Glee's Got Nothing on “Bollywood Berkeley 2011”
Over 2,000 fans crowded into sold-out Zellerbach Hall on Saturday night for the largest intercollegiate Bollywood dance competition in the U.S. — eight teams dressed in sparkly costumes competing for...
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Live Review: Cake Runs With Classic Recipe
The entire ethos of alt-rock icons Cake can perhaps be embodied in one picture, taken as part of a promotional photo shoot for the band. In it, lead singer John McCrea stands apart from his...
View ArticleLive Review: Dan Deacon's Rickshaw Stop Show Was a Hot Mess
in the best way possible, that is. Anyone who's seen the trash-DIY electronic artist perform knows that the music itself is almost secondary to the extracurricular activities: Deacon treats his live...
View ArticleNoise Pop Live Review: Ted Leo Solo, for Better and for Worse
Ted Leo sans Pharmacists. It’s an interesting prospect.…
View ArticleMike Daisey Makes Off with $1169 and a Half Cent
Monologist Mike Daisey took a big risk by giving his salary out to audience members at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. But apparently, the experiment paid off.…
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Live Show Review: Lady Gaga at the Oracle Arena (Plus Pictures!)
So, Lady Gaga? You may have heard of her.…
View ArticleCold Steel Prevails at the San Francisco Regional Air Guitar Championships
Okay, here's the problem with the San Francisco regional air guitar competition: It's actually split into two separate contests, one on Friday and one on Saturday, each with its own winner. That's...
View ArticlePublic Service Announcement: Follow Us for Nonstop Outside Lands Coverage
So. You may have heard that there's a big music festival in San Francisco this weekend?…
View ArticleNew, Startling Piece from Oakland-Born Hip-Hop Artist Kev Choice
A rap career seems like an odd move for a classically-trained pianist, but Kev Choice has figured out how to make it work—often in startling ways. His latest release is a spin on "Arietta" (Opus 12-1),...
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Adele, Up Close and Personal
Anticipation was in the air as we awaited Adele's long return to the Bay Area last night at Berkeley's Greek theater. That's no understatement.…
View ArticleHoliday Guide Preview: Top-Ten Act Future Islands Charms SF
You never saw a guy in Dockers move like this. Pleated Dockers.…
View ArticleNoise Pop Live Review (and Slideshow!): Sleigh Bells, Last Night at the...
Alexis Krauss is the cutest person alive. Can we all agree on this, just take the other seven billion people on earth out of the running right now?…
View ArticleExposing Themselves: Wye Oak and Sea of Bees at the Independent, 2/24
Apparently, something in the air of the show at the Independent Friday night made it particularly easy to overshare — in fact, it seemed impossible not to. Perhaps it was because the show was sold out...
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Live Review, Robert Glasper at the New Parish: Yes, It's Jazz
A recent New York Times headline challenged the canonical placement of pianist Robert Glasper’s new album, Black Radio, by posing the question: “So is it jazz?” Although writer Nate Chinen never came...
View ArticleReview: Jeff Mangum Steps Out at the Fox Theater
The last time I saw someone try to take on the whole three thousand-capacity Fox Theater alone with an acoustic guitar was nearly a year ago, when Robin Pecknold unplugged his dreadnought and stepped...
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Esperanza Spalding Shows a More Fully Defined Concept at the Paramount
The easiest criticism to make of bassist Esperanza Spalding, in previous years, was that her live shows didn't have any overarching theme or direction. She'd mix a typical jazz repertoire — standards,...
View ArticleTreasure Island: Hits and Misses
Outside Lands, Coachella, Treasure Island: Last year, I made it to all three (also Burning Man, but you won't ever hear me call it a music festival). Treasure Island was my favorite for its location,...
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Live Review: Quicksand, Mastodon, High on Fire, Saviours at Slim’s
While supporters of gay marriage were holding impromptu celebrations in the streets around the Bay Area last night, fans of heavy music were having their own celebration of sorts — inside Slim’s, where...
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Live Review: Helen Money, House of Low Culture, Black Spirituals, and Sad...
Noise shows can be a dicey proposition. At their best, they clear the air from the Western musical forms and melodies we're so accustomed to.…
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Live Review: Kanye West at Oracle Arena
At Oracle Arena last night, the self-proclaimed God Yeezus, otherwise known as Kanye West, put on a bold, highly orchestrated spectacle that was ripe with symbolism. In other words, it was nothing less...
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Live Review: Tool and Failure at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 3/12
A Tool concert is a lot like Ridley Scott’s recent film Prometheus, and if you like one, you’ll probably like the other. Both are lavish works of big-budget, high-concept art that are either...
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John Legend Gives Soulful Performance at Berkeley’s Zellerbach
On Sunday night, Grammy-winning singer/song-writer John Legend gave a soulful performance at Zellerbach Hall at UC Berkeley. It was the second Bay Area stop on his “All of Me” tour.…
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Live Review: The Brian Jonestown Massacre at The Fox Theater, 5/8
Legendary Bay Area psychedelic band The Brian Jonestown Massacre played to a packed house at the Fox Theater in Oakland last night. The band — led by singer Anton Newcombe and including founding...
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Ronnie Spector, Burger Boogaloo Rock Oakland
Burger Records was founded by two bedraggled twentysomethings in Orange County in 2007. Fixated on yesteryear’s bubblegum pop, juvenile punk, and ramshackle garage rock, Sean Bohrman and Lee Rickard...
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