Even as Haight was serving up a summer of love in 1967, something darker was brewing in the Bay. Not Altamont, which was still a couple of years away, but Blue Cheer — a thunderous blues act that delved into the shadowy corners of psychedelia rather than indulging the flowery,…
In 2002, Maroon 5 released Songs About Jane, which went on to sell something like a bajillion copies around the world. Consequently, the band hit the road for so many years that it didn’t have time to record anything other than live albums until this year’s It Won’t Be Soon…
Admit it: Sometimes you sit around listening to your Sex Pistols records and think, “I wonder which punk-rock icon has the biggest schlong?” Or perhaps you’re wondering, “What kind of pizza would that Food Network dude say goes well with the New York Dolls?” The Official Punk Rock Book of…
Ahhh . . . Mexico! Nothing like starting out the New Year on a long stretch of beach with a trio of lovely, successful women. Trouble is, I was just one of the girls. We drank wine, cooked meals, and wrote resolutions on paper, then burned them in the fire…
After having participated in the soundtrack of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (she provided the singing voice of Jenna Fischer in “Let’s Duet”), Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Angela Correa emerges with her own three-track EP, in anticipation of her upcoming full release. On this short sample, one gets the idea…
Beanie Sigel’s rough-and-ready new CD stands in direct contrast to his onetime mentor Jay-Z’s latest. While Hov reminisces about his pre-posh days on American Gangster, Sigel is still living them on The Solution. Since his last album (2005’s The B.Coming), Sigel was acquitted of attempted murder and spent some time…
His name may not be familiar, but Bishop Lamont is becoming one of the craftiest MCs on the West Coast. He’s released a series of buzz-building mix tapes since signing with Dr. Dre two years ago, the latest of which, Caltroit, is an impressive collaboration with producer/rapper Black Milk, a…
In 2006, gay singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright re-created gay icon Judy Garland’s 1961 smash album, Judy at Carnegie Hall, note for note in concert at the venerable New York venue. Well, almost note for note. Wainwright couldn’t quite match Garland’s zingy swing. But he was so determined to get it right…
In the underrated Allison Anders movie Grace of My Heart (in which Ileana Douglas starred as a singer/songwriter loosely based on Carole King), Bridget Fonda has a cameo as a teen-dream 1960s pop singer who’s a closeted (duh) lesbian. The song Fonda’s character sings in the movie, “My Secret Love,”…
As one of the most prolific composers of his generation, Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington wrote, throughout his long career, movie soundtracks (Otto Preminger’s 1959 Anatomy of a Murder is a great example), classical scores, and many tunes that are now considered American standards. More than 30 years after his passing,…
Mainstream indie rock may seem like a contradiction in terms, but that hasn’t stopped The Bravery from winning over new fans. Hailed as “the next big thing” by MTV and the popular music press after the release of its 2005 self-titled debut, the band emerged as part of a new…
Magic Bullets’ bouncy New Wave pop (often sung with an affected British accent) sounds like a lot like Echo & the Bunnymen, but this San Francisco sextet puts its own spin on things. For example, the song “Spent Nights,” from the group’s 2006 debut, a CHILD but in life yet…
“The Fresh Prince” himself, Will Smith, is rumored to be coming to P-town for the big game. Same with George Clooney, Vince Vaughn, and numerous other glitterati who’ll jet into the Valley sometime during the next 72 hours to partake in the non-stop partying going down in honor of Super…
Diddy’s in town to throw his bling around for Super Bowl weekend, and you can bet your badonkadonk we’ll be partying with him. Thursday, January 31 is “Super Thursday” at Axis/Radius, and Diddy is set to perform for an hour and a half, along with sets by hip-hop stars Next and Valley rapper Pokafase. Not only will I be there in full regalia (that’s right, I’m actually ditching the ponytail/leather jacket look for once), but I’ll be accompanied by independent singer/songwriter Jody Gnant, who’ll be shooting exclusive video footage for this very blog.
THURSDAY 24 Axis/Radius: Crystal Thursdays Ladies Night (Top 40, rock, dance) The Blooze Bar: DJ El Dedo (rockabilly) Bobby C’s: Willy B. (old-school R&B) Bunkhouse: DJ Doom (dance) Casey Jones: Da Gutter Thursdays with DJ Soulman (hip-hop, Top 40) Cherry Lounge: DJ M2 (rock, ’80s, old school, hip-hop) Club Forbidden: DJ Jeremy…
Considering the stiff penalties for drinking and driving, it’s not often we make our way to the outskirts of town for a cocktail. But on Friday, January 18, we were feeling particularly sober and decided to check out a brand-new joint in north Scottsdale called Vocé Ristoranté & Lounge. Being…
“It’s like almond,” Anand Wilder says, “like the nut.” No, this isn’t a setup for a nut joke. Wilder, the guitarist/vocalist of the abruptly acclaimed, suddenly sanctioned experimental rock group Yeasayer is, at my request, clarifying the pronunciation of his first name. “It was definitely a problem in elementary school…
Ah, the new wave of British heavy metal. Affectionately known to metalheads the world over as the NWOBHM, the genre’s sound was characterized by galloping rhythms, operatic vocals, and guitars that straddled the line between wailing, classical-tinged solos and not-quite- thrash crunch. Epitomized, of course, by its most world-famous icon,…
For those of you going through “year-in-review” withdrawal, here’s a day-by-day account of what the year’s given us so far. January 1: Dick Clark’s “New Years Rockin’ Eve” hardly rocks, with Fergie, The Jonas Brothers, Carrie Underwood, and Miley Cyrus doing the honors. But for the third straight year after…
The first two lines on Joe Jackson’s new album are: “Hey, can you hear me now, as I fade away and lose my ground? Maybe you’d like to know what I’d have to say, if I was still around.” Are the words merely song lyrics or is ol’ Joe wryly…
On his previous disc, La Kahena, San Francisco-based, Algerian-born DJ Cheb i Sabbah explored the sounds of his native North Africa, adding tracks and loops to the material he had recorded there upon his return to the U.S. This time around, the focus is the music of the Indian subcontinent,…
Kate Nash’s debut LP, Made of Bricks, was released last summer in the U.K., where she became an overnight sensation; both the CD and single, “Foundations,” charted at number one. The 20-year-old from a London suburb pals around with Lily Allen, with whom she’s frequently compared. Yet unlike Alright, Still…
