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Mike Huguenor on June 9, 2021
Ah, Willow Den, how we’ve missed your subtle charm this last year. Though dim and dark, you are warm and welcome, and always contain at least a few surprises within. Since rebranding as Willow Den Public House in 2019, the Den has been making a push towards music, though that was quickly interrupted by the pandemic. This Saturday, however, they promise “Live Music is Back,” with a show from Bay Area reggae groups Kruel Summer, and Lot49, both of whom like to mix a little R&B with their reggae. Summer’s just beginning, and these mellow grooves are just the kind you want to get stuck in. Continue reading »
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Mike Huguenor on June 9, 2021
AC Myles has it bad and, buddy, there ain’t no cure. Morning, noon and night, it’s there with him. The blues. On new album With These Blues, the Central Valley-born guitarist charts one man’s descent into the azure hue note by note, and fret by fret. Once described as “perhaps the only soulful thing to come out of Fresno,” Myles puts some grit on his guitar this Saturday at Poor House Bistro, playing out those blues that have shaken him (and perhaps you, dear reader?) to his very core. Sure there’s no cure, but there is plenty of good company. Continue reading »
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Mike Huguenor on June 9, 2021
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but Pablo Martín thinks they might be worth more than that. Mysterious and glyph-like, the ink-and-paper images in Inventarios by the Argentinian artist all aim to defeat traditional language, evoking “esoteric knowledge never meant to be spoken, but only viewed and understood intuitively.” Figures stand poised before unknowable tasks, conjoined in logic-defying ways, often surrounded by “cabecitas” (or, little heads). In Anno Domini’s second show, Mexican artist Play is Soul Food collaborates with gallery owners on a series of spontaneous body art. Both shows end Saturday. Continue reading »
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Mike Huguenor on June 9, 2021
It’s been more than 50 years since we first heard the mean, mean stride of Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart, and Geddy Lee, and Rush’s influence on rock in that time has been incalculable. In a livestream from Art Boutiki, R50, “The Premiere Rush Tribute Band,” pay homage to that heavy half-century, promising to represent all eras of the Toronto rockers, from their proggy ‘70s work, to the “Tom Sawyer” years of the ‘80s, all the way through the band’s 2012 finale Clockwork Angels. While the original power trio may never grace the stage again, R50 are ready to catch the mist, the myth, the memory AND the drift. Continue reading »
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Mike Huguenor on June 9, 2021
A staple of the modern music industry, Record Store Day returns to the Bay this year with a raft of options for any self-respecting music lover. There’s rarities from Miles Davis and Richard Hell, a 1,000-copy yellow pressing the Lemonheads’ debut Hate Your Friends, and a complete reprinting of the early works of electronic musician Oneohtrix Point Never. A repress of Toots and the Maytals’ Funky Kingston is a must for any ska/reggae fan, but the real winner this year is standout single “Hi” by Texas ft. the Wu-Tang Clan, a moody gallop with Ghostface and RZA rapping double-time like it’s 1993.
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Mike Huguenor on June 9, 2021
With his massive 6-string bass, eyeball-assaulting outfits, and interstellar falsetto, Thundercat is a force to behold. One of the most distinctive bassists on the scene (any scene, really), Stephen Lee Bruner (aka Thundercat) played in thrash group Suicidal Tendencies, tours with modern jazz titan Kamasi Washington, and was a frequent collaborator with the late Mac Miller—but truly shines as a solo artist. He comes to outdoor festival Roaring Camp (where tickets sell by the pod) after a recent Grammy win for last year’s It Is What It Is, and is sure to get the forest feeling funky. Continue reading »
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Mike Huguenor on June 9, 2021
What do you think of when you hear the word ‘portrait?’ Someone’s face? A head-and-shoulders shot, like the Mona Lisa? Or is it something more personal: a depiction of someone’s skin and body? LA-based artist Amir H. Fallah thinks it is exactly none of these things. In his portraits, Fallah depicts obscured bodies of hooded faces, defined by their environments rather than their skin tone or facial features. In a free online event hosted by the Institute of Contemporary Art, Fallah discusses his work in the context of personal experience, veganism, allegory, film, and hip hop. Continue reading »
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Mike Huguenor on June 9, 2021
If you hear a collective sigh of relief at noon, that’s just the world tuning into San Jose Art Museum’s free “Art Fix Wednesday.” Weekly throughout the pandemic, SJMA docents have taken to the internet to discuss the museum’s many stunning works, like Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum’s broken-glass installation Drowning Sorrows, and Imin Yeh’s tiny film collage work “300 non-instagrams,” which emerged out of a residency with Recology. Lasting half an hour, and discussing two pieces at a time, Art Fix Wednesday will set your head right before you get back to the grind. Continue reading »
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Dan Mitchell on June 9, 2021
So many people have peed in cups over the past several decades that it eventually got to the point where this bizarre and undignified ritual came to be seen as normal. Even cannabis users sometimes say it’s “understandable” that companies test employees and prospective employees for drugs. After all, you wouldn’t want somebody to be stoned on the job.
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Mike Huguenor on June 4, 2021
Jazz vocalist Rebekah Victoria is done listening to her analyst. “He said I was the type that was most inclined, outside of his sight, to be out of my mind,” she sings on “Twisted,” the tongue-in-cheek cocktail-number from last year’s Songs of the Decades. Within about ten seconds she’s already moved on, countering his diagnosis with one of her own: “I knew I was a genius.” You know what? I like her attitude. Victoria brings her off-kilter take on vocal jazz online this Wednesday, with a free livestream concert performed at Art Boutiki. Self-identified geniuses welcome. Continue reading »
