Music scene recap
Before I get into my update, I want to thank my fellow Coolgrrrls for voting me the Coolgrrrl of the Year for 2005! It’s nice to be appreciated and recognized.
2005 was a whirlwind of great shows, my crazy life, and a sheer joy brought on by the fact that I live in San Francisco again. I met a lot of new characters, and walked countless miles (I missed walking everywhere). I also discovered some new favorite bands (both global and local), and I came away from it all with far less bruises than I had acquired the year before in Los Angeles. For some reason, my year in LA in 2004 consisted of a whole lot of rolling around on the floors of the Akbar, a favorite watering hole; where I was often egged on and joined by my friend Andrew. Together, we created a “dance” called “the log roll,” which we later decided was a very bad idea (because it always ended with multiple bruises). We decided that we should quit this “dance” cold turkey, but we had a very hard time quitting it, because everyone around us was so amused by our rolling around like logs on a dance floor! This Christmas while visiting Dallas, my friend Mike convinced me to do it again at Club Minc for old times sake. (Damn you, Mike!) I sware to God, that was the very last time. I rolled goodbye to 2005, and in to the New Year! (Too bad this photo doesn’t truly capture the spirit of the log roll, which I promise you, is ridiculously funny.)
I didn’t think I cared much about the New Year, but I have to admit I am pretty excited about it. I have decided to make a documentary this year (more on that in the coming months), and to try to get a new job back in Public Relations, which is my true calling. These two prospects are very exciting to me, and I really needed to get excited about something (besides music). I’m looking forward to the changes to come this year.
I decided it would be cool to recap on the San Francisco Music scene for everyone. My personal top 10 picks of great local bands are as follows. (Please keep in mind that I found it tough to decide where I rank each one, and these are just my current personal opinions, which change frequently. Also, there have got to be great bands who I have net yet seen enough of to form an opinion on.)
My number ONE pick for the best Bay Area band (where performance is just as important as the music):
1. The Grannies thegrannies.com
myspace.com/thegrannies
Number 2 is a very close second, and almost even a tie…
2. Everything Must Go everythingmustgo.us
myspace.com/everythingmustgo
3. The Black Furies blackfuries.com
myspace.com/blackfuries
4. The Phenomenauts phenomenauts.com
myspace.com/thephenomenauts
5. Teenage Harlets teenageharlets.com
myspace.com/teenageharlets
6. Flexx Bronco flexxbronco.com
myspace.com/flexxbronco
7 Whiskey Dick Darryls myspace.com/whiskeydickdarryls
8. Hammerlock hammerlock.net
myspace.com/hammerlock
9. Texas Theives texasthieves.com
myspace.com/texasthieves
10. Jewdriver jewdriver.com
myspace.com/jewdriver
I also want to mention again how much I enjoy watching Burlesque Performer Roky Roulette do his signature striptease on a pogo stick. It is just so funny. Also, honorable mentions are a few bands I hope to see more of: The Nightcrawlers, Le Plebe, Thee Merry Widows, and Los Dry Heavers. In addition, even though I am not in the hip-hop scene at all, I want to mention that I really like the Hieroglyphics a lot. That’s my current list of favorites for Bay Area Music. If you are a fan of punk rock or hard rock and roll, I suggest you at least check out my top 3, because I have great taste! Go to their websites or myspace pages and check them out!
So, 2006 has already brought some great news to the fans in our local music scene! You may remember if you’ve been reading my columns for a few years, that I used to constantly mention a venue that was always booking great shows, called the CW- Covered Wagon Saloon. It was sold at the end of 2002 and became another venue called the Cherry Bar for a while, which never had anything booked that I cared about. The venue just changed hands again, and it is getting back to its old roots. Now the venue is called Annie’s Social Club, and they are even booking my favorite regular Thursday night event again, Stinky’s Peep Show. The first show at Annie’s on Friday Jan. 13th was so much fun for me, because not only was I looking forward to the re-opening, but also the Grannies performed! The place was completely packed. Dean, the singer, wore a funny tennis outfit and continually mooned the crowd. The debut/return of Stinky’s at this venue was on January 26th. I didn’t make it to that show, but look forward to a Stinky’s Peep Show soon, and I promise you will be hearing more about this from me in the future. Anniessocialclub.com, myspace.com/anniessocialclub. For booking info, anniesbooking@gmail.com.
On January 9, which was a Monday night, H.R. (of Bad Brains) performed at Studio Z. I have been a huge fan of Bad Brains since I was about 15, and have seen them perform twice with the original line up, and once with a different singer and drummer. When I saw that H.R. was coming to play San Francisco, I didn’t even care that it was on a Monday and I have to get up for work at freakin’ 6am on Tuesday; I just knew I’d never forgive myself if I missed it. I expected him to (most likely) be performing reggae only, but that too, was okay with me.
H.R. has a very distinct and unique-sounding voice, especially for punk music. Bad Brains, in addition to playing some of the best (and first) hardcore punk of all time, was also an incredible, soulful reggae band. They (possibly unintentionally) brought countless punk rockers into contact with the band’s chosen religion of Rastafari, as well as making reggae fans out of some who otherwise may not have been. I always loved all of their music. I got to meet them a few times as a teenager, and I got to shake H.R.’s hand backstage before this show. I am really glad I dragged myself there and stayed until the end at 1 am! I felt like I was a part of something important… it’s very hard to describe, but the best I can do is to say that even though I don’t know how I feel about Rastafari, because of my perception of it being disrespectful of women, I still see H.R. as something of a hero or icon, because Bad Brains are one of the most incredible bands that I’ve been privileged enough to be touched by. I also want to say that San Francisco punk rockers should have been there to pay their respects, and they were not! The show was all reggae, but it was incredible to be there.
On Sat. Jan 22, I went to see the Whiskey Dick Darryls, Los Dry Heavers, and Le Plebe at Grant and Green in N. Beach. All 3 bands were really great. I went with the intention of seeing the Whiskey Dick Darryls again (who I’ve written about seeing once and being at shows where I missed their set twice). I wanted to see what I thought again, and I still really liked them a lot. The guitar players and bassist all share vocal duties, which I think keeps a band interesting.
Los Dry Heavers and Le Plebe were both excellent. Le Plebe has 2 horns in the band, they’re really high energy, and they sounded really great. I was pretty occupied getting my drink on and running my mouth, so I don’t have anything very specific to say about the performances other than I will definitely go see all the bands again. The whole show had excellent energy, and the crowd was really into it.
On a totally different musical note, Prince came to The Fillmore on Monday January 30th to play a special last minute concert with Tamar, a female vocalist who is a member is the New Power Generation. Tickets went on sale at 10 am the Friday before the show, and were sold out in about 2 hours. I was really bummed I didn’t buy them in time, but I managed to arrange to go after all. The show started after midnight, but prior to entering, everyone had to be thoroughly violated by the security staff. Tamar is a pretty, sexy young black girl with huge curls, and 2 identical twin go-go dancer/ backup vocalists who had perfect tiny bodies and could actually harmonize too. They had flawless choreographed dances, and the show was mega-high energy. Prince played guitar, made comments, danced, and sang harmony only. It was still amazing to be in a room with him and hear him play guitar. He looks great.
Tamar put on a great show as far as the energy level and dancing, but her voice was nothing to write home about for the most part. She sounded the best while doing old soul songs like “Never Loved a Man,” by Aretha Franklin, and “When a Man Loves a Woman.” The rest of the songs she did were much faster and had harder-driving background music, so her voice sounded a little too much like yelling to me. During the slower songs though, she reminded me of a female Sam Cooke. She also, vaguely at moments, sounded a bit like Patti La Belle. The stage show reminded me of old Tina Turner. So all things considered, although I didn’t leave this show a fan of hers, I did absolutely feel she gave the audience her all and put on a great show. I also have to give her credit for having the drive and confidence to perform for a crowd of Prince fans who had probably never heard of her, and weren’t really there to see her. She handled it all like a real pro.
I saw a few people sneaking photos and I tried to do the same, but got caught each time I made an attempt. There were a lot of stupid spazzy people banging into me all night, and I was very irritated with the crowd and the security. When one of the security demanded my camera, I told him I would just leave the venue, so I was escorted out before the show ended. It was my choice. I did see the duration of the show, and I couldn’t imagine it would get any better than what I had seen. I am glad I went, but it wasn’t anything close to what seeing Prince perform as a solo artist is like. Was it worth the $40 I paid? Absolutely. If I were watching it on Video or DVD, would I have been hitting fast forward repeatedly? Yeah… I really had to be there to give it my full attention. Would I go see Tamar without Prince? No, definitely not.
When I downloaded everything from my camera later, it turned out that I did get one photo to share with all of you after all. I was very excited when I discovered it, since security had watched me delete my photos before they escorted me out. (Ha, ha… F*** The Fillmore.)
Well this is what’s been going on in the San Francisco music scene according to me. I look forward to more great shows in 2006, and I’ll keep you posted!
Coming up:
Wed Mar 1st, The Cult is coming to The Fillmore and I look forward to that. Sunday March 5th is GBH at Bottom of the Hill. That should be interesting, since I think this venue is too small for much younger bands that have nowhere near the size of fan base that GBH has. I’ve seen GBH perform venues 3 times the size of this one! For GBH’s US Tour dates: njhindl1.demon.co.uk/gbh/tour. The Subhumans are coming to Slim’s on March 24th. Demented are Go is also returning to the Bay Area on April 4th at Annie’s Social Club.
Until Next time,
XOXO Alisha Amnesia
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