Results tagged “greatamericanmusichall”

As we walked down the steep, dungeon-like stairs at the back of the Great American Music Hall, the ceiling inched toward our heads with every step. By the end of the staircase it felt as if we were dropped off in the imaginary world of Alice and Wonderland. Instead of chasing the white rabbit, we quickly followed the tour manager through the twists and turns of the underground halls. While we never met up with a hookah-smoking caterpillar, we swear we saw a Mad Tea Party going on in one of the dressing rooms. As we passed the crowded room the singing, partying and vocal warm-ups rang through the air. (We have a feeling they weren't sipping tea.) While these different vocal warm-ups were simultaneously going on, I finally entered PlayRadioPlay!'s dressing room. As I sat down on the dirty couch next to the lead singer, Dan Hunter, he started excusing the singing tour members. "They're making fun of a guy that was previously on the tour - who's not anymore - by copying his extremely annoying vocal warm-ups." Now, we get it; it's not an actual tea party. It's just some crazy joke to pass the time in yet another dirty dressing room on a two-month tour around the country. It all makes sense.

Dun Hunter is not your average Texas teenager. He created his own band, PlayRadioPlay! and released his debut album, Texas just this month. (We featured PlayRadioPlay! as "Albums: Looking Forward to 2008" back at the beginning of the year.) He's being noticed and not just by us. Rolling Stone included PlayRadioPlay! as one of the "Artists to Watch: Seven Acts Who Are Defining Rock, Soul and Hip-Hop in 2008" - not bad for being only 18. We featured PlayRadioPlay! on New Tunes Tuesday after we had listened to his EP, The Frequency. We called him the, "kid brother of The Postal Service" with "catchy, inventive and youthful" songs.

Sfist interviews Yoni Wolf of Why?

If you're like us you spend every Friday afternoon glued to DJ Ted Leibowitz and the Bagel Radio Friday Live Show. If you aren't like us, you should be - it's the best rock radio show around. Ted has been a huge part of the indie rock world here in San Francisco for quite some time, he's a friend of SFist, and his wonderful Web radio show has been a huge boost to any number of local up-and-coming acts (we're thinking right now of Birdmonster and the Heavenly States, but the list could go on for quite some time). Ted is the DJ that we wish was on commercial radio - the guy who not only knows everything about music, but has a deep and abiding love for San Francisco music. Heck, he even got married at the Great American Music Hall.

Shit. It's Valentine's Day this Thursday and by the looks of it most of you have already planned your perfect date. Three shows are already completely sold-out: The Kills at Rickshaw Stop, Slightly Stoopid at The Independent and Common at Mezzanine. While there are still several shows you can chance Thursday night, it might be wise to stay home and wait till the weekend to take your crush out. We are.

The Coachella 2008 line-up was announced last night. The reason you didn't hear anything about it was because they announced it in Mexico City, something to do with creating international ties. “This is really a way for us to get closer to our fans throughout Latin America who have been supportive of Coachella for the past 10 years,” says Goldenvoice’s Paul Tollett. Super; we just care about the line-up.

Goes from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. at Deco Lounge; $5.

-- The Gold Rush (1925): The Tramp makes his stamp here (via playing with his food) as one of America's most beloved comedic characters of the silent era. Screens tonight at 8:45 p.m. at the Castro Theatre; $6-9.

Kids, it's time to get rocking. (Especially before the "Private Party" dry spell that is coming on. Yikes.) This week, the San Francisco music gods are offering a vast array of newbies and veterans - something that we will graciously partake of any day of the week. Now that the bets are in (okay, so no one really cast any bets - how boring is that?), you can go to Cafe du Nord, tonight,...

SFist interviews Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes.

Nice package.

November 2004 - September 2007

Let's make this short and sweet: Sara Bareilles is incredible. Not only do we love her rich yet effortless voice, but her clever music is indeed what pop music needs right now. We don't need another bubble-gum star who masks their voice through electronic mechanisms, or wears little or no clothes while shaking their ass on MTV (Not that we don't appreciate an ass shaking -- we just don't need another one.) See, Bareilles can actually sing (and she's pretty damn good at it too) and she plays the piano to boot. This singer/songwriter has found her niche in the music world and her fans love her (as was proof with her sell-out engagement at Great American Music Hall on Friday night.) Bareilles was so surprised by the amount of enthusiastic fans -- at one point the crowd sang an entire chorus of her recent hit, "Love Song," -- she said, "I can't believe this. This has never happened to me before. This is incredible." Incredible it was. Not because of us, but because of her.

Sara Bareilles (Bar - rell - is) -- summer's hottest, as they say, new singer/songwriter -- has gained a broad fan base throughout the U.S. via her extensive touring and #1 selling album, Little Voice, on iTunes, resulting in an impressive debut on Billboard's Top 200 Album Chart at #45. Praised by critics for its depth and honesty, even Rolling Stone raved "Bareilles' writing voice is uniquely her own." Luckily, we were introduced to Bareilles while covering Aqualung (for our neighbor site, Phillyist) earlier this year at World Cafe Live. We were so impressed with her singing ability, stage presence, and songwriting, we just had to get in touch with her to learn her secrets and get to know her a bit better.

-- "Kim Nalley Sings Nina Simone": Local legend/songstress pays tribute to Dr. Nina Simone's brilliance, goddamn. Nalley blesses us with two sets at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. at Jazz at Pearl's; $15, $20.

-- "Trans Am": Hipsters, gipsters, and then some keep coming back to this "rock 'n' roll disco faggotry" night. And it's easy to see why with drag alternatif acts from Dizzy and No-See-Um ("Charlie Horse" regulars), plus a live set from the Blacks. Starts at 10 p.m. at Eight (Christy Turlington's old venue, Up & Down Club!!), 1151 Folsom. $TBD.

SFist reviews Band of Horses at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco

SFist gives away tickets and album for Voxtrot at Great American Music Hall on 5/30/07

Here's what on tonight around the city - assuming you survive the Zombie Mob Invasion...

SFist ticket contest to hear Jello Biafra at Great American Music Hall

Here's todays wrap up of the news

SFist interviews Eric Allen, bass player for the Apples in Stereo

Ah yes, the weekend. Finally! It's been a hectic week-- earthquakes, landslides, the whole Kenneth Eng fiasco, those purple latex gloves-- where will it all end? We don't know but we could sure use a drink and a good old fashioned shindig-- too bad that most of the Noise Pop shows have sold out. We've put together a list of runner-ups for the weekend in the city. Sure, its not Ted Leo, Cake or The Donnas, but you can get just as drunk for half the price. Here's a rundown of the haps:

SFist re-runs an interview with John Vanderslice. He's playing at Noise Pop tonight.

SFist interviews Jason Quever of local band the Papercuts

Light - Castro Tree Lighting at Harvey Milk Plaza. (Market @ Castro) Festivities include performances by the SF Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, the GLAM Youth Choir, the SF Gay Men's Chorus and the Lesbian/Gay Chorus of SF! Celebrity appearances by Supervisor Bevan Dufty, Assemblyman Mark Leno, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and more. (6:30 - 7:30pm)

There's a lot of tastiness going on tonight on both sides of the bay.

When not performing Skinnerian experiments on us with the ever-increasing supply, yet less-than-expected demand for FasTrak lanes that makes weekend drives over the Bay Bridge look worse than rush hour, CalTrans is engaging in further operant conditioning by closing the Bay Bridge eastbound lanes over Labor Day Weekend.