pop culcha: BohoBlog, North Bay Bohemian

The Very First Super Bowl, 1967

Gabe Meline — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 09:37:36 -0800

The Super Bowl hasn't meant much to me since the Niners' domination of the game in the 1980s. Yes, I was ten.…

Burton Delivers with 'Alice in Wonderland'

admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:00:00 -0800

By Morgan Carvajal

If you think you remember the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit or the disappearing Chesire Cat from Disney’s Classic Alice and Wonderland, get ready to see them in a new theatrical light. This once bright and cheerful film has found a new delightfully gloomy vision and tone with director Tim Burton.…

Sonoma County Poet Laureate Named

Gretchen Giles — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:00:00 -0800

From the Sebastopol Center for the Arts press release:

photo by Rob Catterton

Sonoma County’s Sixth Poet Laureate Chosen

The newly selected Sonoma County Poet Laureate for 2010-2011 is Gwynn O'Gara of Sebastopol. Gwynn is a lifetime poet, and has been a teacher for California Poets in the Schools since 1989.…

Win Tix! East Village Opera Company

Gretchen Giles — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 04:00:00 -0800

The East Village Opera Company puts a decidedly modern spin on classic operatic tropes by putting a full rock band onstage with an accompanying string quartet and just two singers. They appear on Wednesday, Nov. 19, at the Wells Fargo Center and we have a couple of tickets to give away.…

The Handcar Regatta: Hell Yeah, Brother

Gabe Meline — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 04:00:00 -0700

The bottom line is that I didn’t run into anyone at yesterday’s Handcar Regatta who was lukewarm about the absolutely awesome craziness going on all around them. No one said, “Oh, yeah, this is OK.” No one said, “I guess this is all right.”

No, everyone I talked to pretty much gushed gleefully that the Handcar Regatta is the most amazingly cool thing that Santa Rosa has seen in years and years.…

F*ck Section M, Revisited

Sara Sanger — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 04:00:00 -0700

For the September 10th issue of the Bohemian, I wrote an article about the background of Section M magazine, which covered the North Bay music scene in the late 1990s and early 2000s. As a former Section M staffer, I took pains to remain objective and not come off as as a nostalgia-drunk painter of sunny rainbows and pretty pink ponies.…

Ice Cube – The Fillmore, San Francisco, August 26, 2008

David Sason — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 04:00:00 -0700

A full 20 years after Straight Outta Compton, actor, director and gangsta-rap sage Ice Cube can still make your body and mind rock. While it wasn’t a sold-out show, the Tuesday night crowd at the Fillmore thoroughly enjoyed the hour-long set surprisingly filled with just a few hits from Cube’s rich catalog.…

Taste3 2008

Gretchen Giles — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 04:00:00 -0700

Having just completed its third year, Taste3 remains a dynamite event high on the list of food and wine professionals with an interest in the arts. Founded by the dynamic Margrit Mondavi, above, and underwritten by the Robert Mondavi Winery, Taste3 is a three-day conference in line with the invitation-only TED conferences that sparkle the lives of such lucky thinkers as the Google staff.…

The Police / Elvis Costello & the Imposters – Sleep Train Pavilion, July 16, 2008

David Sason — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:00:00 -0700

If someone were to emerge from a coma after 25 years under, they may have thought no time had passed considering the lineup at Concord’s Sleep Train Pavilion on Wednesday night. That is if they ignored the grey hair (or disappearance of hair) and the relative pudginess of The Police and Elvis Costello.…

New Releases of Old Stuff: David Bowie, Sonic Youth

David Sason — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 04:00:00 -0700

David Bowie - Live Santa Monica '72

Since we’re in the middle of the longest hiatus David Bowie has ever had, it’s a perfect time for the release of Live Santa Monica ‘72. This excellent live document is from his first-ever American tour, promoting his glam-rock classic The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars.…

Stevie Wonder at the Shoreline Amphitheatre - July 5, 2008

David Sason — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 04:00:00 -0700

After a near-decade hiatus from touring, Stevie Wonder rolled into the Bay Area for the second time in under a year, this time bringing his acclaimed A Wonder Summer’s Night to Mountain View. While not as life-affirming as last August’s powerhouse performance in Concord (where I actually got choked up only a few seconds into opener “Love’s In Need Of Love Today”), Saturday’s show proved the eighth wonder of the world is still the most solid, enjoyable, cross-generational, and most worth-the-expensive-ass-ticket-price of any of the nostalgia acts in rock n’ roll.…

Futura Bold Oblique

Gabe Meline — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:00:00 -0700

Haight & Shrader, San Francisco:

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R.E.M. Play College, Rock

David Sason — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 04:00:00 -0700

R.E.M., Modest Mouse and The National – Greek Theatre, UC Berkeley, Saturday, May 31, 2008

One of the season’s most impressive tour lineups–R.E.M., Modest Mouse and The National–made its way through UC Berkeley’s Greek Theatre last weekend with two packed shows that could’ve been billed as “Three Generations of College Rock.”

Brooklyn wonders The National kicked off the festivities Saturday while still light out but amid a chilly wind that befitted their moody compositions. It was clear from the over-3/4-full house they drew that last year’s Boxer album extended far beyond critics’ best-of lists, with the piano intro to “Fake Empire” immediately drawing rapturous cheers.…

I Lost Me To Meth Because I'm Gay

Gabe Meline — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 04:00:00 -0700

I've seen this commercial four or five times now, and it still bothers me. Since when did meth become a "gay drug"? Since when did it become okay for PSAs to single out one group and align it and it alone with a drug that has, for years, been widely abused by everyone from all walks of life?

I first saw it on Bravo, which has been airing the totally awesome gay Levi's commercials.…

So Ya Wanna Be a Derby Girl?

Gretchen Giles — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 04:00:00 -0700

colinmichaelphoto.comBefore investing in that first pair of fishnets or even learning how to skate, the first thing to do, of course, is to get a kick-ass roller derby name. Bohemian contributor Maully the Jackel (known more familiarly as Molly T. Jackel) researched the derby names in current use and got hooked on the puns and fun involved in renaming yourself as a tuff chick.…

We’re R.E.M. – Remember?

David Sason — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 04:00:00 -0700

Most reviews of R.E.M.'s new album Accelerate either celebrate a rocking, political "return to form" or criticize a safe, self-conscious attempt to recapture the adoration of the masses a la U2. Both viewpoints have their merit, but in a purely aesthetic sense, the 34-minute album is truly enjoyable, especially following two near-slogging records.…

UA 5, 1997

Gabe Meline — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 04:00:00 -0700

It may not have been very glamorous, but the old UA 5 on Mendocino Avenue for many years was Santa Rosa's premier movie theater. From the first movie I ever saw there (Three Amigos, if memory serves) to the hog-wild, anarchistic Midnight Movies of 2001 (Blazing Saddles, A Clockwork Orange, I was always too drunk to remember any others), it seemed, to those of us who grew up in a certain era, that UA 5 would never, ever die.…

Funny Games Indeed

Gabe Meline — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 04:00:00 -0700

The employees at the Rialto were up to some shenanigans of their own tonight for the 9:30 showing of Funny Games, in which Naomi Watts and Tim Roth are tormented for a couple hours, mentally and physically, by two boys dressed in New England tennis attire—white sweaters, polo shirts, shorts, and gloves. I could go on and on about the film, but I won't give away too much, except to say that a golf ball plays a recurring role.…

Annie Leibovitz at the Legion of Honor

Gabe Meline — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 04:00:00 -0700

I wasn’t planning on stopping by the Annie Leibovitz exhibit at the Legion of Honor, A Photographer’s Life: 1990-2005, but I’m glad I did, if only to now have the authority to say that I shouldn’t have. It’s a very personal collection, burdened with the weight of death, and though there might have been some emotional strength that went into its assemblage—at least in the many photos of her dying father, her dying lover, and the birth and growth of her two children—I was neither wowed by its artistic merit nor moved by its naked storytelling.…

Crappy Little Pill--More Bad 13 Challenge

Sara Sanger — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 04:00:00 -0700

So I think I'd rather hear Xoshi Lubin's expertly assembled Bad 13 Challenge entry again than spend another second on fucking WordPress (why is it so crummy when other blogging platforms are so easy to use? Why am I punished for using a PC?) But maybe not. I don't think I could ever listen to that Yin Yang Twins song again. THE WORST by Xoshi Lubin

Stomach Cramps-King Missile

Prince of Arabia-The Toy Box

Tell Me About the Forest (You Once Called Home)-Dead Can Dance

You Oughta Know-Alanis Morissette

I'll Make a Man Out of You-Donny Osmond & Chorus (from Mulan)

What Went Wrong-The Moldy Peaches

I Believe-Stephen Gately

Disney's The Devil-Sexually Transmitted People

Blitzkreig Bop-Rob Zombie

Seconds-Le Tigre

La La-Ashlee Simpson

Wait (The Whisper Song)-Ying Yang Twins

Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now-The Smiths

Xoshi's brilliant plan of attack (or at least as I see it) was to zero in on pop songs by artists who take themselves way, way too seriously.…

William Hung: Bad, Not Bad Enough

Sara Sanger — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 04:00:00 -0800

Thanks to Annabelle King, whose Bad 13 Challenge entry spans the overplayed, thehighly obsucre, and the sucky-under-any-circumstance. The Terrible Thirteen by Annabelle King

Jailhouse Rock—Eilert Pilarm

Paralyzed—The Legendary Stardust Cowboy

Lullabye—Shawn Mullins

She Bangs—William Hung

Tiger Roach—Frank Zappa

Now That I’m a Woman—Mia Farrow

Ich Bin’Ne Bitch—Lady Bitch Ray

Rock’N Roll McDonald’s—Wesley Willis

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.—A-Ha

Dead Puppies—Dr. Demento

Mr. Snuggles—The Bram Flakes

Gretchen’s New Dish—Dick Kent

Big Girls Don’t Cry—Edith Massey

Eilert Pilarm is a Swedish Elvis impersonator. He is not a very good one, either.I don’t watch television, so I hadn’t heard William Hung before.…

Becoming Independent takes over the A Street Gallery

Gretchen Giles — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 04:00:00 -0800

It’s official. Beginning March 1, Becoming Independent, the nonprofit that serves some 1,110 developmentally disabled adults in the North Bay, is the proud new owner of what has been the A Street Gallery in Santa Rosa.…

What's Up @ State U.

Jonah Raskin — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 04:00:00 -0800

"Hey, dude you look like a pimp in those sunglasses." Welcome to Sonoma State University, Spring 2008 semester.…

The Winter Anti-Movie Guide

Jeff Stark — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 04:00:00 -0800

Film critics typically publish a Summer Movie Guide, a Fall Movie Guide, perhaps a Holiday Movie Guide…and then these ubiquitous guides conspicuously go into hibernation for the next few months. There is a definite reason for this; winter is typically regarded by all as a dead time at the megaplex.…

Remember Falco

Sara Sanger — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 04:00:00 -0800

Today I am listening to the Bad 13 Challenge entries. A propos of nothing, Falco (the Austrian popster best known for 1986's "Rock Me, Amadeus") popped into my mind.…