Email Author Ian S. Port

Awards

• 2012 - Best of the West/First Amendment Funding, Inc., published February 23, 2011

  "The Pomplamoose Revolution"

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2010 Stories by Ian S. Port

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  FEATURED STORY

  Pomplamoose Explains Those Ubiquitous Hyundai Commercials, and Why They're Not Hipsters

  published Dec 30, 2010

  UPDATE: For more on Pomplamoose, see our February, 23, 2011 cover story on the band. The songs of Pomplamoose have seen millions of plays on YouTube. Fans from all over the world have downloaded more ... More >>

• The Year in SF Music: Stories We'll Remember From 2010

  published Dec 29, 2010

  From SF Weekly's latest print music section: Is Lil B God, the Devil, or Paris Hiltonr: Rap in 2010 had no voice more prolific or polarizing than Berkeley's Lil B. After some local success with p... More >>

• Get a Close-Up of Ty Segall's Frayed, Spare New Songs on Daytrotter

  published Dec 28, 2010

  Having already sung the praises of local grit maven Ty Segall twice this week -- on the lists of both our favorite albums and tracks of 2010 -- I'll spare you any further salivating over his stripped-... More >>

• The Sounds of 2010

  published December 29, 2010

  What? Another year is over already? We could have sworn it was mid-September only last week. But all right: The close of oh-ten means it's time... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  My Top 10 Tracks of 2010, Apparently a Good Year in S.F. Rock

  published Dec 28, 2010

  No, this isn't some not-so-sly effort at hometown boosterism. Three of my favorite songs from this year just happen to come from artists who nominally call S.F. home. Seriously. Anyway, some of the ot... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Fiona Ma Pulls the Plug on Statewide Rave Ban -- For Now

  published Dec 28, 2010

  After facing swift and strong criticism for a proposal to ban raves in publicly owned places in California, San Francisco Assemblywoman Fiona Ma says she's shelving the idea -- at least for ... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Petition To Stop Rave Ban Questions Meaning of 'Prerecorded' Music

  published Dec 27, 2010

  Well, that didn't take long: Only days after we reported (last week) that S.F. Assemblywoman Fiona Ma has introduced a bill to ban raves in California, a petition has popped up online to head her off ... More >>

• In 2010, Time Is What Matters: A Nugget of Wisdom from the Music Critic of the Year

  published Dec 27, 2010

  Our sister blog in New York today published an interview with the anonymous Twitterer @Discographies, whom it declared Music Critic of the Year. Go read that fascinating, funny and worthwhile intervie... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  My Top 10 Favorite Albums of 2010, Starring Ty Segall, Flying Lotus, and Some Dude They Call Yeezy

  published Dec 27, 2010

  The tussle of 2010, for me, was wrestling with albums that I loved, but which lacked that elusive quality of "importance," and records that felt fresh and ambitious and exciting, but weren't the kind ... More >>

• Pomplamoose: Show Preview

  published December 29, 2010

  Call their songs whatever you want — covers, reinterpretations, rip-offs — but with their YouTubed recreations of pop hits like... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Coda Owner Bruce Hanson Says the Recession Killed His Mission Jazz Venue

  published Dec 23, 2010

  Coda, the upscale Mission music venue and restaurant that's played host to the likes of Stevie Wonder, Liz Phair, and some of the city's best jazz musicians, will close its doors Dec. 31, a victim of ... More >>

• SF Lawmaker Fiona Ma Wants To Ban Raves Statewide

  published Dec 22, 2010

  Following several drug-related deaths, arrests, and hospitalizations at raves in the Bay Area and Los Angeles this year, S.F. Assemblywoman Fiona Ma says the state should ban raves altogether.Ma's bil... More >>

• New and Improved on All Shook Down: How to Criticize Us and Each Other!

  published Dec 22, 2010

  As some of you cantankerous, opinion-wielding readers may have already noticed, the commenting system on this blog has changed. Now we're using a cool service called Disqus -- and no, we don't really ... More >>

• In Print: Adam Stephens' Near-Catastrophe, and the Soulful Holiday Sounds of Grillade

  published Dec 22, 2010

  From SF Weekly's latest print music section:Broken, Not Shattered: Adam Haworth Stephens awoke to shouts. His drummer, Omar Cuellar, was at the helm of their tour van, yelling that the vehicle ca... More >>

• Sen. Tom Coburn, Who Is Not a Deadhead, Thinks the Grateful Dead Archive Is a Waste of Money

  published Dec 21, 2010

  Earlier today, one senator from Oklahoma named Tom Coburn released a list of what his tight-fisted self considers the most wasteful federal spending of 2010.Number four on that list is a $615,000 gran... More >>

• What Music Fans Would Avoid If BART Ran Later

  published Dec 21, 2010

  Hey, club- and concert-goers: someday you may not have to leave weekend events early to get back to the side of the bay on which you live!By which we mean that BART is considering the possibility... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Coda Jazz Supper Club to Close Jan. 1

  published Dec 21, 2010

  It's official folks: Coda Jazz Supper Club at Mission and Duboce is closing for good on Jan. 1, 2011.This sad news follows our report last week that the Triple Crown, a DJ-friendly bar at Market and O... More >>

• Broken, Not Shattered: Adam Stephens and his band celebrate life after a tour accident

  published December 22, 2010

  Adam Haworth Stephens awoke to shouts. His drummer, Omar Cuellar, was at the helm of their tour van, yelling that the vehicle carrying... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Watch: A Bunch of Kids (And a Full Orchestra) Cover the Morning Benders' 'Excuses'

  published Dec 20, 2010

  Well, this is almost as cute as that story today about the 17 German puppies: What appears to be a high school band -- orchestra and rock group -- plus one darling singer and her ukulele, covering "Ex... More >>

• Let the Weirdos Make Holiday Music: Download a Free Xmas Album from Banjo or Freakout

  published Dec 20, 2010

  And now, an argument in favor of Christmas music -- that is, if it's made by non-pop-stars. After this definitive indication of what usually happens when you let mainstreamers make Christmas songs (th... More >>

• Music Links: Drake Thinks SJ is LA, Local Xmas Tunes, Devo Spotted on Bart

  published Dec 17, 2010

  Canadian rapper Drake calls a San Jose audience "L.A.", audience boos. [The Mercury News]A thorough rounding-up of new local and non-local Christmas songs. [The Bay Bridged]Yes, there is a punk accord... More >>

• Pitchfork's Best Albums List: What It Got Right and What It Got Wrong in 10 Sentences, Pt. II

  published Dec 17, 2010

  Yesterday, we offered our own take on Pitchfork's list of the best albums of 2010 -- or at least the parts of it that had been revealed so far. Today, with the web site's top 20 albums made public, we... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  The Top 10 Best Big Concerts I Saw in 2010, with Gaga, Green Day, Sir Paul, Pavement, and LCD Soundsystem

  published Dec 17, 2010

  It just didn't seem right to lump in Oracle Arena and HP Pavilion fare with the cozy goings-on at S.F. dens like Bottom of the Hill and even Great American Music Hall. So, in search of an even compari... More >>

• Win Tickets to Monsters of Accordion This Saturday at Slim's

  published Dec 16, 2010

  Let's face it: You have an insufficient appreciation for the accordion. You still think of squeezeboxes as the musical tools of drunken Bulgarians on their second-cousins' wedding nights. You haven't ... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Pitchfork's Best Albums List: What It Got Right, and What It Got Wrong (So Far), in 10 Sentences

  published Dec 16, 2010

  Some music website called Pitchfork is unveiling its list of the year's best albums this week. Since this site and its opinions are marginally important to the music world, and since the whole po... More >>