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Wallace Baine on January 15, 2020
If you love wine and live in the South Bay, 2020 is shaping up to be a very good year. The San Francisco Wine School is bringing its most popular classes to the wine tavern Enoteca La Storia in downtown San Jose. To kick things off, January’s class is titled “Tasting, Chemistry and Flaws,” and is all about developing blind-tasting techniques, using wine vocabulary properly and learning how to assess balance between sugar, tannins and acid. From there, aspiring wine snobs can expect a new workshop every month on viticulture, wine regions and food pairing. Continue reading »
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Wallace Baine on January 15, 2020
It’s hard to fathom, but the musicians who played alongside the legendary Bob Marley during his creative heyday in the 1970s are still upright and making music. The Wailers, circa 2020, continue to create their rastaman vibrations with bassist Aston “Family Man” Barrett, guitarist Junior Marvin and guitarist Donald Kinsey—all of whom jammed with Marley. The band also features second-generation performers, including singer Shema McGregor, whose mother Judy Mowatt was one of Marley’s famous back-up singers, the I-Threes. Indeed, the Wailers are true reggae royalty. Continue reading »
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Matei Predescu on January 15, 2020
This Los Angeles tribute band—made up of session musicians and veterans of the music industry—draws on its collective experience and deep love of Linkin Park to produce faithful re-creations of the SoCal rap-rock titans’ catalog. Formed in 2017 in the wake of Chester Bennington’s untimely death, In the End takes its responsibility of honoring the band’s music seriously. Their profound dedication to Linkin Park’s legacy is palpable in the energy of their performances and their authentic reinterpretation of the music itself. Continue reading »
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Matei Predescu on January 15, 2020
Melding indie rock and dream-pop influences, LA-based slowcore band Sprain pairs spacey, minimalist arrangements with emotionally compelling narratives. Their sonic subtlety reveals an understated and strikingly nuanced tonal palette, fluidly transitioning between moods and atmospheres with their use of unconventional compositional structure, harmonic color and instrumentation. Still pushing its 2018 self-titled debut, Sprain returns to town for a show at Japantown’s 3F Gallery—a cozy venue that showcases the work of local creatives and is an emerging hotspot on San Jose’s DIY scene. Continue reading »
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Wallace Baine on January 15, 2020
Eddie Vedder gets a lot of the credit for the absolutely sublime soundtrack to Sean Penn’s 2007 film Into the Wild. But the gorgeous and expansive guitar work that made the film transcendent comes by way of Kaki King. Her ringing acoustic guitar is capable of transporting and enchanting listeners, whether they’re in a concert hall or listening through earbuds while trekking across some breathtaking landscape. Originally a drummer, King has mixed a number of flavors, from strings to bagpipes, into her half-dozen recordings. But onstage, it’s usually just her and her fluid, expressive, spellbinding guitar playing. That’s quite enough. Continue reading »
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Metro Staff on January 15, 2020
The Bay Area’s independent music community will remember the life and work of Murray Bowles. A longtime South Bay denizen, Bowles died at his Sacramento home in early December. The late Bowles was known well in the Bay Area, and his photos were celebrated around the world. The musician and photographer played with San Jose psychobilly outfit The Shitkickers (who headline the memorial), and most famously documented the early ’80s and ’90s East Bay punk rock scene. A cartoon version of Bowles appeared on the cover of Green Day’s breakout LP, Dookie. Continue reading »
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Kenny Ngo on January 15, 2020
Bobby McKeon, better known by his stage name, 4B, has attracted the attention of some of the biggest names in EDM with his aggressive Jersey club aesthetic. He first grabbed the national spotlight with his 2015 track, “Pop Dat.” The energetic collaboration with Aazar went on to become one of the most popular trap tracks of 2016. McKeon comes to Pure behind a new EP, Explosive. It is an appropriate title for the project, which finds the rising producer working with Purowuan, Acraze and YDG on four highly combustible club bangers. Continue reading »
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Wallace Baine on January 15, 2020
It’s that time of year again. “Furries” from all corners of the anthropomorphic world come together in San Jose to explore the fuzzy boundaries between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom. FurCon, which has been going strong for 20 years now, attracts thousands of people who dig dressing up as animals, real or imaginary. For four days, the downtown will be overrun with psychedelic sports mascots taking role-playing fantasy to an extreme. FurCon is a place where furries and those who love them can come to lick their wounds. The Fur-curious, as always, are welcome. Continue reading »
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Metro Staff on January 15, 2020
Celebrated pianist Mona Golabek memorializes her mother, Lisa Jura, in this internationally acclaimed, one-woman show and musical performance. Created and directed by a TheatreWorks regular Hershey Felder The Pianist of Willesden Lane features performances of Bach, Beethoven and Rachmaninoff fused with lively storytelling as it tracks Jura’s escape from Nazi-occupied Austria to a children’s home in London. Originally scheduled to close on Feb. 9, the show has been extended to Feb. 16 due to popular demand. Continue reading »
In our neighborhood, where it’s not uncommon for three generations to shack up in one of the ‘70s-era duplexes that line the street, parking is at a premium. Every adult in each house has a car, which means about four vehicles per unit. Inevitably, those cars fill up the curbsides. But hey, we’re all playing this game of musical parking spots together. That’s why it’s aggravating to no end when you break the unspoken rules the rest of us generally live by. No reserving a space by leaving your one car in the middle of an opening that could easily fit two. And for chrissakes, stop blocking my goddamn driveway! Do you not see the impossible maneuvers you force me to make as I try to back out of my driveway in the morning? It’s like an obstacle course out here. Next time, I might make a little less effort to avoid dinging your car. #SorryNotSorry
I Saw You is an anonymous “man on the street” column. Email your rants and raves about co-workers or any badly behaving citizens to [email protected], or send to 380 S. First St, San Jose, 95113. Submissions should stick to about 100 words.
