Subject: Joseph Schell

• Last Night: The Felice Brothers at The Independent

  Joseph SchellThe Felice BrothersJune 10, 2009The IndependentBetter Than: Chocolate. Seriously.Drumsticks flew, accordion players sank to their knees, and fiddlers rapped. You know that you're going to get a good performance when, before the show even starts, every instrument on stage already looks like it has been through a blizzard: guitars chipped, wood piano scratched and worn, crash symbols gnawed around the edges. These are the insignias of musicians who like to play. The Felice Brothers in

  June 11, 2009

• Last Night: Deer Tick at The Independent

  Joseph SchellDeer TickJuly 1, 2009The IndependentBetter Than: Karaoke. Last night, Deer Tick started its mellow set with a slow crescendo that climaxed in a stage dive. "We're doing things a little differently tonight," declared handlebar mustachioed lead singer John McCauley, before launching into the first song. The Providence, Rhode Island-based band opened its nearly two-hour long set with a few songs from its latest album, Born on Flag Day, which is in its first month of release. The audie

  July 2, 2009

• Last Night: Michael Rose at The Independent

  Joseph Schell​Michael Rose The IndependentAugust 6, 2009Better Than: Smoking two joints in the morning.Dancing was the strict house policy last night from the moment Michael (Mykal) Rose bounced on stage. Clad in sunglasses and a striking tan suit embroidered with black roses -- which later became so drenched in sweat that he actually had to wring out the sleeves -- Rose set the tone by asking, first thing, "Are you feelin irie tonight, San Francisco?" The audience, a packed house steeped in a

  August 7, 2009

• At Bloodhound Last Night, Nervous Chefs Watch Themselves in 'No Reservations'

  Joseph Schell Incanto's Chris Cosentino (left) and Sebo's Michael Black react to the broadcast. A handful of chefs and others who appeared in the San Francisco episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations gathered at Bloodhound in SOMA last night to watch the broadcast. Incanto chef Chris Cosentino had organized the viewing party -- the show included a scene of Bourdain slurping an all-offal menu during one of Incanto's annual Head to Tail dinners, at a table with Boulevard chef de cuisi

  August 11, 2009

• Photos: Sixteen Sweet S.F. Garage Doors

  Joseph SchellThe first of many eye-catching garage doors on Lilac Alley.​San Francisco is full of graffiti, so when I received the assignment to photograph artsy garage doors around town, I didn't really bat an eye. But as I soon found out, it took a bit of searching (I won't lie, I actually had to zig-zag through several neighborhoods, combing the streets for graffiti), digging online and turning an attentive eye on my daily city travels. I also found there is an extensive little-seen communi

  August 11, 2009

• The $1 Street Portrait Project, Part 1

  ​This project is not original, but I loved it enough to give it a go myself. The premise: hit the streets with a camera and a pad of paper and offer people $1 in return for their portrait and a bit about them. The result was a pieced together collage of people in the city--a sample of its demographic. Granted, a test group of 10 or 12 won't give us the best data. But it's more of an art project than it is ethnographic research.For this set, we traveled by bike through Hayes Valley, around Civ

  August 21, 2009

• S.F. Street Art Mecca to be Demolished in September

  Joseph Schell​Words by Anna McCarthy, Photos by Joseph Schell The old tuna cannery down in the flats of Bayview Hunters Point has, technically, been sitting empty ever since it was condemned after the '89 quake. Joseph Schell​But one peek inside the immense building - now completely boarded up and guarded by a tall chain-linked fence - reveals it has hardly been abandoned. What appears on the outside as an industrial wasteland is, on the inside, perhaps the largest living canvas for graff

  August 30, 2009

• Free Music Outside of Outside Lands: Bang the Drum

  Joseph Schell​Those who didn't have bling to spare on Outside Lands festival tickets got their own impressive lineup for free yesterday afternoon at the Bang the Drum celebration at Peacock Meadows in Golden Gate Park. Big names at Bang the Drum included Naughty By Nature, Tash, Q-Bert, Hieroglyphics, Blackalicious, and more. The free show was brought to San Francisco by the show, The Drum, from KZSU Stanford, to celebrate its 25th anniversary.

  August 31, 2009

• Outside Lands, Day 3: Tenacious D, M.I.A, Ween, The Avett Brothers

  Christopher Victorio​Outside Lands Day Three: Tenacious D, M.I.A, Ween, The Avett Brothers Golden Gate Park August 30, 2009 Better Than: Being warm.The fog that began showing up in wisps over Dave Matthews Band on Saturday night turned into a typical freezing summer in San Francisco day by Sunday morning. The weather may have thwarted plans to show-off yesterday's tan, but it didn't prevent crowds from packing into the park for one more day of Outside Lands. Luckily, even non-San Franciscans k

  August 31, 2009

• Last Night: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros at The Independent

  Joseph Schell​Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros September 15, 2009The IndependentBetter Than: Joining a love cult.By 4 p.m. yesterday, the $10 tickets for last night's Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros show at The Independent had sold out. By 8:30pm, scalpers were hawking them on the street outside the venue for $40. But this was to be expected, as one fan informed us while the headliners passed out cold Modelos to crowd members as they took to the stage. Although the band is finishing u

  September 16, 2009

• Last Night: The Cave Singers at The Independent

  Joseph Schell​Cave Singers, Lightning Dust The IndependentOctober 6, 2009Better Than: dancing on graves while doing body shots.It didn't take long for the Seattle-based Cave Singers to get nearly everyone at The Independent stomping their feet last night. That's probably because the long, rolling beats behind the songs the band played -- most of which came from the Cave Singers' latest album, Welcome Joy -- are hard not to stomp to. Bathed in red mood lighting, lead vocalist Pete Quirk belted

  October 7, 2009

• Last Night: Elliott Brood at Cafe Du Nord

  Joseph Schell​Elliott BroodCafe Du NordOctober 12, 2009Better Than: playing the pots and pans at age five.Most crowd members looked a tad perplexed as Elliott Brood's drummer stepped out from behind his drum set mid-set, grabbed a laundry bag from the side of the stage, and proceeded to empty its contents -- wooden spoons, drum sticks, and tin plates -- onto the dance floor. But it only took one crowd member diving for the flatware for everyone else to catch on. Soon the front row area around

  October 13, 2009

• Last Night: The Pogues at The Warfield

  Joseph Schell​The Pogues The WarfieldOctober 13, 2009Better Than: Finding a four leaf clover ... and then sobering up and realizing it's just a three leaf clover.There were two kinds of Pogues fans last night at The Warfield: the fans that wound up at the center of the dance floor, and everyone else. Of course there was occasional cross-pollination between these two broad categories throughout the night. But in general, the fans at the center--which by song one had turned into a surging, sweat

  October 14, 2009

• Last Night: Weezer's 'Secret Show' at the Regency

  Joseph Schell ​WeezerWednesday, Oct. 21, 2009The RegencyBetter than: Seeing an arena rock band in an arena.Just to be clear, there was a lot of screaming going on at the Regency last night for Weezer's free "secret" show. Fans screamed when the line they were standing in outside the venue--a line snaking around the corner and down the alley next to the club--started to move indoors. They screamed, in random outbursts, between the time the opening act, Natalie Portman's Shaved Head, finished, a

  October 22, 2009

• Last Night: Blind Pilot at Great American Music Hall

  Joseph Schell​Blind Pilot Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009Great American Music HallBetter Than: warm milk and cookies on a cold, blustery night.There could have been a tornado outside, or even a secret Weezer show just down the road, but anyone who was watching last night's sold out Blind Pilot show at The Great American Music Hall wouldn't have noticed. Cold, wind, Weezer -- the elements had nothing on this band's sweet melodies and humble, mellow stage presence. It seemed like the only songs th

  October 22, 2009

• Q&A with Blind Pilot's, Israel Nebeker

  Joseph SchellIsrael Nebeker of Blind Pilot.​Israel Nebeker is the lead singer and guitarist for Portland's own, Blind Pilot, whose debut album, 3 Rounds and a Sound, has quickly launched the band into indie folk pop stardom. SF Weekly sat down with Nebeker yesterday to chat about the benefits and detriments of touring via bike versus touring via van, what it's like to return to San Francisco with a huge crop of new fans, and why a near miss meeting Snoop Dogg at Lollapalooza left Nebeker heart

  October 22, 2009

• Last Night: Gossip at Regency Ballroom

  Joseph Schell​Gossip October 25, 2009 Regency BallroomBy Rossiter Drake Better Than: Staying home to watch Dexter and Mad Men. But be sure to DVR them. "We started a band 'cause we were bored. Our mission is to make you dance, and if you're not gonna dance, just stay at home and listen to the oldies station." So reads Gossip's unofficial manifesto, the one the Portland-based soul-punk trio cheekily settled on soon after forming in the cramped basement of their Olympia, Washington, home in 1

  October 26, 2009

• Last Night: The Dodos at Bimbo's 365 Club

  Joseph Schell​The DodosBimbo's 365 ClubOctober 29, 2009Better Than: hunting for dodos.The Dodos could have played last night's show with their eyes closed -- as was proven when the stage lights at Bimbo's 365 Club went out mid-set, leaving a sea of San Francisco's youngest hipsters swaying in darkness. On stage, lead vocalist and guitarist Meric Long meticulously picked out a new song from the band's most recent album, Time to Die, but all the crowd could see were flashes

  October 30, 2009

• Last Night: The Pixies at the Fox

  Joseph Schell​The Pixies November 8, 2009The Fox TheaterBetter Than: fantasizing about seeing The Pixies play Doolittle live.The Pixies emerged on stage last night from a swirling fog -- a fitting entrance for the dream-turned-reality of their most recent reunion and the debut tour for their most popular album, Doolittle. But the show would have been dreamy enough without special effects. For many star-struck fans, the fantasy started with the mere thought of hearing the indie legend

  November 9, 2009

• Pixel Porn from the Weekend's Fabulous Food Festival

  Joseph Schell​Check out our slide show from photographer Joseph Schell, who roamed the weekend's Fabulous Food Festival at the Concourse Exhibition Center. Behold the oily, the truffle-y, the edibly crafty, and the otherwise delicious.

  November 9, 2009

• Last Night: The Cannabis Cup at Cafe Cocomo

  Third Annual Cannabis CupJoseph SchellCafe CocomoTuesday, Nov. 10, 2009Better than: I don't remember.Imagine a place where everyone around you is smiling and laughing--where warm oozy chocolate waterfalls flow like water, and all the snacks are bite-sized. Oh yeah, and you're high. Really really high. For any medical marijuana card holders who attended San Francisco's 3rd Annual Cannabis Cup at Cafe Cocomo last night, that dream became a reality. From slick men in suits rolling in limos, Hummers

  November 11, 2009

• Was That Michael Pollan Hyping Weed at Last Night's Cannabis Cup? Uh, Not Exactly

  Joseph Schell (left); MichaelPollan.com (right)Koehn (left) and Pollan: Can you spot the pot advocate?​Okay, so we know from some of his writing that Michael Pollan is a fan of the wacky tobacc-y, but last night we did a serious double take when we spotted this guy manning a booth for a pot activist group called Americans for Safe Access at last night's Third Annual Cannabis Cup in SOMA. We figured that either Pollan has gotten more serious about his pro-pot stance, or he has one serious d

  November 11, 2009

• Munchies: Food of the Cannabis Cup

  From the sweet to the salty to the melt-in-your-mouth to the "mellow"-in-your-brain -- these tasty treats were just a few of many featured at this year's Third Annual Cannabis Cup at Club Cocomo. Check out SF Weekly's review of the event here, and our "Cannabis Cup: Mellow Food and High Times" slideshow here.    Joseph Schell​The popcorn went faster than, well, popcorn at a pot party. Joseph Schell​ These look delicious. We could eat 420 of them.

  November 11, 2009

• Last Night: Ray LaMontagne at the Nob Hill Masonic Center

  Joseph Schell​Ray LaMontagneNob Hill Masonic Center Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009Better Than: Breaking up then making up.Ray LaMontagne's first few chords were barely audible behind the crowd's hooting and whistling, his figure obscured by shadows under a lone, blue spotlight. By the time he approached the mic after playing three consecutive songs with no introduction, the eager crowd had mellowed under the spell of LaMontagne's signature gravelly vocals and soulful lyrics. And right when everyone had

  November 16, 2009

• Holiday Chocolate Show Offered Serious Torment for Recovering Chocoholics

  You know that moment in Intervention, when the junky realizes he's pretty much boiled his last cotton, and might as well get on the plane with that nice old guy? We figure Saturday's Holiday Chocolate Show in Herbst Pavilion at Fort Mason Center just might've been that moment for local chocoholics. More than 30 makers and/or sellers of artisan chocs were there to torture the hardcore and seduce budding cacao freaks. Behold some images of serious chocolate porn from the weekend, then check o

  November 17, 2009