What's Better Than Free Jazz?

FREE free jazz in Golden Gate Park. Tomorrow (Saturday, May, 27, 2006) at 12 noon, there’s a show in The Park featuring Murder Murder, Weasel Walter/William Winant/Josh Allen Trio and Sword and Sandals. There’s also BBQ, although I’m not sure if the eats are free, or you’re supposed to bring your own, or what. Just head over to the Golden Gate Park trail near Fulton + 11th and listen for the freeness.

Loads of Lenode Back Online and... On the Radio?!?!?

I know, I know. I promised regular posting. What’s been keeping me away:

(1) Some heavy family stuff
(2) My new DJ gig over at KUSF

I did my first shift last Sunday, from 12 a.m. to 3 a.m., and I’ve got another one coming up this Sunday at the same time. To give you an idea of what I played: free-folk, psychedelic stoner rock, experimental jazz, ambient, good old fashioned indie rock, etc. etc. etc. More details in the Sunday section.

Thursday… Didn’t get your ticket to see Beck’s sold out show at the Fillmore? Or perhaps you traded it for a ticket to one of the sold out Radiohead shows? Either way, I can offer up one suggestion: Indie pop from Thee More Shallows, screaming heavy rock (with organ) from The Mall and Anticon DJ Odd Nosdam filling in the blanks. At $8 in advance or $10 at the door, it’ll be probably be a little cheaper than buying a Beck ticket outside the Fillmore, although the Beckstravaganza is worth a hefty cover charge, in this man’s humble opinion. Plus, Jamie Lidell is opening, and he puts on a very entertaining show in which he samples himself beatboxing and making a variety of noises and incorporates that into his pre-progammed beats over which he sings. Good stuff, good stuff. Too bad it’s sold out. And

Friday… If you’ve never seen Jurassic 5 do their thing live before and have $40 burning a hole in your pocket, I have a treat for you: They’re playing at the Mezzanine along with Dilated Peoples, The Beat Junkies, Supernatural and DJ set from Shortkut Cut Chemist. That there’s quite the hip hop lineup. If you’re looking to spend less money on cover ($8) and on drinks (I forget how much a beer will run you at Mezzanine, but I’m sure it’s more than they’ll be at this show), you could head on over to the Hemlock and see some Brits doing country in the form of The Country Teasers. Openers E-Zee Tiger & 16 Bitch Pile Up will get the weekend started right with danceable psych noise rock and just plain noise, respectively.

Saturday… Didn’t get your ticket to see Mogwai’s sold out show at the Fillmore? Or perhaps you traded it for a ticket to see Beck’s sold out show which you traded for a ticket to see one of thee sold out Radiohead shows? If you pulled that one off, I’ve got good news and bad news. Which do you want first? Bad news? The bad news is that when I saw Mogwai a few weeks ago, they fucking ruled. Which was refreshing because the previous time I’d seen them they had disappointed. Not this time. They post-rocked my freaking socks off. So quiet, so loud, then so quiet again, then so loud again. Now for the good news: You’ve got Radiohead tickets and you can decide whether to see the show or sell the tickets on eBay and make like a 5,000% profit. That’s about all the good news I’ve got, though, since even folks that are going to Mogwai can make the only show I’m posting about on Saturday. Its Peanut Butter Wolf playing a free set from 6:30 to 7:30 over at Canvas Gallery out in the Inner Sunset. This guy’s vinyl weighs a ton. Or so he claims. But he did drop a kick ass mixtape called “My Vinyl Weighs a Ton” and he does know how to rock a party.

Sunday… I cannot in good faith advise you to go out on Sunday night, because then you might miss my show. Actually, I just don’t have anything to suggest for you. So get your BBQ on, get your drink on, and then get your caffeine on so you can stay up ‘til 3 a.m. and hear my show in its entirety. Don’t forget: 12:00 a.m. Sunday night/Monday morning on KUSF 90.3 FM or you can listen on iTunes in the Radio – Public section.

Wednesday… Great show at Great American: Mono/Pelican co-headline with Tarentel opening. If you missed the Mogwai show, you’ve got another chance to post-rock out with your post-cock out: Mono. The Japanese quartet like to start there songs very, very soft and let them grow very, very loud. Think more My Bloody Valentine style sheets of sound, especially in the live setting. Pelican does beautiful, instrumental metal with post-rock influences. Local rock group Tarentel has done a very different set every time I’ve seen them ranging from harsh noise rock to mellow experimental rock, but its always been good. I think I’ll probably bust out a set on my show with these three artists to get you all worked up for the show.

Twonight: Twosday: Two Shows

On Tuesday, starting the evening over at Bottom of the Hill is experimental instrumental electro rock group Octopus Project out of Austin. Not only one of the many highlights of my SXSW experience, but considered by many folks I know to be the best band in Austin these days. Note: The played Coachella because they won a contest on Myspace based on people voting for their favorite up and coming band. $8 in advance and $10 at the door. If your feeling like spending a little more money, you could head over to the Great American Music Hall with yours truly and check out Slow Music, a collective experimentation in ambient music involving Peter Buck (R.E.M. guitarist), Fred Chalenor, Matt Chamberlain, Robert Fripp (King Crimson guitarist), Bill Rieflin (ex-Ministry/current R.E.M. drummer) & Hector Zazou. Read more about it here. Then you can decide is you want to shell out $25 for this likely one-time show.

Things seem to slow down a bit after tonight (halle-fucking-lujah, since tonight will be my 6th night out in a row) , with the only exception being lo-fi indie psych-popsters Elf Power playing Café Du Nord on Friday. But that doesn’t mean you can rest easy. Radiohead tickets for the Greek go on sale this Sunday and will surely sell out extremely quickly. They are shooting for intimate on this tour – playing smaller venues, cutting back on the light/video show and performing mostly new material. Don’t sleep on those if you want to go. Oh, and the Mission Creek Music Festival starts this Sunday and brings us over a week of great music, mostly rock and experimental. More on that later when I provide you with my picks.

here

Who Feels Like a Quickie?

I do:

As for Thursday, Cat Power and the Memphis Rhythm Band perform tonight at the Palace of Fine Arts. Despite all the negative reviews I had heard of Chan Marshall’s live performances, she seemed confident and put on what I discerned through my pounding headache to be a beautiful show on Saturday night at the festival. The early show at 6:30 p.m. at the Hemlock features Joe Morris, Henry Kaiser, Damon Smith and Weasel Walter, all respected improvisers on their own, performing some collective improvisational experiments.

Friday night, over in Berkeley at 924 Gilman, you can check out a rare live performance from local experimental jazz grindcore band Total Shutdown. In the city on Friday, Still Flyin’, a reggae group composed of local indie rock musicians, plays the Hemlock, and from everything I’ve heard (which is reviews from a number of sources) they are supposed to be great fun.