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Mike Huguenor on October 20, 2021
San Jose and video games go together like HP and MP. At LVL Up this Saturday, all manner of games and gaming paraphernalia will be on sale for the massive Game Swap Night Market. Here, gamers can pick up classic carts like Ninja Gaiden and Altered Beast, peruse some recent gaming phenoms…
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Kyle Martin on September 1, 2021
This weekend, giggin’ is the norm and rap is the form, as two Bay Area heavy hitters—Mac Mall from the V and Frisco’s own San Quinn—drop into San Jose’s LVL Up for a one-night only First Friday show. Whether a real hip hop head or just a music lover looking for a…
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Sometimes you just can’t choose between seeing live music and live comedy, and there’s a long line of performers that can fill that niche—though “niche” is often exactly how to describe those acts. Morgan Jay is different, striving to be a musical comedian for people who usually don’t like musical comedy. Armed…
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Mike Huguenor on August 18, 2021
As he famously declared in “93 Til Infinity:” “A-Plus is famous.” And though it’s Opio who kicks off that track, its Plus’ verse that knocks it into the stratosphere. The founding Souls of Mischief rapper and longtime Hieroglyphics member always finds a way to turn up the heat when he hops on…
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Kyle Martin on August 11, 2021
Southeast Stockton’s Young Slo-Be will have the 408 streets turning up on Saturday for the release of his new album Slo-Be Bryant 3 at San Jose’s LvL Up Arcade. The third entry in Slo’s trap mixtape series, Bryant 3 is the latest exciting release to come out of Stockton’s poppin’ young hip…
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Mike Huguenor on August 4, 2021
South Bay hip hop has never gotten its proper due. Since at least 1990, when MC Twist dropped gangsta boom bap banger Bad Influence, the 408 has given birth to a diverse range of underappreciated MCs and producers, from hyphy pioneer Traxamillion, to Latinx g-funk group Chicano Conspiracy. This Saturday, LVL Up…
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Elliott Sky Case on July 28, 2021
It’s loud, it’s vibrant, it’s picking up speed—it’s CUMBIATRON, the finest cumbia dance party on the West Coast! DJs Don-D, Geronimo Selector, Jalinche and Dog Plasma tour their freaky, funky, untraditional Latin club mixes up and down California, and this night features ESSJ’s own Philthy Dronez. Mr. Philthy is a livewire on…
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Mike Huguenor on June 23, 2021
Like the unstoppable bass drum of D-Beat, The Ritz’s long-running Punk Rock Flea Market returns to downtown right on time. Though this year’s event takes place on the patio space at the nearby LVL Up, it still comes with merch, music, clothing, and plenty more for today’s discerning punk. To ring in…
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Jay Edgar on June 23, 2021
As the pandemic hopefully enters our rear view mirror, now is the perfect time to heal from a traumatic year through the universal values of Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect. Electronic music collective The Smile High Club has the South Bay covered with a whole day of future funk and house in…
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Mike Huguenor on June 23, 2021
Chey Bell’s jokes land with deadly precision. “If you see any Black people in Napa, they are in the witness protection program,” she cracks in a bit titled “All White Town.” With an energetic stage presence honed from sets at The Comedy Store and NY Comedy Club, the bisexual comedienne riffs on…
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