The Concert Experience

Tribal Nights : Origins

PacificaFunkster — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 02:30:10 GMT

Electric Vardo presents Tribal Nights : Origins with FatChanceBellyDance & students, Helm, Amar & Giamma Weds 9/24 9pm @ Bollyhood Cafe http://www.bansuri.net/solunamar/vardo/ Reserved seats: http://tinyurl.com/45sokg

2008 HSMF Pocket Schedule

PacificaFunkster — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:09:43 GMT

Enjoy! Pocket size http://lite.myfabrik.com/get/00010006cG9fwZ/HSMF2008grid.pdf Bifocal size http://lite.myfabrik.com/get/00010006e0tMxF/HSMF2008gridbig.pdf If your printer spews more than 2 pages or cuts portions off, adjust your Acrobat print settings – this is an issue on YOUR end. Thurs & Fri look really, really strong, with more down time on Sat & Sun – perfect! I’m interested to try AZA & James Hunter.

NeferTem @ 12 Galaxies Saturday 12/15

PacificaFunkster — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:20:50 GMT

Zilla www.zillamusic.com DJ Kraddy http://tribes.tribe.net/kraddyferilla NeferTem www.fcbd.com American Tribal Style bellydance This will be really fun! :-)

Rocktober is coming!

PacificaFunkster — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:21:54 GMT

And I'm officially in training. I've spent over $500 on advance tickets for two this week: Tues 8/28 Cheb i Sabbah returns to Nickies on Tuesdays! 10-2 $5 Thurs 8/30 Hip N Bass @ Underground SF 9-2 $5 dance performances 10:30-11 Fri 8/31 Will Bernard @ 12G's $12 Bulk, Big Organ Trio opens. Will Bernard, Wil Blades, Matt Lucas (perc), Jan Jackson, Joe Cohen, Adam Theis (where's KMac?!!!) Sat 9/1 Benevento & Sauce @ BBR $17adv Marco Benevento, Will Bernard, Max MacVeety (drums - Crown City Rockers), Adam Theis, Joe Cohen Sun 9/2 40th Anniversary Summer of Love @ Speedway Meadow $0 This is the Boots Hughston production, and he actually pulled off the Chet Helms festival so I have some hope that this might come together. Highlight: Brian Auger's Oblivion Express Sun 9/2 Dub Mission's 11th Anniversary @ Elbo $12adv/$15b411/$17 Subatomic Sound System (Brooklyn), MCs TreasureDon & Jahdan Blakkamoore, Emch, Sep Weds 9/5 Soulive @ Fillmore $26.50 Absolutely loved their slimmed-down roster @ HSMF Fri 9/7 De la Soul @ Club 6 $20 Thurs 9/13 Motet, One the One @ 12G's $12adv/$15 Fri 9/14 Motet @ Moe's Alley $15 Sat 9/15 Treasure Island Music Festival $58.50 Gotan Project, DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist, M.I.A., Thievery Corp Fri 9/21 Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood @ Fillmore $32.50 Sat 9/22 Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood @ Fillmore $32.50 Sat 9/29 Love Fest & various afterparties Sat 9/29 Balkan Beat Box, DJ Felina @ GAMH $15 Sat 10/6 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival @ Speedway Meadow $0 Bela Fleck & Flecktones, Bruce Hornsby, Keller Williams Sun 10/7 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival @ Speedway Meadow $0 David Grisman, Del McCoury, Emmylou Harris Sun 10/7 BM Decompression $10 Thurs 10/11 Robert Walter's 20th Congress @ BBR $20adv Robert Walter, Chris Stillwell, Cheme Gastellum, Chuck Prada, George Sluppick Fri 10/12 Robert Walter's 20th Congress @ BBR $20adv Robert Walter, Chris Stillwell, Cheme Gastellum, Chuck Prada, George Sluppick Sat 10/13 Galactic @ Fillmore $28.50 with Chali 2na (Jurassic 5) & Boots Riley (The Coup). Lifesavas opens Sat 10/13 Frequinox @ BBR $20 latenight Thurs 10/25 Hip N Bass @ Underground SF $5 Amar, Giamma, & Beats Antique Weds 10/31 STS9 @ Fillmore $30 Thurs 11/1 Benevento/Russo Duo @ Indy $20 Federico Aubele opens

HSMF pocket schedule

PacificaFunkster — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 18:06:07 GMT

Here are 2 links for each size good for 100 downloads a piece: Pocket size: half-sheet double sided http://download.yousendit.com/D3A6521A04B15CD0 http://download.yousendit.com/80939B786E7CE3F5 Full size: full sheet double sided http://download.yousendit.com/719CD40C48B77EFB http://download.yousendit.com/7629F35538E7A915 Whoever laminates the pocket version is the coolest! I’m starting to get pretty excited for the festival! Very enthusiastic for: - Chris Berry & Panjea. Great songwriting. I’ll bet that their female singer has improved (or been augmented/replaced) since I last saw them a year ago. - The Budos Band & Chicago Afrobeat Project. Great concept on paper – recent recordings confirm these should some of the best dance parties of the weekend. - Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express. I really wish the Fela workshop didn’t compete with Brian’s only set. - Dumpstaphunk – much needed funk infusion. - Datri Bean’s and Mavis Staple’s chanteuse-y jazz won’t ever be a dance party, but it will sure sound nice on the radio in bed. - Good call on scaling down the Everyone Trainwreck spots to an afternoon at Shady Grove and Sunday’s Tulsa E. Scott latenight. And in the “what were they thinking” category: - I don’t know who Lynx the looper is sleeping with, but she’s got 6!!! gigs! Sure would have been nice to get an extra set from Brian Auger, even if they were both on Sunday… - Bassnectar’s late-night should be epic, although I wish he weren’t booked in the weird energy of the Funk & Jamhouse. I don’t ever expect jam-oriented promoters to know what they’re doing with regard to DJ bookings, but they *really* shouldn’t have selected sleepy MOFRO’s swamp ballads to follow Lorin’s thump… If there were ever a case to give an act latenight spots only, this would have been it… See you next week :-)

Fareed Haque Group @ Ashkenaz Thursday 9/21

PacificaFunkster — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 19:58:27 GMT

Well this was highly disappointing. The Ashkenaz website stated that FHG would include long-time FHG backbone Jon Paul on bass and Dan Leali on drums. Keys were listed as (unknown to me) Rob Clearfield. Tabla would be the young Salar Nader, who played with George Brooks' Summit gig at the Downtown Berkeley BART station on 8/26. Also Kala Ramnath on classical North Indian violin. So I was a bit surprised to find everyone on stage except Fareed and newcomer Salar Nader to be completely strange to me. And young. I'm talking everybody but Fareed in the barely legal range... Not that I have anything against youth, but I was expecting the backbone as described and more experience for $15 - the FHG songs are complex. I was also not expecting a swap from Jon Paul's driving, electric low-end to stand-up acoustic bass plucked by a high-school kid. And no violin, sarode, or sitar to fusion up the joint... Even with a tiny novice-sized basic stick of a keyboard and small cocktail kit, the musicians were spread out and very physically distant from each other on the stage, and positioned poorly enough so that they had to crane their necks to see one another. So I went back outside to assess the situation from the giant window in front. The sound outside with the open windows was probably better than inside with earplugs, and it was a lot more comfortable than being on the empty dance floor. I'd say they pulled 30 people - all in chairs on the deep sides, except for the 2 usual crazy Berkeley dancer suspects... It was interesting to note from the outside vantage point that the Ashkenaz sound man never once touched the equipment, and ultimately left his post to drink rosé and talk on his cell at the bar. Their first song, my least favorite in the jam-band lexicon, was "Noodle." The second song was a plodding rendition of Age of Aquarius. 30 minutes into the set, and realizing that I wouldn't be hearing any attempts at the classic FHG material, I re-pocketed my $15 and headed back over the Bridge.

Boogaloo -> Jazz Fusion -> Booty Funk -> Brass Jazz Charts

PacificaFunkster — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 21:33:51 GMT

I’ve seen a lot of really good stuff lately. Topaz & the Left-Coast Allstars was an excellent boogaloo gig last Friday. As sax man and bandleader, Topaz was a stronger and better than I’ve ever seen him before. I thought I’d be relying solely on Cheme but I was pleasantly surprised. Will Bernard stuck to the Fender and let Brian Jordan play hollow body all night. Dale Fanning and Chuck Prada provided great percussion. Ron Johnson’s reliable bass backbone was just right, except when his amp was acting up. Wil Blades, the weakest link, had too many solos. Sit ins from Alan Hertz and a few other locals. Really great gig, with 180 minutes of music, not including the setbreak. Saturday afternoon brought a free George Brooks Summit show at the Downtown Berkeley BART plaza, as part of the Downtown Berkeley Jazzfest. Featured Steve Smith from Journey on drums - killer! He had the tiniest cocktail kit I've ever seen! The kick drum in the Sonor Lounge kit was up on wee legs to make it tall enough for the pedal to hit squarely. He joined in with Salar Nader’s tabla by playing the clay pot for a song. George didn't have his soprano sax on him – he stuck to alto and tenor, which made his tendency to get uber-Kenny G a non-issue. It was fun to see most of the same familiar faces from Topaz at the BART plaza. The brick wall and sidewalk demanded that some songs were played in the key of feedback, but everybody sounded great and the audience was very appreciative. George acknowledged the dancers at one point to advising us that we were to get ready for a count of 15. Saturday night brought Stymie & the Pimp Jones Luv Orchestra to a nicely full Elbo room. I’d seen them the week before at Moe’s – both times with a solid new female singer on board. Great energy and execution, as always. Again, there were some feedback issues (13 musicians!) but the band was more than adept at adapting to being on stage inside a giant resonating drum. A lot of good things have already been said about Wednesday’s Skerik’s Syncopated Taint Septet. Look no further for high-level jazz compositions by skilled musicians. Great head music. The only thing I’ll add to Eric’s assessment is that the drummer’s kit wasn’t small at all. Rather, he’s the hugest drummer I’ve ever seen! In comparison to the petite and nimble drummer physiques you normally see (Fishman, Johnny Vidacovich, Stanton Moore), this guy was a giant on a large-scaled kit! Yet he can dance on the skins with the best of them… Looking forward to a triple bill at the Indy next week with Dumpstaphunk and 2 nights of Benevento/Russo Duo.

HSMF 2006 rocked!

PacificaFunkster — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 02:33:26 GMT

This is quick & dirty but I wanted to get something ASAP out there that didn’t involve the “security” problems. Because I thought the lineup was rather weak, I didn’t expect this year’s HSMF to be the best I have experienced yet, but I was wrong! After finishing setting up the shade for the Fortress of Privacy on Thursday, I enjoyed one of many hot, no-line showers. Grizzly radio provided the first entertainment and sandwiched a huge disco nap. I ventured out to the Big Meadow for about a half hour of Toubab Krewe – I give them a B+. Walking from the Meadow to the Grandstand for Rhythm Council, I caught a few minutes of a pretty good young garage band called Tides, who then changed their name to Headlands… Rhythm Council was great – better than I expected and earned an A. Peter Apfelbaum was really nice – loved the African singer. Caught some Dubconscious at the Vaudeville. Nice afrobeat & reggae. Back to the Fortress for spring rolls with peanut sauce. My main Thursday event was the Umphrey’s latenight. Sit ins from Jake Shimabukuro and Eric Levy & Alan Hertz. The Alan Hertz sit in went much better than it did at the Mystic in April… Caught the last (short) set from snoooooozers Zero. Friday started off with Dubconscious on the radio, slept through Jamie Janover, and then showered to Peter Apfelbaum and the African singer. Caught 60 great minutes of Rebirth BB at the Big Meadow. On my second and final daytime visit to the Grandstand for The Slip which featured a nice Josh Roseman sit in. Dining on serious veggie and broccoli/cashew sushi rolls & prepping for my evening, I found Apollo Sunshine entertaining on the radio for the 5 minutes that I got before switching to 60 minutes of Chris Berry and Panjea - I really liked his songwriting and wanted to see more. Headliners Umphrey’s rocked, of course. I couldn’t believe how few people were at the Grandstand. I’m guessing that attendance was at least 2,500 less than last year based on how thin the Main Stage was whenever I was there… Robert Walter’s Super Heavy Organ latenight was indeed heavy and also fucking great, and Garage a Trois was heady and mellower, as expected from this jazz combo. Saturday was the biggest, best day, and had the weakest nighttime lineup for me. Woke up to an excellent Motet set on the radio, then suffered through 5 minutes each of Backyard Tire Fire, Raina Rose, & Mia Dyson. Not wanting any Hot Buttered Yawn, I took the opportunity to make the trek from RV Town to my sole visit to the Americana stage for Stymie & the Pimp Jones Luv Orchestra. I’ve seen & liked them before in various dark rooms like the BBR, Elbo Room, & Rockit Room-formerly-known-as-Last-Day-Saloon, but was totally blown away by how well they shined and rocked in the sunlight. A+ for all 75 minutes, and the allure of a renegade set at their camp #17 got me excited. Meltone on the Big Meadow was fun but musically about as average as I remember from last year. Stop singing, please!!! I cruised the Tulsa E. Scott, and George Porter’s playshop sounded GREAT, but I didn’t want to be in that warm room, so I danced hard at the full New Mastersounds’ Big Meadow set, followed by Garage a Trois. Heard the Grandstand Bela Fleck set from the super fun and very hospitable Rump Roast camp, and then off to Robert Walter’s Super Heavy Organ at the Vaudeville. Stanton Moore, not there with any band but presumably to party, sat in as he did at the Friday latenight. Ran into the fun Mojow & the Vibration Army en route to Porter Batiste Stoltz, and was subjected to 5 awful minutes of My Morning Marketing Machine while looking for the Stymie camp renegade. Unfortunately, HSMF quashed the renegade because of its proximity to the Tulsa E. Scott, but it was a nice opportunity to chat with the band & express my appreciation for their energy and their 11-year run in SF. I wasn’t really feelin’ any of Saturday’s latenights, so I sold my HABMX/Lotus tix and got a great hour of Chris Berry & Panjea in the free Vaudeville before packing it in after the most serious daytime run. Chris Berry’s backing band is kinda weak, but he writes gorgeous, melodic, and most danceable songs. Woke up Sunday to a smidge of Brett Dennen and 30 minutes of the David Jacobs-Strain Trio. Caught a wonderful Motet set at the Big Meadow, passed by SambaDa in the Vaudeville, and heard some of ALO from the comfort of the Rump Roast. Then, back to the Vaudeville for round 2 of Stymie – rocked it A+, and they knew it. Killer dance party. Backyard Tire Fire, who sounded intriguing for the 5 minutes on the radio Saturday, got an F in passing at the Big Meadow on Sunday. Thoroughly enjoyed the Bela Fleck/Chris Thile workshop, then back to the Fortress for a Middle Eastern Feast. More PBS at the Big Meadow sounding good, and then The New Mastersounds in the Vaudeville. Their Vaudeville show wasn’t quite as compelling but still a fun dance party until it was time to set up for Greyboy on the main stage. A very slow, methodical, shuffling Greyboy but fun nonetheless until they did the instrument switch and Zak Najor pulled another Greyboy rap at the end… Meltone got really boring after 20 minutes in the Funk & Jam House. But Bela was wonderful, heady, intelligent, and straight out musicianship. The show featured a long, crazy three-way duel between Bela, Wooten, & Jake Shimabukuro You can’t beat great gear, great planning, great mild weather, and most importantly a great crew. I took care of myself really well – took special care not to get sunburned at all, and was very cognizant of my “security” at night with the pigs out on electric vehicles sans any kind of headlights. Between my rockin’ cooler & the baked goods I dined really well and only had to buy 1 snack from a vendor. I got to listen to a bunch of awesome Saturday funk sets on the drive home thanks to great friend and taper extraordinaire Mike Horgan. Even though the lineup somewhat lacked strong, reliable, classic heavy hitters like STS9, I had a really fantastic time, especially with some of the smaller yet awesome bands like Stymie, Robert Walter, and The Motet. I’m probably still floating, and can’t wait to do it again next year.

HSMF 2006 pocket schedule

PacificaFunkster — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 21:09:17 GMT

Here are 2 links with 100 downloads each of the 2006 High Sierra Music Festival schedule. Pocket sized, double sided. Color code at will! http://tinyurl.com/mdct5 http://tinyurl.com/rch2n See you on the dance floor!

A New Orleans Night in San Francisco

PacificaFunkster — Fri, 19 May 2006 17:35:32 GMT

A New Orleans Night in San Francisco Friday May 12 (latenight) Pound SF Last Friday’s post NM latenight was a lot of fun. At first I was a little put off by the choice in venues: Pound SF, a club on the swamps by the recently decommissioned power plant across from the Bayview. Pound SF features outdoor Porn Klown wrestling and mostly pay-to-play local hard/metal acts with names like Cryptopsy, Battle Axe Rampage, Decrepit Birth, and Obituary Sadus. I’m glad that I didn’t let the venue selection keep me away, but a note to promoters: there are so many other *underground* type warehouses and party spaces in the area to choose from! Especially when it’s a latenight and you can’t legally serve booze anyway – there’s really no advantage to picking a place with a liquor license… After a pre-latenight disco nap, I arrived at 2:30 to find the band in full swing and a nicely filled house with room to maneuver (capacity of Pound SF is 550 inside). There was a 10-minute tinkle break for the band in the middle, and I left with the band still playing at 7:30am after dancing my ass off to the funk. I won’t go into too much detail on the music – the crazy lineup speaks for itself: BACKBONE: -Dan Liebowitz (ALO) guitar -Ian “Inkx” Herman (Hamsa Lila) kit & percussion for 3 songs -Jordan Feinstein (Ritual) keys -Sean Leahy (Group du Jour) – guitar GUESTS: -Trevor Garrod (TLG) keys & vox for 75% of the show -Steve Adams (ALO) bass for 50% -Matt Butler (Ev. Orch) perc for 5 songs, orchestra conductor for 3, kit for 2 or so -Harry McQuillen (NorCal!, the Compound) percussion for 1 song -Kirk Joseph (DDBB, Treme BB, Backyard Groove) sousaphone for 3 -Byron Rynes (Smokedaddies) guitar, vox for 2 -Ben Chambers (TLG) bass for 6 or so and Snoop Dogg rap for 2 -another bass player (possibly from Smokedaddies) for 2 -horn section: Nathan Endsley (ALBINO!) tenor, the ALBINO! bari, and the dready bari formerly with Aphrodesia for 3 songs or so I thought that the funky groove was really solid for the duration, except for the couple times when Trevor Garrod sang in his broody/moody/whiny way and when Matt Butler came up to conduct, reinforcing my general disdain for the Everyone Orchestra concept… The groove was so fat and organic when Matt decided to take over that he had to physically tap each musician and give them the “kill” signal to bring them out of their deep trance. The vibe turned 180 degrees and the end result was that the band took their tinkle break after a couple songs and started over fresh without the intrusion of someone else artificially dictating the music. The only other area for improvement was that Fringe DJ Big Dolla Bill was spinning on the back porch directly outside the open door on stage right! The band unsuccessfully asked to have the intrusive house music turned off. It was pretty easy to ignore from my spot in house right, but I know that the keys and bass players could definitely hear the steady beats for the duration while they were trying to play! Sorry, guys… The sun had been lighting the open doorways up for some time when I decided call it a night, and being surprised with a really pretty, mandala-style Kerrigan rounded out the evening nicely (thanks so much Smiley Dan!!!). I had Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley and You Can Stay But that Noise Got to Go stuck in my head for 48 hours afterwards :-)

The post-NYE slump is over!

PacificaFunkster — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 21:24:11 GMT

The dearth is over! I have 10 advance tickets on my wall! Fri 4/7 - Aphrodesia (opens for TLG) @ Fillmore $20 - Zilla, Ooah @ Café du Nord $12 - Electric Vardo @ Club 6 $12 Cheb i Sabbah, DJ Sep, Amar - Full Melt @ UG Sun 4/9 - Umphrey’s McGee @ McNear’s Mystic Theater, Petaluma $20 Mon 4/10 - Umphrey’s McGee, Zilla/Ooah afterparty @ Crystal Bay Club, Crystal Bay Weds 4/12 - Nels Cline Singers @ Elbo $8 Thur 4/13 - Hamsa Lila @ Avalon, Santa Clara $15 Fri 4/14 - Umphrey’s McGee @ Fillmore $20 Sat 4/15 - Umphrey’s McGee @ Tower Records 3pm - Umphrey’s McGee @ Fillmore $20 - Sam Kininger Band @ BBR - Panda-Moan-Eum @ Custer & Rankin Thur 4/20 - Motet @ Independent $14 Fri 4/28 - Afrobeat Down, DJ Jeremiah: Fela Kuti Tribute @ Elbo $12 - ALO @ 12G’s Sat 4/29 - Hamsa Lila @ Independent $14 - Dhamaal's 2-year Anniversary @ Club 6 - Aphrodesia @ Moe’s Alley - Afrobeat Down, DJ Jeremiah: Fela Kuti Tribute @ Elbo $12 - ALO @ 12G’s Sun 4/30 - Sunset & Stompy Season Opener @ Stafford Lake Park, Novato $8parking Fri 5/12 - Kan’Nal @ Moe’s Alley Thur 5/18 - Hamsa Lila @ Moe’s Alley Fri 5/19 - Greyboy Allstars @ Fillmore $27.50 - Bobby Previte’s Coalition of the Willing @ McNear’s Mystic Theater, Petaluma Sat 5/20 - Bobby Previte’s Coalition of the Willing @ Independent $25 - Greyboy Allstars @ Fillmore $27.50 - Evil Breaks @ Jelly’s Mon 5/22 - Bobby Previte’s Coalition of the Willing @ Kuumbwa Tues 5/30 - Fareed Haque Group @ Yoshi’s Weds 5/31 - Fareed Haque Group @ Yoshi’s

JamCruise 4: MSC Lirica 1/7 - 1/13

PacificaFunkster — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 23:29:07 GMT

With the recent mentions of the Radiators cruise I thought I'd review JamCruise 4. I'll start with the executive summary: I had a great time and saw some really good music. However, I only averaged 5.5 hours of music per day (compared to 12+ hours at HSMF), and there are some things that will have to be done differently if I sail with JamCruise for a third time. The adventure started in Ft. Lauderdale's Culture Room for Garage a Trois. This disco made for an odd show as it had a really, really tall and deep stage. The kit was placed in the very back of the deep stage, and the other instruments were placed too far away from each other. Even so far apart, Skerik was still way back from the lip of the stage. With the height of the stage and deep layout, it was hard to see the band in rows 1-10… The sets were pretty standard and were a nice warmup to the boat. THE BOAT AND VENUES We boarded the boat without incident, as I'm sure you've heard. The MSC Lirica, with opera-themed deck names, was a much nicer and newer vessel than the Carnival Celebration from JamCruise 3. The food on board was about as mediocre as I expected – one shouldn't expect luxury or quality when dealing with an institutional kitchen cooking for 2,000... The food was indeed a step above Carnival last year, which I believe to have been barely better than prison fare. I ate formal dinner every night, since they allotted a huge block of time in which there were no shows during the dinner sittings. I was disappointed that an Italian ship had such nasty cheeses – even Skerik lamented the food, specifically the pizza, from the Pool stage. The 24-hour gratis room service was a great way to get a sandwich, soup, salad, or dessert in the schwirly hours... I was worried that the size of the main indoor venue, the Broadway Theater, was not going to be big enough but I was wrong – I believe a lot of people hung out in their comfortable floating hotel rooms for portions of the music. The outdoor Pool venue was vastly improved over last year's pool stage by building a wooden floor over the top of one of the two pools. Also, there was no horrifically intrusive crane-cam at the pool deck this year. (Last year, even with the lack of floor space due to the pool being open, the cameraman yelled at us to get out of the crane's way or he'd hit you in the head to get his shot.) Other venues were the Cabaret, which hosted the unbilled jam sessions, the Lirica Lounge for some workshops and a couple DJ sets, and the Blue Disco for grimy latenight Bassnectar. THE PORTS Ports of call from Ft. Lauderdale were Ocho Rios, Jamaica, Grand Cayman Island, and Costa Maya, Mexico. Unfortunately, on the port days, no music was scheduled until after the boat had left port. The formal excursions were very expensive (some were over $100) and typically required an early morning departure, which would have interfered with staying up late to listen to music. In Costa Maya, we could have taken a taxi for an hour to see a small Mayan ruin, but there wasn't time to do so after getting decent sleep. So, even after getting a really solid sleep til noon or later, there was a lot of down time to kill while waiting for the music. Unfortunately, that down time included visits to crappy little shopping mall "resorts." The malls consisted of hard-pressure trinket shops, bars like Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville, pools/waterslides, and tiny beaches (for an extra fee). The Costa Maya mall had a sketchy pharmacy, selling roofies, morphine analogs, valium, and antibiotics at absolutely outrageous prices. So my trips to land were limited to quick stops for bottled water and scotch. It was kind of a drag to have to wait til about 6 for the festival to start on the 3 port days – I was there for the music, not the schlocky American tourist pool parties... THE MUSIC This year's 6-day JamCruise had about the same number of bands as last year's 4-day cruise. Last year each band had two full shows, not including any jam room sessions or other special sets. So I expected each band to do three full shows this year, due to having 50% more cruise days. However, each band was only scheduled for 2 shows, which *really* diluted the schedule in a very significant way. This meant that from about 9:30 to 3am each night, there were 2 billed shows and the jam room to choose from. (The main venue was the Pool, and the other shows would be in the Broadway Theater.) On port days, there was one show before dinner, and then shows scheduled from about 9:30 on. Some nights the schedule went til 2am, some nights til 4am. On days-at-sea, they only had one stage (Pool) going from about 11 am on, so if you didn't care for the 1 band playing, you had some time to kill. In summary, I thought that the schedule was quite thin. Some nights I had a hard time finding something I wanted to see. I do understand that this should have been a vacation for the artists, too. But I really expected more significant musical content overall. I was appalled that each artist was required to submit to 2-4 hours of formal, forced autograph signing sessions. Everybody had to do it. EVERYBODY – Kimock, Bela, Lorin... Not only did my favorite artists look miserable in the dog & pony show, it was a COMPLETE waste of their time. Instead of doing something worthwhile like playing a third gig on the boat (which the schedule sorely needed), they were required to sit in the sun and make nice with the hordes of people eager to harass the celebrities. -The Umphrey's shows were really great – high energy, solid musicianship, world class all the way. I had to trade the only night-time Fantastic Four show to see Umphrey's, but it was worth it. -Fantastic Four's other set was 11 am on the last day – horrible time slot, but one of the best sets of the whole festival. It was wonderful to hear because there was such a dearth of funk on board this time, with KDTU and Galactic as the only other funk slingers. (I did hear some good funk in an hour-long workshop called In the Pocket with Moore, Walter, Mathis, and Bernard.) Fantastic Four's set featured Lettuce's Erick Coomes on a very sincerely enthusiastic bass – this guy was just tickled to be playing on the same stage as Walter, Cheme, and the rest of the crew. -I could only give pillow-worthy Steve Kimock Band 2 20-minute attempts… I really enjoyed seeing Bela Fleck's first show in the Broadway Theater, but he never should have been made to play outdoors on the pool deck – wrong kind of music for the setting. -Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra kicked off the cruise with a Pool show on the first night. Their second set from the front row of the Broadway Theater was the real kicker - a great, strong set from start to finish. Some audience members didn't really understand how to participate with "Indictment," but that just made everybody on stage crack up. -Galactic was Galactic. Karl D brought it both shows – the 2nd show was exceptionally good. -I enjoyed the Digable Planets evening Pool set, and Spearhead tore it up in the afternoon at the Pool too. -I tried to avoid most of the String Cheese Incident side projects and Gabby La La solo, and didn't linger at Hairy Apes BMX, New Monsoon, or the Everyone Orchestra. Les Claypool was a yawner. Gomez stinks. The Brain Damaged Eggmen were pretty good for the Beatles set – a fun concept that needs a new name so they can branch out. -The Jam Room was a complete disaster each and every time I went in there. I'm sure there were times when it gelled, but I couldn't find them… Hearing Will Bernard begging for more (AKA different) musicians to join him was sad. I never want to see DJ Williams (a guitar player, not a DJ) again. One time an uninvited "musician" had taken it upon himself to sit in with the jam session, which was definitely not appreciated by the audience or real musicians. The room was just too much of a crap shoot to be useful. Even if they did it at the last minute, I wish they would formalize and publicize who the backbone of the jam sessions are for the evening. That way I could have avoided the nights when it was SCI-based and paid more attention to it when it was funk or jazz night... -The best dance parties on board were the late-night Lorin sets, on four of the six nights. The last night, he was still spinning to a rocking dancefloor well after the ship had docked in Ft. Lauderdale at dawn. I was grateful that the Kang collaborations resulted in a 97% Lorin/3% Kang mix. With Lorin's booming popularity, I knew to cherish these sets as some of the most intimate and special sets I'd ever see... I also appreciated the chance for him to go long, in lieu of the regular 60-or 90-minute time slot. OTHER OBSERVATIONS I was pretty shocked that the sit-ins and collaborations were few in number, brief in nature, and general uninspired, especially when I think of how prolific and moving the sit-ins had been on JamCruise 3. There was so little funk representation on the boat, so I know that Robert Walter and Cheme just didn't have that many opportunities to rage. Galactic and Karl basically had their guests up for 1 song per show. Dear favorite Will Bernard, artist at large, kinda mailed it in. Jennifer Hartswick was great, but I only saw her for a song or three overall... I did not care for JamCruise's method of filling out the lineup by holding a contest for artists willing to pay money to submit their press kits and allowing people to vote on who got on board. The artists were not paid but got a free bed on board. 2 of these were sub-par DJs. I walked through the Disco during Similak Chyld's set to find she was spinning to no one. Diplo's set was equally ignored. The 2 other artists who got on board this way were Papa Mali and Kim Manning. I didn't mind Papa Mali. Kim Manning is a former vocalist for P-Funk and was truly awful. JamCruise should have set aside money to HIRE the artists it needed, rather than trolling for those willing to pay to submit press kits in exchange for the chance to win a free ticket. They cut corners and took the cheap route, and it really showed. This left quite a bad taste in my mouth considering what I paid them. There were several activities in the schedule that I had no interest in, such as the group wedding, the popularity contest awards, bingo with a band, tea time with a band, etc. I enjoyed seeing the Michael Franti movie, but overall I thought there was a lot of emphasis on the "adult summer camp" activities that came at the expense of having more music to choose from. CONCLUSION So, overall I did really enjoy myself. I saw some music, and what I saw was high quality. I had a lot of down time to relax and eat. I slept really well and enjoyed the luxury of having my own floating hotel room. However, I feel that I didn't see enough music to justify the travel, expense, or general ordeal. I feel that the schedule had been stretched too thin and that too much emphasis was placed on the "cruising" activities that I'm not interested in. I have pre-booked a spot on JamCruise 5, but I have not decided if I will keep it yet. The lineup will have to include more of my favorites to make it worthwhile.

Afrobeat Down, Manicato @ Elbo Room 2/25

PacificaFunkster — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 19:39:53 GMT

Manicato opened in a nicely full Elbo Room for some fun Afro-Satin-Salsa funk (more Latin than Afro). The young lead vocalist had great energy and a nice voice. The horn section, with just a sax and trombone, could really have benefited from the addition of a trumpet. Although Manicato is not really focused on the faux-tribal genre, they came across as a lot more authentic musically, ethnically, and culturally than my experiences with Kan'Nal. People were dancing, and many had come specifically for their opening set. DJ Jeremiah's afro-funk made for a great setbreak with dancing. Afrobeat's polyrhythmic beats are hard to mix and beatmatch, but they sure make for fun setbreaks when you're holding space, waiting, and dancing. I've really been missing the occasional old-school funk and afrobeat setbreak. Lately I've noticed that the MoPo sets I've encountered are sans funk, so I'm happy to report that Jeremiah has picked up that torch... This was my first time to see LA's Afrobeat Down. The evening was supposed to be a Fela Kuti tribute, and this 11-member orchestra did a nice job on classics such as Gentleman and Sorrow Tears and Blood. True to Fela's form, they started with generous instrumental introductions and took the time to explore the long instrumental interludes. Musically, they weren't as tight at local heroes Aphrodesia, and they should have taken the shaker away from the pretty-girl-on-passable-backing-vocals, but they definitely had a good groove going. The lead vocals were also not their strongest talent, but they were adequate as they tried to imitate Fela's versions verbatim, including putting all the grunts and noises exactly where you hear them on the records. Their original material was not as interesting as the Fela covers, but it was still quality and fun to dance to. The 4-piece horn section was stronger than Manicato's, but again wasn't as favorable as Aphrodesia's kick-ass brass. There was about 75% too much jazz flute, especially when the bari sax player picked up another flute for a flute duel. The lack of a trombone was noted. But the horns had good energy and good communication with the other sections of the band. A third percussionist (kit and congas were represented) was absolutely rocking various cowbells and blocks, and mid-set discretely moved the female backing vocalist with the poorly-played shaker out of the front row and away from her mike, which improved things immensely. FYI, this was promoted by Maisha Productions, who is Sila and DJ Jeremiah. All in all a great evening out, and I can't wait for Aphrodesia to get back from Ghana...

Sound Tribe Sector 9: Fillmore 1/14

PacificaFunkster — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 21:24:38 GMT

Sound Tribe's show on Saturday brought a lot of old classics together with some new material for a dirty drum & bass dance party. The NorCal pocket encompassed the first through the 7th or so row, house left. The pocket was truly noteworthy – easily the best posse since KDTU at the Independent on 7/22/2004. There was a serious effort to stay together as a cohesive group, hold the front, and dance with each other. Nice job everyone! sPotted getting down: Lisa S Craig C (fresh JC4 vet, mind you) Allan M Eric S Greg B Eric & Jubilee D Ivonne F Chappy Andy H Lyn B & Taro T Mike & Tania B Cory & Jen F Marco & Beatriz W LisaP P Matt & Janice S Lexy K Helen Marie E

2005 Year in Review

PacificaFunkster — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 04:30:32 GMT

I’m geeky on spreadsheets so here are my stats: 246 shows. Headliner & opener at the same venue count as 1 show. Leaving one venue to go to another counts as 2 shows. 1 Festival day counts as only 1 show. This is slightly mitigated by the fact that I saw a couple 5-10 minute shows (such as on the street in New Orleans). 172 shows were in San Francisco. The farthest I traveled for music this year was on JamCruise to Freeport, Bahamas. I visited 98 venues. 1015 Folsom was hit 18 times. The Independent 17 times. Mighty 14 times. The Connecticut Yankee & Nickie’s 9 times. 12 Galaxies 7 times. I danced to Cheb i Sabbah 12 times, Motherbug 10 times, and Aphrodesia 6 times, Hamsa Lila 5 times. Garage a Trois, Garaj Mahal, Hertz/Vega/Levy, the Stanton Moore Trio, and Umphrey’s McGee 4 times each. I saved over $600 vs. the face value of all the shows I attended this year by: -Buying advanced tickets at a discount -Buying tickets at the box office instead of online whenever possible -Showing up before the early-bird discount deadline (common for DJ parties) -The occasional comp, for which I am very grateful _____________________________________________ My favorite music experiences in 2005: 1/1/05 HOLIDAY JELLY @ BBR: Once again the first show of the year was an epic Boom Boom boogaloo experience. Easily the best BBR show of the year. Eric Krasno, Will Bernard, Soulive horns, John Staten – legendary! My Horgan tapes are still in heavy rotation :-) STS9: The 1/29 show at the Catalyst, and the crazy pre- and post-party at Kevin’ were so much fun! What a great sushi feast! That party was also a little bittersweet because I remember hanging with Rob & Carley in the Jacuzzi and knowing that I’d be missing them very soon. The 4/16 Warfield show was such a great dance party! And I had a blast dancing at the super Drum & Bass Independent Halloween show. CHEB I SABBAH: Chebiji is probably my favorite DJ, who spins beats with Middle Eastern, Indian, North African, and other ethnic origins. One of the most fun parties he spun at was a benefit in a building at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds, opening for Hamsa Lila. It was really nice to dance in the sun at Stern Grove, when he opened for Khaled. His long-time Outernational weekday residency at Nickies came to an end this year, and I’m enjoying his regular Wednesday night gig 2 doors down at Underground SF now. DHAMAAL SOUNDSYSTEM: The Dhamaal artist collective produces parties that not truly hybridize the electronic and live music genres, but also include amazing visual art as well. VJs project images at most of the events, and the rooms are always decorated with fine quality fabric art. Dhamaal’s events range from small collaborations at the Elbo room to the massive Worldly parties that occupy 4 or 5 rooms at 1015 Folsom. Live tabla is nearly always on the bill, and live music featuring Indian vocals, tabla or dhol, guitar, etc. are featured regularly alongside the DJs. The Dhamaal folks has been traveling in India recently, but I’m really looking forward to the next Worldly, scheduled for March. I haven’t missed one yet. GUERILLA DOWN LOW: The Down Low, along with the camo bus, have put on some crazy undergrounds. Unfortunately their last shindig ended with a bust, so their “regular” spot has been retired and I am looking forward to their next spot. UMPHREY'S McGEE: My favorite touring band right now – I can’t wait for the Fillmore in April & HSMF. BENEVENTO RUSSO DUO: My second favorite band right now. More please, but not with Gordon. APHRODESIA: My third favorite band right now. Great afrobeat and other ethnic rhythms fronted super sexy, half naked vocalists/dancers who can really sing and dance. Backed by a strong, sexy horn section and a very good rhythm section that lays the foundation down and drives it all night. One of my most favorite bands to dance to, and they are very tight! They frequently have themes for the evening – most recently the three leading ladies were dressed in wonder woman outfits. ATTENTION lovely tapers: Nobody is taping this band!!! Somebody needs to!!! I know several of you that would really enjoy dancing to this band. 5/21/05: RAINDANCE CAMPOUT @ Cutter Scout Reservation: What a fun party! Goddess of Funk, followed by Hamsa Lila. Then Lorin Bassnectar started a massive DJ set. Gorgeous forest venue! HIGH SIERRA: Highlights were Garaj Mahal on the main stage, Lymbic System, Skerik’s Syncopated Taint Septet, Benevento Russo Duo, Meltone... HERTZ VEGA LEVY @ Connecticut Yankee: More funky HVL shows please, Fritz! 6/24/05 WANDERLUST @ Cell Space: Lorin Bassnectar has kind of blown up in popularity, so I really treasure these little gigs that are close & easy, where I don’t have to fight too hard for dance space. I really got down at this one! 7/27/05 JAZZ ON GRANT: I started the evening by checking out the Rivera-esque murals in Coit Tower, then on to see some Realistic Orchestra and then Dan Lebowitz, Steve Adams, Inkx, & Jordan Feinstein. The best part, however, was the Motherbug finale in an Italian restaurant. PANDA-MOAN-EUM: Some of my favorite breaks DJs at a crazy warehouse space have made for some really fun and hard-dancing latenights. JAZZFEST: I slacked on a post-fest review, so here are some details: 12 nights 45 shows, but 0 Fairgounds 1 $1 Abita 1 “bucket” of Newcastle 1 Anchor Steam Porter *All* of the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale 6-packs in the A&P, the French Quarter, Financial District, & Garden District 1 massive trip to Whole Foods 1 fine Top Hat Countless Trolley rides – long live Trolley Rocker! Some of my favorite times at Jazzfest were just hanging out with Eric and Greg in the French Quarter. I ate a lot of Po Boys, but I also enjoyed some really fine fare as well. The MoFest in Waldenburg Park on the days between the fairgrounds weekends was fun. I also really liked going to the free sets in the record stores those afternoons, too. I remember sitting on the berm at the edge of the river, listening to the Dukes of Dixieland play on the Steamboat Natchez docked close by. I had seen the sidewalks that had sunk 18-24 inches lower then the fire hydrants perched on their plumbing. I commented to my friends that someday nature would win here. I didn't know that this reality would come to bear so quickly. I'm grateful that I got to go before the destruction. I'll be back. Some of my favorite JazzFest shows: -STANTON MOORE & MORE @ Preservation Hall: Will Bernard, Robert Walter, Mark Mullins trombone -FREQUINOX @ Tipitina’s Uptown -STANTON MOORE TRIO @ Preservation Hall: Robert Walter, Will Bernard -ELLIS MARSALIS QUARTET @ Louisiana Music Factory -GARAGE A TROIS @ Preservation Hall & Tipitina's Uptown -BONERAMA @ Tower Records -DRAGONSMOKE @ Dragon's Den: Papa Mali is a great dance partner. -STANTON MOORE TRIO @ DBA: Robert Walter, Will Bernard. This was my final show of the tour on the twelfth night. And it was definitely the most fun show of them all! The convenience store next door sold me porters for pennies, and I ran into some other SF folks. I danced in the second row of this tiny room for the first set. No stage – the monitors were on the floor. For the second set, I swung slightly behind the band by the bathroom – there was just enough room for 1 row of people. Stanton had to pee in the second set, so he hopped over the rail as I held the door for him. Will Bernard was in super rock star mode and eventually stepped over the monitor to dance with some chick. Stanton did too... Robert Walter was in fine Pirate form. It was so cool to stand literally over him, so I could see his face and his fingers at the same time. These dudes had surely figured out we were semi-stalking them – when they spotted us at the Frequinox set in Joshua Tree two weeks later, Stanton & Will pointed at us and laughed from backstage. My least favorite Jazzfest shows were Dead Kenny G’s @ Maple Leaf, and Benevento/Russo/Gordon @ TwiRoPa Mills. _______________________________________ Some least favorite experiences of 2005: 1/15/05 MUTAYTOR @ Independent: It’s just not much of a visual spectacle when they’re spinning glow sticks instead of fire, and the drum track just doesn’t do it for me... 5/28/05 GARAJ MAHAL @ 19 Broadway: They’d been in the studio all day, and they just weren’t gelling that night. 6/9/05 THUNDERPUSSY @ Club NV: Motherbug was supposed to play, and Will offered free tickets to his mailing list. Too bad the main act scared the entire audience away, and Motherbug never came on to an empty room… The music sucked but I had a really fun night anyway! 12/11/05 ALAN HERTZ & FRIENDS, No Parking @ 12 Galaxies: You’ve heard my rant. It just wasn’t meant to be... _______________________________________ I couldn't have had as much fun as I did in 2005 if it weren't for knowing so many nice people on the dancefloor. Thanks for holding space, organizing pre-schwirls, hosting parties, making reservations, passing the popcorn, coordinating schedules, camping together, carpooling, and being such nice people to dance with. I'll see you after JamCruise at Saturday's STS9 :-) Love E PS Would you please get your Greyboy Allstars tickets taken care of! Please don't get shut out! (I'm there 2/1 & 2/2. Waziema? ;)

Steve Kimock Band @ GAMH 12/28

PacificaFunkster — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 23:17:33 GMT

Pretty good energy most of the night, but I needed a big fluffy pillow every now & then... Robert was WAAAAY too low in the mix for a good part of the show. He was mixed better in the second half, which was vital because he was the only source of soul onstage, save for a little smOOOth Martin. With a bass guitar to free up his left hand, we were treated to a few juicy solos that featured melody played on the right and esoteric, jazzy chord textures emanating from the left. With Robert providing many of the sound layers, Steve didn't seem to step up to the plate very often. His runs were simple, repetitive, and predictable, as expected. If he were a pianist I'd say that he "hit the cracks" more than a few times last night – how do you describe this for guitar? Boy, they sure could benefit from a better bass player. Even their "funk" songs were as square and boxy as dippy bluegrass numbers… Between Reed's performance last night and my previous disappointment with Brian Haas in the Dead Kenny G's, I don't feel the need to ever see JFJO again... This sounds fairly negative, but I did in fact enjoy the show last night. I never got lost in the music or felt ecstatic in any way, but I enjoyed watching Robert, thinking about music theory, and analyzing the musicianship, rhythm, and aural textures. An interesting annual exercise – one that frees my JamCruise schedule up to see better & brighter acts. Posters: unsigned for $20, Signed & Numbered for $30. I declined – the art was blah and the paper/printing was cheap... Steve Kimock - guitar Robert Walter - organ Reed Mathis - bass Rodney Holmes - drums guest Martin Fierro - sax

On Tour with Umphrey’s McGee

PacificaFunkster — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 22:24:31 GMT

My Umphrey’s tour was really great. Monday 12/5 at the Catalyst was a *super* dance party – the young college kids were really gettin’ down! (Even if they didn’t "get" the proggy-jazzy time signature craziness, as evidenced by attempts to clap along when periods of 4/4 rock briefly emerged ;) Santa Cruz on a Monday made for light attendance of about 200 – we won’t be able to be so imtimate with that band ever again. Seriously. It was really a treat to be close enough to see exactly how the various players contribute layers to the sound. It was also great to see all the non-verbal communication from the third row. During Jimmy Stewart, chords were called out with hands indicating the letters of the new key. Other non-verbal communication included baseball-like signals. As you’ve heard, the show was very psychedelic and I’ll reiterate that the crowd made for a great dance party. The show ended with Jake taking over on bass for the last 2 songs, and the kind afterparty commenced nearby. Off to the Crystal Bay Club in Tahoe on Tuesday 12/6. Upon arrival we headed directly to the Club to get tickets and immediately heard the band covering Steely Dan’s Hey Nineteen. We found the Club room, walked to the middle where the bar meets the club floor, and were treated to a half hour of sound check that quickly evolved into a full-on band rehearsal. They practiced endings, the set-up to a casino joke, and worked on their arrangement of Christmas Time is Here, after which they discussed the fact that they have to bust the Holiday tunes out sometime and it might as well be tonight (but it wasn’t meant to be, apparently)... The band was definitely working, not playing. The boys’ declared that they were ready for their casino steaks, and we stalkers left to prepare for the outcome of the practice later in the evening. They sell real tickets at the cashier. Under the band’s name and date and venue it said ***DANCE PARTY*** - so cute! The Club is a bar/restaurant room that’s a bit bigger than the floor at 12G’s & the Elbo Room. The floor is carpet with a small parquet up front. And it was a packed, possibly oversold, sausagefest. The band chastised the crowd with "Where are the ladies? You have to bring the ladies!" The crowd was quite well behaved, especially considering the testosterone concentration and the sardine factor. I don’t know if they’ll be back there – the room is too small for the band, even in a tertiary market... Expect a tight crowd for STS9 in January. Although the dance party crowd at the Catalyst was hard to beat, the show at the Fillmore rocked harder, louder, and stronger than my previous 2 shows. I finally got a driving Pay the Snucka, and was treated to In the Flesh, and The Song Remains the Same as the encore. Eric Levy popped over from the Boom Boom Room, and didn’t seem to know quite what to do with all the metal in the room when he first sat in, but quickly got his head around the beast and began to shred. Several Christmas tunes played included a metal Little Drummer Boy, and they finally did Christmas Time is Here as background music to the announcements. The band loved the audience reception and energy of playing this room – it’s been quite a while since I felt the Fillmore bounce so well. Also, there was a barrier which was a first for my Fillmore experiences. No tapers at this awesome show – I can’t wait for the Matrix to become available at DiscLogic. Great NorCal pocket in the 7th row, including 2 Elizabeths whose company I don’t get to enjoy often enough. We even became a human whack-a-mole when Brian H. stepped up to bounce. Great dance and party energy, and really, really great musicianship. I can’t believe these guys can shred such driving anthems and pull off four-part harmony simultaneously. Umphrey’s McGee is blowing up and blowing minds with progressive jazz and metal, with a dash of blues rock and jam thrown in for a well-rounded mastery of music theory, skilled delivery, and rock star stage presence. I’m totally lucky to get more on JamCruise (including some UM members in a Beatles & Floyd cover project). SF will get 2 April dates at the Fillmore, followed by High Sierra. Get them while you can – they’ve already outgrown the Fillmore. PS: What the hell happened to my Jeff Wood poster? Grateful for the Fillmore Freebie, but I was stoked on some Drowning Creek art! :-)

Panda-Moan-Eum @ Underground location 11/12

PacificaFunkster — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 17:07:23 GMT

Now that was a great fucking dance party. And people were there to DANCE. Heavy, heavy, heavy on the important fundamentals: -Kick-ass bassgasmic breaks lineup -Clean, bangin’ sound with a deep end to support full backbone slippage And this party was lovely in that it lacked hype, theatrics, and the see-and-be-seen element! This UG location is quickly becoming one of my favorites: BYOB if ya like, dancers policing themselves (no meathead security), *true* underground vibe, easy parking... More parties like this please! I can’t wait for round 3 :-) Local Breaks Heros: PureEvil Sound aaron jae via ernesto tag session (was ernie trevino) dirty punk (smoove) donna matrix alxndr kapt’n kirk …''' and on the scratch deck mancub The Krunk Lounge: Subscience sound maer dr. toast kitty-d purEvil mozaic rodman (aka lux) four corner surround sound by pUrEvil sound lighting by Evil Breakz Photo credit: Jason UB

Props where it's due: The Elbo Room

PacificaFunkster — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 20:49:35 GMT

> Sounds great, except for the fact that it's at the Elbo Room. > Man that place sucks. I'll disagree, and also ask what aspects of the room you think suck. Maybe you have had bad experiences with the sound: The sound has been *significantly* improved in this little room over the last year or so. Also, the lighting has gotten much better - the previously horrible eye-level beams of death have been completely altered so as not to blind you if you look over your shoulder. The best spot on the dance floor is front row, stage right. You are away from the busy ladies' room and the stairwell hall areas. I will concede that I generally like to arrive early (aka at scheduled start time) in order to get this prime spot. And if I arrive to a smokin' dance party already in session, it's generally only a 5 minute experience to ease myself naturally into the third row... This is often a great room to dance in - I like seeing afrobeat shows there (Aphrodesia on Fri 12/16 10-2) and the occasional Dub Mission reggae throwdown on Sunday (Sep and Maneesh rocked it this past week). The one time I struggled in this room was when I was the only person on the dancefloor in a room of sitters & hallway standers for Motherbug in August. I love venues in the Mission because it's the closest SF neighborhood to my house. And, if you know what you are doing it is never hard to park within 3-4 blocks from the venue. No search. With a bit of common sense discretion, you can bring your own water. If you don't BYO, water is only $2. Smoking generally occurs in the smoking section or in front without any hassle if you are cool, however reggae shows are commonly splifferific on the dance floor. Elbo's website is always current and the calendar is accurate so it can be relied on for cover charge and opener info. I've never been to a show at the Elbo costing more than $12. Cheap cover, Mission-centric, small/intimate room, heavily improved sound, better lighting, good customer service: I give it a thumbs up.

sts9 Halloween

PacificaFunkster — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 18:31:57 GMT

Now that was a sexy dance party. The 9 opened up with some less than exciting live PA/Audio Angel stuff. The vapid start, combined with their choice to renew markedly sub-par, non-danceable DJ team Eustachian as the opener, had me a bit worried at first. They got into some more live PA DJ stuff later on, but thankfully the new experimentations didn't last long and slippage prevailed over the course of the evening. The NorCal pocket rocketh. ________________________________________________ > They didn't open up with any LivePA material. LivePA is something > tottally different then what they did last night - not even close. > They played live music backing up a vocalist, like how you see many > rappers come on Saturday Night Live and perform live with a back up > band playing all the music live - not computer programmed. My bad, then. The first few songs seemed so canned and flat I thought there was drum track action... Real yawners for me - I was really glad when that part was over. I also think they should quit using Rashida on stage. It's cool when they work her best licks into a track via samples, but her time, rhythm, and delivery are consistently never very satisfying for me live... And that was hip hop? They should take a lesson from edIt, who they had on board at the DNA... ________________________________________ >2. As for a fight, I was further back towards the middle of the room, >instead of up front, and I did see a dude getting hauled back towards >the bar by what looked like a bunch of friends. I assumed he was >jacking around and causing trouble. I thought I should mention that the guy being hauled back by his friends was not a jerk. The tall asshole adonis that everyone has complained about picked a fight with him, and pushed him hard enough to knock him over onto me. Then there were punches that missed... For some reason I felt super, super zen with the sudden rush of adrenaline and surrounding testosterone, and used both some jedi mind tricks and physical restraint to separate these guys. The friends of the 2nd guy dragged/helped him away cause he did need a time out after the punches were thrown, but he wasn't a bad guy and it wasn't his fault. I really hope he took 5 and a rip and got over it to enjoy the rest of the show. Amazingly, the adrenaline and drama combination did not wreck my headspace at all, but rather launched me into a positive, natural hormone orbit. Adonis tried to force his way forward again into the NorCal amoeba but I made him want to go elsewhere for the 2nd set. I hope you enjoyed his absence as much as I did. When people are too chatty or sloppy drunk or generally bumming me out, I usually don't say anything and just hope they either fade fast or pick up on my you're-bumming-me-out vibe (or their more sober friends pick up on that vibe & reign them in...). But this asshole's terrible aggro behavior was a good example of when it was important for our group/pocket to both defend territory and draw the line as to how much crap we're gonna put up with. There are bad people out there, and we need to protect each other.

Decompression

PacificaFunkster — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 19:44:27 GMT

I found this year's Decompression to be fairly lame. The weak lineup on paper could not be overcome by the prospects of art and socializing. I never saw any major art installations at all – the art park in the center looked vacant, especially compared to last year…' And while it was nice to run into friends while walking between stages, the opportunities to dance were few and far between, with some *major* gaps in the talent schedule. Fire dancing is fume-y and highly repetitive just doesn't interest me that much. So I was pretty bored... I did however do some thinking about the "spectator vs. participant" idea. It seems like the Burning Man community deems you one or the other based mainly on how you dress. Perhaps what camp you belong to, or if you contribute to the "gift economy" are factors as well. Amongst the throngs of people yesterday, I realized that I also pass judgment and brand people with a label as to where they fall on the spectator/participant gamut. My criteria are different, though – are you there to dance, or are you there to see and be seen? See and be seen is OK if that's why you're there, but I don't know why people decide to park themselves in the front row or the sweaty middle of a dance party to have long, ongoing conversations. If you're 2 feet from the DJ and you're not dancing, you're a spectator at my dance party, regardless of how fabulous you might look.

Benevento/Russo Duo

PacificaFunkster — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 16:59:01 GMT

Independent 10/6/05 Gordon sightings an hour earlier, and still the headlining band wasn’t on at 11:30... The openers, LA’s Something for Rockets, had rocked the house indie pop style. Basic 4/4 rockers, certainly not my favorite genre, but I really liked their stage presence and attitude. Rami Perlman (son of Itzhak) on lead guitar & vocals has a rich, clear voice with good pitch and lovely timbre. I had dismissed them as lame and decided to show up late after my pre-show research yesterday, but seeing the live personalities piqued my interest a bit more & I’m actually giving them another listen right now - I’ve definitely heard worse indie pop rock! Finally the wait was over, and the very first song brought transcendance as it moved into a dark and extended one-note bass-gasm dotted with ambient textures. And lucky me in the 3rd row perpendicular to the bassbins – the wall of throb provided the first of many long, deep torso massages as I circled through the invocation. Becky started as a sassy bossanova before Marco hit the loop bringing the familiar staccato into play. Mephisto was gorgeous, as always, and featured an unexpected 4/4 fast rock middle – Rami Perlman came out and belted out a brief energetic chorus before the slow melodic jazz theme resumed again. The witching hour of 12:30 produced Gordon for 2 long songs before the encore - plenty of freeform jam attempts resulted in more ambient textures that didn’t really gel into a cohesive unity or progression. Unfortunately he was indeed poorly mixed, as previously mentioned, and the resulting frustrations on stage were clearly evident as the sound dude and Gordon himself kept flicking their lighters to better see and play with the amp buttons and dials. It was nice (and novelty) to see Gordon up there, but I’m sticking to my previous opinion that he doesn’t belong on stage with the Duo. He didn’t bring the funk to this party, and he just doesn’t compliment the patterned soundscapes with a layer that they are in need of – Marco and the loop can hold the bassline down better... No Radiohead or Zep covers. Great rotating NorCal representation in the subwoofer pocket – it frequently helped me to forget my chatterbox neighbors who wouldn’t dance... It would be a dis-service to neglect to mention the drunk chick who climbed on stage below Marco for the purpose of a horribly executed, interpretive mid-set dance. And by dance, I mean rolling around on the stage in a pathetic attempt to be sexy. Another testament to the fuck-the-music, see-and-be-seen mindset of many of the Independent's constituency... I’m done with indie pop rock now – PRN acid jazz-esq Revolution Void Independent 5/18/05 Last night’s Duo show was incredible! I was still elevated from their lovely set at Joshua Tree, which was really special in the desert daylight. Several Radiohead covers at JT, including a mindmelting Paranoid Android, and also a beautiful, tear-drop inducing Mephisto (or was it the dust?!?!?). But last night it was good to hear the Wurlitzer happy & in tune again with a reliable power source to run on. Will Bernard sat in for Marco’s soulful, uber-melodic Mephisto. This delicate ditty was probably not the best choice in songs to feature Will’s talent on, but I can still hear the sweet refrain this morning & it’s quite uplifting. The Becky was deliciously sick, as was the My Pet Goat. Both are gooey gems from their new album – I highly recommend after streaming it last month! With rockers RANA supporting last night, the crowd was ripe with anticipation for a Led Zeppelin cover-fest. Marco called out Scott Metzger deep into the second set and the headbanging began! Here’s a partial list that took us through the encore: What Is and What Should Never Be, The Ocean, Moby Dick, Heartbreaker (!!!), Immigrant Song! The crowd had thinned by the last notes as it was well after 1:30, but the energy was still strong in the pit and definitely on stage! At one point near the end, Russo was pounding his gold-toned snare with the heel of his foot to the extent that I thought that the skin would break! I love this group because of their raw talent, their highly trained execution, and their incredible range. Range which spans from hard-core Zeppelin sendups that are simultaneously both true-to-form and experimental/interpretive in the jammy middles, to ambient-textured yet very composed Radiohead tributes, to their own original material which can be hard core punk, proggy driving anthems, thoughtful brushes-on-snare jazz, or Sound-Tribe-Sector-Duo electronica stylings... Loops are definitely used in this act, but never overwhelm the musicianship: The drumming and organ jamming is nearly all very live with loops thrown in mostly for the light, repetitive chord textures & layers. Although I *love* the Zeppelin fix, I think that the Duo should consider parting ways with Mr. Metzger. Their talent is at such a different level of refinement, and Scott’s on-stage presence seems to detract from the spirit that they can so effortlessly build up. I didn’t dislike Scott in RANA’s rock-show form, but he does win the award for the most seriously egregious guitar wankery I’ve every encountered. Specifically, at the Benevento/Russo/Gordon show @ NOLA’s TwiRoPa, the *extreme* masturbatory posing and “worship-me-for-I-am-God” facial expressions were distracting and carried a strong air of insincerity. I guess I think that Marco & Joe are of a completely different musical caliber. So many NorCal & affiliated friends representing last night – always makes for a ROCKIN’ dance space & conscious head space. Can’t wait to see Sue’s pictures. I paid a mere $10 for an advance ticket to last night’s show, and it trumps most of the shows I’ve seen year-to-date. I’m still so elevated & refreshed from the hard dancing, beautiful head space, and most importantly the gorgeous sound & rhythms. Please treat yourself to B/R at Moe’s tonight if you can – High Sierra can’t come soon enough! E

Love Parade Guide: Float Lineup & Map

PacificaFunkster — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 21:45:20 GMT

Lovelies: Anyone interested in a double-sided cheat sheet (map on one side, and this DJ lineup info nicely formatted on the other), send me a message with your EMAIL addy. I'll forward you a PDF. Cheers, E Info @ LoveParadeSF.org as of 9/20 21 ANU, ELECTROCELT Lee Burridge, Desyn Masiello, Jamie Anderson, John Tejada, Scott Carrelli, Jon Beech, Sinukus 10 BAY 2 BREAKIN: BAY AREA BREAKS BRIGADE Future Funk Squad, Carbon Community, J-Break, HI-8, Greg J, Aaron Jae, M.O.D, BAM, Ripple 1-2ish, Influence, Jay Vigor, Jason Who, Erik_Hz, Marc O, Bertzerker 23 BAY AREA DNB Aye~n, Dj M, Frankie, Genome, KINETIK, Kuze, Lexxus, Mal, Mariposa!, Method One, Ruko, Spiscious Taste, the DOCTOR 19 BRUSA: BAYRAVES.COM, THEBOUNCE FM, WILD 94.9 HOUSE NATION St John, Joey Mazzola, Felipe Avelar, Carlos Alfonso, Rossfm, DJ Doza, DJ Orionz, DJ Girlie, Bangin B, Reclipse, Kid Loose, Chris the Junglist, MC Fader 16 CLUB SIX: MASSIVE SELECTOR, FLAVOR GROUP Dan the Automater, Prince Paul, Jesse Saunders, Rich Medina, Urban Momentum Allstar Dancers plus Massive Selector, Flavor Group, and Fresco DJs 8 CNE MEDIA 9 DUSTO MUSIC CONVERTER: FREEFORM OF LOVE Midi-Drift, Billy Casazza, Joe Harp, DJ Chloe, Iyad, Floorcraft, Soulsalaam, Atimatik, Josh Camacho 14 FUNK DA FLOAT: INGROOVES & SUPPER CLUB Crystal Method, Late Night Sneaky, Jackie Christie, DJ Keri, Desert Dwellers, Ricardo Cassettari 15 DANCE WITHOUT BORDERS: MOONSHINE SALOON, PORN PALACE, PAM DJS Paul van Dyk, Jerry Bonham, DJ Icey, Baby Anne, Saeed, Max Graham, Edgar V., AK1200, Ralph Falcon, OscarG 7 NUTBASS 3 OPEL & QOOL: ONE LOVE, MANY BEATS Lee Coombs, DJ Hyper, Syd Gris, Jondi & Spesh, Hoj, Melyss, Jive 1 OM RECORDS, MYSPACE AND ESDJCO PRESENT Mark Farina, JT Donaldson, DJ Dan, The Land Shark, IZ, Miguel Migs, J Boogie, Kaskade, DJ Fluid, Rithma, Chuck Love, Colossus and more 6 PLANET OF LOVE: ANONSALON, SHADOW LOUNGE, DUSTFISH, OPUS SOUND 12-12:45 Rebecca Watkins (Get Underground) 12:45-1:30 Kid (Anon Salon) 1:30-2:15 BLVD. (Live Breaks Trio) 2:15-3 DJ-B (Shadow Lounge) 3-3:45 Shissla vs. Alibi (House of Lotus) 3:45-4:30 Future Prophecies (D&B Duo/Norway) 4:30-5:15 Mozaic (13 Moontribe) 5:15-6 Adam Ohana (Get Freaky) 6-6:45 Laird (Get YER Freak On!) (All sets from 6:45 onwards are tag or 2x4 turntables) 6:45-7:30 Kraddy (Muti/Refiner) 7:30-8:15 Edit(Planet-Mu/LA) 8:30-9:15 RKIDZ (Trigger/Lawgiverz/UK) 9:15-10 Rodman (Indivincible) Vs. Ooah (LABA/El Circo) 4 PURE EXPERIENCE: SUITE 181, PUREFUTURE, PROTON RADIO, CLUBPLANET, RELENTLESSBEATS.COM, PANGEA RECORDINGS, EDM DIGITAL, RESONANTVIBES Habersham & Numinous, James Laurer, Jay Prasad and JohnCurley, Kai, EvryDayDowners aka Samer and The Maji, Timothy Heit 18 PURGATORY CRUISER: FREAK KINGDOM, YELLOW #5 OOAH, Adam Ohana, Nova Tron Vs Atomik, Dog, Athena, Friction, Zapper 20 SANFRANDISCO: STOMPY, GOOD FAMILY RECORDINGS Ken, Frank Solano, Bobby Valentine, Deron, Sweet P, Mike Frugaletti, SJ Mes, Tasho, Monty Luke, Carlos Gibbs 11 SOUND OF MIND: SF STATION, LEVENDE LOUNGE Scott Quick, Justin Martin, Mark Grant, DJ Ladyhouse, Kramer, Sen Sei, Andrew Phelan, Mike Giannini, Kepi and Kat 22 SPUNDAE, SKILLS, BEATPORT & FRIENDSTER Carl Cox, Ferry Corsten, Bad Boy Bill, Markus Schulz, Blank & Jones, Above & Beyond, Kyau vs. Albert, Mike Koglin, Deep Voices, Evil Nine, Mars, Dyloot & Tom SIlk, Gianni & Taj 12 SUMMER MADNESS: PAPAS & BEER ENSENADA MEXICO, AC&S RECORDS, SAN DIEGO Randall Jones, Jorge Rico, Eduardo Topete, Jose Amezcua, Shawn Mcelligott, IOS/We Are One 2 TANTRA Matan (Sesto Sento, Israel), Naked Tourist (Germany), Olowanpi (Switzerland), KJ, Liam Shy, Deeper in Zen, Chromatone, Dr. Spook 17 TEMPLE OF BOOM: THURSDAY NIGHT PRODUCTIONS Soulclap, Mix Master Amoeaba, Tanuki, DJ Lowtek 5 THE PINK MAMMOTH: PINK MAMMOTH, LO-RISE, BEATPORT Ryel K, Greg Louis, John Kobe, Derek Hena, Krystal Jones, Leedia, Dj Seven, DJ Sol, Tracy, DRC 13 THUMP RADIO, XM: LEADERS OF THE MOVE Trevor Simpson, Luis Baro, Justin Long, Lars Berenroth, Didje Kelli, Danny Buddha Morales, Lorin, Freq Nasty, Dimitri Mykonos, Mike Giannini, Sen Sei 00 UNIMOG / MIGHTY: SPACE COWBOYS 8ball, Brad Robinson, Mancub, Kapt'n Kirk, Smoove, rrrus, The Geometrist

on tour with Motherbug

PacificaFunkster — Tue, 16 Aug 2005 18:46:25 GMT

I love weeknight Motherbug. Cheap, easy, reliable boogie…' I hadn’t had it in a while, so I’ve been on tour. Kind of a strange tour – they’ve been playing places where the audience is more comfortable sitting down. As restaurants, Savoy Tivoli & Jupiter are obvious sit-downs…' They’ve done Google recently, and that must have been a snoozer…' And I’ve never seen so many people sitting down at dance-centric Ashkenaz before! The MC encouraged people to get up at the start of the 2nd set, explaining that you could get more out of Motherbug’s dance energy than a chiropractic session! Granted, this was Motherbug’s inagural Ashkenaz gig, and the crowd was thin-ish in the first set as they started early due to the cancellation of the opener…' But being the only person standing & dancing on the dance floor at the Elbo Room last night was just plain weird – when the side bench and ring of cocktail tables back by the bar filled up, people preferred to pack in by the side staircase & bathroom rather than check out the band on the sizeable dance floor! At least the 60+ people in the room were listening with intention as they sat, and I certainly didn’t care that I was holding the floor down solo…' Last night was the third time in a row I’ve been treated to Expensive Shit – I think they developed their arrangement while playing with Peter Apfelbaum recently, but this sound is a natural for the band. K-Mc can drive that heavy bassline in perpetuity. Jan Jackson’s rhythm and fills are coming along nicely. Will’s rhythm-guitar licks transition so well from the lilting afrobeat background to Will’s signature solo psychedelia…' And Joe Cohen’s smooth melody & accents brought it all together. The transition INTO the song itself was a bit rough, but I know how hard it is to match up such a heavy polyrhythmic beat…' Even if they don’t expand into further Fela originals, I really hope that Motherbug will continue to develop their Expensive Shit arrangement and will keep this butt-moving classic in heavy rotation. The band has been sounding sweet and I know I’ll get a burning dance floor on Thursday at the Boom Boom Room homecoming to round out my tour. Peter Apfelbaum is on deck again, as is my wiggle.

Garage a Trois & the Independent

PacificaFunkster — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 23:15:03 GMT

I've been struggling to process my experiences at the Independent last Wednesday & Thursday. The music was beautiful. I've become much more familiar with the Outre Mer fare, and I am appreciating it's smoother, softer approach vs. some of the abrasive, aggressive, more punked out Emphasizer material that I'm more familiar with. Lovely head music composed and performed by master talent. However, I am physically sickened by the total lack of respect that much of the audience displayed. I am finding that the attitude and behavior of the crowd at Independent gigs has become detrimental to my enjoyment of the music. I will refrain from going into a lot of detailed examples here, but I will say that many of the mainstream hipsters that are coming out to diverse Independent shows (ranging from crazy Mutaytor to the heady jazz of Garaj a Trois) are not here for the music. By purchasing a ticket, they are indeed patronizing the art of some of the finest young working musicians around. However, little regard is given to these musicians or music itself. So many of these hipsters are there to see and be seen. Despite direct and repeated requests from the band to be more quiet and LISTEN to the performance, many continue to talk loudly throughout the *entire* performance, whether they are front-row-center or ten rows back. When asked politely by neighbors in the audience to be quieter, a full, aggressive "fuck you I paid to be here and to get drunk and I can talk as loud as I want" response is pervasive. Skerik, Charley, Mike, and Stanton are consummate professionals, and I hope that their ability to shake off such negativity, rudeness, and disinterest in their art exceeds mine. I hope they will be willing to return to SF as GAT in the future. After last night's boorish and uncouth treatment, I believe it will take more than the monetary stipend to convince them to try us again. I look forward to an appreciative and respectful experience for Skerik's Trio at the Yankee next Saturday. The Independent should be one of the best places in town to see a really intimate show. Great sightlines, usually great sound, small-ish capacity, a nice tall & wide stage, relatively sufficient bathrooms, a pretty quick entry process, fairly mellow security if discrete, etc. They staff the box office from noon til 6pm every weekday, and they often offer a $2 discount for committing in advance... The club books a lot of quality acts in diverse genres. They've got a lot of pull, and they advertise. But I'm definitely not enjoying the company of their target audience, and will try to distance myself from this venue going forward as a result.