Joe Bataan comes back to the Bay Area!

I was surprised I was able to get tickets this late. The show will be at Yoshi's SF this Saturday. This will be my first time seeing Joe Bataan, the King of Latin Soul (who is half afro-filipino, btw) and also my first time at the Yoshis in the SF location. I usually go to the Oakland spot and the last time I went there, I saw the legendary Arturo Sandoval with some good friends of mine.

Joe Bataan makes a rare SF appearance, his second since since the late 90's. And it's about time. Joe Bataan made his run in the Latin Soul scene from the late 60's up to the 80's when he decided to disappear from the music scene and dedicate his life to children back at his community in NYC. According to British music journalist James Maycock, "Bataan is the undisputed king of Latin soul, the bridge between black soul and brown rhythms." He was a pioneer of various genres of music including boogaloo, Latin soul, salsa, and hip-hop.

Oliver Wang of Soul-Sides.com wrote a comprehensive article on Bataan here.

Joe Bataan will be performing at Yoshi's SF this saturday June 25th at 8pm and 10pm. I'll be at the 10pm showing... Holla!

Here are a couple of his songs:

This applies to the bay as well... not only WF but Berkeley Bowl as well!!!!

Cliff Claven

He's always been one of my favorite characters from the 80's era of network TV. Cheers is an awesome show. I take pride in knowing a lot of useless facts. Something Cliff Claven is good at as well... AND, as my friend Chris knows, I can do a pretty good Cliff Claven impression. His appearance on Jeopardy is one of my favorite episodes of Cheers. His answer in the final round is vintage Cliff Claven. And really, sometimes, I feel like I have one of those moments every once in a while, especially after starting out quick and building a lead of some sort.

You may recognize his voice, the actor John Ratzenberger. Some little or known facts depending on your pop cultural knowledge, or knowledge of useless information...

-He plays an Imperial Officer in Empire Strikes Back

-He's in Superman II

-He's played various voices in EVERY Pixar animated feature.

-He's the 4th most successful actor in Hollywood in terms of total box office totals and surprisingly, he's the most Oscar nominated actor... ever....

-He's Cliff Claven!

Here's his Jeopardy appearance on Cheers.

I know this guy!!!!!

This is my friends, Jericho. He is the drummer from on of my favorite local bands, the Skyflakes. Here's his day 2 appearance on Jeopardy. It's always been one of my dreams to be on Jeopardy.... Go Jericho!






Update: On day 3 Jericho, came in third at $1000. His 3 day total came to $54602. Still, not to shabby for a 3 days of work! Congrats and Well done!

Game Of Thrones

After watching the first episode of Game of Thrones on HBO I decided to pick up the book. And I'm blown away... If you think it's all Lord of the Ringsy, it definitely is not. The title suggests it all... Simply, it is a game for the thrones. There can be only one, and everyone else loses in the struggle for power. Some don't want it, some lust for it and everyone in between is pawn. You can say it is very similar to what happened in the early days of English monarchy. Very volatile... There is some hints of magic, but it really isn't explored... yet. I almost shit a brick when I saw there was 5 more books and they are super long and epic! And 2 more in the works. More books to put in the reading queue I guess!

So far my favorite character has to Jon Snow, the bastard son of the main character. You can tell he's an outsider with no purpose in the family. He then goes off to join the Night's Watch. An outfit who's main purpose is to monitor the activities at the 'Wall'.

So many subplots, it's a little confusing with all the characters but the story is good one so far. I look forward to seeing how it unfolds.

Get Well Buster

News is pretty old. I went to this dreaded game against the Rays. It went extra innings after a improbable rally leading up to a tied score in the ninth. All in a matter of seconds, Buster's season ended. I wish he gets better soon. It's gonna be a long season, and chances of repeating aren't looking good. Especially with the dismal offense the Giants have been displaying. Hopefully, everyone picks it up, especially with Belt coming back. My other concern is that Whiteside or whoever they pick up to fill in catching duties, can handle our pitching staff. Panda, we need you!!!!

Part of my childhood...

Three+ posts in one day. Tis a slow day at the Office. When I put the guitar down, everyone and their moms dreamed of being a DJ. Inheriting a lot of records from my aunts and uncles and listening to my own punk/metal/hip hop records I was exposed to a lot of different styles of music. When the battle DJ/turntablist scene exploded in the 90's it always came down to the X-men (Executioners) of the East and the Best of the West, the Invisbl Skratch Piklz. It was Needle dropping and beat juggling, body tricks and scratching. The flare and craaaaab skratch was barely out and it opened a whole lot of doors to the DJ scene. Here's a video of an unofficial battle between the two crews, at the eve of the ITF Battle Scene. This was the Rocksteady Reunion in NYC circa '95-'96 I think.

The ISP set combined respective sets and ended in the Klamz of Deth routine.

Dunder Mifflin is Part of Sabre

One of my favorite moments in The Office (US Version). Pure comedic gold.

KUSF lives...

Writing this short blog right now, I decided to tune in to KUSF. Of course, and for your information, It's dial is no longer 90.3 FM, but with the sale to USC it's strictly online. It's a very storied station, much like Berkeley's KPFA, college radio is starting to go the way of the dinosaurs. Not a lot of outlets on the radio these days for indie music and long forgotten obscure classics.

Here's a link to the live stream...

http://www.live365.com/cgi-bin/mini.cgi?station_name=kusf&site=PLR-kusf&tm=5826

SF's own Ty Segall showing support and playing a couple songs.

In the Year 2525

This song is so hauntingly fortelling. I found it in my dad's collection. I don't remember any other songs by this duo, Zager and Evans. I thought about it when I heard this song being used in the movie 'Gentlemen Broncos'. I was one of those dead pan humor movies you either love or hate. Similar to Nacho Libre or Napoleon Dynamite. If you can stand it, it's stupid, silly and clever. Otherwise, you might want to blow your brains out... in a church.



Here's the trailer from the movie:

This is old but...

It's awesome. Proof that Chewie and Animal are related.



I was talking about this with some coworkers one day and they didn't seem to believe me. This goes out to them! (What's up WL!)

I heart Zooey

This was filmed during 500 Days of Summer. Zooey is an music group called She and Him. She's so HAWT.



When she sings the Smith's Line, from There's a Light that Never Goes Out, I can't describe that sensation. And it's the Smiths! How awesome is that? I had a friend describe the movie as too EMO. Oh Hell No! The Smiths don't even fall in that category... The scene starts with Zooey and Joseph and segues into cut scenes with the actual Smiths song.



I Love Cotton. Even more so with Zooey's endorsement...

Ty Segall covering Gloria LIVE

Man, this kid is so damn talented. I've been watching videos of his performances in Youtube. Why didn't I hear about this sooner. I'm really loving the sound. REVERB ROCKS! Thanks to the guy who took this kick ass video. It completely catches the vibe of the moment. And I love the colors in this vid. Mad Props to whitelion333. I hope you don't mind me sharing...

Culture Kids, Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, & OFF! @ Gilman 4/22/11

Last Friday I went to see OFF! with my wife and friend Jesse at Gilman. Kristi and I got there an hour and a half before the doors opened. I haven't been to Gilman since I saw Thorns of Life (Blake S. and Aaron Cometbus)so it's been a while. Got to see some old faces. It was like the good 'ol times. I was excited cause this was Kristi's first time going. She knew that it was a 'dump'. But I spent a good number of years hanging out at this place when I was younger. It's been a long time where I've been to a show where I've never seen any of the bands. But I have to say, this the strongest lineup I've seen top to bottom and I honestly enjoyed every minute. It was a good mix, of hardcore, street punk, indie rock with bits of rockabilly elements thrown in. It was a real good time.

Culture Kids were the hardcore band of the night. I could tell they brought a lot of their friends in. Ah, to be young and in a band. They were really good. I had trouble hearing the lead vocals. They seemed to be drowned out by the guitars. The lack of volume on the monitors contributed to problems on their set. But this is typical of a hardcore set.



Ty Segall is someone I have heard of but never really seen perform nor listen to his music. His band was great. I like the reverb and surf rock elements to his sound. But his sound was more raw and edgier. It was hard to pin his style down because of the many elements in their sound. Really talented... and I was really impressed by the end of the set. I would love to see him and his band play again. The most indie-rockiest band of the night award went to him. And well deserved. I'll definitely be looking for more of his stuff now that I've seen him and his band play. I expect this guy to be BIG someday, if not already. Here's a video of him playing solo at another gig.



I have to admit I was getting tired by the time we got to Thee Oh Sees but they were really fun and high energy. They had a whole lot of merch at the table, so I'm gonna have to hunt their stuff down at Amoeba's. My wife really enjoyed their set.
I found out that the frontman, was John Dwyer of the Coachwhips. I enjoyed their stuff back in the day. This material is a little bit different from the former. Really experimental in the sound, but still upbeat. I enjoyed the moog sounding keyboards in the background. What was really sweet was the female vocalist, Brigid Dawson and her harmonic components to the songs. Her voice reminds me of Kim Deal somehow... Below is a video for Meat Step Lively.



To close the night it was the LA hardcore superpunkrock group OFF! Fresh from their set at Coachella the previous week, it was surprising to see punk rock legends play at Gilman. Keith Morris from Circle Jerks/Black Flag(!!!!!!!), Dimitri Coats of Burning Brides, Redd Kross bassist Steven Shane McDonald and Rocket From the Crypt/Hot Snakes drummer Mario Rubalcaba make up OFF! and their sound is very reminiscent of Black Flag and Circle Jerks material, mainly because Coats and Morris writing the songs... although it's new, its very nostalgic for me, and it sounds AWESOME! What a way to end a night! Keith Morris was awesome. I've only seen him on old videos but never would I thought I would see an original Black Flag/Circle Jerk member. Not bad for an old man... But this guy and is band commanded respect. And surprisingly, Gilman gave it to him. He dropped some knowledge about another '80s punk band called Gun Club and OFF! covered one of their songs in homage to Gun Club frontman, Jeffery Lee Pierce, a close friend of Morris who passed away in 1996.

Their set was tight and when they ran out of songs they started over... Otherwise known as the "Black Flag effect" At least they didn't start playing Louie, Louie... (inside joke, 10 points for the reference!)

Below is a video for 'I Don't Belong'



If you don't feel like reading the post below just watch this...

Dynamite(With Me and San Francisco Giants Cody Ross & Brian Wilson)

Another reason why the Giants rule...

SF to Paris and the Aurora Borealis

SF to Paris in Two Minutes from Beep Show on Vimeo.

crazy mechanics... featuring the freak

RIP Comic Relief

Last Wednesday a part of me died. It was only a matter of time Comic Relief would follow its deceased owner. It's truly a sad day. What set this shop apart from others was not only did it dabble in all aspects of geekdom, like games, toys, pop, counter and subculture literature, it was a place for the independents. One had the choice to pick from books and zines from someone's desk made from their hands and a copy machine. An outlet for creativity for the non professional and someone who just wanted to do it for fun. Making comics that is... a 5 year old, a struggling up and comer or an unknown wanting to take a crack at self publishing can make their own mark. It was a place where stars were born like Brubaker or Tomine. It was a place where professionals shopped. I would see Art Adams or Eric Larsen in the shop once in a while. A place where one can get lost in their imagination just by picking up a book. The former owner, Rory Root was a proponent of the 'graphic novel' format and made it possible for comic readers like me to just 'by the book' instead of the monthly. Comic Relief was there for me for my growing up tastes, when I graduated from superheroe to the 'rest of the stuff out there', but allowed to me revert back to a kid when I wanted to check out an issue of Uncanny or Detective Comics.

Maybe if CR reverted to its former size, there wouldn't be any need for the 'extra crap' and believe me, there was a lot. But the point was that it was there if someone wanted it. And if you couldn't find it, chances are, CR did. Maybe it was bad for business, maybe the new management ran it into the ground. We'll never know. With an incredible legacy CR has, maybe it will reemerge and go back to its basics. True its an bad economy and we're entering a digital age, but nothing beats going into a comic shop and picking up your monthlies on a Wednesday or thumping through back issue bins. I thought the good shops would weather through times like this, but maybe comic shops may be going the way of the dinosaurs. I can only think of a 2 or 3 decent shops now. Comic Relief was my escape from reality. Dr. Comics and Mr. Games, it's up to you guys now. I'll be visiting you soon.

I'm Speechless..

And sort of guilty for loving this because I love the Simpsons. But it proves a point. Paints a bigger picture. Mad props to 'BANKSY'.



Maybe if American companies didn't outsource and exploit 3rd World people there would be more jobs for people here.

Why VW rules...

Outakes: