Sunday, April 29, 2001

get up (get on up-ah)

incredibly strange wrestling | 5.5 | fillmore : so you couldn't get joan jett tix + el vez is too 'tame' for you? here's to what should be the most absurd thing you can go to for cinco de mayo. these guys play punk, build a wrestling ring in the middle of the fillmore, wrestle bartenders + the audience, wear mexican wrestling outfits + near the end of the show throw tortillas into the crowd. dios mio.

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james brown + tower of power | 5.31 | paramount in oakland : my biggest fear is that i overlook an ad for a show like this + all of you are pissed at me 'cause you couldn't get tickets in time. tickets are on sale right now... i have no idea if any are left. i already have tickets for another 'don't miss' show for this evening, but i tell you... jb...AND tower of power... AND at the paramount? friggin' 'ell (on the one). eeeeeeeeeEEE-UNNGH! POPCORN!
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kool keith | 6.30 | maritime ...i mentioned this guy a while back. amazing turntablist + performance artist.

Tuesday, April 24, 2001

a moon confused

+ then sometimes i'm too wordy for my own goody.i've added some fine folk, so if this email list is new to you + you don't want to receive it, tell me to piss off + i will.

on to hulett's money drain:

03.17.01 | kronos quartet | yerba buena : you know these guys right?

03.19.01 | mogwai | bimbo's : scots blowing the doors off the manchester scene

03.21.01 | john hammond | gamh : blues standard. yup his daddy discovered people like billie holiday + bob dylan

03.24.01 | sarah harmer | cafe du nord : i've yet to see her live, but i've liked her recordings. smart lyrics catchy tunes, this is a lilith fair warning i must say.

03.26+27.01 | nick cave | palace of fine arts :
already brought him up. don't miss him.

03.31.01 | jad fair | starry plough, berkeley : quirkiest of the quirky, this guy writes from the heart + bares his insecurities in your face. very catchy tunes to go with all the emotional exposure. his voice isn't for everyone, but i love this guy. original force behind half japanese, one of the longest living punk bands around. the violent femmes literally lifted their sound from him. thank you, kraly.

04.01.01 | jonatha brooke | fillmore : breathy + catchy songster from the story. again...lilith

04.02.01 | guided by voices | fillmore : indie-arty-poppy-ohioans. and BRILLIANT.

04.03.01 | the waterboys | fillmore : tone down the punk from the pogues. is that the best way i can describe these irish wizards? i wish i was a fisherman...

04.03.01 | rodney crowell | slim's : almost but will never make it to radio country guy. solid songs. lots of 'em. done by the likes of emmylou.

04.07.01 | soft boys w/the young fresh fellows | fillmore : robyn hitchcock's old punk band (iiiiiiiii wanna destroooooooyyy youuuu) the soft boys + the young fresh fellows? this is a don't miss. me already got tickets.

04.09+10.01 | joe jackson | 09-fillmore 10-warfield : yeah he drifted + drifts into some highly questionable territory, but.... he still has those few songs that light me at times.

04.12.00 | psychedelic furs | fillmore : don't make me describe them. i'm a victim of the john hughes time period i grew up in. "inside you the tide moves..."

04.12.00 | merle haggard | gershwin theater : 'hey hurtin' me now don't mean a thing. since love ain't here i don't feel no pain. my mind ain't nothin' but a total blank. i think i'll just stay here and draynk.' i wanna go to this if only to see the people who can afford the tickets meandering with the fanatics who spent their entire paycheck so they could see him.

04.13+14.01 | shane mcgowan + the popes | fillmore : i still haven't seen him solo, for fear of it obliterating my memory of how amazing the pogues were when they each had a keg of guiness at their feet for a show.

04.13.01 | lloyd cole | slim's : i'm sensing some kind of 80s flashback thing going on here. she's got perfect skin...

04.18.01 | david thomas | BotH : ex-frontman for pere ubu. probably the only person i can think of who could challenge jad fair to the quirky title. pere ubu was amazing. the pixies lifted a lot of their sound from them.

04.19.01 | fear | slim's : straight ahead old school brilliant punk

04.21.01 | poi dog pondering | fillmore : these guys used to play at the cafe i worked at for free on friday afternoon. i think they're in chicago now. i thought they broke up. i'm really having flashbacks now...only in the nineties. they were really good back then. now? i'd rather go see:

04.21.01 | richard buckner | BotH :
best living songwriter + maybe poet i know of. has a way with tunes + a nice breathy almost appalachian voice. he's taken country + deconstructed it. look for me. i'll be the blonde weepy puddle @ the front of the stage.

04.22+23.01 | arab strap | BotH : more scottish popsters, but definitely more on the dark reflective folky end of the spectrum. nick
drake meets nick cave + belle+sebastian.

04.27.01 | pancho sanchez | latin jazz super-percussionist. you will find your ass has a mind of its own @ this show.

05.01+02.01 | jets to brazil | slim's: fans of local punk heroes jawbreaker (the sf h¸sker d¸) don't miss this one.

05.10+11.01 | folk implosion + lou barlow | BotH : lou barlow, the genius behind sebadoh, opening for his own side project band.
introspective indie rocker...this show will likely be a little more introspective than sebadoh.

05.14.01 | melvins | slim's : seattle seattle seattle (it wouldn't have happened without these cats) really loud, really ugly.

05.18+19.01 | frank black + the catholics | slim's : pixies
front yelper. break my body, hold my bones (hold my bones) you're so pretty when you're unFAITHful to me

05.26.01 | throwing muses | slim's : swirly reunion.

05.31.01 | the flatlanders | slim's : do you have any idea how flat lubbock is? how that town produced 4 incredible musician/songwriters in the same generation is beyond me. i need to drink that water. butch hancock: i've held conversations with him on several occassions. i don't know how. i mean how he carries on a conversation when obviously there is a string of poetry flowing through his brain at all times. jimmie dale gilmore: warbler extraordinaire. one of, if not the best voice in country music today. named after jimmie rogers, somehow his voice actually lives up to that, except i've never really heard him yodel. joe ely: the rockin' showman that grabbed the clash's attention back in their day. david byrne called these guys country music's velvet
underground. bless david byrne's little heart. all amazing songwriters. more a legend than a band indeed. (the 4th mentioned up there is not in the flatlanders, + that's terry allen.)

Sunday, April 22, 2001

hollow rings

cheryl wheeler | 4.26 | freight + salvage, berkeley -good country singer songwriter. bring a flask

j. mascis + the fog | 4.27 | GAMH -dino jr guy

mekons | 4.28 | GAMH -i keep thinking this band broke up. one of the earliest punk meets country bands from leeds, england. jon langford's first band for those familiar with the waco brothers.

tippa ire w/pato banton | 4.28 | justice league -two incredible toasters for you reggae fans.

prince | 4.28 | arena in oakland -genius.

jerry jeff walker | 5.1 + 7.22 | GAMH -big drunken fratboy draw in my homestate, but that still couldn't keep me away from his amazing songs. how many people can say bob dylan recorded one of their songs? the crowd here will likely be different, i guess, but there is a lot of woodwork in this town.

sigur ros | 5.2 | fillmore -iceland's answer to the emerging ambient pop scene from the british isles.

rocket from the crypt | 5.2 | GAMH -heavily influenced by the 80's minneapolis scene (h¸sker d¸ + replacements) + mixed with that southern cal punk sound (minutemen, x), these are some of the truest punks out there. get their tattoo + see 'em free.

terence blanchard quintet | 5.3-6 | yoshi's - hard bop trumpeter who worked under marsalis + then moved on to art blakey's jazz messengers. probably best known for his movie scores for spike lee, which tend to be mellower than his normal solo hard bop.

el vez | 5.5 | GAMH -the self proclaimed 'mexican elvis', son of elvis + charo. cheese at its finest. the date is the most important thing here. cinco

joan jett + the blackhearts | 5.5 | BotH -yes, hulett is recommending joan jett + the blackhearts. they will give your hair a new part. i do love rock 'n' roll, after all

rufus wainwright | 5.6 | GAMH -loudon wainwright iii's son, who sounds absolutely nothing like his dad. rufus is much more jazz oriented with a little over the top drama thrown in. rufus is a tit man (loudon was a bit off with that one)

chick corea | 5.9-13 | yoshi's -chick replaced herbie in miles' group. truth be told, i don't know that much more about him, as his music as i've heard it always fell a little flat with me. disagree? convert me. i'm open.

g. love + special sauce | 5.15 | warfield -never got into 'em, but i figured some of you would be interested.

herbie hancock (appearance) | 5.16 | bimbo's -who knows what 'appearance' means for this julian priester benefit show, but herbie in a place as small as bimbo's???

peter case | 5.18 | slim's -great singer songwriter primarily in the old 'busker' sense. a guy who used to play on the streets of san francisco for spare change. he also fronted the plimsouls (remember 'a million miles away'?) he belts the songs out with a soulful sensibility with tales of hard luck. are you a fan of steve earle?

dave matthews | 5.18-19 | pacbell park -again, not really into him, though i appreciate the musicianship. i figured several of you would be interested.

john mayall | 5.25 | slim's -one of the first 60's blues white boys

ben harper | 5.26 | greek theatre -uc berk

tom petty + the heartbreakers | 5.28 | chronicle pavilion -i may never see him again, if i have to sit on the grass + see him on a 20 yard wide television. 'i don't understand the world today'

gourds | 6.1 | slim's (benefit show) -the texas pogues co-headline a benefit show

del mccoury band | 6.12 | GAMH -great bluegrass band. really great.

built to spill | 6.16-19 | slim's

stereo mc's | 6.20 | slim's

ex w/ black heart procession | 6.27 @ BotH | 6.28 @ GAMH -the ex are a mixed bag of punk + european folk indie cats from amsterdam. black heart procession are a mixed bag of desert, sea, cabaret meets nick cave from san diego. a great mixed bag. don't miss this one.

red house painters | 7.1 | GAMH -you a fan of american music club? this guy bares his soul similarly. folkyrock despair + loss.

ani difranco | 7.6 | greek theatre -uc berk

roxy music | 8.5 | chronicle pavilion -i once heard that guy in the banana hammock that sang for duran duran claim that he was heavily influenced by the velvet underground. it took me awhile but i figured out he was hearing the VU filtered through roxy music. that doesn't make roxy music bad. i like them, even if they are this missing link. again, i don't want to pay over $40 to sit on the grass + see bryan ferry on tv

madonna | 9.5 | arena in oakland -quit rubbing your eyes. she's huge. i gotta open my closet every now + then. no, i'm not going. unless one of you wants to buy me a ticket.

widespread panic | 10.12-13 | greek theatre -uc berk jam band with sounds of the south: rock, blues, jazz + folk

Tuesday, April 10, 2001

i'm moving to saratoga

04.13 | carlos! + john vanderslice | BotH -vanderslice does that song 'bill gates must die', though his music really is pretty good + not just a novelty one-off. haven't seen carlos! but i like the exclamation! reminds me of wham! something tells me that they ain't no wham! though!

04.19 | evan dando | cellar @ johnny foley's -speaking of somebody must die. here's that lemonheads guy. (it's a shame about ray)

04.26 | tricky | fillmore -aww yeah

04.29 | iggy pop | fillmore - most people know him for 'lust for life' from trainspotting + suv commercials. trainspotting makes sense, but it's just odd that a weird little in-shape wrinkly worm toad who has a habit of pulling his package out onstage would be selling the american dream. i dig him. 'i'm so messed up i want you here, i'm so messed up, i want you near, now i got you face to face as i lay right down in my favorite place + now i wanna be your dog. so come on!'

04.30 | fatboy slim | fillmore

05.12 | white stripes | fillmore -one guy, one girl, a guitar + drums. some mod rockin' tunes.

05.31 | david byrne | fillmore -ironic that he's playing the same night as the band i quoted him on the last one o' these.

06.05+06 | tortoise | fillmore -leaders of the stripped down jazz/punk scene from chicago. sea+cake...sam prekop...gastr del sol... this drummer (john mc entire) leaves me speechless. sometimes borders on techno-sounding, except there's not a computer around.

06.15 | blake babies | gamh - juliana hatfield's old band. juliana hatfield? one of the first of the 'girly' voices that became really prevalent in post-nirvana punk (lord, forgive me, folks. that just didn't sound right. waaay too pretentious...i need elbow patches a pipe + a pierced tongue to talk like that). anyway, the blake babies were one of the first. she also has been involved in giant sand (have i raved enough about them?), the lemonheads, + the juliana hatfield three. remember "i hate my sister...she makes me sick."? i like juliana. especially with the blake babies.

check out why i'm moving to saratoga
here

no way in hell i'm describin' 'em all (from may - september):
wallflowers (if all they ever wrote was 'one headlight', well, nevermind) | john lee hooker | emmylou harris (o.k. if you go to this, i have to warn you that if i'm there emmylou will ignore the rest of the crowd + sing directly + only to me. i don't know why. she just has a thing for me) w/ joe henry | cesaria evora w/bebel gilberto (weird double, but two women with amazing voices, one all about belting, the other all about subtlety) | bela fleck | nina simone (there's this great quote of hers during a song where she stops the band + admonishes them for pushing the tempo too hard. for fear of misquoting, i'll save it until i bring the cd in.) | chieftains | lyle lovett (lyle's music has been keeping me in good company recently) | mary chapin carpenter w/ steve earle + the dukes (steve was on FIRE when i saw him in march. or maybe i was. hmmmm...) | shawn colvin (great lyricist. great voice, great guitarist. nice nose) | indigo girls | lou rawls, baby | cowboy junkies (they're still around?) | gipsy kings | willie nelson -I LUUUUUV YOUUUUU, WILLLIEEEEE!!!!!!! | dwight yoakum | john prine | smokey robinson