Aretha Franklin

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

Neil Young Wants Perfect Sound. Here's Why I Don't.

Today, at last, Neil Young and I are united in our ambitions: we would like you to go back in time, to Valentine's Day 1967. We want you to enter a recording studio in New York. This is a session for Atlantic Records, so the great Jerry Wexler is there, as is King Curtis and his saxophone. Most rema ... More >>

The 50 Best Rolling Stone Special Issues Ever

A magazine that you sometimes see in the waiting rooms of tire stores, Rolling Stone remains tirelessly dedicated to reporting on its own place in the history of the teensy sliver of music that its publisher enjoys. To that end, the august rag is forever publishing important lists ranking the best m ... More >>

Zeds Dead on Joining the Mad Decent Label and the Post-Genre Future of Dance Music

Graveyard Shift​Producers Hooks and DC started out their careers sampling hip-hop as the duo Mass Productions in 2004. However, after competing their first album, they found themselves drawn to the intensity and bass of dance music, particularly dubstep. Renaming themselves Zeds Dead in 2009, ... More >>

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

On the Hunt for the Best Jukebox in Bernal Heights

The Juke at Nap's 3​Bernal Heights is often unfairly lumped in with the Mission as a whole. While it is backed up against the Mission, Bernal has its own plentiful offerings -- Indian pizza, indoor street food, and lesbian bars with three-story patios, to name a few. So, in deference to the vi ... More >>

Going Big and Going Broke: Promoter Robbie Kowal on 15 Years of Putting on Concerts in S.F.

Sunset Promotion's John Miles (left) and Robbie Kowal​Tonight, with its Mardi Gras Ball at Mezzanine*, Sunset Promotions celebrates 15 years of putting on parties and concerts in San Francisco. Its resume includes the Sea of Dreams New Year's Eve parties, the North Beach Jazz Festival, and SF ... More >>

Mark Growden's New Traditionalism, and What Green Day's Mike Dirnt Does On His Days Off

​Local jazzman-turned-folkie Mark Growden: There are many ways to interpret and preserve the traditions of musical Americana. One is treat it like a museum piece, with pious reverence -- thereby sucking the fun clean out of it. Another is to revamp it, keep its mannerisms, but supercharge it, muck ... More >>

The 2011 Grammys, A Timeline: Lady Gaga's Boob Armor, Who Is Lady Antebellum, and What the Hell is Cee-Lo Wearing?

In which we sit through three and a half hours of Grammys twaddle, so you don't have to: 8:01 p.m.: Show opens with an Aretha Franklin montage. Okay... 8:03 p.m.: Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson, Florence Welch, Yolanda Adams, and Martina McBride perform "Natural Woman" together, then take i ... More >>

Bill Graham's Sons Sue Over Lost Dylan, Aretha, and Stones Posters

Bill Graham​Legendary local concert promoter Bill Graham's sons are suing the man left in charge of his estate for allegedly selling valuable music memorabilia without informing them, the Chron reports.The suit concerns 100 sets of posters advertising shows by the Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, ... More >>

Exploring the Jewish influence on black American music

In Print: Cap'n Jazz Reunion, Jewish Black Music, and the Significance of Freddie Gibbs

​Does anyone else feel like 2010 has been particularly flush with big-name indie-rock bands getting back together? Pavement and Guided By Voices aside, another seminal outfit reassembling for a tour this year is Cap'n Jazz, a midwestern group that helped establish emo back in the early '90s. ... More >>

Off the Grid, Urban Wine Experience, Street-Food Birthday: Your Weekend Planner

John BirdsallFriday: Happy Dumpling cheers up Fort Mason Center.​Can you believe it's almost August? Before summer advances into downed foliage and the sun starts setting before the end of happy hour, there's no better weekend to head out and enjoy yourself. Fri., July 30: • Feeling a littl ... More >>

Rare Female Rock & Soul Performance Clips on Wednesday Night

These drizzly, wet, cold February nights are tailor-made for watching movies. Local rock historian Richie Unterberger offers a side of music education with his film screenings, pairing rare clips of interviews, concerts, and television appearances on a select theme during his regular, monthly-ish n ... More >>

Not Girls. Women.

Isn't She Lovely?

Legoland Cancels Plans for Michael Jackson Lego Figure

Legoland intended to honor the late King of Pop by putting his four-inch Lego likeness on display at its Miniland U.S.A. park in Carlsbad, California. But today officials announced the plan had been abandoned due to "unresolved legal issues." "We were looking forward to installing a small t ... More >>

Dianne Feinstein hatless at Obama's inauguration

Local Hatter Left Pondering Why Dianne Feinstein Didn't Wear the Handmade Chapeaux Commissioned for Inauguration

Incidentally, cap insiders describe this creation as "a turban-style hat with a self-contained bow."Barack Obama campaigned -- and won -- largely on a message of hope. And, surveying the masses present for his inauguration last week, one group of Americans has every right to feel hopeful -- hatters. ... More >>

Obama Inaugural Whimsy in the Mission

Think Aretha Franklin's big-ass-bow hat is as whimsical as it can get for the inauguration? Why don't they invite groups like this to perform on Capitol Hill? While planned parties speckled the cityscape Tuesday night, an impromptu block party broke out on 22nd Street between Mission and Valencia ou ... More >>

Getting All Dusty

The Heavy

Great Vengeance and Furious Fire (Counter)

Cat Power Under the Covers: A Listening Party with Jukebox Muses

Rare Sly Stone, Soul Music Film Clips at SF Public Library

Lou Reed, Patti Smith, the Supremes: rare footage at SF Library

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Our critics weigh in on local theater

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An attempt at a hip interpretation of a classic becomes a goofy parody

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R.L. Burnside; Nerve Meter; Pepe Deluxé

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