Show Review: Wilco with Cibo Matto at The Greek Theater – UC Berkeley, 9/21/12

Guitar god Nels Cline, as photographed by Emily Anderson.

When The Whole Love was released late last year, I believe that anyone that heard it knew that it was a record that was screaming for a tour. Of course, when it came out, instead of doing a big road show, they opted to play midsize theaters, locking out only the folks with the fastest internet connections or the pockets deep enough to purchase from a scalper. It took almost a year for these guys to finally book a full fledged tour, playing these songs the way they should be played- outdoors, in front of thousands of people. I guess they needed to really get to know these songs before playing them on the big stages. The wait paid off.

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Spinning Platters Weekly Guide to Bay Area Concerts, 2/3/11-2/9/11

Cat Power!

You know what’s awesome about February? It’s one step closer to Noise Pop, Fauxchella, and SXSW. It may be a little slow, but there are plenty of reasons not to go to bed early this week.

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Noise Pop Show Review: The Ghost Of A Saber Toothed Tiger, If By Yes, Consortium Musicum at The Independent, 2/24/10

This show was, to some degree, the after party for the big  YOKO ONO PLASTIC ONO BAND on Tuesday night. It was just quite a bit later, but every member of the Plastic Ono Band was onstage, aside from the very famous lead singer. In fact, only one person appeared on stage tonight that didn’t appear at the previous evening’s show. It also consisted almost entirely of music that isn’t yet available in recorded form, which helped even out the familiarity playing field, but based on the turnout, it had little effect on ticket sales. It was a rare show that all in attendance came based on the reputations of the performers. Of course, when you have the son of a Beatle, leaders of two of the most innovative and influential acts ever to come out of japan, and the go-to girl for session violin of the alternative rock era, you’ve got a pretty set to work from.

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Noise Pop Show Review: Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band with Deerhoof at The Fox Oakland, 2/23/10

I have spent a lot of time defending different artists in my day. Usually this is because, well, my tastes are difficult to define, to say the least. (Case in point: two of my early reviews, which happened one right after the other were this and this) But, the one single artist that I come to the defense of more than any other is Yoko Ono. Everyone has an opinion about her, and generally speaking, this opinion is pretty negative. The primary cause of this is most likely either a.) they blame her for the break up of The Beatles (I still think that this was Linda’s fault) or b.) they blame her for the widespread acceptance of the avant garde. I personally don’t hold her responsible for either of these things. I also think people either don’t take her seriously enough, or take her far too seriously.

I must give a respectful shout-out to the good people of Noise Pop for making this show happen. They took a chance at booking such a divisive figure for their opening night show, and it paid off pretty nicely.

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