: Hi, Kim.
Kim Deal: Hi, Kim. Beautiful name.
SFBG: How's it going?
KD: Good, I'm in Dayton, Ohio. I went and voted today so I'm a little tired. I got up to pee at 7 in the morning and I thought, aaah, I should just go and vote now and I did.
All the rage, all onstage: Girl Talk at the Fillmore. All photos by Lisa Weiss.
By Michelle Broder Van Dyke
We met up with Girl Talk, ne Gregg Gillis, before his second sold-out performance at the Fillmore on Oct. 28. We’d later witness him rising into the audience as he abandoned his Saran-wrapped laptop, plunged off the stage, and crowd surfed above sweaty bouncy bodies. He was followed by an entourage of party-throwers dressed in shirts adorned with glow sticks. If you must speak only one truth about Girl Talk, you must say that he breaks the mold of arms-crossed hipster shows and gets people pumped and partying. He also recommends throwing parties with babies.
SFBG: What did you do differently in preparing the Night Ripper vs. Feed the Animals?
Girl Talk: I think on the new one I had a lot more music prepared beforehand, and I had played a lot more shows. After Night Ripper’s release, I started playing a ton of shows, and the way I try out material is in the live setting. If I don’t have shows for a month, I might relax and not work that hard. But over the two years between [the albums] I played close to 100 shows, which is kinda like constantly working on stuff. I think even approaching Feed the Animals I had a lot more ideas set, so I could pick and pull. So I didn’t have to use everything.
After surgery, Merle Haggard opened his eyes and yodeled
This is in from Merle Haggard's people:
"Merle Haggard arrived home five days after having lung surgery in a Bakersfield hospital last Monday morning, Nov. 3. It was discovered during a previous biopsy that he had non-small cell lung cancer, which has a far better cure rate than the small (oat) cell cancer. At this time, tests show that they were able to eliminate the affected tissue when they removed the upper lobe of his right lung. Upon waking up after the surgery, Hag opened his eyes, yodeled and smiled. Haggard’s post-operation progress was so rapid and successful he was discharged on Saturday night, Nov. 8.
“'Due to the surgeon, Dr. Peck, the Tylenol pushers on the fourth floor of the Memorial Hospital, and most of all, my wife Theresa, I’m feeling good…better and better each day,' says Haggard. 'If not for the love and wisdom of my wife, I might not be around today.'
"Haggard adds, 'I’d sure like to know who controls the largest shares of Tylenol. God forbid it be the oil companies!'
"Mr. Haggard and his family are respectfully asking for privacy at this time. Your prayers and good thoughts would be very much appreciated."
Political awakening: 'Wake Yo Game Up' finds San Quinn, Too $hort, Mistah FAB, and other rappers urging fans to vote
By Garrett Caples
I was talking to Beeda Weeda at a listening party for his latest disc Da Thizzness (SMC), when someone sat down at our table. “I want you to meet this man,” Beeda said, introducing me to Charles Johnson, executive director of the Town Business Network.
Founded two years ago as a nonprofit social-activist group to combat Oakland’s spiraling murder rate, TBN has lent its organizational might to a variety of causes, most recently voter registration within the ghetto hip-hop community. To this end, the group has just released its CD, Wake Yo Game Up, a pro-voting compilation including tracks by the likes of NEW Oakland (Mistah FAB, Beeda, and J-Stalin), San Quinn, and even Too $hort himself.
Largely given out at panel discussions and registration events in the hood, and also downloadable at www.wakeyogameup.org, the release aims to speak to the community in its own terms about the importance of casting a vote in these critical times. While voter registration is over for the upcoming election, TBN is still pushing the disc to help get out the vote, working to ensure that people who register actually get to the polls on Nov. 4.
Ill Bill talks family ties, metal and hip-hop mixes, and Slayer swastikas
By Ben Richardson
Brooklyn MC Ill Bill, a.k.a., William Braunstein, recently passed through San Francisco, touring to support his new LP The Hour of Reprisal (Uncle Howie).
The album showcases Ill Bill’s formidable microphone talents, and the ex-Non Phixion MC spits hellfire over 18 martial sounding tracks, taking full advantage of production by such luminaries as DJ Premier, Cypress Hill’s DJ Muggs, and DJ Lethal of House of Pain and more recently Limp Bizkit. In addition to appearances by hip-hop household names like Wu Tang princeling Raekwon, Immortal Technique, and B-Real, the recording includes contributions from artists better known in metal and hardcore circles: Howard Jones of Killswitch Engage, H.R. and Daryl Jenifer of the Bad Brains, and Max Calavera of Sepultura.
Reached by phone from a stop on his continuing tour, Bill discussed the disc, being a new father, and the state of music and the world.
Weezer’s long-time bassist Scott Shriner is fired up. After spending almost a year holed in Los Angeles working on this year's critically acclaimed, Weezer (Geffen), also known as "The Red Album," he is psyched to be back on the road. Flanked by U2-loving Angels and Airwaves, Weezer are currently bringing their narcotic hooks and questionable facial hair to a town near you. Shriner was good enough to talk about The Red Album, his love of metal, and being inundated with YouTube celebrities, among other things.
SFBG: This album is a big step forward for Weezer. Without losing your signature sound, you guys were able to try some new things that were really successful. What are some aspects of the new Weezer that may surprise the fans?
Scott Shriner: I mean, it’s the first time, since I’ve been in the band, that we all contributed writing on the record. Also, we all took turns singing lead vocals, and a couple of the songs have the lead vocal spots kinda switched up. For example, Brian (Bell, guitarist) sings the chorus of “Everybody Get Dangerous” and Rivers (Cuomo, primary vocalist-guitarist) sings the verses. Or in “Greatest Man,” I sing a couple of verses, Rivers is sings a couple, and then we all sing on a couple parts. There’s just a lot more participation from the band.
The latest mission? Operation: Restore Maximum Freedom
By Brandon Bussolini
When the Guardian checked in with Operation: Restore Maximum Freedom two years ago, the quasi-annual, daylong music festival, organized by UC Davis student-run radio station KDVS, was in its fourth incarnation and ready to present one of the most ambitious lineups of its short existence.
Seventeen bands, ranging from Kid 606 to Michael Hurley, were slated to play, but just as 606 and hip-hop crew Third Sight were setting up - the bands with the biggest guarantees - Yolo County’s finest shut the proceedings down. “Some nearby residents complained about the noise level to the police,” writes Elisa Hough, co-organizer of this year’s O:RMF and a KDVS DJ, in an e-mail. “Everyone - even people who weren't involved in the organizing - looked and felt so defeated.”
Plainfield Station, a Woodland country bar that has hosted O:RMF since its inception, is an unlikely place for this to happen: plunked down amid flat, tawny farmland, the nearest house is probably at least a mile away. But regardless of the small irony that crops up between its name and that incident, O:RMF is a provocative title in more ways than one. According to Rick Ele, a longtime KDVS DJ and veteran booking agent in Sacramento’s underground music scene, the name comes from a brainstorming session with former KDVS Events Manager Brendan Boyle and former DJ Joe Finkel.
Noah and the Whale's twee cinematic charm, in SF for the first time
By Chloe Schildhause
The charmingly romantic, springy UK folk band Noah and the Whale have just begun their US tour, and their San Francisco debut will happen at Amoeba Music and Popscene today, Oct. 2.
Their first album, Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down (Mercury), was just released in August, but the band has already been a big part of the summer UK festival circuit with gigs at V Festival, Summer Sundae and Glastonbury. Over the phone from the road, frontperson Charlie Fink told me: “Festivals have been cool. I sometimes find it intimidating - the big crowd and stuff. But it’s been fun.”
Fink writes Noah and the Whale’s lyrics. His personal favorite is the title track, he explained. “It says the most of what I’m trying to say on that album.” But what that is exactly is a mystery. “People are trying to get me to assess the lyrics," said Fink. "But I find it quite difficult because what you say in a song is what you can’t express any other way.”
Kims-met: Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon talks about 'Phantom Orchard,' good TV, making art, NYC
Kim Gordon brought much subtle insight when I spoke to her recently in conjunction with tonight’s performance at Montalvo Arts Center – more than we could fit into print. (For more, go to here.)
SFBG: How did you get involved with the “Phantom Orchard” project?
Kim Gordon: Well Zeena Parkins actually made the connection – and she and Ikue [Mori] asked me to join in and also Yoshimi. I’ve played with Ikue and Yoshimi before but never with Zeena, so I’m really looking forward to that.
Stormy weather: Kim Gordon and Ikue Mori at No Fun Fest 2004.
Multilingual beats, Obama love: Brazilian Girls move on with 'New York City'
By Brandon Bussolini
Brazilian Girls just released an album named for a city that they’ll be leaving for a little bit. They used to tour a lot, but now vocalist Sabina Sciubba, keyboard player Didi Gutman, and drummer Aaron Johnston are leaving New York City to spend time elsewhere. This makes sense since Brazilian Girls’ music has no single place of origin or definite direction. Their new album, like its predecessors, sits across several different styles and changes from minute to minute.
It can be a fun game to chase down the kinds of music Brazilian Girls incorporate into their own, but the sound itself has very little to do with tradition or context - it’s synthetic, and at its best is good enough to stop you from wondering whether what you’re listening to is world music or not - and whether there’s even anything wrong with that.
Sciubba’s voice is the band’s most distinctive element, but the songs themselves are little intelligent machines, and they work unhurriedly and with economy. The new full-length's first song, “St. Petersburg,” is where this clicks into place immediately, with its samba-techno rhythm and big triumphant chorus, where Sciubba’s typically arch delivery breaks with sophistication and becomes uncomplicatedly raw and moving. I had the opportunity to speak with Sciubba as the group began a short tour supporting New York City (Verve Forecast). Brazilian Girls play Mezzanine Saturday, Sept. 27.
SFBG: I read that after completing the album you took off for Paris. Was this a vacation, or something more permanent?
First the good news:Lazer Sword, the local loco duo of robo-crunk remix actionists that blow out my speakers rightly, have just released the mixtape of the year, in my book. It's called Blap to the Future. Check it out and gleam dizzy (download). Srsly, my laptop is xplodin' with this shit. Listen and believe. You can find out more about the mix on the Lazer Sword MySpace blog.
Now the bad news (read the fine print):
From Lazer Sword: SO YES FRIENDS IT'S TRUE. LANDO KAL, 1/2 OF LAZER SWORD, GOT HIS APPLE MACBOOK PRO LAPTOP STOLEN OUT OF HIS HANDS AT GUNPOINT IN FRONT OF A CLUB BEFORE A LS SET WEDNESDAY, 8/27/08.
Mum's the word on which club -- but look, we're gonna have a party and reimburse the shit. Hit up fancy Ambassador this Thursday for an all-star lineup of glitch-hop, electro disco, and other adventurous heads, in conjunction with promoters Hoodies and Heels, for a mind-bending night that gives back.
Lazer Sword Benefit
Thurs/25, 10pm-2am, Free but donate at the door
Ambassador
673 Geary Street More info here
George Clinton, Les Claypool for NYE and checking out the new Warfield
The Clinton dynasty: George Clinton plays the Warfield on New Year's Eve.
Welcome the new in - and usher the old out. George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic will ring in 2009 on New Year's Eve at the Warfield, and Les Claypool will tackle Zappa at the War Memorial Opera House, courtesy of Goldenvoice/AEG Live - this I learned while taking a quick tour of the revamped Warfield late last week with Dave Lefkowitz, VP of booking, and Joan Rosenberg, director of marketing.
Crews were still scrambling to complete renovations in time for this past weekend's performances with George Lopez. But the top-o'-the-line, new sound system from Meyer Sound was in place, as was a lighting trellis that will allow touring bands to get creative and bring in their own setups. Nifty new switcheroos include the departure of the mixing board from the balcony, down to the first floor, and the addition of a bank of 30 new primo-viewing seats upstairs, and the savvy move of shifting two bars on the first floor in the main room - one away from an emergency exit. The inclusion of six speakers mid-house, downstairs, should definitely improve the sound for the attendees in the back and in the VIP boxes.
Photos of past shows from Wolfgang's Vault and other sources lined the walls along with official and underground posters of past Warfield shows: Rosenberg said the walls will showcase a rotating display of the venue's history. New carpets lined the floors throughout the space, and upstairs, the renovation crew uncovered two old telephone booths from the early part of the 20th century.
All hail, Hank IV. Vocalist Bob McDonald completed successful knee surgery earlier this year on a torn ACL from a Bottom of the Hill show: Bandmate Anthony Bedard tells me, “On surgeon’s orders, he’s had to alter his ‘Robbie the Robot meets Ian Curtis’ style of dancing” in favor of a more stand-and-deliver strategy.
The SF combo will also see their new Siltbreeze album, Refuge in Genre, recorded with Tim Green earlier this summer, come out in October -- and then there's Hank IV's latest mission: opening for Mission of Burma (playing Signals, Calls, and Marches and Vs. start to finish) throughout Cali, including Sept. 26 and 27 at the Independent.
HANK IV
With Mission of Burma
Sept. 26 (Signals, Calls, and Marches) and Sept. 27 (Vs.), 9 p.m. $20-$35 Independent
628 Divisadero, SF
(415) 771-1421
Memphis in SF: John Murry keeps it downhome with Evangeline Records
By Sonny Smith
When I met musician John Murry, Memphis transplant, I naturally asked him about hometown. He told me: “When I first got out here I had to be told I couldn’t keep a pistol in my glove box.”
Murry has been here for four years - creating a music label, Evangeline Records; playing in a few bands; ruffling some feathers; and raising his daughter. “The thing is, people from Memphis are basically from Mississippi, or maybe Arkansas," he said. "Memphis is the capitol of Mississippi. There is a fair share of disputes settled by knives and guns.... The scene there is kind of beautifully dysfunctional - everybody chasing after everybody’s wives and stuff.”
He’s put a lot of records out in a short time with Evangeline. “My family was intertwined with William Faulkner’s. The Murrys and the Faulkners intermarried three or four times," he said. "My grandfather owned some property signed over by Bill, and when he died the grandkids got a little bit of money." His friend, artist Bob Frank, also brought some money to the project.
“It’s a ridiculously fair label," Murry continued. "I just built it the way I thought labels were supposed to be. I just don’t make anything. I don’t think artists should ever be in debt to a label. Artists are already in debt - spiritual debt. Without artistic freedom you don’t have art - there can’t be a compromise. I don’t tell the artists anything about how it should be or what would sell.”
"C'mon and turn it up," for sure. I really dug Kim Gordon's last project, Free Kitten's Inherit (Ecstatic Peace) - the resurrected Gordon, Julie Cafritz (Pussy Galore), and Yoshimi (Boredoms) collabo came out earlier this year. But what sort of feline mischief has the Sonic Youth player been up to of late? Apparently the indie-underground icon has been toiling as an artist-in-residence at the garden-green Montalvo Arts Center in otherwise-burby Saratoga - so says the press release that came over the transom recently. Sounds like Montalvo is picking up where it left off with the 2006's noise- and art-filled Bleeding Edge Festival, which brought together Matmos and Zeena Parkins (also working with Gordon this time around), Yo La Tengo, Sunroof!, and Tim Hecker:
"On Sept. 26, Montalvo Arts Center will present the world premiere of 'Kim Gordon Meets Phantom Orchard,' a musical collaboration featuring internationally renowned artists at the forefront of the alternative music scene. Kim Gordon, bassist, guitarist and founding member of Sonic Youth, joins the Phantom Orchard duo of laptop artist Ikue Mori and harp innovator Zeena Parkins, plus special guests Trevor Dunn on bass and drummer Yoshimi. The artists are in development with their new project, entitled 'The Song Project,' as part of their Montalvo Arts Center's Lucas Artists Programs residency.
"Kim Gordon has enjoyed a long and storied career as a musician and a visual artist. In 1981 Gordon, with future husband Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo, helped found seminal alt-rock band Sonic Youth. Though they started out as a decidedly underground act, Sonic Youth emerged from the New York City music scene to become one of the most iconic and influential American rock bands, earning praise for their unique, unorthodox rock guitar style, strong studio albums (which have been included in Rolling Stone's 'Greatest Albums of All-Time' list), and career stamina that has spanned over the course of nearly three decades. An established visual artist and curator, Gordon has exhibited her work across the U.S., Japan and Europe (sometimes incorporating live music in her exhibitions), written for respected art publications and has had several books published highlighting her original art.
Clubs: More Transfer kerfuffle -- Big Top bows out
While I'm still waiting for a response from owner Greg Bronstein about the supposed "new direction" that his bar the Transfer -- our City's most beloved alternaqueer and ultrahipster dive-hole -- is supposedly taking (as I reported earlier), another regular party besides Frisco Disco and Lustre has decided that the next date will be its last there. Everyone's transferring out! I just got word from promoter Joshua J. that his raucous monthly homo-disco-circus spectacular, Big Top, which is celebrating its one year anniversary at the Transfer on Sunday August 31, will end after that date.
Joshua is part of a VERY successful Wednesday weekly, Juanita More's Booty Call, at another of Bronstein's joints, Bar On Castro, and assures me -- despite the odd timing -- that he's folding his Big Top tent so that he can concentrate on his new Friday party with the illustrious Frankie Sharp, called M4M, at Underground SF. And indeed, if the Transfer truly is looking to go all upscale, Underground SF should snatch all its shit and bring it for the alternaqueers and rangy str8s. I don't like the looks of the flyer below much -- seems a little LCD -- but hey, I'll check it out. Especially if there's a cologne-blast of mojito-squealers big-upping C+C Music Factory unironically at the Transfer.
This is a golden opportunity, really, for any bar still willing to be open-minded enough to really let something creative happen in this city. Deco, Club Eight, Matador, Buckshot Tavern, Amnesia, or Rickshaw Stop are well-positioned to lap up the new party homeless. You may not make loads of $$, but I'll write about you more! Legendary.
I really can't fault Bronstein for wanting to make money off his business -- he's allowed the Transfer to be the most exciting and edgy club in the City for the past three years. I know he's planning to expand and renovate his slick Jet venue up the street, so maybe he's freaking about the duckets it'll take. His usual thing is rather chi-chi, not even always in a tacky way. But it's just sad. Plus I'm guessing that he was none too polite about the changes (although I really want to hear his side of it before I jump to unjournalistic conclusions): the Frisco Disco kids are absolutely fuming. Read their explosive farewell kiss-kiss MySpace post after the jump -- to the tune of "Death of a Disco Dancer" by the Smiths:
Alas, the rumors -- most of them anyway -- are seeming to be substantiated. Word kept hitting my hotline last week that owner and fairy impressario Greg Bronstein was effecting a management and direction change at the fantastic gay/hipster/hipster-gay ground zero, The Transfer. Many of the Transfer's beloved party institutions appear to be fleeing. (Update: even more are fleeing.)
That includes, incredibly unfortunately, the wonderful six-year-old Frisco Disco, which has grown world famous as an international hotspot for scenemakers who don't mind a little party puke on their stilettos. Alas! This Saturday is the final Frisco Disco at the Transfer.
This party's been homeless before -- it journeyed to the Transfer after a successful -- perhaps too successful -- run at Arrow Bar, now Matador, on Sixth Street. It may be back, too, after a short hiatus -- but definitely not at the Transfer. The Frisco-ites claim that Bronstein said they were too rowdy for him, although they still adore the Transfer staff etc. I'm trying to get a hold of Bronstein now for comment. Also announcing Transfer departure: Lustre, the goth new-wave night. San Francisco may be on the verge of losing one of its most interesting alternative party venues ... more to come!
FINAL FRISCO DISCO
w/ DJs Jeffrey Paradise and Richie Panic
Sat/23, 10pm
The Transfer
198 Church at Market
I am in utter shock at the fact that my lifelong hero, my much-cherished Jerry “Papa Dippermouth” Wexler (Jan. 10, 1917–Aug. 15, 2008) has gone to glory. Been thinking hard not only about my friend, his youngest daughter Lisa (of the great New York State band Big Sister), and my play-uncle/mentor Stanley Booth (one of his best friends), but all the unbroken circle of folks who loved and forever appreciate the magic Wexler produced during his paradigm-shifting career as a music journalist and (likely) the last of the great record men.
I have been weeping all this interminable weekend beginning with his death on Friday morn, Aug. 15 – Black Friday to me forever after. Of course, it is not as if Papa Dip was not poised at the end of his days. And, yes, he enjoyed a long and varied career the likes of which many music geeks of my generation envied (who didn’t want to be a producer at Atlantic Records between the titanic poles of Brother Ray Charles’ and Led Zeppelin’s arc’s therein?). Still, I cannot be consoled.
He wasn’t just the hallowed man who exposed me to the riches of King Solomon Burke and sent me Dusty in Memphis for deep listening or kindly shared personal revelations about my generation’s foremost soul icon Donny Hathaway – the man born Gerald Wexler in the boogiedown Bronx was the first person I was conscious of outside my kinpeople as being essential to how my world revolved. From the age of 2 ½ at least, I read his liner notes or saw his name credited on the back of Atlantic long-players, as the label’s iconic iconography circled round-and-round, and I knew in my deepest soul who and what I wanted to be.
Apparently Noise Pop and Another Planet Productions don't think there's enough cool stuff to do at their upcoming second annual Treasure Island Festival. After all, there are only two days of major indie rock acts, a 60-foot-tall Ferris wheel, double-dutch lessons, and free hairstyling, among other diversions. But perhaps you need a break from dancing and shoegazing and hula hooping? This is when you become grateful to the minds behind the "Treasure Trove."
A 2,500-square-foot tent will house pieces of art and culture representative of the Bay Area and will provide opportunities galore for local creativeness, both others' and your own. Get cozy and catch up on your underground reading in the zine corner, hosted by none other than the SF 'Zine Fest. Relax in a bathtub sculpture. Feeling festival-ly inspired? Compose your own music on the Octamasher, a melodic hydra of eight instruments connected to one computer brain, allowing future electronicons to sample, tweak loops, and collaborate with other participant-observers.
Gas hurts: touring bands feel the pressure of geopolitics
How will East Bay combo the Phenomenauts be able to fuel their van with today's gas prices? Photo courtesy of Bagel!
By Kat Renz
You’ve got your band, your gear, your route. The road family piles on and off the rigged-up van or plush, star-caliber bus, ready for a nonstop, balls-out journey playing for legions of fans across the chosen land. It’s a classic image, old as rock ‘n’ roll, inspiring power ballads and hoary metal anthems: The tour.
With the music industry on its head due to plummeting record sales, live concerts seem the one assured mainstay of the business. Music-lovers will always pay to see their favorite acts onstage. But when the national average cost of regular gas is $3.88 per gallon, will bands be able to get there?
Currently, in San Francisco, regular unleaded gas goes for between $4.13 to $4.79 per gallon. Last August, gas was $2.77, and in 2005, it was $2.36, according to Energy Department statistics. And last year at this time, Oakland trio High on Fire – on the road eight or nine months a year - wasn’t too preoccupied with petroleum stats. Yet upon wrapping up the nation-wide, Megadeth-led Gigantour at the end of May, and realizing the amount of money devoted to gas was twice as much as budgeted, tour manager Brady Schilleci said priorities have changed.
Radiohead Jonny Greenwood's 'Popcorn' gets its West Coast premiere in SF
There will be "Popcorn." Radiohead player Jonny Greenwood's "Popcorn Superhet Receiver" will get its West Coast premiere in SF, courtesy of the Wordless Music Series, right before his group appears at Outside Lands music fest in Golden Gate Park. This press release came over the transom yesterday:
"On August 21, 2008, New York’s intrepid Wordless Music Series concludes its '07-'08 season with a surprise San Francisco debut, reprising the centerpiece of the inaugural Wordless Music Orchestra concerts from last January by presenting the West Coast premiere of "Popcorn Superhet Receiver."
"The night before Radiohead takes the stage at the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, Wordless Music will feature composer and multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood's Popcorn Superhet Receiver for string orchestra. Maestro Benjamin Shwartz, resident conductor of the San Francisco Symphony, will lead the Magik*Magik Orchestra in a program of music by Arvo Pärt, a major influence on the music of Greenwood and Radiohead, along with Bay Area composers Fred Frith, Mason Bates, and John Adams.
As chief songwriter of England's longest-declining band, Oasis, Noel Gallagher is prone to saying controversial things that ignite highly amusing faux-feuds. The charge this time: telling the BBC that Jay-Z headlining Glastonbury, a festival with "a tradition of guitar music," was a bad idea. "I'm not having hip-hop at Glastonbury," he lamented. "It's wrong."
Thankfully for the sake of our entertainment, Jay-Z responded the best way he knew how: by opening his June 28 festival set with the shittiest rendition of "Wonderwall" ever performed live (Oasis shows included). Occasionally strumming an electric guitar that hung around his neck, Jay-Z led the crowd in a singalong before segueing to "99 Problems."
A clip of Janet Jackson's offending "malfunction."
By Laura Mojonnier
Associated Press reported today that a US federal appeals court dismissed a $550,000 indecency fine issued to CBS after Janet Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction" during the 2004 Superbowl halftime show.
According to the AP, the three-judge panel ruled earlier today that the Federal Communications Commission "acted arbitrarily and capriciously" when issuing the fine, as "CBS's broadcast of a nine-sixteenths of one second glimpse of a bare female breast" did not meet the commission's long held standards for "actionable indecency."
Gear stolen from Maria Taylor and Taylor Hollingsworth
Looking for help: Maria Taylor.
This just in from Taylor Hollingsworth's people:
"Taylor Hollingsworth, sideman for Maria Taylor, had some of his and Maria's gear stolen on Thursday, July 10, on tour promoting Maria's newest EP, Savanna Drive. The band were tucked in for the night in San Francisco when some folks busted out the back window of Maria's van and stole six guitars, two suitcases, two pedals, and some boxes filled with copies of Maria’s newest EP. Luckily, the band recovered one of the bass guitars at a local pawnshop. Here is a list of all the stolen goods:
- Left-handed Red Gretsch Tennessee Rose Guitar.
- Left-handed Martin Acoustic Guitar.
- Right-handed Purple Fender Jazz Bass guitar.
- Right-handed 1976 Black Les Paul Deluxe.
- Right-handed Alvarez acoustic guitar (Hand painted white w/ black swirls. Guitar strap is nailed on.)
- Boss Tuner Pedal.
- Boss Distortion Pedal.
"If you have any information regarding the items listed above, please contact info@saddle-creek.com, jeff@saddle-creek.com, or publicity@teamclermont.com. In the meantime, Maria plans to finish up the last two dates of her tour; one show in LA and one in Sonoma."
Alejandro Escovedo recently performed "Always a Friend" with Bruce Springsteen.
By Todd Lavoie
How about some good news for a change? Alejandro Escovedo's comeback keeps getting stronger.
When the singer-songwriter collapsed post-show back in 2003 after contracting Hepatitis C, the outlook was pretty grim - as it turned out, he had had the disease for several years, and his body was in greatly compromised condition. Consequently, his musical career had to be back-burnered for a few years, to allow time for recovery - surely a painful option for the musician, who had more or less been playing nonstop ever since forming San Francisco punk legends the Nuns back in the mid-'70s.
His return to recording, 2006's The Boxing Mirror (Back Porch), was a triumphant, frequently touching announcement of recuperation, but the just-released Real Animal (Back Porch/ Manhattan/Blue Note Label Group) resolves any fleeting doubts about the state of Escovedo's health after his brush with death.
Tom Morello makes some noise for Cindy Sheehan this weekend
The Nightwatchman in the film Berkeley.
This just in for Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello's people:
"Tom Morello's solo project and alter ego, the Nightwatchman, will play a San Francisco benefit for anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, best known for her extended demonstration at a camp outside President George W. Bush's Texas ranch. Sheehan's son, Casey was killed during his service in the Iraq War on April 4, 2004.
"Says Morello, 'I have never publicly endorsed any political candidate until now. It is an honor to perform at Cindy Sheehan's fundraising event because I strongly believe she is the kind of uncompromising righteous voice for justice that this country so desperately needs. Her unwavering commitment to peace and human rights as well as her intelligence and fortitude are inspiring and stand in dramatic contrast to the lame parade of mealy-mouthed sell-outs and red state war-mongers we are normally forced to choose between.'
"Morello will headline the fundraising show for Sheehan at San Francisco's Fat City on Saturday, June 28, alongside Malcontent, an acoustic performance by Travis Bilenski, and a reading by Eric Victorino.
In on the Outside: Howlin Rain, the Walkmen, Toot and the Maytals added to Outside Lands fest lineup
Howl on, Howlin Rain - at Outside Lands.
This in from the publicists of Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, the first annual ticketed large-scale multi-stage event in Golden Gate Park. (A portion of every ticket sold will directly benefit Golden Gate Park):
"Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival is proud to announce new additions to the already-stellar line-up for the first inaugural event. Howlin Rain, The Dynamites, and Carney are rounding out Friday, Aug. 22. The Walkmen, Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet featuring Bela Fleck, and Everest have been added to Saturday, Aug. 23. Toots and the Maytals, Rogue Wave, Mike Gordon, and Vienna Teng have been added to Sunday, Aug. 24.
"The multifaceted, three-day festival will take place in San Francisco’s historic Golden Gate Park on Aug. 22-24, 2008. Radiohead, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Jack Johnson will headline the event. Tickets for the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival are available for purchase at www.SFOutsidelands.com.
"The updated schedule for each day is as follows:"
Friday, Aug. 22 (first band is on at 5 p.m.)
Radiohead
Beck
Manu Chao
The Black Keys
Cold War Kids
Steel Pulse
Black Mountain
The Felice Brothers
Howlin Rain
The Dynamites
Carney
Saturday, August 23 (first band is on at 1 p.m.)
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals
Primus
Steve Winwood
Lupe Fiasco
Café Tacvba
Regina Spektor
Galactic’s Crescent City Soul Krewe featuring Dirty Dozen Horns
M. Ward
Devendra Banhart
Matt Nathanson
Two Gallants
Dredg
Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet featuring Bela Fleck
The Walkmen
Sidestepper
Kaki King
The Coup
Donavon Frankenreiter
Nellie McKay
Goapele
Sean Hayes
Rupa and the April Fishes
Everest
Sunday, Aug. 24 (first band is on at 1 p.m.)
Jack Johnson
Wilco
Widespread Panic
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Broken Social Scene
Andrew Bird
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
Drive-By Truckers
Toots and the Maytals
Stars
Rogue Wave
ALO
Jackie Greene
Mike Gordan
The Cool Kids
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals
Little Brother
Bon Iver
The Mother Hips
Nicole Atkins and the Sea
K’naan
Back Door Slam
Culver City Dub Collective
Los Angeles space-rock outfit West Indian Girl captures – with their sunny sound and meditative lyrics -- the duality of their alternately glitzy and gritty city, sandwiched between serene beaches and skid row. It's an easy, breezy beautiful oasis for some - a boulevard of broken dreams for others. But West Indian Girl’s story begins in early-'90s Detroit, with the meeting of bassist Francis Ten and vocalist-guitarist Robert James. Moving westward, the two eventually signed with Astralwerks, adding vocalist and percussionist Mariqueen Maandig, drummer Mark Lewis, and later, keyboardists Nathan Van Hala and Amy White.
After the 2004 release of their self-titled debut and remix EP, West Indian Girl moved to Milan Records for their sophomore disc, 4th & Wall (2007), named for the unsavory downtown intersection that is home to their current recording studio. But it’s the entire LA landscape that intrigues this band on their latest album, evinced by both the memorable sand and surf-set pop track "Blue Wave," and the more dire, downtown rocker "To Die in LA." If beach living symbolizes success in the music capital, downtown’s homelessness – only a 30-minute drive away – hints at the greater potential for failure.
With a headlining gig as part of the LA Invasion tour at the Rickshaw Stop on Thursday, June 19, West Indian Girl co-founder Francis Ten took an hour and 10 to talk about the band’s upcoming performance, their latest album, and the immense difficulties of making it in today’s music climate.
Nick Cave, Rancid, Eagles of Death Metal, Ledisi, Dandy Warholds to launch reopened Warfield
Fly, Eagles of Death Metal, fly.
Save your tears for the gym-ed up Alcazar and other grand old venues and theaters that have been made over as enormous drug stores. The Warfield reopens soon, under the aegis of Goldenvoice, the production company that puts on Coachella, and a slew of shows are set to go on sale via Ticketmaster on June 22.
Sept. 15 - George Lopez. Third show on sale Sunday, June 22 (third show added).
Sept. 18 - Musiq Soulchild and Ledisi. On Sale Sunday, June 22.
Sept. 20 - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. On Sale Sunday, June 22.
Sept. 23 - the Hives/Eagles of Death Metal. On sale soon.
Sept. 24 - Bootsy Collins "Tribute to the Godfather of Soul." On sale soon.
Sept. 25 - Bullet for My Valentine. On sale Sunday, June 22.
Sept. 26-27- Rancid.
Oct. 4 - Dandy Warhols. On sale Sunday, June 22.
Oct. 11 - Julieta Venegas. On sale Sunday, June 22.
Oct. 25 - the Kooks. On sale soon.
Oct. 30 - Cassandra Wilson. On Sale Sunday, June 22.
Nov. 7 - Jim Gaffigan. Late Show added; on sale Sunday, June 22.
Hip-Hop has long depended on sampling and remixing beats for its instrumental tracks; why should its vocal tracks be any different? Commercial rappers bring home the bling, and for what? For spending torturous hours, pen in hand, slaving over rhyme to earn the accolades “best rapper alive” (Lil Wayne) or “Hova” (Jay-Z, as in Jay-Hova, Jehovah, God)? Judging from the numerous Swagger Jacker remixes posted on YouTube, probably not.
In urban slang, a swagger jacker is a person who steals someone else’s syle, flow, lyrics, or ideas and passes them off as their own. The two most notorious alleged swagger jackers (or at least those most dissed as biters, synonymous with swagger jacker, in cyberspace) consistently fill arena seats and stand at the highest heights of the hip-hop hierarchy: Lil Wayne and Jay-Z.
When Lil Wayne raps, “Some say the X, makes the sex spec-tacular, make me lick you from yo neck to yo back, then ya, shiverin', tongue deliverin', chills up that spine, that ass is mine,” he reanimates Notorious B.I.G.’s voice from the dead, biting off of the song “Fuck You Tonight.” Or when Jay-Z raps, “Gather round hustlers that’s if your still livin' and get on down to that ol’ jig rhythm,” he’s rapping what Slick Rick rapped back in 1987.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about that crazy Tecktonik dance phenomenon sweeping Europe -- and especially Paris -- into its robotically flailing arms, and usually set to electro banger tunes. The craze has been getting a lot of mainstream attention of late, and fab online network Current TV video reporter/hottie Philipp Mayrhofer has put together this entertaining and very informative look at the scene, along with some interesting background. Yes, Tecktonik even has its own official haircut -- and this video actually takes you into the official Tecktonik salon. Them's good marketing! Plus: mimes.
R.I.P. Anthony "Big Ant" Marin of Black Fiction, Amoeba Music
Anthony "Big Ant" Marin in action. Photo courtesy of Amoeba Music.
By Billy Jam
This past week the Bay Area lost one of its most dedicated music fans and musicians. Anthony Marin, a.k.a., "Big Ant," who most knew as a hip-hop DJ on the local scene for many years or from working at Amoeba Music on Haight Street, died sometime last weekend of heart failure (a full medical report has not yet been released to determine exact cause or time of death). He was 37 years old.
Born in SoCal Marin had lived in the Bay Area for most of his adult life toiling at various record stores since the '90s including at Tower Records in the South Bay, Cue's Records in Daly City, and Amoeba on Haight, where he had worked for many years and was much loved by his co-workers. In fact one of them, Jason Chavez, a.k.a., 4AM, whom he counted as his best friend and with whom he was a member of the band Black Fiction, was instrumental in discovering his body last Sunday, June 1.
Reportedly the last anyone had seen Marin was when he was at a concert last Thursday, May 29. The next day he was off work, but when he didn't show up for work on Saturday and then on Sunday without calling in sick, his buddies at Amoeba got anxious. Chavez and others went to his apartment where Marin lived alone and had the cops and landlord gain access to the unit where they found his body. Another co-worker Luis Soria said that Marin told him he had been to the doctor on Tuesday, May 27, after complaining of some weight-related ailments (including swelling feet).
REM's Peter Buck talks about the passion - and the rage
Mumblecore before mumblecore was cool: Eighties-era REM.
REM guitarist Peter Buck may be well settled into his current role as a 50-year-old Seattle dad, but he hasn't really slowed down - nor has his band, judging from their latest full-length, Accelerate (Warner Bros.). The group performs tonight, May 31, and tomorrow, June 1, at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley. The first tidbit gleaned from this brief talk showed up in this week's Sonic Reducer - here's the rest:
SFBG: So what do you think about the response to Accelerate?
Peter Buck: Pretty positive - I mean, I don’t really read the reviews. But I guess it's sort of floating in the air that it’s a good record. I feel pretty positive myself.
SFBG: What brought on the more rockin' approach?
PB: It seems like we were going down the path of making longer, quieter records. And it just seemed like the time for a change.
Fired up: Fiery Furnaces' Matthew Friedberger on politics, personality, 'Sandanista'
Matthew Friedberger of Fiery Furnaces is a pistol, punctuating his thoughts with chuckles, and backing up and turning around his statements continually. For the first part of this interview, go to this week's Sonic Reducer. Otherwise read on.
SFBG: So you describe Remember as long and people can use it as they will. It’s not designed to be an “album album”?
Matthew Friedberger: Well, not to compare this to a masterpiece like the Clash’s Sandanista, which is one of my favorite records, but I never listen to that all at once. I think of that as one record, even if it’s a three-record record, and it’s longer, I think, than this one. But totally different, totally different. Like I say, I don’t mean to compare [Remember] to a record like that. But, um, I do think of it as a record, if you want to think about it - not that you think about it - but if somebody wanted to think about it…you’d think about it together.
Play us out already: The original O'Reilly footage of the man flipping out.
By Laura Mojonnier
By now, you have undoubtedly had the pleasure of seeing Bill O'Reilly go ballistic on an old Inside Edition outtake that resurfaced online earlier this month. The clip spread like only viral videos can, and within days, O'Reilly himself addressed the mini-controversy on his show, joking that the taped meltdown was only the tip of the iceberg. "By contractual obligation, I have to create a few dramas every year for the amusement of my coworkers," he said smiling, exuding an alarming degree of humility, perspective, and self-control that certainly did not win him his contract at Fox.
Inside the back pedal.
O'Reilly's attempt to put the matter to rest was futile, however. The footage is just too damn good. I've already incorporated his best outbursts into my everyday conversation ("Fuck it! Do it live!" and "Fucking! Thing! Sucks!" are my favorites). The clip is the first video that pops up when you search his name on YouTube, and as of press time, it has garnered more than 1.3 million views. I am clearly not alone.
O'Reilly meltdown: the dance remix
But the real story here, I think, is not the meltdown itself - everyone knows that O'Reilly is a barking, chauvinistic blowhard - but rather the dance remix. Nothing hits the spot quite like watching O'Reilly on loop, rapping, "I don't know / I don't know / I don't know / Fuck!" to the sweet techno beat. I can basically recite the entire song by heart. And in light of the remix, the original footage seems a hollow shell of its former self. It no longer possesses the same power to shock and titillate. Why not? The dance remix, in all its repetitive hilarity, shows O'Reilly's freak-out for what it actually is: a sadly predictable confirmation that his television personality is not an act.
"It is with great regret that Red House Records mourns the loss of our friend Bruce 'Utah' Phillips who passed away Friday, May 23, at his home in Nevada City, Calif. In a time when words like 'icon' and 'legend' are bandied
about too freely, Utah was the real deal: a consummate songwriter, labor historian, humorist and towering figure in American folk music. A true original, we will not see his like again and it was our great privilege to have been able to partner with him on a number of record releases. Our deepest condolences go out to Utah’s family and many
friends and the countless fans who will profoundly feel his absence. His family requests memorial donations to Hospitality House, P.O. Box 3223, Grass Valley, CA 95945; (530) 271-7144; www.hospitalityhouseshelter.org.
"Born Bruce Duncan Phillips on May 15, 1935, in Cleveland, Ohio, he was the son of labor organizers. Whether through this early influence or an early life that was not always tranquil or easy, by his twenties Phillips demonstrated a lifelong concern with the living conditions of working people. He was a proud member of the Industrial Workers of the World, popularly known as "the Wobblies," an organizational artifact of early 20th century labor struggles that has seen renewed interest and growth in membership in the last decade, not in small part due to his efforts to popularize it. Phillips served as an Army private during the Korean War, an experience he would later refer to as the turning point of his life. Deeply affected by the devastation and human misery he had witnessed, upon his return to the United States he began drifting, riding freight trains around the country.
"His struggle would be familiar today, when the difficulties of returning combat veterans are more widely understood, but in the late '50s Phillips was left to work them out for himself. Destitute and drinking, Phillips got off a freight train in Salt Lake City and wound up at the Joe Hill House, a homeless shelter operated by the anarchist Ammon Hennacy, a member of the Catholic Worker movement and associate of Dorothy Day. Phillips credited Hennacy and other social reformers he referred to as his 'elders' with having provided a philosophical framework around which he later constructed songs and stories he intended as a template his audiences could employ to understand their own political and working lives. They were often hilarious, sometimes sad, but never shallow. 'He made me understand that music must be more than cotton candy for the ears,' said John McCutcheon, a nationally known folksinger and close friend.
Cluster klatch: Krautrock poobah Hans-Joachum Roedelius gives it up
By Matt Sussman
Kosmiche godfathers Cluster have been back from the future for more than three decades now, with the core duo of Hans-Joachum Roedelius and Dieter Moebius having offered a rich and varied body of studio albums and collaborations - most notably with Brian Eno - as well as live documentation and solo outings. Through the analog mists and drum machine clicks of their ‘70s albums one can discern many of the splinter groups, such as ambient and synth-pop, which electronic music would break apart into in the ensuing decades.
SFBG: Since 2007, you and Moebius have been engaged in a second reunion of sorts, following a ten-year hiatus. Do you find it challenging to work together again, especially in a live setting, after such a long break?
Care to grab a slice of experimental rock/no-wave history? Flying Luttenbachers impressario, XBXRX player, and no wave authority Weasel Walter is putting his Conn C-Melody saxophone up on the eBay action block here. The Bay Area musician and fire-starter says he played the instrument on such recordings as the Flying Luttenbachers' Revenge and Gods of Chaos as well as To Live and Shave in L.A. 2's The 300 Dollar Silk Shirt.
Says WW: "I got this horn in 1988 and played it (terribly) on a lot of my high school 4-track recordings (the best of those were released on CD by Savage Land Records in 2006). After I moved to Chicago I got the beast fixed up and repadded and played it a lot more. This is a working instrument, and you can basically take it out of the box and play it. Basically bills must be paid and I really don't pursue playing saxophone at all anymore - let's leave it to the pros! - so I'm selling it off.
"To some elite weirdos i suppose it's a small piece of history. Let the bidding begin."
(You can also catch Weasel Walter at events for the book **No Wave,** alongside author Marc Masters. Those happen Sat/24, 2 p.m., free. Amoeba Music, 1855 Haight, SF. With Death Sentence: Panda and Ettrick. Sat/24, 9 p.m., pay what you can. 21 Grand, 416 25th St., Oakl. Sun/25, 5 p.m., $6. Artists’ Television Access, 992 Valencia, SF.)
Good to know Joey Ramone Day marches on - just as it was fun to hear, at last night's Eric Lyle reading/event at CounterPULSE for his new book, On the Lower Frequencies: A Secret History of the City, the Guardian contributor talk about his own personal observance of Joey Ramone Day - playing Ramones songs on a boombox through the streets, meditating on the frontman.
Well, it happens on every coast. This just in - the details for this year's Joey Ramone Birthday Bash on May 19 in NYC:
"Celebrating what would have been the 57th birthday of punk-icon Joey Ramone, the annual Joey Ramone Birthday Bash will take place Monday, May 19, at the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza. Mickey Leigh, event organizer and brother of Joey Ramone, has announced that, as part of the eighth annual Bash, fans will be treated to a special reunion appearance from Manitoba's Wild Kingdom featuring Handsome Dick Manitoba, Andy Shernoff, Ross the Boss, and JP Thunderbolt.
OK, yeah, I realize that after a 15 year absence or whatever, every one of chthonic "shoegaze" (ugh) legends My Bloody Valentine's fans are supposedly middle-aged Google coders now (or parking Daddy's Pagani Zonda C12S outside Popscene on Thursdays). But $47.50 plus "handling" for their hopefully triumphant and thalassically massive comeback appearance at the Concourse on September 30? What am I, Jarvis Cocker?
Rollin' and gazin'
Still, when I saw them in '89 (?) they ripped my world apart. And the ceiling of the club actually rained down plaster from their ampage. I'm gladly going to fund Kevin Shields's apparently still raging extasy habit. Fuck my dreams of front-row Cher in Vegas -- bring on the luxury Googe!
As you'd expect from her brainy, rambling songs, Kimya Dawson is a pleasure to chat with. Here's more from a brief chat; she performs tonight at Herbst Theatre with her friend Matt Toby on ukulele.
SFBG: So your life must have really changed after the Juno soundtrack?
Kimya Dawson: I love the movie and I love everybody that worked on the movie. I know that for a lot of the other people who worked on it that I liked and for my family it's super-exciting and that makes me happy. It's just one of those things, where this was never the goal for me. I never made music thinking someday I'm going to make it big.
Rilo Kiley's Blake Sennett on flying solo, recycling, and filmmaking
Oh, star-crossed phone interviews - who knows why or how they happen. Rilo Kiley's Blake Sennett and I met not-so-cute last week, thanks to poor hearing, mumbled questions, and a patched-in conference call that sounded like everyone in his publicist's office could hear every "um" or "er" we uttered. Kismet! I'll sparing you those awkward moments thanks to the magic of editing - I suspect their show tonight, April 17, at the Design Center Concourse will go much more smoothly.
SFBG: Where are you right now? [Sounds like rumored Winona Ryder fiance Sennett is tromping through a parking lot and into an elevator] And what brings you back to SF?
Blake Sennett: I'm in LA. Well, I think typically you do a couple tours for an album cycle so I don't know it's the natural thing to do - I don't know. Maybe we shouldn't do it. I don't know. But yeah, I felt like the record deserved two tours.
Contributing writer and WFMU DJ Billy Jam may boast a mean Irish accent, but he's all about stateside hip-hop. Hence, the name, I'm guessing, of his event at the Whitney Biennial Saturday, April 19. If you happen to be in the hood - or even if you just wanna listen in via Neighborhood Public Radio's live stream - check it out: Jam will be helming the turntables along with Demerock Wallnuts from 2-6 p.m., at the Whitney Museum, 941 Madison, NYC. He promises a live jam session with DJ Alf cutting and scratching, as well as freestyle drums, keyboards, and guitar - and spoken word. Oh, yes, and there will be plenty of art - graffiti or otherwise, from both coasts - to see.
Take a stanza: Verse and song for National Poetry Month
By Todd Lavoie
Guys, commence with the stroking your beards in thoughtful poses! Girls, grab your journals and set yourselves a-scrawling! April is National Poetry Month, so now's the time to start looking deep and sensitive and positively brimming over with penetrating insight. Spring is in the air - the flowers are blooming and birds are chirping - so why not summon your muse and whip up an ode or a sonnet to celebrate all this marvelous rebirth? No way, you say? OK, how about a haiku, then? A limerick? Something cribbed from a restroom wall, perhaps?
If putting words to paper isn't your thing, or if reading poetry doesn't float your boat, either, fret not. All hope is not lost for giving April the rune-and-rhyme lovin' it deserves. How about a little poetry-in-song, then? Sure, I suppose you could say most songs are poetry, in a sense - I mean, you don't need an MFA to take the average pop song and dissect it into meter, rhyme, verse structure, and all of its other little bits 'n' pieces - but strip away the music and much of the power of the argument is lost.
Put it this way: if you simply read aloud the lyrics of most songs, unaccompanied, they'd sound like pretty weak excuses for poetry. Embarrassing, even. And no, I'm not hatin' - I'm just sayin', that's all. Nah, you won't catch any poetry snobbery from me - hell, I adore Marc Bolan, but you won't sneak me passing off any T. Rex ditties as shining examples of poetic form. Still, I've always been fascinated with intersections of poetry and song; I did a little scraping around in my thought-box and here are a few successful experiments of music/poem collisions which came to mind:
Ken Nordine, Colors (The Nordine Group/Asphodel)
"Word Jazz", he called it - in fact, the rumbling, rich-baritoned radio/television voiceover maestro liked the phrase so much that he used it as the title of his 1957 debut. Over the course of a series of inventive, parameter-pushing Word Jazz recordings made in the '50s and '60s, Nordine married loose, free-association musings to bongo-friendly bohemian-jazz - yep, very Beat Generation, daddy-o.
Clubs: producer-DJ-MC Kero One looks to the Bay and abroad
By Jamilah King
Bay Area DJ Kero One likes to say that he got his Seoul from Korea. Regardless of its origins, his talents as a producer, DJ, and MC are creating a big buzz in hip-hop. He's collaborated with Grand Puba, Aloe Blacc, and Ohmega Watts. His smooth sound takes hip-hop back to its roots while also moving it forward. Tonight, March 11, Kero One performs at 111 Minna Gallery; he also has a monthly at Madrone Lounge.
He sat down to talk about his music, and more.
SFBG: You're from the Bay. Where in the Bay did you grow up?
Kero One: I grew up in the Santa Clara area, and moved to the city about three years ago to get more serious about my music career.
SFBG: When did you fall in love with music?
KO: I remember being really little and staying up into the wee hours of the night to listen to the radio and stations like KMEL. My mom would come in and try to get me to go to bed, then I'd get right back up and turn the radio on and listen to stuff like Boogie Down Productions, and all the stuff that was big in the late '80s.
IranianRadio.com takes you on a drive through the Persian-pop unknown
By Dina Maccabee
Sometimes - when I notice I’ve developed an allergy to my entire iTunes playlist, when all my CDs are mysteriously missing from their cases, and I’m not ready to resort to listening to mix tapes from high school - the silence on my stereo can be deafening. In those dire times, I resort to iTunes radio.
Scrolling down the list of offerings, there isn’t a lot of campaigning to sway your vote. I breeze past the bland listings for Classic Rock, Electronic, and Ambient, on down to International, where if nothing else the flavors have a chance of being spicy. Still, I couldn’t say what exactly prompted me to try IranianRadio.com for the first time. “Persian traditional music,” it read, sandwiched between “The Best Mix of All Things Iranian” and “Persian Pop.” I must have been feeling anti-American.
At any rate, I was pleased to discover hours of uninterrupted Persian classical music, a tradition so stately and affecting that its surface exoticism melts away after only a few minutes. But I began to wonder, from whence, exactly, issues forth this fountain of unfamiliar yet dulcet tones? I pressed a button and suddenly linked the sounds of classical Persia with a bedroom in San Francisco in 2008.
I wanted some background color for the monochromatic iTunes radio experience - and some direction on how to explore the region’s music even further (the station's format ranges from Persian Dance to Kurdish Pop). Fortunately a friendly service representative at IranianRadio.com, identifying himself only as Cyrus, was able to set me straight on the mysteries behind the music.
SFBG: Who programs the content of IranianRadio.com?
Contributing photog Robin Russell closes her WMC dispatches with a stop at Giant Step Presents Sunset Soiree at the Delano Hotel on March 29. Look for Turntables on the Hudson, out with Supreme Beings of Leisure at Mezzanine on April 18.
Nickodemus steals over to the wheels o' steel.
Turntables on the Hudson melded classic house textures and afrobeat rhythms.
Marcus Worgull got the crowd going. All photos by Robin Russell.
Winter Music Conference in Miami rolled onward as contributing photographer Robin Russell checked out the popular local party Aquabooty Music2 at Opium Garden on March 29. Innervsions artists like Ame, Dixon, Henrik Schwarz and Marcus Worgull appeared along with DJ Harvey and Miguel Migs.
WMC: Art of Seduction shows the fest how it's done
King Britt and Victor Duplaix make the scene. All photos by Robin Russell.
Contributing photog Robin Russell made a stop at the fourth annual Art of Seduction party at the Victor Hotel on March 29 during Miami's Winter Music Conference. King Britt and Duplaix headed a bill that included DJ Rashida, Eleonora, Manchild Black, Taylor McFerrin, DJ Dozia, and Kayree.
METAL: Chillin' with Amber Asylum/Frozen in Amber's Kris Force
Amber Asylum isn't metal, but band leader Kris Force has been a longtime participant in the scene, while metal fans have gravitated toward her dark-ambient-folk group. Terrorizer named Amber Asylum's last album, Still Point (Profound Lore), as one of their top 40 albums of 2007, and her project has consistently found a home on metal labels. I caught up with Force recently on the phone as she relaxed at home in Pacifica on a sleepy Saturday afternoon. And by the way, Amber Asylum plays their first show in a year and a half on April 19 at El Rio.
SFBG: What's going on with this new release?
Kris Force: Grey Force Wakeford - it's apocalyptic folk or postindustrial music, kind of like Death in June or David Tibet. I worked with Tony Wakeford [Death in June/Sol Invictus] - he's in London - and Nick Grey is in Monaco. We did a lot of it remotely. I had been corresponding with Tony because I liked his music and reached out to him, and he asked me to do some string parts on something.
I found Nick through MySpace. I was really despairing one night and found his MySpace page. He didn't have many friends. I played his music and totally loved it, and I wrote him an e-mail, and he was familiar with my work. I suggested we do a mail-art collaboration, and he sent me a fabulous track. Then it turned into five tracks. It turned out Nick and Tony had four. We decided to put them together and see what happens. I mixed it all and I think it seems cohesive. It's come out on a French label called Athanor.
WMC: When Push FM comes to Groove Junkies - more parties
Groove Junkies got the junk out of the trunk at Terry Thompson and Friends Presents. All photos by Robin Russell.
Maimi's Winter Music Conference kept the beat going as contributing photographer Robin Russell stopped into both Push FM/R2 Records' soiree at Love Hate and the Terry Thompson and Friends Presents event at the Chelsea Hotel on Friday, March 28.
Push FM DJ Abicah Soul manned the decks at the bash hosted by the London online radio station.
The crowd at Push FM/R2 Records' night.
John "Julius" Knight made an appearance at Terry Thompson's Baltimore/DC house throwdown.
Out of the mouths of Cribs: controversy, needs, and the Replacements
Striped, Ripe, Culty, and Sultry: the Cribs. Photo by J. Beckman.
Who are these mystery scamps in UK's the Cribs - working with Franz Ferdinand's Alex, Sonic Youth's Lee Renaldo, and the Smiths' Johnny Marr alike? And landing at Popscene tonight, April 3? I traded e-mails with the youngest Jarman brother, Ross, who drums in the threesome.
SFBG: What's it like being a "family band"? And do you think they get a bad rap?
Ross Jarman: To be honest, we are unaware what it is like to be anything but a family band. I'm curious what being in a band with your friends is like. I think being in a band with your brothers is easier, as there is more honesty towards writing, etc., and it keeps the three of us on a level playing field.
SFBG: What was it like to work with Alex from Franz Ferdinand on the Mens Needs... album?
RJ: Being in the studio with Airwolf was a lot of fun. We had offers from other producers before he came into the equation, but we didn't want to make a record that sounded like a load of others, so going in with a producer who was producing for the first time out of his own circle, we knew we were going to get something unique. He also knew the band a lot more than any other producer, as he had seen us play every night for two months on a tour of the US.
Ruben Mancias, Wumni, and Jellybean Benitez meet in Miami. All photos by Robin Russell.
The Winter Music Conference's Jellybean Soul label party at Hotel Victor on Friday, March 28, was next on contributing photog Robin Russell's schedule in Miami. Here's what she caught.
Little Louie Vega and Mike "Agent X" Clark are all smiles.
London-born singer-dancer Wumni lent her vocals to Ruben Mancias's "Let It Rain (Ko Ma Ro)."
Every metal show contains plenty of dudes who merely headbang softly to themselves with their hands stuffed into the pockets of their tight black hoodies. A sea of empty faces they are. What fun is that? In honor of our metal issue this week, here are a few ways you can cheerlead the next time you're at a metal show.
Classic horns A staid gesture to be sure — but fairly reliable. You know the drill here. Turn it to the side and pump it like a fist for added pleasure.
The Claw When deploying just one hand to exhibit the claw, as opposed to the invisible orbs, bring it close to your face and pull downward for a melodramatic affect. Growl a little, too, like it just can't get any more metal ... when deep down you know it really can.
Land ho There's really never been a sufficient name for outright pumping your fist or fists at a show, but some folks around here are calling it "land ho." It's better off with no distinct title. Fist pumping during violent blastbeats or a huge, doomy breakdown is raw and organic, like the beginning of time. It needs no name. And it spans genres. We advise, however, that you reserve dual fists for truly metal moments. The members of Portland, Ore.'s Tragedy have been known to throw out a fist or two while playing, but this is extremely dangerous and should be done by professionals only.
Invisible orbs This is a variation of the Claw, except that you do it with both hands and hold them out in front of you rather than near your face, as if you're holding two invisible orbs. We contend that the invisible orbs should be savored while you're listening to Scandinavian metal or anything heavily influenced by it. If you scan the artwork on old black metal records, the bands are often posing with some version of the orbs, gritting their teeth and trying to look as menacing as possible.
Vikter Duplaix and Daz-I-Kue (Bugz in the Attic) get down at the Om party. All photos by Robin Russell.
Contributing photographer Robin Russell swung through Miami's Winter Music Conference, which ran from March 25-29, and sent these dispatches. First up: the fete thrown by SF-based Om Records at Y Ultralounge on Thursday, March 27.
What's up with San Francisco skate-metal-punk contenders Hightower?
Well, they're kind of on hiatus, according to bassist Dave Fallis, taking a break from his SF picture-framing business to talk despite his bandmates' absence - "We can't form the Voltron," he warned. Hightower has made the rounds, touring every summer for the last six years, so this time, they've decided to just "concentrate on getting their lives back together" before writing songs and recording - once they raise enough funds.
"We're, like, the least marketable band out there," Fallis explained matter-of-factly. "We're not quite a metal band and not a, quote-unquote, punk rock band. It just seems like when we're at punk rock show, we're the regular dudes in jeans and T-shirts, and when we go to a metal show, we're the same way." Still, the band that met each other skateboarding around their SF neighborhood continues to find their way with the help of kindred skaters. "If we didn't skate we wouldn't know each other," Fallis said, "and as far as touring and getting shows, we'll contact people we know through skateboarding, and we'll decide which town to go to according to which ones have a great skateboarding spot or swimming hole."
HIGHTOWER'S TOP FIVE SPOTS TO SKATE OR SWIM WHILE ON THE ROAD
- Montreal, the Big O or the Olympic Stadium
- Chattanooga, Tenn., Suck Creek ("A great spot in the Smoky Mountains.")
- "Late-night skinny-dipping in Lawrence, Kansas."
- Maine's cliff jumps
- Assorted skateparks in Louisville, Ky.
HIGHTOWER
With Walken, Three Weeks Clean, and Soulbroker
May 1, 9 p.m., $8 Cafe Du Nord
2170 Market, SF
(415) 861-5016
Ministry's Al Jourgensen talks about Jack Daniels, last tours, and the synth-pop shadows lurking in his past
By Joshua Rotter
After 10 albums and almost three decades, Ministry unleashes their final album, Cover Up, a collection of rocking remakes of party songs for which the band feels a school-day sentimentality: the Rolling Stones’ “Under My Thumb," the Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues," and Golden Earring’s “Radar Love."
In keeping with the festive vibe, the disc also contains additional feel-good songs from classic artists such as Deep Purple, T-Rex, and ZZ Top. "“This is a case of people drinking bottles of Jack Daniels, and thinking, 'Hey man, I knew this in high school,'’” founding frontman Al Jourgensen said in a recent interview from his tour bus. “It wasn't like I thought of the bands as influences. It was more like ‘If you know the riff, let's play it, and get it on CD.’ It was totally random and fueled with Jack Daniels.”
For die-hard fans, Ministry’s last album, due today, April 1, and current farewell tour, cheekily titled “C U LaTouR,” are no joking matters. But according to Jourgensen, who will soon focus on other endeavors including production duties for other bands on his 13th Planet label and movie soundtracks, there’s no need to get all choked up. He’s not. He simply has no time to.
I never saw Say Anything or read High Fidelity (for me, mopey indie straight dudes are cute in theory -- just not as John Cusack). But I am a nerd, and subject to all the emotional turmoil and reward a good mixtape can heap upon the recipient and maker. Yeah, I mean mixtape as in "fire up the ol' press play-and-record and unleash your TDK, baby" -- not the semi-underground hiphop cds that the big record companies have unsuccessfully hijacked of late.
Trouble is, the tiny plastic or chrome (eek, remember those being eaten every third play?) reel-to-reels have bit the dust, CDs are so un-green it hurts, and MP3 shareware is too complex for me and probably good ol' High Fidelious Jack Black.
Enter, then, Muxtape, this neato site with a very indie bent that launched a little bit ago. You can upload up to 10 MBs of MP3s to a handy little link and email it to your friends. They then can click on individual tracks and listen. Also: it's free. And: anyone in the world can click on your muxtape and hear what your thing is. You can RSS your favorite Muxtapers, even.
Pretty nifty -- although I still miss the lovely rickety squeaks and hisses of cassettes. Anyone got a good app on hand to insert them? TapeSqueal? Memorexia?
Tip o' the nib to my pal Steven Reaume for turning me on to this. Check out his Detroit classics muxtape (including lost early house tune "Liferaft" by Juicy Fruit) here.
Richie Sambora, what happened? Livin' on Bon Jovi love
By Joshua Rotter
Bon Jovi's iconic "Livin' on a Prayer" video, showcasing the band's fresh faces and glossy personas, did much in the way of packaging the so-called metal band for pop consumption in the late '80s. Clearly, no group encapsulates the poppy side of the sound like Bon Jovi, making their greatest hits and latest hits "Lost Highway" and "(You Want to) Make a Memory," off their number one disc, Lost Highway (Mercury Nashville, 2007), popular among both the day-care and home-health-care sets.
Last week, however, things appeared a lot lighter on the pop and heavier on the metal when Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora was arrested on a DUI charge, while driving his 10-year-old daughter, Ava. Due in court in May, he is also expected to face child endangerment charges.
This is only Sambora's latest setback over the last couple years following a high-profile divorce from actress Heather Locklear - over alleged infidelity with friend Denise Richards - in addition to a stint in rehab for alcohol abuse, and the death of his dad from lung cancer.
Last month, as the band prepared to launch the 36-city North American leg of their Lost Highway tour, a sober Sambora discussed how he overcame some of these difficulties by starting work on the Lost Highway LP and planning one of the biggest tours of 2008. Bon Jovi appears April 2 and 8 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose.
SFBG: Bon Jovi is known for massive stage shows. What can fans expect this time around?
Richie Sambora: We’ve got a bunch of HD screens that are just morphing into different things. It’s going to be a spectacle that people have never seen before. From what we know after 25 years of experience in these stages and stuff like that, it looks like a holy-cow moment. People are going to walk away going, "Wow, this is really cool.”
Yes, it seems like some bizarre spoof: The Warriors mixes it up with Dashboard Confessional and West Side Story, across the border. But word - according to Mexican TV news reports and other print sources, along with this piece by Exclaim - has it that emo-bashing has become popular among assorted subcultural tribes in Mexico City and elsewhere. (Thanks to Amber Asylum's Kris Force for tipping us to the insanity.)
Exclaim holds forth: "According to Daniel Hernandez, who’s been covering the anti-emo riots on his blog Intersections, the violence began March 7, when an estimated 800 young people poured into the Mexican city of Queretaro’s main plaza “hunting” for emo kids to pummel. Then the following weekend similar violence occurred in Mexico City at the Glorieta de Insurgents, a central gathering space for emos. Hernandez also reports that several anti-emo riots have now also spread to various other Mexican cities. Via the Austin American Statesmen, several postings on Mexican social-networking sites, primarily organizing spot for these “emo hunts,” have been dug up and translated. One states: 'I HATE EMOS!!! They are not even people, they are so stupid, they cry over meaningless things… My school is infested with them, I want to kill them all!'
"Another says: 'We’ve never seen all the urban tribes unite against one single tribe before… Emos, their way of thinking is for crap, if you are so depressed please do us all a favour and kill yourselves!'"
Yikes, what did My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy ever do to these haters? OK, yeah, I know... but still, why can't kids just get along?
Who shot Tupac? LA Times apologies for latest botch in the continuing, sensational saga
By Jamilah King
By now, the latest "who-shot-Tupac" fiasco is all over the news. The basics go something like this: LA Times reporter Chuck Phillips writes a groundbreaking investigative story that strongly implicates P. Diddy's camp in the 1994 shooting that sparked the whole East Coast/West Coast feud. The piece, which relied entirely on a confidential source, sent shockwaves through the music industry.
Now, the story is under investigation because it turns out that Phillips's confidential witness is a con man. The paper posted an apology on their Web site late last night.
From the Smoking Gun:
The con man, James Sabatino, 31, has long sought to insinuate himself, after the fact, in a series of important hip-hop events, from Shakur's shooting to the murder of the Notorious B.I.G. In fact, however, Sabatino was little more than a rap devotee, a wildly impulsive, overweight white kid from Florida whose own father once described him in a letter to a federal judge as "a disturbed young man who needed attention like a drug."
Whoops.
Maybe the problem with journalism is that it's always more than just a story. In this case, what's really at stake is justice, that elusive and ever-changing ideal that's been teasing black folks since slavery. The sensationalism that surrounds the Tupac-Biggie saga often overshadows the innate dreams that each rapper carried on his shoulders. They were the larger-than-life personalities who spoke for thousands of complex individuals caught up between the failures of the Civil Rights Movement and the success of Reaganomics. Of course, such artists weren't without their gluttonous and painful vices, but so goes life for artists in their early 20s.
Ill doctrine takes the paper - and the industry - to task:
Smashing Pumpkins file suit against ex-label Virgin
“We fought hard for the right to be in control of how our music is used, to avoid situations like this kind of crass commercialism and exploitation. Labels like EMI are no longer running the show, and we won't be bullied by those in the 'old' music business who consider every artist to be easily expendable. Those days are over.” - Billy Corgan
This just in from the Smashing Pumpkins' publicists: "The Smashing Pumpkins have filed a lawsuit this week against Virgin Records, their former record label, for the unauthorized exploitation of the band’s musical works and image as well as for devaluing the market value of its music and deceiving its fans.
"Filed in the Superior Court of the State of California in Los Angeles, the suit states that Virgin Records—without the band’s knowledge or permission—endorsed and sponsored a worldwide promotional marketing campaign by Amazon.com and Pepsi for both companies to promote and sell Amazon and Pepsi products for financial profit.
Best Boredoms interview ever: Eye gives up the goods on eve of Fillmore show
The Boredoms' Eye Yamantaka is ordinarily a man of few words, but the Japanese experimental music veteran let the flood gates fly open via my e-mail interview. No snores here - just expect to whet your appetite for the Boredoms' Tuesday, March 18, show at the Fillmore. Ex-Black Dice drummer and current Soft Circle impressario Hashim Kotaro Bharoocha provided the translation.
SFBG: The new album is amazing -- it sounds like positively symphonic! What was the idea, goal, or focus?
Eye Yamantaka: Recently I have been getting into symphonic progressive rock. I
want to buy music like that, but I don't know who's making it. I'm also a fan of progressive heavy metal from Scandinavia. On the album, I am taking a minimalist approach by manipulating sounds on the turntable (I am using church pipe organ music by Jon Gibson).
The sub-patterns from the church organ sounded like human voices to me, so we had that scored, and had an actual choir sing it. We weren't doing anything on Christmas Eve, so we decided to do a show that day, and the choir fit the night perfectly.
SFBG: I remember interviewing Eye and Yoshimi years ago in the late '80s in San Francisco. How would you say the band has evolved since then? What has your muse been telling you? Where have your
interests led you?
EY: The band went through significant changes on SPR and GO!!!!!! We started to take a minimalist approach from SPR, but after this album we took that approach to the extreme. I think that those records were a rebirth point for us. After those records, we got rid of the guitar and bass in the ensemble, and I started to DJ a lot more (I was DJing a lot more than performing with the band). We started to think in terms of performing as if we were a record player, rather than playing as a normal band.
Hal Willner and Lou Reed get down and sorta brief at SXSW. All photos by Kimberly Chun.
Lean, not so mean, and ready with both sage music-biz advice and disarming wisecracks - that was SXSW keynote speaker Lou Reed, chatting comfortably with collaborator-producer Hal Willner two hours ago today, March 13, at the Austin Convention Center.
The pair discussed Reed's new concert doc capturing his 1973 LP, Berlin, at the behest of Julian Schnabel who considers the record one of his favorites. Reed talked about recreating the album in Europe, "but it won't be here. But not in LA. Music business town. Not in the states."
They showed a clip from the film of his band playing "Men of Good Fortune" with particular intensity. Cribbing from his own 2007 film, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Schnabel drifts watery, transparent, shadowy imagery, seemingly pulled from the photo collage backdrop behind the band. The group includes guitarist Steve Hunter, Willner pointed out. Reed added that Hunter was in the Rock 'n' Roll Animal band, which was actually Alice Cooper's combo. "It's emotional music - that's what's so great about rock 'n' roll," said Reed. Berlin was marked by the time: 1973, a time much like our own. "Don't you agree? Terrible."
"Punk rock - we don't have that category in this country." Oh, the quotables already emanating from Austin, Texas - albeit from a boomer-rock-oriented radio commentator interviewing aging Aussie punk vets.
SXSW, here we go again. The plane was packed on the way from Denver to Austin. Baggage claim was filled with checked guitars and black-garbed hollow-eyed scenesters. Todd P already had a Juicebox show going at 2 a.m. at his party central, Ms. Bea's. And rumors are already swirling - has Dolly Parton cancelled? Is it possible to squirm into the already-closed-guestlist Playboy afterhours party Thursday night? Where is Perez Hilton having his ssseeecccret soiree (with Robyn no doubt working her rework of Snoop Dogg's "Sex Eruption")? Rachel Ray is having a party - huh?! You can spend more time planning your sked than actually seeing music, but the one-man band sounds of Cassettes Won't Listen drew me into the Austin Convention Center's dark, semi-depressing, school-caf-like Daystage.
Most disturbing news: so many longtimers aren't making it this year due to industry cutbacks. Most disturbing stuff in the fest bag o' fliers: an Armed Forces Entertainment card with a little green toy soldier attached ("Plug in your weapon, turn up the power and fire away. Your limo is a Humvee and your ride is a Blackhawk"). War is so cute - and glamorous! And a card announcing a casting call for Blue Man (I guess the blue face paint fits any ole one - except maybe women?).
What's up tonight? Free Yr Radio is throwing a bash with Simian Mobile Disco, Yeasayer (all the buzz here, natch), and Times New Viking (Ohio-ans do it so good) at La Zona Rosa, a black rock showcase with Lightspeed Champion courtesy of Vice, a Kills show at the Fader Fort, an Emusic showcase, White Williams at the Gorilla vs Bear party. Also drool-worthy is the Terrorbird/Forcefield PR party with Yacht, Raveonettes, Why?, These New Puritans, the Blow, Radar Bros., Bowerbirds, and the return of the Mae Shi. Kimya Dawson will likely be at the Keep Austin Good event at San Hotel's parking lot, and Dan Deacon and Deer Tick are making some very late-night noise - shhhh! - at one o' UT Austin's quads at, oh, 2 a.m. And most of those events aren't even official.
Buddy Miles RIP - play on Brother Gypsy, sing on drummer
By Kandia Crazy Horse
Roughly two decades after Run-DMC and Aerosmith’s fruitful pairing showed rock could still be danceable in the emerging hip-hop era, negroes remain nonetheless officially skurred of guitars. Endless samples later, it’s not unusual for hot tracks to be powered by a skillful blend of beats and rock volume. Yet when a young black artist emerges from the community (or outside of it) desirous of doing a different thing, he or she is often still accused of wanting to play “whiteboy music.”
And so, we loop straight back to 1969 and the central sonic and social dilemma of rock history’s greatest black rock superstar: Jimi Hendrix. Before the eve of New Year’s 1970, electric magus Hendrix had attempted to free himself from the harsh realities of Jim Crow America by eschewing the strictures of the Chitlin’ Circuit – where he supported stars like Little Richard and the Brothers Isley - for music scenes and venues in Greenwich Village and then (swinging) London. Oftener than not, the response his career elicited in regular blackfolks was resentment that he left the Black Bottom to move to London and return as “white” and his proto-metal sound was baffling (as were his two white sidemen – the British rhythm section’s simulated Afros or no).
Meanwhile, the Panthers were already putting the touch on him, urging shy, spacey, “music has no race” Hendrix to come out strong on the side of blackskin chauvinism and actively support the revolution. This ish would plague Hendrix for the rest of his short life – and, in many ways, the ever-burgeoning afterlife of his career. Yet with the sequential formation of both the ill-fated big band Gypsy Suns and Moons (who accompanied him at Woodstock) and the power trio Band of Gypsys, he attempted to resolve the racial conundrum sonically as fitting for the manchile who’d slept with his guitar since youth.
There's club sandwich and then there's Club Sandwich: one is a chicken-bacon-mayo-double-decker, and the other is a Bay Area show promotion collective committed to hosting all ages shows for under-the-radar local and touring bands. Both layer elements that don't necessarily seem like they'd go together – but are notoriously tasty for that precise reason.
True to form, Club Sandwich shows cross traditional genre boundary lines (noise, punk, folk, etc.), bringing together different subcultures within the Bay Area's underground music scene that don't usually overlap.
Club Sandwich: Raccoo-oo-oon 21 Grand
In the spirit of similar DIY show promoters like Todd P in New York or the Upset the Rhythm collective in the UK, Club Sandwich organizes shows at a host of different venues, ranging from legitimate gallery spaces like ATA in San Francisco and Lobot in Oakland to warehouse spaces where people live – and even an Oakland swimming pool.
"Part of what we do is connect the warehouse and art spaces with touring acts who do not have these intrinsic connections," says Club Sandwich founding member (and Guardian contributor) George Chen.
Club Sandwich: Some Dark Holler at Totally Intense Fractal Mindgaze Hut Oakland
Deerhoof's Satomi and Tenniscoats' Saya whoop it up at Aquarius tonight
Deerhoof's Satomi - oh, my. Photo by Ryan Schreiber.
Cool beans! One of the best impromptu in-stores around is happening tonight, Wednesday, Feb. 13, at 6 p.m. at Aquarius Records, 1055 Valencia, SF.
Deerhoof's Satomi is playing a special acoustic set with Tenniscoats' Saya as Oneone. (To read Johnny Ray Huston's review of Tenniscoats' latest CD, Tan-Tan Therapy, go here.) You have been warned - now you have no excuse not to go!
"What if she changed her name to Lenin?" Yoko Ono sues singer-songwriter Lennon Murphy for use of own name
Lennon Murphy bares some, if not all.
Boy, I love Yoko Ono: I think the woman is a genius and at 70-something she still rocks it live. (Yep, I can hear the oodles of boomers booing as I type.) But the news discussed in the open letter below, issued on a press release from singer-songwriter Lennon Murphy's people, is totally bizarre:
"Yesterday I received notice that Yoko Ono had filed a law suit against me, asking for a cancellation of the trademark that I own for the name "Lennon." This could very well mean the career that I have worked so hard at, the one you all have believed in, may come to an end. I wanted to address the situation to all my fans because without you I am nothing and it's not fair to everyone who has believed in my music not to be properly informed of this pure bullshit.
"When I first started playing music at 14, I was known for the most part as 'The Lennon Murphy Band.' Not a name I was very fond of, no one could ever agree on anything so it made sense. A few months later some of the shows started being marketed using my full name as well as some that just using 'Lennon.' There was never really any consistency but there was well enough to justify stating that 'Lennon' had been used in fact since 1997. When I signed with Arista Records in 2000 at the age of 18, a marketing decision was made to continue being known just as Lennon. In all honesty, I didn't care. I was just happy to sign a record deal, make an album, and pay my bills.
Last Monday’s announcement from Mexico City of the lineup for the upcoming Coachella Festival in Indio had more than a few prospective ticket buyers flummoxed. Where were all the celebrity headliners Goldenvoice had so skillfully assembled in years past? Where were the electro hipsters and indie-rock stalwarts whose appearances had succeeded in making Coachella the American Glastonbury?
After all the behind-the-scenes campaigning and Internet rumor-mongering that promised everyone from the Smiths to Gang of Four to Aphex Twin to Leonard Cohen, the unveiling was an extraordinary exercise in bathos. Thank goodness for Portishead. The biggest omission was the newly reunited My Bloody Valentine, who performs for the first time in over 15 years beginning this summer in the UK. After the major coup that brought the Jesus and Mary Chain to Indio last year, hopes were high that a second miracle might find Kevin Shields and co. headlining over the likes of Jack Johnson or Roger Waters.
My furry fourlegged friend is a 17-year-old former dog clothing model and lives in a loft in NYC (the bitch made it as a model in Manhattan and left me behind! America's Top Meanie!) Back when she was young, we'd huddle together, homeless, in shells of buildings in Detroit and Pontiac, MI. She never got the royal treatment until she was discovered by a talent scout who took one look at me and sniffed -- and I'm not sure how she'd respond to this:
Oh yes, it's real. And it gets better. This CD was "created by Skip Haynes and Dana Walden of the L.A. based Laurel Canyon Animal Company (the only record label that creates music about, for and with animals), who utilized the talents and expertise of intuitive animal communicator Dr. Kim Ogden to translate for them," according to the press release.
"Canine focus groups selected from over 250 dogs nationwide were assembled and questioned by Dr. Ogden as to their preferences in music and content. The dogs' responses were then used as guides for the music and lyrics resulting in a CD of songs that dogs love. "
The CD, apparently, has already yielded a hit, "Squeaky Deaky" -- which is accompanied by possibly one of the best videos EVER.
People on YouTube have already posted vids of their dogs reacting to the music. Straight up viral woofiness?
Is that your sleeve face - or are you just happy to see me?
By Joshua Rotter
Few of the MP3 generation can recall a time when music-lovers excitedly listened to entire records. But putting needle to groove was only half of a process that included poring over the often arty jacket itself and the internal sleeve to uncover the album's many intricacies: the song lyrics and the names of the band members, studio musicians, and producers. To many aficionados the packaging was as prized as its contents.
But once vinyl became mostly obsolete in the age of iMacs, so did these once-cherished album covers. Conversely vinyl’s rarity has turned its “frames” into an art form for diehard record fanatics - and nowhere is this more apparent than in the art of so-called sleeve face, where one conceals oneself with the face or body on an album cover in a seamless fashion so that the two merge harmoniously.
In today’s climate of non-contextual music downloading, some feel compelled to buck the trend, attempting to more intimately access the artistic process by riffing Guitar Hero, lip-syncing on YouTube, or even just aesthetically, by getting "into the artist's head" via sleeve facing.
Yeah, yeah, we've all been bombarded with Italo Disco the past couple years in the clubs... BUT -- what about Italodisco tracks laid down by an actual Italian? And a cute gay fuzzy one at that?
This Tuesday night at the Transfer, fabulous Paduan superstar DJ Giacomo, one half of Italo Disco/cosmic funk/hi-NRG production whizzes Disco Dromo, guests at weekly raveup Chilidog, in association with Honey Soundsystem.
I first ran into Giacomo while waiting for a bus in Williamsburg on a rainy Thanksgiving vacation night. Later, in the musty, moldy basement of the Cock, Hunky Beau stuck a finger up a hole in his pants. So you know he's game for anything! (I mean that in the most respectful way possible, Giacomo!)
"Honeydog"
Chilidog + Honey Soundsystem presents:
Disco Dromo
Tuesday January 8
10pm-2am
The Transfer
198 Church (at Market)
415-861-7499 www.honeysoundsystem.com
Alas, word has come on the hot gay wires that fabulously risquee night club chanteuse of the '40s and '50s, Ruth Wallis, has passed from Alzheimer's.
Wallis, progenitress of such incredibly double entendred tunes as "Hopalaong Chastity," "The Dinghy Song" ("Davey had the cutest little dinghy in the Navy"), and, a personal favorite, “A Man, a Mink, and a Million Pink and Purple Pills” -- and who was the inspiration for 2003 Off-Broadway tribute "Boobs! The Musical" -- was 87.
Someone has just expunged all of her online clips (heirs already planning to cash in, perhaps?) but below is a fine Victrola-type dealie spinning "Johnny Had a Yo-Yo." Blush and sing along with us, for Ruth.
Thanks to Matt Sussman of Flavorpill for passing the sad news on.
This just in from Stephen Stills' publicists: "Two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame artist and legendary guitarist Stephen Stills was successfully operated on today for prostate cancer in Los Angeles. 'Stephen's procedure went remarkably well and he couldn't be better. He will be home by noon tomorrow and the pain will be minimal,' his wife Kristen Stills said.
"The legendary artist is scheduled to attend the Sundance Film Festival in Utah for the Jan. 25 world premiere of CSNY/Deja Vu. The feature, directed by Bernard Shakey, was filmed during the 2006 "Freedom of Speech" tour by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. It is a moving tribute to the power of music to provoke and provide inspiration.
"Stephen Stills is also scheduled for a North American solo tour this spring in support of his recently released Just Roll Tape album on Rhino Records."
Amplive stomped by Radiohead publishers Warner/Chappell
"Holla at me, Thom," says Oakland producer Amplive, regarding the cease and desist letter he received from Radiohead publishing company Warner/Chappell. The Bay Area DJ had put together a series of digital-only remixes based on In Rainbows in tribute to Radiohead and the recording. Titled Rainydayz Remixes, featuring Too $hort, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, and others, the recordings had gotten attention from Pitchfork and the New York Times. Rainydayz, for sure.
New Yorker pop music critic Sasha Frere-Jones recently provoked an online brawl when he accused indie-rock of being, well, too white. I know, duh.
His complaint, laid out in an essay published in the Oct. 22 issue of The New Yorker: the new indie, as typified by the holy-white-trinity of Arcade Fire, the Shins, and the Decemberists, can't get a groove on to save its life. Underlying his distaste for modern indie is his sense of loss. According to Frere-Jones, the music had retreated from the heady, early '80s days of cross-pollinating New York rock, the days of punky funk and rap-disco hybrids, the days of Factory Records’ infatuation with NYC clubs.
He also argues - although, he admits, reductively - that as indie rock has retreated from black music, so has society become increasingly racially polarized. There's no doubt about the latter. But there may be a flip-side to what he perceives as racist retreat from black music.
Get off the Camel: Kill Rock Stars's open letter to 'Rolling Stone'
We, the indie: Maggie Vail (left) of the Bangs fired off this open letter to Rolling Stone.
This came over the e-mail transom today from Maggie Vail, publicist at Kill Rock Stars (and also of the Bangs) with the subject line: "an open letter to rolling stone."
"We, the undersigned independent record labels, wish to share our indignation regarding Rolling Stone’s November 15th pull out editorial, which featured the names of our artists in conjunction with an ad for Camel cigarettes. This editorial cartoon gives every impression of being part and parcel of the advertisement wrapped around it. The use of an artist’s name to promote a brand or product should be done only with the artist’s explicit consent, something that was neither solicited nor obtained from the labels or bands.
"When questioned, Rolling Stone has referred to the 'Indie Rock Universe' pull out section as an 'editorial,' but it hardly seems accidental that this editorial content is wrapped in a giant ad from R.J. Reynolds announcing their support for independent artists and labels. The idea that this was a coincidence in any way seems dubious at best. There are two other pull out sections in this same issue of Rolling Stone. Both are wrapped in advertising, but neither of these ads could be construed as part of the editorial content within.
"Many of the bands named, and the labels that represent them, are very unhappy with the implication that they have any involvement with R.J. Reynolds and Camel cigarettes. We ask that Rolling Stone apologize for blurring the line between editorial and advertisement, and in doing so, implying that the bands named support the product being advertised.
"Sincerely, Kill Rock Stars, Touch and Go, Skin Graft, Lovepump United, Lucky Madison, 5RC, Audio Dregs, and Fryk Beat."
German composer, serialist, sonic renegade, and electronic investigator Karlheinz Stockhausen died Wednesday, Dec. 5, at age 79 in Kuerten-Kettenberg, Germany. Largely responsible for introducing - or spoiling - the experimental harmonics of early 20th-century composers Messiaen and Webern to the futurist world of sine-wave electronics, tape-music, and micro-rhythms, he was lauded by everyone from Pierre Boulez to Paul McCartney, who famously included him on the cover of Sgt. Pepper’s. Along with the works of LaMonte Young, Stockhausen’s varied and immense oeuvre proved to be the most influential and compelling of the latter half of the 20th century. According to a writer at London Observer, Stockhausen represented the spirit of rock ‘n' roll long before it acknowledged its forefather. Without Stockhausen, there would be no Beatles, no Velvet Underground, no Brian Eno, no Aphex Twin.
In proper cybernetic tribute, collected here are a number of interviews and excerpts from his work.
Folked up: Freight & Salvage wins $1.161 million grant to build new green venue
This just in: Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse - the longest-running, full-time venue for folk and traditional music west of the Mississippi River - announced today it has been awarded a $1.161 million grant from the California Cultural and Historical Endowment (CCHE) to fund construction of its new green performance space, school, and café.
A release from the East Bay institution continues:
"Construction will begin before the end of the year on the nonprofit's 18,000-square-foot venue at 2020 Addison Street, in Berkeley's Downtown Arts District.
"The Freight's new home will have a listening room that doubles the audience capacity of its existing 220-seat venue. The plan also includes an additional 1,339-square-foot performance space, state-of-the-art sound system, café, and store offering CDs and sheet music.
"As an all-ages, family-friendly venue, the Freight is using this opportunity to expand its education program, and will offer a variety of folk and traditional music classes in six classrooms, bring music into the local schools, and establish a library and archive that will be open to the public.
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