What To Do? Tuesday's Pick: Joe Sib @ Punch Line

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Joe Sib @ Punch Line

Like a Northern California Henry Rollins, Joe Sib has turned his fully loaded treasure chest of punk-rock memories into a spoken-word event. Sib is the cofounder of SideOneDummy Records who has fronted bands for the past 26 years, most notably Wax, which gained attention in the mid-'90s thanks in part to Spike Jonze's video for "California." His one-man show, dubbed California Calling, is funny enough that it'll be at the Punch Line Comedy Club tonight.

"The thought never entered my mind when I was growing up about doing comedy," he says. "My obsession with punk rock began at 13 when my father took me to [San Jose's] Winchester SkatePark, where I heard the sound of the Ramones, the Buzzcocks, and Black Flag for the first time. Sure, I was always the 'funny' guy in my crew of friends, but all I wanted to do was play music and see bands."

Though Sib, who grew up in the Santa Cruz Mountains and later San Jose, left for L.A. when he was 23, California Calling is dominated by Bay Area tales. "A lot of my memories are about going to the On Broadway in North Beach," he says. "There was something scary about making the drive from San Jose to San Francisco with a group of friends and never knowing what may happen that night. It was at a time when everything was new and punk rock was both exciting and dangerous."

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