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Jamie Stewart: Friday at Cafe Du Nord (Win tickets here!)

April 14, 2009 by Ben Van Houten · Leave a Comment »
Filed Under News

xiu xiu

Xiu Xiu‘s Jamie Stewart is a little over halfway through a solo tour around the US and we’ve got tickets to give away for his show this Friday, April 17th at Cafe Du Nord. If you’ve heard the solo acoustic live album Fag Patrol (included also on Life and Live), then you know that Stewart can do a lot with a guitar and his voice, and the stripped down environment should shine new light on the band’s fractured art rock. Friday’s set may even include songs from the next Xiu Xiu record, expected in 2010 and tentatively titled Dear God, I Hate Myself.

FTW.mp3
Xiu Xiu – “F.T.W.” (from Women As Lovers)

To win tickets to the show this Friday, send an e-mail to contest[at]thebaybridged.com with your name, mailing address and an answer to the question: “What is the best Xiu Xiu song and why?” We will pick the lucky winner at random on Thursday, April 16th at noon and notify them via e-mail.

bogpeople.mp3
Xiu Xiu – “Bog People” (from La Forêt)

Dark Holler and Lady Genius open the show. 9:30 pm, $12, 21+.

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Episode 159: Garrett Pierce

April 14, 2009 by The Bay Bridged · 1 Comment »
Filed Under KQED, News, Podcast

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Garrett Pierce - Photo by: Tim Wright
Subscribe to the The Bay Bridged weekly podcast to get each new episode downloaded free to your iTunes the moment it’s published!

This week’s podcast features Garrett Pierce, a singer-songwriter whose new album, All Masks, comes out today on Crossbill Records. The album is Pierce’s third solo work and it has quickly become one of our favorite records of ’09 so far. Garrett’s voice and lyrics remain central to every song, but his music also reflects the talented community of artists with whom he is connected. To that end, the new record features wonderful contributions from a variety of talented local artists, including some great strings by Jen Grady and Carey Lamprecht (of Emily Jane White’s band).

Drawing from both classical myths and personal experiences, Pierce’s lyrics tackle some dark subjects, even if they’re delivered through engaging and often upbeat melodies. Both the dark and the upbeat shine in these recordings, which retain much of the intimacy and ambience of their recording location, a friend’s barn in the town of Columbia, CA in the Sierra Foothills. Transforming the barn into a recording studio was a group effort, but it paid off big in the finished product. For all of the collaboration involved in each of his records, however, the strongest impression All Masks leaves with the listener is that Garrett’s talents as a performer and a songwriter are undeniable.

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Must-read Chronicle story on the ABC and SF live music

April 13, 2009 by Ben Van Houten · 1 Comment »
Filed Under Feature Article, News

Bottom of the Hill
Via The OCMD, the San Francisco Chronicle wrote an absolutely astonishing story this weekend about action by the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control targeted at some of the City’s best venues, like Bottom of the Hill, Cafe Du Nord and the Great American Music Hall. This early sentence should get your attention:

Those venues could be forced to close, owners say, if the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, better known as ABC, continues to impose rules that club attorneys argue are legally questionable and often unrelated to booze or safety issues.

It’s not uncommon to hear about a quasi-legal venue getting shut down for operating without a permit or public complaints of excessive noise. It’s simply astonishing, however, to find out that three of the City’s most established, most respected venues have found themselves in the ABC’s sights not because of public complaints, but because of minor ambiguities in documentation, or because they aren’t meeting a particular food sales to alcohol sales ratio:

John Hinman, the attorney representing Cafe Du Nord, said his club was chastised by the ABC for opening to the public at 7 p.m. instead of 5 p.m., the hour owners put on their application form more than 15 years ago.

The owners explained that they open at 5 to feed the bands, Hinman said, but the ABC still challenged their state liquor license. The agency also demanded that the club start selling at least as much food as alcohol, he said, even though that condition was never on the license.

State Sen. Mark Leno should be commended for stepping up to the plate to fight for San Francisco’s live music scene and for recognizing the dangers of the ABC’s expansive and seemingly arbitrary power:

“I believe the ABC has a job to do – of course enforcing the current law and protecting public safety, but also protecting the well-being of businesses,” [Leno] said. “In San Francisco, we’re doing very well at working out our differences locally, and when you have this outside force that has the power to issue and revoke license and put small businesses out of business, I take it very seriously.”

We’ll keep an eye on this story as it develops.

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Outside Lands: Initial Lineup Announced

April 13, 2009 by Ben Van Houten · Leave a Comment »
Filed Under News

outside lands

As you’ll see in the above poster, Outside Lands has announced an initial lineup of bands performing at the fest, including headliners Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band, and The Beastie Boys.

Pre-sale for tickets starts Wednesday, April 15th. Outside Lands takes place August 28th to 30th.

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Or, the Whale, Tea Leaf Green at The Fillmore on Friday

April 13, 2009 by Christian Cunningham · Leave a Comment »
Filed Under Mp3, News

Or, the Whale @ The Fillmore
Or, the Whale is back in San Francisco after a quick tour down to South by Southwest and will be performing this Friday at The Fillmore with Tea Leaf Green. The last few months have been quite busy for them as they spent a good portion of the end of last year working with Jay Pellicci down at Tiny Telephone recording their new album.

Although, we have nothing to post from the new album yet, we’ve heard a preview track and it brought shivers to my spine; it’s just that good. Curious? Head to the show where I’m sure they’ll be playing some new ones and some old favorites like this one:

01-call-and-response.mp3
Or, the Whale – Call and Response

The show starts at 9pm. Tickets are $22.50 and can be purchased ahead of time here.

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Ghislain Poirier at Tormenta Tropical

April 10, 2009 by Ben Van Houten · Leave a Comment »
Filed Under Mp3, News

Ghislain Poirer
The Bersa Discos crew of Disco Shawn and Oro11 host their next Tormenta Tropical party at the Elbo Room this Saturday night. If you’re looking for electro, rap, or the Argentinian cumbia sounds that inspire the duo’s Bersa Discos label, Saturday’s party is made extra special by a set from Montreal DJ/producer Ghislain Poirier, whose bass-driven work touches on electro, dancehall, grime and rap for an uniquely heavy dance sound. I’m only now catching up on Poirier’s recent stuff, but 2005′s Breakupdown contained what remains one of the greatest heavy electro-rap mindfucks of all time, the deceptively simple but inspiring “Don’t Smile, It’s Post-Modern”:

DontSmileItsPostModern.mp3
Ghislain Poirier – “Don’t Smile, It’s Post-Modern”

How this song didn’t become a sought-after instrumental for every rapper alive continues to baffle me, but Poirier–unlike me, perhaps–has moved on. His latest work, the Soca Sound System EP (stream here) ratchets the tempos up considerably with the frenetic assistance of several Trinidadian deejays and should make for a sweaty good time.

Saturday night’s show starts at 10pm and is $10.

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The Festivals are coming…

April 10, 2009 by Christian Cunningham · 2 Comments »
Filed Under News

Treasure Island Music Festival
The Treasure Island Music Festival just announced it will be taking over that beautiful man made island in the middle of our bay on October 17th and 18th. Although no bands are announced yet, a little birdie did tell me that they’ve got some great things lined up for this year; we’ll have all the details here as it unfolds.

In other news, Outside Lands just announced via Ranger Dave that they will be releasing the first set of artists performing at their massive festival on Monday. You can grab the news as it unfolds by following him on twitter.

While I’m at it, did you know The Bay Bridged twitters? I didn’t either until a few weeks ago. You can catch all of our semi-witty banter, local news announcements, and even exclusive twitter-only giveaways by following us there too.

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