SF Sketchfest Review: Red Room Orchestra plays The Lost Boys at Great American Music Hall, 1/19/24

It is apparent as we arrive that The Lost Boys is a seminal coming-of-age film to more goths and their familiars than those —ahem — of a certain age. Though not sold out, The Great American is full of stylish vampires of all ages, my partner and myself included. The 1987 Schumacher Peter Pan/Anne Rice mashup maintains a certain cultural currency as evinced by a thirty year reunion back in 2019 featuring the full living cast.
Tonight features a more modest guest list — a fit Alex Winter and a near manic Timmy Capello, second-string vampire and scene-stealing shirtless saxman — the Red Room Orchestra lineup is fire. This is a blessing because when we dust off the Lost Boys Soundtrack CD, we find an abbreviated list of ten tracks representing not a post-punk goth masterpiece but a schizophrenic mash-up of late eighties pop distractions, from INXS regrettably twice-dipping into Aussie pub-rock, to late-career solo forays by Foreigner’s Lou Grahm and the Who’s Roger Daltrey, to the residual 50’s rock n’ roll hangover that plagued that decade. The unauthorized list containing all the film’s tracks is just as bewildering, including the Run DMC/Aerosmith hip-hop crossover, “Walk This Way.” We rightly remember the high points: Echo and the Bunnymen covering “People Are Strange,” Gerard McMann’s standout “Cry Little Sister,” and, of course, Tim Capello’s sweaty and inexplicable cover of Christian rock band The Fall’s “I Still Believe.” Continue reading “SF Sketchfest Review: Red Room Orchestra plays The Lost Boys at Great American Music Hall, 1/19/24”

A Nerd’s Guide To SF Sketchfest 2024

Whoa! This is my 12th Nerd’s Guide to SF Sketchfest! And after 14 long years (including two really, really long years not too long ago) of writing these, I can declare that SF Sketchfest has finally done it! They’ve booked the holy trinity of surreal sketch comedy! Eric Idle (of Monty Python fame), Kids In The Hall, and The State are all appearing! These three are the unifying forces that brought together both the stoners and the kids afraid of weed. AND I AM HERE FOR IT!  Honestly, this year’s SF Sketchfest, which I believe is the 21st edition of the event, is probably the most bonkers year yet. I have barely started to figure out what gigs I’m seeing… I need to write this almost for myself as much as for you, my loyal reader. 

A complete schedule and links to tickets can be found here

Thursday, January 18th Continue reading “A Nerd’s Guide To SF Sketchfest 2024”