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Elliott Sky Case on February 2, 2022
Real history and unreal characters bring real laughs. Jaclyn Backhaus’s MEN ON BOATS recounts real-life explorer John Wesley Powell’s 1869 traversal of the Colorado River with a cast of female and non-binary actors. For fans of Hamilton who wish they’d made fun of the founding fathers a bit more, Backhaus’s cross-gender versions…
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Alec Adams on February 2, 2022
Incorporating anime aesthetic into your musical act isn’t exactly new; lo-fi hip hop and emo bands have been putting anime girls on the cover of their album art for years. But metal bands are historically more interested in appearing “metal.” Not so for Oakland’s Lucrecia, a prog-metal band who self-describe as “otaku…
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Addie Mahmassani on February 2, 2022
Though deeply inspired by her late collaborator Prince, Judith Hill wants the world to know she is much more than a tabloid-making protégé. On her latest album, Baby, I’m Hollywood!, the Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist subverts the expectations that come with her LA upbringing and showbiz roots, telling her story with depth and vulnerability.…
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Mike Huguenor on January 26, 2022
It only took a moment for Cole Kakimoto to fall in love with hardcore. One night, while still in middle school, he followed a friend to see her sister’s boyfriend’s band play a church on the eastside of San Jose. “I was expecting like a concert or something, because I had never…
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Mighty Mike McGee on January 26, 2022
In 2014, after 11 years on the road performing poetry, I moved back to San Jose on a permanent basis. Immediately, I began returning to the San Jose Poetry Slam, then held at the now defunct Fahrenheit Ultra Lounge. I hadn’t seen Tshaka Campbell in years and was surprised and elated to…
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Addie Mahmassani on January 26, 2022
As the pandemic continues here on Earth, the recent launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has presented a welcome chance to explore celestial bodies above. This Tuesday evening, the Hammer Theatre offers a live-streamed conversation followed by virtual Q&A about the decades of preparation that led to the JWST’s launch…
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Alec Adams on January 26, 2022
Rock music can be a fascinating and intricate genre with plenty of room for sonic exploration. But at the end of the day, it’s at its best when listeners can just throw up the horns and bang their head to some tasty licks. Phoenix, AZ native Lucust French understood this when he…
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Elliott Sky Case on January 26, 2022
Sometimes music feels like a soundtrack to the movie of our lives. And sometimes life feels like a cartoon. The Queen’s Cartoonists exist to score those moments. The Queens, NY-based sextet plays in front of a video projection of the TV shows and movies they cover, matching slapstick speeds as they run…
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Alec Adams on January 26, 2022
The nostalgia around the 1990s has created such a fog that no one seems to know what actually happened in the era anymore. All anyone can remember is flannels, cheap rent and the movie Office Space. It sounds fun as hell in our heads though, and why should we be in such…
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Jay Edgar on January 26, 2022
Is it summer yet? While we’re stuck in the wicked doldrums of January, sometimes a warm, sunny day will surprise the valley. Friday’s looking to be one of those days, as producer duo ARMNHMR bring their breathy, festival-ready brand of EDM to the San Jose Civic. ARMNHMR’s big, soaring interludes lead into…
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