Show Review: Phoebe Bridgers with Alex G at Chase Center, 10/28/26

Photo Credit: Wes Ellis / Instagram: @atwes

Chase Center opened its doors in September 2019, bringing the Golden State Warriors back to San Francisco after decades of playing across the bay at Oakland’s Oracle Arena. The privately financed, approximately $1.4 billion project took seven years of planning and development to become a reality. It was an ambitious undertaking, and not without controversy. Concerns about traffic, parking, emergency access, and the impact of a major entertainment venue on the surrounding Mission Bay neighborhood accompanied the project from its earliest days. Continue reading “Show Review: Phoebe Bridgers with Alex G at Chase Center, 10/28/26”

Film Review: “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York”

I happen to like this film / I happen to love this picture

Detective Warren (Giancarlo Esposito, l.) chats with his friend Harry (John Turturro). 

John Turturro, the recognizable and prolific character actor who’s been acting in film and television since 1980, finally gets a leading role worthy of his talents in The Only Living Pickpocket in New York. His performance in this moody, wistful, and captivating crime thriller may just nab him his first Oscar nomination. Continue reading “Film Review: “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York””

Single of the Week: “Ellipsis” by Juanita & Juan

Two legends of LA Punk, The Bags’ Alice Bag and The Cramps/Gun Club’s Kid Congo Powers, are prepping to drop their second album, and their emotionally charged, politically optimistic new single “Ellipsis” is a banger. Great song to cast your ballot early to. 

“Ellipsis” can be enjoyed here while we await more news from this great supergroup. 

Show Review: heavens to betsy, The Street Eaters, The Lilies at Bottom Of The Hill, 10/17/26

As regular readers know, my favorite band is Sleater-Kinney. I’ve probably seen them around 50 times at this point, and it never gets old. For folks who don’t know, Sleater-Kinney was originally a supergroup comprised of members of Excuse 17 and heavens to betsy. heavens to betsy are an important part of the story, and their sole full-length record, Calculated, as well as the These Monsters Are Real EP, have been a steady presence on my turntables, in my DiscMans, and on my portable digital music devices for the vast majority of my life. Continue reading “Show Review: heavens to betsy, The Street Eaters, The Lilies at Bottom Of The Hill, 10/17/26”

Show Review: DOMi and JD Beck at Nuemos, 10/5/26

Domi & JD Beck are singular.

A jazz duo consisting of keys and drums, DOMi and JD Beck fill a space musically that does not quite exist outside of them as an artistic unit. As more and more bands search for gimmicks that demand their audience dive a little bit deeper into the music to find sustenance. DOMi and JD require no costumes or theatrics to speak to their audience within a culture that often lacks an interest in complicated compositional weirdness. They’re hard to pigeonhole, and thank your deity of choice for that. Continue reading “Show Review: DOMi and JD Beck at Nuemos, 10/5/26”

Show Review: She & Him with Jordana at The Moore, 9/29/26

I’ve been listening to Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward’s She & Him since the release of their debut record in 2008, and I got to see them perform live once in 2010 at The Fifth Ave Theater in Seattle, WA. Their body of work includes 3 albums of originals, two Christmas albums, a covers album, and a Tribute to Brian Jones of The Beach Boys. I am drawn to She & Him for their songwriting, but since their last album of original material was released in 2013, I’ve been on the ropes about how vocal I can be about my fandom for them. Zooey and Ward are simply put two of my favorite songwriters of all time. I find myself listening to She & Him when things get bad, and I need to put something on that I know will make me feel better. I brought my son to see that She & Him concert at the 5th Ave when he was in grade school, and he grew up listening to them to the point where one of the first songs he ever had memorized was “Sentimental Heart,” and he grew up dancing to and asking to hear “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?” on repeat. They are a part of my life in a way that I can’t quantify in a concert review article, but it is important that you, as the reader of said article, know I am not a casual listener. Continue reading “Show Review: She & Him with Jordana at The Moore, 9/29/26”

Show Review: Robert Plant with Saving Grace and Suzi Dian at Orpheum Theater, 10/2/26

Back in 1991 or ’92, my mother took me to Costco. This was before everyone had become addicted to it and reliant on it for just about everything. Back then, they had introductory box sets of bands, and Led Zeppelin came in a big yellow box, with a zeppelin floating over what I remember as crop circles. It contained all of their albums in chronological order across four extra-long CDs—or maybe eight CDs? I can’t remember exactly, but there was a lot of music in that box. Continue reading “Show Review: Robert Plant with Saving Grace and Suzi Dian at Orpheum Theater, 10/2/26”

Film Review: “The Social Reckoning”

White, Madison worth watching in Sorkin’s engaging second Facebook story 

Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff (Jeremy Allen White) and Facebook engineer-turned-whistleblower Frances (Mikey Madison) examine some documents.

If you feel like you’re spending too much time on social media these days, go see The Social Reckoning. You’ll leave the theater wanting to delete your accounts immediately. Writer/director Aaron Sorkin, a filmmaker not exactly known for subtlety, gives us another absorbing power-to-the-people rebuke of people and institutions that have made us worse, not better, as a society.  Continue reading “Film Review: “The Social Reckoning””

Single of the Week: “Location” by Sampa The Great

What a tight little groove this song has. Built around what sounds like a classic Ethiopian Jazz sample, “Location” has a spooky, spy-movie feel that’s complemented by Sampa The Great’s fantastic, confident flow. Such a good song. 

“Location” is the latest single off Sampa’s upcoming album, Nu Zamrock, coming to you October 30th!