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Jay Edgar on February 9, 2022
Hailing from Washington, DC, and now residing in San Diego, Luke Andy draws on the influences of underground hip hop, Brazilian bass and tech house to create slick, fun, high-tempo dance music that has turned up clubs and festivals across the country. After years of making waves in the underground tech house scene, Luke has recently broken through into more mainstream circles, including a takeover on EDM powerhouse Diplo’s SiriusXM station last year. Now he’s bringing his groovy basslines to San Jose’s Lvl 44, and making sure the club goes up on a Thursday.
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Addie Mahmassani on February 9, 2022
Martha Redbone is a gem of an artist, multifaceted and rare. Honoring her ancestral roots in the Cherokee and Choctaw peoples of Appalachia and the Black community of the American South, the Afro-Indigenous singer has enthralled audiences with her innovative sound since her early 2000s breakthrough. With an eye (and ear) toward social justice, Redbone fuses gospel and soul traditions with mountain-inspired folk and Native percussion. The chance to hear a William Blake poem sung to bluesy guitars and Indigenous rhythms doesn’t come around often; it’s possible with the Martha Redbone Roots Project at Bing Studio this Friday.
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by
Mighty Mike McGee on February 2, 2022
Writers are often told to pluck fiction from the world around them. Danielle Valore Evans is grabbing whole handfuls of America as we know it today.
In her second collection of short fiction, The Office of Historical Corrections, Evans’s characters have more than enough shading to lift off the page. In the story “Anything Could Disappear,” Vera rides a Greyhound to New York City seeking a new life. However, she leaves the bus with more than her carry-on, making a life-changing choice few would understand. Yet, somehow the reader still deeply roots for her.
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Elliott Sky Case on February 2, 2022
“The murder is really kind of incidental,” says Doll Piccotto. “You’ve got a body, and then there’s just a puzzle around it.”
As a director, dramaturge and certified mystery fanatic, Piccotto has a keen understanding of the era- and genre-transcending appeal of Agatha Christie. City Lights Theater’s production of Christie’s The Hollow, based on her novel of the same name, opens under Piccotto’s direction this Friday.
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Elliott Sky Case on February 2, 2022
Detroit-born playwright Dominique Morisseau has not only earned two OBIE Awards and a MacArthur Genius Grant for her portrayals of Black lives in the city she calls home, her credits also include the book for Temptations jukebox musical Ain’t Too Proud and a co-production on the TV series Shameless. Mountain View’s Pear Theatre presents a run of Morisseau’s 2013 drama Sunset Baby, which follows a former “legendary” Black activist’s attempt to build a relationship with his estranged daughter after the death of his wife. Sunset Baby runs parallel with Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop, both directed by Sinjin Jones.
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Jay Edgar on February 2, 2022
In the overcast, yearning early days of February, there isn’t a much better style of music to fit the mood than shoegaze. While the fuzzy distorted guitar and distant lovelorn vocals of pioneer bands like My Bloody Valentine and The Veldt began in the ‘90s, SJ indie rockers Chilindrina keep the melancholy dream alive. Their 2020 EP Palo Santo is a wall of sound in the best way, overpowering the listener to transport them to another, more ethereal plane of existence. They’re bringing so many distortion pedals to the Art Boutiki this Saturday, the sad and hip alike should take note.
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Grace Stetson on February 2, 2022
The South Bay Guitar Society starts its 2022 season with a bang, hosting just the right classical virtuoso guitarist for the job in Johan Smith. The Geneva-based guitarist is the 2019 winner of the Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artist competition, and was also hailed in 2017 as the year’s “Classical Guitar Revelation” by French magazine Guitare Classique. Yet, that’s not all he has to offer—outside of the classical riffs, he’s also the founder, composer and performer in the Swiss technical/death metal band Stortregn.
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Beibei Xu on February 2, 2022
Lunar New Year—also known as Chinese Chunjie, Vietnamese Tet, Korean Solnal, Tibetan Losar as well as Spring Festival—is an Asian tradition commemorated around the globe and here in San Jose. At downtown’s Museum of Art, the Year of the Tiger will be welcomed by live performances from breathtaking Korean dance artist KCC Urisawe and the acrobatic Rising Phoenix Lion Dance Association. Museum access is free for the day, giving visitors a chance to take in exhibitions like Hito Steyerl’s mesmerizing Factory of the Sun. Online visual art-making tutorials kick off at noon.
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Jay Edgar on February 2, 2022
Best known for his memorable turn on the gone-but-not-forgotten SNL competitor MadTV, where he debuted memorable characters such as “Real ****ing Talk” host Dollar Bill Montgomery, Aries Spears has since built his reputation as an inveterate road comic. Spears has been bringing his wickedly funny impressions, punchy crowd work and playful observations about race to clubs across the country for decades, and still has plenty of red meat for nostalgic fans of his terrific impressions of the likes of Michael Jackson, Shaquille O’Neal and Mike Tyson.
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Grace Stetson on February 2, 2022
Before she goes to Broadway this March in a historic move—the first Black woman to direct and choreograph a Broadway show in 65 years—Camille A Brown comes to San Jose. This weekend, the New York based choreographer and troupe showcase her unique and innovative style at the Hammer Theatre Center. Brown’s career has spanned over a decade, with her talents coming to light on Broadway stages, NBC primetime specials and at universities across the country. As a dancer and a speaker, she’s also shared her insights at four separate TEDx conferences.
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