Stevil’s KUSF Page

I caught the student showcase at the Flying Actor Studio last Saturday night (2-20-10) and it was a gas - I mean, fun and entertaining.  It was presented in two parts, the first part was a group piece that gradually broke off into smaller pieces, and the second part was all individual works by the actors/students.  There was never a dull moment in this one and a half hour show which included singing, acrobatics, dance/movement, comedy sketches and a plethora of characters and scenarios.  I highly recommend checking out future events and, if you’re interested in acting or performing, look into taking classes there.  Below is a list of the instructors and the students and their pieces:

Flying Actor Studio 

Head Teachers/Performers: James Donlon & Leonard Pitt 

Coicoi Duncan-Page: Intro/right Boob/Robot dream/Shoulder kiss/Fight scene

Joan Howard: Intro/left Boob/Mask-male/Fight scene

Kurt Bodden: Punctuation guy/Fly/Rubber man-chair falling

Karen Light: The Tempest-King Lear

Nikolas Strobbe: Super Hero dream/Shoulder Kiss

Eduardo Vildasol: Spider dream

Molly Shaiken: Pink Corner German dream/Abstract Chair Clown Nose

Audrey Spinazola: Hurricane dream/ACDC ukelele love song/Ukelele sweet song

Jill Vice: Waitress/ACDC ukelele sex song

Eeyore Duncan-Page: The Tempest-King Lear/Clown nose musical discovery

Alec Jones-Trujillo: Abstract Chair Clown Nose/Strange man & chair/Sandwich end

Edna Barrón: Intro-Mother Earth/Hillary Like

I had the pleasure of seeing the Dickies on Thursday, April 9, 2009 at the Red Devil Lounge.  Before the show, I said to Chris Cook, Ezra and Deanna, “This show will either be really great or it was suck ass.”  I am happy to report that it was really great.

The Dickies came out and rocked one right after another, the musicianship was tight and the songs were fun.  The singer, Leonard Graves Phillips, was snotty, clever and funny as hell.  He kept saying that he was so happy to be back in San Leandro.

There were props for a lot of the songs including a monkey mask, a penis hand puppet (with scrotum) and an inflatable doll.  Needless to say, the floorshow was quite entertaining.  But I will say this, without the props and without the jokes, it still would have been a great show.  The musicians were “spot on” and the vocals were fantastic.  Leonard’s voice is exactly the same as it was 25+ years ago.  Very cool, man.

The opening act was The Pleasure Kills, a local SF band that I have wanted to see for a while.  They were great.  They came out, they played a few catchy garage-punk tunes and split.  They seemed to be having a great time.  There was even a brief moment of moshing wherein a beer was splattered on the floor and the pint glass shattered.  Spattered and shattered.

Squeezed in between the above mentioned bands was the B-Cups.  They were fun fun fun.  The singer is an Amazon goddess that I would love to wrestle with.  But enough about me, check ‘em out, they rock.

I’d say if you get a chance to see the Dickies, and you’re familiar with their music, you should go.  They played all my favs Gigantor, If Stuart Could Talk, Paranoid, Knights in White Satin, and much more.

Photos by my friend Ezra Ekman (http://www.ezraphoto.com).

I saw a cool “stoner” rock show at the Café du Nord on Saturday March 28, 2009.  It was Earthless, The Wooden Shjips and Eyes.  It was a chilly night and the club was packed, but the music delivered the one-two-three punch.

Eyes was the opener and they were pretty interesting.  There was a certain “psychedelic” undertone to the music, with all the effected vocals and mix of keyboards, guitar and saxophone.  The drummer, by the way, was excellent.  The only complaint I had was that the keyboards were too loud along side the other instruments.  The band features members of The Finches and The Roots of Orchis.

Sandwiched between Eyes and Earthless was San Francisco’s (and KUSF’s darlings) The Wooden Shjips.  They dimmed the lights in the club and tore out with some heavy jams, and they did not disappoint.  Their music was tight and they grooved non-stop for what felt like an hour, one right after another.  It was a circus of sound that kept us all plugged in.  The audience was captivated and so was I.

Last but certainly not least, the headliner – Earthless from San Diego – came on and rocked (and I mean ROCKED) till the end of the night.  They maneuvered in and out of free form jams to calculated grooves like the best surfers riding the biggest waves (silly analogy, I know).  It was heavy, loud and traveled quite extensively throughout the internal landscape.  The bass player was super-duper consistent and the drummer was slammin’ as he seemed to program all the changes.  The guitar player wailed, and then wailed some more.  When it was over, we all knew that it was over.

After my friends and I left the club, we were all pretty fried.  I think two bands of that ilk would have been sufficient.  But as far as I can tell, I’m still here.

Photos by my friend Ezra Ekman (http://www.ezraphoto.com)

I saw Medeski, Martin & Wood last night at the Fillmore. It was a great and funny show. Great because they are talented musicians with a lot of creativity and diversity. Funny because the audience - primarily Dead-Head hippie types - just wanted to do their funky, hippie acid dances and when the band did their more minimal, experimental music, they - the hippie types, that is - sort of stood around looking confused. Many of them would talk to each other (loudly) during those moments and missed out on some the best parts. When I got home from the show, my throat hurt from all the pot smoke. People were brazenly smoking weed like cigarettes all over the dance floor. Oh well, it’s all good, as they say (but do they mean it?).

Last night I saw a “surf” rockin’ show at the Rickshaw Stop (a small, cool place to see a show in SF).  The opening band was the Going Going Gone Girls, featuring Klaus Flouride from the Dead Kennedys on guitar.  They were fun, silly and sloppy - great outfits on the ladies!

Next on the bill was Pollo Del Mar, a local SF surf rock band that kicked some serious surf rockin’ ass.  The guitar players were great, the drummer was amazing and the bass player was good too.  They did a great Zappa cover and a super dooper cover of the Dead Kennedys “Moon Over Marin” (for Klaus, of course).

The headliner was Laika & the Cosmonauts from freakin’ Finland and they were cool.  I’ve been wanting to see them for quite some time, and it’s a good thing I went to this show because this was their final tour.  That’s right, they are breaking up after 21 years. 

I enjoyed Laika & the Cosmonauts, but by midnight I had to split.  Great show, daddy-o.

Oh man, I saw Laibach last night at the Independent and they were really cool. I actually didn’t know what to expect since I am mostly familiar with their cover albums (Sympathy for the Devil and Let it Be), but they were an industrial, political and visual spectacle. The main guy - Eben - has a certain amount of charisma and he definitely rules the stage. The drummer and synthesizer players are more of a backing band, and the female singers perform in the forefront.

The music was bass heavy, but it became harder, faster and danceable more toward the end. In fact, I would say that the show had three parts to it: Intro, which was melodic, political songs; the middle, which was industrial initiation; and the last part, which was hardcore industrial that grew into a frenzy of gyrating bodies. I was not far from the stage in the middle, so I experienced the frenzy first hand (in the soup, you might say).

I would definitely see them again. Also, the audience was a collection of misfits - like myself - that shared a common interest in whacked out industrial. Dig.

I saw Mr. Stan Ridgway last night at the Great American Music Hall in foggy San Francisco.  He was the front man of Wall of Voodoo in the 1980s, and he performed a great many songs from that era.  And you know something, it was good.  I mean, I like some of his solo stuff and I dug WOV when I was a kid, but Stan Ridgway is a superb performer and he really put himself out there. 

The opening act was the fabulous Penelope Houston and she is always wonderful to see live.  I am going to see her in her other band, the Avengers, on July 26th at the Fillmore.  Penelope looks great and is writing great songs after all these years (unlike Jello Biafra).  I bought her new CD and had the opportunity to see her up close - but I was too shy to chat with her. 

All and all it was a good show.  The crowd was cool too.  Now I have to go to work and I’m really tired.  Poor Stevil. 

I just got home from a surreal and crazy show at the Hemlock Tavern in SF.  The opener was 60 Watt Kid, and I have never seen them, or heard them - but they are apparently from SF.  It was some weird, hallucinogenic drugged out shit.  I don’t know how to describe it, except that you just have to see it to experience the freakiness of it.  It was just two dudes and they made tripped out music and did freaky, neurotic dances and movements; weird, but good weird.

Next was a video artist/poet named Bryan Lewis Saunders.  His act was completely messed up and bordered on psychotic.  He tells stories with his poems and videos, but it’s not happy Hollywood types of stories, it’s intense and hard reality tales of tortured animals, prison life and asphyxiation thrill seekers.  It was some thought provoking, wake-up-calling and psycho-analysis-needing perspectives on the world; also weird, but not necessarily good weird.  Intense.

The next act was Captain Ahab.  Now that was something completely different.  I have seen this act before and knew what to expect:  Pre-recorded music played from a computer with mixers, a dude on vocals and another dude dancing in his underwear.  It was the audience that was different this time.  They were so into the act.  Many of the men in the audience took off their shirts and danced like crazy to the tunes.  There was at least one guy on ecstasy (perhaps more).  It was mayhem from start to finish.

After that, I couldn’t stay for the last act, Battlehooch.  Sorry Battlehooch, I was too fried from the opening acts to make it through one more.  I’ll catch you next time. 

I just got back from a fun show at the Rickshaw Stop in SF.  It was a “Prom Night” theme tonight and the Devilettes were performing.  I saw them once before, but I don’t recall them being so freakin’ hilarious.  Their dance moves are so silly and their facial expressions are so animated.  It was a blast to watch them.

The Barbary Coasters played at about 10:30 and they were really great.  I’ve listened to their records, but I’ve never had the opportunity to see them live until tonight.  I thought they were the best band on the stage.  The singer looks really familiar to me, I think I’ve met her before or seen her somewhere - oh well, it doesn’t matter.  They were really cool with their ventures-style guitars and 1950’s song lyrics. 

The next band to come on was the Ship Disturbers.  They were okay - a cover band doing 60’s soul music.  It was good background for the Devilettes. 

The Struts played last and they were good - but I wasn’t all that into them.  I like their 7″ that came out last year (?), but I didn’t really care much for their live show.  Sorry.  Maybe I was just tired by the time they came on.  I’ll have to see them again, perhaps.

I went and saw Jeremy Enigk last night, June 11, 2008 at the Cafe du Nord and it was much better than I expected.  I guess I didn’t really know what to expect because I had heard some rumors that he had found religion or something of that sort.  Well, he was quite the entertainer.  His guitar style is sort of classical and his voice is quite different than most singers - a mix of like Rod Stewart, John Lennon and Baby Huie (or some cartoon character - I don’t mean that as an insult, it’s actually very intense).  He also played piano on a few songs and he impressed me as a fairly accomplished pianist.  All and all it was a cool show, though I didn’t really dig a lot of his newer songs and I also didn’t really dig the audience (of course, I was one of them).  That is all.