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

Worst New Song of the Week: No Doubt's "Push and Shove"

Last Wednesday, Ryan Seacrest had the dubious honor of premiering No Doubt's new single, "Push and Shove," on his radio show. Before we subject you to this clusterfuck of a song, please take into account the fact that bassist Tony Kanal recently told Rolling Stone that the track was No Doubt's "Bohe ... More >>

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

Last Wednesday, Ryan Seacrest had the dubious honor of premiering No Doubt's new single, "Push and Shove," on his radio show. Before we subject you to this clusterfuck of a song, please take into account the fact that bassist Tony Kanal recently told Rolling Stone that the track was No Doubt's "Bohe ... More >>

World's Largest Penis: Jonah Falcon's Dong Visits San Francisco, Dick Jokes Ensue

This week it was revealed that the world's largest penis and the nebbishy, 41-year-old man it's attached to visited our fair city. In the ostensibly newsworthy portion of this development, he was asked by airport security personnel if he had the world's largest penis in his pocket or was just happy ... More >>

Against Me!'s Tom Gabel Comes Out as Transgender; Internet Explodes with Support and Shock

It should have been obvious to us all for years. In 2007's "The Ocean", Against Me! vocalist, Tom Gabel sang "If I could've chosen, I would've been born a woman..." Most listeners at that time took it as a statement of solidarity with women from a vocalist who made a career out of being vocally poli ... More >>

Obama Explains Medical Marijuana Crackdown -- Sort Of

Mystery accompanied the federal Justice Department's crackdown on California's state-legal medical marijuana industry since Oct. 7, when prosecutors formally declared their war on weed. Who was behind the feds deciding it was time to shut down hundreds of California dispensaries -- rogue prosecutors ... More >>

"Hit So Hard": Full of Drugs, Lacking Substance

Mystery accompanied the federal Justice Department's crackdown on California's state-legal medical marijuana industry since Oct. 7, when prosecutors formally declared their war on weed. Who was behind the feds deciding it was time to shut down hundreds of California dispensaries -- rogue prosecutors ... More >>

Axl Rose Is Batshit: His Top Five Craziest Moments

You may have noticed in the last couple of weeks that Axl Rose is running amok all over the press again (it's been a while, Axl, thanks for coming back to us). Not only have there been reports that -- try not to vomit on your keyboards -- he's dating Lana Del Rey (so, so wrong on so many levels we d ... More >>

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

You may have noticed in the last couple of weeks that Axl Rose is running amok all over the press again (it's been a while, Axl, thanks for coming back to us). Not only have there been reports that -- try not to vomit on your keyboards -- he's dating Lana Del Rey (so, so wrong on so many levels we d ... More >>

Watch: Bob Weir Performs with Members of the National in San Rafael

Former Grateful Dead frontman Bob Weir threw quite a party at his new TRI Studios in San Rafael this weekend: Weir invited a bunch of East Coast musicians, including three members of the National, out for a special in-studio jam called the Bridge Session that was broadcast live over the web. The tw ... More >>

Springsteen Says Rockers Are Thieves: Five Songs You May Not Know Were Stolen

​Last Thursday, Bruce Springsteen made the keynote speech at South By Southwest. He was funny, he was heartfelt, he was informative and -- dang, Boss! -- he was ridiculously honest. So honest in fact, that he picked up a guitar, played the opening riff from The Animals' "We Gotta Get Out of this P ... More >>

The Best of SXSW Music: Wednesday 3/14/2012

​If you're familiar with chaos theory, which in its basic form is the attempt to find patterns in the random acts of shit on Earth, then you may understand the difficulty that comes with describing a full day at SXSW. To break down the bright, scintillating chaos, Village Voice Media's roving musi ... More >>

In Print: Defending the Lowly CD From Oblivion

From the latest edition of SF Weekly: In Defense of the CD: No one loves CDs. The cool kids today want to either dig through crates of dusty old vinyl or pay four times too much for the new stuff. The even cooler kids spend actual money on godawful cassette tapes. And everyone else under age 40 has ... More >>

If Paul McCartney Succumbs to Alzheimer's, Blame (a lack of) Marijuana

​Far from being dead, Sir Paul McCartney's spectacular musical career enters its sixth decade this June, when the Beatle and vegetarian turns 70. That's a long and winding road, and one on which McCartney's constant companion has been cannabis.But not any longer. McCartney recently quit smoki ... More >>

Grateful Dead Videogame Comes with Rock 'n' Roll, Lacks Sex and Drugs

He wants YOU! to trip balls. Or at least we wish he did.​ If wine, golf balls, snowboards, and a $400, 73-CD box set weren't enough to spend your nostalgia fund on, the folks behind the Grateful Dead's shrewd new merchandising campaign have come up with something else: A videogame. It's calle ... More >>

Weekend Parties: Patrice Scott, Alan Braxe, Wonder-Full, and More

DJ Spinna plays Wonder-Full this Saturday at Mezzanine​ Following in the fashion of every other weekend for the past couple months, this weekend offers a diverse and excellent grouping of parties that ought to cater to just about everyone's tastes. Read on, your weekend awaits. Friday, Dec. ... More >>

Don't Kill Lulu: Redeeming Lou Reed and Metallica's New Album

DJ Spinna plays Wonder-Full this Saturday at Mezzanine​ Following in the fashion of every other weekend for the past couple months, this weekend offers a diverse and excellent grouping of parties that ought to cater to just about everyone's tastes. Read on, your weekend awaits. Friday, Dec. ... More >>

Finding Redemption in the Horrors of Lou Reed and Metallica's Lulu

​Don't Kill Lulu Yet: No, there is not one conventionally good song on Lulu, the 87-minute, hyped-to-infinity, Frankenstein's monster of Lou Reed babble and Metallica chug that came out the day after Halloween. Not really. This is a batch of 10 challenging pieces that average more than eight m ... More >>

Top Five Reasons P. Diddy Is Hilarious Now

​Earlier this week, Rolling Stone our colleagues at L.A. Weekly reported that an ex-LAPD detective has implicated Sean Combs in Tupac's murder. Greg Kading apparently asserts in a new book that Suge Knight and Puffy ordered the murders of Biggie Smalls and Tupac, respectively, and that h ... More >>

'Slightly Damaged': A Conversation with Iggy Pop

​Earlier this week, Rolling Stone our colleagues at L.A. Weekly reported that an ex-LAPD detective has implicated Sean Combs in Tupac's murder. Greg Kading apparently asserts in a new book that Suge Knight and Puffy ordered the murders of Biggie Smalls and Tupac, respectively, and that h ... More >>

The Summer Anthem: Does It Get Better or Worse with Age?

​We pop music critics are wired in such a way that articulating a love for Aja and Scott Walker is significantly less difficult than articulating the love for the person we share a toothbrush with. We're a revolting phylum, I know. However, one notable exception is Rolling Stone editor Rob Sh ... More >>

Why Oh Why: Souls of Mischief's A-Plus Drops Red Hot Chili Peppers Tribute EP

The music makes about as much sense as the cover art.​ Maybe there was something in his blunt. Otherwise, what the hell was A-Plus thinking? The Oakland rapper -- a member of the celebrated alternative hip-hop crews Souls of Mischief and Hieroglyphics -- just went and dropped a tribute EP cal ... More >>

Metallica Recording with Lou Reed: Hitler Is Not Happy

​ "Maybe the best thing done by anyone, ever," is how former Velvet Underground frontman Lou Reed described his upcoming collaboration album with Metallica. Rolling Stone's David Fricke had kind words for it, too. We, however, are skeptical. And so is, uh, Hitler. In this hilarious video, som ... More >>

Shocker: Metallica and Lou Reed Team Up for New Album

Now just imagine a tall, skinny Lou Reed in there somewhere...​ Well, we certainly didn't see this coming: Bay Area metal giant Metallica and former Velvet Underground frontman/living god Lou Reed are about 90 percent done with a new album they've recorded together. Lou Reed and Metallica? Yes ... More >>

News Media Continues Its Slow Decline

Now just imagine a tall, skinny Lou Reed in there somewhere...​ Well, we certainly didn't see this coming: Bay Area metal giant Metallica and former Velvet Underground frontman/living god Lou Reed are about 90 percent done with a new album they've recorded together. Lou Reed and Metallica? Yes ... More >>

Bright Eyes: Show Preview

Now just imagine a tall, skinny Lou Reed in there somewhere...​ Well, we certainly didn't see this coming: Bay Area metal giant Metallica and former Velvet Underground frontman/living god Lou Reed are about 90 percent done with a new album they've recorded together. Lou Reed and Metallica? Yes ... More >>

Saturday Night: Greg Ginn, Big Scenic Nowhere, and Glitter Wizard Rattle Thee Parkside

Romana MachadoGlitter Wizard​Greg Ginn, Big Scenic Nowhere, Glitter WizardMarch 19, 2011 @Thee Parkside Marginally better than: Listening to Billy Joel records in a Seattle parking garage. It's SXSW season, and few things are longer than the faces of Facebook non-attendees this year. My ne ... More >>

How Could I Leave This Behind?

Romana MachadoGlitter Wizard​Greg Ginn, Big Scenic Nowhere, Glitter WizardMarch 19, 2011 @Thee Parkside Marginally better than: Listening to Billy Joel records in a Seattle parking garage. It's SXSW season, and few things are longer than the faces of Facebook non-attendees this year. My ne ... More >>

The Grammys Are Coming. Here's a Drinking Game to Get You Through Them

​Yes, the Grammys are nothing more than a promo summit for what remains of our broken conglomerate record labels of yore. Columbia, EMI, Warner Bros., Capitol, Atlantic, Interscope, et al. like to believe they still hold some influence over the masses, and as long as we can sit here comfortably an ... More >>

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

Tom Coburn, ungrateful non-head.​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 grant given to UC Santa Cruz for a massive archive of Grateful Dead m ... More >>

Sunday Night: The Black Crowes Begin Their Last Stand at the Fillmore

Calibree PhotographyThe Black Crowes at the Fillmore last night.​The Black Crowes December 12, 2010 @ The Fillmore Better than: That thing Martin Scorsese lugged a camera to. To an Appalachian hillbilly transplant shivering through his first winter in the Bay Area, hearing that durable Southern ... More >>

Birds and Batteries Release Free New MP3, Sign to Velvet Blue For Third Album

Birds and Batteries​San Francisco electro-folk-rock outfit Birds and Batteries announced today that they've signed with Spune/Velvet Blue Music and plan to release their third full-length album, Panorama, on October 12. Having earned praise from Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, and others -- as well as o ... More >>

New MP3 from 2010's Big Pop Contenders The Morning Benders

Weston Walker​I got a sneak listen to Big Echo, the new album due out in March from the Morning Benders. And I know it's early, but I already think this record could end up on my best of 2010 list. The group enlisted Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor as co-producer, and the songs are just slightly weird ... More >>

AEG Left With Hefty Debt in Wake of Michael Jackson Death

The thing about irony is that its timing is always impeccable. Last night I got the new issue of Rolling Stone, which had a front of the book article on "Inside Michael Jackson's Troubled London Comeback" about the performances scheduled to happen next month. Before the singer's unexpected death yes ... More >>

Kanye, Jay-Z, Mary J., and Rihanna clamor for diva status

The thing about irony is that its timing is always impeccable. Last night I got the new issue of Rolling Stone, which had a front of the book article on "Inside Michael Jackson's Troubled London Comeback" about the performances scheduled to happen next month. Before the singer's unexpected death yes ... More >>

San Francisco Storm, Erik Otto, and Ramblin Jack Elliott - It's Your Friday Morning Pre-Party!

The thing about irony is that its timing is always impeccable. Last night I got the new issue of Rolling Stone, which had a front of the book article on "Inside Michael Jackson's Troubled London Comeback" about the performances scheduled to happen next month. Before the singer's unexpected death yes ... More >>

Altman Snaps

The thing about irony is that its timing is always impeccable. Last night I got the new issue of Rolling Stone, which had a front of the book article on "Inside Michael Jackson's Troubled London Comeback" about the performances scheduled to happen next month. Before the singer's unexpected death yes ... More >>

Weekend Guide: What to do Saturday Night!

The thing about irony is that its timing is always impeccable. Last night I got the new issue of Rolling Stone, which had a front of the book article on "Inside Michael Jackson's Troubled London Comeback" about the performances scheduled to happen next month. Before the singer's unexpected death yes ... More >>

The Revolution Will Be Digitized

TV on the Radio keeps a social conscience

More Than Words

Esteemed rock critic Michael Azerrad walks a fine line in his other job: drummer for pop rockers the King of France

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Esteemed rock critic Michael Azerrad walks a fine line in his other job: drummer for pop rockers the King of France

Bebe, Baby!

Here Lies Jenny Weills away the hours

Balancing Act

Naked Music wants to be one of the premier dance labels in the country -- without losing its indie cred

Pop Philosophy

All things must pass.

Riff Raff

(Star) Bucking the Trend, Stephan Jenkins, More Paranoia at the Chronicle, and Re: Cover

Web Rouser

Former Lusty Lady dancer Caity McPherson struggles to make a living on the oversexed Internet

Recordings

Former Lusty Lady dancer Caity McPherson struggles to make a living on the oversexed Internet