When the ancient Polynesians invented surfing, they often used a paddle to help them navigate. Fast-forward a few millennia, and Stand-Up Paddleboarding, or SUP, finds itself trendy again. Part of its increasing popularity is that standing upright allows surfers to spot waves more easily and thus catch more of them, multiplying the fun factor. Paddling back to the wave becomes less of a strain as well. The ability to cruise along on flat inland water, surveying the sights, is another advantage. Finally, it’s a good core workout. If you’re sold on the idea, schedule an intro SUP lesson, free with board and paddle rental, and you may find yourself riding the waves like a Polynesian king.More
Many of us remember coming home from our elementary schools with freshly glazed pinchpots, cups, or whatever else our young imaginations could conjure up. Saturday mornings at the Randall Museum can bring that memory back, or create a new one for the youngsters. Ceramics make great gifts — especially on Mothers' and Fathers' Day. Hop on board for the Randall's once-weekly class, and for $6 and two weeks to have your work fired and glazed, you'll have all the materials you need.More
December is almost over - the New Year is coming up and everyone is busy drying off from the rain or holiday shopping. Let's take a look at what's happened this month.
Thai chef Kasem "Pop" Saengsawang owns several solid restaurants in San Francisco, including the breakfast-centric Sweet Maple and the Asian fusion spot Kitchen Story, but his newest project Farmhouse Kitchen is the one to miss at your peril.
Even though we have to pour out a little something for the canceled Street Food Festival — it'll be back in 2017 — there's no shortage of foodie festivals around here.
Sub Pop recording artists 'clipping.' brought their brand of noise-driven experimental hip hop to the closing night of 2016's San Francisco Electronic Music Fest this past Sunday. The packed Brava Theater hosted an initially seated crowd that ended the night jumping and dancing against the front of the stage. The trio performed a set focused on their recently released Sci-Fi Horror concept album, 'Splendor & Misery', then delved into their dancier and more aggressive back catalogue, and recent single 'Wriggle'.
Opening performances included local experimental electronic duo 'Tujurikkuja' and computer music artist 'Madalyn Merkey.'"
This year will mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Cursive, an Omaha-based confederacy of musicians committed to questioning the meanings of life and love by way of emotionally combustible, exhaustively literate, secretly funky concept albums. There have been…
One of last year's better nouveau-emo releases was Pleasant Living, the sophomore effort from Tiny Moving Parts. The Minnesota trio plies a relatively wholesome brand of confessional angst, one that manages to be simultaneously hysterical and urbane; this split comes…
Go ahead, reach up and take hold of the low-hanging fruit: extinction. Get it out of your system. Done? Good. The dodo is extinct, yes, but The Dodos are still here — you have to give them that. If you…
Over the course of three EPs and a full-length, 2013’s The Ways We Separate, Brooklyn duo Beacon has mapped a slow but determined course over the waters between gently burbling morning-after techno and neo-Teutonic synthetic menace. Their new EP,…
The end of 2014 finds Tyler, the Creator, multitalented impresario of the Los Angeles rap syndicate and youth-culture conglomerate Odd Future, making up his mind between vocations: enfant terrible or artiste? Since turning 23 in March, he's been arrested for…
Common Jay Electronica Wednesday, September 26, 2014 Regency Ballroom Better than: Thanksgiving at Erykah Badu’s house For reasons I never bothered to ascertain, the Ohio neo-soul-hop duo Fly.Union never showed up, so Wednesday night’s show began around 8.30 p.m.…
@All Shook Down
by Daniel Levin Becker
November 28, 2014 @ 3:02 pmTags: Reviews, Common, Live Review
At first blush, Santa Barbara's Gardens & Villa appears to traffic in unflappably chilled-out post-disco synth-pop. Tug at any of the loose threads on this February's Dunes LP, though, and what seemed like painted-on ornamental bluster reveals itself to be…
by Daniel Levin Becker
November 18, 2014Tags: Hear This
The Black Keys Jake Bugg November 3, 2014 Oracle Arena Better than: Two hours of Nissan commercials, I guess. In defense of The Black Keys, I will say that it’s not, causally speaking, their fault. Their brand of raggedly good-timey…
If you're not heading down the Peninsula on Friday night to see Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube represent the heyday of West Coast gangsta rap, there's a contemporary analog right in the city. Its thug-life mainstay is Los Angeles rapper…
The idea of a Philadelphia indie rock renaissance is probably fictitious, but if one existed, The War on Drugs would stand squarely at its forefront. Led by former Kurt Vile bandmate Adam Granduciel, the quartet thrives in the middle distance…
Los Angeles gentle-weirdo troupe Wand has just released its first album, Ganglion Reef, an alternately caustic and ecstatic affair filled with propulsive stoner rock and jammy psychedelia, interspersed with the occasional transcendental bliss-out. Think of an unholy yet basically irresistible…
Sub Pop recording artists 'clipping.' brought their brand of noise-driven experimental hip hop to the closing night of 2016's San Francisco Electronic Music Fest this past Sunday. The packed Brava Theater hosted an initially seated crowd that ended the night jumping and dancing against the front of the stage. The trio performed a set focused on their recently released Sci-Fi Horror concept album, 'Splendor & Misery', then delved into their dancier and more aggressive back catalogue, and recent single 'Wriggle'.
Opening performances included local experimental electronic duo 'Tujurikkuja' and computer music artist 'Madalyn Merkey.'"
