If there’s an unofficial theme that dominates this year’s Metro Fountain Blues Festival, it’s the power of the Chicago blues sound. And indeed, the Chicago sound did literally bring power to the blues, turning the acoustic Delta tradition up to 11 with amps and electric guitars. But to headliner Fountain Blues headliner…
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The Freq Out! series of art and music events prides itself on being a place for spontaneity and synchronicity, and South Bay artists Katie Raynes and Matt Lopez know perhaps better than anyone how true that can be. Raynes, now a San Jose State student, had been going to Freq Out! since…
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A few years ago, you couldn’t have done an Iron Bartender competition in the South Bay. Or rather, you could have, but few would have cared. Slowly, though, the mixology madness that swept New York, L.A. and San Francisco has changed the mindset of bartenders here, too.
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AARON CARNES on June 21, 2012
After a decade of refining their moody instrumental indie rock round, South Bay band Amonie are finally ready to release their debut record, Last Rites, which could mark the beginning of a whole new phase for them.
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AARON CARNES on June 19, 2012
For 34 years, the Puerto Rican festival, El Dia De San Juan, has brought traditional Puerto Rican foods, dance and music to San Jose. For music, that of course means salsa and meringue, but the folks behind the event didn’t want the festival to only feature traditional Puerto Rican music.
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AARON CARNES on May 30, 2012
Hawk Jones’ early recordings paired the unlikely combination of driving punk rock drumming and weird, finger-tapping guitar work, making them a difficult group to classify. Experimental-punk seemed like the best description. But with their new EP, Que Rico, the San Jose band headlining at the Caravan on Saturday shakes things up a…
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Aaron Carnes on May 23, 2012
It took years of hard work and gigging in the Bay Area before freak-metal outfit—and unlikely rock stars—Primus blew up in the ’90s. Spazzy, weirdo bass player/frontman Les Claypool started the band in the early ’80s with guitarist Todd Huth. In 1988, literally months before Primus released their first album, Suck on…
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Beau Dowling on May 22, 2012
Sometimes it’s difficult for a band to find their target audience. Rich Ajlouny and Anthony Gullicksen of San Jose’s Stock Foto found it in the place they least expected: Santana Row.
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San Jose rapper Antwon has been getting a lot of attention lately. In February, he released his video “Helicopter,” which has becoming the subject of many blogs. The video mixes footage from Steve McQueen’s 1968 car chase flick Bullitt with shots of Antwon and his crew wandering around train tracks, drinking malt…
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It’s not easy being the frontman of a Celtic punk band. Shane MacGowan of the Pogues was once so drunk he knocked himself out falling down in the middle of the street—and his teeth actually looked better afterward. Al Barr of the Dropkick Murphys is going to have to sing “I’m Shipping…
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