A few years ago, the Doc Martens store came to the Upper Haight. Shortly thereafter, flannel again became the preferred garment of musty music fans everywhere. Fast-forward a couple of years, and we now have a Bottle Rock Napa Valley lineup that could be straight out of 1997 (okay, not quite, but certainly a squinty rehash of 1995-'02), and now arguably the crown jewel of 1990s alt-culture nostalgia:
This summer, in The Year of Our Lord 2014, Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails are touring together. Yes, it is fact. Thus do we make the following pronouncement: '90s nostalgia has officially peaked. All that's left is the '90s alt-rock cruise, complete with Kennedy as captain and Matt Pinfield as nighttime host.
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks: Stephen Malkmus isn't very impressed with the current state of film. He's not reading or hearing anything that moves him too much, either, and he's baffled by the Internet's ubiquitous impact on modern life. It's safe to say that Malkmus, whose work with Pavement essentially created the template for the next two decades of brainy, irreverent indie rock, isn't religiously checking social media for the latest updates on popular culture trends.
"When you're looking at music, movies, and literature, it's kind of a garbage time right now," says Malkmus, who comes to S.F. this week with his current band, the Jicks. "Other than television, which is kind of on a roll of brilliance, everything out there is pretty underwhelming." [continue reading]
The news that Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and posh actress Gwyneth Paltrow are splitting up after more than a decade together was surprisingly upsetting. First, and most obviously, they have two small children who will probably be upset by this process -- which is sad. Secondly, Martin and Paltrow always looked just right together -- each of them being in possession of a special brand of bland whiteness. Side-by-side, they always just looked like a vanilla-on-vanilla sundae -- it wasn't the most exciting flavor combination, but, dammit, it's supposed to be safe.
