On March 6th at Maritime Hall, Less than Jake, New Found Glory, Anti-Flag and Teen Idols played to a sold out show. Right from the start the intensity of the crowd showed. The show was posted to start at 8pm but started earlier because it was sold out.

Teen Idols kicked it off with an awesome set that impressed a lot of people including myself. Expecting Anti-Flag to be next, I was amazed along with the rest of the crowd that New Found Glory played after Teen Idols. Everybody rushed to the front and got crazy. The scene was intense, especially when they played their radio song "Hit or Miss." However, the song came to a quick stop when somebody became injured while crowd surfing. Like a typical Blink 182 or Ataris show, lots of girls rushed the stage including myself again. Anti Flag was next and ripped up the show. Their strong lyrics and fast paced songs made the mosh pit rock. They truly knew what they were doing.

To make things even better, Less than Jake topped the show of with their HUGE entrance. The crowd started chanting "Less than Jake" numerous times showing their big fan base. They played nonstop even though Roger wanted to see NOFX who was playing the same day. Their songs ranged from all cd's from Pezcore to their new cd, Borders and Boundaries. Less than Jake always puts on a rocking show every time, including playing "Johnny Quest thinks we're Sellouts" for an encore. The night was huge and each play pumped up the crowd. It was one of my favorite shows in a while.

Wow, this was one of the best shows I've been to in a while. Well let's get down to business. ASD, a locale band, did an awesome job opening playing ska punk similar to Link 80. Their songs were well written and catchy - they could get big. Next up was GDNA, they are a hardcore punk band out of Berkeley that was really good. They were quite entertaining and had good songs. It's hard to write much because they had a short set but they did a cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit which was cool. Next up was Locale AM, WOW they are a very original band. The only way I can really describe them is punk rock with a dj. They put on an awesome show and it made it better cause we gave them directions to Taco Bell before the show. Next up were the Asian Man greats SLOW GERKIN. They ruled. Everybody was skankin up a storm and everybody had a great time. I don't know one person that walked away unhappy. The next morning I was dead, to say the least, but I loved it, later

On December 11 Catch 22, Sum 41, and Bowling for Soup played at Slims in San Fransisco and the show was awesome. Bowling for Soup did a good job opening and put on an amusing set. Next up was Sum 41, wow, what can i say, Sum 41 put on one of the best shows I've ever seen with two miny trampoleens on stage that they jumped around on while playing Iron Maiden/old NOFX style punk that was awsome and I ended up buying there cd which is very good. Next up was none other than the New Jersey greats Catch 22. They put on an amazing show showing the crowd some respect, taking requests, and sharing the mic. It was the best ska show I've ever seen.

There was a sizable crowd in San Francisco's North Beach for the international punk/ska show at the Cocodrie Sunday evening. Caradura, from Watsonville, started the night off with a tight sound, doing Black Flag and Ramones covers, along with great original material. I bought their CD, which is very nice, horns and guitar and lyrics en espanol and English. Fun. By the way, it should be mentioned that this gringo reviewer does not understand more than a dozen words of Spanish. Next up was Blasfemia who I found quite boring. They played thrashy metal with a tough-guy attitude. Yawn. I think I heard them scream "Bitch" over and over. How original.

Three-piece Don Cikuta were entertaining though, the singer poured a cup of beer on his head to start their set and then they took off most of their clothes. Quite punk. Wisecracker returned to the ska with a German twist. Silly, yet skank-worthy, songs about drinking. Lodo Y Asfalto were moody hardcore, and by this time it was getting late and your Bay Area Ska guest reviewer had to catch the last train back to Oakland, thereby missing Tijuana No! The band I really wanted to see! Either public transportation needs to run all night, or shows have got to start on time! I'm sure that the show ended well, because the crowd was drunkenly loco when I left. Thanks Bay Area Ska for the free ticket, next time Cocodrie bring on the headliner before midnight!

It was a Friday night in San Jose, all the computer dorks (no offense) were in town for the Computer Game Developers Conference (CGDC), and the Aquabats were scheduled to play at Club Regent in the Fairmont Hotel. Thanks to Immersion and Logitech, the bats were scheduled to start rockin' at about 8:30. Unfortunately, it was a 'private' party for those who attended GDC. But, with a little work and some scamming, most of the kids that showed up just to see the Aquabats got in! And thank goodness for that, because without them, the place would have been pretty much dead.

There were about 50 fans all squeezed up front as the Aquabats took the stage. Playing a fine mix of old and new, the bats managed to keep everyone moving. Club Regent for those who don't know, is basically one of the ballrooms off the lobby in the Fairmont, by no means a big venue, which made it all the better. Most of the GDC people weren't too in to the music, but were getting a kick out of watching their antics. After the token fight song, with the Commander really laying into a grunge gorilla, came Martian Girl which featured a dance off between the Commander and Crash. The results of the dancing battle saw Crash's Anti-Negativity Helmet fall off and the rest of the band come to the rescue. Then the Aquabats began collecting money from the audience to fix the Liberty Bell (I estimate they made about $25) while they played Chemical Bomb. Next came Super Rad followed by a Domino's delivery guy who got chased out by the band.

After about a 10 minute intermission, the Aquabats came back out and played such classics as the Cat with 2 Heads and Marshmallow Man. At this point the Commander brought out this huge 15 foot cherry tree and then they all whacked at it. Crazy! The Sandfleas then interrupted the show, but were quickly escorted out. Everyone was then requested to sit down for story time and the story of Captain Hampton and the Midget Pirates was told. We were about 2 hours into the show at this point and things were slowing down. Everyone was pretty tired, even the band. So everything got wrapped up as the Aquabats exited with Playdough. It was a tremendous evening of music, especially for free (thanks to Immersion and Logitech), and the two-hour set was about as good an Aquabats show as I've seen.

"paci paciana" is the kind of place you immediatly feel at home when you are in: it's a friendly big squott in bergamo (north of italy)and takes is name from a legendary "italian robin hood". we arrived there at 10.30 and it was already packed: around 500 people, all kind of people (teenage punk, old rastaman, regular guys, and of course at least 100 original skins & mods). anyway we had time for a couple of beers waiting for the show. at 11.30 the ARPIONI opened their set. they were playing in their hometown so the atmosphere became immediately hot. Arpioni played simple and enthusiastic ska tunes, nothing special but lot of fun.

Two incredible covers made everyone crazy: get up edina (desmond dekker) and my girl lollipop with new lyrics (bergamo's dialect!!!).

At 12.30 the old black man was "the padrino" once more! black fred perry with yellow stripes, dr martens, pork pie and sunglasses... here is Laurel Aitken!

Immediately, during "bartender", all the skins "created" a skankin area close to the stage. Typical. The show was a kind of celebration of this 71 years old man: sally brown, zion city, mad about you, rudy get married medley with a message to you, skinhead train to rainbow city, al capone... a single chorus helped Laurel during the show. The old man replyed to the audience smiling and dancing (!!!!)... a huge skin jumped on the stage just to... kiss the Padrino! (everyone laugh). The concert finished at 1.30... Aitken was without voice but everyone was happy anyway.

One thing you can always count on at the Fillmore is for an on time show, and at 8pm straight-up, the Killingtons took the stage. They're a 3 piece rock band from Socal that played a tight half-hour set. They were enjoyable to watch, though probably a bit more different than what most there expected in an opener at a Reel Big Fish show. Most of their stuff was pretty much solid rock, but some of the songs had some catchy rhythms that were cool to listen to. At about 8:30 they were off and the stage was set for the Gadjits who came out at right around 9.

This is the Gadjits second tour with the RBF and it was obvious that they felt at home on stage in front of the RBF fans. Although I think they were a little overwhelmed to be playing at the famed Fillmore. But, then again, who wouldn't be? The Gadjits played an even mix of tunes from their last two albums. They are definitely upbeat and play a nice blend of poppy ska/rock stuff. As the Fillmore was beginning to fill up for the headliners, I was somewhat surprised that there weren't more Gadjits fans up front. For those who knew the Gadjits songs, I think it was a lot of fun, and for those seeing them for the first time, well, it was hard to judge, but it may have seemed like the band played for about 10 or 15 minutes too long. The four piece outfit were able to get the crowd moving a little bit with songs like 'Jenny Jones' and 'Bullet in the Mattress'. They ended at 9:45 with a newer, faster rendition of 'Beautiful Girl'.

It was now 10:30 and time for Reel Big Fish. They took the stage with lead singer, Aaron decked out in his most horrendous 80's outfit, complete with mowak and sleeveless red leather jacket. They immediatly began to get the half-filled Fillmore moving, leaving one to ask, "Why do they rock so hard?" A fine question, and they did rock! For well over 45 minutes they worked the crowd into a mess of sweaty jumpin' bodies. Playing mostly songs from their latest album, "Why do they rock so hard?," the RBF had a ton of energy, and were incredibly fun to watch and dance to on this Wednesday night. At about the halfway point they really got the crowd moving with audience participation on 'The Kids Don't Like It,' and then later with one and half versions of 'She has a Girlfriend Now.' Kind of interesting, thought that Aaron's old girlfriend could remember the words the second time around. I would also like to add a note on how intense their trombone player, Dan, was. The guy was on fire! If there was one person that continued to keep the crowd entertained it was surely Dan. After an hour and an encore it was all over, but will not be forgotten for a while.

Pictures | Killingtons | Gadjits | Reel Big Fish

This was an unusual night, because I was actually excited to see all 3 of the bands billed. Pilfers started out the evening, and although I haven't seen Coolie Ranx in ages, and even though he was fighting laryngitis, he is still one of the best front-men around. He has so much energy and it comes out in every show I have ever seen him play, so even though I only understand about 20% of what he says, it is still awesome to see him. The rest of the band is quite fun to watch as well, though they can't really match Coolie's intensity, trombone player, Vinny comes close, and their music is great fun to watch.

After about a 40 minute Pilfer set, it was time for Connecticut's own Spring Heeled Jack USA (not to be confused with Spring Heeled Jack from Europe). This was my first time seeing them and they have a couple of really charismatic members in their band. Starting off with some slower material, they quickly upped the pace and played an intense set. The music was your typical 3rd wave fare, nothing spectacular.

At 11, the Pietasters made their way to the stage and began playing to a little more than half full club. Suprisingly enough, their set was comprised mostly of older material, playing only a couple songs off their new awesome mix tape CD. The Pietasters are always a treat to see, they play some great skanking music and the crowd was easily drawn in. The Pietasters sound so good live that if enjoy their music, you really have to see them live, it sounds so much better for some reason. For those who stayed through the entire hour and a half set, including the encore, they got to see the band having a good time, going as far as completely pantsing (is that a word?) trumpet player, Toby Hansen.

Well, the show started later than scheduled as does most Cactus Club shows. Anyway, the trio known as Ignition started out the show with a rockin' set. The band whipped through several songs including what I thought was the highlight of their set - a cover of the Aaliyah song, "Are You That Somebody". At the end of their performance, they claimed to have sucked, but I thought they actually played pretty damn well.

After Ignition came Monster Pete & The Chiefs; a band who I had never seen before. I was comletely impressed with this band. They were all wearing orange jumpsuits and just rocked on all their songs. Even though I didn't know any of their songs, they were fun to dance to and even had a dancing contest to an Irish Jig of theirs towards the end of their set. If you ever have a chance to see this band, I strongly suggest it, they are a lot of fun and play many high energy tunes.

Next on the bill was the Bammie Award Winning Firme. I have been fortunate enough to see this band several times, and they get better every time. This time, I didn't recognize some of their songs, but of course, they were tight as all heck. Adam from Monkey actually joined them on one song which was a pleasant surprise. The bass was having some technical difficulties, but overall, Firme played a great, fun, set. This Latin influenced ska/punk band never fails to amaze me.

Last up of course was the infamous Monkey. This was their last show in the Bay Area for a few months. They are getting ready to embark on a tour across America in the upcoming days. Hopefully the rest of this country will take notice of one of the greatest bands of all times. Anyway, Monkey ROCKED!!! I can't say enough about these guys. They had the filled up Cactus Club dancing the night away. I couldn't keep track of all the songs they played, but every song was just so awesome. I feel sorry for anyone who missed this show because it is up there with the top on my list. I know a lot of people think the sound sucks at the Cactus Club (which it does most of the time), but regardless, Monkey sounded great. I have seen Monkey many times before, but never have I seen a crowd full of this much energy...hopefully we'll see these guys soon...and when they do come back, you have to go see them!!! No excuses. The Cupertino trad-ska band is one of the best in the business. Out of 5 stars, this show deserves 6, no doubt.

The night started out cool enough because I had the opportunity to hang with Skavoovie & the Epitones. It was actually just 3 of them, but I learned some cool east coast terms which I have since forgotten. Anyway, the show started promptly at 8:15 with Skavoovie taking the stage to a kind of empty house. It was unfortunate that some missed them, because they really rock! They have 10 guys in the band, including 5 horns, and they are all moving and dancing throughout their whole set. A lot of fun to watch.

At around 9:15 the Allstonians had taken the stage, sound checked and were ready to rock. They played a decent blend of the ska but lacked the energy Skavoovie brought to the stage. Regardless, their music is great to dance to and their upbeat stuff is a blast. They then left for about 20 minutes only to come back on as the backup band for Mr. Laurel Aitken.

As soon as Mr. Aitken made his way to the mic in his black suit, gold shirt, and pork pie hat there was an immediate sense of admiration that washed over the now 150 or so people that had piled in. Everyone had moved up to the stage and the Godfather of Ska began to play. The man is just incredible, he has so much respect and was so sincere…listening and responding to all the audience shouting and yelling, making sure everyone was having fun and enjoying the music, and really getting into it. He's been playing for well over 40 years now and this was his 2nd show that day (he played an afternoon show), he was still up there having a grand time, dancing around, and just trying to entertain the people.

He played some of his new stuff, as well as some real classics. After opening with 'Hey Bartender' he had to yell at the Allstonians for playing 'You Got Me Rockin' to slow and he had them start the song all over. Then he busted into 'Sally Brown,' followed by a Potato 5 song dedicated to all of us in the audience - 'Mad About You.' We were briefed before many of the songs with little tidbits of history regarding the tunes. His parting song, 'hitchhiker,' came during his 2nd encore and after over an hour of all-out ska ecstasy.

The night before this show I awoke at nearly 5 AM realizing that I had been dreaming about this forthcoming show. I had been dancing around at the very front of the stage and had hit my face against the wall. Perhaps this gives you some idea of how much I was looking forward to this night.

I do, admittedly, live the life of a "scenester." I am at all the shows day after day and month after month, usually looking forward to but not being that excited about seeing the band(s). Most of these bands play here often and I usually take the opportunity to go see them, but wouldn't be too upset if I missed them. But this was different. I do love modern music, but as you may or may not know, my heart lies in a different time period, in a different country. I am obsessed with 70's and 80's music from the UK: The Jam, the Smiths, Elvis Costello, the Who, the Police, Madness, the Specials, even the Sex Pistols. But the one that tops them all is the Clash. One look around my room and you can tell. I am the queen of Clash memorabilia, thanks to some overindulgent spending on eBay. Their role in my life has been monumental, but unfortunately, as with most of these bands, I will never get to see them live. Hearing that Joe Strummer had suddenly gotten back on the road, I knew this was going to be the closest I would ever get, and boy was it worth it.

"I've been hiding under a rock for about fifteen years," Strummer said sometime mid-set. "I thought it was time to get my ass back on the road." It was true. Strummer had done quite little since the break-up of the Clash in '86. He had done some solo recordings and a low-scale solo album, collaborated with some other artists (check out the liner notes on the Brian Setzer Orchestra's "Guitar Slinger" album), acted ina few movies (see "Straight to Hell," also the name of a Clash song, a movie featuring Courtney Love and a cameo by Elvis Costello!) and helped with a few movie soundtracks (most recently, the "Grosse Point Blank" soundtrack). But other than that, Strummer had been hiding under a rock, rarely showing his face. I had no idea what he was going to look like. When he finally appeared on-stage, he looked older, fatter, and somewhat slower, but eerily, he had the exact same voice, and the fact that I was hearing this voice in a live performance gave me shivers. It was hard to grasp: hearing that voice coming out of a person who happened to be on stage right there in front of me was so strange, but unbelievably cool.

Strummer and the Mescaleros, a band made up of group of good-looking mid-20's Brits (who looked a little strange next to Joe), opened up with a new song, then went straight into "London Calling," the title track from the album that most critics called the most important album of the '70's. The set was made up of about 50 percent new stuff and 50 percent Clash stuff, the Clash songs being favored by the audience of course. Most of the audience knew every single word of every single Clash song, and at the end of each song cheered as though it was the end of the set. Strummer kept having to ask the crowd to quiet down so that they could start the next song. The songs I remember hearing were "Rock the Casbah," "Straight to Hell," "Tommy Gun," "White Man in Hammersmith Palais," Clash favored covers "Brand New Cadillac" and "I Fought the Law," and the new Mescalero's single "Yalla Yalla" (is this being played on the radio?). They encored twice and finished off the night with "Bankrobber." The crowd couldn't get enough, and begged for more, but it would have went on all night if it didn't stop there.

It was probably one of the most exciting shows that I have ever been to, I wish it could have gone on longer, and I wish that maybe there could be a real Clash reunion in the future (if they would only make up!). But if this is all I get, its more than I could have ever asked for. Thank you, Joe, for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Oh yeah, and MXPX played too...

Well when i first heard about his show I was a little skeptical. The band list consisted of a band I never heard of (ShoeBox Mafia), 2 bands on the way up (Monkey, Red Session), and one band that has lost its touch (Tin Circus). But all in all it ended up being a great show.

The first band to play was ShoeBox Mafia. From what I have heard, they have been building up quite a following from the people in Santa Rosa. And it shows.....when i first walked in, there was at least 75-100 people waiting there to hear this band. This also had to do witht he fact that this was their CD release party. But i wasnt going to waste my time with another ska band that sounded like the rest...But as soon as SBM hit the stage it was something that i had never heard before. They combined every style of music that you can think of. Ska, Punk, hardcore, Funk, and yes even Polka. The band consists of 2 guitarists(who both do vocals) an awesome bass player, one hell of a drummer, and 3 horn players (a trumpet, T-Bone, and a sax) all of which were awesome. I also picked up their CD (titled "This One's For You") talk about a great CD. I would just say that if you see these guys on a band list for a show.....check em out.....they rock.

Well after SBM was finished it was time for Monkey to take over. And in traditional Monkey style they rocked the show. I can honestly say that no one left the floor while Monkey was playing. They were totally awesome. And if you have never seen Monkey (you dont know what your missing).....make sure you check them out before they head out on their U.S. tour.

Then came time for the highlight of the night. Red Session. Now they have lost a few players since they last time i had seen them. and they were down to only a T-Bone player. Bue hey what can I say......they rocked the show. Everything form the vocals down to the drums was perfect, and they stole the show I would have to say.

Then it was time for Tin Circus to take over. And unfortunatley they were not any better than they have been for a while. Still playing the same old songs that they have for the past few years. They were also missing a few players. They were down to just 1 sax and a trumpet. Tin Circus just didnt seem like they wanted to be there. They just were up there doing whatever they felt like...which really wasn't much. Their music was dragging and off. I hate to be the one to say it but Tin Circus had their 15 minutes of fame. And their time is over....maybe they should just stop now and make room for up and comers like ShoeBox Mafia, and Bumble, bands that have a chance to make it in a music society that craves something new.....not the same old ska songs that made Tin Circus popular a year ago.

Thanks to Rajan Boren for this following review:
IBOPA, Pain, Flat Planet, the Dimes, and the Smoke Jumpers @ YWCA, Palo Alto [4/18/99]

I must say that the Ibopa, Pain, Flat Planet, Dimes,and Smoke Jumpers show at the YWCA in Palo Alto on April something was a wonderful show. It was a well organized show that left me with a new feeling on punk and ska music itself.

Pain played first and i was breathless after there set, there new sound combining SKA, Punk, and Hardcore is worth listening to. They are on tour from Alabama so I encourage everyone to go to there next concert at the Fishbowl, They are worth the money.

The next band to play was the Smoke Jumpers who seem to combine punk with country [editors note: read "rockabilly"... these are the ex-Wankin' Teens] in an awesome mix. They are from San Fran if you get a chance see them. The basest plays a stand up instead of a hand held and somewhere in the middle of the show he will stand on it and continue playing, so if you ever happen to go to there show and the bassist is up on his bass, please if he falls laugh at him! he is way too friggen cocky.

Flat Planet was a great band although the sound system didn't work very well it still gave me the feel of real punk/ska. I enjoyed that part of the concert the most because everyone was gone except me and a few other people so there was a lot of band to band viewer interaction.

Ibopa played the last set of the evening, since they are not allowed to play music after 8:30 in Palo Alto The Dimes couldn't play, Ibopa was a lot different than the other bands, the other bands were more punk but Ibopa with its indie "death mambo" feel was out of place. As in the other set there was a lot of contact between the band and the people watching. Ibopa was the most popular band there, but people just didn't want to stay. I give Ibopa a lot of credit for still playing.

I would suggest that if anyone has a chance to see any of these bands they should definetly try.

Thanks to Jaxon for this following review:
MU330, Alkaline Trio, Warsaw, Wonder Years and Rag Tag Unit @ Fatty Mocha in Merced [3/29/99]

Well, this show was pretty amazing, it's a pretty crazy story, so here I go... My band Rag Tag Unit was playing first at 6. We get there at 6(traffic and what not), and we see the Wonder Years in the KFC right next door, and they tell us that the building's power has been shut off, and that the show is starting at 8:30. So we go next door and talk to Darrin (the guy who owns Fatty Mocha) and in fact, there is no power and the show does start at 8:30. Darrin plans on running the show off of a generator that he rented that day, but we can't start the generator until 8:30 because the bar next door will snitch on us, because the Fatty Mocha isn't supposed to have shows during the week. When the other bands started showing up, Darrin assured them all that it's going to work out.

At around 8:45, Rag Tag Unit started playing. I can't give a fair review because I'm in it. All I'm going to say is that, we weren't as tight (as loose as that is) as usual because our drummer Stefan wasn't in attendance (Adam from WY filled in, thanks). So we played, and some people liked it I think. Up next were The Wonder Years. They played pretty well, not the best I've seen them play, but good. They have a new song, which the lead guitar player, Nate sings, it was very good. The weird thing about there set was that they didn't open with "A little help..." or close with "The Wonder Years" or "The Electric Shoes" or whatever they call it now. Oh well. After about a 15-minute wait, Warsaw came on. Boy, do they kick ass. Everyone that was standing up was dancing (even Jesse, who never dances). They played a lot of slow reggae/dub stuff, which rocked. Also, they had a lot of fast stuff, and even a country song! They rule.

Next was Alkaline Trio, an awesome rock'n'roll punk band from Chicago, who are on tour with MU330. I had seen them on the Friday before that at gilman. They tore shit up then, and they were even better now. You could hear the vocals a lot better, and there overall presence was better. They have a lot of energy. On the songs that Dan the bass player sang, he had to stand kind of sideways/with his back to us because the mic he was using had about a 6 foot long cord. They have an EP out, and full length, I suggest if you don't own either, you should go buy one or both, NOW.

Finally!!! MU330 was going to play. They opened up with "The Punisher" or whatever they call that song that usually goes with "Downtown". But anyway, they opened with that, and the place just went off. Everyone's body was moving in some way or another, and Dan (the singer and guitar player) was rolling on the floor. Their stage presence was amazing, and they played sooo hard and soo loud, you can't help but go nuts! They played a lot of new and old songs (even "La" which they had Dan from Alkaline Trio play guitar on). Speaking of guest appearances, they had Matt (also from Alk3) play drums on "Father Friendly", which is my personal favorite, and they had a member of the Chinkee's(I think it was Jason, maybe not, I know it was the keyboard player) play drums on "Favorite Show" a song which is on the new CD. The last time I saw MU330 was at the Berkeley Square in 1996 with Skankin' Pickle, and they were not as good then. I like there line up a lot better now, Dan is a good singer. Ok, so back to the showŠ they ask Gerry (their 300 pound trombone player) if he has anything to say, and he comes up and sings that song "whenever birds appear, when you are near" and dancing around like a ballerina. It was the funniest thing I have ever seen. Then they go into "Get away from that table" and Gerry pulls out a chainsaw and runs around the crowd with it, slashing at people!!!! After he guts Sean, the trumpet player from RTU, we realize that there isn't a chain on it, it just makes a lot of noise. This combined with the smoke machine they had spewing smoke for the whole set, combined with the fact that the ceiling was 7 feet high, combined with the fact that there only to 2 lights and 2 mics, combined with the fact that we were breaking the law by running the show of a generator (which is very illegal) made it so amazing. They ended with their version of "Vacation" by the Go Go's and it made all the shit you have to go through with Steve Ozark to book them worthwhile. They are probably the best band I have ever seen live. And seeing them in such an intimate setting made it even more rad. Thanks to every one who came out, it was an unbelievable experience.

Jets to Brazil, Pedro the Lion, Cutlass Supreme @ Bottom of the Hill [3/27/99]

One of my first "shows" ever was seeing Jawbreaker in early '96, with the Foo Fighters (yes, OK, I kinda like the Foo Fighters), Ween, Seven Year Bitch, and Pansy Division. This was the last tour Jawbreaker did before their ultimate demise, I believe. Going to shows in the city was pretty difficult at that time because I still only had my learner's permit, and didn't really have a way to get around. By this point Jawbreaker had gone from underground punk rock darlings to MTV's newest find, much to the dismay of old fans, who loved to throw the sell-out label at them, which ultimately contributed to the break-up of the band. Now Blake is back with a new group, and tonight was the second of two very sold out shows at Bottom of the Hill.

This show wrapped up my week of indie shows at Bottom of the Hill, which included the Seaweed/Braid/Edaline show on Tuesday and the Get Up Kids/Crumb/Fluke Starbucker show on Thursday. It was a nice little journey out of my mostly pop-punk world, but man am I craving some punk rock right around now! (Rachel puts on a Ramones CD) Although I might be checking out No Knife and/or Jimmy Eat World next week (tee hee). Anyway, so the scene was almost entirely indie-rock hipsters, despite the fact that this was the all ages show. Also, there were very few old Jawbreaker fans there, which sort of suprised me, but it was understandable since JTB has a much different sound. One of the said old Jawbreaker fans was right in front of my friends and I and proceded to heckle Blake all night, calling him a "sell-out" and what not.

So, we managed to get into this show by an amazing stroke of luck. Bottom of the Hill is generally pretty nice, I have managed to get myself into many a sold-out show there. But tonight, B.O.T.H. owed me a favor: they had neglected to put me on the Ticketweb list on Tuesday night, despite the fact that they had charged my credit card, so I decided to make use of my favor tonight. Unfortunately, they forgot to put me on the list AGAIN, but they just let us pay to get in. That was fine with me, I'll use my "favor" some other time.

It wasn't all that crowded when the first band, Cutlass Supreme, came on. At first I thought they were going to be one of those stereotypical college radio indie bands, hearing the first few chords of their song, but then they got better. They were better than average pop/indie-rock (god, I'm having a hard time classifying this stuff these days), although I was constantly bugged by the lead singer's "comb-over" hairdo. You're not fooling anyone, dude. Wear a hat or something. Join the hair club for men.

Next up was Pedro the Lion, another one of those bands that I had "heard OF" but not "heard". Frankly I couldn't get into them. They were too soft, too emotional, too mellow. I need that guitar distortion! Well, there are exceptions but not for this band. I would have liked them more if they had distributed those kinds of songs in between other, louder songs. But hey that's just me. They got a mild response from the audience.

Finally, past midnight, the much anticipated Jets to Brazil hit the stage. The foursome from New York City looked weary from too little sleep. "Last night everyone was shouting out requests, which was really annoying, but tonight that is not going to happen," Blake pleaded. "We're just going to play some songs and you are gonig to like it." The crowd, packed in like sardines, cheered their approval. They sped through hit after hit from their debut Jade Tree release, "Orange Rhyming Dictionary," with songs like "Morning New Disease," "Resistance is Futile," "Crown of the Valley" (which gets my vote for song of the year), and the ballad-like "Sea Amenone." Occasionally Blake would take a break from guitar duties to play keyboards, which was a nice addition. They also played a great deal of newer songs. My friend Lana and I were planning on bootlegging the show but we forgot to bring a cassette player. Oops! It was a shame because the sound quality of Bottom of the Hill that night was so high quality. Maybe they have gotten some new equipment or a new sound guy? Because it was just flawless. Anyway, they wrapped up their show a bit after 1 am. I, along with the hipsters it seemed, was pretty much exhausted and was too tired to clap enough for an encore. I left with the conclusion that JTB was going to get signed any day now.

Arriving at Gilman around 8:30 (I had already gotten there but then realized I left my money at home... good thing it's an 8 minute drive), we fans were greeted with the news that MU-330, who were to be headlining the bill tonight, had broken down in Vacaville, and were unlikely to show up. Bummer! I wasn't all that upset though because the bands I really wanted to see were still playing (although many other people were understandably pissed).

So, the evening started out with Asian Man owner Mike Park's band, the Chinkees. This was the first time I had seen Mike Park on stage since Pickle. I never got to see the Bruce Lee Band and I never saw him play with any other band, so this was very exciting for me. Mike is the greatest! I actually got to "meet him" for the first time, I had never really spoken to me before. I traded him a Braid sticker for a candy corn (tee hee). Anyway, the Chinkees were a lot of fun. As you probably know, they are an all-Asian band with a very strong message behind most of their music, which I think it great. They played stuff from the "Chinkees Are Coming!" CD plus a lot of new songs (I think...). They were mostly pop-punk with a ska edge. They were visably enjoying themselves which made it all the more better. Two thumbs up for the Chinkees!

Next up was the band I was most anticipating, the Alkaline Trio, a punk group from Chicago, who I have been listening to a lot lately. Here is where the low-tech tradition of 924 Gilman Street failed the audience: the vocals were totally obscured by everything else, which is a huge shame, because the vocals are part of what makes the Alkaline Trio so great. Something must have been wrong with the microphone that Mike Skiba was using, because this was not a problem for the other bands. Nevertheless, they played as well as they could and put their whole heart into it, obviously honored to be playing at one of punk rock's most infamous venues. The greatest crowd pleaser was, not suprisingly, "San Francisco," during which the whole front three rows were singing along, as well as all the other bands. Mike was playing so hard that is fingers started bleeding all over the guitar strings and I was compelled to go to the office and get some band-aids (I have serious problems with blood, don't ask...). But I suppose you get major punk points for playing so hard that you bleed.

Slow Gherkin was the final band of the night, which ended up much shorter than a normal Gilman show but, hey, what can you do? This was the first time they had played the East Bay in a while, and I had not seen them since the last time they played Gilman, in September of 1998! Now given that I saw SG about 12 times in 1997 this was a pretty big deal. They were missing a few horn players, I have no idea if this was a permanent thing. Is Slow Gherkin downsizing? Hmm. Anyway, from the rumors going around on the message board and what-not I somewhat expected them to be drunk again, but I guess getting drunk at Gilman St. is a little more difficult than getting drunk at the Cactus Club... I noticed no clumsiness on stage. They played better than average but not spectacularly, although I did appreciate the fact that they pulled a lot of the old songs out of the archives, like "Salsa III" which I hadn't heard them play for over a year. I do wish they would still do "Hava Nagila"! I suppose that is a lost classic... *sigh*. I danced a lot and had fun. I am thinking of maybe following the Asian Man tour down south for a couple shows, although I doubt it will happen. If it does I will write up the story. Oh yes, and everyone should buy the new ARA benefit CD on Asian Man! It is a very diverse and worthwhile compilation.

Well my wonderful evening started off wandering around downtown on Friday afternoon after class trying to find where I could buy my ticket to the concert early. Apparently tickets for Palookaville concerts are now being sold at a place called "Starstruck" but to my memory that name is the name of an OLD video store that was in Santa Cruz in the early nineties that is long since gone. So I walk into Streetlight and ask around but no one seems to know. Just as I'm walking out I run into good old Eric who is in town to see some movies and check out the show with some friends who's names escape me (Later he told me the movies were awful but that's besides the point!). Anyhow I don't end up getting my ticket until show time which made me really mad because I had to follow around my friends who were trying to set me up with random girls all night! And it was cold! Ahhh!

Well Palookaville wasn't exactly jam packed but there were a few people waiting to see Red Session so I figured they must be okay if they can draw that many people (Usually the openers around here don't get much of a crowd in the beginning). Anyhow, my friend Adam is bustling around the Merchandise table trying to get up a nifty Huxtables poster that he made earlier at Kinko's. It's a poster of the album's cover in which he is playing puppet master to the Huxtables (long story, check out the tape to see what I'm talking about) and he's having some trouble with it. When we are talking, he mentions that the lineup for the Neville Staples band is a bit different than I had thought (I will get into that more later in the review). He also tells me about a video he made of the Siren Six! back in February of 98 that is amazing and he promises to get my friend Spencer and I a copy of sometime. If you want a copy, hopefully ill have it sometime soon so email me about it and I can help you out. Well nothing else of interest happens until Red Session gets on stageŠ

As Red Session emerged and started into their first song I had a feeling I wasn't going to enjoy them. I stood up in front next to some crazy kids for about 2 songs until I just couldn't stand it anymore and had to sit down. They might have been a better band if they had some PRESENCE! You can be the most talented band in the whole world and stink if you have no presence. Frankly, they were flat out boring. To top this off, they ripped off at least 2 Lets Go Bowling horn lines. When I say "ripped off", I mean that they took out a tiny piece and used in on their own. I give them a lot of credit for being wonderful musicians but they just didn't do it for me. To sum it up, they were monotonous, presence-less, and they ripped off one of my favorite ska bands! I would give them a 9 out of 10 on musicianship but only a 3 or 4 out of 10 on presence.

During the break I was told that Peter from Gherkin wasn't going to be playing Keys for the Neville Staples band which confused and saddened me but I was also happy to here that Steve from the Chinkees was instead. There is a long story behind this and I don't want to type it all out. I also talked to Eric again who told me he was going to give Colty Huxtable a bit of reading to do from a D/D page which he never ended up reading (besides something about swamp marshes!). Anyway, the lights dimmed, the crowd screamed, and on came the HuxtablesŠ

Well what can I say; the Huxtables are so much better than the first time I saw them! They have improved so much. The first time I saw them was at a house party as a joke and now they are opening for Neville Staples! Quite an improvement I must say. Well if you have never seen this wonderful band before, you probably have no idea of the great costumes they wear: James was wearing a checkered leotard, dark glasses, and a fake moustache. Matt was wearing a crazy checkered tank top sort of thing and a fake moustache. AJ was adorned in a simple yet effective undershirt and Jeans. Last but certainly not least was Colt. All I can say is that the guy was wearing an outfit straight from the 80s! They opened up with "Han Solo" which is a great little punk rock number about none other than Star Wars! Great Harmonies, Humorous lyrics, and overall wackiness are just a few attributes of this great song. They proceeded to rock n' roll with such songs as "Mail Lady", "Dungeon Master", "Around", and my personal favorite "Losers Night Out". Although I don't own any of their music, I still found myself signing along to just about every song. They are definitely one of my top 5 favorite bands right now. They have excellent stage presence, extremely catchy pop songs, and amazing showmanship. I can definitely see this band going somewhere good and I would be so happy to see them get signed to Lookout, I think they would fit right in with the whole genre. They really deserve it too. Going from playing house parties to playing Club gigs isn't the easiest thing to do. People could argue that they just get these shows because they have members in Slow Gherkin. I say, No way! These boys rock with the best of them. The kids were going nuts, the girls were going wild, and everybody was having a good time as they played. Well, after flawlessly ripping through many songs, they finished the set with the Huxtables theme song which is one of their better tunes. I still can't get over how good their voices are. The harmonies are amazing! If you have never seen this band, CHECK THEM OUT!

I was still in sort of a quasi-trance after seeing the Huxtables play so good so I sat down for a bit until my friend Jason who runs the greatest Specials website on the planet comes up to me with a predicament-His Camera is broken! He was really unhappy because he took bad pictures at the last Specials show and he promised a bunch of people that look at his website pictures, email him and console him! Well I got a chance to figure out the exact band members through various people at the break. The band consisted of: Neville on vocals, His Daughter Sheena on backing vocals, Roddy (Specials) on lead guitar, Lincoln (Lets Go Bowling) on rhythm guitar, Achilles (ex-Blindspot) on bass, Steve (Chinkees) on Keyboards, Josh (Conspiracy) on Trombone, and Chuck (Skankin Pickle) on drums. After the short intermission, the lights dimmed and they entered the stageŠ

Well I was definitely expecting an amazing show considering the all-star lineup and I was most definitely not disappointed. They started with 3 songs of the newest album, "It's You", "Fearful", and "Bonediggin". They played through them perfectly and I was really excited to see all the energy of the band. I guess it's not a surprise considering each member's background but nonetheless, it was very fun to watch. The only gripe I have is that during each break between songs, these 3 little kids behind Jason, Spencer, and myself would keep screaming "RUDE BOYEEEE". I could tell Roddy wanted to jump down and beat them to a pulp but he controlled himself quite nicely and poked fun at them constantly instead. I know I shouldn't be so condescending but they really got on my nerves. At least there wasn't a huge pit going! Well they kept blasting through song after song, and as they kept going I noticed that they were playing quite a few songs off their second album- "More Specials". It was really good to hear because most of those songs don't get as much credit as the ones off the self titled and they definitely don't play them a lot live. It was really fun to see such good musicians playing the old classic 2-Tone songs that they grew up listening to. I would have killed to have a chance to play bass next to Roddy and Neville! Well, they played song after song for about an hour or so. The set list can be found on Jason's page below.

For an encore they did "Pressure Drop" and a fast version of "Gangsters" which I liked a lot. It was really dance-friendly. After they finished, I went to pick up a copy of Neville's CD which is a 5 song demo with some fun covers on it but I couldn't find any more! If you feel bad for missing this show, don't feel too bad. It wasn't anything compared to seeing the Specials live but it was a good change in pace to see all the songs that the Specials don't seem to play live. If you are interested in some more info on the Specials, I urge you to check out my friend Jason's site... its really well done. Sorry for the long review, I had a lot of free time today after waking up at 2!

Thanks to Hannah of the Blindspot page for this review
The Can Opener @ Great Hall, Menlo Park [2/12/99]

Ok- some of you are familiar with my reviews...they include the ENTIRE night... I went to this with Niki and we left Santa Cruz at like 3:30pm to get up there and help Fanali set up and get food (and lost! DOH). We find the place at around 5pm-ish. Fanali has us make signs to put out on the street to direct traffic, then we post them. We both end up getting in free (free shows are best!) First band up at 5:30 were The Chaparones...ummm they consisted of people like in their 40's...they were ummm....uhh... not my cup of tea. Next band up were The Dimes. Their guitar played begged me to stay in and watch them...but when I saw Josh of Blindspot show up I ran outside and closed my ears. I didn't care for The Dimes. At this time I was introduced to Ryan Brady-the new bass player.

Next up were Little Tin Frog!!!! Hooooray! Wow....my first time seeing them. I've been wanting to for quite some time, and I was impressed.Zack (BS's old bassist always tells me how great LTF is) He hee.. You gotta love their bass player and Christine the lead singer. They're great. They did this great song that went "picture of a cigarette, cirlce with a line through it" and they gave the whole audience hand motions to go along with the song. It was great!

And now....our dear Blindspot is supposed to play...2 minor problems...#1- David was no where to be found. #2- Sierra was no where to be found. So Josh asks me if I'll sing for them. So I was freakin' out and my mind went blank of all Blindspot lyrics...And they gotta go on! So...now since Sierra was missing, there were NO HORNS! da na na!!! But...Kim had showed up to visit the guys, so he played with them. And they recruited Ross from Gherkin to play too. So the band's onstage, and debating what to do without david, Fanali's bugging them that they gotta just start, and David comes running in the door! He said he had taken a taxi there and the driver took him the round about way. So let's see if I remember what they played...

• Ax Zero
• Carp
• Middle Ground
• Of Course
• Misfit
• Believe
• King
• Maude

For Maude, David let me come up on stage and sing with him- I also brought my camera and took pictures so soon enough there shall be more pictures on the website(of the current line up...accept no Sierra pics due to a very embarrasing mis-hap during the show....hee he hee this shall NEVER be spoken of again, so please don't ask) So I'll be honest with you guys. The new Blindspot is interesting. Right now (in my opinion) it can't compare to the old Blindspot-not that they're bad or anything, it's just different (and Josh's guitar was too loud tonight). Change takes a while to get used to. Ryan had to do an impromptu (sp?) bass line to Carp (i think....either that or another song) b/c he'd never played it before. They're kinda sloppy right now--and their beautiful, bold, entertaining, ear-pleasing horn section is completely diminished...it's just very different. From what I gathered Josh's guitar lines aren't the exact ones that Jay used to play. Or atleast I never remember them soundling like that! But whatever...maybe I just noticed b/c the guitar was so loud. It'll take a while for them to get as tight at the old Blindspot was (a horn section would help that!). Even though David was still sick (In St. Louis, MO on their tour, the van stalled in this giant puddle of really cold waist high water, and they all had to get outta the van and push it out-and they had to then sit in the van with wet clothes-hence they all got sick.) and the band is a lot different than before, they're still Blindspot, they still put on a killer show, and I still love their shows.

Ok- next band up-The Huxtables! They played a little funny tonight. as in not so good funny. AJ broke a bass string in the first song; then he ran off stage and the band members said he was puking-but I think he was just getting a new bass string. Anyways AJ's voice was rather hoarse and Colt's was lower than usual. Colt actually refrained from showing off his stomach tonight. Towards the end, Matt broke a guitar string, then he got another guitar, but there was no place to attach a strap, so Phil came out and devised a duct tape guitar strap. They didn't end their set with "We Are the Huxtables". How sad...but don't fret!

Next up was IBOPA. Now in the past I've had very mixed feelings about IBOPA-sometimes I've loved them ,other times I've not really liked them... but tonight they were rocking good! I could have done without the end though where lead singer Jamie took his pants off and his boxers had holes in them, then he mooned us all, and some guy jumped on stage and mooned us too. YUCKY. people should keep their butts to themselves.IBOPA opened with "We are the huxtalbes" it was really really funny.

Next up was The Siren Six!!! And guess what?!?!? They were NOT wearing all black! Wow! They al had black pants still, but dk. navy blue or white and black striped shirts on...it's a move inthe colorful direction. They refused to play any old songs, we were begging them and they kept saying that they'd never heard of those songs before. Yeah whatever. So they played the 7 songs off their new album (which I finally got a chance to pick up).

Up last were Slow Gherkin--tonight they played minus ZK (bass, they got a fill in though), Peter(keys) and Monty (trumpet). I dunno if it's just me, but I've seen Gherkin 3x since they got back from the Toasters tour and all 3 times have been minus Monty (he moved)...and the horn section just doesn't seem right. Gherkin played better than sufficient....naw they were pretty damn good- I've still seen them play better...I have exceedingly high expectations for them. Ross's voice irritates me...He kept singing into his sax mic. tonight and OUCH said my ears. And that about concludes the concert. Sorry about this being so lengthy.

Weekend of February 12

Four shows in three days! As you can probably guess, I had quite a busy weekend, so many good bands to check out. Let's start out at the beginning. Thursday night I went down to Santa Cruz and stayed at my cousin's house by the beach (they lived next door from Good Riddance!). She is a sophomore at UCSC and was going to give me a tour of the campus the following day. We got up the next day (I slept through Organic chemistry but enjoyed some of the other classes) and I got a tour of the school. She had no idea where this so called "Pizza Junxion" was, despite the fact that she had been at the school for over a year. We did a lot of asking around and finally spotted the place. We didn't see any fliers anywhere for the show. The SC campus is pretty spread out so it's not a huge suprise that we couldn't find it at first. It was a nice little lounge/restaurant with a serious leftist theme (lots of posters of people like Fidel Castro, Che Guavara, Mumia Abu Jamal, etc). That's UCSC for ya.

Anyway, so after that we went to Chinese food and then I drove myself to the show, and luckily some friends of mine from the East Bay and SF had driven down so I had some good friends to hang out with. There was one band that played before I got there and I have no idea how they played. As I was driving there, I caught the beginning of the Wonder Years set, although on the radio it sounded like crap. There were absolutely no vocals, except on breaks in the music. When I arrived I figured out why... they had just stuck a hung a couple of microphones from the ceiling and weren't really mixing at all. So you got a lot of drums, some bass and guitar, and no vocals. Oh well it's college radio, they're supposed to be lo-tech I guess. The rest of the Wonder Years set was better than average, despite their being heckled by a guy who was upset that the band had typed their set list, and said it wasn't very "punk rock" (whatever...).

Next up were the Muggs, who are an extremely under-rated band and deserve more press! The Muggs are fronted by two "chicks" as they refer to themselves, one of whom happens to be big sweetie Miya from the Chinkees and Asian Man Records fame. Hi Miya! Anyway, they play fast but still melodic punk, really good vocals and guitar lines. It was the first time I had seen them live (I think, although by this time in my life you never know), and I was very impressed. I loved their cover of "American Girl". Don't miss them when they open for Fugazi in Watsonville (they are very excited about it).

Well I forgot to mention that since the show was really badly promoted (KZSC, shame on you!), there were very few people at this show. The place wasn't close to full, and it was a small place. This also may be due to the competition of the Can Opener show (see review below) since ska and pop-punk often draw on the same type of audience, but I can't be sure. The Groovie Ghoulies seemed sort of suprised but it didn't seem to phase them in the slightest. They played as if they were opening for Green Day or something. Same energy and same good nature. These guys are so down to earth, I was so glad that they didn't care. Every other time I have seen the Ghoulies (I think a few times at Gilman and a few times at Slim's, the first time being in '96) it has been super crowded. Two weeks ago at Gilman was a good example, there were a good 600 people at that show. Here we had maybe 40. So I got to stand up near the front, right next to Roach. I stole the set list at the end so I can tell you some of the songs they played, but it's not too accurate, since the last half hour they played mostly requests, proclaiming "Fuck this [the radio show] let's have a party!" I remember them playing Apocolype 2000, RAMONES, Deviltown, Punk Part 2, and The Kids Go Crazy. Their set went on for a long time and it was so fun... I finally got a prize! Three years of seeing the Ghoulies and I had never managed to snag a prize. It was so un-crowded, I actually got to pick my prize out of the jack-o-lantern.

OK, next day... I woke up and drove back to hometown Berkeley by early afternoon. I took a while sorting some things out on the computer (doing the update took a while since my computer froze twice, grr) and ended up getting to my next show late, which was at the Mod Lang Record store in Berkeley. Performing were two indie and somewhat mod-ish bands, the first, which I primarily wanted to see but missed, was called Mover, and the second was called the Beachwood Sparks, from L.A.. Hmm, who can I compare them to? They have been described as a mix between the Byrds and the Beatles, which I can definetly agree with, although those are some pretty high standards to live up to and I don't think they're there yet. Lots of rock and folk, very retro-ish. They are definetly not for everyone who visits this page but if you are into songwriters like Elliot Smith (yay!) you might want to check them out, I found their set very moving.

After that, I met up with a friend from the city who came over the bridge to see the show at Cloyne Court on the north side of the UC. Well, really it was more of a party. So we went out to dinner and went to the show. It was 18+ so the crowd was definetly different than one you might find at some other pop-punk show. Plus it was a Cal party, they had a make-out room for Valentine's Day, a rave going on downstairs, and lots and lots of free beer, which they were giving out to anyone and everyone (hmmm...). The first band, Taw Shabella, kind of hurt my ears so we went outside and sat in the make-out room (not making out though!) and waited for the Odd Numbers to come on. Personally I think they are great but they didn't get the best response in the world. I really want to get their CD. As the Hi-Fives put it, they are very under-rated. They need to stop playing the Cactus every week and start doing some shows in the East/West/North Bay for once.

Next up was a new but much-anticipated band called the Plus Ones, a pop/punk all-star band featuring Joel Reader of the Mr. T Experience, Scotty from the Receivers, and Danny Panic from every Lookout band in current memory (Weasel, the Queers, etc) but most recently from the Groovie Ghoulies. A band with major sex appeal! Ahem, anyway, the band was formed to showcase some of Joel's songwriting abilities since none of MTX's songs are written by him, and his other side project, the Bomb Bassets, plays once in a blue moon. Biases aside, they were still my favorite band of the night. They played mostly originals, my favorites were song called "Sister" dedicated to his sister (of course) and a song called "It's tough being a girl" (how would he know?), and a few covers, the popular one being "Like A Virgin" by Madonna! They closed with "All I Say is Duh" which is Joel's contribution to the Bomb Bassets album "Take a trip..." A very talented band with lots of potential, keep an eye out for them.

Headlining the show was the Hi-Fives, who I absolutely adore, but I must say, they played absolutely terribly this night. And they know it too. They had obviously taken advantage of the free keg beer and they payed for it with lack of coordination. Most Hi-Fives guitar parts are quite difficult and require a certain level of, uh, sobriety. They were all over the place on stage and honestly made fools of themselves. They played a combination of new stuff and old stuff, a few requests like "Tainted Love" (if you cover this song you rock in my book, same with "Crash" by the Primitives... it's all about New Wave...). Plus this really annoying Cal girl who had one too many decided to take her place on stage and dance like a fool. She obviously wasn't much of a fan of the band and didn't know any of the songs so she really got on my nerves. I really expected a higher level of professionalism from the Hi-Fives, shame on them.

So this concluded Saturday night. Sunday morning was spent frantically searching for someone with which to go to the Siren Six show in Cotati. It being Valentine's Day and a Sunday this was rather difficult. I finally found a fellow single friend (sigh) to accompany me and we made the trip up there. We got a late start so we missed the first two performers, Scattershot Theory and the Wonder Years. I hear they played well? Anyway, after watching an entertaining round of "Singled Out", Warsaw came on. Warsaw didn't excite me all that much. They were loud and horn heavy and kinda hurt my ears and gave me a headache. We went outside and wandered around for a while, and read some Section M and laughed at the "sexy" cover picture (I'm not going into it...) of the Conspiracy. Pick up a copy if you can. Anyway up next was Edaline, who I've wanted to see for a while. They are sort of the "buzz" of the North Bay right now so I had to see what's up. They were great! With Josh Staples (formerly of the Conspiracy) newly added on bass, they were raw and energetic. They can fairly be described as "emo" (they accept the dreaded label) with a lot of Fugazi influence and lots of volume changes. You never know which direction the music is going to head. I bought their 10" (on Flying Harold records) and it's great too.

Next and lastly was the Siren Six, my favorite ska band for the past year. Well, they really aren't a ska band anymore so I guess they don't count. They are trying very hard to shed the "ska" image that they built for themselves, and are trying to play with a lot more indie and rock bands. They've got a start, and they have been very prolific: they played for close to an hour (or that's what it seemed like) and only played a few old songs, some of which were "One Sided" and "CONFUSION", but these were really the only two I really knew. The others were mostly completely knew, sound a bit like the Police except faster. Really good, they blew everyone away. I was bummed 'cause they had sold out of their new EP two nights before and I have been trying to get my hands on one for months. :-(. We went to a party afterwards for a little while where the Six where hanging out but we felt really out of place and decided to go home. What a weekend!

Thanks to Neil for the following review:
Slow Gherkin, The Wonder Years, Firme @ The Cactus Club [1/24/99]

Well this was my first time over the hill from Santa Cruz in a LONG time to see a show so I was kind of clueless as to how shows are run over in the mysterious town known as San Jose. Upset as I was to find that me and Hannah had arrived an hour early to the cactus club, we stuck out what turned out to be an hour and a half wait to see the show.

Firme opened the show with a pretty straightforward pop-punk-ska song that was pretty good. Not to shabby, yet not too spectacular. I was kind of disappointed in what I saw until about 10 minutes into their set. I guess they were just warming up because once they played the Latin-ska song (whos name slips my mind) I was hooked. They continued to blast out a very good set full of great rhythms, and good horn lines despite an AWFUL job done by the sound people at the cactus club. I was really shocked at how bad a job the sound people did not just on Firme's set but on every set thereafter! Firme was relatively tight and played a really good show despite no one dancing, little to no crowd enthusiasm, and bad sound.

Next came Cara Dura who have seen three times now. The first two times I saw them they were decent but not very good. This set definitely changed my mind. From their crazy cover of the Ramones to their funky yet bluesy guitar work to their crazy singer, they definitely rocked the house. They are one of the best local Latin ska bands around. Anyone that hasn't seen them yet should definitely give them a try. Even though some of the songs are in Spanish, and their singer may frighten you at times, they are a must see!

After enduring the stupid KSJO DJ blabbering about random nonsense, on came the Wonder Years. I had heard purely good remarks given to this band so it was time for me to check them out. They were all dressed in matching outfits. They had the plaid shirts and "emo" glasses for their matching look at this show. The look was pretty funny, though I think they could do better [editors note: this is because they are trying to dress similar to characters in the show "The Wonder Years"]ä They started off their set with "With a little help from my friends" which for you musically unaware folks is a Beatles cover. It definitely set the mood for the rest of their set. They playedvery original and flawless rock n' roll laced with some punk and even a few emo-ish breakdowns. The highlight of their set was most definitely the rockin cover of "U-mass" by the one and only Pixies which got the crowd singing along and everyone happy. For anyone into good original rock music, you must check these guys out. They're 7" is wonderful and their live show is twice that. They were by far the best band of the evening.

Onto the main event! Slow Gherkin. I had seen them play a pretty decent show in my hometown at UCSC(minus Monty!) for about 20 people the night before so I was hoping that they would blow me away as usual the next night. Well i'm sad to say that I wasn't blown away at all. In fact I thought the set was more funny than enjoyable. First of all, where did Monty go? I know he moved down south but I thought he was supposed to still tour. They should get Achilles back on trombone and put Matt on trumpet if Monty is gone! That took from their sound a bit but the biggest complaint is that on two nights in a row, certain band members were VERY drunk. The night before at UCSC, a certain guitar player and saxophone player knocked each other over numerous times while a certain lead singer fell all over the front row and made some really funny comments to the crowd along the lines of "Well I go to Berkeley and you go here (UCSC) so I'm sorry, we just cant be friends" or pure mumbling during Trapped like Rats in Myers Flats (not due to sound problems). When they were asked for requests, responses were "ummmmmmm, pick one we can remember remember" or "NEXT!" or evenä"we forgot that one!" Although they did play a great cover of "Little Bitch" by the amazing Specials, it was kind of sad to see them play the same songs over and over again. I kind of miss some of the songs off the old albums like Weasel or Covert Advertising. Anyway, back to the Cactus Club. Now they come on stage and some of them were obviously a bit tipsy. Well they polished off song after song pretty well until the end of their set when asked to do an encore. They couldn't play the beginning of Zen and Soccer and when they finally did get it, they were passing around a bottle of Beck's the whole time. After seeing them about a zillion times over the past 4 years it was fun to see the hometown favorites but sad at the same time to see them in such a state. Let's just hope they don't drink it all away.

Overall the show was really fun! I really recommend buying the Wonder Year's release as well as seeing all the openers and even Slow Gherkin when their not drunk! The Cactus Club was disappointing compared to Palookaville or even the Catalyst, both in Santa Cruz pretty much because of the bad sound quality. Take away the bad sound and the silly KSJO DJ and it was a very good concert.

Goldfinger, Hepcat, Liars Inc, Upbeat at the Phoenix Theater [12/5/98]

Now honestly I've never really liked Goldfinger at all. But for a band with no talent they were sure entertaining. They all had that "punk rock jump" down pat, and the guitarist kept spinning around in circles. Crowd surfing was abundant, as it generally is in the North Bay (for some reason) and the stage staff (who really were not professional bouncers... most of the people who ended up on stage were a lot stronger than they were and they had some "discipline problems") had their hands full. If Goldfinger was to make a live video that show would have been perfect. Some of their music has become, according to my friend who is a bigger Goldfinger fan than me, a lot heavier... on a few occasions they sounded like Rage Against the Machine! A lot of metal influence. The highlight of the night was when the drummer disappeared and suddenly reappeared sporting a stuffed bra and wig, and then jumped off one of the really tall amps. We were rolling in the aisles of the balcony. We left the theater with a chuckle...

Thanks to Morgan for this following review:
Nuclear Rabbit, Chinaski, The Jocks, Rag Tag Unit, Book 'Em Danno, Pirate All Stars at Club Cocodrie in SF [11/27/98]

I was looking rather forward to this show for a couple reasons. For one, a lot of my friend bands were playing, and I love them, but also cause I hadn't seen Nuclear Rabbit in ages. But when I got there, I found out that Nuclear Rabbit had cancelled. I was really dissapointed, but oh well. Anyways, the show started off with The Pirate All Stars, who I hadn't seen before, but had heard really good things about. They have a lot of talent, and have a lot of great songs. I don't remember specific song names, but they are definitely a band to go check out. Next, was Book 'Em Danno. I've seen them a few times now and they've pretty much been the same, although this time they did a saved by the bell cover :) . They're really different than what a lot of people would expect, but in a good way. For a lot of people, they're not the band that you can usually get into the first time you see them, cause I know for myself, the first time I saw them, it was kinda hard to really get into cause it was so different, but now I really like them. They play a very odd variety of stuff, but definitely a band to check out. Next was Rag Tag Unit, probably my favorite bay area ska band. I've seen them so many times now, and every time, I love them even more. This show, they played a good set and an extra long version of white boy, hehe, but it was good. Next, were The Jocks. The only punk band that played. I've seen them many many times now, and every time, there's something different. This particular time, they wanted to see if they could beat Rag Tag Unit with number of people on stage, so pretty much the whole crowd went on stage to sing along. They hadn't practiced in weeks, so they played kinda sloppy, but it was a lot of fun. They pretty much destroyed the stage, too, but it added to the fun. Definitely a band to check out as well. Next were Chinaski, a bunch of very nice guys who were on tour. Sadly, I didn't get to see most of their set, but I heard from many people that they were different, but really good. That ended the night. Still dissapointed that Nuclear Rabbit didn't play, but it was a fun show anyways. Definitely check out any of these bands if they're playing near you!

Thanks to Hannah Finder of the Blindspot Page for her review!
Monkey, Blindspot, My Superhero and The Jamons @ Big Basin Bistro, Saratoga, CA [11/28/98]

Alright...where to start? Umm first off overall it was a great night! Ok...so first of all...as most of you know, the show was supposed to be at the Musician's Wherehouse, but since that place got shut down, it was supposed to be at the Saratoga Teen Center...So that's where Jeff, Molly and I drive to...Now we were waiting patiently in the parking lot to get a call from Achilles so we'd know where to meet up with them for dinner. So we sat...and sat...and then a big van pulls up...and I go...YEAH it's some kind of band...Turns out it was My Superhero...so they ask if we know what's going on, and exchange whatever information we might have. Then we kick it with them in the parking lot for at least half an hour...what an energetic bunch...they were running around playing soccer and almost killed my car...but oh well. So Then Kevin of Monkey drives up, and tells us that the show was moved....AGAIN...and that his band was supposed to leave him directions on his voice mail...so we wait while he retrieves the directions...then all of us follow Kevin and My Superhero over to the new location...

Upon arrival we walk in and follow M.S. guys some more...and they joke around with us about how we can't be in the back area where the bands are supposed to go and stuff...but we hang out anyway. Nice bunch of guys. Then we see Eric Fanali and he comes over, introduces himself and makes us feel welcomes- at this point we were practically the ONLY ones in there besides everyone who was setting up. After talking to Eric for a while, we head out to find some food- Achilles still hadn't called us about dinner...and since the show was starting in like 30 minutes we decided to take it upon ourselves to get our own food. We tried this little coffee shop which had some good stuff- recommended by Eric. As soon as we walk out of the place, we see Achilles and Jay across the street (sound familiar from the last show when they had just finished eating when KT and I walked up?) So we talk to them for a bit- and Jeff meets them- he's thinking about trying out for their open trumpet position. Hee hee.. at this point Achilles tells us that Jeff (BS's current trumpet player) prolly won't be coming tonight... and asked if Jeff brought his trumpet! Too bad he didn't. So we go back and hang out in the "venue" and sit on the floor with all the pretty red balloons and beach balls. At this point Achilles introduces us to Sierra (who might I add, I think adds a lot to the band- gives the horns an even fuller sound!) And Jeff gets introduced to every one else.

First band up was The Jamons. What a fun group of guys as well. I had actually never seen them play before, but had only heard GOOD things, so I was expecting a lot. And I wasn't let down. I got a real kick outta their bassist playing his bass out to the side like that! Next up was supposed to be Blindspot (says the set for the night that I got from Eric anyway)...but apparently they were waiting for the arrival of Josh and Jeff...who arrived some time during My Superhero...who I also got a kick outta. They finished off their set with that Weezer song "You take your car to work, I'll take my board"....God I can't remember the title right now...It was a good set they put on...(not to mention the fact that they announced that their drummer had to take a crap). Next up was BLINDSPOT- who of course was the main reason I drove up there. Blindspot was great. David tried to share the mic with me a couple times, and during "Carp" (I think) Achilles turned his mic around so I could sing with him. Anyways...here's the set list for you.

• Accel. 0
• Carp
• King
• Misfit
• Believe
• Out Of Time
• So Tell Me
• Wendy
• Of Course
• Middle Ground (they didn't have time to play this one...damn...I like that song...wanted to hear it again...)
• 12 (hooray...I asked David if he'd play it, since they could only play one more and they did...he let me start out the song by going 1,2,3 4 5 6,7,8,9,10 11 12!)
• Maude (didn't have time for this one either)

So lets see...what especially stood out tonight...I think there was a pretty decent crowd there...especially since the venue was changed so many times. David got a little confused on the set list (some how his kept getting thrown across the "stage".) Then he was introducing the wrong song- and of course I corrected him- and he blamed it on not having his glasses onäand patted me on the head saying something like he could only see Hannah in the front row here. I want to thank Eric if he ever reads this- he sorta took us under his wing tonight and made sure everything was taken care of for us. Yeah, I guess all I can say about Blindspot is they were amazing (like always). These guys have yet to let me down...they really put on one of the greatest live shows I've ever seen. So much fun...and I'm sure along with their great unique music is why they have such a large following. I wish them the best of luck when they hit the road in January for their U.S. tour...it should be really exciting for them...and if they stop by your town be sure to check them out...may I repeat...YOU WILL NOT BE DISSAPOINTED!

Ok- so next up was Monkey! Yeah! I love those guys as well... although, the only times I've seen Monkey play have been with Blindspot...but still, my 3rd time seeing Monkey. What sucked most about tonight were the short sets by the bands-the show was over at around 11pm- I mean I got back to Santa Cruz by 11:45-Although I admit I don't think I could have danced any more for Blindspot's set...since the Cross Country season's been over I've been slacking and not doing my work outs, and now I'm suffering through shows...no more endless energy...now I'm just like everyone else with heavy legs that don't wanna move. Alright, well Monkey's set included, "Ghetto", "Bed Of Fire", "$30 suit", "Bachelor" (a personal favorite! I love when the horn sections bobs up and down and side to side during the bom bom a way oh part..funny thing- sitting in the parking lot at the Teen Center that evening I had been singing this song non-stop) and "No Color No Power" during which we had a congo line going.

Anyways- over all- great show- great bands- great crowd...nothing got too roudy- accept for all the balloons and beach balls being thrown around- which was really fun. We talked to David and Achilles briefly after the show (as well as after the set I talked to Josh and Kim briefly) and before we left the 3 of us all got hugs from Achilles. Then out the door we went (waving to Jay on our way) and I bid farewell to my friend Jeff who was driving the opposite direction. All in all...a very good night...So what if it was a wild goose chase to get there! It is always worth it for Blindspot! I would also like to apologize to anyone who went to my page and looked up the addy of the show-and read "Saratoga Teen Center" but...I thought it was there too...and apparently so did My Superhero...it was a very last minute change and I feel bad for anyone who might have missed the show...although I believe Kevin of Monkey had put a sign on the door before we all paraded over to Big Basin Bistro. But again...I'm sorry to anyone who this affected. I think it is time for me to go to sleep- again...my praise to you if you cared enough to read this far! See ya at the next show- and as always- keep the feet dancing to the beat!