Sizzle & Fizzle: Highs and Lows from the Last Week in S.F. Music

Sizzle

NOFX kept it crazy at the Fillmore.

R.I.P. Etta James

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• Fillmore
• DJ Steve Aoki
• Neil Young
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media
• Punk Rock

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• NOFX is 29 years old and its members have kids now, but that didn't stop the Berkeley punk powerhouse from putting on a tequila-shooting, beer-spraying, shit-talking good time at the Fillmore on Friday. Anthems like "Linoleum" had the diehards in the sold-out crowd singing along, and singer Fat Mike even stopped the silliness for a moment — just one — to thank the band's fans.

• Say what you will about brand-name DJ Steve Aoki, but he helped pack 7,000 kids into Bill Graham Civic Auditorium on Saturday for a blowout of youthful exuberance. Aoki excels as a showman — he went through eight bottles of bubbly and two birthday cakes onstage — so even if his DJing is meh, you can't blame the new generation of ravers for having a great time.

• In a surprise upset, Oakland funk-pop outfit tUnE-yArDs won the Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll for best album of 2011. The band's second full-length, w h o k i l l, is a masterpiece of beguiling vocals, personal protest songs, and affecting grooves — so we're thrilled to see the local underdog recognized with the same honor awarded to Kanye West last year.

Fizzle

• Over four days, the world lost Etta James and Johnny Otis, both R&B legends with Bay Area roots. Otis, a Vallejo native, passed away at 90 after having helped to pioneer R&B and rock 'n' roll out of gospel and the blues. James, 73, was a blues goddess who honed her forthright style on the streets of the Fillmore before going on to greatness with classic songs like "At Last." Both will be dearly missed.

• Legendary East Bay punk label Lookout! Records is now gone for good, but we'll always remember the great songs it put out by artists like Operation Ivy, Green Day, Screeching Weasel, Crimpshrine, The Queers, Avail, the Donnas, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, and more. R.I.P., Lookout!

• Was turning Neil Young's '59 Lincoln Continental into a hybrid an act of ecological bravery, or a negligent mistake? A new lawsuit argues that the car — which started a three-alarm San Marcos warehouse fire in 2010 — was fundamentally unsafe, and wants Young's company to pay up for the damage. Meanwhile, Young and his team have rebuilt the hulking sedan.