Blogs

Ashford and Simpson
The Rrazz Room
Review by Tamara Palmer; Photos by Mike Battaglia
May 10, 2008

Better than: Most of the last 20 years in R&B
Stream: New remixes of classic Ashford and Simpson hits

The Rrazz Room at Hotel Nikko is a tiny jazz lounge where personal space is at a minimum. But it was still an unexpected surprise and an instant delight to end up in a front seat that was mere inches away from Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson, ridiculously within reach of the legendary songwriters who penned, among many other enduring classics, “Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand).”

The influence of Ashford and Simpson on modern music is untold, whether through being sampled or covered by hip-hop artists or vocally imitated by house and neo-soul’s so-called divas. Ashford and Simpson sip from the fountain of youth, just as their melodies and sentiments do; in person and from an extremely close vantage point, both appear in amazing, healthy shape.

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Harptallica, Saturn Returns, 9pm, $7
Elbo Room - 647 Valencia at 18th St.

If Heaven is full of happy cherubim strumming golden harps, then what do fallen angels listen to in Hell? Harptallica may have the answer. This Louisiana duo covers blackhearted Metallica thrash classics like “One” and “Master of Puppets” on a pair of giant classical harps, turning Kirk Hammett’s guitar leads and James Hetfield’s raw vox into tapestries of sinuous, chiming tones. Sure, it’s kinda hard to bang your head to such delicate strums. But it would be pretty sweet to sneak Harptallica’s version of “Ride the Lightning” onto the P.A. at your local Christian bookstore. Obeying your evil master has never been so seductively melodious. — John Graham

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Unpoppable, The Dead Hensons, Borts Minorts
Bottom of the Hill, May 10, 2008
Notes and Photos by Mike and Jenny Cash

Made up of a guitarist, a drummer, and a balloon bassist, Unpopable's self described elastic blues is much like the art of balloon sculpture. It's colorful and delightfully twisted. And like that fine art, you are transfixed by the process and eagerly look forward to the result.

Probably the world's only Muppet Cover Band, The Dead Hensons are an eight piece rock band exclusively covering the upbeat songs from early Jim Henson projects (mainly Sesame Street, the Muppet Show, and the Muppet Movie). A little strange until you remember that since the 70s, 40 of the songs and albums from the Jim Henson World have been nominated for Grammy's with 14 wins. Not bad base material and The Dead Hensons know how to rock each one.

If Salvador Dali had done music he would have paled in comparison to the truly eclectic Borts Minorts. One part performance art, one part manic techno musical extravaganza, all around fantastically mesmerizing. In his trademark unitard, and flanked by his accompanying backup dancers, Borts manages to blend more action into 45 minutes than a full week at the circus. The crowd at Bottom of the Hill was treated to his mini opening act Fou Fou Ha. Imagine Dr. Seuss directing a dance troupe of court jesters and you might be near the same solar system of describing it.

Borts Minorts is Cirque du Soleil on acid, no chaser.

Click the image for many more photos from Saturday's show.

By Matthew Shaer

"I could cite the influence of Art Deco and Streamline Moderne aesthetics, with their roots in fantasies of power, speed, and flight, or posit the costume as a kind of fashion alter ego of the heavy, boxy profile of men’s clothing at the time. When in fact the point of origin is not a date or a theory or a conjunction of cultural trends but a story, the intersection of a wish and the tip of a pencil."

That's novelist and unabashed über-comix-fan Michael Chabon on the birth of the superhero costume. In a March New Yorker essay, Chabon noted – coincidentally – that, "like the being who wears it, the superhero costume is, by definition, an impossible object." As evidence, he asked readers to imagine a large comic-book convention, full of kids "shpatziring around the ballrooms and exhibition halls dressed as Wolverine, say, or the Joker’s main squeeze, Harley Quinn. Without exception, even the most splendid of these getups is at best a disappointment."

So what would Chabon make of “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy,” a new exhibit at New York's Met?

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As I squint out over the net waves for any sign that Neko Case will come back to me, hopefully to reprise the loving four nights she performed for me at Bimbo's in '06, I find this instead: Esopus, a magazine (print!) about the creative process. Which obviously could be a big pile of suck, but isn't.

The annual publication includes a CD called Good News, on which musicians write songs about anything they consider to be good news. You can listen to some of it on the site. Neko's contribution, written and recorded with New Pornographer Carl Newman, is about the resurgence of ferrets in Kansas. It's got a bit of heavily reverbed Neko laughter on it which I'm pretty sure is a secret message from her to me saying "I love you too, fan! I remember the $50 heart-shaped box of chocolates you gave me at the Paramount in Oakland when I opened for Merle Haggard!"

Other musicians include Man Man, the Real Tuesday Weld, Busdriver, and Gowns. Go out thee, and purchase at an independent bookstore this good cultural product, which includes items of interest other than Neko Case, such as the truly genius photography of Dulce Pinzón. --Hiya Swanhuyser

Is there anything more tragic-turned-funny than Kermit the Frog (or, ahem, Sad Kermit) covering Elliott Smith (and referencing a scene from The Royal Tenenbaums)? No, I don't think there is. -- Jennifer Maerz

Sometimes I like my rock 'n roll like I like my chicken -- southern fried. Get ready for finger lickin' good guitar riffs when My Morning Jacket plays the Greek Theatre on Sept. 19. Ticket info soon to come. --Oscar Pascual

If you love the sounds of a Moog synthesizer, then I'll venture a guess and say you're a Stereolab fan. If I'm right, then you should jump for joy when the electro rockers take up a two-night residency at the Fillmore on Oct. 21 and 22, in support of their upcoming Chemical Chords album due Aug. 19. Ticket sale info will be announced soon. --Oscar Pascual

In the current issue of the Weekly, Ezra Gale describes local dance commanders Wallpaper as "trashy synth-pop riding garage-sale drum machine beats as a singer wails about 'going big on the weekends' ... Synthesizers whirr, drum machines thwap, and Reed (who sounds as if he stole the Vocoder from Cher's "Believe" session and implanted it in his larynx) rattles on about text messages. If Justin Timberlake were broke and had a sense of humor, he'd probably sound like this."

So this sunny Friday couldn't be a better time to get Wallpaper's "Evrytym We Do It" to get your weekend thwapping in style. -- Jennifer Maerz

Name: Mike Relm

Home base: San Francisco, CA

Style of music you spin: Dance/Rock/Hip Hop

Name of the last track you couldn’t get out of your head: an unreleased Morningwood track

City producing the hottest new music right now: Miami, I believe that's where Timbaland lives.

Dream DJ partner: The Sideshow

Favorite DJ experience: Playing last year's Coachella festival. It was a gorgeous setting with an awesome crowd.

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(Atmosphere's Slug and one of his many fans)

Atmosphere
May 8, 2008
The Grand At The Regency Center
Words and photos by Jennifer Maerz
Better than: Hearing Hilary rap to Barack: Most of this garbage I write/That these people seem to like/Is about you/And how I let you infect my life

Hilary and Obama have it all wrong. They’re wasting time, tarmacs, and Tuesdays trying to win the hearts and minds of America, because their methods are all out of whack. If either one of our Democratic presidential hopefuls would just follow Atmosphere’s lead, they’d have all the super delegates throwing their hands in the air (so long as those super delegates were, like, white weed smokers between the ages of 16 and 26).

See, the first step towards becoming irresistible to your constituency is a little thing called the karaoke flyer. The flyer possesses the magical power of making folks memorize your platforms verbatim.

Don’t get what I mean? Just ask Atmosphere’s main man Slug.

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With the second weekend in May approaching you may feel distraught about the terrible weather. Each day seems filled with frigid wind (eliminating picnic potential) and the nights aren't warm enough to do anything awesome -- except hit up some of the great shows coming this weekend. Here are the suggested activities to fill the freezing weekend:

Friday night skank the night away at Slim's with ska favorites the Slackers from New York City. The show starts at nine and tickets are $15. If you prefer "rock lobster" or "the love shack," head to the Independent for the legendary B-52s. Though if you don't have tickets, tough luck. The show is sold out. Other evening options include Friday night festivities at the de Young Museum. They promise "a variety of interdisciplinary arts programs, including live music, poetry, films, dance, tours, and lectures. The cafe is open with a special Friday Nights dinner menu, and a no-host cocktail bar is serving drinks. There are art-making activities for everyone."

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The Ant Show's 4th Annual Boxer Rebellion, 8pm, $7-10
Red Devil Lounge - 1695 Polk at Clay

We had the privilege of sitting next to now-famous blogger Brock Keeling of SFist for a number of years when he was our clubs editor. So we can tell you authoritatively that he is stylish, sometimes cruelly so. Always subtle, sharp, and body-conscious, his clothing was better than ours, every day, as was his hair and skincare regime. We think he may attend the fourth annual Boxer Rebellion, since at least one of the designers at this underwear-focused fashion show has been known to use bare-crotched celebrities as a visual motif: This is right up Brock's alley. The designer, Improperazzi, also features "yes smoking" buttons (no diagonal line, just a picture of a cigarette), a generally slim fit, and blatant drug imagery — all very Brock. Other designers include Vintage Joy, owner of the half boring, half hilarious slogan "Changing the world of style, styling the world of change," Mei Lin, Dan Gallagher, and Cara Barnard. Murder of Lilies, the Catholic Comb, Ghost to Atom, and others provide the rock. --Hiya Swanhuyser

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Stop going to Jazz Night at Amnesia! The Django Rhinehart Reinhardt-inspired Gaucho (lastnight with Ralph Carney sitting in on clarinet, flute, other flute, bouzouki, theremin, double-necked flying v … kidding about some of those) is good, but it's not for young pretty people, so stop showing up. And as for Mitch Marcus' bebop combo, um, JAZZ IS FOR DORKS, and little hipster cuties need to stop locking their bikes up outside and just give us our neighborhood bar back. Who rips up the floor with partner-dances anymore? Who are you people? Go home! Or at least please look more haggard and schlubby. Some of us just want to be able to get to the bar (let alone sit in a seat! Jesus!) and enjoy our outdated musical genre in peace. --Hiya Swanhuyser

"Every guy wants a girlfriend like Chelsea Handler," writes Dan Strachota in our awesome Calendar section this week.

"She's funny, she's horny, and she drinks like Dean Martin. Here's a lady who believes it's best to have sex as soon as possible in a relationship, so you can find out if potential partners are 'bad in bed, or even worse, into anal beads and duct tape.'"

Here's your chance to see Handler free Saturday night at The Warfield: We've got two pairs of tickets to hand out. Be one of the first two to comment with a valid e-mail addy and they're yours.

Note: All tickets must be redeemed at the SF Weekly office by 6 p.m. Friday. --Janine Kahn