- Mix Tape
Program: Each month KQED Interactive comes up with a list of ten songs that are keeping our toes tapping and our fingers happily dancing over our keyboards.
- Radio Eclectico -- May 2009
Episode: Remembering the vanilla alternative music scene I grew up with prompted the theme of this month's Mix Tape. Let's celebrate this explosively creative and wide-ranging musical era we're living in, shall we?
- Cluster -- on CD and on tour
Episode: Revivalism is an essential component of creating a cultural body of work that spans generations. In the arts, originality is usually crowned king, but reviving and celebrating previous artists might be just as important.
- Jesse Ball: Samedi the Deafness
Episode: As a child, I learned to conceal my love of fantasy. Reading it was apparently a geeky pastime, and other kids didn't seem to share my enthusiasm for talking animals and magical forests. These days, it's a very different story, with pop culture tropes like cute robots and unicorns, artists like Bjork, and a slew of mainstream movie adaptations following in the vastly successful footsteps of Lord of the Rings.
- Modeselektor: Happy Birthday!
Episode: I think it was the sudden proliferation of musical genres that ended in "?core" that led to my sudden mental retreat from classifying new artists and music by genre. If the system of taxonomy was going to get so discriminating as to only have ten bands per subgroup, I was pretty sure I didn't want to memorize all those categories. But one that stuck with me was the term IDM, or Intelligent Dance Music.
- The Films of Emile de Antonio
Episode: As home to a thriving community of documentary filmmakers, the Bay Area is ideally situated for a revival of the work of Emile de Antonio, a towering figure in the field who brought a new level of artistry to compilation filmmaking with his classic Point of Order. This reworking of the Army-McCarthy Hearings of 1954 kicks off the film series, which runs through February 28, 2008 at the Phyllis Wattis Theater at SFMOMA.
- SuperDeluxe
Episode: In the recent dumbing down of comedy, the Internet has a lot to answer for. IM -- the epistolary equivalent of a drugstore impulse buy -- has hastened the process of simplifying the comedic impulse to a few iconic images and phrases exchanged liberally among friends. Stuff on people's cats. Stupid people. And the pinnacle in mind-numbing inanity, YTMND sites.
- Bat for Lashes: Fur and Gold
Episode: When you first hear the music of Bat For Lashes, you may think you've heard it before ... somewhere. There's something uncanny about many of the songs, with their soaring vocals and pensive melodies -- they sound familiar, perhaps from childhood, perhaps from even earlier. Going far beyond simple nostalgia, Bat For Lashes' debut album Fur and Gold plunges us into a dreamscape filled with elements of our own subconscious.
- Mr. Fujiyama's Electric Beach
Episode: After seeing a staged reading of Mr. Fujiyama's Electric Beach on Saturday, I still have no idea who Mr. Fujiyama is, or how he created his electric beach. In fact, there was absolutely no mention of Mr. Fujiyama, a beach, or even electricity for that matter. But I can't wait to find out the answers -- or if there will be any answers -- when the play premieres next February, with a full production by Cutting Ball Theater. The work-in-progress reading that is part of the 30th annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival was enough to get me fired up about the possibilities of Kevin Oakes' latest work.
- Edward S. Curtis: The North American Indian
Episode: As the author of The North American Indian, a 20-volume work documenting the history and traditions of many Native American tribes across the United States and certainly the most comprehensive resource on Native Americans at the time of its publication, Edward S. Curtis might have been remembered as a historian and anthropologist. In many instances, his accounts of tribal leaders and customs are the only known written records available. But a visit to the Monterey Museum of Art's current exhibit of photographs from Curtis' mammoth work illustrates why he is primarily remembered as a photographer rather than a historian, and remains situated firmly in the art world.
- In the Rough: Boom
Episode: Going to see a play can be a small, well-rehearsed miracle. Lighting magically matches every scene, surroundings take on a metaphorical relationship to the characters' inner lives, and every word uttered is expressive and articulated. But, you might be wondering, where does the play come from? Whose fevered imagination did it spring from, and how did it go from their head to the stage? I got a chance to see the process in action at a reading of Peter Sinn Nachtrieb's Boom. The play isn't fully finished but will be soon -- with a little help. That help arrives in the form of the Playwrights Foundation and their In The Rough reading series, and from the feedback given by audiences at readings in Palo Alto and San Francisco. I was at the San Francisco reading of Boom held at A Traveling Jewish Theatre.
- Peter Bjorn and John at Bimbo's
Episode: While death metal and indie rock have both gained a strong following among its people, Sweden is primarily on the music map for its pop stars. From mega-super pop stars on crack ABBA to Top Gun-soundtrack-spawn Roxette to alternative-bubble-gum-popsters The Cardigans, Sweden has produced massively and internationally successful pop acts. Now, Peter Bjorn and John carry on the tradition with stylish yet awkward indie pop that translates brilliantly in their live show. Currently on tour to support their recent release Writer's Block, Peter Bjorn and John stopped in at Bimbo's 365 Club in North Beach with happy beat-thing makers Fujiya & Miyagi lending able support.
- Thursday Night Music
Episode: Breaking up the week with a live show can enliven the mind and the spirits, and there's plenty of great li'l venues like Cafe du Nord and El Rio that offer the opportunity to hear some of the excellent bands that populate the local scene. For a measly $8, I got to hear Cult of Sue Todd, The Red Thread, and Pidgeon, three bands with distinctly different sounds but great energy.
- Terror! Conspiracy! Hoax!
Episode: The Great Boston Lite Brite Terror Hoax of 2007 made waves throughout much of the mainstream media, the Boston Police department, and many an Internet watering hole, as the entire city was shut down by a marketing campaign on behalf of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, a mildly entertaining show (come on, Robot Chicken is SO much better) on the Cartoon Network. Meanwhile, CNN made a recent reporting blunder that received little to no coverage except online, but also illustrates, not precisely a gap, but rather a yawning maw that separates old media from new.
- Red Books
Episode: Pacific Union College (PUC) is a four-year liberal arts college located in Angwin, a small town nestled deep within the gorgeous greenery of Napa County. It is also a Seventh Day Adventist campus, which, according to their website, "offers an excellent Christ-centered education." As it turns out, PUC also offers the opportunity to share in the experience of a religious community examining its history and roots in Red Books, a deeply moving and expertly executed theatrical treatment of the life and impact of Ellen G. White, a key founder of the Seventh Day Adventist Church and also founder of the school.
- Noise Pop: Hella
Episode: Every year, avid local show goers eagerly look forward to seeing what Noise Pop, the annual SF music festival celebrating the best in indie music, will offer. They know to expect a wide-ranging well-picked and inclusive lineup of many local favorites, and with each year that passes, much much more. This year's 15th anniversary festival not only provided a comprehensive lineup of music acts, but also featured art exhibits, film and comedy as well.
- Bay One Acts Festival
Episode: "Local community theater" is a term that can evoke terror in the hearts of many -- or at least in mine. I've had to see friends take on material ranging from Anne of Green Gables to Fiddler on the Roof. Schmaltzy material seems to get a lot of play in local theater -- perhaps it's the only way to be financially viable in family-oriented communities. Luckily, local theater in the Bay Area takes on a whole different meaning, often bringing innovative and expert staging to challenging content. Three Wise Monkey's Bay One Acts Festival is an opportunity to see what a range of local theater companies are doing without having to see each one on a different night. Each play is written, directed and acted by local Bay Area talent. I saw Program One -- the comedies -- but this week will feature dramas, followed by a week of plays with a twist.
- Big Death & Little Death
Episode: In 1991, I was thirteen and my angsty youth was picking up steam. I was busy learning from people like Christina Rossetti, Edward Gorey and Tim Burton that morbidity and whimsy often come hand in hand, and an obsession with death can be charming and fun. Of course, I was also wearing black leggings with whatever thick knit sweater in my closet was closest to black -- electric blue as it turned out -- and a very large, perm-like mane, restrained into the occasional side ponytail. While the monochromatic color scheme and Victorian references are absent, the leggings and hairstyles of the very early nineties are not, as trauma and death are offered up -- with a healthy dose of cuteness -- in Crowded Fire's Big Death & Little Death, which runs through March 4, 2007 at the Traveling Jewish Theatre.
