Now that it is officially autumn in the Valley of Heart’s Delight, it’s time to take the family out in search of pumpkin patches and other reminders of what the season’s changes mean beyond city streets. The fourth annual Harvest Festival at Martial Cottle Park is a fine option, with farm tours and wagon rides, square dancing and face painting. Learn to compost. Pet a goat. Carve that pumpkin. At least get out of the house, walk past a vintage tractor and grab a bite to eat from a food truck or farm stand while listening to live music and smelling the fresh fall air. Continue reading »
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Carissa Kauwell on October 4, 2018
Opera Cultura is celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month with Canto: New Voices, a concert featuring the winner from the national Canto Online Vocal Competition, Virginia Hesse. Hailing from Texas and boasting an impressive list of notable stage credits, Hesse, a coloratura soprano, will perform along with another finalist in the competition, Michael Orlinsky, a tenor-baritone and composer. The event aims to highlight “the experience of Latino Americans through the beauty of music,” bring exposure to rising Latino artists and help raise money for Opera Cultura’s 2018-2019 season. The concert will be followed by a reception. Continue reading »
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Wallace Baine on October 4, 2018
Rob Lowe has been part of the Hollywood furniture for so long now—it’s been close to 40 years since he started making hearts flitter as a teen actor—that he’s been criminally easy to overlook as a bonafide star. The absurdly good-looking veteran actor survived a sex scandal that sank his movie career in the ’80s and then went on to score major TV gravitas on The West Wing and even show off his comic chops on Parks and Recreation. Now, Lowe’s on stage with “Stories I Only Tell My Friends,” which details his wild ride through the Hollywood meat grinder in a show based on his best-selling memoir. Continue reading »
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Nick Veronin on October 4, 2018
After a rough day at work, when the news cycle makes you want to punch someone in the face, there’s nothing quite like the cathartic power of punk rock. That’s where Vitamin X come in. This quartet of crazy Dutchmen has been blowing out speakers and inspiring circle pits for two decades with their thrashy brand of straight edge hardcore. Despite their XXX status, the boys aren’t opposed to playing dive bars. Currently touring the West Coast behind their brand-new full-length, Age of Paranoia, Vitamin X aim to tear the roof off this tiny Redwood City haunt. Continue reading »
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Wallace Baine on October 4, 2018
Coachella, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza… Yeah, they’re cool and all. But you could almost buy a decent car for what it takes to get in the gates at these festivals. On the other hand, admission to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass—which gives you more than 80 top-flight acts in Americana, country, rock, bluegrass and blues in San Francisco’s gorgeous Golden Gate Park—is FREE! Thanks to an endowment from the late private-equity investor (and music lover) Warren Hellman, nobody needs a ticket to see some great live music, which this year includes Emmylou Harris, Jeff Tweedy, Graham Nash, Mavis Staples, Nick Lowe and a battalion of other magnificent musicians. Continue reading »
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Wallace Baine on October 4, 2018
If you’re suffering a bit from seen-it-all ennui on the live music front, we just might have the antidote. The sounds of Ukrainian quartet DakhaBrakha are likely novel to most Western ears. Starting from a foundation of Ukrainian folk music, the one-man, three-woman group throws in all kinds of musical textures from cello to jaw harp to Brazilian percussion to something akin to rap. The women in the group are fond of giant black lamb’s-wool hats, which gives them a kind of Baltic B-52s vibe, and the group’s avant-garde sense of theater will eventually wear down your defenses, until they make Bjork sound like Taylor Swift in comparison. Continue reading »
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Julia Canavese on October 4, 2018
Most easily recognized by his childlike, high-pitched delivery, Emo Philips is truly a stand-out when it comes to stand-up. Hailing from Chicago, Philips began his career in the 1970s and has developed an onstage persona that is unlike anything else on the scene. Pairing witty one-liners with more obscure, multi-level punchlines, his style recalls the work of the late Andy Kaufman in its absurdist bent. Philips has been lauded by the likes of Jay Leno and “Weird Al” Yankovic as a master of his craft. There must be something to the acclaim, as the man’s been at it for 40 years. He performs through Oct. 7. Continue reading »
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Carissa Kauwell on October 4, 2018
Indulge your senses by attending the U.S. premiere of Dystopian Dream at Stanford. This memorizing performance features contemporary dance paired with choreography, live theater and music, and encompassess themes of loss, isolation, surrender and continuity. Composer Nitin Sawhney collaborated with international hip-hop duo Honji Wang and Sébastien Ramirez to create this new production for the stage. Singer Eva Stone provides vocals. There are two performances, one on Thursday and one on Friday. Continue reading »
I never thought it would get to this point, but here we are. You’ve gone full MAGA and—dare I say—borderline Nazi. The signs were there. When you were discharged from the Marines, you had some white supremacist symbols branded into your skin. But then you went to therapy, learned how to keep your PTSD symptoms in check. You became kinduvva hippy for a while. You grew your hair out, you hung around a diverse group of friends. But you’ve regressed since the Talking Comb-Over moved into the White House. You didn’t wield a tiki torch on any khaki pants marches, thank god, but you have been sharing racist memes celebrating ICE. I’ve been dreading the holidays now because I don’t really know how to respond to you anymore.
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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Bill Kopp on September 27, 2018
If Deep Purple had done nothing more than record “Smoke on the Water,” the band would have earned a place of honor in rock history. Though the riff-based classic (with a true-story lyric about a fire at a Montreux, Switzerland concert venue) has become a cliche among musicians and fans alike, there’s no mistaking its appeal. And the album that features the tune—1972’s Machine Head—is an undisputed classic. Continue reading »
