archive ten

January 3rd, The Phantom Limbs, Point Line Plane, and The Holy Kiss at the Bottom of the Hill... Review by KsKelly...

Did ya ever want to just slit your throat and get it over with? This is how I am going to feel for a long time until I can recover from the shock of not seeing The Phantom Limbs on a regular basis from now on. The show at Bottom of the Hill was excellent, bittersweet, heartfelt. The rumors were flying fast beforehand, so many night crawling denizens came out to see what the excitement was about; many unfamiliar faces, lotsa kids for the all ages show, and some friends that I never expected to see at all. I think they satisfied their curiosity and if you didn't go to this show it's too late for you, bub. Unless you see them at Gilman Street in February, it will be a long time before they play again and we are culturally bereft for it. The first band, Point Line Plane, was interesting (actually the first band was The Holy Kiss who I thought they were great, but KsKelly wasn't too into. - Sam - ), and more than adequate in warming up the club. However, my entire focal point was to drink in as much of the Limbs as I can while I can, so I was delirious when they hit the stage. Very active pit, the kids were not violent but were reckless. After having my transcendent experience, I came crashing down to the depths of hell when I went to get my jacket with the Scurvy Dogs patch on the back and some pathetic excuse for a human being had stolen it! Now what kind of evil person would do that? At a Limbs show! You should be ashamed, whoever you are.

The next day, in my depths of depression, I crawled to Mission Records to see my other darlings, Fleshies. Also a great time, but the bands beforehand (International Postmen, Sexy, Civil Dysintery,Lowdown, Arrington de Dionyso) were lacadaisical to say the least. None of them set me on fire, so I took no pictures of them. Fleshies, on the other hand, suddenly packed the room to the gills and we had a stunning sweaty pit with no oxygen whatsoever. It was glorious. Again with the children who were enthusiastic in their innocent frivolity. Oh to be 14 again! Long live Mission Records. Long live Fleshies.

View Kathleen's Pictures HERE

December 27th, The Barfeederz, Strychnine, and Bottles & Skulls at the El Rio... Review by KsKelly...

In that little hiatus between Xmas and the dreaded N.Y.'s E., we get to catch our breath and settle in for a "punk" show at El Rio (as they call it on their voicemail tape), the funky little bar with the killer patio, and on this particular night, a super-cool crowd to come out in the driving rain. Made plans to meet up at the bar to drink martinis before the show, turned out I got to yak with Lovie at the bar for a while. And a good martini, too. My perennnial favorites, Bottles & Skulls, started off the rockin' fun with a standard set. I've heard them whip ass more but we weren't drunk enough and the pit was just the three of us. No matter, it was nice to see a set not plagued with technical problems for once. Strychnine came on, and oh man! they fuggin' blew us all away. I met the drummer, Markley, afterward; they were all so nice! plus I schmoozed the guy with the blond hair and I wish I wasn't so schnockered as to not remember his name because he's hella cute. They surely got the pit going with the help of Tanner and Fraggle and the Wastrel (and me) and this diminutive chick in a red sweater who was slammin' us back! Much better show even than the killer show they did at the now defunct CW before they went on tour to Europe with Scott Alcoholocaust, who also put on this evening of insanity. Breaktime. After much churning about on the patio, mucho drunken patter, (and about this point is where it becomes very fuzzy for me), then The Barfeederz played a fantastic set. Here is where I'd like to quote the respectable opinion of Tony DuShane, (who runs CherryBleeds.com and who I had the great pleasure of chatting with on the patio) : "The Barfeederz @ the El Rio. Punk as all fuck. Did their set then did covers of Minutemen, Devo and the Pogues. Slam pit was killer vibe, reminded me of "pre-mtv-nirvana-jock-testosterone charge-kick some punk ass" pits. More fun loving pits I remember back in the day." What the man said. They did that yo-ho-ho ship-drinkin' song and everyone was singing along like we was in an Irish pub back in the mither-land, matey. Arrrrgh, it was a fuckin' show, and my previous chilly opinion of El Rio (from when they threw Bottles & Skulls off the stage mid-set a year ago) is thawing. (Whatever! The El Rio is one of the best bars in town! -Sam-).

View Kathleen's pictures HERE

Come to the Industrial Nation Magazine Issue #17 (after what, 5 years?) Release Party on the 17th of December at the Cat Club in San Francisco.

December 15th, Tragedy, Bumbklaatt, Blown To Bits, Desolation, and Stockholm Syndrome at Mission Records... Review by KsKelly...

Mission Recs on a Sunday evening, when all the crrrust-teeeee punx come out and stand around to hear some shit and ask each other for cigarettes and beer. You may not know this, but I do live a few blocks away and have the privileged position of walking down the street to see this. Good thing, the walking part. I get there just in time to hear Stockholm Syndrome, but their set was so short that by the time I whip out the camera, they're over. It was a dense sonic noise, the singer jumped around with wrap-around sunglasses on, maybe because they left the overhead light on the whole time. They played about a 10 minute set. It was harsh. Next was one of my faves, Desolation, and the crowd stood around and loved it. They left me feeling desolate! what with Grant's heavy metal-ish head bangin' cookie-monster screamin' vocals, my ear drums felt pushed in by the rest of this excellent band, too. Then I went out back and partied a bit with Scurvy Sam, Paxil Rose & Alicia (where we remarked on the smell of dead rats in the back room) into the Blown To Bits set but I was compelled by the music to go back in that dreadful room and witness Blown To Bits. Damn good move; Jimmy was HOT, the room was HOT, the punx were enjoying the assault on the brain tissue. When Bumbklaatt (from Tijuana) came on, aye muchachos, they whipped us all into the requisite frenzy, they were that good. Waves of searing guitar, the drummer was on it, Marcus was recognized from the stage, by now I'm thinking that this is indeed the special show. However, the fucking P.A. system at Mission Records is lacking, the feedback was so bad that Bumbklaatt had to cut short their set. OK, then we stand around; give out cigarettes. But wait, there's more! Tragedy (from Portland), who I had seen last year at Burnt Ramen and who I had a lasting impression that I NEED to see more of, they lived up to the memory. Jezus! it was so fucking hot in that room and they had so much P.A. trouble, and Tragedy still kicked ass. They had this way of droning and then switching into this punk-overdrive sound, that if you're just standing there sweating rivulets, you don't mind being soaking wet. In fact, there was finally a bit of a pit. At the end, my major score, a Desolation shirt! I know you're not supposed to stand around out front on the sidewalk afterward and kibbutz, but how else are ya supposed to remember to buy a shirt? This is what I did, and then I walked home in the rain.

View Kathleen's Pictures HERE

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December 12th, The Quails and V for Vendetta at The Eagle Tavern...

Check out the pictures here: http://www.atakra.com/pictures/the_quailsweb02/

December 7th, The Sixteens, Anti-Quark, The Vanishing, and Black Ice at the 40th Street warehouse...

I know, I'm slacking.

December 3rd, S.T.F.U., Exitwound, and Nigel Peppercock at the Curve Bar...

I'd been meaning to check out the new resting place of Lucifer's Hammer and had a few free hours from work so I stopped by the Curve Bar to see if things were actually going to happen, a bit too early apparently because the only people there when I showed up were the Peppercocks and the bar staff. so I walked around and hit up some weird sheshe bar up the street where some great jazz musician was playing and then took some night time shots of PacBell Park that I'd been meaning to do. By the time I came back it was a total Oakland crusty punk reunion which was sort of interesting. Lots of faces I hadn't seen in a couple of years including Joy and Elliot who used to live in Humboldt and Dutch of Word Salad fame. So (of course it takes me a drink or two to get into the whole social crap) by that time Nigel Peppercock was up on stage doing a somewhat flawless performance. What shocked me somewhat was the amount of people who cheered when the 505 area code was mentioned. Has half of New Mexico moved to the East Bay in the past couple of years or what? And why don't I know these fucking people? Damnit!

It took Nigel Peppercock a little bit to get into their entire deal, but about three songs into the set, they were sounding fucking great, although their costumes were a bit lacking this time. I guess we all have day jobs, right? Well maybe not these guys unless it's trimming plants in the Emerald Triangle... So they played a couple songs that I wasn't familiar with which was good and pretty much ended their set in chaos, including a *mysterious* broken light fixture and some of their fans running around in circles for no good reason. The wizard almost knocked me over with the stench of patchouli also.

When did patchouli become punk rock? Fucking hippies, take a shower!

So after the typical chaos of the Peppercock set, Exitwound played and they really reminded me of Damad's last performance at the Tip Top Inn when it was still around. I heard the singer's voice from the bar and was totally prepared for the standard cookie monster vocal slo-core act with lots of testosterone from the dude singing. But just like Damad, I had to reel in shock when I realized that it was a girl singing. Wow. I was totally transfixed by the performance. Not so much by the music itself, but more by the way that the singer chick carried herself. I HAVE to see this band again asap, and if you are a fan of slow metal core music, I'd suggest you do the same.

Then I had to go back to work... Fuck I had to totally miss S.T.F.U., but I believe KsKelly might have stayed so I'll let her talk when she has time... Can I just say that I think it's fucking really funny that all these trendy sports bars and dotcom refugee drinking holes are beginning to have punk bands play? Obviously an armed punk takeover of the Marina is next!

KsKelly - Ya ya, the Curve Bar was an interesting experience. I like the place, it's next to the MUNI N-Judah so easily accessible, and the bar itself is a cozy little setup. I was expecting a blond wood and chrome yuppie place, but it's funky and dark. The only thing is that double post with a counter around it in the middle of the space right in front of the stage. When the band heats up and you want to go nuts, it necessitates the running around in circles for no good reason that Atakra mentions above. Oh yeah, the sound sucks in there too, kind of like the Tempest. This is why I enjoyed S.T.F.U.'s set, but it was not the best set of theirs I've ever enjoyed. (what?) I mean, I drank, I danced, I ignored the camera mostly because I was avoiding that post and in doing that, I managed to smack John the Baker in the face. He didn't hold it against me tho'.

Atakra's pictures are pending

View Kathleen's pictures HERE

Please check out Jay Unidos's pictures of the event also HERE and check back for KsKelly's pics of S.T.F.U.!

Thanksgiving 2002, review by KsKelly... (note that I'm too busy to find the actual band and venue links for Kathleen this time -Sam-)

Well, this is the Thanksgiving Weekend Extravaganza where everyone in town is either cooling out with relatives or has the luxury of free time to hit the good shows. To be specific, there were two that were attractive, the first being the Saturday afternoon benefit for Mission Records, seeing as how if you want a very cool place to party and listen to punk and drink yer own beer, youse better fucking support, ya know what I'm sayin'? I came in about the middle of Counterpoint's set and they were quite enjoyable, mid-range hardcore. Then The Eddie Haskells tore up the place with people hangin' off the ceiling and the room heated up to sauna strength. Bottles & Skulls blew m'head off again, despite the by now requisite technical difficulties. I have to say I heartily contributed to the pit. Lotta new material was being offered about between various band members. (Like: "hey, didya hear them do that new song?" said over and over) Next Pitch Black was right on the money, they had the crowd mesmerized, (pyrotechnics always a crowd pleaser) and finally Fleshies flayed us yet again. John was also hanging off the ceiling and the kids could not have been more adoring with his body. I think Matt'owar said they were recording new stuff this weekend; start saving yer pennies for that CD, folks.

By now it was a sweat factory and I was running late to scoot up to Burnt Ramen with Alabama Jake, so we suffered a traffic jam in Oakland, grabbed Nathan and got to Burnt Ramen in time for Cheapskate, and again, they were quite enjoyable, mid-range hardcore. I didn't get to see Stereo Types, but fuckit, they are close friends of mine and will surely understand, right? The Cliftons were playing to a bunch of drunks, so anything would have been received well, but they were really good moshin' type slop, and this one woman in the crowd was viciously thrashing around; she knocked out my friend Hillary's bottom tooth in front, she was so aggro. Some people need to work out issues I know, and I have ranted in the past about crowds not moving for live bands, but really! Take a Valium, lady. The end was The Butchered Hens, a band I keep coming to see even tho' they only do punk covers and MURDER them. John the Baker actually did a duet with Anne Marie at the last minute. They are always a drunken debacle, a good way to wind up a Saturday night at the Burnt Ramen.

View Kathleen's pictures HERE

November 26th, X, and The Filthy Thieving Bastards at the Fillmore... Review by KsKelly...

So, seeing icons like X playing right in front of you is fucking awesome. (See Sam's review of Devo farther down the page, if you got any questions about that.) I was blessed enough to snag a coupla' tickets to the show because I was right on it with the KUSF ticket giveaways (Miles is a god.) and Holy Tomoles was that a good move. I hooked up with the Chicago Kid and we arrived to witness some of The Filthy Thieving Bastards and grab a drink, too late for the Nels Cline Singers, alas. The Fillmore has this LAME no digital pictures policy and I ain't gonna stand there and argue about it so there's no pictures for you suckers. The Filthy Thieving Bastards were OK, they sounded like millions of other English bands, the Clash, the Committments, That Scottish band that does drinking songs...anyway, when X came on it was great and it just got better and Better and BETTER! They fuckin' ruled, they played every goddamn song you wanted, and three well-deserved encores! They did White Girl and In This House the I Call Home and We're Desperate and This World's A Mess; that's what I'm saying, they did it. The crowd was a bunch of yuppie kids, too, youngsters who were all excited about getting moshed about. It was nice to see. Afterward, because it was early and I wanted another drink, I went to Zeitgeist and ran into my friend Wind from Rainbow Grocery and we yakked forever. OK, here's one picture that I had to get on the way home for y'all.

View the Pictures HERE

November 25th, The Phantom Limbs, The Sixteens, and Wormdrive at Mission Records and The Spits at the Parkside...

What an odd lineup. First up was some pretty bad emo band named Wormdrive that had a lot of fans, but not very much talent. I could feel the hair raise on the back of my neck everytime the singer tried to squawk a high note. Moving right along...

The Sixteens were up next and left the first band's fans feeling a bit perturbed. Better yet was the jerky erratic dancing that the people in the front were doing to the Sixteens patented synth action. Looking at the crowd was confusing.

A couple beers later and The Phantom Limbs are on with another crazy set of punk greatness. I'd write more but if you were there you already know how awsome the show was. Immediately afterwards I tried to get to the Parkside to see the Spits, but they were over by the time I got there and I was super drunk and had to go home and vomit anyways.

View the pictures here: http://www.atakra.com/pictures/phan_limbs_mission_rexweb2002/

KsKelly: (Well, I did go take a cab down to the Parkside to see the Nubs and on account of Geno, from the Nubs, has been saying I gotta see the Spits. I got there just in time to catch one good pic of the Nubs and start a pit, smoked out back all through Radio Reelers, sorry, and was "Rocked Out" by the Spits. They were as great as he said they would be. If you liked the Ramones, you will love this band. All the guys from Eddie Haskells were up front with me, going bananas. Lookit the pix!).

View Kathleen's Pictures HERE

November 23rd, Glass Candy and the Shattered Theater at the Peacock Lounge...

Met up with Adrienne of the now defunct Subtonix and headed off to the Peacock Lounge which is a great place for shows! I hope more places like this open up to live entertainment. The band took FOREVER to set up and the crowd was super scenesteresque. But Glass Candy and the Shattered Theater seem to be improving and were almost as fashionable as usual. Glass Candy and the Shattered Theater are always a good time.

View the Pictures Here: http://www.atakra.com/pictures/g_candy_peacockweb02/

November 23rd, Toxic Narcotic, Fracas, Scurvy Dogs, The Barfeedeers, Alpha Hyde Roxy, Bottles & Skulls, Boy Found Floating... Review by KsKelly...

OK the weekend was lookin' good, what with a free show (operative word here is FREE) at Molotov's down on Haight. I got there too late for Boy Found Floating, but was very psyched to see Bottles & Skulls. The boys were in good form although Alpha Hyde Roxy arrived literally as the band was starting to sweat, waiting for 'im. But they bust out with a great set and there was much slam action. The Barfeedeers sounded excellent too, although the crowd was not as active by then. Too drunk to move, to paraphrase a popular song. I can't recommend Molotov's enough for a Saturday afternoon, because it is a comfortable bar (if you don't mind being squished by your acquaintances when it gets packed) and you still get out to see another show on Saturday night. Which is what I did, fully expecting to go to El Rio for 400 Blows. Somehow, I found myself in a car going to the Pound to see Scurvy Dogs and Fracas! How the hell did that happen? Oh well, not a bad trade-off at all and as a matter of fact, that show was pretty good too, despite the preponderance of children with mohawks who were seriously slamming to Toxic Narcotic and trying to puncture people with their studded jackets. Fun was had by all, and you'll be glad to know that I didn't hurt my hand all that much when I got knocked over for like the fourth time. Yeah, like you give a shit.

View Kathleen's Pictures HERE

November 21st, Fear, DK Kennedys, The Sick, and the East Bay Chasers at Studio Z and Boxcar Satan at the Eagle, review by KsKelly and Mister Atakra...

Fear, D.O.A., and the DK Kennedys all in one week? It must be 1983 all over again! -Sam-

I wanted to see Desolation at Burnt Ramen but I was glad I went to see the show at Studio Z, when Mister Atakra managed to get on the guestlist. Ya sure, I be hookin' up with Mr. Atakra and we sets off for Studio Z. It was an experience, that place. So I'm standing outside and I see this super-fruity guy walk by wearing a "Glamour Pussies" shirt. I look up and realize that it's East Bay Ray. Hahaha, that was pretty funny. Then some disabled looking guy tried to sell me hash down the street by Butter. It sort of felt like I'd gone back about 15 years to the early days of eighties punk rock shows -Sam-. First off there were all the big bruiser type guys who were there for Fear, I guess, but the general tone of the crowd was major testosterone and more beer! It was sort of like being in a bridge-and-tunnel hell -Sam- It was more or less sold out and was pretty hard to move much less get a drink. We came in on The Sick; I was impressed that a good pit had already started. Yea, it was good to see The Sick again after the death of Warner Harrison -Sam-. We immediately had to duck out to the Eagle, though. There were some pretty good bands in there too. We saw Boxcar Satan from where....Amarillo, TX They Rule!

So, we get back for Fear, and I liked 'em well enough to stand there and bob my head around. I have to admit that Fear put on a good show, much better than the last time I saw them in Albuquerque. They were OK, but I think we scooted to the Eagle again and caught a song or two by Gary Floyd's Bad Ride which was a lot like his last project Black Kali Ma, maybe a bit more bluesey -Sam- When we finally did come in on the DK Kennedys, I gotta tell ya, they Rocked Out. Drove the crowd nuts and all these big guys were yelling "Jello......Jello..." at Brandon Cruz, who did an adequate job of actually covering the material, which he admitted doing as much from the stage. By the end of the set, they pretty much did every DK hit you ever remember, and a damn fine job of it too. Excellent slam pit. Two encores. An especially nice "Holiday in Cambodia" as I remember. I have to say that the band's musicianship has not suffered or decayed after all these years. They totally ripped. So, after going to the Eagle to close the night out, then we went to Atakra's to watch Evil Dead and smoke way too much.

I like Brandon Cruz, but I didn't think that his patented "Dr. Know" voice did justice to the DK Kennedys' songs. He was animated on stage, and didn't take heed of any of the older fans yelling things like "Who wrote the songs?" But I was still a bit disapointed in the performance. Brandon's voice just doesn't have the range that Jello's does. I've been telling people for months that the best thing that the DK Kennedys could have done is get Fred Schneider from the B-52's to front the band. Studio Z was OK, but I was overcharged by the bartender at the temporary bar that they had set up, and then he was yelling at all the customers who he was overcharging to "make sure you give me a tip!" Uh, d00d, you just OVERCHARGED me on a drink, Like I'm going to tip you for doing that. However the other bartenders at the main bar poured better drinks anyways and were much cooler than that guy, so they got my business and hence my tips.

View the Pictures here: http://www.atakra.com/pictures/dk_kennedysweb2002/

November 20th, D.O.A., Portrait Of Poverty, and the Lucky Stiffs at 339 Ritch Street...

What to do on a Wednesday night but go check out 330 Ritch Street because they recently switched from being a primarially DJ establishment into a live venue band type place which always works for me. Unfortunately I totally missed the Lucky Stiffs, but I heard from a few people that they had a great set as usual. I had really come for the other bands like D.O.A. and Portrait Of Poverty. So after some initial weirdness with the bouncer at the door who lectured me on not suing the club if I slammdanced (right, like I'm 15 or something), I walked into 330 Ritch and caught the entire Portrait Of Poverty set. They were great as usual and it was good to see the Tacoma boys again. Their song "Smoking Resin is becoming a San Francisco favorite judging from the amount of stoned fans singing along. Hey, are those kids gaining a little weight? Hahaha.

Next up was D.O.A., and since I hadn't seen them play in about 8 years I thought they were just as good now as they were back then. Actually the first time I saw D.O.A. was way back in the mid-eighties, and although I didn't catch their encore (I needed some beauty sleep), I thought they wase still holding up well. Whew! So many great shows this week!

View the Pictures Here: http://www.atakra.com/pictures/doa_web2002/

November 16th, Neurosis, Steel Pole Bathtub, Tarantula Hawk, and House of Low Culture at the Beyond the Pale Sound Series at the DNA Lounge...

Not being allowed to use a flash was a lame photo policy.

With that said here's the review. This was entrely the best night of the whole three nights that I went to in this series. I didn't really enjoy the House of Low Culture very much, but the concept was somewhat interesting, I spent most of their set checking my email. Tarantula Hawk blew them away actually and even though their set was way too short, everyone was really getting into the pounding synth action. I bought the new CD as soon as they ended and then headed over to the Eagle for a cheaper drink, getting back just in time to see Steel Pole Bathtub.

GUEST REVIEW OF Steel Pole Bathtub by RepliConan...

There are many moments in life, some of them are fleeting, some all too long and few of the really great ones actually manage to transcend reality. I'm very pleased to say that seeing Steel Pole Bathtub at beyond the pale was indeed a reality transcender. Logically I knew what to expect, but no matter how I tried to prepare myself it couldn't measure up to when they actually started playing. It took awhile for them to setup, due partially to the well meaning but overly frantic stage hands trying to 'help' so often. But once they started, nothing else mattered.

Their set kicked off with a noisy and chaotic version of Arizona Garbage Truck, leading off the night strong and powerful, before heading into Conversation off of Scars from falling down. I swear the rest of the show is a blur, all I know is I heard just about every song I would have wanted to hear with the exception of Bozeman, The Scarlet, the 500 Club and one of the songs off of Butterfly Love whose name I can never remember. Considering the amount of material to wade through, I thought the set was incredibly well balanced and paced well, they played as if they had never stopped being a band also! Highlights for me included the incredible energy when they played train to miami and people (myself inclusive) were YELLING along, the whole place just exploding, An incredible version of Borstal that had the entire crowd swaying in time with the music, the Cars "My best friend's a girl" on acoustic guitar w/Dale and with toy keyboard accompaniment by mike, and... and... well I don't know the whole damn thing I guess.

The "new" songs like the action man theme and kinder party flowed seemlessly with the classics and were just as thrilling as any of the rest of the 'hits'. For the first time in quite awhile I was seriously "losing my shit" as the kids say, I was up front rocking the hell out, dancing around, jumping up and down, thrusting fists in the air along with the music, singing along like a madman. God it was so great. One of the things that really hit me was just how fresh and timeless the music still seemed to me. There was no tepid nostalgia whatsoever in any way shape or form to what they were playing, it sounded as fresh to me as the day I first heard it, and in some ways even more so. Maybe the world has caught up a little to SPBT? I don't know, but all I know is that there were a lot of happy people that night.

The two things that bummed me out were:

When it was over. and realizing that in all likelihood this could be a onetime thing. but at the very least, I was THERE! It amazed me how many other people never really got the chance to see them do their thing as well. I think it's almost like a Mission of Burma thing on some levels...

Partial setlist (what I can remember): Arizona Garbage Truck, Conversation, Action Man Theme, Soul Cannon, Twist, Borstal, Kinder Party, Just What I Need, Train to Miami (with everybody shouting along to the chorus!)

Encore: Best Friend's a Girl (w/singalong), Hey Bo Diddley

View RepliConan's Pictures HERE, look for the pictures that say 'sbpt'.

Finally Neurosis' set was also good and had much better lighting and sound than the night before, but after seeing Steel Pole Bathtub, nothing else could even compare.

View Sam's pictures here: http://www.atakra.com/pictures/beyond_pale2002b/

November 15th, Neurosis, Savage Republic, Pleasure Forever, and The Phantom Limbs at the Beyond the Pale Sound Series at the DNA Lounge...

I had gone the night before to see LOW and The Living Jarboe and was somewhat impressed and heartily looking forward to seeing the next night's bands including the first show by The Phantom Limbs since they got back from their tour of Europe. And The Phantom Limbs certainly didn't disapoint except Hopeless' usual amount of running around was hampered by the unusual tallness of the stage. Their tour really made them tight except for a few technical issues. Lighting was bearable.

Did I mention that there was to be no flash photography at this show? LAME!

Pleasure Forever were pop music. When the singer sang some song that went like this, "da da do do da da ma ma..." I was so not impressed that I grabbed a couple of people and headed to the Eagle for a cheaper drink. Note that the DNA Lounge has some really good bartenders who pour mixed drinks in the bigger cups, and some who pour into the smaller cups. Same price for both. BUT the Eagle's mixed drinks are infinately better hands down. Begin bad band lighting issues.

We got back just in time to catch Savage Republic who were OK prog rock I guess. For being "legendary," I wasn't very impressed. It just sounded dated to me. Lots of other people seemed to enjoy it more than me. Generally bad lighting.

Neurosis was Neurosis. I liked their new background visuals and their music still sounds like a heavy duty metallic Pink Floyd. Again good visuals but terrible band lighting.

Finally as I was leaving, two little jockcore punks tried to get me to fight them when I told them to stop manhandling one of the girls from Black Ice without her consent. It's people like that who are the reason I get so annoyed at punk shows. JERKS!

View the pictures here: http://www.atakra.com/pictures/beyond_pale2002weba/ (and note that I wasn't allowed to use a flash as per the show promoter... BOO, so hence no pictures of Neurosis or Savage Republic because the lighting was not good for clear shots).

November 2nd, The Epoxies and the Rock and Roll Adventure Kids at the Parkside...

What do you do when it's Saturday night and although Dystopia is playing at Gilman, you're not up to the trek? You go to the Parkside and see The Epoxies! At least that's what I did last Saturday. En-route I hit up the local liquor store and drank one of those foul tasting power smoothie things so I could line my stomach. Hey, it works! So I get to the Parkside just in time to find that I missed the Teenage Harlots who I like and was a bit bummed to find that I missed them. Hey, did I mention that I had a package of cool old 80's super hero comic books for The Epoxies so that they could read while on the road? I hope they enjoy them, but I digress...

I get in while the Rock and Roll Adventure Kids are still setting up so I head into the back yard and northcal_plister Missy introduces me to Larry of the Genetic Disorder Zine and then head back in to see the Rock and Roll Adventure Kids set which was entertaining, not my thing, but entertaining. Actually my attention was more fixated on The Epoxies poster that someone had made for the show.

The Epoxies come on the scene and were brilliant as usual. Nearly everyone in the bar was dancing and getting drunk and generally having a great time. Roxy Epoxie lets me sing part of their cover of "Clones" off of a great new wave album by Alice Cooper called "Flush the Fashion" (brilliant album). And they play a shorter set than usual, but everyone was so happy to see their second show of their month-and-a-half long tour so everyone was just happy to get in. All in all a pretty satisfying night overall, even DJ Glave's music was pretty good this time towards the end. Afterwards I got one of the afore mentioned posters and limped back to the homestead.

View the pictures here: http://www.atakra.com/pictures/epoxies_parksideweb02/

October 31st, The Damned, The Dwarves, and Throwrag at the Great American Music Hall...

Thanks to the Emily Strange company, at the last minute I was offered free backstage tickets to go see The Damned and The Dwarves play their somewhat annual show at the Great American Music Hall for Halloween instead of trying to decide to go there, to see the Residents, or the Cramps. And it was an OK show. At about 8:00 the Emily Strange Reps, Jen Jinx and Sarah arrived in town (just as I was about to take a quick nap, grrr), and prodded me to get up and do the patented "bad Sam" makeup that I do every year. So we hop on the 47 bus and head to the Great American Music Hall to see if we should get in early to meet the band and pal around with the merch reps for a bit. But when we get there the lady at the front ticket office gives me shit about having a camera so we head to that little sports bar on the corner near the GAMH for a drink to discuss our options. It's decided that my camera will be smuggled in via one of the Emily Strange reps bags and brought out when needed so that I won't get kicked out. Well we shouldn't have worried at all because there were lots of cameras in use by about midway through the show, but not brought out in time to catch any stills of Throwrag which sucks.

It's then decided that we'kll investigate the sparce food menu that the Great American Music Hall has because I've never heard complaints about it before. BIG MISTAKE. I get the "nachos", Jen gets the Cheese Fries, and Sarah gets the Ceasar Salad. All of which sucked, but since none of us had ate a thing all day we ate it so we'd be in better form later since we have these after-hours party badges. Throwrag was great! I was a bit turned off by the Misfits tie-ins and thought that they were going to be another Misfits ripoff band, but their music was at least as solid as any of the more talanted bands that I've seen in a while. I should have bought some of their music but I was a tiny bit strapped after getting a Dwarves shirt. The two singers sort of alternated with one wearing a (costume?) biker/psychobilly outfit and creepy opaque that was pretty great, while the other was dressed in depends-type diapers and playing the washboard. I would pay to see Throwrag anytime.

The Dwarves hit the stage and it was fucking great! Blag jumps onstage wearing some sort of spirit team/cheerleading outfit and Hewhocannotbenamed was wearing a jockstrap/g-string thingee and a devils mask. The croud is overjoyed. Blag and the band play a well-rounded set of some of their best songs that lasted well beyond the typical 15 minute Dwarves set, possibly the longest Dwarves set ever, and the crowd goes apeshit. I manage to snap a few shots of the band and catch Kris from Tucson hamming it up in the pit. Then I head upstairs with the adults to watch from above where I manage to catch Blag whamming some annoying hippie chick on the head with a hectic swing of the microphone. OUCH! The noise of which reverberates throughout the hall. the girl looks dazed, then pissed, and then runs from the stage like she didn't expect it. I wonder what she did to get him so pissed off and then the set ends a few minutes later.

I grab the Emily Strange girls to go get another drink outside of the Great American Music Hall and we put fake blood on Kris' wrist, effectively destroying the stamp he had and making it so he can't get back into the club which sucked for him. Hahaha. So I buy him a drink at the corner sports bar and then I head back for the middle of The Damned set which (when it started) sounded way too much like the Doors to me. Luckily I get there in time to hear them play "Neat Neat Neat," "New Rose," , "Smash it up" and a whole host of songs from the late seventies and early eighties which was great. If they hadn't have played a lot of the older stuff (and at first it looked like it could end up that way) I would have been very disapointed.

So the show ends and I briefly tell Dave Vanian that they were "great tonight" to which he just looks tired. That's when I start thinking that staying for the after party would most likely be a mistake so I grab the Emily Strange reps and we try to hail a cab to the Castro before the liquor stores close, running into Alicia from Revolver and Scurvy Sam in the process (who both look pretty wrecked from whatever they had been doing). We manage to sweet talk our way in to a corner store to get some mixer for our pre-purchased 5th of rum and then head back outside only to find ourselves amongst a HUGE MASS of gangsters and bridge-and-tunnel crowd trying to get as far away from the Castro as possible. Since the general attitide started looking ugly (potential fights and general testosterone action), we ditched Kris from Arizona with the Scurvy folks and headed back to the warehouse homestead to watch a movie and go to sleep. And when we woke up it was decided that we made a good call on that action because we could actually go and get a quick breakfast and then go to the 50% off sale at the Halloween store where I pick up a bunch of great spooky equipment and lighting stuff for SUPER CHEAP the next day.

Check out the pics: http://www.atakra.com/pictures/damnedweb2002/

October 31st, The Demonics, The Ghosts, The Teenage Harlots, and The Undertaker and his Pals at the Parkside... Review by KsKelly...

Venues are closing down all over the area; it's really scary (Yea, if you're a spoiled brat who can't set up a show for yourself - Sam - ). However, one of the bright spots in this sad town is the Parkside because they are committed to being garage (Ugh, garage is so played out, no offense to the Parkside- Sam - ) band central and they treat the bands pretty well. They had a good spooky bill for this Halloween, starting off with the Undertaker and his Pals. I must admit a certain prejudice for this band as they are all friends of mine but objectively speaking, they're damn good monster surf rock musicians, doing covers about werewolves, witches and Johnny Frankenstein and such. Got the festive crowd right in the mood for creepy Halloween fun, yuh, like they weren't already. Everything's creepy this year, so you might as well get fucked up and have some fun and fawgitaboudit. Which is what we proceeded to do. During their set, there was a fight out on the patio; turned out the lead singer for The Demonics got into it with some guy. Something about someone looking at girl a little too much, I dunno. Next up was Blank and the Blanks, the big "surprise" being that it was The Teenage Harlots in white masks playing different instruments. And they were really good! Doing instrumental surf rock. And Johnny Dismal is an excellent guitar player; who knew?

The much anticipated, of course, were The Ghostss and what a celebratory occasion it was with the release of their latest CD on the most appropriate night of the year. I also saw them at Amoeba earlier in the day, after which they went to the Cliffhouse to play and ended up at the Parkside, whew! I can't tell you how much better they were than all the other times I've seen them at the Parkside 'cause I always enjoy them and it gets monotonous for you, so fuck it, go see them yerself and stop bothering me. All I know is that I love it when the vocalist rolls around on the floor and crashes into patrons to get them more involved in the performance than the normal stupified state most people are in when they stand in front of a band in San Francisco. What's the problem with you people anyway? Why go to a bar and drink alcohol products, only to just stand there like you're afraid to make a fool out of yourself? C'mon, jump on top of Grim and get dirty! You know you had a good time when your more sedate friend says the next day "Dude, I couldn't believe it when you poured the beer on her and humped that guy on the dance floor at the same time!" I know I like to hear that anyway and that's the kind of party it was at the Parkside with the Ghosts. (Uh, excuse KsKelly's rant - Sam - ).

The final band was The Demonics, who I hadn't seen before and liked alot. Ripping garage rock, sorta Kinks-like, and I was impressed that the singer was the guy who got in that fight earlier. Afterwards, we waded through the dejected partiers in the Castro to go back to Mike's house and were accosted by his crazy neighbors who wanted to continue partying. Check out that exhibitionist Pictures HERE

October 28th, My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, Cherrie Blue, and Voudou at the DNA Lounge...

Voodoo is lame. The crowd was sparce. Cherie Blue was super disco, not stellar, but not too awful. Someone saw my Plasmatics hoodie and showed me his "Plasmatics Fan Club" ID that he's had since he was 12. Wow, I was super impressed with that one.

TKK put on a great set of old songs and I loved the show. Some of the band members are showing their age a bit. Hahaha.

No pictures.

October 25th, DEVO's FREE show at Civic Center...

So I get a message about a week from the show date that Devo is playing a free show as a promotional for Nissan's Z-Car at San Francisco's Civic Center, so what do I do? Call my friend in Seattle and get her to fly down and we both ditch work to see the event. Unfortunately I had spent the night before running about town so when she shows up on my doorstep at 9:30 in the morning to go get breakfast, I'm a little worse for wear, but somehow we made it down to the show area in time to grab a quick strawberry margarita and zip off to an incredible spot in the front of the stage, but off a bit to the left.

Not as many people showed up as I expected, but there was a HUGE turnout from both the NorthCal Punklist and the Synthpunk Discussion List which was not entirely unexpected. I managed to stand amongst a wide assortment of crazies, a huge pineapple man, DJ Kyron, Little Brazil, and numberous ex-roomates from years past. It was pretty fun and we all bided our time in wait for Devo to hit the stage. And when they went on there was a collective cheer from the entire audience and a couple grunts from all the homeless people. Hahaha.

I swear, Devo played like every song off of their first two albums and did a great encore that had the entire audience mesmerized. I mean these guys played it up like champions, even mentioning their first time they ever played here in San Francisco at the Mabuhay Gardens, one place I never got to go to as a younster. Actually I have a bootleg vinyl record of that very show and was kicking myself for not bringing it for the band to autograph (stupid stupid me), since after the show Devo was signing everything from shirts to songbooks (and offering hugs to the cuter audience members).

Actually I thought the show was much better than the last time I saw them at the now-defunct Omni in Oakland, although at that show the ceiling had to be opened in order to let all the steam from the sweaty human bodies out of the venue. But I digress. Devo didn't play Beautiful World or anything off the Shout album, but that's just as well.

Final note: Devo has apparently changed the lyrics in Come Back Jonee to now say, "Jonee jumped in his NISSAN..." instead of the original "Jonee jumped in his DATSUN...", so that was a little unnerving. Lots of anti-Bush rhetoric, they even dedicated 'Blockhead' to GWB. Nissan's gonna love that! Upon reflection it was strange hearing some of my favorite anthems against advertising and marketing being used to promote a new car (that frankly didn't look like anything very special upon inspection), but man! IT'S FUCKING DEVO!!! How can you complain about getting to see them for free?

I'm filing this in my top-ten shows EVER list. Someday I'll post that list for all to see... but for now, suffer.

View the Devo Pictures Here: http://www.atakra.com/pictures/devo_web_2002/

October 24th, Fabulous Disaster and The Vaxines at the Eagle and The Demolition Doll Rods at the Parkside...

The Vaxines so want to be the next Pansy Division.

Fabulous Disaster was great as usual.

The Demolition Doll Rods were awsome but I was getting drunk and had to go home.

View the Pictures Here: http://www.atakra.com/pictures/fab_disasterweb02/

October 22nd, Scorched Earth Policy, Insidious, and 401K at the Cherry Bar and Lounge...

Last! and I mean LAST rock show at the Cherry Bar and Lounge, review by KsKelly...

Ok, so's I go down to the Cherry Bar and Lounge to see a Lucifer's Hammer and find out it's "the" last rock show to ever play at the fuckin' place. The next Lucifer's Hammer is going to be at the Curve Bar, at 747 3rd @ Townsend (with Watch Them Die, Asunder, and Ludicra, Oct 29th). There is a bunch of metal on the bill and I went to support Matt Shapiro 'cause he looked so downtrodden at that Fleshies show, and yippee! Joanne is working the door, back from her trip to Europe and seeing Phantom Limbs play there along with all kindsa other stuff. The bands playing were, in this order, 401K = Yuppie Metal, Insidious = black Sludge Metal (female "Cookie-monster" vocalist), and Scorched Earth Policy = Grunge Metal. I liked the last one best but Pirate Marcus, who I was way surprised to see and who had this excellent fermented apple cider in a bottle that he had to hide from the staff when he poured it into a glass I provided, he liked Insidious the best.

The Cherry Bar and Lounge is now all fixed up, the pool table is back, the bar has all this black tile on it, but the big surprise is that they moved the DJ booth onto the floor next to the stage with the turntable suspended from the ceiling! Don't you think that's a big mistake with a bunch of drunken people reeling about the stage area? I do. And they gave the DJ booth a stage and the band's stage is gone! It's really stupid. Plus they have this mirror next to the stage area that makes it difficult to take pictures from a certain angle. But the bar is all fixed up and they have tap beer back. Too bad, we'll never see it because that's really the last show. I ran into Mogar, my friend who does security at Warfield, and took some pictures of the women's room that has all these mirrors and they put in pedestal sinks! Big black and white stripes! It was disorienting. I felt sick looking at it.

Then they kicked us all out at like 1:15, just like last week........Bye! Get out! Thanks for your cash!

View Kathleen's Pictures HERE

October 19th, D'Jelly Brains, Death X Death, Fracus, Mykee Hates Life, October Allied, and Trouble Maker at Burnt Ramen...

I am not an organization joiner, therefore not a member of the North Coast Punklist, even though you'd think I would be, huh? Nevertheless, I was more than happy to attend the North Coast Punklist party on behalf of Mr. Atakra, who was entertaining non-punk visitors from out of town. I went to give a report and because I love going to Burnt Ramen anyway. Grabbed up the Wastrel and motored up. We got there just as October Allied was finishing their set, they sounded sorta average, and there was just a smattering of people there. I knew a few but Atakra would have known the whole room probably. Lindsey, the drummer from S.T.F.U., has just moved into Burnt Ramen so she gave us a tour that was so cool, I never realized how fuckin' big the place is. Bandwise, I heard that Trouble Maker were good, but the first real band I heard was Mykee Hates Life, a name I've heard and I liked so I was curious about them. They are OK, but a bit too country-punk tinged for my taste. I did admire the dolls hanging off the drumset.

Next up was Fracus, a perennial favorite. Joe started out by lighting his jacket on fire with some stuff he sprayed on it, and they did a fine whip-ass set. By now the place was filling up, more familiar faces showed. We had gotten pretty wasted by the time Death X Death came on, as you can see. So during the set, the Wastrel gets up on stage to fuck around with Josh, and steps off the stage onto a piece of broken glass that goes right through the bottom of his shoe! Copious blood, I mean it was gushing out. Anna, the gal with the fan club, she runs to get bandage supplies and other people who live there help out and we get it bandaged but basically, the rest of the evening was kind of fuzzy after that, so I have no memory whatsoever of what D'Jelly Brains sounded like, but I did get a couple pictures. From what I hear, no one remembers the second half of the evening, so I am not alone. Despite the blood pouring out of my friend, it was a pretty good night.

View Kathleen's Pictures HERE

October 17th, The Vanishing and MD 20/20 at the Eagle...

Frankly this happened so long ago that I forgot most of the show, but if the Vanishing played, you know it was good!

View the pictures here: http://www.atakra.com/pictures/vanish_eagleweb02/

October 16th, Death in June and Boyd Rice at The Pound...

We arrived a bit late to The Pound which seems to have changed their setup a bit since the last time I was there so it was sort of like walking into the middle of a movie. Actually it was exactly like that because apparently there was a movie playing which featured Boyd Rice and lots of other noteable luminaries of the "industrial" scene. I hated that movie. Lets just say that bad acting doesn't make a movie any better.

So after the movie ended the audience was subjected to some terrible music by 1950's girl bands and then Boyd Rice came on stage and played for a little while. I wasn't too impressed, but at least he played Total War. Actually the best part of his set was the audio Boyd Rice/Columbine collage that played for ten minutes before he even got on stage. Oh well, maybe next time.

Death in June played an all acoustic set, starting with his awsome white-face mask, and then moving onto some sort of outfit that made him look like he was about to go duck hunting. He played a LOT of older songs and was onstage for quite a while, at least an hour I think. It was interesting and there was lots of fashion amongst the audience.

Afterwards we headed back to the homestead to drink mixed drinks and take pictures of the now-departed Yarra du Jour who has moved back to Portland. She has hinted on offering the occaisional scene report from Portland, so stay tuned for that.

View the pictures here: http://www.atakra.com/pictures/death_in_june_web2002/

Alternate review by EricK...

The Pound is on the Pier which sucks, but is right near the freeway, which is cool. I think for this lineup the venue was pretty appropriate. They played part (or all?) of 'Pearls Before Swine', a movie that Boyd has some association with. You couldn't really follow it cuz everyone was talking, but it didn't matter.

Boyd played for like 15 minutes, but at least he played 'Total War', Douglas came out and played a guitar for him, and drumming was whatisname from DIJ. For the short amount of time he played he was really good. Overall I was dissapointed.

Douglas P. played a good set, if a bit subdued, he didn't really talk a lot, dedicated a song to David Tibet, talked some shit about World Serpent, etc. He was pretty good, but a little quieter than last time.

The crowd was okay, the merchandise table was adequite, they didn't have t-shirts though, so I bought the DIJ 13 month calendar (June to June), the cover of which is autographed by Douglas, and has some funny pictures and some good pictures. The show in 1997 was better, longer, and louder, this show was pretty good though.

October 14th, Fleshies, Bible of the Devil, Filthy Jim, and Ripped Speed at the Cherry Bar and Lounge...

Aren't you curious about the Cherry Bar and Lounge, and what it could possibly be like now? I certainly am considering the historical context of being in the old Covered Wagon. Who could resist checking out Fleshies on a Monday night, especially when snagging tix on KUSF, thanks Korty. I missed the first band, Ripped Speed, but I heard they were a good ol' metal band and were pretty decent. I came in on Filthy Jim, a quartet of young guys that were putting their heart into it, a rollicking rock out set. I was not offended, and in fact liked 'em. It was hard to relax for a while on account of everyone had to get used to the interior of the bar, now that they have ripped out the counters you used to sit on and the pool table is gone, the DJ booth walled off, etc. It was sort of like being in a warehouse, all half painted surfaces. Just felt weird. So it took a couple beers to settle in (only a few kinds of bottled beer now too!) and then watch Bible of the Devil, touring chums of Fleshies from Chicago. Now, these guys fuggin' rocked out in the old time rawk-out way. They even made a joke about being called a third rate Sabbath-like band, but the knot of appreciative rawkers thought they were better than that. The audience even started to move around and stuff.

By the time Fleshies came on, they may have been even more fucked up than the audience, and the audience was highly anticipating them. They tore it up, John was doing a little political speechifyin' and then they let it rip with the fucked up out of control type of punk that bends people's minds. There were alot of big huge guys in the crowd who pretty much dominated the pit, and I thought "Gee I thought this was supposed to be a lesbian bar" what with all the ass-grabbing at John and demands that he strip and mutual rolling about on the floor by these big adoring hulks. They even knocked over Brian's drumset by the second song or so. It was wise to try to stay out of their way when they barrelled across at ya. By the end of the set, we collectively were all sweaty and bonded in that special way when a band wrings it out of you and everyone smiles stupidly at each other. It was a damn good show, and then the bar closed abruptly.....bye!

View Kathleen's Pictures HERE

October 10th, The Black Heart Procession, Winfred E. Eye, and (yay!) Pleaseeasaur at the Great American Music Hall...

I don't really like many of the songs on the new Black Heart Procession CD. With that said let's move on. I got to the Great American Music Hall just in time to catch the entire set by Pleaseeasaur which was a little disapointing because they STILL don't have that (almost required) second person working the backstage part of the set. BUT they had a new song which was quite good, and the fact that Mr. Pleaseeasaur's set nearly collapsed at one point was pretty damn funny. Lots of the people there knew all the songs which was refreshing to see too.

Winfred E. Eye sounded like a slightly more minimal Black Heart Procession and I was not impressed, so myself and some of the KFJC staffers headed to the closing night of Kimo's for a bit and passed out Death in June flyers for Wednesday's show. But the music was lame and it was sort of sad to see Kimo's last show so we headed back to catch The Black Heart Procession's set. Now as I said, I don't think that the new CD is very good, but hearing a couple of the songs live made them a bit better (although there were lots of technical problems throughout their set). It was a lot less "dark" than I remember them and their young fan base was pretty annoying. So after I got bored some nice folks gave me a ride home.

View the Pictures Here: http://www.atakra.com/pictures/black_heart_processionweb02/

October 9th, The Sixteens, The Weegs, The Janet Pants Dance Troupe, and MyLot at the Talk of the Town...

I hadn't really planned on going to this show, it being a weekday and all, but at the last minute I convinced Kathleen and Yarra du Jour to go and I'm glad we went! So we get there and walk into the downstairs area just in time to catch a couple of bad kareoke sets by the locals. One was some sort of version of Whitney Houston. Not too impressive. We head upstairs and since there's not much going on we went across the street to get a coup,le of chicken tacos from the portable taqueria and watch the junkie prostitutes walk around for a bit, MMMMM, tasty... Well not really.

We get back and drink a few beers and the show started in a revolving setup where one band would play a couple songs, then the next band would play, and then the next, finally revertin for another round again and so on. MyLot was pretty great. The singer has this emo nervous energy that I liked a lot. I'll see them again, I'm sure. Is it just me or are the Weegs finally getting better? I sure thought so, enough to recommend them finally. it's about time! Hahaha.

I was not impressed with the Janet Pants Dance Troupe. As I was explaining to someone that night, "I was raised around artists who can dance and let me tell you, the Janet Pants people shouldn't quit their day jobs at Tower Records." However I think I ws more bummed because it was pretty much THE SAME DANCE ROUTINE as the last time I saw them (at the Talk of the Town no less). They did add a new number where they dance to Sonic Youth, but it didn't make up for having to watch the painfully long repeat performance. Plus I kept getting the feeling that I'd seen it before, and then a couple days later I remembered that I HAD seen something a lot like it up in Humboldt County circa 1991. Not much new there I guess.

PICTURES PENDING

The Sixteens are always a pleasure to see. Check out the photos when I get them up.

September 25th, Nigel Pepper Cock at the Bart Station at 16th and Mission...

No review, just vote for Nigel Pepper Cock in the "Best of" issue of the SF Weakly.

View Kathleen's Pictures HERE

September 15th, Submachine, S.T.F.U., Born/Dead, Sisteme, Desolation, and Blown to Bits at Burnt Ramen... Review by KsKelly...

So, exhausted after a weekend of drinkin' and partyin' and seein' bands, what is one to do in a Sunday night to amuse oneself? Go to Burnt Ramen, of course. Those are the best shows, where only the crustiest of the the hardcore degenerates come out. The crowd this night was particularly kaaa-rusty, too. If you had arrived early, you were treated to a surprise, and entirely too short, set from Blown to Bits, a real treat. Then, the band I came to check out, Desolation, certainly did not disappoint. They were really good, dense punk with enough melody to keep it interesting and the members were all great musicians. I was especially pleased by Scurvy Sam's drumming. It turns out he's as good a drummer as I've ever seen, and geez I never even knew. I highly recommend seeing this band if you like hardcore.

Next up was Born/Dead; this was maybe one of the best sets by them I've ever enjoyed, and I've seen them lots. They worked the crowd up into a frenzy. By now, beer cans were flying, bodies were being flung about, general fun was being had by all. There was a young band called Sisteme Brutale somewhere in there, they were OK and offered a breather for the pit participants. And as much fun as Born/Dead was, the award for the best pit of the night undoubtedly goes to S.T.F.U., who killed, I mean killed. Jeff was doing vocals just like he did at the Kimo's show, maybe because he fucked up his hand recently. He said he can still play guitar just fine but I like it when he's able to concentrate on vocals, he can get out on the floor and mixes it up with the audience. (This was the pit, if I remember correctly, where I got smashed onto the concrete floor twice and my elbow got pretty damaged. I always say don't bring anything into a pit you're not willing to lose.) The last band was Submachine, from Pittsburgh, and seeing as how I had just seen them at Mission Rec's on Saturday, I didn't feel compelled to take alot more of their pictures, so I went outside to drink and take some out there. Looks like we had some fun out there too, now that I'm lookin' at 'em. There's fifty pictures in there, so be patient, dammit!

View Kathleen's Pictures HERE

September 13th, The Epoxies, Red Planet, The Phenomenauts, and the Von Steins at the Bottom of the Hill... Review by Mister Atakra...

After meeting up with Arcata folks Catlin and Matt from the Alibi and having a few drinks, we arrived to find that The Von Steins had already played which was a bummer because we'd thought that Red Planet was going to be the opener. Oh well, so in that case the first band for us was The Phenomenauts and WOW... The Phenomenauts fucking rule! Not only are they the nicest space-rockabilly band I've ever seen (see past reviews), but they put on a damn good live set... So good in fact that as usual all the subsequent bands paled in comparison. I hate to gush, but these lackluster bands that play in SF these days need to take some showmanship lessons from these chaps. They come equiped with a phenomenal set, a brilliant (self-produced) light show, and fucking bubbles! BUBBLES! I give them top props for never ceasing to amaze me.

Oh, and their music makes jaded scenesters such as myself perk up our ears every time.

Red Planet sounds like Journey. Red Planet was so incredibly contrived that I sat back and watched the streams of people leave the stage area for a while, until even that got boring. So I walked up the street to investigate the Eddie Haskells show at the Parkside for a while, meeting up with Photographer extrordinaire Mark McKenna who had just gotten back from his recent trip to NYC tp photograph the year-anniversary of the September Eleventh attacks.

We got back to the Bottom of the Hill just in time to catch the entire set of The Epoxies. Hmm, The Epoxies... I dunno, new wave music was great the first time, but The Epoxies effort on bringing it back is certainly making HUGE waves in the bay area. Not only did they get Markley from Strichnine to get on stage with them for a bit (giving them punk points in the process), but they also did an excellent and VERY FAITHFUL rendition of Alice Cooper's "Clones" song off the little-known "Flush the Fashion" album. personally I think that they aren't very interesting having seen them twice now, but they try SOOOOO hard. I give them an "A" for effort, a "C" for originality, and a "B" for fashion sense. In any case I still highly reccomend them for Roxie Epoxie's voice, which in itself is amazing, especially after having to stand up to the stresses of playing in smokey bars for this latest tour.

Oh, and can I say that Red Planet sucked again? Thanks.

View Sam's Pictures Here: http://www.atakra.com/pictures/epoxies_bothweb02/

View Kathleen's Pictures HERE

September 9th, Brnr at Kimo's... Review by KsKelly...

Again, the Monday night show at Kimo's looks promising and I go to clear the cobwebs out, besides I had seen Family Butcher at a party over on 14th Street in July and they fuckin' ruled, so I was looking very much forward to seeing them this night. The vocalist, John, is the Reverend Boom King's cousin, and they look it, too. That's why I heard they just had had a good date at Talk of the Town over the weekend, and Boom got 'em booked at Kimo's for this Monday show too. I missed Septic, rats! So sorry to have done that. Came in just as Brnr was on, they were pretty damn good stoner rock. A distinctive sound, and although he can't sing too well, a great bassist. I liked them just fine. They were NOT that loud either, and I say that because of what transpired next.

After Brnr, between sets, up walks the stairs a pair of cops who proceed to tell Matt Shapiro that there was a noise complaint made by a troublesome neighbor, and this time he called the police to arrest Matt for noise violation! Ya, believe it! Not only that, they pull out a little portable fingerprint kit and take his prints, write out a ticket and tell him he has to show up in court for this nonsense! Then they say we can't have the show anymore because of this one prick who has to make life miserable for the few punks and misfits who populate the bar. Goddamn, no Family Butcher! So Matt closes up the bar and we all go down to The Hemlock to get schnockered. This does not harbinge well for Kimo's, and Polk Street in general. Are the cops going to make life tough for what little remains of the decent music scene just to placate one picky person who obviously shouldn't be living anywhere near an active commercial strip, much less in a city at all? We oughta protest. As soon as I finish my drink.

View Kathleen's pictures HERE

September 5th, ZOZOBRA at Fort Marcy Park in Santa Fe, New Mexico... Review by Mister Atakra...

After all the hype surrounding Burning Man (I will not link to this sad hippie travesty) this year a few of us from the Bay Area decided to go see the *original* festival in action, I'm talking about ZOZOBRA, where the dedicated Kiwanis club has been burning a 50 foot replica of a priest in clown makeup (officially it's an effigy of Judas) since 1712. This festival gets ripped off year after year by the fucking hippies at Burning Man, so it seemed like a good idea to see the original in all it's glory.

So September 4th, Yarra du Jour, Echo #drunkpunk and myself packed our bags and flew America West (perhaps the worst airline in the states) down to Albuquerque for what promised to be a memorable event. After spending an evening with some old friends in their swank house in the Albuquerque suburbs (thanks Diandro and Joe) we hit Santa Fe in the mid afterbnoon on the 5th and headoud toward the park with 30,000 other people to get tickets and T-Shirts before the event started (and had to bear with a god-awful pop punk band that was playing on stage in the process). With that done (and more than a few bar sittings) we met up with Shaunti and Shoshauna from Fields of Shit and Oakland residents Cindy and Micki (tatoo artist extrordinaire) who had driven in the night before to hang out with Pat Grimple (Actually he's now in Watch them Die, check them out ASAP). So after a brief reunion about a mile from the park grounds one of our subgroups left to get some liquor outside of the fairgrounds because liquor is banned from the actual park grounds (which caused repeated ire among some of us all evening, well I was upset at least...). 6 bars later we headed up the long walk, past the lunatic Potters House people (a fringe Christian organization that was well-behaved this year after nearly starting many riots in years past) and the small army of police who didn't seem to quite know what was going on for much of the time (more on this later).

We get to the park and see the sea of people who had come in for ZOZOBRA and were pretty awstruck. 30,000 people (not including the people outside the grounds) is a daunting force to be confronted with, especially when they're all chanting in unison and in lively spirits, all anticipating the destruction of what is aptly named as "Old Man Gloom". Somehow we managed to catch up with all the local peeps who we knew and more who we had just met and wandered around the heinous crowd of people until the spectacle truely began.

And then it started. the humungous figure of ZOZOBRA started moving and groaning with background music that suspiciously sounded like Lustmord in a particularly torturous evening, as his moans and groans got louder and louder suddenly a huge amount of ghostly figures appeared on the horrizion. As if sensing what was about to happen, ZOZOBRA's eyes began to move around as if searching for a way out of the complex, but by now he was surrounded by (I think) 15 fire dancers who kept him from abandoning his perch and ensnared him with their spellbinding dance of future doom...

Finally the head fire dancer appeared and heralded the finalle of the evening by initiating a half-hour fireworks display that seriously rivaled any 4th of July spectacle that I've ever seen. Meanwhile the captivated audience's cries of "Burn Him, Burn Him" grew to near thunderous levels, as did the moans and groans of ZOZOBRA and the tumultuous musical playing in the background. Suddenly there seemed to be a pause of sorts as the head fire dancer in his long red robes lit the death fire for Old Man Gloom, and suddenly the horizion was lit up with a spectacular bright fire that ringed the monstorous effigy as with a life of it's own. It hit a certain point and the entire complex went apeshit with relief as ZOZOBRA flailed around, as if to combat his impending doom, trying to ward off the fires with his cavernous yells of dismay at such a public display of distain for his dark powers. And suddenly it was over as the flames licked the bottom of his skirt, ZOZOBRA's head exploded with a thunderclap of fireworks and as if in a dream his body fell away into the nebulous ether that is nighttime in Santa Fe. Phew.

Then tghey started playing some god-awful reggae music and the masses scrambled to get away from the smell of patchouli and to the thousands of parties that surround the parkgrounds. It was fucking great (although the cops were very poorly trained in crowd control).

Afterward, in lieu of going to any parties with Dutch and Sonny from the now-defunct Word Salad we opted to dine and dash the Cowgirl Hall of Fame and then go get some much needed sleep before hanging out at the Santa Fe Fiesta the next day. If you want to hear how great that was, buy me or Yarra du Jour a drink sometime and we'll tell you all about it. I will say that I will never use Travelocity to book another trip.

View the Zozobra pictures here: http://www.atakra.com/pictures/zozobraweb02/

August 31st, Fracas at Molotov's...