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Stories

Small Stories Outpace the Big Stars at Pop-Up Mag

By Rachel Swan
Janelle Monáe Channels MJ With the SF Symphony

By Tamara Palmer
Chipotle Is Throwing a Free Music Festival?

By Ian S. Port
Bands Feel Like a Sideshow at Pricey Bottle Rock

By Ian S. Port
The 10 Worst YouTube Covers of "Get Lucky"

By Cory Sklar
Top 8 Ways a Stones Concert Is Like Living in SF

By Ian S. Port
The Rolling Stones at Oracle: Pricey Imperfection

By Ian S. Port
How to Celebrate Jawbreaker Day

By SF Weekly
Stern Grove Fest Announces 2013 Lineup

By Ian S. Port
Let's Stop Denying Women Credit For Their Music

By Andrew Stout

Freak Show

The Rival Mob Brings Brutal Boston Hardcore to Oakland

By Matt Saincome Mon., Mar. 11 2013 at 9:33 AM

Categories: Freak Show, Last Night

Matt Gill

The Rival Mob

The Rival Mob
Never Healed
Lies
Friday, March 8, 2013
1-2-3-4 Go! Records, Oakland

Better than: Everything. (Mob Rules All)

Brendan Radigan, the charismatic frontman of the Rival Mob, took the stage, picked up the mic, and delivered one of the most passionate political speeches in the history of hardcore.

"Steel toed boots? Check. Wild party animals? Check. . . Boot Party!"

And with that, the hardcore superstars known as the Rival Mob tore into the start of a wild set inside a jam-packed 1-2-3-4 Go! records in Oakland.

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The Rival Mob

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Freak Show

Jello Shots, Cut-Off T-Shirts, and Rushing the Stage: What Happens When 89 Cougars Go To a Def Leppard Concert in Concord

By SF Weekly Mon., Sep. 17 2012 at 9:54 AM

Categories: Freak Show

89 Def Cougars assembled and ready for Friday's show.

By ELIZABETH GARONE

Full disclosure. Growing up in the '80s, I was not a big Def Leppard fan and never even considered going to one of their concerts.

But two-and-a-half decades later came the irresistible bait: the ticket plus a pre-party at a gorgeous Alameda home with alcohol and catered food and 88 other moms like me, chartered buses for the ride to the show and back, and a T-shirt emblazoned with "Def Cougar" across the chest, all for a mere fifty-five bucks.

I was in, big fan or not.

Last September's word-of-mouth event attracted 47 East Bay moms; this year's event, 89 -- plus a waiting list. "Clearly the band still has it," co-organizer Karin Fox, an Alameda real estate agent, told me. This was Fox's fifth Def Leppard concert.

Tags:

cougars, Def Leppard, Poison

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Freak Show

An Open Letter to Chris Brown and His Abhorrent Neck Tattoo

By Rae Alexandra Wed., Sep. 12 2012 at 8:40 AM

Categories: Freak Show

Chris Brown at the VMAs

Dear Chris Brown,

About that new neck tattoo of yours that's causing such universal disdain: who the hell do you think you're fooling exactly? When the world notices that your new ink is clearly based on images of Rihanna's face after you beat the crap out of her three years ago, and you deny it, it is about as convincing as when you two imbeciles try to act like you're no longer hooking up. Stop insulting our intelligence and just own the fuck up to being the giant psycho that you are.

Tags:

Chris Brown, Christine Nangle, E! News, Jeff Raymond, MAC, Neck Tattoo, Rihanna, Saturday Night Live, Simon Helberg, Sugar skull, The Big Bang Theory

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Freak Show

The Tupac Hologram Is Terrifying and Distasteful. Let's Stop This Madness Now.

By Rae Alexandra Fri., Apr. 20 2012 at 4:30 AM

Categories: Freak Show

On Sunday, April 15, 2012, the world officially entered science fiction-land. Sure, iPods are pretty futuristic, GPS is spy magic from space, and we all have stupidly intelligent phones now, but nothing has felt quite as much like living in a Buck Rogers episode than when Tupac got resurrected in hologram form at Coachella.

By now, you've all seen it. And it's pretty shocking on a number of levels. The first time you see that thing in action, your brain starts spewing questions: How are they doing this? Should they be doing this? Is this a joke? Was Tupac's waist really that tiny? Is he really still alive, like that crazy bitch from the bar keeps insisting? But, after the shock of the spectacle is over and Dr Dre has announced that he wants to tour with this thing (we guess you don't spend half a million dollars creating something, only to use it once), the only thing we should all be feeling is horror.

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Amy Winehouse, Beatles, Buck Rogers, Celine Dion, Cirque du Soleil, Coachella, GPS, iPod, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Tupac

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Freak Show

Dave Mustaine Confirms Idiocy Twice in One Week

By Rae Alexandra Fri., Feb. 17 2012 at 3:30 AM

Categories: Freak Show

As you may have already heard, a couple of days ago, Megadeth's Dave Mustaine told musicradar.com that he was "hoping that whatever is in the White House next year is a Republican" (he knows politicians aren't robots right? Surely that should be a "whoever," not a "whatever"?) and gave his own rather bizarre opinions of all of this year's G.O.P. presidential candidates.

Tags:

Dave Mustaine, Mitt Romney, MTV Hive, MusicRadar.com, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul

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Freak Show

The FBI Classifies Juggalos as a Gang (of Idiots?)

By Rae Alexandra Fri., Nov. 4 2011 at 5:00 AM

Categories: Freak Show

Well, it's official. According to the FBI's National Gang Threat Assessment for 2011, Juggalos -- those loud-mouthed, clown-faced, Insane Clown Posse-loving idiots -- are a real live gang. They're listed as a "Non-Traditional" gang on the Contents page, but they're a gang nonetheless. And if you read this thing, the FBI is clearly genuinely concerned about the crimes this moronic team of face-painters are committing around the country. And here we were thinking they were just simpletons with a love of terrible, terrible music and playing dress-up!

According to the report, Arizona, California, Utah, and Pennsylvania already recognize Juggalos as a gang. The report also states that "Transient, criminal Juggalo groups pose a threat to communities due to the potential for violence, drug use/sales, and their general destructive and violent nature." In addition: "Open source reporting suggests that a small number of Juggalos are forming organized subsets and engaging in gang-like criminal activity, such as felony assaults, thefts, robberies, and drug sales."

Tags:

Insane Clown Posse, Juggalos, National Gang Threat Assessment 2011, Tila Tequila, Tom Green

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Freak Show

Performance Artist Ann Magnuson Will Perform as David Bowie Tomorrow Night

By Ian S. Port Wed., Oct. 26 2011 at 5:27 PM

Categories: Freak Show

Ann Magnuson

Blame it on Halloween, we s'pose, but this is quite a week for artists performing as other artists here in S.F. Obvs there's that iPort-wet-dream of a garage/punk show Friday at Brick and Mortar, but here's another, possibly way stranger happening: Tomorrow night at SFMOMA, the performance artist Ann Magnuson -- best known as an NYC club girl, member of '80s weirdo rock band Bongwater, and purveyor of strange characters -- is doing an exploration of "the rock star as witch doctor, myth maker, and ritual sacrifice." This will involve some sort of live show where she'll play David Bowie, performing his early '70s songs in a "tribute cabaret."

Later, we assume, the ever-cagey Magnuson will also "embody" (?) Jobriath, the first openly gay glam rocker. And it gets better: "The performance also will incorporate dreams, Jung, human sacrifice, Aztec shamanism, and all things dark, bloody, and beautiful," according to its website. Which, whoa! Arty types assuming the Bowie pose ain't nothing new, of course, but this iteration sounds interesting.

Tags:

Ann Magnuson, David Bowie

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Freak Show

The X Factor Makes Its US Debut, Crazy People Get Humiliated

By Rae Alexandra Fri., Sep. 23 2011 at 8:53 AM

Categories: Freak Show

So, this week The X Factor -- Simon Cowell's new reality show/ singing competition -- arrived on U.S. screens for the first time, and we've already had two nights of occasionally exciting, often harrowing, auditions. In case you missed it on Wednesday and last night, the operating principle is exactly as you would expect: four judges (L.A. Reid, Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger and, yes, Simon Cowell) cast judgment over a string of contestants in a variety of cities. One of the key differences between this and other music talent hunts is that the auditions happen in front of an arena-sized audience (America's Got Talent-style) which, in turn, also passes judgment -- sometimes very vocally.

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Alexandra Burke, American Idol, Caitlynne Curtis, Cheryl Cole, Jersey Shore, LA Reid, Leona Lewis, Nicole Scherzinger, Paula Abdul, Rachel Crow, Simon Cowell, Steve Jones, The Voice, The X Factor

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Bummer

Why Did Jack White Collaborate With the Misogynistic Insane Clown Posse?

By Rae Alexandra Fri., Sep. 2 2011 at 11:05 AM

Categories: Bummer, Freak Show, Mashups, Misogyny

Jack White is a man we like. We like the White Stripes, we like the Dead Weather -- hell, we even like bits and pieces of what The Raconteurs have done (yes, they're boring occasionally, but they really come alive from time to time). He's a maverick, a man with ambition, a man with creative scope. And he's handsome, which helps.

So, we're never that surprised to see Jack White pushing himself creatively. Nonetheless, we weren't terribly impressed to hear that he'd teamed up with Insane Clown Posse -- one of the biggest jokes any music-lover has had to endure for the last nineteen years.
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Tags:

Dead Weather, Insane Clown Posse, Jack White, Leck Mich Im Arsch, Limp Bizkit, Mozart, Raconteurs, White Stripes

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Freak Show

Anderson Cooper Calls Out Chris Brown; Ladies Everywhere Swoon

By Rae Alexandra Wed., Aug. 10 2011 at 8:55 AM

Categories: Freak Show, News

So, remember that thing that happened at the 2009 Grammys? That thing where Chris Brown and Rihanna both no-showed on account of the fact that he'd beaten the crap out of her? Then shortly afterwards, photos emerged online of a decidedly broken-looking Rihanna, sporting a swollen eye, a split lip and massive lumps on her forehead? It was a harrowing image and undoubtedly hard to forget...

...Or so you'd think. The truth of the matter is, a great deal of people seem to have erased the entire incident from their minds and somehow forgotten that Chris Brown did this, admitted to doing this, apologized weakly, then got off far too lightly in court. Apparently, enough time has passed and now all is forgiven because his fourth album is doing well, SNL welcomed him onto the show earlier this year (nothing funny about that, Lorne Michaels), and even little Justin Bieber recently recorded a duet with him (cute!).

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