Making my way over to The Fillmore, I kept telling myself that tonight was going to be different. I was going to have a whole new attitude for a change, and was not going to be the same bitter, jaded and crusty old man that I usually am when I hit a punk show these...
On their last album (2002’s Title TK) the Breeders outfit always seemed like a rusty spark plug spurting inspiration here and there but never switching on to the full alt-rock blast that songs like “Cannonball” and “Divine Hammer”...
I remember my first night at the Hotel Café back in early 2001. A friend of mine had recently watched Donnie Darko on DVD and was struck by the cover of Tears for Fears’ “Mad World” that played at the end. After scanning the credits and...
At 10am on Thursday, April 10, multiple tour buses blocked traffic outside The Warfield and husky men unloaded gear for the kick off of the Honda Civic Tour featuring Panic at the Disco, Motion City Soundtrack, The Hush Sound and Phantom Planet—a lineup whose...
The more you listen to Saturdays = Youth the more it sinks its hooks into you. As with all of Anthony Gonzalez' albums, it's richly cinematic in sound. And this one definitely lives up to its title with songs that range from 90s-era shoegaze jams like...
It has been four years since R.E.M. last released a studio album and fourteen since the band put out a record that showed any sparks of rock ‘n’ roll passion or volume. The last four albums, while excellent sets of reflective songwriting, were all fairly...
When you spend your entire career exposing the dark side of the human psyche and don’t pay for it with your life, something’s got to give. You either have to lighten up to give some contrast or continue on and risk the very real possibility of being viewed...
Testament, Sadus, Laaz Rockit and Vicious Rumors all on the same bill. Believe it or not, this show did not take place at The Stone in 1986, but at The Independent on March 30, 2008. How can that be, you may ask? Well, the San Francisco metal scene has experienced a...
Ministry shows have always been hit or miss for me. After witnessing their all-out assault on San Francisco in 1990 for the Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste tour (complete with a drunken El Duce), they’ve let me on more than one occasion with their lackluster...
A few months ago, in my discussion of bootleg albums, I made the distinction between bands who play the same set every night, and bands who mix it up, play a different show for every audience. Now I need to make another distinction, between bands who merely alter which...