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

Comments (0) By SF Weekly Staff Wednesday, Sep 26 2012

Sizzle

Kahley Avalon Emerson

Dancers at Lights Down Low

Christopher Victorio

Stay in Cali, Fiona!

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• The newest music venue in the Mission is called Preservation Hall West at the Chapel — and when it's not the West Coast home of New Orleans' Preservation Hall Jazz Band, it'll have a wide-open booking policy. The club in a former mortuary at 777 Valencia opens Oct. 4 with a concert by its namesake outfit.

• For a moment during MikeQ's Saturday set at Lights Down Low, something amazing happened: The Public Works crowd parted as a group of voguing dancers converted the music to sharp slashes of movement. There were painful splits, dizzying spins, and strutting poses. It was the highlight of the party.

• Even seasoned Lil B observers like ourselves didn't see this coming: "California Boy," in which the Berkeley rap misfit tries out rock 'n' roll. Yes, really: B's first rock single sounds like a watered-down Gin Blossoms or Goo Goo Dolls B-side — in a good way.

Fizzle

• Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong announced plans to enter rehab for substance abuse after delivering an F-bomb-laden tirade onstage at a festival in Las Vegas. His meltdown came only days before the release of ¡Uno!, Green Day's first new album since 2009. The band's Live 105-presented show Friday at the Fillmore has also been postponed.

• The award for worst new song of the week goes to country singer Trace Adkins, whose "Tough People Do" is a piece of flag-waving, jingoistic nonsense. Think of it as more vague promises from the right wing on how it'll fix the country, minus any hint of specifics.

• Fiona Apple's arrest in Texas shows why no one should ever leave California: They still jail people for possessing small amounts of marijuana (or, in her case, hash). What, is it 1952 down there? Apple got out on bail — thankfully before the authorities had a chance to read her lyrics and try her for witchcraft.