open your mouth + let the butterflies out
isaac hayes | 6.22 | paramount oakland : sorry i'm so late on this one. i just saw it today. this is a tribute show to gordon parks, the man behind the shaft movie (he's also got an exhibit of his photography at the oakland museum). ya damn skippy. shut yo mouth.
trilok gurtu | 7.06 | justice league : gurtu is an indian jazz percussionist who fuses indian ragas with african + american jazz. this show should be filled with mesmerizing talent.
quasi | 7.11 | BotH : sam coomes + janet weiss. sam was in heatmiser with elliott smith. janet's the drummer for sleater-kinney. together they sound a bit like elliott smith fueled by a cacophony of grinding punk + almost cheesy synths. it works. well.
echo + the bunnymen | 7.22 | fillmore : go ahead. take your best shot. shoogah keessessss...
warren zevon | 7.26 | fillmore : sorry i'm saving my breath for the next one.
jonathan richman | 7.28 | BotH : (give paris one more chance) about ten months ago, at a time when i really needed it, a good friend introduced me to the poetry of hafez, an old sufist poet from persia. so we went to the bookstore + i picked up a collection. he told me during our walk outof the store that hafez's poetry is often used in persia for guidance. you would open the book + whatever poem you land on has a message that you need to hear. so i did, + was stunned. the poem, though wide sweeping in scope (not like grandma's refrigerator poetry, mind you), was filled with incredible detail and things that seemed incredibly personal to me. i have yet to put that book on a shelf. so several months ago i go see jonathan at the make out room. now i've been a fan for a long time, seen him several. every time i see him, he plays at least four new songs that are incredible. i kind of got the feeling that if modern america had anyone similar to hafez, this guy is it. you will always smile at a jonathan richman show. he is life affirming. but the reason he's so much fun is not because he only writes about flippant good time stuff. though he does do that, but he also searches deep in the core for painful things + renders them in a way that you realize that there is beauty there. besides you can tell he is having a ball with it. last time i saw him i was 15 feet from him. several new songs that floored me. one in particular in which he stared straight at me smiling through the whole song. exactly the song i needed to hear. he hasn't recorded it.
if you don't know of him + are curious as to what he sounds like, he was the minstrel in 'something about mary.' he has such a thick boston accent that there are times when he almost needs subtitles. he plays a hollow body gibson + often takes it off (which means there is no music playing) so he can dance around onstage. ...with no music playing.
dwight yoakum | 8.22+23 | fillmore : mainstream country friggin' sucks. how this guy made it in there i don't know.
previously mentioned:
lloyd cole | 6.21 | slim's
ron sexsmith | 6.22 | gamh
supersuckers w/m.i.r.v. | 6.22+23 | slim's
me'shell ndegÈocello | 6.23+24 | justice league
guided by voices | 6.24 | fillmore
pink martini | 6.25+27 | gamh
radiohead | 6.27 | shoreline
ex w/ black heart procession | 6.27 @ BotH | 6.28 @ GAMH
mr t experience | 6.29 | slim's
michelle shocked | 6.29 | fillmore
kool keith | 6.30 | maritime
the derailers | 6.30 | slim's
red house painters | 7.1 | GAMH
bebel gilberto | 7.5+6 | bimbo's
ani difranco | 7.6 | greek theater
shuggie otis | 7.7 | fillmore
peter himmelman | 7.8 | gamh
air | 7.9+10 | warfield
mike doughty | 7.11 | gamh
nina simone | 7.11 | paramount
trey anastasio | 7.13 | greek theatre
the white stripes | 7.14@bimbo's 7.15@gamh
sade | 7.17+18 | those damn outdoor theaters
shawn colvin | 7.21 | fillmore
jerry jeff walker | 7.22 | GAMH
lucinda williams | 7.26 | warfield
jill scott | 7.27 | greek theatre
mark eitzel | 7.30 | gamh
roxy music | 8.5 | chronicle pavilion
madonna | 9.5 | arena in oakland
smokey robinson | 9.15 | chronicle pavilion
widespread panic | 10.12-13 | greek theatre
