I know you’re my boss, but how do I avoid talking to you? I’m working away in my cubicle, and not just because I heard your footsteps a few moments ago, but because that’s what I was hired to do. I need to get all my assignments done and meet deadlines so I can enjoy my weeklong Christmas break without worrying about anything back at the office. But here you are again, showing me links to the gifts you bought and unloading your personal biz about your future son-in-law and how he’s such a deadbeat. Sorry, I can’t help with that. I can only code. And the week is almost over, so please, stop taking up an hour of my day. How do I avoid talking to you? Because if I don’t get my shit done on time, I’ll get in trouble. And who will I have to talk to if I get in trouble? You.
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.
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Avi Salem on December 28, 2018
Move over, dinner and a movie. These days, it’s all about brunch and a piano—at least at San Jose’s Poor House Bistro. The last Sunday of 2018 starts with a New Orleans-themed piano brunch hosted by local “bourbon-esque” crooner and one-man show Johnny Fabulous. Boogie down while snacking on beignets and hear songs from the Great American Songbook over griddle cakes and grits. The Poor House Bistro, known for serving up homestyle Cajun food since 2005, spotlights different musicians daily, but takes its first foray into daytime entertainment with its weekly Sunday brunch performances. Continue reading »
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Avi Salem on December 28, 2018
For nearly 40 years, The English Beat has been crossing musical genres and defying the limits of what it means to be both punk rock and British. As one of the first groups in the UK to fuse ska and punk, they’ve continued to evolve their sound through a number of studio albums and associated side projects over the years. On the heels of their latest release, Here We Go Love—the band’s first new album since 1982’s Special Beat Service—The Beat return to San Jose alongside local ska and reggae five-piece, Monkey. Continue reading »
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Avi Salem on December 28, 2018
That extended stretch of time after Christmas and before New Year’s Eve is a period of great ambiguity for those who are visiting home for the holidays. Presents have been opened, awkward political arguments have been made, family dinners have been eaten, but it’s not yet the new year and the hometown cabin fever feels are real. Don’t fear: the Holiday Hangover is here. Presented by It’s Relative! productions, this all-night dance party features curated jams by Memory Bank (Hunter Chollet and Marcus Leonardo) and DJ Adam Jay to get you over that in-between holiday slump and ready for the rock-n-rollin’, rowdy new year festivities. Continue reading »
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Avi Salem on December 28, 2018
San Jose-based mixed media artist and muralist Micah Alfaro will install his latest art piece at Campbell’s Station X Salon while onlookers enjoy live music, drinks and bites. His newest mural will adorn the salon’s spacious front windows, which he’ll be painting live throughout the course of the evening. The local artist specializes in intricately drawn, detailed color and monochromatic murals and displays that incorporate everything from woodwork to spray paint. Free and open to the public, Alfaro’s last show of the year is for one night only: Be sure to peep at the culmination of a year’s worth of artwork in an equally artsy space. Continue reading »
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Avi Salem on December 28, 2018
Making his debut first as a writer and then as a cast member on Saturday Night Live over 30 years ago, Rob Schneider is one of those Hollywood enigmas that’s done it all but can’t stop doing more. He’s had a role in more than 40 films since the early ’90s, starring as the hapless Deuce Bigalow, a fish tank cleaner-turned-male prostitute in 1999. His latest venture is a TV show called Real Rob. Schneider returns to his standup comedy roots with a new routine that’s packed full of his characteristic voices and exaggerated mannerisms. Continue reading »
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Avi Salem on December 28, 2018
In remembrance of San Jose’s Aaron Anaya, who tragically passed away in a DUI crash in November, local and out-of-town acts will be paying tribute to his life and legacy at this special fundraiser show and celebration. Many of the groups performing were friends of Anaya, who was also a musician, and some will even be playing Aaron’s original songs. The evening’s lineup includes San Jose-based singer-songwriter Try the Pie, San Jose duo Spit Lake, Oakland dream-pop outfit New Circle, San Jose indie rockers Eastern Westerner and Dinners, and Los Angeles lo-fi group Sprain. All proceeds will go to Aaron’s family. Continue reading »
Los Angeles-based DJ and producer Falcons is no stranger to the hip-hop scene. Even before signing to producer and DJ A-Trak’s Fool’s Gold records in 2015, he was a regular at live events like Coachella and Boiler Room, mixing and performing alongside some of the scene’s heaviest hitters. Three years and dozens of collabs later, he’s promoting his latest joint release with San Jose-based producer B.Lewis, titled Daydrift. The melodic, trap-influenced five-track EP features guest appearances by Bay Area rapper P-Lo, GoldLink and Jazz Cartier and doesn’t disappoint: Prepare for an extended set of hypnotic and uptempo beats. Continue reading »
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Avi Salem on December 28, 2018
Keep things groovy and psychedelic this holiday season at the always-reliable Caravan Lounge, which presents Holiday Good Times N’ Cheer! with three local heavy hitters: the Magick Blues Band, Casual Vibes and Zack Freitas. Encompassing the realms of psychedelic, garage and folk rock, the night will start out mellow, with the soulful sounds of singer-songwriter Freitas, whose one-man show draws inspiration from crooners like Elliott Smith and Nick Drake. Casual Vibes provides exactly that: a perfect musical backdrop to hanging out with friends, while Magick Blues Band closes the night with their heavy and soul-inflected sound pulled straight from the ’60s. Continue reading »
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Avi Salem on December 28, 2018
Two Netflix specials and two babies later, comedian Ali Wong is taking center stage again—this time not pregnant (we think) but with the same comedic force and exaggerated stage presence that brought her into the standup limelight. The San Francisco-born and -raised performer gained a serious following after her 2016 special, Baby Cobra, which she shot while seven months pregnant with her first child. Managing to tackle topics as disparate as diapers and foreplay in the same routine, somehow Wong manages to keep the crowd on her side, even as she plunges baby bump first into her crude, rude and self-absorbed on-stage persona. Continue reading »
