collin weber for san francisco bay guardian

Create and destroy

WINTER LOOKS: Collin Weber is the designer to the (garage rock) stars

You might have spotted Collin Weber running through the Mission on the way to the Knockout, frantic, with a bag full of satin bows to complete a trio of Sailor Moon costumes. Or perhaps you've seen his handy-work elsewhere, in the colorful capes and pointed hats Shannon and the Clams wear in their video for "Sleep Talk" or the sixties striped shifts the Dirty Cupcakes sport in "I Want It (Your Love)" [...]

michael jackson cirque du soleil for san francisco bay guardian

Thriller

The spirit of Michael Jackson returns with Cirque du Soleil

There are so many extravagant things you could say about the late King of Pop, our holy father of stage theatrics and sequined gloves, Michael Jackson. The moon-walking man, the storied myth, the embattled legend.

If you want to get at the core of his power, the lifelong devotion of his millions of followers, try to envision a scenario that took place decades ago; look back at a then-12-year-old choreographer named Laurie Sposit, mimicking dance moves in her bedroom plastered with Michael Jackson posters. "I also wanted the red [Thriller] jacket but my dad wouldn't get it for me, I was traumatized," says Sposit from a brief stop in Phoenix, Ariz [...]

21st century for san francisco bay guardian

Time is now

Bay Area folk-pop septet the 21st Century finally releases the album that was "fated to never be completed."

Last spring there was no end in sight. The future seemed bleak for what was once a promising project — the chance of a lifetime for Bay Area septet the 21st Century. Now, a full year after its intended release, the colorful debut album, The City, will see the light of day [...]

dick dale for san francisco bay guardian

King of the beach

At 74, the legendary Dick Dale keeps riding those surf guitar waves

In the beginning, the ocean was quiet. And before Dick Dale, the chords were thin, flat, and sweet. A young surfer growing up in picturesque 1950s Southern California, Dale changed the course of rock'n'roll with the thick, wet reverberating sound of Middle Eastern-influenced surf guitar and a little song called "Misirlou" [...]

cunt sparrer for san francisco bay guardian

Cunt Sparrer is heading to San Francisco for New Year’s Eve Eve

It starts off in your basic living room, two girls laughing then launching into a sweet, stripped down lo-fi version of Cock Sparrer’s oi classic “Take ‘Em All.” The musicians, Jennie Cotterill and Sara Lyons, play acoustic guitar and organ respectively, and harmonize “Take 'em all, take 'em all/Put 'em up against a wall and shoot 'em.” The disparity between the lyrics, origins, and this whole set-up encapsulates the appeal of Long Beach’s Cunt Sparrer, a trio that also includes Jen Kirk-Carlson and sometimes Myra Gallarza of Cotterill and Kirk-Carlson's other band Bad Cop/Bad Cop on drums.

More than a tribute act, Cunt Sparrer has been rearranging and rejuvenating Cock Sparrer tunes and other traditional punk hits for the past few years and through those efforts gained some deserved social media recognition — its Youtube clips routinely garner upwards of a thousand views, and on Twitter there was the biggest compliment of all: a tweet of approval from Cock Sparrer itself [...]

year in music: rearview mirror for san francisco bay guardian

Rearview mirror

YEAR IN MUSIC 2011: It's a retromaniac's world, but lookin' back ain't so bad. Plus: the top 10 live shows of 2011

"Out of all the records I've recorded, that was the worst experience," says prolific Dinosaur Jr. bassist and Sebadoh guitarist Lou Barlow. He's speaking of Bug, the classic, feedback opening alternative rock album Dinosaur Jr. released on SST in 1988 [...]

tikva records for san francisco bay guardian

Tradition!

A Jewish record store is coming to the Mission — briefly

Row after row of sentimental — sometimes kitschy, sometimes renowned — vinyl albums are lining pristine white walls in a small storefront, waiting for the opening of a record store that will exist for just one month [...]

mark sultan for san francisco bay guardian

Mark Sultan (BBQ) on vitamins, 'Seinfeld,' and the death of rock'n'roll

Mark Sultan is an embattled crusader for true rock'n'roll. Though in prose, he'll have you believe that it must be destroyed – to save it from itself [...]

from the back of the room for san francisco bay guardian

XX hardcore

Female punks step out From the Back of the Room in new doc

When Blatz, a political punk band connected to all-ages Berkeley music venue 924 Gilman Street Project (the Gilman), was looking for a girl singer to join the act in 1990, it wound up with two new additions [...]

turntable kitchen for san francisco bay guardian

Maximum Consumption: the Turntable Kitchen interview

I'd venture a guess that no one in this town knows the frosting tipped appeal of hand-mixing music and food more than the couple behind Turntable Kitchen. What started one year ago as a simple (yet highly aesthetically pleasing) website mashing up recipes and records, has grown into a celebrated multi-headed creative output machine, with food+music news, event sponsoring, giveaways, and the newly added physical pairings boxes – on top of the drool-inducing/stunning posts [...]

goldies: dirty cupcakes for san francisco bay guardian

GOLDIES 2011: Dirty Cupcakes

"We didn't even have a band, but we had the name."

It was the summery music video that launched a thousand bubblegum crushes. Guitarist-vocalist Lauren Matsui, drummer Laura Gravander, and bassist Sola Morrissey, a.k.a the Dirty Cupcakes, adorably lust after unrequited love. The cute boy of their dreams prefers other boys, and he sexily smooches another man, while the girls swoon from different spots around San Francisco, including a Sandy-in-Grease bedroom scene. "I feel like it's a San Francisco thing to be in love with a gay man, or somebody that you can't have," says Matsui [...]

goldies: religious girls for san francisco bay guardian

GOLDIES 2011: Religious Girls

The arty noise act's music is that of the futurist multitasker

If they suddenly became stupidly rich, the trio behind Oakland's Religious Girls would purchase a warehouse to turn into an all-ages venue/home-recording studio, with maybe some laser tag. Or they'd buy a food cart. If that isn't the epitome of the modern Bay Area band, I don't what is [...]

jhameel for san francisco bay guardian

Beautiful pop

The many sides of up-and-coming virtuoso Jhameel

I half-expect Jhameel to be sporting face paint whiskers swiped across his cheeks as I walk up to meet him at Cafe Strada near the UC Berkeley campus. Lyrically, he's inspired by Ben Gibbard, musically by Sufjan Stevens, but aesthetically, it's early Bowie [...]

water borders for san francisco bay guardian

Mood setters

Water Borders draw out the inherit creep of vintage film

Water Borders, a gloomy beat-driven San Francisco band with a new release (Harbored Mantras) on Tri Angle Records, spent the past few weekends practicing the art of creating atmosphere for obscure vintage films [...]

live shots: hans-joachim roedelius for san francisco bay guardian

Hans-Joachim Roedelius celebrates his 77th birthday at Cafe Du Nord

“What a cerebral evening,” a show companion observed as we exited Cafe Du Nord last night, pushing the doors open to a whoosh of cool fall air. Indeed. For the man who's seen it all, first as a child actor in 1930s Germany, then as a reluctant member of the Hitler Youth, and finally a pioneer of early experimental krautrock in the 1970s and ambient jazz, Hans-Joachim Roedelius (Cluster/Harmonia) was not the confrontational artist one might expect. Tall and bald with wire-rimmed glasses, he was erudite, pleasant, subdued [...]