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Jay Edgar on March 2, 2022
It’s safe to say that the tech industry has a mixed reputation amongst locals. Now it’s time for local comedians to air their grievances. Started by two burnt-out ex-Microsoft workers, Socially Inept is a touring tech-themed comedy show promising to roast the local tech scene on a variety of points. Based out of Seattle, the show has hopped to Austin, San Francisco and Boston, and is now landing in Google’s hometown of Mountain View. Armed with plenty of fodder on the lifestyle of the brogrammer, Socially Inept will finally put our overlords in the hot seat.
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Beibei Xu on March 2, 2022
Puerto Rican singer and rapper Bad Bunny—Spotify’s most streamed artist for 2020-21—is set to grace the SAP Center this Thursday on his “El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo 2022.” Named after the Grammy winner’s chart-smashing No. 1 album, “El Ultimo” is the North American leg of his first-ever world stadium tour. Celebrated by Rolling Stone for his “conversational tone,” the reggaeton artist is heavily influenced by trap and hip hop, and blends in elements of soul, pop and R&B into his music to “unite audiences, unite countries…(and)… unite people.”
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Jay Edgar on March 2, 2022
Ever since Shannon Taylor’s cinematic take on emo helped give birth to the genre’s much-discussed fifth wave in 2018’s low self-esteem (full album title shortened for space), her project awakebutstillinbed has helped re-establish San Jose as a DIY capital. Taylor is an expert at capturing the audience’s attention; at first listen, any moment in an absib song seems like it could be one where she goes from 0 to 60, going from patient sad chords to nuclear licks and the kind of intense, earnest semi-screamed vocals that emo fans crave.
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Elliott Sky Case on March 2, 2022
An evening of music, poetry, live painting and more brings BIPOC artists into the spotlight. The School of Arts & Culture at Mexican Heritage Plaza presents this First Saturday event, featuring local poets Yosimar Reyes and Arlene Biala, singer-songwriter TÉA and headliner DeAndre Brackensick. Brackensick grew up in San Jose before his dulcet R&B falsetto made him an American Idol finalist at the age of 16. Doors open for Colour Me GOLD at 5pm with a Black & Brown Vendor Market for those looking to buy a new favorite art piece and score good seats at the same time.
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Elliott Sky Case on March 2, 2022
Oakland-based Rupy C. Tut makes the micro feel macro in her solo exhibition A Recipe for Brown Skin. Drawing from the Indian miniature painting style Pahari as well as calligraphy for her main influences, Tut uses the traditional techniques of her Punjabi Sikh background to explore issues of identity and displacement. The women of Tut’s paintings—whether young or old, searching through books or gazing into space—hold incredible detail, from the movement of each hair to their astute expressions. Reception includes an artist talk addressing the exhibition’s title as it relates to “missing brown skin tones in traditional miniature work.”
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Alec Adams on March 2, 2022
Just Friends is a band that has been basking in the light of two suns. Coming up from the DIY punk circuit, their early material could reductively be called “emo with horns,” but they outgrew all their musical limitations basically overnight. Now their music is a whirlwind. The guitars jangle, the horns blare, there’s rapping, there’s belted vocal melodies. The hyphy-inspired style keeps the party going, but they don’t compromise on empathy and sensitivity to do it. The group’s newest album, Hella, comes out Friday on Pure Noise Records, and represents another great leap forward in the band’s journey.
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Grace Stetson on March 2, 2022
In 1973, the landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade legalized abortion across the country. Yet, in 2022, women still have to put in so much work to have a voice over their bodily autonomy. Now, nearly 50 years later, the Los Altos Stage Company aims to show how vital Roe remains today. In her latest, writer Lisa Loomer brings to light the contradictory life experiences of lawyer Sarah Weddington and plaintiff Norma McCorvey. Through their journeys, viewers see both humor and heartache in how America looked post-Roe, and see for themselves just how much (or little) has changed.
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Addie Mahmassani on March 2, 2022
Bedtime Stories is a one-man show, but countless characters come to life over the course of the evening. Fusing the tradition of live radio plays with the ancient art of storytelling, actor Thomas Dudkiewicz of the Dutch performance collective URLAND conjures a darkly mystical world with just his voice and Tomas Loos’ accompanying soundscape. In the digital age, with such weight placed on the visual, the artists of URLAND help their audiences remember the feelings of childhood, when the simple sound of the rain or a tale told under the stars had the power to set one’s imagination alight.
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Kyle Martin on February 23, 2022
Jookin can be as difficult as the most intricate ballet, where calves are burning and toes are cracking, or it can look as effortless as a crashing wave. It can be just a few people dancing in a park, or it can sell out a concert hall.
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Bill Kopp on February 23, 2022
Looping—the use of digital equipment to record and play back sounds in real time for musical self-accompaniment—has been around for decades. It’s most often used within the realm of guitarists and vocalists. But Portland, Ore., artist Joe Kye obviously didn’t get that memo: his chosen instrument is the violin.
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