A new direction
Hey everyone! It’s been a while since I have written, and I am so glad to finally have the time to update you on all the things that I’ve been enjoying. I have had a super busy spring. I went to Europe for 2 weeks, left my miserable job, and have all kinds of new plans for my future. It’s been a bit overwhelming! My account of the Europe trip to London, Paris, Berlin, and Prague is rather long; and I have things to report on for San Francisco too, so if you want to read about the Europe trip and see lots of photos, click here.
Since I’ve been back from Europe, there have been a lot of fun things going on. I got invited to a birthday party on a yacht, which was so much fun, that it has ruined me as far as planning my own birthday party! Nothing will top that party unless I have mine on a yacht too now!
On Tuesday May 16th, I went to see The Briefs at Annies Social Club. The Briefs always put on a high energy, tight show, and everyone present has a lot of fun. Their sound is fast, loud pop punk, and reminds me a lot of The Buzzcocks. I’ve seen this band so many times now that I’ve lost count, but I will continue to see them again and again, because they never dissapoint a crowd. At this point, I was not expecting to see anything that was new to me, but they surprised the crowd by having Bambi Lake (a transgendered rock n roll fan and author) introduce them and go-go dance during their show. It was really weird and amusing. After the show, I spoke with her for a minute and told her I got a few photos and it was “fun” seeing her up there. I gave her a card and let her know I’d put her photo up here. She was really nice for a minute, and then asked me, “Do you think I’m beautiful?”
I guess I didn’t respond quickly enough, because I didn’t know what to say. (This “gal” has had a lot of plastic surgery and is pretty old and a bit disturbing-looking.) When she didn’t hear what she wanted to on cue, she turned on me and started chewing me out, calling me a blonde bitch and anything else she could think of. It was totally weird, and kind of funny. That was the night that Bambi Lake turned on me!
My friends, the Deep Eynde from LA came back to town and played at Annie’s Social Club with The Insaints on Fri Apr 28, and also at a big all day show on Sat Mar 29, called ‘A Mighty Ruckus.’ Both The Insaints and The Deep Eynde put on great sets on Friday night. I love the vocalists of both of these bands- Amy of the Insaints, and Fate of The Deep Eynde. They both have great voices, style, and stage presence, which is why I like their bands. Both of these events were organized by Pirate Cat Radio. You can listen to the radio station live, as well as learn more about it on their website, www.piratecatradio.com.
A Mighty Ruckus was a free all ages show at a warehouse right next to the water. There were 2 stages- one indoor and one outdoor. I loved the outdoor stage because the bands played in front of the water. There was a lovely view, nice weather, and the whole experience was so Bay Area Punk Rock, that I was in heaven. Great bands played, most of whom I am friends with. I saw Three Weeks Clean, The Insaints, The Deep Eynde, The Black Furies, and The Grannies. Other well-known and liked Bay Area bands, The Fleshies and Fabulous Distaster also performed. I have written about most of these bands in the past, so I am not going to go into them right now since I have so much to catch up on, but I do want to give props to all the bands who played and to Pirate Cat Radio, because all of it was a blast. It was an awesome day, an awesome show, and it all ended by about 10pm, so I headed off to another show at the El Rio to see a new band some friends are in called The Jaded Fucks, with The Jack Saints.
The Jaded Fucks were really fun. I’m friends with all the people in the band, and this was their first show. The band is Beth Loudmouth (Loudmouths, McCools) on vocals and bass, Rotten Ron on guitar, and Boom (The Idiots, Boom and the Legion of Doom) playing drums. I hadn’t seen Boom play drums before and he was good. He cracked me up at the end of their set by running into the crowd with a symbol stand while yelling and hitting it. You might have had to be there, or to know how funny Boom is… but it had me cracking up.
One of the great things about San Francisco is that I usually end up having fun, even when I have no idea what there is to do on a given night. Friday, May 5th (Cinco de Mayo), was no exception. I had drinks at happy hour with a friend, and then we ended up at my favorite gay bar, The Cinch, on Polk St. There was a Cinco de Mayo drag show going on, which was really hilarious. Then we wandered a few doors down to The Red Devil Lounge (where you may remember, I booked and promoted a monthly event in 2003 called “3 Punk Bands & a Drag Queen”). On this night, Sir Mix a Lot was performing, and the event was sold out. We didn’t even know this show was going on, but we ended up there by chance.
I arrived just as Sir Mix a Lot began to sing his most famous song, “Baby Got Back.” My friend and I went up to the front row and I was taking photos of the girls dancing on stage, when Sir Mix a Lot pulled me on stage mid-song and told my friend to take a photo of he and I on stage. (It was so funny, and what’s even funnier, is this was the second time I’ve ended up on stage with Sir Mix a Lot!) We ended up backstage with his posse, which made this the funniest, most random Cinco de Mayo I’ve had yet!
I need to do a bit of catching up from my last update, which was back in mid February! I’ve been to a few good art shows at the San Francisco Art Exchange (sfae.com). The weekend of Feb 17 and 18, I went to the opening of “Shared Memories,” Photographs by Pattie Boyd. Boyd was married to both George Harrison and Eric Clapton, and has many candid photos over several decades of these musical legends, as well as their friends and bandmates. Her work also included many beautiful landscapes.
On Friday March 10th, I went to the opening for the paintings of Sebastian Kruger, whose work I would describe as hyper-surrealstic realism. His paintings are large, intricate and surprising; and the subject matter varies, but much of it is portraits of rock legends, including David Bowie and the Rolling Stones (which were all amazing). (Both Boyd and Kruger’s openings were attended by the artists.)
The most recent show I attended there (at the SFAE), was on April 22nd, for the opening reception for Paul McCartney’s ‘On Stage, Off Stage, and Backstage’ Photographs from his ‘Each One Believing’ tour. It included signed photos by McCartney and photographer Bill Bernstein, as well as older Beatles photographs which were amazing. My friend Darryl bought one of Bernstein’s photos of Paul McCartney, which resulted in an invite for us to go into a private storage room with the gallery owner, and look at amazing artwork from past shows, and get a bit of oral history. It was amazing. Now I love this gallery even more than I had before. Not only do they showcase a wonderful mix of art and rock and roll, but the people who work there really appreciate those of us who share their passion for it all. I really valued the opportunity for a behind-the-scenes glance of it all. I know I will continue to frequent their openings.
On Sat. Mar. 4, I attended an opening reception at the Martin Lawrence Gallery, which featured a $60,000 original Warhol of Marilyn Monroe, which was stunning.
This gallery represents Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Marc Chagall, Erte, Francesco Scavullo, Roy Lichenstein, and more. You can view the works on the website and see gallery locations throughout the US. I really enjoyed this show.
Another place I occasionally frequent that showcases artwork, on a more grassroots level, is Club Six’s On Six Gallery on 6th Street near Market Street. They have really cool affordable artwork done by local artists, and they have bands perform, or dance parties, depending on the night. I really enjoy this Club/ Gallery because it attracts a wide variety of people and it’s always interesting. I took a photo of a Johhny Cash portrait done on skatebord decks, which I loved, as well as another with some other Johnny Cash portraits that I thought were cool.
Recently, I attended a happy hour party thrown by local dance radio station, 92.7 Energy Radio, because you could sign up to win Madonna tickets or a trip to Mexico. While I was still at my office job, I used to get up at 6am every day, so I listened to the station every morning to hear the morning guys, Greg the Gay Sportscaster and Fernando. Greg is from Texas and has the most adorable, funny accent; and it’s the reason I started listening. I got to meet Fernando and Greg at the happy hour, and I had a blast talking with them. If you like dance music, you can listen to the station online at www.energy927fm.com. They also list weekly happy hour parties and various promotional parties on their website.
On a completely different note, I went to see GBH at Bottom of the Hill on Sun. Mar. 5. I love GBH. They always sound great, and put on an awesome show every time I’ve seen them. I would have had a great time if I hadn’t been hit in the head with the microphone stand! I had an instant lump; and man, did I get socked! I got hit so hard I couldn’t talk for a minute, and I had no idea what had hit me. When I finally could speak, I wiped involuntary tears from my eyes and yelled at the guy next to me to find out what had hit me! That was so weird that I got hit in the head again, because I had been hit a few nights before by a piece of tambourine at The Cult concert! English bands I love are trying to knock me out! See my review of The Cult show here. Anyway, from what I remember, GBH did all the greats: City Baby Attacked by Rats, Maniac, Sick Boy, Time Bomb, Freak, Big Women, etc. I’d do a better review of the show, but under the circumstances, my brain was rather scrambled. I did manage to get some good photos though. (If you look closely at this one, you can see Lars Fredrickson of Rancid at side stage watching the band.)
OH! Back on Sat. February 11th, I went to Studio Z to see a hilarious band that I plan to see again and again, called the Sex Pistols Explosion. They were so… um… strange, great, surreal, hilarious… it is very hard to convey! If you were ever a fan of the Sex Pistols, you have to see this band. They do the songs, dress and act the part, and they actually pull it off in a way that is surprising. They all look very much like the original members, especially Johnny and Sid, although this Johnny looks more like John Lydon does now than then. Basically, he needs to be scrawnier. The Sid bassist even has the facial expressions down. They were both very impressive. It was so much fun, even though the place was pretty empty. I bet if you were extremely drunk, you could be fooled into thinking it was 1977.
Coming up on June 9th, one of my new favorite artists, Lady Sovereign plays The Fillmore with The Streets (whom I don’t care for). I really hope to go to this show, because I am completely addicted to Lady Sovereign right now.
Until next time, XO,
Alisha Amnesia
Check out Alisha’s review of Joe Strummer DVD "Let’s Rock Again" on our Sizzling CDs page.
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