Show Review: Javelin and Jamaican Queens at The New Parish, 5/5/2013

Javelin by Tim Soter

Lazy Sunday haze seeped through circumvallate pane. Showtime seemed everything but. Javelin and Jamaican Queens were scheduled to perform at eight. New Parish’s hallowed walls ached, hollered for bodies to enter its hollow hall. As the magic hour eclipsed, the static domain was a far cry from the neighboring Fox Theater, teeming with tacky teens. By 8:26, the promise of a show remained questionable as sparkling funsters trickled into the openness.

Nine — in a resounding, defiant, Deutschy “no” — finally bore revelry en masse.
Continue reading “Show Review: Javelin and Jamaican Queens at The New Parish, 5/5/2013”

Show Review: Maps and Atlases, Young Man, Cannons and Clouds at Rickshaw Stop, 4/26/2013

Maps and Atlases by Andrew Moore
All Photos by Andrew Moore

Everybody socialized with the reserved excitement of a freshman orientation. Fun was to be had, sure, but to what degree was the procession supposed to fall backwards in trust. Nobody had an answer in Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco’s nook of clamoring dynamite, for what to expect from Maps & Atlases and company. Neither the crowd’s collective facade nor the ampersand-heavy line-up insinuated flame for a powder keg; that was a misguided prejudgement. Continue reading “Show Review: Maps and Atlases, Young Man, Cannons and Clouds at Rickshaw Stop, 4/26/2013”

Show Review: The Revivalists, Great White Buffalo, Solwave at The Independent, 2/23/13

The Revivalists

Saturday night, San Francisco. An unexceptionally brisk evening stood to be made swampy from down home revelry. The Independent, Alamo Square’s intimate, inky chamber, stood to facilitate the subdued, sweet swelter. Everything happened so fast. One stride past the evening’s threshold and…

“How we doing?”

Boom! A swell of supersonic rock-and-roll erupted inside the belly of The Independent; the backdraft of bowling bass and erratic electricity swooped through the venue’s history-laced entranceway. Continue reading “Show Review: The Revivalists, Great White Buffalo, Solwave at The Independent, 2/23/13”

Sketchfest Review: 7-Man Sweater (2/5/2012)

7-Man Sweater
by Ameen Belbahri

Bob Odenkirk: a cult legend credited with championing and evolving a subversive, acclaimed comedy sentiment. Birthday Boys: a hyped collection of vastly witty, silly sods. Together they formed a rousing precession of jubilant, sophisticated sketches, closing Sketchfest with a bang — bang, scream, yell, “He’s got a gun!”, “My baby!”. You know, comedy. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: 7-Man Sweater (2/5/2012)”

Sketchfest Review: Will Franken/Drennon Davis (2/4/2012)

by Jakub Mosur/Leslie Winchester

San Francisco has a cloudy yet storied history of nurturing eclectic, eccentric geniuses. The tradition spans from Irwin Corey to Ron Lynch to Brent Weinbach and every sideways side-splitter in between. Many are unsung, underexposed and uncompromised: the inspiration for peers with wider appeal and fans with sharp hearts and heads. Festivals, artistic hodepodge, are optimal for such comedians, an extended focus for latest convolutions and tinkerings in front of fertile or familiar audiences. Will Franken and Drennon Davis, two locally brewed humorists of the aforementioned ilk, evoked the spirit of a sentient armchair: alarmingly absurd, wonderfully witty, warm and comfortable. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: Will Franken/Drennon Davis (2/4/2012)”

Spinning Platters Interview: Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim on “Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie”

Tim & Eric's Billion Dollar Movie

Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie is a play on precision and expectation. Ricocheting, hazy-vision precision, and constantly fragmenting expectation. The movie stars Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim as actors/directors facing unmitigated evil after wasting a billion dollars. Their solution: revitalize a mall. Such wonkiness is the epidermis of a diseased body containing awkward, obtuse, and hilariously horrible circumstances. Here is an interview elaborating on said horribleness. Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie is now available in theaters and VOD. Enjoy.  Continue reading “Spinning Platters Interview: Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim on “Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie””

Sketchfest Review: Killing My Lobster (2/1/2012)

Killing My Lobster

In the fast-paced, cutthroat, Wild West of Bay Area sketch, few are in league with enterprising comedy tycoon, Killing My Lobster. Barons and Baronesses of the Neo Internetdustrial Revolution, the troupe has made appealing regional satire a booming forte. Powered by live action and recorded skits, and coupled to A.J. Schroder Esq. and the duchess, Jill Bourque, the KML Express set across the Eureka prairie. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: Killing My Lobster (2/1/2012)”

Sketchfest Review: Mahan/Leon/Vermeire @ Eureka (1/25/2012)

Colin Mahan

SF Sketchfest has a brilliant ability to capture the Bay Area’s attention and imagination. Benefactors of this allotted spotlight are local artists, made bolder and louder by proper production value. In the case of Scott Vermeire, Harmon Leon and Colin Mahan, the added bells and whistles enhanced their rustic independence, demystifying each artist’s vision. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: Mahan/Leon/Vermeire @ Eureka (1/25/2012)”

Sketchfest Review: The Groundlings “The Black Version” (1/22/2012)

The Black Version by Tommy Lau
by Tommy Lau

Fact: The Eureka Theater hosts some of the best comedy in the in the world. Fact: The Groundlings are a legendary Los Angeles improv company with alumni including Will Ferrell, Kristen Wigg and more. Fact: “The Black Version” is not a racially specific interpretation of Beverly Winwood Presents: The Actor’s Showcase. Fact: San Francisco’s black population was 6.1% in 2010. Fact: The black population of The Black Version’s cast was 100%. Fact: Comedy is proven to be simultaneously colorful and colorblind. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: The Groundlings “The Black Version” (1/22/2012)”

Sketchfest Review: Beverly Winwood’s “The Actors Showcase” 1/22/2012

Jen Coolidge by Jakub Mosur
"Mrs. Fern Magnin" by Jakub Mosur

Dripping late from a brisk sprint through San Francisco’s saturated cloudiness, I stepped into an alternate reality. Everything looked copasetic: the expansive and brimming Eureka Theater with Phil LaMarr and Jordan Black beginning a scene. Not quite, the truth: the expansive and brimming Eureka Theater with Lewis J. Poole and Danger beginning a scene.

Polle and Danger are two African American actors separated by age but bonded by prior convictions and thespian rehabilitation. They were bad, objectively horrible, nightmarishly stiff and unflinchingly unaware. It was brilliant. Continue reading “Sketchfest Review: Beverly Winwood’s “The Actors Showcase” 1/22/2012″