If we're going to live in a fog forest for the near future, we might as well get a soundtrack going that works with all this white mist. Over at the Giving Up Food For Funk blog, Prayve has posted a free, downloadable mix of "modal and spiritual jazz," a really incredible collection of artists that uplifts a gray afternoon until something a little more, well, heavenly. Among these tracks is one of my personal favorites, Alice Coltrane's "Blue Nile," which showcases her graceful way with the harp (subtly accompanied by Pharoah Sanders' and Joe Henderson's flute solos). It's a song that always makes me regret never seeing Coltrane while she was still alive. Other highlights include Clifford Jordan's "Ouagadougou" and Lloyd Miller's "Gol-e Gandom." But every track here--songs that were recorded in the '60s and '70s, and are personal favorites of Prayve's, pulled from his record collection--is pretty great.
Does it really have to be said, that when you go to a show--either at a club, in someone's basement, or in an industrial looking warehouse--that it's bad manners to piss on the floor? Apparently no one told one chick who came to check out the Sic Alps/Black Dice/Wolf Eyes show on Friday night at a San Francisco underground warehouse space. The gal must've squatted down in some corner of the space--which was a pretty nice setup, with lots of artwork on the walls, not easily mistaken for a bathroom--to release some of the booze she'd been drinking. One of the warehouse owners tracked her down to yell at her and she gave him an unrepentant stare, answering back, "Well, the lines for the bathroom were long." Really?
It was one of many douchebag moves that night, which unfortunately also saw the show getting shut down halfway through, before either Black Dice or Wolf Eyes could play. The folks running the event said the cops had been called.
With so few underground shows being able to exist in S.F. anymore (those that have traditionally been in art galleries, record stores, and collective living spaces getting the ax after neighbors complain) it was exciting to actually be able to hit this particular warehouse a couple times in recent months. But with the pissing princess, the cops, and the yelling champion--who screamed at the hosts that he wanted his $10 back, even though by the time the cops came two of the four acts had already played--I wonder how much longer we'll be able to see great shows at this great space. Folks, is it that hard to keep your shit together for one night in this city?
DJ Matt Africa has just posted a free downloadable tribute to "Amerika's Most Complete Artist," DJ Quik. The mix is here, and accompanying "liner notes" can be found on Africa's blog, I Wish You Would.
It's always interesting to hear DJs pay tribute to their favorite artists, and even more interesting to hear why they've chosen to do so. As Africa writes, "I made this mix because people sleep on DJ Quik. Maybe they've forgotten or maybe they never understood, but people don't get the breadth or depth of his talent." Quik's career, Africa continues, "has been about devotion to his craft, steady growth and experimentation... When people talk about Quik they usually talk about his production. Aside from Dr. Dre, no one has been more influential in shaping the sound of L.A. rap over the last two decades." Africa goes on to say that he's actually a bigger fan of Quik's rhymes than his beats, noting, as an emcee, Quik is "merciless, with an unmatched eye for detail and a gift for scabrous invective."
Hmm. We're not sure Quik himself knows what a "scabrous invective" is, but it's easy to agree with Africa that the man is both supremely talented and supremely underrated. Quik's new album Blaqkout drops June 9th; on June 11, he appears at Ruby Skye, along with a full band and special guest Kurupt. Tickets are here.
Maker Faire
Sunday, May 31
San Mateo County Expo Center
Photos by Sam Prestianni
Better Than: watching Star Wars with my robot girlfriend.
Freaks and geeks welcome! That was the unofficial motto of the 4th Annual Maker Faire, Make magazine's premier showcase for do-it-yourselfers of all stripes who live to build unusual, beautiful things and sometimes blow them up.
Burning Man regulars were there, of course, from Acme Muffineering with their giant bicycle-powered cupcakes, to the visionary techies responsible for daring to imagine the Electric Giraffe, a 1700-pound, 17-foot-tall, skeletal replica of everyone's favorite zoo attraction. Also on the local freak front, pyromaniac Charles Gadeken (of Flaming Lotus Girls fame) torched the hell out of an outsized rusty blossom, while the mad scientists of Steampunk and Kinetic Steamworks brought their trademark machine sculptures to life via the power of very hot air.
Why can't we be friends?
That's the question Latin funk band War probably asked, when their Saturday night headlining slot at KISS-FM's Old School Fiesta, held at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, ended early, due to numerous fights and six reported stabbings.
As first reported by Bay City News, the concert--which also featured Lakeside, Triniere, Brenton Wood, and El Chicano--was marred by an unruly crowd nearly from its inception. Witnesses reported that several large groups egged each other on, challenging each other to brawls. Police arrived about an hour and a half into the show, at about 6:30 p.m., but left soon thereafter, as the melees appeared to be contained. Whoops. More fights broke out at the evening continued; the stabbings were reported around 9:30 p.m., and War's set was cut short about 45 minutes later, as the house lights came on. Interestingly, some Internet commentators contradicted police reports, saying that police never actually entered the venue where the fights were occurring, but let venue staff break up the fisticuffs. No arrests were made, and the victims were transported to the hospital.
ASD isn't sure what the world is coming to when what should have been a mellow concert with a bill which seemed more likely to provoke nostalgia than stabbings goes sour, but it just goes to show you that violence can happen anywhere, even when least expected.
