2002

The Blind Boys Of Alabama, The Spirit Of The Century Band, Fillmore, SF, Fri., January 11

SETLIST : Good Religion, (unknown), Run Along For A Long Time, Nobody’s Fault But Mine, (unknown), (unknown), Give A Man A Home, Motherless Child, Amazing Grace, Way Down In The Hole, If I Had A Hammer, Across The Bridge, Do Lord, (unknown), What A Friend We Have In Jesus, Someone Watching Over Me, (unknown), The Last Time

It was a genuine relief to put that dreadful year of 2001 behind me and I found it spiritually nourishing to begin the new one with The Blind Boys Of Alabama. I had first witnessed this veteran gospel act alongside John Fogerty from Credence Clearwater Revival at The Fillmore in ’97 and could immediately see why the honor was all John’s to have them on the bill. Even the most cynical atheist would have found it difficult not to bust out a soul clap during one of their sets and rest assured, there were many doing just that for this one, myself included.  Founded in 1939, this venerable cast of soulful singers had been singing the good Lord’s word, but had recently found new notoriety with their albums “Spirit Of The Century” the year before this and their new one,“Higher Ground”. They changed the lyrics of that title track originally penned by Stevie Wonder from “Lovers, keep on loving” to “Prayers, keep on praying”, though they didn’t perform it that night. Both albums were critical and commercial successes and would win them back to back Grammies for Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album. 

Later that year, their cover of Tom Waits’ “Down In The Hole” would be used for the theme song for the first season of a little TV show called “The Wire”… perhaps you’ve heard of it. Unlike “Higher Ground”, they would perform that cover at that show about halfway through their set. Also, in 2002, they would play on the steps in front of The Library Of Congress in Washington D.C. and at The White House and though they had the indignity of doing it for George W. Bush, one could argue that it was OK since they couldn’t see him and maybe didn’t know. Incidentally, two days after this show, W nearly choked to death on a pretzel, but unfortunately only fainted. Regardless, they performed for Clinton and Obama too, while their extensive work supporting the civil right movement gave them more than enough liberal street cred. By this time, the only founding members, who were indeed blind, were Clarence Fountain and George Scott and they along with the other singers were ably backed up by The Spirit Of The Century band. That ensemble included such respected hippie and blues artists as guitarists John Hammond and David Lindley, as well as Charlie Musselwhite, the harmonica virtuoso. 

I like any band that employs a steel pedal guitar, one of sweetest sounding instruments ever invented, and the guy they had on theirs that night played it masterfully. The crowd was boisterous and clapped along through most songs in their set, especially cheering when one of them would hit a long note to finish songs like “Amazing Grace”, “If I Had A Hammer”, and the aforementioned “Down In The Hole”. Like they did with Fogerty four years before, they paired the lyrics of “Amazing Grace” to the melody of “House Of The Rising Sun”, possibly the most brilliant mash up ever conceived. The Blind Boys were generous allowing the band some solos at the end of the night, including the lead guitarist doing a little riff from the theme song of “The Andy Griffith Show”. Clarence made sure to introduce everybody and joked about George, “He can’t see your smile, ‘cus he’s like me, but he can hear your noise!” They finished the night with a gospel version of “The Last Time” by the Rolling Stones, a poignant one to do for men of their advanced age. There wasn’t a poster that night, but they got one when they performed again at The Fillmore the following year, though I missed that one. Thankfully, I got to see them one more time only eight months later when they did a free in-store performance at Virgin Megastore. 

https://archive.org/details/blind-boys-of-alabama-fillmore-11102

Bryan Adams, Fillmore, SF, Sun., January 13

SETLIST : Back To You, House Arrest, 18 Till I Die, Can’t Stop This Thing We Started, Summer Of ’69, It’s Only Love, Thought I Died & Gone To Heaven, (Everything I Do) I Do It For You, Cuts Like A Knife, This Time, Please Forgive Me, When You’re Gone, Into The Fire, I’m Ready, Heaven, One Night Love Affair, Take Me Back, The Only Thing That Looks Good One Me Is You, (encore), Cloud #9, Somebody, Run To You, The Best Of Me, The Way You Make Me Feel

Though I wasn’t a fan of Bryan Adams before that show, I and everybody else alive with ears in the 1980’s was intimately familiar with all his greatest hits. His catchy songs and boyish good looks led many a teenage girl to adorn their bedroom walls with his Canadian tuxedo clad visage, including Jenny Roth, the elder sister of one my best friends and a girl I had a crush on since I was a boy. Actually, I’m pretty sure my own sister Erica had his picture up in her room sometime back then as well. Anyway, that was then and by this time, Bryan was in his early 40’s and it had been some time since his youthful heyday. Smart aleck that I am, I admit that before the show began, I couldn’t help thinking of and blurting out the line, “The Canadian government has repeatedly apologized for Bryan Adams!” from the 1999 animated film comedy “South Park : Bigger, Longer, & Uncut”. All kidding aside, as an American, I still was obliged to admire him for being rich, having sold at least 75 million records while also winning a Grammy, five Golden Globe and three Oscar nominations, as well as numerous stars on various walks of fame. 

It was just an evening with Mr. Adams, so I was cut from ushering early, making it a very easy night. All the girls wanted to cram up front to be as close as possible to that dreamboat hoser anyway, so keeping the area around the soundboard clear was a breeze. The show was introduced by a young woman, a DJ from Star 101.3, who thanked us for being there and mentioned an offer for to win a trip to Hawaii the following morning. Right off the bat I was impressed that it was just him on bass, accompanied by a guitarist and drummer, a bone fide power trio, and a few bars into their first song, I knew these guys were tight. Bryan later introduced himself and them as “the incredible Mickey Curry” on drums and “on lead guitar & vocals… (pauses for a couple yeahs! from the audience)… ladies & gentlemen, the sensational Keith Scott!” Both have them had played with Bryan for decades, Keith since the very beginning, and both have backed up a laundry list of other who’s who in the music business over the years. I was impressed and he certainly had no trouble getting the crowd to sing along to “Summer of ’69”, not to mention sing along to pretty much all of the old hits he played that night. 

Afterwards, he said, “Thank you very much. I can’t believe in all the years that I’ve been singing and playing, I’ve never played here before. I guess I should apologize cus’ it’s about freakin’ time, eh? I guess we got some catching up to do. In fact, I have to really… Yeah, I know. I can’t even remember the last time I played San Francisco, ’92 or something like that…. Memory loss… I think it’s because of some herbal vibe going on up in the front row here. If I drift off into a jam, you’ll understand why. Here’s a song that’s 10 years old and we’re going to play it for you just how we wrote it because we don’t have a keyboard player” and then they did “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You”. That song as you might remember was made famous and earned him one of his Oscar nominations from the Kevin Costner action film, “Robin Hood : Prince Of Thieves”. My wife loves that movie. One of his female admirers up front made some sort of proposal to him after that song to which he simply replied, “I’m married” and went on to describe working on the next song with Joe Cocker, he “being one of my heroes. It was going to be a rare privilege for me. As a kid, I used to listen to his records. Next thing you know, he’s doing my song which is pretty nice… I’m not going to do my Joe Cocker impression… You gotta get me loaded first”. 

Afterwards, he had the lights turned on, ordering, “Illuminate the people!… I want someone to come sing with me on this song. Hang on, don’t get excited until you know what the song is. It’s called ‘When You’re Gone’… If you know it, stick your hand up!” One of those young ladies up in the front was brought up on stage and her name was Christina from Sacramento, a student there at Sierra College, and when he asked what she was studying, she replied “Probation”. Bryan laughed and said, “All I ever did in school was probation… You know the words? You’re confident you know the words?… Tell you what, if you don’t know the words, I’ve got one word for you… Probation”. It got a laugh, but she insisted she knew them and they started the song. Indeed, she knew the lyrics well, so well that Bryan let her take a few lines of it all by her lonesome. She sung flat as hell, but the tonal quality almost made her sound like Exene Cervenka from X doing a minor key harmony of some kind. Bryan thanked her when the song was over and told her to “go see the boys and they’ll give you and your friends some shirts”. 

They went on to do a couple acoustic numbers from his “MTV Unplugged” album which featured the “Spanish guitar stylings of Keith Scott”.Like I said, I knew all the hits and though some were a touch on the cheesy side, I couldn’t help but reluctantly appreciate when he did “Run To You” during the encore. It’s a pretty solid rock song. By the time he wrapped up, he and the band had clocked in a respectable 2 hours and 10 minute set, longer than I expected. They had a pretty good poster for this one too and being January, it was a cartoon of a couple in a red car with skis, a dog, and the license plate “WINTR69”, driving though snow capped mountains. It helped to make up for the absence of one at the Blind Boys Of Alabama show two nights there before this one. 

And though this would be the only time I’ve seen him play, I distinctly remember a dust up that happened later that October at former Whiskeytown frontman Ryan Adams’ show in Nashville. Some stupid drunk yelled out “Summer Of ’69” during a acapella song he was doing with Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings. Ryan flipped his lid, swore a bunch, ordered the house lights on, found the guy, and had him thrown out, his $30 for the price of his ticket refunded. I had seen this Mr. Adams perform with Whiskeytown also at The Fillmore three years before this and he had a bit of a tizzy fit at that one as well, though not as dramatic, but this further solidified Ryan’s reputation for being a hothead. Anyway, turns out the two Adams’ are friends now and Ryan actually played “Summer Of ’69” at one of his shows in 2015 at that very same venue in Nashville. 

https://archive.org/details/bryan-adams-fillmore-11302

The Charlatans UK, Petrol, Starsailor – Fillmore, SF, Tues., January 15

SETLISTS :

(PETROL) : (1st set) (unknown), Red Balloon, Cruel To Be Kind, (2nd set) (unknown), Lineman Of The County, I Was Only Joking, Angie

(STARSAILOR) : Poor Misguided Fool, Alcoholic, Fever, Way To Fall, Lullaby, Love Is Here, Tie Up My Hands, Good Souls

(THE CHARLATANS UK) : Love Is The Key, Judas, Tellin’ Stories, (unknown), You’re So Pretty We’re So Pretty, Weirdo, How High, (encore), Forever, And If I Fall, Sproston Green

Every now and then a band comes up with a name for itself that is so good that it should come to no surprise that it had been already taken. Such was the case with The Charlatans, who once confronted with the fact that they chosen the name previously claimed by the renowned San Francisco “western swing” hippie act, simply tagged on “UK” on the end of it. Problem solved. The band Suede, a fellow late 80’s/early 90’s Britpop band, had to change their name to “The London Suede” for the same reason. In a strange coincidence, Dan Hicks, former founding member of the elder Charlatans had just celebrated his 60th birthday with a cavalcade of hippie all-stars, including a couple of founding Charlatans, at The Warfield six weeks before this show. And if the younger Charlatans required yet one more reminder that Dan and his buddies got the name first, an old picture of the elder Charlatans, dressed in their turn of the century vintage finery, was there hanging in the lobby of The Fillmore for them to see before their performance and remains there to this very day. And as I said before in my review of the Dan Hicks show, despite it being obvious that no one would ever confuse the two acts be it from their musical styles, choices in clothing, or the decades which they were in their heyday, all would certainly agree that The Charlatans is a good name for a band.

That being said, though I was familiar with the younger Charlatans, this would be the first and only time I’d be seeing them perform live. Hailing from the Midlands/Northwich area near Manchester where many Britpop bands had been hatched, The Charlatans UK had been making music for years, going through a few line up changes, and had just released their “Wonderland” album the previous September. They had recorded it just down the road in L.A., ingesting so much cocaine in the process that their dealer had shacked up with them, taking residence on their sofa. The Charlatans UK would also release “Songs From The Other Side” later that year, a collection of live tracks and B-sides. Though I had seen many of their contemporaries during that time, like I said, this would be the only occasion that I would see The Charlatans UK perform live, as well as their opening act that night, Starsailor, though they both still continue to make music and tour. 

Starsailor was relatively new, having only been formed in 2000 and put out their debut album “Love Is Here” the previous October. They named themselves after an album Tim Buckley put out in 1970. Fun fact, their follow up album, “Silence Is Easy”, would be the final album that veteran music producer Phil Spector would work on before he was arrested for murder. It should come to no surprise that Starsailor found him difficult to work with to say the least and only two tracks that Phil had leant his hand to would actually make it to the album. The band’s frontman, James Walsh, would also have a tussle with another psychopath in the music business, Noel Gallagher from Oasis. After calling Noel a “cock” in an interview with NME, Noel confronted him at the “T In The Park” festival, had their row which Noel later commented that it “was the most fun Walsh has had in his life”. Thankfully, they kissed and made up at the Glastonbury Festival in 2004.

One band that I had seen before and would see again at Slim’s with Persephone’s Bees only three months after this show was Petrol, a local indy rock group that was playing in the poster room that night. Like most poster room acts, they had stripped down to play acoustic, being just the guitarist, the bass player, and for a couple numbers, a female back up singer. They dusted off a few recognizable covers for their sets, doing “Cruel To Be Kind” by Nick Lowe before the show started. Then between main stage acts, they played “Lineman Of The County” which their singer described as “a song made famous by Glen Campbell… We’re going to make it infamous now”. Petrol rounded out their last set with “Angie” by the Rolling Stones. They were a good band and like the other bands on the bill that night, certainly looked the part with their Britpop fashion sense and hairstyles. Incidentally, like The Charlatans, Petrol was also another name that others lay claim to including a Britpop cover band in South Shore, Massachusetts as well as a psychedelic rock trio from Belgrade, Serbia. 

Before Starsailor began, I overheard myself on the tape telling someone about my encounter with HR, the singer from Bad Brains, when I recorded him at Maritime Hall. It’s one of my go-to rock & roll stories and if you’ve heard it from me before, either reading it here or hearing it from me personally, bear with me. Basically, the notoriously mercurial singer was on his good pills that night and after their show at the Maritime, he gave me a long hug, resting his head on my shoulder, embracing me for what felt like an eternity. Afterwards, he even offered the guys on stage to help sweep up. Anyway, James and the band got the night underway beginning their set with “Poor Misguided Fool” and I have to say that he had a powerful singing voice, a tremolo not too dissimilar from Thom Yorke’s from Radiohead. A couple songs later, he asked us, “How is everybody?… Very well, thank you. You bought the record? If you don’t like it, give it a few months. It’s a bit of a grower” and then they did “Fever”. Afterwards, he asked us if we liked the shirt drummer Ben Byrne was wearing. Someone in the crowd requested a Strokes song, but James countered, “I’m not going to do another Strokes cover until they do one of our songs”.

The Charlatans UK began their set with a new song called “Love Is The Key”, their frontman Tim Burgess singing it in a rather eerie falsetto. He did that for a few of the other new ones, perhaps channeling his inner Bee Gee’s, a stylistic choice that drew criticism from some of their long time fans. Still, we got to hear at least four new tunes that night, though I can’t say for sure since I missed recording a few in the middle, making my recounting of their setlist a bit incomplete. Sorry about that, but I got most of it. The good news is that they gave us a pretty impressive poster for the show at the end of the night. I liked it so much, it actually was on the short list to be framed and put up on my wall at home when I recently moved to Alameda. It didn’t make the cut, but just as well. The clown on it might have creeped out my wife and future houseguests. Personally, I’m not afraid of clowns, what shrinks call coulrophobia, the total opposite in fact. When I see a clown, I impulsively have the urge to brutally attack it, but that’s another story.

https://archive.org/details/petrol-fillmore-11502

https://archive.org/details/starsailor-fillmore-11502

https://archive.org/details/the-charlatans-uk-fillmore-11502

Judas Priest, Anthrax – Warfield, SF, Sat., January 19

SETLISTS :

(ANTHRAX) : Among The Living, Got The Time, Fueled, Inside Out, Room For One More, Superhero, Antisocial, Caught In A Mosh, Bring The Noise, Only

(JUDAS PREIST) : Metal Gods, Heading Out To The Highway, A Touch Of Evil, Blood Stained, Victim Of Changes, One On One, Diamonds & Rust, The Green Manalishi (With The Two Prong Crown), Beyond The Realms Of Death, Burn In Hell, Hell Is Home, Breaking The Law, Desert Plains, Turbo Lover, Painkiller, (encore), The Hellion, Electric Eye, United, Living After Midnight, (encore), Hell Bent For Leather

Though I wasn’t much of a metal fan growing up, as a boy, even I knew of the dreaded boogyman known as Judas Priest. Named after the song “The Ballad Of Frankie Lee & Judas Priest” by Bob Dylan, an artist firmly not associated with heavy metal, Judas Priest had been causing fretful conservatives far and wide to clutch their pearls in terror since 1969. And though I had never seen these leather clad metal pioneers, I had seen their once and future frontman Rob Halford when he played with his side project, Fight, at The Fillmore in 1995. Priest had famously enlisted a new singer by the name of Tim “Ripper” Owens, who had replaced Rob in ’96, much to the dismay of the band’s elder fan base. Though Ripper was no slouch, having sung in a Judas Priest cover band of his own as well as later for both Iced Earth and Yngwie Malmsteen’s Rising Force, clearly he had some big spiked metal studded leather boots to fill. Incidentally, Iced Earth was also originally listed on the bill for this show, but for some reason they weren’t there. This was Priest’s “Demolition” tour, promoting the new album that had just come out that July, the second and final one with Ripper before Rob rejoined the band in 2003.

Ripper’s hiring inspired a film called “Rock Star” with Mark Wahlberg that came out the previous September. Mark’s character had been a singer in a Steel Dragon cover band, clearly a knock off of Judas Priest, that had been hired to replace their original lead singer. It had lukewarm reviews and bombed commercially, but at least I believed it reassured us all that after Wahlberg’s hilariously cringe worthy singing in “Boogie Nights”, that Mark can actually sing. Honestly, I think that was half the reason he took the part in the first place, but it turns out his singing voice was actually done by Miljenko Matijevic from Steelheart and Brian Vander Ark from the Verve Pipe. Also, in another borderline parody of Priest, Pat Boone, (yes, THAT Pat Boone), had released an album of metal covers done Branson, Missouri style in 1997 whose opening track was a brilliantly cheesy version of Priest’s “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming”. I love Pat’s album with all my heart and sad to report that they didn’t play that hit song of theirs at this show. Incidentally, Boone not only did a cover of “Holy Diver” on that album, but Ronnie James Dio himself, who I’d see at The Fillmore later that November, graciously sang back up vocals for it. Anyway, I never saw “Rock Star”, so I remain as unfamiliar with the movie as I was with Judas Priest back then. 

But who was there to open was a band I was familiar with and really half the reason I wanted to go to this show, being Anthrax. I had seen them at The Fillmore in 1995 as well as headline a show of their own at The Warfield two years before this. And then there was the Anthrax side project Stormtroopers Of Death who I recorded at Maritime Hall in ’99 who ripped off the video we did and put it out on a DVD without giving me a single line of credit, not to mention one thin dime. My feelings are still hurt from that one, but I digress. A previous tour had been recently planned employing both of Anthrax’s singers, their current singer John Bush and the former one, Joey Belladonna, but that fell apart after their label Beyond Records went out of business. To make matters worse, there were the notorious anthrax attacks shortly after 9/11, prompting them to immediately change their website to display only information about the disease. They joked that they would temporarily change their name to Basket Full Of Puppies until the heat blew over. Addressing the elephant in the room early in their set, John declared, “We are the real Anthrax! Not some fuckin’ letter in the mail!”

Anthrax fans were fortunate that night since VH1, not a TV music channel one associates with metal, was in the house filming their set for an upcoming episode of their “Behind The Music” series. The band came on stage with the song “I Can’t Turn You Loose”, the famous overture of The Blues Brothers playing over the loudspeakers and Dan Ankroyd giving a speech about how modern music was killing real music like R & B. They got the mosh pit whipped up in no time beginning their set with “Among The Living” and following it with their cover of “Got The Time” by Joe Jackson, another artist one doesn’t immediately associate with heavy metal. A few songs in, John announced, “This next song is about having massive heart and massive fuckin’ soul, alright? It’s about being self reliant. Only person who matters most and that’s you fuckin’ self. It’s about being resilient, you know what I’m sayin’, San Francisco?!? It’s about not being intimidated by any motherfucker on this Earth, alright? Do you feel strong, San Francisco?!?… Do you feel strong, San Francisco?!? I wanna feel everything you got here. I wanna feel all your emotions pouring. I want to feel everything coming through… ‘Inside Out’!!!”

A few songs later, they did one for the “old school Anthrax fans”, challenging us to “see if you know your Anthrax history” and they did “Antisocial”. John got the crowd to chant the song’s name at the top of their lungs a few times after they finished too. Guitarist Scott Ian thanked the crowd at the end of their set for helping selling out the show and said “see you next summer with the new record!” The new record, “We Come For You All” wouldn’t actually be released until May of 2003, but better late than never I guess. I would see Anthrax again when they would headline a long bill of other metal acts on a stage built outside of the now defunct venue called The Pound, in January of 2006. I don’t know who’s brilliant idea it was to have an outdoor show that time of year, but The Pound was located next to the piers near Hunter’s Point and it was fucking freezing. But that’s another story. 

Anyway, it had been exactly 20 years since Priest sold out The Warfield for their “British Steel” tour and it was a safe bet that there were some in the audience who had attended that one as well. The show had been originally scheduled to be on September 15th, but had to be postponed obviously because of 9/11. Any doubts I had about Ripper’s pipes were quickly assuaged when I heard him begin the set with “Metal Gods” standing on top of one of the bands comically tall stacks of guitar amps. They followed that with an obscure oldie called “Heading Out To The Highway”. I was especially blown away when Ripper ended “Victim Of Changes” with an awe inspiring, big finish, long note crescendo. Apparently, he auditioned for the band and after singing only a line or two of that song, was hired on the spot. Ripper did a few more big finishes for “Living After Midnight” and “Hell Bent For Leather”. He joked after “Burn In Hell”, “I know I’m going to hell. That’s why I like to sing about it” and then they continued with a new one, though also hell themed called, “Hell Is Home”. They followed that with a golden oldie, Ripper asking, “Do we have any law breakers out there ?!?!? Help me out!” and everybody shouted along with him “Breaking The Law!!!”

After “Turbo Lover”, Ripper joked that “only San Francisco will be slamming” to that song and then they finished their set with “Painkiller”. My batteries quickly ran out during that one, which made me miss “Electric Eye” at the beginning of their first encore, but I replaced them in time to get everything after “United”, an old song they hadn’t played in a long time. They came back out to do the aforementioned “Hell Bent For Leather” for their second encore and left their fans chanting “Priest! Priest! Priest!” It goes without saying that it was an excruciatingly loud concert which left all those unwise enough to not wear earplugs with a painful case of tinnitus, though consequently the tapes came out great. It was a pity that there wasn’t a poster that night, but I’d only have to wait seven short months before they’d return to town to play The Fillmore. 

https://archive.org/details/judas-priest-warfield-11902

https://archive.org/details/anthrax-warfield-11902

Stereophonics, The Fingers, JJ72 – Fillmore, SF, Tues., January 22

SETLISTS : 

(JJ72) : Snow, Formulae, October Swimmer, I Saw A Prayer, (unknown), Brother Sleep, Undercover Angel, Oxygen

(STEREOPHONICS) : Mr. Winter, Vegas Two Times, A Thousand Trees, The Bartender & The Thief, Have A Nice Day, Nice To Be Out, Just Looking, T-Shirt Suntan, Watch Them Fly Sundays, Step On My Old Size Nines, Handbags & Gladrags, Roll Up & Shine, Not Up To You, Local Boy In The Photograph, (encore), Don’t Let Me Down, Everyday I Think Of Money, Rooftop

Every now and then a song comes along that sticks. It sticks and it stays there for all eternity, the kind that moves you no matter the subject matter of the lyrics, the elegance of its composition, or the circumstances of where or when you heard it. Such was the case with “Have A Nice Day”. Stereophonics was just another “sight unseen” show for me, ushering a band out of nonchalant curiosity, but when I heard that song, I was genuinely moved. I can’t rightly say what it was, the simple melody, the everyday narrative in its words, the underlying yearning for connection to people far and wide, I can’t say for sure. Call me sentimental, even call me corny, but when I hear that song, I get misty. It might not do it for you, but I can bet there’s at least one song out there in the world that does or hopefully will some day. 

But back to the show at hand. Stereophonics came from Wales, diligently making music since ’92 and their hard work was finally paying off. Their latest album, “Just Enough Education To Perform” was a hit back home, staying number one on the the charts there for two weeks and going five times platinum. Indeed, they would be the first band to be signed Virgin Records, owned by renowned, billionaire harlequin Richard Branson. Despite all Stereophonic’s undeniable success, leave it to one critic in the Observer Music Monthly named Tony Heyman to cruelly, though eloquently describe their new album as “musical excrement, scooped unhygienically from a poorly maintained squat toilet in an area without adequate sanitation… If the CD wasn’t laminated, the insert booklet could be distributed to third world communities as toilet paper”… Ouch. Well… as Mark “Chopper” Read once said, “Beethoven had his critics too.. See if you can name three of them”.

Opening that night was a band called JJ72 from Dublin, Ireland who after meeting as students at Belvedere College, named their band after a window in one of the campus buildings there that was made out of 72 jelly jars. I was immediately taken aback by the blood curdling, Banshee-like voice of their lead singer, Mark Greaney, and it was no wonder why the band had to take a break earlier the year before when he lost said voice for a while. To make matters worse, around that time, their drummer Fergal Matthews also was injured in a motorcycle accident. Screaming or not, I managed to make out all but one of the songs of their set for the setlist and I admit, they were pretty good. Later in the year, they toured with Suede, but this would be the only time I’d see them live since they broke up in 2006. 

Between sets, their was a band up in the poster room called The Fingers and I managed to catch a few of their songs including one called “I’m The Man”. They were a local act, comprised of a basic acoustic guitar and drum kit combo as many poster room acts are and though I thought they had a good name, I don’t think I ever saw them again. Still, in my research of this show, I learned there was another group called The Fingers who had the distinction of labeling themselves as the first “psychedelic” band in the mid 60’s. If any further proof was needed of their hippie weirdo credentials, they they used to be accompanied by a monkey on stage during their shows called “Freak Out” who they claimed emitted “psychotic smells”… Case closed. I kind of wished I was alive to see that band now. 

Like I mentioned earlier, I had never heard Stereophonics before, but it didn’t take long for me to be seduced by their music, especially from the gravelly, though surprisingly clear diction of their singer Kelly Jones. At least he was a damn sight easier to understand than Mark from JJ72. Still, between songs, it was tough to make out what he was saying since he was a bit of mumbler. But I did make out that “Step On My Old Size Nines” was a love song about an “old man who walks up to an old woman and asks, ‘You wanna dance?’ … ‘No, my feet hurt’”. It was a cute song and they busted out a harmonica for that one. During “Handbags & Gladrags”, I overheard the telltale clicking of a lighter on my recording from my friends and I sparking one up, followed by a rather disturbing amount of coughing. I could hear myself patting my friend on the back, joking, “Get ahold of yourself, man!” For the first song of their encore, they played a cover of “Don’t Let Me Down” by The Beatles and afterwards, Kelly said, “This next song’s about a guy wishin’ he had more money… Sees in his head what he’d do with the money if he had it and it goes like this” and then they played the appropriately titled, “Everyday I Think Of Money”. Clearly, this is a song everyone can identify with, especially in America these days. 

Anyway, they finished with “Rooftop” and that was it. I’m happy to report that the show got a great poster for the night, one of the rare horizontal ones, an old timey painting of some ancient dragon, perhaps a nod to their Welsh roots. It was such a work of art, so much so that it made it as a runner up for one of the posters to be framed and hung up in my apartment, though it didn’t make the final cut. If any members of the band or fans of them feel resentful, my apologies. The poster from The Charlatans UK from the week before this show almost made the cut as well but also fell short. Regardless, I was a newly branded admirer of the band and would see them a year later on that stage and once again in 2004 at The Warfield. And though it was a full two years after this show, you can only imagine the gratification I felt when I heard “Have A Nice Day” during the first act of the 2004 remake of “Dawn Of The Dead”, in my opinion, not only one of the greatest horror movies ever made, but one of the greatest movies ever made.  

https://archive.org/details/stereophonics-fillmore-12202

https://archive.org/details/fingers-fillmore-12202

https://archive.org/details/jj72-fillmore-12202

Sum 41, Gob, Unwritten Law – Warfield, SF, Sat., January 26

SETLISTS : 

(GOB) : Ming Tran, No Regrets, (unknown), B- Flat,  I Cut Myself Too, Soda, Custer’s Last 1 Nite Stand, I Hear You Calling, What To Do, Paint It Black

(UNWRITTEN LAW) : Up All Night, Teenage Suicide, Sorry, Cailin, (unknown), Babylon, Seein’ Red, Lonesome, Rescue Me, Underground, Harmonic

(SUM 41) : Motivation, Summer, Makes No Difference, In Too Deep, All She’s Got, Handle This, Crazy Amanda Bunkface, What We’re All About, Fat Lip, (encore), (unknown), Pain For Pleasure

After the meteoric rise of bands like Green Day, Blink 182, and The Offspring in the 90’s, it was expected that there would be those who would take a page from them or downright steal the sound. It’s no secret that this happens to practically any successful band and while most imitators quickly fall by the wayside, there are often a handful that are genuinely talented and earn their success. Such was the case with Sum 41, a punk pop band from Ontario, Canada. They were just teenagers when they formed in 1996 and had already found themselves headlining at The Warfield after the release of their debut album, “All Killer No Filler”. Needless to say, that album went multi-platinum in no time, becoming one of the top 20 best selling albums of all time in their home country. 

Though frontman Deryck Whibley was just a couple months shy of his 22nd birthday, he and his bandmates literally looked like children. I was remarking to one of the veteran bartenders named David whose left bar aisle position I was assigned to as usual that night that the name Sum 41 was actually the collective sum of the band member’s ages. Truth be told, they chose that name because the band formed on the 41st day of their summer vacation. I didn’t know anything about these Canadian kids before that night, though I had heard that they were no fans of George W. Bush and would go on to be vocal in their criticism of the invasion of Iraq. In a related story, in Afghanistan, John Walker Lindh, that dipshit from Marin county who joined the Taliban, had just been captured by U.S. forces and would soon be brought back to America to be put on trial and imprisoned. 

The first act of the night was Gob, a fellow punk band from Canada, but from the British Columbia side of the country. They too were brand new, having just put out their debut album, “World According To Gob”, in October of 2000. Gob had just been picked up by Arista Records and had recorded a promotional E.P. called “F.U.”, featuring the single “Ming Tran” which they opened with that night. I caught a bit of that song during their soundcheck as well where I overheard one of them yelling, “Reg is in the house eating some fries or a sandwich or something!… Plate O’ fish!”  Their guitarist Tom Thacker would joined Sum 41 in 2006, the year Deryck married fellow Canadian musician Avril Lavigne. Incidentally, Gob’s bass player, Craig Wood, would join Avril’s band in 2004 as well. 

Gob were quite talkative during their set, lead vocalist and guitarist Theo Goutzinakis in the middle of their set saying, “You guys fuckin’ rock!… We’re going to have to invite you to a Gob dance party. This is Craig and they’re going to put something together for you to dance to… And this is Tom over to my left. Tom is a lean, mean dancing machine and Tom’s going to give you free dance lessons tonight! What do you think of that? Tom, can you show everyone one of your prize possessions? Your booty!” Then the band did a few riffs of “Staying Alive” by The Bee Gee’s as Tom danced and the crowd cheered. Tom continued pointing to the balcony, “You up there! Dance lesson number two! Yeah, we’re going to splash some cold water all the way up there. All we need is a hose.” Theo replied, “There’s a lot of ho’s back there, Tom. But I want you to put the water hose right in your anus. Is that cool?… OK, now the water hose is right inside his anus. I’m going to turn the valve on. Tom, unleash your sprinkler and wet these motherfuckers down!” 

After Tom’s sprinkler dance, Theo announced, “OK, dance lesson number three, the grand finale!… Last but not least, the daddy longarms dance!” Tom added, “I invented this one myself.” Theo continued, “That is true. He did and another true fact to go on top of it, Warner Brothers cartoon company tried to buy this dance off Tom, but Tom would not sell it to them.” Tom chimed in, “That’s right, you know why San Francisco?” “Why, Tom?”, Theo asked. “Cus’ I won’t sell out! I will never fuckin’ sell out!… Alright, anticipation for the daddy longarms dance. You ready, San Francisco?!?” As you can imagine, that dance had a good deal of arm flailing involved with it. Theo brought the band back together, signaling to their drummer Gabe Mantle, “Alright, San Francisco! We have danced for you tonight! It’s your turn to dance for us. Don’t let me down! Gabe will give me a 1-2-3-4 and start dancing. Gabe, show em’ how it’s done. Alright,, San Francisco, you ready to dance?!?” and then the pit went nuts to “I Cut Myself Too”. 

Afterwards, Tom teased their bass player, “There’s one thing I have to ask Craig. Sorry for a sec. We’ve got to have a band meeting. Sorry… Craig, what the hell were you playing these past five songs?” Then Craig did a little simple riff on his bass and he went on, “Well, that’s weird. I guess you’re fired, Craig. What the fuck was that anyway? Pack up your stuff and get out. We need a new bass player. Who can play bass? Can anyone here fuckin’ play bass or what? Come up” He pointed to someone and asked, “Can you play bass? Have a go. I think we found somebody!” The guy quite likely was a friend of theirs, but we went along with it anyway. Theo yelled, “When I say G, you say O! When I say B, you say O!” and they took turns shouting, “G! O! B! O! G! O! B! O!” and then they did “Soda”. Tom pointed to some people in the pit between songs later asking one of them their name, “Pick the next song… Andy? Oh sorry, Kathy. Thought you were a guy. Sorry. Who’s the fellow next to you? Mark, hey Mark from San Francisco!” and then he chose them to do “Custer’s Last 1 Nite Stand”. They thanked Sum 41 and Theo shouted, “When I say Sum 41, you say rock!” and the crowd did so. He also invited everybody to meet up with the band later at the merch table and they finished their set with a punk rock cover of “Paint It Black” by the Rolling Stones, finishing it with an extended crescendo. Seriously, it was a pretty good cover, almost making it sound that it had been a punk rock song all along. 

The next band on the bill was Unwritten Law, a band I’d seen open for a couple others by then, including once for Bad Religion on that stage in 1996. They didn’t talk nearly as much as Gob, but they played a solid set as usual, even doing a little bit of “Waiting Room” by Fugazi in the middle of their song, “Lonesome”. I’ve always liked Unwritten Law, but I’m pretty sure this was the last time I saw them perform live, though they continue to make music to this day. The same goes for Gob. But the night belonged to Sum 41 and their ear piercing shrieks of all the young women in the audience when the got on stage confirmed it. Everyone up front was putting up their Sum 41 salute, raising four fingers on one hand and one on the other. Their entrance was accompanied by a rather disturbing introduction over the speakers, some satanic thing ordering the “children of the beast” to “scorn and hate the human race” before they opened their set with “Motivation”. 

They kept the devil worshipping theme going during the next song “Summer” doing a few licks of “Raining Blood” by Slayer, who had coincidentally recorded their “War At The Warfield” DVD there just a month before this. Dave Baksh, the lead guitarist later joked, “I fucked this up… Make something up before someone notices. Going to make a shitty dance with my guitar solo. Like it up top? I don’t think people down here didn’t. I’ll show you a thing or two on guitar!” Deryck said, “Show them a thing or three!”, Dave did a little solo and he congratulated him, “Nice work, pal”. Continuing their metal fetish, one of them did a little riff of “Enter Sandman” by Metallica before asking, “Any you guys have a crazy psycho bitch of a girlfriend? Then you’ll understand this song” and they did their hit, “In Too Deep”. Afterwards, Deryck declared, “It’s been a fuckin’ day. Everybody say ‘Fuck Yeah!’ Everybody say ‘Fuck You!’” A guy up front propositioned him, but he replied, “Why you say that, dude? I already got a boyfriend. His name is Dave”.

They followed that with “All She’s Got”, giving their drummer Steve Jocz a moment to do a solo. Dave declared him “the master of disaster… Can I touch your stick?” The batteries in my tape deck ran out as they brought a couple young women on stage with them who they called their “Barbie twins” for “Handle This”, but I quickly replaced them for the next song. Deryck then challenged Dave to guitar solo contest asking, “Do I have to unleash the dragon?”, then doing a few Eddie Van Halen riffs before admitting, “Alright, I suck I know”. Dave consoled him, “We suck as a whole, Deryck. We’re a team of suck”. A couple tunes later, they had Steve put on a long, black wig and Deryck introduced him, “Put your hands together for the one, the only Tommy Lee on drums!”, and then they did “What We’re All About”. That song would end up on the soundtrack for the first “Spider-Man” movie that would come out later that May.

Before they finished with their hit single “Fat Lip”, Deryck addressed us one more time, “Hold on a second, hold on. I want to ask you guys something really serious right now, the only time when we’re going to get serious on you. I wanna know how many people here tonight are all about rock?… That’s good, cus’ normally they’re not. That’s good, cus’ me and Steve here are all about rock too. So, we should be all about rock together, right? Every time I point the mic, yell ‘Rock!’ as loud as you can! Practice run…” He pointed his mic to the crowd and they did what he asked, though Deryck was unimpressed at first, pointing around, “That was pretty good, but I didn’t hear you over there. I didn’t hear you over there. On the count of 4! 1-2-3-4!” The next “Rock!” was of course much louder. 

Everybody sang along to the breakdown in the middle of “Fat Lip”, the line “Don’t count on me” echoing loudly in the house. They came back for an encore, the first song I didn’t recognize, but I know they finished with “Pain For Pleasure”. The story goes that Steve wrote it in only ten minutes while sitting on the toilet, an homage to another famous metal band, Iron Maiden. Sum 41 left the stage to the sound of their fans chanting, “We want more!”, but that was it. There was a great poster given out as we left done by Chris Shaw, one of my favorite poster artists. Sum 41 would continue their success after this show, performing on “Saturday Night Live” that April and I would see them return to the Warfield stage in 2003, followed by an appearance at the Warped Tour that summer at Pier/30/32. 

https://archive.org/details/sum-41-warfield-12602

https://archive.org/details/unwritten-law-warfield-12602

https://archive.org/details/gob-warfield-12602

Static-X, Soulfly, Soil, Diesel Machine – Warfield, SF, Thur., January 31

SETLISTS :

(DIESEL MACHINE) : (unknown), Shut It, Dissection, Cynical, (unknown), Driven By Pain

(SOIL) : Breaking Me Down, Wide Open, My Own, Unreal, Understanding Me, Two Skins, Black 7, Halo

(SOULFLY) : Back To The Primitive, No Hope = No Fear, (unknown), Bring It, Bleed, Seek N’ Strike, Tribe, Arise, Refuse/Resist, The Song Remains Insane, Roots Bloody Roots,  Eye For An Eye, Pain

(STATIC X) : This Is Not, Bled For Days, I’m With Stupid, Black & White, Machine, (unknown), (unknown), Cold, (unknown), (unknown), Love Dump, Wisconsin Death Trip, (unknown), (encore), (unknown)

I had recorded both Soulfly and Static X separately at Maritime Hall, but this time, they were co-headlining and with their collective metal powers, insured all who attended would be in for very loud evening. It was the first show of the tour along with Soil from Chicago, though Onesidezero would open on other dates. Since that time Static X had lost guitarist Koichi Fukuda who was replaced by Tripp Eisen until Fukuda rejoined the band three years later. Frontman Wayne Static took the helm writing all the new material on their second album, “Machine”, released the previous May, but doled out the royalties from that one rather unevenly, which pissed off the rest of the band. Soulfly had also lost its drummer, Joe Nunez, replaced by Soulfly’s original drummer, Roy Mayorga, and they were just six months shy of releasing their third studio album, the appropriately titled, “3”. After the tour Soulfly frontman Max Cavalera would fire bassist Marcelo Dias leading Roy to quit the band again along with lead guitarist Mickey Doling. Speaking of uncertain futures, George W. Bush gave his infamous “Axis Of Evil” speech just two days before this show, as if the vibe from these bands wasn’t fucking anxious enough.

The first opener that night was Diesel Machine from L.A. who were fairly new having put out their first album, “Torture Test”, the year before this show. Coincidentally, their guitarist Pat Lachman had played alongside Rob Halford, whose original band Judas Priest had just played on that very same Warfield stage only 12 days before this show, but with Ripper singing instead of Rob. Diesel Machine originally wasn’t listed on the bill and being the opener of a four band show, their set was a quick one. Unfortunately, my recording of them was all messed up, probably a short in the mic or something, but when I stopped it and started it again for Soil, the interference inexplicably mixed itself. Still, the clearest recording in the world couldn’t make their music any less grating. Their singer was quite the screamer and made it next to impossible to figure out their lyrics and song titles, though I managed to make out four out of the six in their songs. At the end of their set, he tried to pump up the disinterested crowd trying to get them to say the name of the song “Driven By Pain” shouting “You know it!”, hearing crickets and then adding, “I heard two people at least”.

Soil, or SOiL as they like to spell it, had a little more success engaging the machismo mob and whose singer, Ryan McCombs, was slightly easier to understand than the last guy. They were pretty tight actually. After they did “Wide Open”, he said, “Hey San Francisco! This is a good place to start this tour out I believe. You guys ready for Soulfly?!?… for Static X?!? Let’s get those motors running high man because they going to want it from all you guys!!!”. A couple songs later, he thanked the bands saying, “There’s not a single band who takes the stage tonight to do what we do without you people showing up and give us the time of day. So, thank you very much” and then they did “Understanding Me”. This would be the only time I’d see either Diesel Machine or Soil, but I would see Soulfly perform one more time at The Fillmore two years later.

Frankly, Soulfly were the main reason I was at this show and I imagine there were many in the audience that night who felt the same way. Indeed, everybody was chanting their name as they took the stage over a recording of somebody on a Berimbau, a traditional, Brazilian, one string guitar-like instrument, playing over the speakers. Oh yes, the pit went bonkers when the opened their set with “Back To The Primitive”. A couple songs later, Max got the crowd to make some noise and chant, “Oi! Oi! Oi!”, before they did “Bring It”. Afterwards, he said, “Thank you very much. What’s up?!? This song is from the first record, first San Francisco record. We did a video for it and it’s dedicated to Dana. This is Richey. Everybody say, ‘What’s up, Richey?’… You motherfuckers ready to ‘Bleed’?!?!” During that song, Max brought up a fan to sing along and he did surprisingly well. Incidentally, Dana was Max’s stepson who passed away in a car accident six years before this. On a happier note, Max announced, “We’ve been working on Soulfly 3, our next record… Would you like to hear some new shit?!?” and then they did “Seek N’ Strike”, the only new one they’d do in their set that night. 

Soulfly was clearly a tough act to follow, but soon enough Wayne, sporting his trademark gravity defying, Don King-like hairdo and donning a red and white striped “Where’s Waldo?” short sleeved collared shirt, and the rest of the band took the stage. It had been a long night already and I had to work to the end, being a paid usher for that one, but I managed to keep the hordes of heshers at bay. Wayne didn’t talk much between songs, but he did introduce “Cold” saying, “I gave you guys the fist of metal! This next song is a very personal song… wrote it around Ozzfest 2000 for the ‘Queen Of The Damned’ soundtrack”. Later he dedicated “Love Dump” to all the “goth girls” in the crowd. Like the guy from Diesel Machine, Wayne was definitely a screamer making it tough for me to decipher his songs. Seriously, I could only figure out about half of them. There was no poster at the end of the gig and I would see Jay Farrar from Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt at The Fillmore the following night, quite a stylistic change of gears. Sadly, this would be the last time I’d see Static X since Wayne would die twelve years later from a deadly mixture of alcohol and pills and though he might be buried in the cold, cold ground, the ringing in our ears from that show remains. 

https://archive.org/details/static-x-warfield-13102

https://archive.org/details/soulfly-warfield-13102

https://archive.org/details/soil-warfield-13102

https://archive.org/details/diesel-machine-warfield-13102

Jay Farrar, Brian Henneman, Katie Cline – Fillmore, SF, Fri., February 1

SETLIST : Feed Kill Chain, Vitamins, (unknown), (unknown), Medicine Hat, Still Be Around, Tear Stained Eye, Gather, Damn Shame, Barstow, Make It Alright, Damaged Son, Outside The Door, No More Parades, Feel Free, Direction, Drain, Dead Man’s Clothes, Different Eyes, Voodoo Candle, Route, Straightface, Windfall, Love You To

After the ear splitting, bombastic metal of Static X and Soulfly at The Warfield the night before, the music of Mr. Farrar at The Fillmore was downright soothing. That goes double for the crowd as well, replacing the black clad, hesher hordes in the mosh pit with a calm herd of subdued, alt-country librarians. I’d seen Jay with his other band Son Volt on that stage in 1996, but never saw him when he was in Uncle Tupelo with Jeff Tweedy. Coincidentally, Jeff and his band Wilco had just finished a three day stint at The Fillmore only two months before this show. With Son Volt on hiatus since ’99, Jay was promoting his first album as a solo artist called “Sebastopol”, named after the Ukrainian port town and the birthplace of the open-G Vestapol guitar tuning technique… whatever that is. He had been in the bay area the year before playing at Slim’s, but I missed that one. Almost half his set were new songs, but rest assured, he dusted off some golden oldies from his aforementioned previous bands. 

Before the doors opened, I caught a bit of Jay’s soundcheck and was pleasantly surprised to hear him play “Love You To” by The Beatles. Jay’s trademark droning style of singing actually was a touch reminiscent of George Harrison and clearly he did his song in tribute to him, George having just recently succumbed to cancer a little over two months before this show. Jay busted out a little harmonica solo and his steel guitar player, Mark Spencer formerly of the Blood Oranges and recent member of Son Volt, did a few licks of “In My Time Of Dying” by Led Zeppelin during the soundcheck as well. After the crowd started coming in, I took a moment to check out a young woman name Katie Cline playing up in the poster room accompanied by a drummer playing a single snare with brushes, though I only caught one of her songs. I could have sworn she said her name was Katie Clair, but regardless, I don’t think I ever saw her again. 

Opening that night was Brian Henneman the frontman of The Bottle Rockets and former guitar tech for Uncle Tupelo, playing solo acoustic. His voice actually reminded me a little of Jack Black’s though obviously not as silly. Brian mentioned during his set that this was the second time he had been on that stage, once before opening for Kenny Wayne Shepherd there back in 1996, though I missed that one too. Unfortunately, in order to get all of Jay’s set, I had to tape over a few songs of Brian’s, though I got more than half of it intact. Like Jay, Brian also did an homage to a recently fallen hippie, Doug Sahm of the Sir Douglas Quintet, playing his song “Stoned Faces Don’t Lie”. He joked, “I hope I have the lyrics in the right order. If you feel like singing along, that’ll be really good… He was like my favorite musician in the whole world and The Fillmore was one of the reasons he wrote this song right here”. Coming originally from Texas, Doug and his band had joined the late 60’s, psychedelic rock scene in San Francisco joining fellow Texan transplants as Janis Joplin and Roky Erickson of the 13th Floor Elevators and there was at least one Sir Douglas Quintet poster in the poster room to prove it. 

Like I said, Jay’s voice, though soothing tends to drone on to the point of practically being monotone. That mid-rangy steady stream is downright hypnotizing and actually made it a little challenging to make out his lyrics. Still, after I was cut from ushering, it was easy to have a beer and relax, especially since the alt-country crowd shut the fuck up and listened motionless as they usually do. Despite Mr. Farrar’s limited singing range, clearly he is a talented songwriter including ending his set with the Son Volt hit “Windfall”, one of the most beautiful country songs I’ve ever heard and one everybody sang along to, before Jay finished the night for good with “Love You To”. And unlike the Static X/Soulfly metal fest the night before, this one got a poster at the end of the show. 

https://archive.org/details/jay-farrar-fillmore-2102

https://archive.org/details/brian-henneman-fillmore-2102

https://archive.org/details/katie-cline-fillmore-2101

Buddy Guy with Carlos Santana, David Gleeson & Wasted Days, Joe Bonamassa – Fillmore, SF, Wed., February 6

SETLISTS : 

(JOE BONAMASSA) : Walk In My Shadow, A New Day Yesterday, Miss You Hate You, Trouble Waiting, If Heartaches Were Nickels, 

(BUDDY GUY) : Look On Yonder’s Wall, Sweet Home Chicago, Five Long Years, Look What All You Got, Feels Like Rain, Use Me, Boom Boom, Hoochie Coochie Man, Fever, Tramp, Strange Brew, Voodoo Chile (Slight Return), It’s A Jungle Out There, Done Got Old, Did Somebody Make A Fool Out Of You, What’d I Say, Drownin’ On Dry Land, (encore), Mustang Sally, Anyway You Look At it, Next Time You See Me

Buddy Guy was just about to celebrate his 65th birthday when this show came around, but his reputation as a master blues guitarist proceeded him long before that. I had only seen him once before at the Maritime Hall in 1999, but for reasons I can’t remember, we weren’t allowed to record him that night. Still, as is the case whenever that happened there, I was at least allowed to go up topside to enjoy the show which I most certainly did. An elder blues statesman he might of been already then, but I recently had the pleasure of seeing Buddy perform once more at some giant free show at the Bill Graham Civic Center for Jim Irsay, a wealthy memorabilia collector and owner of the Indianapolis Colts. At that show, Buddy was the ripe old age of 87 but he still could play circles around everyone on stage that night and when that roster of talent includes people like Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Ann Wilson, and John Fogerty, well… that says something. In a related story, a young quarterback by the name of Tom Brady had just won his first Super Bowl ring that Sunday, beginning a long winning streak over the years, perhaps making him the Buddy Guy of football in the end, depends who you ask. 

The previous May, Buddy had just released his “Sweet Tea” album, the 11th of his studio outings, and it would go on to earn him a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Blues Album. With his skills and history with The Fillmore, one would think that they’d have sprung for a poster to mark the occasion, but alas, there wasn’t one. The show might have been drummed up at the last minute which would explain its lack of fanfare. In a strange coincidence, my friend and mentor Frank Gallagher who I work alongside in the stagehands union, had toured for years doing sound for Buddy, but had also toured with the Talking Heads in the 80’s and I would see David Byrne, the eccentric frontman of that band, on that very stage only five days later. 

Opening that night was Joe Bonamassa from New York, a fellow blues guitarist whose shredding guitar licks and vocal prowess were impressive for a man just a few months shy of 25 years old. With Eric Czar on bass and Kenny Kramme on drums, their humble trio made quite a sound and were a worthy opener for Mr. Guy. Joe joked between songs, “We’re going to play some more blues for you. You guys don’t mind, right? This one’s a song I wrote for a really bad movie, but I like the song, so we keep playing it… called ‘Trouble Waiting’”. He never did mention what movie it was and I couldn’t find out online, but since he said it was bad, I’ll take his word for it. Joe certainly punctuated the end of that song with a smoking finish. Upstairs in the poster room was a local musician named David Gleason and his band Wasted Days. Though David wasn’t really a bone fide blues musician per se, he had a well rounded and eclectic taste in music styles and played often around town for decades. Like most poster room acts, it was just him on guitar accompanied by a drummer with a simple kit, playing with brushes. He also employed a female back up singer for his songs, though the only one I recognized was a cover of “Swinging Doors” by Merle Haggard. 

Joe got the crowd warmed up, but for the uninitiated, nothing could prepare them for the mind blowing chops of Buddy. He wasted no time teaching us a master class in the blues, covering one immortal standard after the next. He broke it down a little in the middle of “Hoochie Coochie Man” lamenting that he’d “just spilled booze on myself”, cracking to the crowd, “Shut the fuck up for a minute… I’m just messing with you… Here’s another verse. If you don’t like it, tell me… One leg was in the east, one leg was in the west, I was right down the middle, trying to do my best!” The audience approved and cheered loudly, followed by an excellent solo by his keyboard player. Later, Buddy gave a shout out to the venue saying, “A place like this must never disappear. I’ve had some of the greatest moments of my life here, on this stage” and he mentioned “Albert King and Janis Joplin walked out at the same time” there and that “this place should be a landmark”. 

Buddy let his sax player do a wild solo during “Fever” and then did one of his own during the following song, “Tramp”, one of his new ones. He wrapped up his set with a cover of “Drownin’ On Dry Land” by the aforementioned Albert King hailing it as “the kind of blues I’ll play all night if you want to listen” even doing the last verse of the song twice because he liked it so much. But we were soon spoiled rotten when he was joined on stage for the encore by none other than Carlos Santana himself. Carlos graciously thanked him saying, “Ladies and Gentlemen, before Jimi Hendrix, there was Buddy Guy… a real master, ambassador of a sound and rhythmic vibrations”. As you might imagine, the crowd went nuts as the two went at it and yes, Carlos shreds, but even he was humbled before the might of Mr. Guy. Like I said, we were spoiled that night and would be again two years later when Buddy and Carlos would once more join forces at The Warfield for the Experience Hendrix cavalcade of guitar heroes.

On a final note, it had been some time since I have written, being up to my eyeballs at work, but I took an afternoon to spend time at the movies yesterday to see “Sinners”, Ryan Coogler’s new horror film. Sure, it was good one, but you can imagine the pleasant surprise I felt when none other than… you guessed it, Buddy Guy, appeared in the film’s epilogue. Call it a miracle of coincidence that this show would be the next one I was to write about. Yes, one of the characters in this movie that takes place in Jim Crow era, 1930’s Mississippi was a young blues musician and having survived a night of vicious vampire attacks, lives until 1992 and is played by Buddy himself. Spoiler alert, a couple vampires that weren’t killed back in the day show up to the venue where he was playing after his gig and offer to turn Buddy’s character so he could live forever, but he politely declined and played them a song before they left. 

https://archive.org/details/buddy-guy-fillmore-2602

https://archive.org/details/david-gleason-wasted-days-fillmore-2602

https://archive.org/details/joe-bonamassa-fillmore-2602

David Byrne, Extra Action Marching Band – Fillmore, SF, Mon., February 11

SETLIST : A Soft Seduction, Nothing But Flowers, God’s Child (Baila Conmigo), Broken Things, And She Was, Once In A Lifetime, The Great Intoxication, Marching Through The Wilderness, The Revolution, Sax & Violins, Duro Europas, This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody), What A Day That Was, Desconosido Soy, Like Humans Do, U.B. Jesus, Life During Wartime, (encore), I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me), (encore), The Other Side Of This Life, Ausencia, The Accident, (encore), The Moment Of Conception 

By this time, I had been well versed in the works of Mr. Byrne having seen him twice at The Warfield already in 1994 and 1997, not to mention seeing back to back gigs at The Fillmore the previous May and once again at The Warfield the following July. He was continuing the “Look Into The Eyeball” tour and being already familiar with the new material, I will differ you to the previous entries to learn more about that album. I know I probably mentioned it before when David played The Fillmore in 2001, but this one actually might have been the show when we walked past me in the lobby before the doors opened, carrying his bicycle and still wearing his helmet. It was one of these two shows for sure, confirming the stories that Byrne habitually would ride between the hotels where he was staying on tour to the venues he’d perform at. Incidentally, the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City just kicked off that weekend after a shaky start getting them organized and I actually knew a handful of audio visual guys who were part of that. 

It was an unusual show in the sense that the appointed opening act was actually performing after David’s set. David had recruited the Extra Action Marching Band, a ragtag collection of at least 40 to 50 local musicians led by Simon Cheffins from Crash Worship. He and about half of the members lived in a couple warehouses in East Oakland affectionately known as Vulcan and the Monkey Ranch. Armed with the traditional assortment of marching band instruments, I myself played trumpet in my high school’s marching band, they were accompanied by a glockenspiel player, a shakere, Simon shouting stuff through a bullhorn, and a pep squad with pom poms, flags, and the like. The group actually showed up at one of David’s book signings and he was so impressed that he invited them along on tour. Mimi Vitetta, one of the members, planted a kiss on David’s lips after he finished his set and he joined along with the ensemble with his own set of pom poms. They would tour with him and play at The Fillmore again in 2005, but I missed that one. 

David’s set started early, introduced by Renee Richardson from KFOG who mentioned, “Welcome to the legendary Fillmore! I don’t know if you guys have had the fun of roaming the halls… I was just talking to one of the guys that works here at The Fillmore and we have collectively decided that this artist that’s about to come out on this stage is the SHIT! So, drink a cocktail and have some fun. We are moments away from David Byrne”. Of course, everybody flipped out when David got on stage and he humbly said, “Thanks for waiting. I know when everybody says the show is at 8 O’Clock, but the opening act is coming on after us. We’ll start the show off kind of slow, ramp it up a little bit, we kind of level off, then ramp it up a bit more, then slow down for a little bit, So, if you don’t like that part, you can go to the bar. If it’s coming up, I’ll let you know”. Indeed, he did start off slow with the lullabye “A Soft Seduction”, but he soon picked up the pace with the Talking Heads classic, “Nothing But Flowers”.

He followed that with “God’s Child (Baila Conmigo)”, explaining that it was a duet he had recorded with Selena, one of the last songs she recorded before her untimely demise, but he lightened the mood adding, “She can’t be here, but J-Lo is here backstage!” He did a couple more Talking Heads hits, “And She Was” and “Once In A Lifetime”, prefacing the former as he had done the previous two times with the story of his friend who used to drop acid and hang out around the YooHoo factory in Baltimore. Afterwards, David introduced his string section and other band members saying that they making jokes about how the outfit he wore that night made him look “like a UPS guy”. During that middle period with the string section, I overheard a friend of mine, I believe it was my buddy Drew, approach me and say, “Try a crunch of this crab quesadilla! It’s slammin’!” Indeed, The Fillmore is one of the few venues in the bay area which actually makes decent food in its kitchen.

The bad news is that during this show, the batteries in my recorder were running out which is not unusual. It happens all the time. What made this unusual is that they ran out so slowly, making the recording gradually speed up for practically the entire show instead of running out comparatively quickly, like within a handful of songs. So, unfortunately I didn’t replace the batteries until David had wrapped things up and the Extra Action Marching Band had started. But like I said, I had seen David plenty up until then and have more than enough of his stuff for the ages, though this was a particularly good show. But unlike the previous time Byrne played there, we went home empty handed for there wasn’t a poster that time. I was able to get a drumstick from the Extra Action Marching Band and I overheard myself chuckling, “I love a parade” to whoever I was with on my way out the door that night. Though David continues to tour fairly regularly, I believe this was the last time I’d see him perform live, but I have seen fellow Talking Heads member Jerry Harrison a couple times perform in things since. Rumors still persist that the Heads will have a reunion tour someday, but it has yet to materialize. 

https://archive.org/details/david-byrne-fillmore-21102

https://archive.org/details/extra-action-marching-band-fillmore-21102

Jack Johnson, Mason Jennings – Fillmore, SF, Tues., February 12

SETLISTS :

(MASON JENNINGS) : Nothing, Better Than That, Darkness Between The Fireflies, United States Global Empire, Adrian, Confidant, Sorry Signs On Cash Machines, Bullet, Ease Your Mind

(JACK JOHNSON) : Posters, Middle Man, Sexi Plexi, Taylor, Rodeo Clowns, Tomorrow Morning, Bubble Toes, Wasting Time, Trenchtown Rock – Garden Grove – Inaudible Melodies, Mudfootball (For Moe Lerner), Who Do You Love?, Holes To Heaven, Flake, (encore), Gone, A Pirate Looks At Forty, Times Like These, Living In The Moment, Plastic Jesus, Fall Line, Who Knows, Cissy Strut, Express Yourself, (encore), It’s All Understood

I had heard murmurs about Mr. Johnson around this time. He seemed to be another in a growing line of jam band heartthrobs like Dave Matthews and John Mayer, you know, the rugged, yet approachable sort one finds in all the Hallmark Christmas movies. Like Dave and John, he also had a kindly singing voice and would be prone to do those long, pitter patter stream of lyrics that were hard to follow. Jack was fairly new but was quickly making a name for himself, selling out two back to back shows at The Fillmore and this was the first of the two. He had been on tour over a year promoting his breakthrough debut album, “Brushfire Fairytales”, having just finished a stretch warming up for Ben Harper that summer, and it would be over another year until he released his second album, “On And On”, though we were treated to seven new songs that night. 

By then, I knew Jack was a singer/songwriter and an avid surfer, but I didn’t know that he was also a film maker and had put out a documentary in 2000 called “Thicker Than Water” which they actually screened that night at the show between acts. It basically chronicled his surfing adventures around the world such as Australia, Indonesia, Hawaii, India, and ending in Ireland, accompanied by pro surfers Kelly Slater and Shane Dorian. Speaking of things abroad and I admit out of left field, that very day Serbian dictator Slobadan Milosevic went on trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Anyway… Opening that night would be another young singer/songwriter named Mason Jennings, though Glen Philips would open the following night. Mason was from Minneapolis and had just put out his first major label release “Century Spring” that year. He wasn’t half bad and Jack brought him back on stage later during his first encore to sing Mason’s song “Living In The Moment”, then a cover of “Plastic Jesus”, and one of Jack’s new ones, “Fall Line”. 

Mr. Johnson’s set was introduced by a DJ named Johnny X from 104.9 who said we were awesome and that he felt a lot of love in the room. As you might imagine, the ladies went nuts when Jack took the stage, fulfilling many a fantasy among them and probably some of the boys out there as well. Like Mason, Jack was a pretty skilled songwriter, nothing too complex musically, no crazy guitar solos, but pleasant. He continued to throw in a bunch more covers throughout the night including a (thankfully) tasteful rendition of “Trenchtown Rock” by Bob Marley, “Garden Grove” by Sublime, and “Who Do You Love?” by Bo Diddley. For his encore he also played “A Pirate Looks At Forty” by Jimmy Buffett, “Who Knows” by Jimi Hendrix & The Band Of Gypsies, “Cissy Strut” by “The Meters”, and the old soul standard “Express Yourself”. And though I’m still not a devoted fan of his work, I do appreciate his good taste in influences. Likewise, what man wouldn’t be envious of his athletic good looks, talent, and charisma? Valentine’s Day was two days after this show and I was hopelessly single, wallowing in despair like so many others over the George W. Bush regime and its duplicitous efforts to drag our country into war. Anyway, Jack would return to The Fillmore later that October, but I missed it and this was the last time I saw either him or Mason Jennings. Still, they did give out a lovely poster at the end of the night to mark the occasion. 

https://archive.org/details/jack-johnson-fillmore-21202

https://archive.org/details/mason-jennings-fillmore-21202

Nelly Furtado, Citizen Cope – Warfield, SF, Thur., February 14

SETLISTS :

(CITIZEN COPE) : Appetite (For Lightnin’ Dynamite), Hands Of The Saints, If There’s Love, Mistaken I.D., Salvation, Sideways, Contact

(NELLY FURTADO) : Baby Girl, I Will Make You Cry, Party, (unknown), Get Ur Freak On, Well Well, Hey Man!, I’m Like A Bird, Legend, I Feel You, Trynna Finda Way, Turn Off The Light, (encore), Shit On The Radio (Remember The Days)

I was no stranger to the music of Nelly Furtado by then, having seen her perform on three separate occasions in only 15 months, once at an Alice radio show and twice on that very same Warfield stage opening for David Gray. During her set, she even commented that it was her 5th time playing The Warfield and her 8th performing in San Francisco, an impressive tally considering her up til then notably short career span. She had been touring nonstop since the previous March on her “Burn In The Spotlight” tour, taking a stint to open for U2, and her hard work was clearly paying off. This would be the first of two back to back sold out shows at The Warfield and if that wasn’t enough, it was Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately, I was in a pit of despair around this time, wallowing in the mire that my country was sinking into under the George W. Bush regime and was about as far away as one could be from having a meaningful romantic relationship, much less feeling amorous in the slightest.

My dour mood was compounded severely that night when I heard the news of the overdose death of one of the bartenders at The Warfield, a sweet, young woman who had also bartended at the Maritime Hall for years. Though I can never forget her face, I’m absolutely ashamed that I never learned her name, especially since she always was all smiles and nothing but friendly to me for the brief time I was around her. For those who know me personally, it’s no secret that I don’t handle death well and am the last person on Earth you would want at a funeral. I fall to pieces at them, wailing like an old Sicilian grandmother, even for people I hardly knew like this poor, young, lost soul. My grief caught the attention of another bartender that night on the aisle where I was working, one who had likewise worked alongside her at the Maritime, and she sincerely offered her condolences to me, letting me know that it was OK if I wanted to talk about it with her.

My sorrow certainly wasn’t eased by the songs of the opening act, Citizen Cope, that night. His music is perhaps some of the saddest music anyone could hear. I don’t know, it’s something about the timbre of his voice that sounds so melancholy. Even his bandmates were joking with him before they played “Mistaken I.D.” that he should play a happy song, which he countered, “Every song is a happy song”. I had seen Citizen Cope the previous October before also on that stage opening for Hoobastank, but he was still brand new, his debut self-titled album having just been released two weeks before this show, his only album on Dreamworks. Despite his somber sound, he did his best to liven up the crowd, goading them, “We got to have some dancers out here tonight. We got to have some movin’ and shakin’ goin’ on.” Later, before he played “Salvation”, he asked, “Like my dance moves?… I need some help”. 

Afterwards, he said, “Thank you very much for your kindness… My name is Citizen Cope, C-O-P-E. It’s a pleasure to be here tonight in San Francisco… We have a special song”. The one of his band members chimed in again, “I want a happy song!” He replied once again with his deadpan English accent, “Everybody’s happy. I’m happy. Let’s have fun”. At the end of his set, he asked, “You all feel like singing tonight? At the end of the song, we’ll have a little call and response… It’s a happy song” and then he did “Contact”. He indeed got the crowd to sing along after he sang “I want some”, they responded “Contact!” But even his attempts to elevate the mood of the crowd couldn’t assuage me from my grief and I can still close my eyes and recall the memory of the warm tears streaming down my cheeks during his set. Obviously, that was the most memorable recollection of that night, one that will never leave me as long as I live, or as long as I still have my marbles.

Nelly Furtado’s music on the other hand actually did lift my spirits at least to a point where I was no longer lamenting visibly. If there’s any musician on Earth that can dependably do that, she is one of them, up there with the likes of Jimmy Cliff, Shonen Knife, and Dio. Indeed, the sheer joy in her voice and her songs helped me get through that night and if I ever had an opportunity to meet her, I would thank her for that. I overheard somebody pointing out at the beginning of her set, “There’s a guy down there with a kid on his shoulders. That’s alright”. And after a couple songs, I genuinely felt that it was alright, better than it was anyway and Nelly made sure to wish us a Happy Valentine’s Day. I toasted the The Warfield’s fallen comrade with my beer after I was cut from ushering and joined the crowd up front, helping to drown my sorrows. 

Nelly, having only the one album under her belt, pretty much covered all the songs on it, though took a moment to honor her hip hop influences, doing a cover of “Get Ur Freak On” by Missy Elliott. Near the end of her set, she also let her DJ spin a medley of jams which included “Real Love” by Mary J. Blige, “Push It” by Sant N’ Pepa, and “Jump” by Kris Kross. Like Citizen Cope, she was able to get the crowd to join in during “Trynna Finda Way”, chanting “OK!” and “Uh-Huh!” with her. There was a nice poster at the end of the night for us, but I’m afraid to say that this was the last time I’d see either Nelly or Citizen Cope perform, though they still tour to this day. Nelly actually was at the Portola Festival, a cavalcade of primarily EDM acts on Pier 30/32 last year, and though I thankfully was spared from having to work at it, she would have been one of the only people on that bill that I’d actually would have appreciated seeing. Still, I found a website called lovinfurtado.com and they had a whole bunch of photos of that Warfield show which I included in this entry and upon hearing her set once again made it that much more a vivid memory. 

https://archive.org/details/nelly-furtado-warfield-21402

https://archive.org/details/citizen-cope-warfield-21402

215 Blowout: Mix Master Mike, Rocker T, The Scientist, Deadweight – Fillmore, SF, Fri., February 15

SETLIST : (DEADWEIGHT) : Got To Hell, Anasthesia, (unknown), Good Times Bad Times, (unknown), The Devil Went Down To Georgia

These days, it’s easy to forget just how far Americans have come in the struggle to legalize marijuana. Currently, medical use is legal in 40 out of the 50 states and recreational use is legal in 24, but back in 2002, we had a long way to go. Back then, only 8 states had even allowed it to be used as medicine and California was thankfully not only one of them, it was the first. There were only a handful of underground dispensaries and with the new tyrannical George W. Bush regime, the progress that had been gained in the 90’s hit a brick wall. Which leads me to the show at hand. The Cannabis Action Network had organized this eclectic collection of artists at The Fillmore with Mix Master Mike, the virtuoso turntabilist who had just finished a long stint spinning for the Beastie Boys. The emcee for the evening was Ngiao Bealum, a long time activist, comedian, and rapper in the band, Most Chill Slackmob. Though I had never seen it with my own eyes, I learned recently that Ngiao is also an expert juggler. I had recorded him as well as Mix Master Mike at the Maritime Hall, one gig being another marijuana themed night, the 420 Hemp Festival with Vince Welnick, the keyboardist from the Grateful Dead headlining. 

Ngiao got things started early, pumping up the crowd shouting, “Make some noise if you think marijuana should be legal!” He introduced Deadweight, the first band of the night, a local alt-rock group who had swapped out the traditional power trio combination of guitar, bass, drum with violin, cello, drum. Right away, I figured these guys for real students of music, hearing their complicated song structures, sort of a love child between David Byrne and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. Turned out that they were in fact all graduates of the San Francisco Conservatory Of Music. Between songs, their violinist/singer, Ben Barnes, encouraged us to buy their CDs and T-shirts at the merch table, adding, “Who needs a fuckin’ guitar anyway? Who needs a fuckin’ T-shirt, that’s what I want to know. We got all these fuckin’ T-shirts. We got to sell them!”. Yes, their original material was pretty esoteric, but they won over the audience doing smoking covers of “Good Times Bad Times” by Led Zeppelin and “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” by Charlie Daniels. Ben really showed off his chops, especially in the former, doing a smoking solo almost note for note from Jimmy Page’s one. I don’t believe I ever saw them again, but I have seen their drummer, Paulo Baldi, playing since with Cake and The Lennon-Claypool Delirium.

After their set, Ngiao brought up a couple people to speak starting with veteran marijuana activist Ed Rosenthal. He had been crusading for the good cause before anybody insisting that legalization was a states rights issue as well as a source for medicine, industrial uses, and the jobs that would accompany them. He pleaded with us that the money wasted on cops, lawyers, judges, prison guards, and the legal system would be better spent on things like education and infrastructure. Ed had also recently been penning a column in High Times magazine called “As Ed”. As you can imagine, the Bush regime wasn’t too keen on his message and Ed had just been arrested that year, though the city of Oakland had actually deputized him do distribute medical marijuana for them. After a lengthy court battle, the judge on the case convicted Ed, but sentenced him to only a single day in prison, time served. Ed’s conviction was ultimately overturned in 2006, though the US Attorney tried and failed to prosecute him again the following year.

After Ed, we got to hear from Debby Goldsberry, another pioneering advocate for ganja and a co-founder and director of both the Cannabis Action Network and the Berkeley Patients Group. She had been part of implementing new legalization laws like Prop 215, passed in 1996, the first statewide law permitting medical marijuana, as well as exposing unlawful arrests in their dispensaries by the police who had been routinely lying on their search warrants. Incidentally, as you might have guessed the “215 Blowout” moniker of this show is a reference to that Proposition as well as the well chosen date to have this event. Ngiao kept cracking jokes too, reminding us, “It’s supposed to rain this weekend. You know what that means… mushrooms! Rain and cow shit. Fungal happiness! God doesn’t play dice”. He batted back and forth with somebody up front, “You from Louisiana? OK, I’ll talk slower… Just kidding”. Stalling for time a bit, he started doing a few lines of the disturbing “Semi-Wondrous Boat Ride” bit from “Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory” before announcing, “Ladies & Gentlemen, all the way from outer space… The Scientist!” 

Then Ngiao left he stage as The Scientist started spinning records and toasting to the songs. The Scientist had been a recording engineer and producer of dub music for decades, a protege of King Tubby himself. The list of album credits he accrued up till then was already a mile long and he had just released “All Hail The Dub Head” the year before this. He made sure to give a few shout outs of “One Love” and “We Love Bob Marley” throughout his set. And speaking of Bob, between acts there was some local band doing a cover of “I Shot The Sheriff” up in the poster room and soon the reggae vibes would continue on the main stage with Rocker T, a dancehall artist from Brooklyn. He was accompanied by a band with horns called Soul Majestic and though I didn’t get his setlist, I know two of the songs he did that night were “Conquer” and “Provider” and, like The Scientist, had a ton of reverb on his vocal. Needless to say, by this time, the air in The Fillmore was thick with the sticky icky. People also forget in these days where high quality herb is readily available practically everywhere that in 2002, Northern Cali was the primary source of the real Chronic. 

The time finally came for Mix Master Mike to take the stage and he greeted us all asking, “Everybody high enough in this motherfucker?” We were reminded quickly of his tenure with the Beastie Boys, sampling a bit from “The Maestro”, the one where they were chanting, “Sar-dines! And pork & beans!” Now anyone who has ever seen Mike do his thing knows that his roster of samples are far too numerous to list, but I know he threw down bits of “People Of The Sun” and “Know Your Enemy” by Rage Against The Machine, “Positive Contact” by Deltron 3030, “Immigrant Song” by Led Zeppelin (the second Zeppelin cover of the night), “Been Caught Stealin’” by Jane’s Addiction, “Ease Back” by the Ultramagnetic MCs, “Welcome To The Terrordome” by Public Enemy, and “The Breaks” by Kurtis Blow just to name a few. Suffice to say, all the in house were high as kites by the time it was all over. They had made a colorful poster for the show, though it wasn’t an official Fillmore one, slightly smaller in size too. I would soon be back only two days later to see another marijuana enthusiast on that stage, Busta Rhymes, who likewise got the air nice and cloudy for his show. 

https://archive.org/details/mix-master-mike-fillmore-21502

https://archive.org/details/rocker-t-fillmore-21502

https://archive.org/details/the-scientist-fillmore-21502

https://archive.org/details/deadweight-fillmore-21502

Busta Rhymes – Fillmore, SF, Sun., February 17

SETLIST : As I Come Back, Everybody Rise Again, We Got What You Want, Truck Volume, Genesis, Pass The Courvoisier Pt. 2, Tear Da Roof Off – Rhymes Galore, Woo-Ha! Got You All In Check, It’s A Party, Wife In Law, Party Is Goin’ On Over Here, Get High Tonight, Holla, Bounce (Let Me See Ya Throw It), Gimme Some More, Scenario, Dangerous, Put Your Hands Up Where My Eyes Can See – What It Is, (encore), Break Ya Neck, Pass The Courvoisier Pt.2 – Make It Hurt Outro

It had been four years since I recorded Mr. Rhymes at the Maritime Hall, but he made quite a lasting impression. He was busy that year promoting the “Genesis” album, his first after leaving Elektra to form his own label, Flipmode Records. It certified platinum and had another hit single with “Pass The Courvoisier”. Busta had also been in a couple major motion pictures recently, “Halloween : Resurrection” with Jamie Lee Curtis and a crime thriller called “Narc” with Ray Liotta & Jason Patric which would be out that December. In his spare time, he even did cameos on “WWE SmackDown” and the “Chappelle’s Show”. I was lucky to catch a few songs in his soundcheck and he did ones that he didn’t do during his set like “Bad Dreams”, “Street Shit”, “You Ain’t Fuckin’ Wit Me”, and “Make It Hurt”, though they did play the last one recorded in the Outro as they left the stage. I know I’ve said it before, but I was amazed again at Busta’s excellent diction. The man raps at breakneck speed and you can still make out every word, it’s miraculous really, one of the many reasons why he’s among of the best. 

There had been a rumor that the show had been moved from The Warfield due to low ticket sales, but I assure you that the house was sold out big time for this one. I caught a bit of Anthony, the head of security there, giving his nightly speech to the others on his team, telling them to not trip if they see somebody with a joint, it being more important to be on the lookout for weapons. He also reminded them to be there bright and early at 8 A.M. the next morning to load in the nu metal band Sevendust, a show I’d also be attending. As luck would have it, when I taped Busta at the Maritime in ’98, Sevendust had just played there two weeks prior. Anyway, Sevendust’s show would then be followed by a four show run with Willie Nelson and I’d be lucky to catch the second night. Technically, this night with Busta was one of those “An Evening With” shows with no opener, but they let his man on the ones and twos. DJ Scratchator, up on stage to spin and he did a solid half hour or so. Decked out in a blue jumpsuit, he apologized for running out of his tour CD, but promised that if we emailed him that he’d send us one… That, and he wanted our addresses. 

Scratchator played a wide variety of stuff including some from Rah Digga, a member of the Flipmode Squad, and pumped up the crowd yelling stuff like, “Don’t be afraid to be a freak! Being a freak just means you’re giving it to that girl so fuckin’ good!” He played a little something from Aaliyah saying that he missed her and “You see her in that commercial as a vampire? Don’t she look good?” Then he had us all do a 10 second moment of silence, mourning her death from a plane crash the previous August. He picked things up again playing “Movin’ On Up”, the theme song from the TV comedy show “The Jeffersons”, and believe me everybody knew the words and sang along. Scratchator did good, getting the crowd riled up and had them chanting, “Who am I? Scratchator, Motherfucker!” He also pitted the audience against each other spinning bits from both Jay-Z and Nas and getting us to cheer for the one we like the most. Clearly, the crowd went for Nas and Scratchator added that they’d been to 12 different cities already on this tour and everybody always went for Nas. 

But the crowd went nuts when Busta finally took the stage and did his thing. Seriously, it was joyful to hear this show again, still making me put my hands in the air from time to time. He had the crowd in the palm of his hand that night. Busta went through a bunch of his new material, giving a moment after “Genesis” to give shout outs to Oakland, San Jose, and other towns. He went on that he liked to “get drunk in the west coast” and asked if there was any cognac drinkers in the house, an obvious prompt for his next song. Busta listed a few like Hennessey, Crown Royal, and such before ultimately getting to, you guessed it, Courvoisier and began the unmistakable serpentine drum and bass riff of that single. I managed to get up front by this time and was lucky enough to catch a swig of the said spirit from a bottle Busta was passing around with the crowd. Strong stuff. Later, he said to us “Right now, Busta Rhymes is nasty as a motherfucker. I heard San Francisco is one of the nastiest cities in the whole United States. Can I make you my ‘Wife In Law’ this evening? Can I verbally fuck you right now?” and then they did that one. 

Afterwards, Spliff Star, his world famous hype man, claimed that the crowd wasn’t loud enough and demanded that they “turn on the lights! I want to see these motherfuckers!” Then he offered Busta some drink, but he turned Sliff down asking what was in there, adding “I’m not going to fuck around with no drug shit. I’m going to fuck around with some weed, some cognac, but I’m not doing no mystery drug shit”. Spliff reassured him that it was “medicinal” and for him to “trust me, I’m your best friend, homie”. The crew definitely got the people jumping with “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See” and after, Busta declared, “I ain’t no motherfucking model! I’m a creative genius”. He encouraged us to get the “Genesis” album, also Flipmode’s new album that was coming out that June,  and to check out the “VH1 : Behind The Music” special on him that aired just that day. 

Just before they finished with “What It Is”, Busta said to us, “Before I bounce, I’m gonna leave y’all with these words. You can do whatever the fuck you want… Live and let live and remember you are always able to establish your own Genesis.” But soon, they came back for an encore though Spliff admitted that he was tired. Busta encouraged him to “drink, we got a show to finish”. Scratchator spun a few bars of “One Blood” by Junior Reid before they dove into the lightning fast “Break Ya Neck”. Few can match Busta’s verbal dexterity on that one. When he was done, he said, “I genuinely thank every one of you motherfuckers for showing your genuine love. I definitely want to thank you motherfuckers for riding with me since I had a fucked up S-Curl instead of dreads, back in the Leaders Of The New School days!” They shook folks hands as they casually made it off stage, Scratchator spinning a reprise of “Pass The Courvoisier Pt. 2” and the aforementioned “Make It Hurt”. Considering, the enthusiasm from this sold out show, one would think they’d give it a poster, but alas, they didn’t. The good news was I wouldn’t have to wait another four years to see Busta again since he would join Moby that summer at Shoreline for his “Area 2” tour alongside such greats as David Bowie and the Blue Man Group. 

https://archive.org/details/busta-rhymes-fillmore-21702

https://archive.org/details/dj-scratchator-fillmore-21702

Sevendust, Gravity Kills, Flaw – Fillmore, SF, Mon., February 18

SETLISTS : 

(FLAW) : Reliance, Whole, Amendment, Only The Strong, Scheme, Get Up Again, Payback

(GRAVITY KILLS) : Love Sex & Money, Down, Guilty, Take It All Away, Never, Falling, One Thing, Fifteen Minutes, Alive, Enough

(SEVENDUST) : Black, Denial, Redefine, Too Close To Hate, Walk, Trust, Shine, Angel’s Son, Live Again, Rumble Fish, T.O.A.B., Dead Set, Crucified, (encore), Thunder Kiss ’65, Praise, Waffle, Bitch

Before I continue with the review of this show, I feel I should let you, gentle reader, know that Sevendust will always be remembered by me, not because I’m particularly a fan, but because I’m reminded of them every time I post on this blog. Yes, for some inexplicable reason I still can’t figure out, I have to begin my editing of this blog, adding on a new review by going to the beginning of year 1998 and low and behold, the first concert I saw that year was, yep, Sevendust. They did a show at Maritime Hall with Snot, (who will be mentioned again later) and Hed PE, which I recorded, the first of count em’ FOUR times I recorded them at the Hall that year.  So every time I post something new, the last thing I see before I begin is lead singer Lajon Witherspoon’s grimacing face glaring down at me from the picture I posted at the end of that review. 

That being said, I don’t think Sevendust is a bad band, far from it. As I mentioned, I had a good run with them and though I wasn’t a fan, I was at least familiar with their music. The same goes for the opener, Gravity Kills, who I had seen before at Shoreline opening for the Sex Pistols in 1996. But this time, it had been over three years since I’d seen Sevendust and they were on tour promoting a new record called “Animosity”, which had just come out the previous November. It did fairly well certifying gold and they played 8 out of that record’s 13 songs, half their complete setlist that evening. They had also recently written a song that was used as the theme music for WWE wrestler Chris Jericho called “Break The Walls Down”, but they didn’t play it that night. It was the day after Busta Rhymes rocked The Fillmore, so I was still a little hazy and I was grateful to have earplugs for this show because the volume was excruciating. Coincidentally, after I recorded Sevendust for the first time in 1998 at the Maritime Hall, Busta played there two weeks later. 

The first opening act, Flaw, was a nu metal group from Louisville whom I hadn’t seen and don’t think I’ve seen since, though they also were pretty good and very loud. Their first album, “Through The Eyes”, had just been released five months before this, on Devil’s Night in fact, the day before Halloween. The first song and single from that album, “Only The Strong” made it on the soundtrack to the movie “The Scorpion King” along with Sevendust’s song, “Corrected”. Naturally, Flaw played that single, though Sevendust didn’t play their contribution to that soundtrack at this show. Their singer, Chris Volz, gave a shout out to Sevendust for taking them on tour and dedicated that song “to the entire nation”, which as you know was still reeling from the trauma of 9/11. Afterwards, Chris managed to get the crowd to form a single mosh pit for their song “Scheme” combining the two smaller mosh pits that had been churning earlier. 

It’s a pity that this would be the final time I’d see Gravity Kills perform because I thought they were pretty talented. I especially liked their first hit single “Blame” which strangely they didn’t play that gig. I guess they were tired of it by then. Gravity Kills were just about to release their third and final album, “Superstarved”, a month after this show, but had the ill fortune of having their keyboardist, Doug Firly, severely hurt his hand in front of a sold out show later that May. Poor guy had his hand crushed when a 300 pound, custom made, steel keyboard fell on it during their song “One Thing” in front of a sold out crowd. The band broke up the following year and Doug went on to become the keyboard tech for Alicia Keys. Gravity Kills would do a handful of one-off shows since this night, including a reunion gig recently in 2023, but like I said I haven’t seen them since though coincidentally, I did manage to see Alicia Keyes perform at the RSA internet security conference I was working at earlier this year.  Maybe Doug was there. 

Perhaps in a nod to country music legend Willie Nelson, who was about to begin a four show run immediately after this night with Sevendust, they came on stage to the sounds of the seminal bluegrass classic “Orange Blossom Special” playing over the loudspeakers. The upbeat tempo of that song was almost worthy of moshing to in my opinion, but Sevendust got things underway quickly, blasting everybody’s eardrums to bits with “Black”. Like I said, they did mostly new stuff that night, but they got all the sweaty meatheads in the crowd in a frenzy when they did a cover of “Walk” by Pantera. Nu metal might have been well on the decline in popularity around that time, but from the amount of action in the pit at that show, you’d have never have guessed it. 

They brought things down a couple songs later, Lajon saying, “Check it out. We didn’t know what to expect coming to the west coast… motherfuckers just standing there looking at us. You guys kicked ass on everybody else on this tour! Shout out to Lynn Strait from Snot. I know you loved him the same as we do. Can you help us sing ‘Angel’s Son’ tonight?” I know I mentioned that song long ago in previous Sevendust reviews, but to those who don’t know Lynn Strait died in December of 1998 and had toured with Sevendust with Snot opening for them in fact on that aforementioned first Maritime Hall show. They were an excellent band, and the nu metal community took Lynn’s death hard.  Sevendust wrote “Angel’s Son”, adding it to a tribute album to Lynn called “Strait Up”, and actually performed an acoustic version of it recently on “The Late Show With David Letterman” with David’s band leader Paul Shaffer accompanying the band on keyboards. On another sad note, Lajon’s younger brother was shot and killed shortly after this show, which caused the band to go on hiatus for the remainder of the year. 

The band kept the cooler, thoughtful vibe going a little longer, Lajon declaring, “You always don’t have to be the heaviest shit in the land. It’s OK to slow down to think about shits that’s goin’ on in the world today, to think about the beautiful fuckin’ people we lost on September 11th because of this fucked up ass war… I know we’re fortunate to be alive, to be safe here this evening” and then they did “Live Again”. He got the pit lively once more, finishing their set announcing, “San Francisco, San Francisco… I’m sorry, y’all kick ass in this motherfuckin’ town now. I think we’re going to do a song called ‘Crucified’… All you in the pit, you feelin’ this?!? All you in the house, you feelin’ this?!?” The band came out for their encore, beginning it with a cover of “Thunder Kiss 65” by White Zombie and finishing it with their hit single “Bitch”. Sadly, there was no poster that night as there wasn’t for Busta Rhymes the night before, but we got one of the best posters The Fillmore ever produced for Willie Nelson the next time I was there. It was a collage by Jason Mercier and the original still hangs next to the main bar at The Fillmore to this day. 

https://archive.org/details/sevendust-fillmore-21802

https://archive.org/details/gravity-kills-fillmore-21802

https://archive.org/details/flaw-fillmore-21802_202506

Willie Nelson, Norah Jones – Fillmore, SF, Wed., February 20

SETLIST : Whiskey River, Stay All Night, Good Hearted Woman, Ain’t It Funny (How Time Slips Away), The Night Life, Working Man Blues, Help Me Make It Through The Night, Me & Bobby McGee, Me & Paul, If You’ve Got The Money Honey, Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain, (Instrumental), Blue Skies, Georgia (On My Mind), All Of Me, Stardust, Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys, Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground, On The Road Again, Always On My Mind, I Never Cared For You, To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before, Luckenbach Texas, Whiskey River (reprise), Still Is Still Moving To Me, Milk Cow Blues, Poncho & Lefty, Maria (Shut Up & Kiss Me), Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In), The Great Divide, Truck Drivin’ Man, My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It, Jambalaya, Hey Good Lookin’, The Rainbow Connection, Will The Circle Be Unbroken, The Thirty-Third Of August, Pick Up The Tempo, Mountain Dew, Till I Gain Control Again, I Saw The Light

It goes without saying that the great, the one and only, Mr. Willie Nelson needs no introduction, but to all those who’ve been living under a rock for the last century, feel free to revisit my previous entries about him for more back story. That being said, this would be country legend’s second run of shows at The Fillmore, his first being only two back to back shows there the year before this. This time, he was back for, count em’, four in a row and they were commemorating this run with one of the finest posters The Fillmore ever produced. This was one of Jason Mercier’s famous collages and it was so brilliant that the original now hangs over the main bar of The Fillmore to this day. It was a monumental honor to have the Red Headed Stranger for those nights and my only regret was that I was to see just the second night, though it was understandable that these gigs were in high demand amongst the ushers and every night was sold out and then some. Like the year before, Willie had originally only been booked for two shows, but they added two more for obvious reasons.

Yes, by the grace of God, Willie is still alive and performing to this day, but back then all those years ago, he was already on the cusp of his 69th birthday. He was as busy as ever, having just released his… brace yourself… his 50th studio album, “The Great Divide”, a compilation of duets with such A-listers as Bonnie Raitt (Yay!), Kid Rock (Boo!), Rob Thomas, Lee Ann Womack, Brian McKnight, and others, not to mention Alison Krauss played fiddle on it. Mr. Nelson criss crossed the country with the Family band doing a whopping 105 shows in 2002 as well as 26 in Europe. In the meantime that year, Willie also become spokesman for Texas Roadhouse and had appeared on the Food Network promoting that chain. The restaurants even installed “Willie’s Corner” in several locations, a spot filled with Willie memorabilia. And if that wasn’t enough, he also had a memoir published that year on Random House called “The Facts Of Life And Other Dirty Jokes”. Willie had actually did a quick in-store and book signing at Tower Records in North Beach earlier the day before, but I didn’t know about it until it was over. 

These shows were precious enough, but they had the added distinction of having an obscure young singer named Norah Jones as the open act. Little did anyone there know that her debut blockbuster album, “Come Away With Me”, which came out on Blue Note a mere six days after this show, would be so mind boggling in its success. Norah, AKA Geethali Norah Jones Shankar, is the daughter of sitar virtuoso Ravi Shanker and had moved to Texas after her parents separated when she was 7 years old. After some time in Alaska, she moved again to New York City where she began her singing career, doing some work with 8-string guitar master Charlie Hunter, a fellow Blue Note artist. Norah had actually been a guest vocalist when Charlie played at The Fillmore with his Quartet the previous October, so technically this was the second time I’d see her perform. When her new album was unleashed, it was an instant smash hit, selling over 27 million copies, earning her 8 Grammy nominations, winning her 5 including Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Best New Artist, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. She was the first person of south Asian descent to win that many Grammys and remains tied with Lauryn Hill for the most of those awards won by a female performer in a single night. 

The bad news is that the disc that I recorded her set on was a dud, so I don’t have it, but I distinctly remember that she had no trouble winning Willie’s crowd over and that is no small feat. Mr. Nelson’s fans are a picky lot and tend to drink and talk even through his sets, but they shut up for her. Norah had the good taste and wisdom to play a cover of “Tennessee Waltz” for this country crowd and she nailed it, her rendition nothing short of sublime. I heard her do that brilliant cover with Charlie Hunter as well four months before this. Needless to say, her days as an opening act soon vanished and she would be touring on her own as a headliner in no time, taking moments that year to be the musical guest on “Saturday Night Live” with Robert DeNiro hosting and doing a cameo as herself in the film comedy “Two Weeks Notice” with Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant. It would be 14 long years until I would see Norah perform again at the final Bridge School Benefit where she would share that bill with, you’ll never guess… Willie Nelson.

Anyway, this would be the third time I’d see Willie play, who I’d seen once before on that stage during one of those aforementioned shows in 2001 and also at Maritime Hall in 1997, but seeing him in the flesh never grows old. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating, the moment one lays eyes on that man, you feel that absolutely no harm can come to you. Willie and the gang wasted no time doing their customary stretch of songs at the outset, starting with “Whiskey River” all the way to “Working Man Blues”. From there, he hit one familiar classic after the next, taking moments to introduce members of the Family band like sideman Jody Payne, who sang that last one and drummer Paul English whose name graces the title of his song “Me & Paul”. Willie’s sister Bobby took a moment to do a piano solo and Mickey Raphael put down his harmonica for a spell to play saxophone for “Georgia (On My Mind)” too. Naturally, he played all the hits, but I got to hear a couple I’d never heard him do before like the title track of the new album and a moving cover of “The Rainbow Connection” famously sung by Kermit The Frog in “The Muppet Movie”. 

It was a long show, well over two hours and when it was all over, we had been treated to a whopping 44 songs! I overheard myself on the tape while in line for an Anchor Steam pointing out to a patron the water dispenser at the end of the bar, saving them from having to buy a bottle. Everyone was really friendly as always at his show and there was no shortage of weed getting smoked all night. My buddy Dan was ushering with me and was astounded when some stick in the mud idiot actually complained about some nearby partakers to him. He simply shook his finger giving them a tsk tsk and elected to tell the offending smokers to move a little farther away from the buzz killer and that was that. Dear God, it’s like telling folks at a Jimmy Buffett show to stop drinking margaritas. Anyway, we were beyond spoiled once more to see Mr. Nelson play in a venue that small and I’d be spoiled once again the following year again also in February when he’d return to The Fillmore to do another four show run. Though I only got to see one of those shows once again, I’d be lucky enough to catch Willie once more for free at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass later that October. 

https://archive.org/details/willie-nelson-fillmore-22002

Bob Marley Day 2002: Luciano, Damian Marley & The Ghetto Youth Crew, Mikey General, Wadi Gad & Jahbandis, Prince Rastan – Warfield, SF, Sat., February 23

SETLISTS : 

(WADI GAD & JAHBANDIS) : Wanted Man, Give Love A Try, To Behold Jah, Why Should I Cry, Joy, Rocky Road

(DAMIAN MARLEY & THE GHETTO YOUTH CREW) : Mr. Marley, Old War Chant, (unknown), Me Name Jr. Gong, Crazy Baldhead, So Much Trouble In The World, Trenchtown Rock, We & Dem, Work, Searching (So Much Bubble), Still Searchin’, It Was Written 

After the Maritime Hall finally sunk, my intake of reggae shows was drastically reduced. Indeed, the roster of that genre’s finest had been coming through month after month for years but by this time, I was fortunate to catch one of these shows a season. So, you can imagine my relief when a long one such as this Bob Marley Day gig came through town. Because of my tenure at the Maritime, the house that Hughston built, I was familiar with all these acts and had in fact recorded Luciano and Prince Rastan twice there and Mikey General once. One thing was certain, it was going to be a looooong night and The Warfield was about to get thoroughly hot boxed. If that wasn’t enough, in a span of only a week and a day, I had just attended the Cannabis Action Network gig with Mix Master Mike, followed closely by Busta Rhymes and Willie Nelson, all three shows at The Fillmore. I definitely was getting my time in with the devil’s cabbage. This show had been advertised originally to be at The Fillmore, but eventually it got bumped up to The Warfield due to the demand I imagine.

The first act on that evening was Oakland native Prince Rastan and thankfully they opened the doors an hour early to help get us all out of there in a semi-reasonable hour. Rastan was still very much a kid when I first recorded him and his wheelchair bound father three years before this, but I could clearly see that he was growing up fast, at least a foot taller and skinnier than when I’d seen him last and his voice was slightly lower too. They were only on stage for five songs and were soon followed by Wadi Gad & Jahbandis. Like many of the acts on that night, Wadi had a pretty thick accent and spoke quickly between songs, but I did make out him saying that “music is a gift”, that as musicians, they have a responsibility to the world, and that “unity is the key”. It felt good to hear some Rastafarian wisdom and calls for peace, especially since we all were still coping with the trauma of 9/11. 

I had seen Damian Marley, the youngest of Bob’s kids, performing on the main stage with his brother Julian and The Uprising Band twice at Lollapalooza in 1997. Damian was brand new then, only 19 years old, but by this show he was a seasoned touring act, having just released his second album, “Halfway Tree”, which won him a Grammy for Best Reggae Album, beating out Luciano as luck would have it. His other brother Stephen co-produced it and both he and Mikey General were touring with the Ghetto Youth Crew for their band, a collection of artists put together for their record label of the same name. All the Marley brothers founded the label as a non-profit that helps underprivileged youth in Jamaica. I couldn’t figure out Mikey General’s setlist, but most acts that night did at least one Bob Marley cover and he did “Catch A Fire”. 

By the time Mikey got on, it was getting crowded down on the dance floor and I was sweating a bit trying to redirect patrons down the left bar aisle to get to the dance floor’s side entrance. I overheard a conversation I had with another usher about the difficulties trying to schedule in concerts in our lives when most are announced at least three months before the show. Ironically, I also talked to an usher in my aisle shortly afterwards, though I don’t remember which, about his birthday party coming up three months later in July which was going to have a ganja cake. I commiserated with him that I too that I would soon be turning 30 years old that month and would try to make it to his party if I wasn’t working.

Damian honored his father that night reciting three of his classics, “Crazy Baldhead”, “So Much Trouble”, and “Trenchtown Rock”. Like the times before, I was impressed with him, so much that I still consider him to be my favorite of the Marley brothers. His success would continue in 2005 when he’d put out “Welcome To Jamrock” which would go gold and win him another Grammy for Best Reggae Album. I’d see Damian once more on that Warfield stage the year after this show as well, that time headlining the Bob Marley Day gig paired again with his brother Julian. Prince Rastan was the opening act for that one too. I finally was cut from ushering when Luciano came on but when I went back downstairs to get a pint of Sierra Nevada from the bar, I found that I misplaced my drink ticket and had to pay for it with cash. I don’t recall ever losing a drink ticket before that night and I don’t think I have since. Whatever, easy come, easy go. Strangely, Luciano also did a cover of “Crazy Baldhead” that night. I mean, it’s one of Bob’s best songs, but he had a million other great ones to choose from. Maybe he was still sore at Damian about the Grammy. Anyway, Luciano also did a cover of “War” and had a tight set, ending the night graciously introducing his band, having them each do a solo, and proclaiming that “reggae music is the heart of the people”. 

https://archive.org/details/luciano-warfield-22302

https://archive.org/details/damian-marley-the-ghetto-youth-crew-warfield-22302

https://archive.org/details/mikey-general-warfield-22302

https://archive.org/details/wadi-gad-jahbandis-warfield-22302

https://archive.org/details/prince-rastan-warfield-22302

Violet Indiana, Laughingstock – Great American Music Hall, SF, Wed., February 27

SETLIST : Power River, Air Kissing, Sundance, Liar, Poison Gorgeous, Rage Days, Little Echo, Silent, Poppy, Jailbird, Busted, Feline Or Famine, Killer Eyes, (encore), Purr La Perla, Chapter 3, Vodka Song

I hadn’t seen Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins since they had played at The Warfield back in 1996 where little did I know that he would soon be parting ways acrimoniously and romantically with his partner Elizabeth Fraser just a year later. Since then, Robin had immersed himself in producing and would soon be putting out solo records. But a few years before this show, he formed Violet Indiana, recruiting Siobhan de Mare of the band Mono to sing for him. Siobhan in fact had never heard the Twins’ music before she was approached, though she said her sister and friends were fans. Likewise, Robin had never heard Mono, only hearing some new demo of some solo stuff she had been working on handed to him by friend. And speaking of friends, my buddy Matt joined me to watch this show, bringing along his trusty camera. He actually got an excellent black & white shot of Siobhan performing that night but I have since misplaced my print of it. Matt assured me if it ever turned up on his end in North Carolina, he’d email me a copy and I promise to post it later.

One friend who sadly didn’t make it to the show was my dear friend Liz. She was just about to move to London where she’s remained ever since and couldn’t make it. I miss Liz and though she still has some lingering home sickness, I’m glad she escaped America, especially during that painful time right after 9/11. Part of me still wishes that I’d gone with her, but she has dual citizenship and I don’t. Tough break for me. If you’ve read my previous entries about the Twins before, you might recall that Liz was friends with Robin, Elizabeth, and their guitar tech for some time and wouldn’t have missed that show if she didn’t have to. Violet Indiana was a short lived side project, calling it quits, putting out their last album two years later. This time they were touring in support of a compilation album called “Casino”, patched together from their first 3 EPs. It was just enough material to fill out a respectable hour long set and the tickets were only $15, a deal even back with 2002 prices. 

But first up was a band called Laughingstock, a replacement for the original opener, Starflyer 59, who had to drop out for some unknown reason. The crowd was pretty sparse when they got on, it being a seated show with tables and chairs spread out over the usually empty dance floor. The Great American and other venues like Slim’s and The Fillmore would do that sometimes when there were low ticket sales like it happened presumably for that show. Bad news for the band and the venue, but good news for me, making it easier to get a good spot and the crowd being quieter. I couldn’t find any information on them, so I imagined they were a short lived musical project as well, though I do know they share a name with a Norwegian band. It was a trio with a drummer, violinist, and cellist and I thought their proto-punk music was pretty good, coincidentally sounding like Deadweight who’d just seen at The Fillmore the week before this, another cello-violin-drum combo. But they were only on for a half hour, squeezing in just seven songs.

I hadn’t heard any of Violet Indiana’s music before this night, but I knew Robin’s signature 12-string, sonic brick wall of layered guitar sound well. His style permeated the whole shoegazer movement in the late 80’s-early 90’s, producing some of Lush’s early albums for example. And though that movement was on the decline along with their other Britpop brethren, it should be noted that Violet Indiana was one of the good ones, though coming late to the party. Siobhan had a beautiful, breathy voice, reminiscent of singers like Bjork, Beth Gibbons of Portishead, and Siouxsie Sioux. She took a moment before they did “Feline Or Famine” to mock the seating arrangement on the floor and taunted us a little to stand up. One thing I remember, perhaps my most vivid memory of this show, was Siobhan being pregnant. I mean, she was pretty far along, I’d guess at least 6 months. She’s one of only three singers I’ve seen pregnant or at least visibly pregnant on stage, she being one, the others being Salt of Salt-N-Pepa and Sabina Sciubba of Brazilian Girls. Weird to think that kid’s old enough to drink now. 

https://archive.org/details/violet-indiana-great-american-music-hall-22702

https://archive.org/details/laughingstock-great-american-music-hall-22702

Machinehead, Darwin’s Waiting Room, 3rd Strike – Fillmore, SF, Thur., February 28

SETLISTS :

(3RD STRIKE) : Walked Away, Flow Heat, Blind My Eyes, Paranoid, All Lies

(DARWIN’S WAITING ROOM) : Godfather Intro, Live In The Moment, Feels So Stupid (Table 9), Spent, All I Have Is Me, Transparent, In To The Dark, Back That Azz Up

(MACHINEHEAD) :  Bulldozer, The Blood The Sweat The Tears, (unknown), (unknown), Crashing Around You, Take My Scars, I’m Your God Now, White Knuckle Blackout!, From This Day, American High, Nothing Left, Deafening Silence, Davidian, Territory, Live Wire, Supercharger

It had been almost four years since I recorded Machinehead for the third time at Maritime Hall, so I was well versed in their brand of east bay thrash metal by then, but I was eager to hear them once more and finally at a different venue. Sadly, they never released any of the shows I taped at the Hall and I was disappointed that they instead did a live album from a gig they had just done then in London at the Brixton Academy, which would be titled “Hellalive”, a shout out to their Oaklandish vernacular, and would be released a year later. They had just put out their “Supercharger” album three weeks after 9/11 and we got to hear six of their new songs that night. It would be the last album featuring Ahrue Luster on guitar, who left the band over creative differences and would be replaced by Phil Demmel, who had served guitar duties in Vio-Lence, the pioneering east bay thrash metal band alongside Machinehead frontman Rob Flynn. 

The video for the new single “Crashing Around You” was badly timed since it had several images of San Francisco’s downtown buildings on fire, so the video was ultimately pulled. To make matters worse, the new album proved to be a commercial failure getting no promotion from their label, Roadrunner, leading them to negotiate their way off their contract with them. They were on the verge of breaking up when they got resigned by Roadrunner and thankfully their next album, “Through The Ashes Of Empires”, would do better. Though I’m certain Machinehead is mortified that they share their name with a song by Bush, as luck would have it, I would see Bush at The Warfield a month after this and yes, they played it. And also yes, to all those nit pickers out there, I do know that Machinehead is commonly known as “Machine Head”, the two word version, but I had gotten to know them at the Maritime listed as one word and I stubbornly prefer to address them as such. Any-who, this had been a strangely divergent few days musically then, having just heard the shoegazing sounds of Violet Indiana with Robin Guthrie from the Cocteau Twins the night before and would catch the hip hop stylings of Ludacris also at The Fillmore the night after, though neither Fillmore shows would get a poster. 

The first band on stage that night was 3rd Strike from Los Angeles who though sounding suspiciously like Limp Bizkit, nonetheless did a respectable cover of “Paranoid” by Black Sabbath. They made sure to give a shout out to Machinehead noting that they were back in their hometown, or at least across the bay from it anyway. They were followed by another Limp Bizkit channeling nu metal band called Darwin’s Waiting Room from Miami. They came on stage to the sound of the theme from “The Godfather” playing over the loudspeakers and they did their best to encourage the crowd to “make some fuckin’ noise!!!!” Halfway through their set, their singer Jean “Jabe” Baptiste-Blot made a point to say how glad he was that the month of February was ending because he “can’t fuckin’ stand Valentine’s Day… all the flowers, the chocolates, all the fake bullshit cards that don’t mean shit” and then they did “All I Have Is Me”. 

When he announced that the next song was called “Transparent”, I overheard a cynical guy next to me cracking, “Yeah, I can see right through you”. Afterwards, Jabe gave a little speech about how we have to “change the terminology” about “boy bands” like N’Sync and the Backstreet Boys, saying that they should be called “groups” instead, his rationale being that real bands play instruments and he listed off some “real fuckin’ musicians” like Korn, Slipknot, and System Of A Down. But Darwin’s Waiting Room weren’t so macho as to not show their play side and they did a funny little nu metal medley of the kids song, “The Wheels On The Bus” before doing “Back That Azz Up” by Juvenile. In a strange coincidence, DJ JC, the turntablist for Ludacris spun the original of that song on his ones and twos the next day on that very same stage. 

Machinehead’s homegrown crowd was more than ready to mosh when they got on stage and opened their set with the new song, “Bulldozer”. Oh dear lord, as you might have guessed, it was a loud one, so I had no trouble hearing it from the back of the room. After a few songs, I was cut from ushering and came back downstairs missing a couple of songs, hearing Rob introduce “Crashing Around You”, saying that he was “so pissed off at the world” and that he “didn’t want to be mad, but a voice inside wanted me to stay mad… I thought I was the only weirdo… Are there any weirdos in here?” A couple songs later, he dedicated “I’m Your God Now” to the memory of Paul Baloff, the lead singer of Exodus who had just passed away from a stroke at the beginning of the month at the all too young age of 41 years old. Speaking of birthdays and on a happier note, that night was (legally) my friend Hefe’s 30th birthday. Being a leap year baby, he wouldn’t officially be 8 years old until 2004, but I digress.

Before Machinehead did “American High”, Rob asked, “What’s goin’ on, San Francisco? Let me tell you guys somethin’, that last fuckin’ jump on stage you just did was fuckin’ awesome, right? Thank you very, very, very much. You guys doin’ alright? I know it’s like Thursday night and shit. You gotta go to work. You gotta go to school. Feel like stickin’ around and have a few beers with Machinehead?!?… Cheers, motherfuckers… Cheers”. He went on to say that the song was “about the fine line between being a delinquent, drinkin’ beer, drinkin’ vodka, smokin’ a little bit of weed, porno, & Fremont, California. Do you guys feel like losing your goddamn minds tonight?!?” Afterwards, he mentioned, “In case you don’t know, a little Black Sabbath is good for the soul” and continued with “Nothing Left”. The band had been doing a cover of “Iron Man” on the tour, but they didn’t so it that night. I guess one Sabbath cover by 3rd Strike was enough.

Rob took time to introduce the other band members and brought it down to a somber note saying, “Thank you, San Francisco. This next song that Machinehead’s going to do for you here is going to be dedicated to the single event in every single person in this room’s, in this entire generation’s lives… That 4000 or so people who lost their lives on September 11th” and then they did “Deafening Silence”. He most certainly brought the audience back up again when he followed that with “Davidian” getting everybody to yell, “Let freedom ring with a shotgun blast!!!” They continued doing a couple cover songs, Rob goading the crowd, “I’m going to tell you what songs we’re doing. Whoever gets the loudest cheer, that’s what we’ll do… Iron Maiden?… System Of A Down?… Motley Crue?…. Sepultura?” Clearly the last two got the loudest response, so they did “Territory” followed by “Live Wire”. Rob taunted one kid in the crowd who despite wearing a Sepultura shirt, didn’t even “know the goddamn lyrics”, eliciting boos from the others. 

They finished the set, Rob dedicating the new title track off the new album “for every person who’s ever got a Machinehead record” and “every single drunken lunatic that’s been in here for the last hour and a half”. I found red napkins promoting the new Ann Rice vampire movie “Queen Of The Damned”, which had just come out in theaters the weekend before this show, around the tables of The Fillmore that night and snagged one. Though none of the bands on the bill had any songs on that movie’s soundtrack, it was definitely populated by some other notable nu metal acts like Korn who were fellow label mates of Machinehead on Roadrunner, a subsidiary of Warner Brothers who had made the movie. Jonathan Davis of Korn would actually sing the parts for Lestat in that movie. You know, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen it, though it was famous being the final film role of Aaliyah before she perished in a plane crash, but just as well. I heard it was pretty dumb and it flopped at the box office. Anyway, this was the last time I’d see Machinehead perform, but they still tour, having just headlined a show at the Fox Theater back in their home sweet home of Oakland last April. 

https://archive.org/details/machinehead-fillmore-22802

https://archive.org/details/darwins-waiting-room-fillmore-22802

https://archive.org/details/3rd-strike-fillmore-22802

Call & Response, Persephone’s Bees, Matt Pond PA – Café Du Nord, SF, Fri., March 1

(SETLIST) : (PERSEPHONE’S BEES) : (Instrumental), On The Earth, (unknown), Way To Your Heart, (unknown), Queen’s Night Out, (unknown), Paper Plane

Before I continue with this, I feel a need to make a point of clarification. As you probably have noticed, there are quite a number of shows listed in this little writing experiment of mine and despite my best efforts to keep the dates in order, from time to time I run into a couple that are dated incorrectly or share a date with another show. Often the case is that I just fucked up and put the wrong date for one of the two, and I thought that was what happened here with the Call & Response show. But in this case, it wasn’t until I had already posted my piece about Ludacris at The Fillmore when I discovered that the show in question indeed shared the same date as Ludacris, but was actually an early show that afternoon. The memory returned to me and I recall hanging out at Cafe Du Nord as long as I could before having to haul ass to The Fillmore to make it in time to usher. So, clearly the Call & Response show was first in line for this blog and I will correct it, but to those who had the pleasure of reading the Ludacris bit before this one, consider this a prequel. 

I always enjoyed doing these “double feature” shows, but they were few and far between. The last one I can remember before this was the previous October, seeing Spearhead at their 9/11 Power To The Peaceful show at Dolores Park before continuing on to see Suzanne Vega that night at The Warfield. And like those other “double feature” shows, I was tickled by the contrast of musical styles between the acts that day, bouncing from the bohemian Noise Pop sounds of these guys to the raunchy hip hop of the “Dirty South” hours later with Ludacris. Yes, I saw a handful of enjoyable shows at Cafe Du Nord in my taping days and it being a former Prohibition Speakeasy, basically was a basement with low ceilings. This ensured that the shows were always extraordinarily loud, leaving my recordings coming through quite clearly, especially the guitar parts. Like I said, this was an afternoon event, a “happy hour” show as they were billing it, beginning bright and early at 4:30 pm. 

This was the first of three days of the very first Noise Pop festival, organized by Jordan Kurland, who I used to intern for in college at the office of Dave Lefkowitz, the manager of Primus. Jordan would continue to organize these festivals in San Francisco to this day, with the exception of 2020 during the pandemic while managing such acts as Death Cab For Cutie and Matt Nathanson. I’m fairly sure that my friend Matt roped me into this show, probably scoring free tickets as he had the exceptional talent of doing, though if we did buy tickets, Jordan always made sure that tickets to Noise Pop shows were affordable. Jordan was always a generous guy and I miss working with him and wish him well, especially if he’s reading this now… Hi Jordan.  

Call & Response were fellow Californians, I think from Oakland or at least around the bay area, known for their infectious harmonies and catchy pop songs. Comprised of three women and two men, they were quite pleasant, what little I heard of them, catching only three songs before we had to vacate. Thankfully, I got to see them a couple more times in 2004, first doing a free in-store set at Amoeba Records and then a couple months later at the Great American opening for The Court & Spark, coincidentally another pop band with an ampersand in their name. But Call & Response would ultimately be short lived as a band, breaking up a year later for good. I was mainly there to see Persephone’s Bees which had been recommended by Matt, another bay area pop band with a female singer from Oakland. Her name was Angelina Moysov, I believe a Russian who emigrated to the Monterey area in 1993 hooking up with their guitarist, Tom Ayres, at a local club there called Viva’s. 

Before I go on, if the band’s moniker strikes a bell with y’all, especially you nerds like me who are into mythology when you were kids, the name comes from an ancient Greek story, later recounted in a poem by fellow Russian, Osip Mandelstam. To make a long story short, Persephone was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, who was abducted by her uncle Hades, the king of the Underworld, while she was minding her own bee’s wax (excuse the pun) and picking flowers one fine day. Hades cleft open the Earth, dragging her down to his subterranean crib, and forcing the poor girl to marry him (ewww). She reluctantly became his queen, inheriting the very metal title of Goddess Of The Dead, after being tricked into eating pomegranate seeds that for some reason insured that she had to stay in the Underworld every winter. But Persephone was free to resurface on Earth every spring to hang out with her mom. Her presence thus heralded the return to life for the plants and stuff, hence the bees who as you know are responsible for pollenating. Likewise, when she returned every winter to the Underworld, the plants would wither once again. OK, I guess that was sort of a long story after all.  

Anyway, the Bees were fairly new back then as were Call & Response, both bands forming around 1999. It helped that they had recruited former Loved Ones bassist extraordinaire Bart Davenport on the team, a respected alt rock musician in many circles. This new band had just released their first LP called “City Of Love” that year and it would go on to win Best Debut Album at the California Music Awards, or Bammies as they were commonly known. Their new album had been produced by veteran Eric Valentine who had done work with Queens Of The Stone Age (Yay!) and Third Eye Blind (Boo!). The Bees actually had a run of moderate success around then, touring alongside such notable artists as Cake and Jonathan Richman, and their songs would grace the soundtracks of the “Bewitched” reboot movie and TV shows like “The Sopranos” and “Weeds”. I liked them right away, the first song of their set being a groovy instrumental and afterwards Angelina said, “Thanks for showing up early. I really didn’t expect anyone to be here”. I would see them only five weeks later opening for Petrol at Slim’s, though I believe that was the last time I’d see them perform.

I only managed to record one song from the first act, Matt Pond PA, probably because we showed up late.  They were a band from Philadelphia with a long roster of ex-members who had just released their third album “The Green Fury” two months before this show. Though like Call & Response, I only got to see a bit of them, I would get another chance to check them out four years later when I’d catch them opening for Gomez at The Warfield alongside a brand new, unknown act at the time called Rodrigo Y Gabriela. Those guys would soon get super big after that, though they didn’t have an ampersand in their name like the other two name bands formerly mentioned.

https://archive.org/details/call-response-cafe-du-nord-3102

https://archive.org/details/persephones-bees-cafe-du-nord-3102

https://archive.org/details/matt-pond-pa-cafe-du-nord-3102

Ludacris, DJ JC – Fillmore, SF, Fri., March 1

SETLIST : Cry Babies (Oh No), Coming 2 America, Block Lockdown, Phat Rabbit, Growing Pains, Catch Up, Area Codes, Ho, (unknown), Go 2 Sleep, She Said, Move Bitch, Welcome To Atlanta, One Minute Man, Saturday (Oooh! Oooh!), Southern Hospitality, Word Of Mouf, What Means The World To You, What’s Your Fantasy, Rollout (My Business)

As it was with the genre of reggae, the sinking of Maritime Hall also meant a severe cutback with my intake of hip hop music, so when shows such as this came through at The Fillmore, I was grateful. Mr. Christopher Brian Bridges AKA Ludacris was still fairly new to the national music scene. Already a hip hop child prodigy, writing his first rap song at the age of 9, he worked his way diligently to stardom, from his days as “DJ Chris Lova Love” on Atlanta’s Hot 97.5 radio station, producing his debut album “Incognegro” on his own record label, Disturbing Tha Peace, to his latest release, “Word Of Mouf” which had just come out the previous November. That one would be certified triple platinum, become his best selling album, and the single “Rollout (My Business)” would earn him a Grammy nomination for Best Male Rap Solo Performance.  

His efforts helped further catapult the so-called “Dirty South” sound into mainstream success alongside other such Georgian hip hop royalty as Outkast, Lil Jon, and the Goodie Mob. And he had more good news recently with the birth of his daughter Karma the previous August. Ludacris would actually go on to produce an animated show called “Karma’s World” in 2021 for Netflix. a semi-autobiographical, musical comedy series about his daughter and he would star as the lead voice in the show playing, naturally, her father. And speaking of show biz running in his family, Ludacris also happens to be the second cousin twice removed of comedy legend Richard Pryor who would pass away just three years after this evening. I hope Richard got to see him perform at least once before he died. I’m sure Richard would have recognized and appreciated his cousin’s penchant for raunchiness. 

It was just another “An Evening With” show, the first of two sold out nights, with no opening act other than Ludacris’ turntablist DJ JC to warm up the crowd. I assume the second show was added after mine because of all the obvious demand. My ears were still ringing from witnessing Machinehead on that stage the night before, a very different musical act indeed. Though as luck would have it, Darwin’s Waiting Room, the second opening act that night, did a nu metal cover of “Back That Azz Up” by Juvenile, a fellow Georgian like Ludacris, and DJ JC spun the original version of that jam before the show began. He also dropped a couple songs by Busta Rhymes who had performed at The Fillmore as well just two weeks before this show. This was the last night of what they were calling “The Rollout Tour” and Ludacris’ people were definitely in the mood to party that night.

A DJ from KMEL introduced Ludacris and the crowd went nuts when he got on stage. Ludacris, a fellow radio veteran himself, made sure to give a shout out to KMEL before he started, said another shout out to folks from Vallejo, and noticed that there was a “girl up here trying to show her titties”. He encouraged her to even going so far as saying, “I ain’t startin’ the music until she shows her titties”. She either did or he just gave up because he soon began the night doing an acappella rendition of his new song “Cry Babies (Oh No)”. A few jams later, he asked, “Where all my smokers at? I know this is the west coast… Smoke and drink every day, your body’s gonna get fucked up… But some niggas just don’t give a fuck!” and then he did “Catch Up”. 

A few more songs later, he set up his big hit joking, “Ever been trying to get somewhere in a hurry in a car driving real fast and someone in front of you is driving slow as a motherfucker?.. Trying to get around them, you just want them to move and get out the way?” and he lead the crowd to loudly sing along to “Move Bitch”. Ludacris then reminded of us of his lusty ways claiming that there was “too many fine ass women in here… Ladies, let me ask you a question. How many of you can’t stand a ‘One Minute Man’?” and then he did that song, one that he recorded as a duet with Missy Elliott. Teeing up the next title, he pointed out that “in one hour, it’s going to be Saturday” and he got everybody to do holler the “Oooh Ooohs” in, of course, “Saturday (Oooh! Oooh!)”

Before the next one, he and his hype man divided up the crowd to see who could yell “When you get on the floor, throw them ‘bows”. When Ludacris had his side put up their middle fingers to the other side, his hype man had his side put up both their middle fingers to his and then they had the whole crowd chant the chorus before they brought the house down with “Southern Hospitality”. Ludacris egged on the audience demanding, “If you’re going home and fuckin’ tonight, make some noise!”, before going on to do the title track off his new album, also done acappella. He led the audience to the loudest singalong yet with “What’s Your Fantasy” before finishing the night with “Rollout (My Business)”. He and DJ JC hung around on stage for a while as the crowd slowly dispersed. 

Strangely enough, they were playing some kind of swing music and I overheard me talking to somebody about how exhausted I was having just been there the night before for Machinehead and for Violet Indiana at the Great American the night before that. We both encouraged each other to get some rest. This show might have been the first of what I call “walkout” recordings where I literally taped myself walking out of the venue after the show ended. I think I did it originally here just because I wasn’t sure if the show was quite over yet, but when I realized it was, I just kept it going, knowing that I had plenty of tape remaining. Soon, I would be doing this for every show, hearing comments from people walking out, the handing of posters at the door (though there conspicuously wasn’t one for this show), and the sound of traffic outside the venue. 

On a strange note, five months after this show, Ludacris would get into a well publicized tussle with Fox News anchor and all-around fascist dickhead Bill O’Reilly who had called for Pepsi, who Ludacris had been doing ads for, to boycott him over his profane lyrics. Pepsi, like the spineless corporate villains that they are, fired Ludacris replacing him with Ozzy Osbourne. Instantly, everybody knew that it was the height of irony, racism, and hypocrisy because by then Ozzy had clearly said and done things far, far more profane by any standards, too numerous to even go into now. Ludacris sued Pepsi who eventually settled for $3 million which he promptly donated to his charity, The Ludacris Foundation, which teaches leadership and helps provide for urban youth. He retaliated against Bill by going on Tom Green’s show, hilariously launching copies of Bill’s books into a dumpster with a catapult. They eventually kissed and made up at a charity event in 2010, but the whole incident only gave Ludacris more fans and steet cred. 

Yes, despite Bill’s pathetic grudge, Ludacris’ career would continue its meteoric rise and I would enjoy seeing him a year later on that same stage again. By then, his acting career would also start taking off with appearances in “2 Fast 2 Furious”, a role he would reprise in four more installments of that film series, and the Oscar winning drama “Crash”, which would earn him a Screen Actors Guild Award. Incidentally, Ludacris is going to be on the bill of the summer’s Outside Lands in Golden Gate Park and though I haven’t seen him play in over 20 years, I hope that if I get on that show god willing once again, that he’ll be performing on my stage. He’s the only act apart from Beck and Thundercat that I had seen before or frankly knew anything about and being a hip hop performer, will rest assured be easy to set up. 

https://archive.org/details/ludacris-fillmore-3102

https://archive.org/details/dj-jc-fillmore-3102

Scratch Tour 2002: Dilated Peoples, Mix Master Mike, Z-Trip, Grand Wizard Theodore, The Original Jazzy Jay – Fillmore, SF, Tues., March 5

SETLIST : (DILATED PEOPLES) : Clockwork, Live On Stage, The Main Event, No Retreat, Ear Drums Pop, Guaranteed 

Though the popularity of scratching had been gradually developing over the last few decades before this, this new American art form had finally reached a milestone being the subject of a new renowned documentary appropriately titled “Scratch” and was due to be released in the theaters that very Friday. Directed by Doug Pray, who had found notoriety with his film about the Seattle grunge scene “Hype” in 1996, this documentary would be the backdrop to this “Scratch Tour” sponsored by Shure Microphones and this Fillmore show would be the first date of these artists’ journey across the nation exhibiting their skills on the ones and twos. In fact, every artist on the bill would be a DJ with the exception of the headliner, Dilated Peoples, though they have DJ Babu in their band, a veteran of the Beat Junkies crew.

The night began with The Original Jazzy Jay, one of the pioneers of the art form, who had been a protege of Afrika Bambaataa and a member of his Universal Zulu Nation, beginning his illustrious career at the tender age of only 13. Jay introduced himself, going on about his hilariously massive record collection, numbering somewhere between 300,000 to 400,000, and ranging from 30’s swing hits like “Blue Moon”, to Check Berry, to the recent hits of the day. A self described “walking encyclopedia” of musical information, Jay displayed his chops mashing up such disparate songs as “Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega, “Another One Bites The Dust” by Queen, “Rockit” by Herbie Hancock, and Public Enemy’s “Fight The Power”. But he wasn’t the only master of the turntables from New York on the bill the night. 

Following him would be the one and only Theodore Livingston, AKA Grand Wizzard Theodore, who many consider the inventor of the art of scratching altogether. The story goes, for those who don’t know, that as a boy in 1975, he had been mentored in the ways of DJing by his brother Mean Gene, and one night, he had been tape recording some of his efforts in his bedroom when his mother came in to scold him about the noise. Startled, he held down the record while he was getting an earful and when he re-listened to the tape the next day, he heard the record getting rubbed back and forth, creating that scratching sound which he found intriguing. He later tinkered with his turntables allowing him to develop his scratching skills without damaging the table’s motors. Soon, Theodore shared his new musical technique to the New York hip hop scene alongside his crew, The Fantastic Five, racking up a hit with his single “Can I Get A Soul Clap”, and the rest is history.

Theodore didn’t come out on stage at first, being introduced by a clip from the documentary about his origin story and then heralded by the sounds of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” blasting over the loudspeakers, a NASA-like countdown, the trademark THX sound sample, and ultimately the ubiquitous announcement, “Let’s get ready to rumble!” One of the emcees of the evening announced that it was Theodore’s 25th birthday that night, which was half true being that the day was correct, but he had in fact just turned 39. Theodore joked, “To y’all seen the Heineken commercial and think that’s how scratch was invented, shame on you!” During the middle of his set, he had a young woman come on stage from the audience to “shake what your mamma gave ya’!”. At the end, he thanked us all for giving him the “best birthday I ever had” and reminding us that “there’s no me without you!”

Next up was Z-Trip, the pioneer of mash ups. Yes, though Mr. Zach Sciacca may have not invented the technique, he certainly was the master of it, garnering a reputation for his originality and recruited to do remixes by such A-list artists ranging from the Beastie Boys, to Missy Elliott, and the Butthole Surfers. He was still fairly new then and wouldn’t actually release an album on a major label for another three years, but he wowed us all, combining such eclectic songs as Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” with “Testify” by Rage Against The Machine. He would drop jam after jam ranging from stuff from Led Zeppelin, “Love Is A Battlefield” by Pat Benatar, “War Pigs” by Black Sabbath, “Tom Sawyer” by Rush”, and ending strangely enough with Mussorgsky’s “Night On Bald Mountain”. Speaking of Black Sabbath, Ozzy’s reality show “The Osbournes” just premiered on MTV that very night and Ozzy just retired with a huge Sabbath reunion show in Birmingham, England last week.  

But back to the show and next up was Mix Master Mike. I was more than familiar with his work, having seen him already with the Beastie Boys, recording him twice at Maritime Hall, and hearing his masterful mixing on that very stage only a few weeks before this at the 215 Blowout show, a benefit for the Cannabis Action Network. Like Theodore, he was introduced with a clip from the documentary where he told a story about when he was boy, that he couldn’t at first afford to buy bone fide turntables of his own. Consequently, Mike purchased a couple of cheap tape decks instead, mixing hip hop and random things like sound effects, science fiction story records, and drums. Eventually, he was able to get some real tables and continued his craft becoming ultimately what he called a “scratch traffic controller”. Mike kept his set to stuff that he spun the last time I saw him there, once again playing the “Sardines & Pork & Beans!” bit from “The Maestro” by the Beasties, a couple of Rage Against The Machine mash ups, and a bit of “Ease Back” by the Ultramagnetic MCs. 

Finally, Dilated Peoples finished the night, coming on declaring that “everything up on this stage is real”, “you can’t fake” what they do, and asking “Where my dogs at? Where are my dogettes at?” and so forth. They were promoting their second album, “Expansion Team”, and though they got the crowd quite pumped, their set was only a disappointing six songs long. I was impressed by Babu’s scratching and the rappers’ clear diction, a sure sign of talent for any hip hop crew and I would enjoy their stylings once again at The Fillmore later that October when they opened for Public Enemy. The poster from that show is currently framed and proudly displayed on a wall in my living room right now in fact.

There were little flyers going around that night promoting the soundtrack to the film “All About The Benjamins” starring Ice Cube and Mike Epps, though none of the artists on that album were performing that night. The soundtrack had just been released that day and the movie itself was coming out that Friday alongside “Scratch”. The flyers easily caught people’s attention, including my own because the backside of the flyer looked deceptively like a folded $100 bill.  It certainly caught my eye and I was one of many who fell for it. Anyway, “Scratch” was playing up the street from me at the Lumiere on California, but I didn’t catch it when it was there, nor have I seen “All About The Benjamins” now that I think about it. Still, I had a lovely time and it was a pity that the show didn’t get a poster that night. I would return the following evening to The Fillmore to see some more east coast hip hop with the Wu-Tang Clan, but sadly, they didn’t get a poster either. 

https://archive.org/details/dilated-peoples-fillmore-3502

https://archive.org/details/mix-master-mike-fillmore-3502

https://archive.org/details/z-trip-fillmore-3502

https://archive.org/details/grand-wizard-theodore-fillmore-3502

https://archive.org/details/the-original-jazzy-jay-fillmore-3502

Wu Tang Clan – Fillmore, SF, Wed., March 6

SETLIST : (unknown), Dat’s Gangsta, Rumble, Da Mystery Of Chessboxin’, Triumph, Run 4 Cover, Do You Really (Thang, Thang), Liquid Swords, Cold World, Crash Your Crew, Breaker Breaker, One Blood Under W, The Duel Of The Iron Mic, (unknown), (unknown), Glocko Pop, Domestic Violence, La Rhumba, (unknown), (unknown), Iron’s Theme, Ghost Deini, C.R.E.A.M., (unknown), (unknown), Method Man, Bring The Pain, (unknown), Judgement Day, Bring The Ruckus, Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthin’ Ta F’ Wit, Tearz, Can It Be All So Simple, Reunited, It’s Yourz, Chrome Wheels, Ice Cream, Freek’n You, Da Rockwilder, The W, Cherchez LaGhost, (mystery girl freestyle), In The Hood, Y’all Been Warned, Rules, Pinky (Uzi Ring)

I had the honor of recording many of the members of this seminal, east coast rap collective over the years at Maritime Hall, but this would be the first occasion that I would see them all together on one stage. Yes, GZA, RZA, Method Man (along with his partner Redman), and Old Dirty Bastard had all passed through the Hall at one point or another, though ODB wouldn’t be in the roster during this show which I will get into later. I had just been to The Fillmore the night before to see the Scratch Tour with Dilated Peoples, Mix Master Mike, and others, continuing a long stretch of hip hop acts that I’d witness there in a short period of time, including Ludacris and Busta Rhymes. 

The Wu-Tang Clan were on tour supporting their new “Iron Flag” album and despite being their second worst selling album, it still managed to certify gold. This would be the first album without ODB and they had airbrushed Cappadonna out of the cover art, angered that his manager, Michael Caruso, had been discovered to be a police informant. The other members of Wu-Tang had been keeping busy with their solo efforts, RZA releasing “Digital Bullet”, Ghostface Killah releasing “Bulletproof Wallets”, and Method Man marrying his wife Tamika in 2001. Method Man would team up once again with Redman, only this time to make the film comedy “How High” that year too. GZA would put out his “Legends Of The Liquid Sword” album later that December. 

To say that ODB was going through a rough patch would be the understatement of the century. He had been arrested in 1999 for driving without a license and then arrested again only weeks later for having a bulletproof vest, which was illegal for him being a convicted felon, well, that and he happened to have 20 vials of crack and some marijuana on him at the time. As part of his plea agreement, he went into a drug rehab facility, but had recently escaped, being literally on the run from the law for a whole month. The po-po finally caught up with him and arrested ODB while he was conspicuously signing autographs in front of a McDonald’s in Philadelphia. So, suffice to say that he was preoccupied in jail around this time and we wouldn’t have the pleasure of his company that night and tragically, I would never see ODB again as he would succumb to a drug overdose only two years later.

It was “An Evening With” show with no opener and the crowd was chomping at the bit for them to get on stage, chanting “Wu-Tang! Wu-Tang! Wu-Tang”. When they finally got on, everybody cheered and put their “W’s” in the air, sort of their inverse “Live long & prosper” Vulcan hand gesture, forming the letter. The first thing I quickly noticed is the seemingly controlled chaos these guys work with, a maelstrom of rap talent, flowing in and out of each others jams at will. For the life of me, I couldn’t comprehend how their DJ could possibly keep up with their endless barrage of ever changing bits of songs dropping without warning again and again and again. I mean, it became exhausting just to simply listen to and if you don’t believe me, check out the setlist above to see the variety of hits they managed to cram into their set. Clearly, this group had been doing this together for years to somehow make this work.

Like I said, I knew a handful of the Wu-Tang guys, but they would deftly switch between each other, and it was hard to make out who was saying what between songs. They made sure to give shout outs to local rap contemporaries like the Hieroglyphics and Too Short, even giving “respect” to the Gorillaz who were playing at The Warfield the next night “because they’re taking it to another level”. One of them also noted ODB’s absence, dedicating “Triumph” to his honor. There was an awkward moment when Chef Raekwon gave a speech talking about the “big trend goin’ on about girls eatin’ each other’s pussy” and that “the more they do, they start losing their soul”. He encouraged the audience to “pick up your good book, your Bible”, denouncing the so-called “carpet munchers”. Well, being San Francisco, even at a gangster rap gig like that, his comments went over like fart in church as you might imagine, though he tried to dial it back praising “strong black women” and encouraging a Latina girl to get on stage and dance with them during “Domestic Violence”.

Anyway, between songs, another member touted the group’s line of Wu-Tang clothing, mentioning their new “Wu-watch”, “Wu-comic book”, and “Wu-video game” before they did “Chrome Wheels”. They followed that with “Ice Cream”, getting at least 10 more women on stage to dance, one of the members asking the crowd, “How many niggas in here like pussy?!? Wanna see some titties?!?”. And yes, the members and then the rest of the audience started chanting “Show your tits!” and “We want titties!” and many of the young women obliged them. And though I didn’t join in the chanting, the sight was welcome to me regardless, being hopelessly single and depressed about it amongst other things around that time. Method Man, still promoting his pot smoking “How High” movie, also encouraged everyone to “roll that shit” and “light that shit”, and it being The Fillmore, we all needed little encouragement. 

After what seemed an eternity, they finally pulled the plug on the night, one of them claiming that if “we ain’t out of the building in 10 minutes, they going to sue us”. They got everybody to chant “1-2-3-Peace!” a couple times and claimed that they were going to have an “after party for all the ladies 21 and over” at the Hotel Triton. Whether or not that was true, I had a feeling anybody who took them up on that offer would have been unsuccessful and disappointed anyway. That hotel on Geary near Union Square always has a couple tough security guys holding vibe out front, yet I can’t help but wonder what rowdy shenanigans the Wu-Tang members got into later after the show. As they left, a random young woman got on stage and started singing a song called “Impossible” a cappella before doing some freestyle rapping of her own and she wasn’t actually half bad. Sadly, there was no poster at the end of the night, as there hadn’t been for the Scratch Tour the night before, but there would be great one for the Gorillaz the following night. 

https://archive.org/details/wu-tang-clan-fillmore-3602

Gorillaz, Dan “The Automator” Nakamura – Warfield, SF, Thurs., March 7

SETLIST : M1 A1, Tomorrow Comes Today, Slow Country, 5/4, Starshine, Man Research (Clapper). Sound Check (Gravity), Re-Hash, Clint Eastwood, Rock The House, Dracula, 19-2000, Punk, (encore), 5/4 (reprise), Clint Eastwood (reprise)

In the agonizing first few months after 9/11, I and everybody else were in desperate need of some good news, anything to distract us from anger and anxiety infecting the world. And in some microscopic way, our prayers were answered with the debut of the Gorillaz. So many new styles of music had emerged over the 90’s that I had almost become jaded in believing that anything this original could surface, but it did. Truthfully, I had forgotten about Damon Albarn and his Britpop band Blur since that genre of music had begun its steadily decline in popularity in the last few years before this and though I knew of Dan “The Automator” Nakamura, I was then blissfully unaware of his work with Del Tha Funkee Homosapien and their ingenious project, Deltron 3030. I shamefully didn’t pick up that seminal album until years later. So, first a little back story.

Let’s set the clocks back to halcyon Britpop year of 1990, shortly after Damon had just put together Blur along with his guitarist Graham Coxon. Graham had been a fan of comic book artist Jamie Hewlett’s work with “Tank Girl” and having befriended him, invited Jamie to interview his new band. Initially, Jamie thought Damon was a “wanker” and he probably was a bit back then, young and arrogant, and things quickly went south between Jamie and Graham when Jamie started dating Graham’s ex-girlfriend. Now let’s fast forward to 1997 and Jamie had just broken up with that girl coincidentally around the time that Damon had his well publicized split with Justine Frischmann of Elastica. So, having freshly become bachelors, Jamie and Damon decided to become flatmates together in London. Strange bedfellows in this case seemed to beget strange art indeed. 

Tensions in Blur caused the members to pursue other projects and Damon kept busy writing new material that despite being interesting, didn’t exactly fit with Blur’s repertoire. It was there that he conspired with Jamie to hatch this “virtual” band as this new project was still developing in embryo, Jamie sketching out characters that would ultimately become the Gorillaz. Starting with singer and spiky-haired Damon alter ego “2-D”, there was “Murdoc Faust Niccals”, the Keith Richards-esque bass player, adorable female Japanese guitarist “Noodles”, and hulking, bald, black, & Little Orphan Annie pupil-less “Russel Hobbs” on drums. Damon had collaborated with Nakamura, lending his voice to the opening track of the Deltron 3030 album, so he called Dan up to join in this new project. Del would also be brought on to do all the rap lyrics on the album, most notably for their smash hit single “Clint Eastwood”, so named as the song resembled the theme from “The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly” somewhat. 

And in a very short time, the self titled debut album came out a year before this show, accompanied by Hewlett’s brilliantly animated videos. Sure there had been fictional animated bands before like Alvin & The Chipmunks, The California Raisons, Josie & The Pussycats, and so forth, but this was different. The result was nothing short of an overnight sensation and before they knew it, this fictional band were in high demand to be seen on very real stages. In an effort to bring this project to life, they devised a scheme to erect a huge, semi-translucent screen in front of the band while they performed and project the animations for each song onto it. One could only see Damon and the others in silhouette, but I did noticed at the front of house soundboard position in the balcony of The Warfield, that they had set up a camera on stage feeding a small monitor for the sound man so he could see what was going on with the band. Personally, I thought this screen-silhouette idea was inspired, further enhancing the originality of this project, but I learned later that Damon hated being behind that screen, fantasizing of slashing it open with a knife during a show and sticking his head through the gash to sing. It’s understandable I suppose after spending all those years up front and center stage with Blur, being cheered on by his legions of adoring Britpop fans. The Gorillaz would instead project the animations behind them on stage for tours in years to follow.

I had no idea how spoiled rotten I was that night, seeing one of only 10 shows the Gorillaz would perform that year in North America, 8 in the States, and 1 each in Toronto and Mexico City. This Warfield show was only the 18th live performance they had ever done. It was predictably sold out and the crowd waited with bated breath as The Automator warmed things up, spinning records for about an hour. He opened with a mash up of “Jungle Boogie” by Kool & The Gang with “Fly Like An Eagle” by Steve Miller Band before dusting off some classics involving Del, including his early hit “Mistadobilina” and later “Positive Contact” from the Deltron 3030 album. Dan also did some familiar jams like The Pharcyde’s “Passin’ Me By” and “The Humpty Dance” by Digital Underground. During his set, I overheard myself talking to my buddy Pier who I used to work with years before at the Oakland Marriott. He was a concert junkie like me, in the middle of a five show in row stint and would be attending shows at The Warfield for the next two following nights without me, seeing comedian Wayne Brady and then Dream Theater. Like me, Pier also clearly had eclectic tastes, but I would be taking a well deserved break from shows, not doing another one until Angelique Kidjo at The Fillmore three weeks later. 

Soon enough, the lights went down and the crowd went nuts to the sound of “Natty Take Over” by Justin Hinds & The Dominoes playing over the loudspeakers. That was followed by a recording of Cilian Murphy’s voice during his unforgettable opening scene in the horror film “28 Days Later” shouting “Hello!!! Anyone there?!?” repeatedly in the deserted streets of London. I didn’t know it, nor anyone else, at the time since the movie wouldn’t be released in the States for another year, making me wonder how he got the sample in the first place. I know the movie came out in England first, so maybe he swiped it from a trailer or something. They actually began with “M1 A1”, the final track of the album, followed by “Tomorrow Comes Today”. Damon did some impressive work playing a melodica during that last song and he’d wield it again for other songs as well. I thought the animations were hilarious as they were brilliant, especially an interlude where the characters were playing video games at home, Noodles complaining that her controller was broken.

But then time finally came for “Clint Eastwood” and everybody sang along until our voices were as loud as thunder. Del wasn’t touring with the Gorillaz which was personally disappointing to me, but they had a more than worthy substitute with Jamal Gray, AKA The Last Emperor. I had recorded him as one of many acts on the Lyricist Lounge show at Maritime Hall, alongside De La Soul, Black Eyed Peas, and an upstart, little known rapper called Eminem. I’ll never forget The Last Emperor doing an a cappella bit about comic book characters battling famous rappers at that show. Anyway, the (short version) story in the animated video for that song was that the undead spirit of Del possessed Russel’s brain while he played drums, followed by an invasion of zombie gorillas. They did four more songs before ending their set and during the encore break, they played a curious mash up of electronic ping noises over the speakers. 

Having only a single album’s worth of songs under their belts at the time, the band elected to reprise both “5/4” and an extra long version of “Clint Eastwood” for their encore. The Last Emperor proudly introduced the latter shouting, “Yo Frisco! From Alcatraz to the hood, make some noise for Clint Eastwood!” Damon sneered, “This time you sing it… Sing it, motherfuckers!!!” An we once again did, this extended version even more glorious than the first one. Damon commented once that the real actor-director Clint Eastwood never said anything about the song, but I have to believe at least ONE person, perhaps one of his more fashionable grandchildren, told him and/or played it for him. Mr. Eastwood was only just shy of 62 years old at the time and is well known as an accomplished jazz pianist and I think he’d be flattered or at least a touch curious about it. 

Though this is the only time I’ve seen the Gorillaz perform, I have seen Del Tha Funkee Homosapien on a number of occasions since then and he always does that song, often as his closer. I’m grateful that there’s a good recording of this show available on internetarchive.org and I’ve attached it along with my own along with this review. Likewise, I’m also eternally grateful this musically historic night will forever be commemorated by one the most brilliant posters in my whole collection. Done by Chris Shaw, one of my favorite poster artists, it is of a single cartoon banana with a green backdrop, elegantly simple and clearly an homage to Warhol’s banana cover of The Velvet Underground’s first album. It certainly helped to make up for the absence of posters that I had endured for the last five Fillmore and Warfield shows that I had attended before this and actually was a runner up to be framed and hung on one of my walls in the current flat I’m living in now and after hearing this show again. Part of me wishes I had done it. A novel concept that Gorillaz was, there’s never been another virtual band other than Dethklok from “Metalocalypse” that has even been worthy of their stature. They should go on tour together someday. 

https://archive.org/details/Gorillaz_2002-03-07

https://archive.org/details/gorillaz-warfield-3702

https://archive.org/details/dan-the-automator-nakamura-warfield-3702

Angelique Kidjo, Kasumai Bare – Fillmore, SF, Sat., March 23

SETLIST : Refavela, Batonga, Bahia, Afirika, Iemanja, Black Ivory Soul, Iwoya, Drums & Percussion, Olofoofoo, Ces Petits Riens, Loloye, We We, Okambale, Agolo, Tumba, (encore), Wombo Lombo, Ominira

It had been over a year since I had been introduced to the music of Angelique Kidjo that fateful day, the first concert at the newly christened ball park. There she would be the very first of many musical acts to perform at what was known then as Pac Bell Park, the new home for the Giants, and she was a worthy one. I never forgot her powerful voice and joy in her songs and along with Macy Gray, would open for Dave Matthews Band that night. And the rest is history. But The Fillmore is clearly a much more intimate venue to see Kidjo and it was nice to be amongst her fans exclusively. Like most shows with African artists, the house was packed with many ex-patriates, their relations, and such from that mighty continent, all dressed to the nines in the most colorful outfits and head ornaments imaginable. It had been over two weeks since I’d seen a concert, quite stretch to go without for me back then, and this was a pleasant one to get back into the swing again. 

I had in fact just seen her perform at The Fillmore just six months before this, but I was nonetheless just as eager to hear that unmistakable voice once more. She was doing another tour promoting her latest album, “Black Ivory Soul”, and would do 7 of the new songs for us that night. Though I wrote about her before from the last Fillmore show, I had just learned that the album featured Questlove from The Roots on drums and Bernie Worrell from P-Funk on keys. Bernie had played for Afro-pop legend Fela Kuti as well. Carlos Santana had likewise become a fan of Kidjo and they would collaborate frequently around that time, though sadly none of the previously mentioned were in the house that night. We were lucky to catch this gig since it would be one of only 11 shows she’d do on in the States. Kidjo actually had performed at The Fillmore in Denver only the night before, opening for the String Cheese Incident, a curious combination of acts, I admit. I’m just glad the jam band people like Dave Matthews and them appreciate her work. 

Opening that show was a group called Kasumai Bare, another Afro-pop group who I believe were from Senegal. They had a decent sized band, plenty of drums, a violinist and the singer was quick to thank Kidjo for taking them on tour, calling her an “absolute beautiful jewel”. They even got the crowd to “gently and sweetly” sing her last name over and over during one song, the singer encouraging us, “No, you got to do much better, louder… Before she impresses us, impress her”. Later between songs, he mentioned that she was from Benin and asked if there was anybody in the audience from there too and there was a couple folks who confirmed it. There was plenty of excellent percussion work, especially near the end of their set and they had no trouble getting the crowd to clap along with it. 

Likewise, Kidjo once again brought along her excellent drummers as well, led by master percussionist Aiyb Dieng, and they opened her set with a long intro from them.  She warmly greeted the crowd saying, “Good evening, San Francisco! How are you? You make me want to move back here… Some of my best friends in the world come from here!” To be perfectly honest, and I probably mentioned it before, it was tough to make out what she was saying, since she had an incredibly thick accent and spoke quickly, quietly, almost mumbling. So that’s about all I can definitively say I could make out from her that night, apart from introducing her band before she sang the new song “Tumba” and she did address the audience frequently. But it mattered little to me, since I was more interested in her music and once again, she delivered, her voice soaring and flawless. But I have to say I was disappointed that The Fillmore yet again didn’t print a poster for her. 

https://archive.org/details/angelique-kidjo-fillmore-32302

https://archive.org/details/kasumai-bare-fillmore-32302

Bad Religion, Less Than Jake, Hot Water Music – Warfield, SF, Wed., March 27

SETLISTS :

(HOT WATER MUSIC) : A Flight & A Crash, (unknown), (unknown), Wayfarer, (unknown), Rooftops, Alright For Now, Turnstile, (unknown)

(LESS THAN JAKE) : (unknown), (unknown), Jen Doesn’t Like Me Anymore, (unknown), History Of A Boring Town, How’s My Driving Doug Hastings?, (unknown), Mr. Chevy Celebrity, (unknown), Plastic Cup Politics, Look What Happened, Last One Out Of Liberty City, Help Save The Youth Of America From Exploding, All My Best Friends Are Metalheads

(BAD RELIGION) : Suffer, Stranger Than Fiction, Supersonic, You, Them & Us, The Defense, No Control, Epiphany, Modern Man, Atomic Garden, Kyoto Now!, Sorrow, Recipe For Hate, Generator, Broken, Do What You Want, Watch It Die, Anesthesia, Along The Way, Skyscraper, Infected, Fuck Armaggedon… This Is Hell, American Jesus, 21st Century (Digital Boy)

As Bad Religion sings, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, and America was introduced to a horrifying new nether region of the two just a couple days before this with the premiere of “The Bachelor” on ABC. We haven’t been the same since. The good news is “A Beautiful Mind” won the Oscar for Best Picture the day before that and it was a pretty good movie. But anyway, I was pleasantly distracted from all that and the general lousy state of the world by this welcome encounter with Bad Religion back on The Warfield stage. They were on tour promoting their twelfth studio album, “The Process Of Belief”, in their already long illustrious career as west coast punk pioneers. Brett Gurewitz, who had helmed their record label, Epitaph, had recently rejoined the band on guitar after a seven year absence and helped produce the new album with singer Greg Graffin. They had also acquired a new drummer, Brooks Wackerman, replacing Bobby Schayer.

There were a couple notable openers that night starting with Hot Water Music, a punk band from Gainesville, Florida. They also had a new album on Epitaph called “Caution” and would continue to tour with Bad Religion later that summer on the Van’s Warped Tour, making a stop at Pier 30/32 that July, though I did not attend. They came on stage to the sound of mariachi music coming over the loud speakers, but quickly elevated the room’s volume about a thousand fold. Dear god, their singers Chuck and Chris could scream up a storm. Consequently, I could only make out about half of the song titles in their set that show.  Still, I liked that they did a little riff of “Hell’s Bells” by AC/DC before they began with “A Fight & A Crash”. Halfway through their set, Chuck asked for his “buddy help us sing a song” and at first they couldn’t locate him, but eventually Matt Skiba from the Alkaline Trio came on stage and joined in for the song “Rooftops”. The Trio had just collaborated with Hot Water Music recently on a split EP. Afterwards, Chuck shouted, “Clap your hands for the warm up band! Less Than Jake’s gonna think you suck! They’re going to think you don’t care unless you start dancing! Shake your butt! We came a long way to play with these guys!” Yeah, the pit woke up a little. I appreciated their effort and I’d see them again a year later opening for the Bouncing Souls at The Fillmore and then back again at The Warfield in 2004 opening for Flogging Molly.

The aforementioned Less Than Jake were up next. Also from Gainesville, Florida, but unlike Hot Water Music, I’d already seen them a couple times by then, recording them headlining the Ska Against Racism show at Maritime Hall in 1998 and later that year on that very same Warfield stage at one of those Live 105 Not-So-Silent Nights. They had just released a compilation album of their hits called “Goodbye Blue & White”, a title honoring their old tour van, having memories written about it in the liner notes. They came out to the sound of a “This is only a test” recording and after a couple songs, their singer Chris DeMakes feverishly addressed us, yelling, “Holy shit! There’s a lot of fuckin’ people here! Hi everybody!”. Like their fellow colleagues from Gainesville, they too were extremely loud and also played their songs at breakneck speed, making deciphering their song titles equally as challenging. 

But they delivered a lot of energy as always, getting the audience to sing the “Whoa-oh-oh”’s during “History Of A Boring Town”. Chris later joked, “remember when ska was popular five years ago?” and dedicated the next song to “bay area ska bands from ’96, ’97 who turned into a bunch of shitty emo bands that we can’t stand anyway!” He was sadly right though. Most ska acts around that time started doing that as an excuse to shed their horn players and make more money. Later, he asked us, “By a show of hands, who’s an avid alcoholic or a tweeker in the house? Who’s straight edge? I saw a fuckin’ shrink folks, the last ten years when I got out of college. ‘Aww, you’re fucked up! You need Prozac!’… Let me tell you something. I started drinking a month ago before this tour and San Francisco, I’m doin’ mother fuckin’ fine! Thank you!… This song is about fast women. It’s called ‘Mr. Chevy Celebrity’!” 

Afterwards, he told “a little known secret about Less Than Jake” and pointed to his bass player, Roger Lima, and continued, “Roger’s from Miami. Florida. His mom was a salsa dancer back in the 60’s… Roger, if you would…” and then Roger did a silly dance during their next song “Last One Out Of Liberty City” They rounded out their set Chris talking to us one last time, “Thank you very much. We’re going to play three more songs then Bad Religion is going to knock your ass into the aisle… This song is called ‘If you keep these aisles clear for this song, I’ll be highly fuckin’ shocked’!” So, as you can imagine, us ushers had a little wrangling to do for those last few songs, but I liked Less Than Jake and humored them. 

Soon enough, Bad Religion took the stage and after a couple quick golden oldies, Greg said, “Been a long time, two years I believe maybe since I’ve seen all these wonderful… It was right here in this very building… since that fateful moment in time. We put out a new record & we’d like to thank each and every one of you.” I had in fact attended that Warfield show in 2000, the one where the opening act, The Promise Ring, got mercilessly booed off stage. They then did “Supersonic”, the first song off the new album, followed by “You” which Greg dedicated to all those who “spend all their time in front of the television”. A couple songs later, they played another new one called “The Defense” which Greg introduced, “We’d like to try a new song we’ve only played eight times. This is the ninth and I feel our best chance to master it”. 

Bad Religion kept the punk hits coming, cramming in 24 songs in a little over an hour. Greg taunted the crowd a bit asking, “What song you want us to play?… No! We’re not doing that song… No! We’re not doing that song either…. No! We’re never doing that song ever again.” Then they did “Atomic Garden” and Greg blew his nose, joking, “Snot’s coming out of my nose. So what?…I’ve got to make a confession. I’ve got to take it easy tonight. We got a real important show tomorrow in San Diego”. The crowd predictably booed back at him and Brett countered, “Everybody gets $5 to kick his ass after the show”. Greg bounced back, “I’m just kidding… We think San Diego sucks” and then they performed “Generator”. A couple songs later before they did “Anesthesia”, Greg brought our attention to the front of the stage, pointing out their “tip jar”.

Greg kept his wry, sarcastic humor coming, introducing “Skyscraper”, “This is a song by Paul Simon. It’s called ’50 Ways To Leave Your Lover’… We didn’t write that one and he’d probably wouldn’t appreciate it”. They wrapped up their set with another seven oldies, closing the night with “21st Century (Digital Boy)”. It would be another two years until Bad Religion would return to The Warfield and I’d be there for that one too. Sadly, none of the shows they did there got a poster and I wouldn’t in fact get another one until 7 shows later with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds almost a month later. Coincidentally, Bad Religion is playing tonight as I write, co-headlining at The Fox Theater in Oakland with the Dropkick Murphys. Tempting, but I’ve seen them too many times to fork over $100 for a ticket now. Sorry guys. 

https://archive.org/details/bad-religion-warfield-32702

https://archive.org/details/less-than-jake-warfield-32702

https://archive.org/details/hot-water-music-warfield-32702

Bush, Default – Warfield, SF, Mon., April 1

SETLISTS : 

(DEFAULT) : Slow Me Down, Sick & Tired, Seize The Day, Somewhere, By Your Side, Let You Down, Break Down Doors, Live A Lie, Wasting My Time, Deny

(BUSH) : Solutions, The Chemicals Between Us, The People That We Love, Everything Zen, Insect Kin, Greedy Fly, Inflatable, Superman, Machinehead, Comedown, (encore), Out Of This World, Glycerine, Swallowed, Just What I Needed, Little Things

I know I’ve written before though it bears repeating that Bush will always be one of those bands who indisputably typified the 90’s and I’m certain that they’re well aware of it. It had been seven years since I’d seen them, but I did catch them three times in 1995, once at the Live 105’s B.F.D. and twice headlining that same Warfield stage. Whether one liked Bush or not, it was obvious that they made it big back then and quickly. But ever since their appearance headlining one day of the disastrous Woodstock ’99 festival, the grunge horse they rode in on was gradually being put down and coincidentally on this day, The Netherlands would be the first country to introduce legalized euthanasia. Bush were on tour supporting their new album, “Golden State” and little did we in the crowd know that soon they would disband after declining record sales and no support from Atlantic, their record label. This tour would in fact be the band’s last for another eight years.

There had also been some line up changes around that time, losing their guitarist, Nigel Pulsford, who retired from show biz to spend more time with his family and Chris Traynor from Orange 9mm took his place for the tour. This would also be the last tour for drummer Dave Parsons. Still, things were doing relatively fine for dreamboat frontman Gavin Rossdale who was all over the news then having just proposed to Gwen Stefani from No Doubt. Gwen’s brother Eric actually played keys on Bush’s new album. Of coarse, Gavin had a very well publicized divorce thirteen years later leaving practically every man on Earth wondering what kind of idiot would cheat on Gwen Stefani. Beats me, a blind one probably. But back to the show.

Opening that night was Default from Vancouver, Canada who, unknown to me and imagine most people at that show, were huge back in the Great White North. Their debut release, “The Fallout”, garnered them the distinction of being the first Canadian artist to chart 4 consecutive #1 singles from a single album. It was pretty radio friendly stuff and their singer, Dallas Smith, made sure to shamelessly plug their singles between songs on a number of occasions during their set. Still, he had a good voice, reminiscent of Maynard James Keenan from Tool, but without the screaming. It makes sense that he went on to have a successful solo career becoming a country singer, especially with a first name like Dallas. Default’s next album wouldn’t be out until the following year, but they did play a new one that night called “Break Down Doors”. It wouldn’t be long until I would see them again on that very stage opening for Nickelback… I know, (groan), another band typifying the 90’s. 

OK, OK, OK… I know it seems like I have been dancing on Bush’s grave here for a while, so I just want to add that I don’t think they’re a bad band at all. That first album produced some unforgettable songs like “Comedown” and “Little Things” that even their fiercest detractors can’t forget. They did a tasteful cover of “Just What I Needed” by The Cars during their encore too. And to his credit, Gavin continued to be productive, starting a respectable acting career including a memorable role as the villain Balthazar in “Constantine” with Keanu Reeves. He also formed a band two years later called Institute bringing along once more Chris Traynor on guitar and Gavin put out a solo record in 2008 as well. Chris would also go on years later to play with both Blur and Helmet. This would be the final time I would see Bush perform live though and sadly, there was no poster this time to mark the occasion. 

https://archive.org/details/bush-warfield-4102

https://archive.org/details/default-warfield-4102

Spiritualized, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Warfield, SF, Fri., April 5

SETLISTS :

(BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB) : Spread Your Love, White Palms, Rifles, Love Burns, Whatever Happened To My Rock & Roll (Punk Song), Awake, Red Eyes & Tears, Stop

(SPIRITUALIZED) : Electricity, Shine A Light, Electric Mainline, Out Of Sight, On Fire, Walking With Jesus, Medication, Take Your Time, Broken Heart, I Think I’m In Love, Don’t Just Do Something, Come Together, Take Me To The Other Side, (encore), Lord Can You Hear Me

It had been about a half a year shy of a decade since I first saw Spiritualized at The Warfield, officially the first band I ever ushered for being the first band opening for The Jesus & Mary Chain headlining that night in 1992. I would see Spiritualized again at that same venue three years later for back to back shows opening for Siouxsie & The Banshees, then headlining The Fillmore in ’97, but this time, their fourth outing at The Warfield, they graduated to the final act. Jason Pierce, AKA J. Spaceman, and company had just released “Let It Come Down” the previous September, the impressive follow up to their breakthrough album, “Ladies & Gentlemen, We Are Floating Through Space”. Recruiting an orchestra and a choir, the new album had a staggering 115 artists performing on it and we got to hear four of the new ones that night.

Yes, I was quite familiar with Spiritualized, but I would be smitten first by the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Named after the biker gang in the 1953 thriller “The Wild One” with Marlon Brando, the B.R.M.C. as they are known for short, had a very enjoyable set and made quite an impression on me. They were brand new back then, having just put out their debut self titled album on Virgin just a year and two days before this show. And like Spiritualized, they were very, VERY loud, so I had no trouble getting a clear recording of them. These guys were beyond cool, joining a new, young cadre of scruffy, black leather clad, bohemian rock bands like The Strokes, Jet, and Wolfmother. B.R.M.C. are the kind of band that makes you feel like a hopeless nerd in comparison, the kind that would follow them around hoping that some of their cool would rub off on you. I made a point that night to see them again and have several times since including at Live 105’s Not-So-Silent Night at the Civic the following year. 

Spiritualized came on stage with a long, dreamy intro which melded into “Electricity”. And like the other times I saw them, they pretty much did the same thing with all their tunes, making each one conspicuously long. In a solid two hours, they only did fourteen songs. Maybe it’s also because Jason sings rather slowly too. Certainly, they put a lot of effort into their performance, especially during their ear splitting crescendos, but sometimes I feel like giving Jason a cup of coffee or something. Anyway, they dusted off a few numbers from the Spaceman 3, Jason’s old band, including “Walkin’ With Jesus” and “Take Me To The Other Side”. Technically, “Lord Can You Hear Me”, which they ended the night with for the encore, is the last song on the new album, but it’s also a Spaceman 3 song. Though I would go on to see the B.R.M.C. again, this would be the last time I would see Spiritualized live and like with Bush, who also played the Warfield the previous Monday, my final viewing of both bands would sadly not be commemorated with a poster. But the good news is I did manage to find a decent audio copy of Spiritualized’s set on YouTube. 

https://archive.org/details/spiritualized-bootleg-warfield-4502

https://archive.org/details/spiritualized-warfield-4502

https://archive.org/details/black-rebel-motorcycle-club-warfield-4502

Yonder Mountain String Band – Warfield, SF, Sat., April 6

SETLIST :  (Set 1) : Peace Of Mind – You’re No Good, Another Day, The Darling One, Town, Easy As Pie, Lord Only Knows (Part One) – Bolton Stretch – On The Run – High Cross Junction – Mother’s Only Son – On The Run (reprise)

(Set 2) : Pride Of Alabama, Hit Parade Of Love, And Your Bird Can Sing, Half Moon Rising, Keep On Going – Mississippi Half Step Uptown Toodaloo – High On A Hilltop, Long Gone,To See You Coming ‘Round The Bend, Ramblin’ In The Rambler – 20 Eyes – Ramblin’ In The Rambler (reprise), Snow On The Pines – Follow Me Down The Riverside, (encore), Dim Lights Thick Smoke, Only A Northern Song, Pan-American, Goodbye Blue Sky

In a strange bit of irony, Spiritualized, one of the loudest bands I’ve ever seen played The Warfield the night before Yonder Mountain String Band, one of the quietest. Indeed, their musical styles couldn’t be more divergent either. But I still like them both and though I’ve made it no secret that the bluegrass crowd annoys the shit out of me, there’s no denying the musical prowess of Yonder Mountain. They seem like nice guys and I was glad that they were filling venues like The Warfield by then and felt the same, commenting repeatedly between songs how happy they were to play there. One of them joked that “you could fit about 1400 Yankees in here” before they began their set with an extra long version of “Peace Of Mind”. They were still a year away from releasing any new material, but we did get to hear “Pride Of Alabama” for the first time at the beginning of their second set. Later that August, Yonder Mountain would also released their second official live album, “Mountain Tracks : Volume 2”. 

And like most hippie jam bands around then, they had a cadre of tapers in the house which made my crude recordings irrelevant, but I did them all the same. Still, I’m thankful the tapers were there, since like I said, Yonder Mountain was quiet as church mice and their fans were gabbing away all through their show like they did the last time I saw them at The Fillmore the year before this. I found a good one on archive.org. Though I wasn’t familiar with their original tunes, they did a decent handful of covers that night, starting with “You’re No Good”, a Leon Russell tune that actually was the opening track on Bob Dylan’s first album. Later, they dusted off a couple bluegrass versions of “And Your Bird Can Sing” and “Only A Northern Song” by The Beatles, George Harrison numbers in honor of his passing the previous November. They also did a cover of “Mississippi Halfstep Uptown Toodeloo” by the Grateful Dead which I will speak of again later. Finally, they ended the show on a melancholy note, even breaking out a cello for a cover of “Goodbye Blue Sky” by Pink Floyd, a downright eerie lament to be done in the style of bluegrass.

But most of the night, the band kept things light, cracking jokes between songs like one of them saying, “Well, at least it’s warm in here. Pay no attention. It’s not sweat. It’s love juice. I don’t know which is better”. Yonder Mountain also had a lot of friends in the house, one of them named Dr. Paula and they dedicated “The Darling One” to her newborn son, “Peace Nick”. Nice to hear a shout out to a fellow Nicky. Even when they were angry about something, they still were cheerful, one of them saying, “We’d like to tell you a little story because we love you and you’re like family. It’s dedicated to two of San Francisco’s finest. They drive around in these very little cars with flashing lights on them. They have three wheels and they zip around the airport and bother the innocent bluegrass bands as they load their gear into the minivans.”

Another added, “$70 worth of bother actually”. He went on, “I’d like to send this out to, I think one of them’s named Dirk and the other was Chip, I think or something. They were very nice”. Then the other guy interjected, “Snappy & happy!” He finished the story saying, “This should teach you a valuable lesson that if you’re going to taunt someone and yell at them for them trying to do their job, you’d better be sure that they don’t get up on stage in front of a couple thousand people every night cus’ you’ll pay… You’ll pay dearly, somehow.” 

It was “An Evening With” show, so I had to usher through the first set, the set break, and then the beginning of the second set as usual, but it was a particularly long set break. Apparently, “something popped” in the lighting system, leaving their array only capable of displaying one color. One of the band joked as they began their second set, “We hope you like the color blue. That’s all you’re going to get. It feels appropriate”. Obviously, it was a bluegrass show after all. Later, they were able to restore a few more colors like green and purple. They mentioned another funny story later between songs saying that on the road, they had stopped to eat at a Cracker Barrel and overheard the sound of banjo music coming through their speakers. While eating, the band collectively agreed that they should perform the song that was playing, “Long Gone” by the Lonesome River Band. One of them joked that “usually the song’s in our heads” and not actually playing around them when they’re eating. After they finished playing it, one of them said, “I’ll take a side of macaroni & cheese, grits, greens, corn… If we did that right, everybody should be hungry for pancakes”. He went on to muse about since The Fillmore gives out apples, that The Warfield should give out pancakes. It did remind me of stories of the olden days of Winterland when BGP would feed the patrons breakfast when their shows finally ended at the crack of dawn.

For the encore, they decided to perform in the old ways of bluegrass bands and huddle around a single microphone on a stand. Nostalgic as it is, this method only further annoyed me because it made hearing them that much more difficult. One of them even tried to subdue the chatty crowd by getting everybody to go “Shhh!” It helped a little, but not much. They did a funny bit, slowing their voices down like they were in slow motion singing the lyrics of “Dim Lights Thick Smoke”. After the song, one of them said in the same slow motion voice, “Thaaaaank yooooou soooo muuuuch…. Thaaaank yooou fooor beeeeeing heeeeeere”. He got the audience to do one more “Shh!” in unison before finishing their set and that was it. There was no poster for them that night, but Yonder Mountain would return to town and play back to back shows at The Fillmore later that November which did get one, though I didn’t attend those gigs. In fact, this would be the last time I’d see them play live.

Lastly, I want to address a big fat elephant in the room and this you can chalk up as a little therapy time for me. All uninterested parties can disregard everything from here on out. As I mentioned, Yonder Mountain did that Grateful Dead cover during their set and I’m writing this just after Dead & Co’s recent shows in Golden Gate Park celebrating the Dead’s 60th anniversary. They had built the stage for that show which is also currently being used as the main “Land’s End” stage for Outside Lands this weekend and for the country artist Zach Bryan the following weekend. Normally, I would proudly serve as part of that stage’s audio crew and had been for the last five years, but this year, with the addition of the Dead & Co. a week before Outside Lands, those Dead & Co. shows landed smack dab on the weekend of my cousin Ollie’s wedding which I swore I wouldn’t miss. Even my beloved wife had committed to doing the bride’s hair for the occasion. So, I write this stewing about at home with a near terminal case of FOMO while Outside Lands carries on in the park without me. To make matters worse, having not been able to do the show this year seriously endangers my chances of ever landing that gig again. 

That being said and whining aside, this brings me to the moral of this story. Like my fanatical commitment to bootlegging back in these yesteryears, I found myself once again at odds with this habit of mine and my personal life. Choosing my family over my career and love of live music I still feel was the correct one, a decision I stand by and will be proud I made in the future. But for now, I feel the stinging loss and fight unjust feelings of bitter resentment. To make matters worse, I would have made a serious amount of money from those shows. But I keep reminding myself of the negative aspects of the other choice, including the brutal physical torment of setting up, running, and help operating all those bands for three long grueling weeks. Last year was only two weeks and it damn near killed me. If the job didn’t kill me, my family and my wife certainly would have for making such a selfish choice and they would have been right to do so. 

That and the fact that there was practically nobody on the bill at Outside Lands that held any interest for me with the exception of Beck with the Berkeley Symphony. And once again, I reassure myself that Beck being on the Sutro stage this year, I probably would have missed him anyway having had to clean up on the Land’s End stage during Doja Cat. Even if I did break away in time to see Beck, I probably would have caught the tail end of it and at an uncomfortable  distance. Besides, I’ve seen Beck literally over a dozen times and I was able to watch his entire set live streaming on my computer in the comfort of my own home and in my jammies. Likewise, I wasn’t too keen on seeing Dead & Co. either, having seen them enough already before as well as plenty of the bone fide Grateful Dead back in the day along with their countless post-Jerry Garcia incarnations. Hell, this time around they had only two original members, Bobby and Mickey. Bill Kreutzman had dropped out of the band well before then and wouldn’t come back even for this anniversary. Finally, I don’t know Zach Bryan from Adam and though the Kings Of Leon are opening, I’ve seen them a few times already too.

OK, thanks for humoring me. I had to get that off my chest. Still, I comforted knowing that I’ve been overlooked other years for Outside Lands and still returned to the front lines for future ones there since that auspicious festival started in the park all those years ago. I may still get my chance to return again and if I don’t, I’ve done that monstrous thing eight times already. This is another life lesson on letting go and finally bringing it back to this little writing effort of mine, each show I write about is another step on that path. If wallowing in this despair gets me to the other side, so be it. Ollie’s wedding was the correct choice and it indeed was a glorious and unforgettable occasion. And to cite a classical reference, I must always remember that I know it’s only rock & roll, but I like it. 

https://archive.org/details/ymsb2002-04-06.shnf

https://archive.org/details/yonder-mountain-string-band-warfield-4602

Jagermeister Tour 2002: Drowning Pool, Coal Chamber, Ill Nino, 40 Below Summer, Sloth – Fillmore, SF, Mon., April 8

SETLISTS : 

(SLOTH) : (unknown), Broken Crutch, Dead Generation, Media, (unknown)

(40 BELOW SUMMER) : Minus One, Rope, Falling Down, Step Into The Sideshow, We The People

(ILL NINO) : If You Still Hate Me, God Save Us, What Comes Around, I Am Loco, Eye For An Eye, Liar

(COAL CHAMBER) : Loco, Big Truck, Oddity, No Home, Rowboat, Not Living

To those who know me well, they will attest that leaving a show early is not in my character. It is even rare when I arrive at a show late. My free time is very important to me especially when I’m paying for the privilege, though I was ushering on this night. But four nu metal bands was enough for me that evening and my tapes ran out during Coal Chamber anyway. Little did I know that Dave Williams, the singer of Drowning Pool, would be stone dead four months later from heart failure caused by an undiagnosed case of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. So, I would not being seeing them ever again, though I found their music, like most of the bands on the bill that night, grating and obnoxious. Why was I there then, you might ask? A good question for which I have no real satisfactory answer. Clearly, I had been maintaining my steady diet of shows for years by then, seeing many of them out of harmless curiosity or just downright boredom. But my exiting the show early that night was at least evidence that even I had my limits or at least was starting to exercise more discerning taste.

Like grunge and Britpop, the nu metal scene was also beginning to peter out, especially after the revolting toxic machismo of Woodstock ’99. Such testosterone fueled obnoxiousness is only compounded with copious amounts of alcohol, or in this case Jagermeister. Yes, that particular liquor was sponsoring this gig and there were a couple frat boy types on stage getting the crowd to repeatedly chant for their “Free Shit!” Flanked by a couple spunky “Jagermeister Girls”, they gave away a treasure trove of T-shirts, hats, lighters, shot glasses, and whatnot to their eager audience. First up was Sloth, who praised the liquor saying, “It tastes like Nyquil! I love it!”, before taking a shot and playing “Dead Generation”. He admitted afterwards, “I’m fuckin’ buzzed off that shot!” The singer also praised the Jagermeister girls saying, “Yeah, I know. If I had their bodies, I’d show my body all the time… to myself.” Being the first of five acts, their set was short, though their last song was seven and a half minutes long. Being a nu metal show, it goes without saying that it was painfully loud and everybody’s vocals were practically indecipherable. It’s a miracle I made out as many song titles as I did.

Next up was 40 Below Summer from New Jersey who came on stage to a strange recording of a deep voice chanting yelling stuff like “He is inside us! We will never get away!” They singer, Max Illidge, barked out their first song, “Minus One”, ordering the crowd to jump to the beat. Later, Max asked us, “Do you motherfuckers like to drink Jagermeister?!? Do you motherfuckers like to smoke weed?!? Then let’s get high after the show!” and he made us “make some noise” for the other bands. Like Sloth, their set was a short one too, just five songs. During the set break, one of those emcees brought out an acoustic guitar and did a little song which the main lyric was, “She smoked all of my herb, so I kicked her to the fuckin’ curb on the side of the road”. Pretty much sums up the whole attitude in the house that show. The other emcee while hocking the tour CD they were giving out, asked a girl up front to show him her “camel toe” in exchange. Her name was Lisa and he also asked her if she was going “to get laid” later that night. She answered spritely, “You bet I am!”, but when he tried to get her on stage to show the aforementioned camel toe, she declined. He called her “Chickenshit”, but she flashed him her breasts instead which he complimented and then asked her if she was “bald” and then told the crowd to “Give it up for the baldies!” 

I actually wasn’t disappointed to see Ill Nino, a band I had already seen perform on that stage five months before this opening for Kittie, one of the only nu metal bands I actually like and probably the only all female one in all of human history. Ill Nino weren’t half bad and were celebrating having just been picked to tour with Ozzfest that summer. They made sure to give a shout out to their “friends and family” with Machinehead from across the bay in Oakland and who I had just seen headlining at The Fillmore just six weeks before this. Those obnoxious emcees once again came on stage after they were done and the one with the acoustic guitar played a little “Name That Tune”, doing obvious Black Sabbath and Ozzy covers like “Crazy Train”, “War Pigs”, and “Paranoid”. The heshers in the audience had little trouble picking them out of which they were rewarded with “a free fuckin’ hat”. Then he did some mildly amusing ditty about doing “The 69”, followed by the old time classic “Coming Around The Mountain”. He changed the lyrics on the latter a couple lines to, “She’ll be bringing Coal Chamber when she comes! She’ll be showing her big ol’ titties when she comes!” And then, (sigh), he once again got everybody to chant, “Free shit!”

Thankfully, I and the other ushers were shown mercy and released from our duties a couple songs into Coal Chamber’s set. This would be the only time I would see them outside of Maritime Hall, where I had recorded them twice already. Little did I know that years later that Coal Chamber would rip off the video from the show they did there in 1999 with Slipknot opening to make a live DVD, giving me no credit and certainly not one thin dime. That DVD is one of only a few official recordings I’ve been involved with that I’m actually ashamed to be involved with since I still think Coal Chamber’s music sucks donkey dick. In hindsight, that professional slight they committed only made my leaving after my tapes ran out that night that much more justified. Still, I wish I had stuck around for at least one song of Drowning Pool so I could say I caught Dave Williams before his untimely end.

And speaking of untimely ends, my then and future bitterness towards Coal Chamber would soon be avenged after this show. Just nine days later, Meegs Rascon accidentally hit singer Dez Fafara in the head with his guitar during a show in Lubbock, Texas. Dez walked off stage furiously declaring it was his last show and Meegs had to finish the set singing vocals in his place, but only did two more songs. Their drummer, Mickey Cox, destroyed his drum kit and Dez and Meegs continued their brawling on their tour bus outside. They were dropped from the Jagermeister tour two days later. Dez went on to form the band Devildriver and Coal Chamber broke up for good the following year, though they did a couple reunion gigs in 2011 and again in 2022. But good riddance I say and likewise I’m thankful for once that The Fillmore actually DIDN’T give out a poster at the end of the show. This is one band I’m glad that I never have to write about again and would rather forget. 

https://archive.org/details/coal-chamber-fillmore-4802

https://archive.org/details/ill-nino-fillmore-4802

https://archive.org/details/40-below-summer-fillmore-4802

https://archive.org/details/sloth-fillmore-4802

Petrol, Persephone’s Bees, Single, Brad Brooks – Slim’s, SF, Thur., April 11

Our Lady Of The Highway, DeSoto Reds – The Eagle, SF, Thur., April 11

It’s a pleasant change to write about local acts from time to time, to get away from the usual Fillmore/Warfield scene. This was a rare free gig at Slim’s with Petrol, who I had just seen playing up in The Fillmore poster room three months before this at the Charlatans UK show. But as luck would have it, there was another show for only $5 just down the block at The Eagle, so my friends and I briskly walked between places and caught music from both. I had been long accustomed to bouncing between stages at festivals, but I believe this was one of the only, if not only, occasions I ever bounced between two separate venues at the same time. As fun as the night was, unfortunately my batteries died out very gradually, much more gradually than usual, so the entire recording of music went incrementally faster until I finally replaced the batteries just as Petrol started. Believe me, having to listen to that recording become more Alvin & The Chipmunks-esque for nearly an hour gets on your nerves. 

When we got to Slim’s, Brad Brooks, a local singer-songwriter was already on, but I did catch his last three songs. He did a cover of “Oh! Darling” by The Beatles, perhaps a nod to George Harrison who had just died the previous November. A lot of bands were doing that around then. I never saw Brooks again, though he still performs, making a brave comeback a few years ago from surviving throat cancer. As soon as his set ended, we high tailed it over to The Eagle to catch DeSoto Reds just as they were starting. To all those unfamiliar, The Eagle is a San Francisco institution, the premier gay biker bar in the Folsom Street/South Of Market area. Now I being neither gay nor a biker hadn’t ever been there before, but a free show is a free show. I’m happy to report that The Eagle was a very relaxed, pleasant place with an expansive, luxurious outdoor patio and an impressive beer selection, so all gay panic visions of “The Blue Oyster” bar from “Police Academy” were unwarranted. I remember years later when Arnocorps played Slim’s, their singer Holzfeuer mentioned that The Eagle was “a very balsy place”, though pondered in his thick Austrian (faux Schwarzenegger) accent why everybody in the bar was “dressed as Bennett?!?”

The DeSoto Reds were a small band, a drummer and a singer who took turns between playing guitar and a keyboard. We only had a little time since we had to return to Slim’s for the next act, but we caught four songs including “Howells & Jowls”, “The Gardener”, and “Kicking The Heart Out”. The singer greeted the small audience between songs saying, “Thanks for coming out, especially the Hayward High contingent. Hope you all graduate soon”, and then they addressed some problem with their gear, “We have a questionable input here… Wants to slip out”. We ran back to Slim’s, but only a caught the last couple songs from the band Single, “After School Special” and “Coda”, but I did snag their setlist from the stage.  Bouncing back immediately to The Eagle, we managed to catch the last four songs of the DeSoto Reds including a cheeky one titled “My Affair With Julia Roberts”. The singer described it as “an absolutely true story… You probably don’t know who she is” and dedicated their last song his mom adding, “I think my mom and I found a happy medium with Rufus Wainwright”. 

I made sure to get back to Slim’s in time to catch the beginning of Persephone’s Bees, a band I had just seen the month before at Cafe Du Nord opening for Call & Response and was deeply smitten with. Sadly, by this time, my batteries were almost out and their entire set was super sped up on the recording, but I could still make out the titles of about half their songs. One of them mentioned between songs that “There’s a magazine out there for uncircumcised males. It’s called ‘Uncut’. They put out a compilation CD and this one’s on it”. I believe this was the last time I’d see Persephone’s Bees live, but I thought they were a great band, one of so many out there that certainly deserved to be famous, but didn’t quite punch through to mainstream success. We made it back to The Eagle to catch the last four songs of Our Lady Of The Highway, who like DeSoto Reds, were a small act with just a drum kit and a singer on guitar. They were local too, even doing a song called “Stevenson Street”, named after a narrow alley nearby that runs parallel to Market Street, though the pair were actually from Oakland. Comprised of the duo of Dominic East and Andrew Garhan, the two made ends meet as bike messengers during the day.

Finally, we finally settled down back at Slim’s for Petrol, the final act of this adventure. Like I said, I had finally replaced the batteries for most of their set, so the night’s recordings weren’t a total loss. Between songs, their singer mentioned that their T-shirts were only $5 and then made some wise cracks about them being the new Cheap Trick and would soon be playing Konocti Harbor. For those who don’t know, that was a spa resort/venue up north in Kelseyville by Clear Lake, which hosted mostly older acts. I actually took my parents to see Tim Conway & Harvey Corman perform there before it went under in 2007. Anyway, speaking of older acts, Petrol did a little riff of “Slow Ride” by Foghat, a band that most likely played Konocti once or twice, before one of their songs. Later, they did a cover of the rock standard, “That’s Alright Mama”, made famous by Elvis. Petrol also had a short set, but the singer joked that they’d play until “you guys start to riot… throwing chairs”. Sadly, I believe this was the last time I saw that band too, but it was a fun night and I’m glad I went. At the very end, I grabbed the schedule from Tigi who was working sound at the front of house, a talented, hard working, and charming sound person who I would work beside in the stagehands union years later. 

https://archive.org/details/petrol-slims-41102

https://archive.org/details/our-lady-of-the-highway-the-eagle-41102

https://archive.org/details/persephones-bees-slims-41102

https://archive.org/details/single-slims-41102

https://archive.org/details/desoto-reds-the-eagle-41102

https://archive.org/details/brad-brooks-slims-41102

Puddle Of Mudd, The Revolution Smile, 30 Seconds To Mars – Warfield, SF, Mon., April 15

SETLISTS : 

(30 SECONDS TO MARS) : Edge Of The Earth, End Of The Beginning, Fallen, Oblivion, Capricorn (A Brand New Name), Buddha For Mary

(PUDDLE OF MUDD) : Out Of My Head, Nobody Told Me, (unknown), Basement, Said, Bring Me Down, Abrasive, Blurry, She Hates Me, Piss It All Away, (encore), Control

This would be the only occasion I’d see Puddle Of Mudd perform live and I must say about this time I was beginning to grow weary of the whole post-grunge, nu metal scene. But there were still a few of these bands around and I was willing to at least give this one the benefit of the doubt for one show. Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, Puddle Of Mudd had struggled since 1992 to make it until one of their demo tapes got into the hands of Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst. The band had even broken up by the time Durst contacted them, so he helped singer Wes Scantlin put together a new line up and with the release of their “Come Clean” album in 2001, with it’s smash hit single “Blurry”, the album soon went triple platinum, selling over 5 million copies. I have to admit, I remember that single from it being on the Playstation 2 video came “Ace Combat 5”, a game I spent entirely too much of my younger life wasting away on. 

This would be the first tour Puddle Of Mudd would do as a headliner, but they were already selling out venues as large as The Warfield. That new found success however didn’t stop Wes from getting in all kinds of trouble with his boorish, drunken behavior. He had recently been arrested for domestic abuse towards his fiancee Michelle Rubin while they were pulled over on the side of the road on Highway 126 near Ventura, fighting on the way to one of his video shoots. He would be accused of more of that kind of abuse in the future too. To make matters worse, he was also accused of lip syncing and while at an airport, he was even arrested for riding a baggage carousel while drunk and possessing a BB gun. Now, I had no idea that any of this had happened before seeing them, but I must confess that I and imagine every person at one time or another had fantasized about riding a baggage carousel, at least when they were children.

Thankfully, there was one act on the bill that made coming to The Warfield that night worth my while, that being 30 Seconds To Mars. That band was fronted by actor and future Oscar winner Jared Leto alongside his brother Shannon on drums. They were brand new back then and wouldn’t even be releasing their debut, self titled album until later that August, an album that would turn out to be a big hit and sell over 2 million copies. And though I actually had seen Jared in a few movies by then such as “Fight Club”, “The Thin Red Line”, and “Requiem For A Dream”, brilliant movies one and all, I didn’t make the connection on who he was at the time. I think partially it was because I was at a distance and didn’t really get a good look at him and their set, being the first act of the night, was a short one, just six songs total. I thought their music was pretty catchy and the girls seemed to like him, especially the fans of his TV show, “My So-Called Life” which I still have never seen and was blissfully unaware of at that time. But credit where credit’s due, Jared is a handsome guy and it wasn’t surprising that he had hooked up with Cameron Diaz, though their recent engagement ultimately fizzled out and they broke up a year after this show.

For most of the tour, 30 Seconds To Mars was the only opening band, but for this Warfield show, they had been bumped to be the first of three and were followed by The Revolution Smile. They were a nu metal band from Sacramento, also signed to Fred Durst’s record label, Flawless, and they came on stage to the sounds of some weird bluegrass music with a female yodeling over the loudspeakers. Sure, 30 Seconds To Mars was loud, but listening to these guys was excruciating. I could barely make out anything the singer was saying, so while listening to the recording, I simply gave up even trying to figure out their set list. I resented that their singer demanded that the audience “wake up” too or when any band says that. Fuck you. Make us wake up. I suppose it didn’t help that I was hungover the other day when I was listening to the recording of their set, but there comes a point when even I throw in the towel on a band. Despite employing guitarist Shaun Lopez from Far, a Sacramento band I actually did enjoy and recorded once at Maritime Hall, I found them to be grating and was relieved when they got off stage.

A little later, a DJ from KSJO came out to introduce Puddle Of Mudd and reminded us what day it was when he thanked us all for coming “instead of staying home and doing your taxes”. He joked that with all their records sold, Puddle Of Mudd had in fact moved into a higher tax bracket. Like The Revolution Smile, Puddle Of Mudd also had a recorded intro, a mash up of going between radio stations, playing bits of rock classics like “Back In Black” by AC/DC and “Welcome To The Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses. They weren’t a bad band necessarily, though anybody would sound good following The Revolution Smile. Wes’ voice sounded suspiciously like Kurt Cobain, but at least he sounded like somebody good. Naturally, Puddle Of Mudd did their hit, “Blurry”, and Wes introduced the rest of the band afterwards before they did “She Hates Me”. They did just one more song before coming back for the encore and finishing the night with “Control”.

It was a mercifully short set, clocking in at just around an hour and there was no poster for the show. I didn’t appreciate that they left the stage to the sounds of a couple minutes of ear splitting guitar feedback, an annoying practice that I have long despised rock bands of doing. Like I said, this was the last time I’d see Puddle Of Mudd and had no desire to see The Revolution Smile again obviously, but I’d see 30 Seconds To Mars a couple times more the following year, opening for the Trust Company at The Fillmore and on the second stage at Lollapalooza 2003. Shannon Leto would also go on to form The Wondergirls, a supergroup with Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots, Mark McGrath from Sugar Ray, and Ian Astbury from The Cult, though I never saw them live. 30 Seconds To Mars still tours occasionally, but the Leto brothers are the only remaining original members. 

https://archive.org/details/puddle-of-mudd-warfield-41502

https://archive.org/details/the-revolution-smile-warfield-41502

https://archive.org/details/30-seconds-to-mars-warfield-41502

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Khan with Kid Congo Powers – Warfield, SF, Thur., April 18

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Pinetop Seven – Warfield, SF, Fri., April 19

SETLISTS : 

(THURSDAY)

(KHAN WITH KID CONGO POWERS) : (unknown), Why Hurt Flesh, (unknown), (unknown), Goo Goo Muck, Why D’Ya Do It?

(NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS) : Fifteen Feet Of Pure White Snow, Oh My Lord, Lime Tree Arbour, Red Right Hand, Do You Love Me?, As I Sat Sadly By Her Side, Love Letter, We Came Along This Road, The Weeping Song, Papa Won’t Leave You Henry, Hallelujah, The Mercy Seat, God Is In The House, (encore), Henry Lee, Saint Huck, (encore), Into My Arms, (encore), Stagger Lee

(FRIDAY)

(NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS) : Do You Love Me?, Oh My Lord, Lime Tree Arbour, Red Right Hand, Fifteen Feet Of Pure Driven Snow, As I Sat Sadly By Her Side, The Weeping Song, God Is In The House, We Came Along This Road, Papa Won’t Leave You Henry, Hallelujah, The Mercy Seat, And No More Shall We Part, (encore), Long Time Man, The Curse Of Millhaven, (encore), Stagger Lee

There are those rare occasions when an incident at a concert totally eclipses the concert itself in memory. Indeed, there are times when something so extreme happens that it practically transcends into the realm of urban legend. The first night of these two Nick Cave shows was one such time. Before I write about the shows themselves, I will get this unfortunate incident out of the way. Near the end of Nick’s set on the first night, in the middle of his song “The Mercy Seat” to be precise, a commotion erupted on the dance floor, not a fight, but definitely something gone awry. At first, I thought somebody had passed out which wasn’t uncommon at shows, but it wasn’t until the following night that I learned the shocking truth. Basically, a young woman lost control of her bowels during that song and took a dump on the dance floor. There, I said it.

There is an article from the SF Weekly attached to this post about this, but I will quickly summarize. A fellow named Michael Fantino was standing next to the poor woman at the time and helped her out of the crowd and presumably got her to Rock Med. Apparently, one of the legs of his pin stripe pants was stained by her excrement along with one of his shoes which he lost in the process. Pandora Hastings, a huge fan of the band, was there also and after the show ended, went backstage and told Nick Cave of this incident for which he and the Bad Seeds found understandably hilarious, especially considering his famously dark sense of humor. The band joked that their “poor performance” was to blame for this woman literally losing her shit. Now, perhaps the greatest unsung heroes of those who work concerts are the maintenance people, but I think everyone would agree that those who had to clean up that doo doo on that night earned their wages and then some. Frankly, I think they deserve a medal and a stiff drink.

So, that being said, we shall move on. To all those loyal readers of mine, it is no secret that I was and remain a devoted fan of Mr. Cave and was delighted that he was doing back to back shows at The Warfield. It had only been a year since I saw him do back to back solo shows at The Palace Of Fine Arts, but he had returned with The Bad Seeds promoting “No More Shall We Part”, his first album of new material in four years. Nick had finally gotten clean, kicking off years of heroin and alcohol addiction and these shows were particularly welcome to see since I’d endured a handful of nu metal stinkers like Puddle Of Mudd and Coal Chamber recently. It was relieving to hear beautiful songs where the lyrics weren’t crudely screamed at me behind a barrage of ear splitting electric guitars.

There were different opening acts for each night and on the first night, it was Khan with Kid Congo Powers. The latter had been a member of The Gun Club, The Cramps, and even had been a Bad Seed himself for a few years in the late 80’s. I’d seen him in yet another band called Congo Norvell opening for Mr. Cave the first time I would see him in 1994 at The Fillmore, doing a show there while he and the band were in town also playing on the Lollapalooza tour. Powers had hooked up with Khan both professionally and romantically, writing music together during their affair in Mexico. Khan was an electronic music artist who had worked with David Lynch muse Julee Cruise and together, he and Powers were one of the pioneers of the emerging “electro-clash” movement. It was just the two of them that night, Khan on programming and Powers on guitar and occasionally on sax. It was a short set and I thought their stuff was interesting, like I said, it was a new genre, so new that they wouldn’t even release their first album, “Broken English”, until two years later. I did appreciate that they dusted off an old Cramps standard, “Goo Goo Muck”.

Mr. Cave wasted no time introducing his new material, opening their set with “Fifteen Feet Of Pure White Snow” followed by “Oh My Lord”. Naturally, he did a few golden oldies like “Red Right Hand” and “Do You Love Me?” before delving back into the new stuff, taking a seat behind a grand piano to do melancholy ballads like “As I Sat Sadly By Her Side”, “Love Letter”, and “We Came Along This Road”. I was working as an usher all nights at both shows, but Cave’s fans mostly stayed put, though they were a little moody when asked to clear out from an aisle. My usher sticker on the first night said “Nick” and the sticker for the second said “Cave”. Like all those who attended both these sold out shows, we were overjoyed by the music and the crowd clapped in unison for a solid minute during the encore break before the band returned to the stage. On that first night after they began the first encore with “Henry Lee”, followed by a real golden oldie, “Saint Huck”, which he introduced it as “the first song we ever recorded”.

Stories of that woman’s moment of incontinence defiling the dance floor aside, I was looking forward for the second night and this time, an act called the Pinetop Seven were opening. They were an alt-country band from Chicago who had just released their first album, “Lest We Forget” the year before this show. I liked them too, sort of sounding like Calexico who also had a trumpet player, but the singer Darren Richard’s lyrics were too muddled and quiet to make out any of their song titles. The band was short lived, broke up four years later, and Darren went on to become a music industry lawyer. Like Khan and Kid the night before, the set was a short one, only seven songs long and before we knew it, Nick was back on stage with the gang.

The main set on the second night included all the same songs from the night before though in a different order, except for one. They did a new song called “And No More Shall We Part” this night. After they did “Do You Love Me?”, somebody in the crowd yelled “I love you!” for which Nick responded, “Well, I love you too”. For the encore, they changed things up a bit and did “Long Time Man” and “The Curse Of Milhaven”, the former being a cover written by a singer-songwriter named Tim Rose. Tim had some moderate success in the late 60’s, but had fallen on hard times in the 80’s, forcing him to do his thing in Europe until Nick ran into him and recorded that song on one of his albums, practically in the same style that Tim had. 

Nick also encouraged Tim to make new music which he helped produce and got him performing live again, opening for The Bad Seeds on a couple occasions, including a big show at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Sadly, Tim would die of a heart attack at the age of only 62 just five months after these Warfield shows. On both nights, Nick came back for a second encore to do “Stagger Lee”, which brought the house down. If they hadn’t made a poster for these glorious shows, I would have burned the place down, but thankfully they did. And I was grateful that he and the Bad Seeds would return to The Warfield the following year for another set of back to back shows which once again I saw both. Thankfully, those shows went off without incident and I’ve yet to attend or even hear of a show that fell victim to the soiling of the dance floor. 

https://archive.org/details/nick-cave-the-bad-seeds-warfield-41802

https://archive.org/details/khan-with-kid-congo-powers-warfield-41802

https://archive.org/details/nick-cave-the-bad-seeds-warfield-41902

https://archive.org/details/pinetop-seven-warfield-41902

Medeski, Martin, & Wood, Dan “The Automator” Nakamura – Warfield, SF, Sat., April 20

SETLIST : (SET 1) : Improv Intro – Ten Dollar High – Take Me Nowhere – Lifeblood – Bass Solo, Creole Love Call – Felic – Drum Solo – Fire – Smoke

(SET 2) : Pappy Check, The Saint – Open Improv – Uninvisible, Nocturnal Transmission – Open Improv – Where’s Sly? – Blue Pepper, Moti Mo, (encore), I Wanna Ride You

I had just finished two back to back brilliant nights at The Warfield with Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and I had returned once more for round three with jazz fusion, instrumental virtuosos Medeski, Martin, & Wood. As I had mentioned in the Cave shows, it was a relief to hear some thoughtful, quality songwriting after enduring a few bombastic and downright annoying nu metal gigs around that time. MMW had just released their “Uninvisible” album on Blue Note a month before this show and though I had seen them a few times before this night, on this occasion, it wasn’t just the trio. They had brought in tow none other than master turntablist and producer Dan “The Automator” Nakamura. This was actually the second time I’d seen them at The Warfield with a guy on the ones and twos, they having brought along DJ Logic with them in 1999. I had just seen Dan, well sort of seen him, on that very stage with the Gorillaz just a month before this, sort of seen being that they were partially obscured by a semi-translucent projection screen during their performance. Like DJ Logic, having him in the fold gave them an extra layer of complexity to their already well honed musical chops. 

This night was also different because they were accompanied by a horn section which in honor of the new album were called the “Uninvisible Horns”. They consisted of band leader and trumpet player Steve Bernstein, Paul Hanson on bassoon, local acid jazz saxophonist Kenny Brooks from Alphabet Soup, and genius multi-instrumentalist Ralph Carney. Yes, having Ralph on stage elevates every artist that had the honor to have him, God rest his soul. The horns only joined the band on stage for about half the songs and the encore, but when they were on it was stellar, especially when they took their turns doing solos during songs like “The Saint” and “Nocturnal Transmission”. Medeski made sure to introduce them by name between songs and thanked them for joining the tour. It was billed as “An Evening With” show, but Dan came out after the first set ended to spin records, covering a lot of material including “Clint Eastwood” by the aforementioned Gorillaz and “Jungle Boogie” by Kool & The Gang. There was a young speaker who addressed the crowd as well talking about some ballot initiative and trying to get folks to sign his petition, though I couldn’t quite make out or remember what the subject matter was, probably about marijuana or protecting forests.

Speaking of herb, this auspicious evening fell on April the 20th, yes 4/20, and the atmosphere was quite cloudy and fragrant as expected. I was a paid usher that night, so I had to work all the way through it, but the crowd was polite and it wasn’t difficult. Honoring the weed smoking occasion and their hippie roots, they did an impressive cover of “Fire” by Jimi Hendrix during the first set. My tapes came out pretty good, but I was lucky to find an excellent recording of the show on some website called “The Shack”. As they came back for their encore, Medeski thanked everyone again and encouraged us to get their new album at the merch table in the lobby adding “get us up on the charts… whatever those are”. They ended the night with a new song called “I Wanna Ride You” and did a little New Orleans 2nd line style breakdown in the middle of it, getting the audience to clap along to the beat. It was an enjoyable night of sophisticated music, the kind of music that makes you feel smarter for even hearing it, but unfortunately there was no poster at the end and I believe this is the last time I’ve seen Medeski, Martin, & Wood perform live. 

https://archive.org/details/medeski-martin-wood-warfield-42002

https://archive.org/details/medeski-martin-wood-bootleg-warfield-42002

https://archive.org/details/dan-the-automator-nakamura-warfield-42002

Robyn Hitchcock, Mike Viola – Great American Music Hall, SF, Tues., April 23

SETLISTS :

(MIKE VIOLA) : Love’s Long Sleep, Make No Mistake, Tough Hang, (unknown), Worry My Dome, (unknown), It’s A Line, Motel Mood, Canned Hunt, I’m Not Over You, My Monkey Made A Man Out Of Me, You Belong To Me Now, Call Off The Dogs

(ROBYN HITCHCOCK) : This Could Be The Day, I Got The Hots, (A Man’s Gotta Know His Limitations) Briggs, Not Dark Yet, Dark Princess, Victorian Squid, Terrapin, Insect Mother, Linctus House, Arms Of Love, She Doesn’t Exist, Queen Of Eyes, Airscape, (encore), Raymond Chandler Evening, Your Feelings Are The Last Thing To Die, My Mind Is Connected To Your Dreams, Listening To The Higsons

We’re spoiled in San Francisco to have Mr. Hitchcock visit us so often. I had seen him at least four times before this show including once already at the Great American. He had just been in town the year before reunited with his old psychedelic rock band, The Soft Boys, at The Fillmore and they would get together in San Francisco yet again only seven months after this. He dusted off a Soft Boys oldie “I Got The Hots” just two songs into his set. Robyn had also just released his first album of covers called “Robyn Sings”, a live recreation of Bob Dylan’s 1966 performance at Royal Albert Hall, and he performed “Not Dark Yet” a couple songs later. As much an influence on his music as Dylan, we also had the pleasure of hearing Robyn do a Syd Barrett cover of “Terrapin” a few songs later, the first time in fact that he performed that song live. It was just Robyn solo on stage that night and opening for him playing solo as well was Mike Viola.

Mike was the frontman of a band called The Candy Butchers and most of the songs he did were from their latest album “Play With Your Head” which had just come out six weeks before this night. He had talent and I could see why Robyn wanted him as an opener, being in demand as a songwriter also for other such notable musicians as Andrew Bird, Ryan Adams, Mandy Moore, and Jenny Lewis. In addition to that, Mike would also go on to pen a lot of songs for movies including “That Thing You Do!”, “Walk Hard : The Dewey Cox Story”, and “Get Him To The Greek”. Like Robyn, he had excellent diction while singing, so deciphering his song titles was fairly easy. Mike made a point to praise Robyn early in his set adding he was lucky to play in front of his “reverential following”. 

Though not as chatty and weird as Robyn between songs, he did debate the merits and possible bawdy meanings of his “snow white pearl” lyric for his song “Worry My Dome”. Later he spoke of his “metal roots” and mentioned that he was staying at the Phoenix Hotel just a few blocks away, a popular place to stay for many visiting musical acts. Mike said that his wife was there as well and boasted of the wild sex that they would have while they were away from their home in New York City before he performed “Motel Mood”. A couple songs later, he did a little homage to Ozzy, playing a bit of “War Pigs” before he did “I’m Not Over You”.

Being only a solo act, the changeover between the two was swift and Robyn soon started his set with “This Could Be The Day” on an acoustic guitar with a harmonica around his neck like the aforementioned Dylan. After his Soft Boys’ song, he told the origin story as he had done before of “(A Man’s Gotta Know His Limitations) Briggs”, a reference to the San Francisco crime thriller “Magnum Force”, the sequel to “Dirty Harry”. It’s a good action movie and check it out if you want a greater understanding of Robyn’s song, but for those who don’t have the time and would forgive the spoiler alert, Briggs was the svengali villain of the story and gets blown up in the end by his own bomb, punctuated by Harry quipping the title of the song. 

Anyway, Robyn did his usual amount of copious, abstractly funny, meandering banter that is frankly too long and confusing to keep up with. I did manage to make out one quip where he said, “It’s no understatement that the British were confused about sex for a long time” and claimed that his “grandmother’s generation never had an orgasm”. He then went on about H.G. Wells for a bit before performing “Victorian Squid”. Later he spoke of “courtly love & mating” and said his next one was “very English or British… It would never be composed in Iceland” before doing “Insect Mother”and then switched to solo electric guitar near the end of his set for “Queen Of Eyes” and “Airscape”. After he began his encore with “Raymond Chandler Evening”, he continued with “Your Feelings Are The Last Thing To Die”, though he introduced it as “The Last Things To Die Are Your Feelings”. He brought up a squeaky toy and mentioned something about George W. Bush at the end of the encore before switching back to an acoustic guitar to finish with “Listening To The Higsons”. 

Robyn would perform four days later doing a free set at Amoeba Records, but I missed it, either having not heard it was happening or being stuck at work, but I would see him again soon enough in November with the Soft Boys at Slim’s. I would also have the honor of seeing another act from jolly old England the following night with Siouxsie & The Banshees at The Fillmore. I wonder if Siouxsie and Robyn ever played together… What the conversations backstage would have been like, one can hardly fathom, but it’s a safe bet that they would be verbose and original. 

https://archive.org/details/robyn-hitchcock-great-american-music-hall-42302

https://archive.org/details/mike-viola-great-american-music-hall-42302

Siouxsie & The Banshees, Ex-Girl, Tribe 8 – Fillmore, SF, Wed., April 24

SETLIST : Pure, Jigsaw Feeling, Cascade, Metal Postcard, Arabian Nights, Christine, Lullaby, Lands End, I Could Be Again, Icon, Switch, Night Shift, Voodoo Dolly, Cities In Dust, Nicotine Stain, Spellbound, Blue Jay Way

All those who don the inky black rejoiced that week as the crowned Queen Of Goth herself, Siouxsie Sioux was in town. Though I had the honor to record Siouxsie and her drummer husband Budgie’s other band, The Creatures, at Maritime Hall twice in ’98 and once more ’99, it had been a full seven years since I’d seen them perform with The Banshees. Hence, it was named “The Seven Year Itch” tour, an homage to the famous Billy Wilder film comedy with Marilyn Monroe. This was one of those rare instances when an act came to town and played both The Fillmore and The Warfield and since I and every other usher in town demanded to attend, we had to choose only one. So, I chose The Fillmore show being a more intimate, smaller venue and I think I chose wisely. We got two more songs than The Warfield show got and though they were lucky to hear “Tenant”, “Pulled To Bits”, “Israel”, and “Monitor”, we got to hear “Switch”, “Cities In Dust”, “Arabian Nights”, “Christine”, “Spellbound”, and “Nicotine Stain”. The Banshees weren’t touring with any new material, but they would put out a live album from the shows they recorded in London at Shepherd’s Bush Empire two and a half months later, playing mostly the same material.

It was an interesting and unusually eclectic line up that night starting with Queercore, lesbian punk band, Tribe 8, who I had previously worked for interning at the record label they were on, Alternative Tentacles. As before, they made quite an impression, especially their brilliant, mercurial front-person, Lynn Breedlove. Her reputation for casually brandishing her breasts was maintained all through their short set, Lynn pausing from time to time between songs to shout, “Stop looking at my tits!” to people up front. I will never forget when she moaned to us, “I don’t know why you straight girls don’t like us lesbians… We looooooove you!” and then made crude, wet slobbering noises. I was able to catch a bit of their soundcheck and Lynn was making all sorts of weird chirps and squeaky noises to check her mic too.

Right off the bat, when they got on stage, Lynn blurted, “We’re Tribe 8. We don’t really belong on this bill, but I gave Budgie a blowjob. The rest is history”. Indeed, though The Banshees definitely have punk rock cred, Tribe 8 is about as hardcore punk as a band can get. Near the end of their set, Lynn said, “OK. This is a song for all the femmes who think butches do not have feelings. It’s called ‘Stab The Tiny Gerbil A Million Times’”. They followed that with a cover of Black Flag’s “Rise Against” and then Lynn gave a final farewell, “One more of the punk rock torture and then the goth begins. This is for all the bike messengers”. Though I couldn’t make out their last song, I know apart the others I mentioned, they did “Wrong Bathroom” and “Old Skool, New Skool”. Though I believe this was the last time I saw Tribe 8 perform, I learned for the first time writing this that their lead guitarist was Shaunna Hall, who I’ve worked alongside doing sound for I.A.T.S.E., Local 16. I was aware that she was in and I’d seen before playing with 4 Non Blondes, Eric McFadden, and with George Clinton and P-Funk, but I never made the connection with her and Tribe 8. It was a long time ago, but is further evidence of Shaunna’s dynamic talent on the guitar.

Continuing the eclectic bill was Ex-Girl, an all female, noise rock trio from Japan. Mike Patton from Faith No More was a big fan and one could see that they took a page from his musical genius. They had just put out their 4th studio album, “Back To The Mono Kero” the previous May, joining an increasing wave of female Japanese bands like Shonen Knife, the 5,6,7,8’s, and Puffy Amiyumi getting new fans across America. Ex-Girl would also be signed to Alternative Tentacles two years later, but like Tribe 8, this would be the last time I’d see them perform live. And little did I or anyone else in the audience know that this would be the final time we’d see The Banshees together. Siouxsie would divorce Budgie four years later and they haven’t played since, though The Creatures put out their “Hail!” album in 2003 and Siouxsie still tours solo from time to time. 

But we all carried on blissfully unaware as she and her bandmates took the stage and got things going with “Pure” and “Jigsaw Feeling”. Siouxsie was her usual cheeky self saying she was “making sure you weren’t fuckin’ napping… Could you hear me in the beginning?” She spoke some German before they did “Metal Postcard” saying something about eyes and family and then “Enough in German! Now in fuckin’ English!” Keeping with the motif, Siouxsie followed the song declaring, “Now for a bit of Arabic”, and they played, you guessed it, “Arabian Nights”. She thanked us a few songs later saying, “Here you are. Here we are… Without promotion radio edit crap” and then they did “I Could Be Again”. She was only just shy of 45 years old before this show, but she pulled a little cranky ol’ lady out, complaining, “Where’s the cold air coming from? I’m getting chilly up here… Let’s ‘Switch” it!… They call me a bitch, but they got it wrong, you know”. Their version of “Switch” that followed it was epic, spanning at least 10 minutes long.

She joked that the band had done “Nicotine Stain” with their “pants down the other night… Let’s see if they can do it with pants on”. They followed that with “Spellbound” where Siouxsie did a lot of tongue trilling and they wrapped up the night with a cover of “Blue Jay Way” by The Beatles. The song’s author, guitarist George Harrison, had just passed away the previous November and many musical acts touring were covering his work in his honor. Yes, unknown to me at the time, this would be the final curtain call for The Banshees. They would release a “Best Of Siouxsie & The Banshees” album later that November, but the dream was over. At least they had the good sense to make a poster for this occasion and it was a good one, unlike their tour in 1995 that tragically didn’t get one at all. My only regret is that if I knew this would be the last time, I would have definitely bought a ticket for The Warfield show. The Banshees, we hardly knew ye. Return shrieking to the afterlife…

https://archive.org/details/siouxsie-the-banshees-bootleg-fillmore-42402

https://archive.org/details/siouxsie-the-banshees-fillmore-42402_202508

https://archive.org/details/ex-girl-fillmore-42402

https://archive.org/details/tribe-8-fillmore-42402

The Beta Band – Fillmore, SF, Tues., April 30

SETLIST : It’s Not Too Beautiful, Human Being, Dr. Baker, Alleged, Unknown, Like, Inner Meet Me, Quiet, Dry The Rain, Needles In My Eyes, Squares, Broke, (encore), Al Sharp, She’s The One, (instrumental), The House Song

It had only been a short five months since the Scottish “folktronica” group The Beta Band played at The Fillmore, but I liked what I heard then and decided they were worthy of a second viewing. For all those interested in more of their back story, feel free to read my entry from their previous gig in November of 2001, but unlike the last time they were there, this show received no poster at the end of the night. The Beta Band had been busy during those in between months opening for Radiohead and working on their next album, “Heroes To Zeros”, that wouldn’t be released until a full two years later. There were no new songs revealed during this show and when a band returns to town so soon as they did, it comes to no surprise that they would play the same material. But not only did The Beta Band play the same stuff, they played the exact same set in the same order from the time before, even down to the songs they did for their encore. They even did the same two songs during their soundcheck, “It’s Not Too Beautiful” and “Squares”.

Likewise, there was no opening act but the one thing that was new this time was the recording they played when they came on stage. They started with a bit of “Rock Me” by ABBA, which must have been a respectful nod to the ABBA cover band Bjorn Again who played at The Fillmore the following night. After a bit of radio static and changing channels, we then heard some dialogue from the 1992 sci-fi action film “Split Second” with Rutger Hauer and Kim Cattrall where there’s a back and forth between him and another character saying, “They’ve got grenade launchers. How are we supposed to fight?” “We get bigger grenade launchers.” “This is a war! There’ll be only one winner!”, then there was the sound of a gunfight followed by, “If this is the future, I don’t want to be part of that future.” Incidentally, that movie was supposed to take place in 2008 and though I never saw it, the movie retains an obscure cult following. 

Anyway, after that intro, a fellow got on stage and announced, “San Francisco!!! Are you ready for The Beta Band?!? From Kingston, Jamaica… Give it up for The Beta Band!” So, like I said it was the same as last time, but I still enjoyed it, getting a refresher course of their songs and it was a good thing that I caught them for a second time anyway since it would be the last time I’d see them perform live. The Beta Band broke up two years after this show, though have recently reunited this year, playing their first gigs in over two decades, so I might get another chance to see them someday. 

https://archive.org/details/the-beta-band-fillmore-43002

Bjorn Again – Fillmore, SF, Wed., May 1

SETLIST : Waterloo, Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight), Super Trouper, Honey Honey, S.O.S., Knowing Me Knowing You, One Of Us, Ring Ring, Fernando, Voulez Vous, Lay All Your Love On Me, Chiquitita, Living On A Prayer, Money Money Money, Take A Chance On Me, Mamma Mia, Does Your Mother Know, (encore), Dancing Queen, The Winner Takes It All – Thank You For The Music

It’s hard not to like ABBA. Seriously, the songs of this Swedish musical juggernaut are so syrupy sweet and hopelessly catchy that even the most cynical of music tastes cannot help but feel a tinge of irresistible joy whenever one of their tunes comes within earshot. At the very least, ABBA joins the short list of bands where practically everyone knows at least a handful of their hits and their sound is unmistakably theirs. Being so popular, it follows that ABBA would have their share of cover bands and one was the hilariously titled Bjorn Again from Melbourne, Australia. Formed in 1988, Bjorn alter-ego Rod Stephen had previously used that band name as a pseudonym while skiing in the Victorian Alps. Over time, Bjorn Again developed a steadily growing fan base of ABBA fans who hadn’t heard the original band perform together in decades, exactly twenty years in fact by the time of this show. And as most people know, ABBA would also become utterly beloved amongst the gay community, so it was a given that this show would be sold out in such a gay friendly city as San Francisco.

The original Benny and Bjorn from the band publicly praised their good work and they have since played all over the world, including for such brutal dictators as Vladimir Putin, Pfizer, and Bill Gates. The success of Bjorn Again was only strengthened in the recent years before this evening with their performance and recording of a show they did in 1998 at Royal Albert Hall in London. Furthermore, the stage musical “Mamma Mia” debuted the following year and was such a ridiculously big hit, productions of it quickly started sprouting up all over the world and would ultimately lead to the film version of it with Meryl Streep in 2008. As much as I like ABBA’s music, I still find that film utterly unwatchable and believe me, I’ve tried. I’m lucky if I can make it through a five minute stretch before recoiling in horror despite its A-list casting and my opinion still hasn’t altered all these years later. 

Speaking of years gone by, I must address a certain elephant in the room about this show. With the multitude of shows recorded under my belt, there are one or two that occasionally get mixed up in the maelstrom and this I’m afraid is one of them. It had originally been listed in my archives as taking place in 1995, but when the time came to write about it, the CDs mysteriously were missing. Fast forward a few years to now and the time came to write about this year of 2002 and behold, abracadabra, it resurfaces. I know it sounds strange, but for the life of me, I can’t recall which year was which for this one. Furthermore, I was unable to find any record of Bjorn Again’s tour dates from either year, so it remains a toss up. To all those gentle readers who were there or somehow knows the truth in this matter, feel free to comment and relieve me of this uncertainty. But one thing is for certain, I indeed saw them play this one time and the tapes came out pretty good.

Like The Beta Band, who played The Fillmore the night before, there was no opening act, so it was a pretty quick evening to usher. Incidentally, The Beta Band played a bit of the recording of “Rock Me” by ABBA during their entrance on stage the night before, though Bjorn Again didn’t actually play that particular ABBA tune during their show. Still, Bjorn Again came out swinging, opening with “Waterloo”, the hit single that won ABBA the Eurovision song contest all those years ago and instantly catapulted the band into international super stardom. They followed it with “Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight)” which would receive worldwide attention again three years after this after Madonna sampled it for her song “Hung Up”. Afterwards, Agnetha (for the sake of brevity, I will just refer to the band’s doppelgangers) asked sweetly, “Will you please put your arms in the air and swing them from side to side” for “Super Trouper”. Though the band were Aussies, they had their Swedish accents down pretty well, playfully referring their pidgin Swedish as “Swenglish”.

They knew how to work the crowd too, dividing up the audience to sing dueling choruses of “Honey Honey”. Agnetha praised her side of the stage saying, “Thank you! You are very kind people and you all sang so well tonight. But I have to say, Frida, and I have made a decision tonight and it was very easy because it was my side that was the loudest!” Frida countered, “You know what? I would like to make my decision and my decision is that it was most definitely my side!” The band continued, parodying ABBA’s notorious infighting, and Bjorn joined in, “I think you should be more kind to my side or I’ll quit (which sounded like “qweet” in his Swenglish accent). When I give the signal, I want my side to go bananas!” Benny pointed to Bjorn’s side and followed with, “Excuse me, I want to say something now. Firstly, this side should stop whispering. They may not be able to hear you on this side of the room. Secondly, I’d like to welcome you all here to our little show tonight and we hope you have a good time… And thirdly, it’s obvious to everybody that my side is the loudest side tonight!”

They stopped their faux-bickering and continued with “S.O.S.” where they did a little breakdown at the end of it, playing the “sending out an S.O.S.” part of “Message In A Bottle” by The Police. A couple songs later, they did another homage doing a bit of “One Of Us” by Joan Osbourne during the ABBA song with the same title. They kept up the banter in the middle of “Ring Ring” where Bjorn picked up an oversized novelty phone and started talking to Benny, “Hey! How you doing my friend?” “Very well, Bjorn, but I have a bone to pick with you” “Yeah, what’s that bone?” “Last night, I found one of your shoes under my Agnetha’s bed!” Benny then politely threatened to “qweet” again. The women in the band got into a phony tiff after “Chiquitita”, Frida declaring “It’s getting very rude in here. You started it!”, and they stormed off stage leaving the men alone. 

Feigning bewilderment, Bjorn asked, “Benny, where do you think they’re off to?.. Now we’re in trouble. Oh, I know. What shall we do?… Wait. Benny, I’ve been thinking.” “Oh no, Bjorn has been thinking, ladies and gentlemen.” “I’ve been thinking sometimes I’ve had enough of this wussy music. Sometimes it really irritates me.” Benny encouraged him, “Talk about things that irritate you. I think you have a rock god coming out of you tonight. You think so, Bjorn?” “I think the time has come for me to show the world what a true rock god legend I am.” “Are you going to play some rock & roll tonight on this stage here?” Then Bjorn led the rest of the band in a respectably rocking cover of “Living On A Prayer” by Bon Jovi and they had no trouble getting the audience to sing along during the chorus. 

The women rejoined them on stage and once again and continued pitting the crowd against each other, girls versus boys, during a singalong to “Money Money Money”. Afterwards, Agnetha asked us, “Are you feeling hot? You want to get hotter?” and she got the crowd to jump up and down to a polka intro to “Take A Chance On Me”, a version that included a bit from the theme of “The Addams Family” and Benny doing a little rap breakdown in the middle of it. They wrapped up with “Mamma Mia” and “Does Your Mother Know”, but soon came back, Bjorn joking, “We were coming back anyway, you know… It’s fantastic to be back in this place. We’ve travelled around the world and this is one of the best gigs we can do.” He continued introducing the rest of the band and praised us, “So good to see you dressing up in our fashions. We’d like to see you dressed up in the streets all year in what you are wearing. It’s a good idea… sort of.”

They began their encore with the smash hit “Dancing Queen”, perhaps the most famous gay anthem in history, in the top three at least along with “YMCA” and “I Will Survive”. Frida then yelled, “If you would like one more song, scream really loud!… I can’t hear you!” and then she got us to chant “Benny! Benny! Benny!”, until he took a seat at his piano. They then cooled us down finishing the night with a mash up of the ballads “The Winner Takes It All” and “Thank You For The Music”. And that was it, leaving us elated, but then disappointed when we found out there was no poster at the end of the night. Though this was the last and only time I’d see Bjorn Again, the memories of this show resonated in my brain long afterwards, even before I listened to the recordings again. And whether it was 1995 or 2002, it is fair to say that ABBA’s music was and will remain timeless. 

https://archive.org/details/bjorn-again-fillmore-5102

The X-ecutioners, The Coup, Kenny Muhammad – Fillmore, SF, Fri., May 3

SETLIST (THE COUP) : Everythang, 5 Million Ways To Kill A CEO, Ride The Fence, Wear Clean Draws, Get Up, Shabooya Roll Call, Rock Steady, U.C.P.A.S., DJ solo, Fat Cats Bigga Fish

This would be the third of five shows in only six days that I’d be seeing at The Fillmore having had only one day off, the day before this weekend. Seeing The X-ecutioners or X-Men as they are also known was a welcome departure from the lily white audiences of The Beta Band and Bjorn Again. They were a collective of expert turntable artists that I had actually recorded once before at the Maritime Hall in January 1998, opening for Kool Keith and Common. I was equally enthusiastic to see The Coup as well, who I’d just seen at The Fillmore with fellow DJ extraordinaire Mix Master Mike that February and had also recorded at the Maritime back in 1999. It was being billed as the “Adrenaline Rush” tour, sponsored by Sobe energy drink which kept tickets at the low price of only $15. Between sets, they showed clips from contemporary sports heroes like surfer Kelly Slater and skateboarder Tony Hark projected on a big screen on stage.

Just a quick recap, The X-ecutioners were comprised of beat juggling inventor Steve Dee, Johnny Cash (obviously no relation to the country singer), Sean Cee, Rob Swift, DJs Boogie Blind and Precision,Roc Raida, and Total Eclipse. They had just completed their second album “Built From Scratch”, leading to the departure of fellow member Mista Sinista. Together, they had been dropping beats all over the nation since 1989, collaborating with such notable artists as Linkin Park, Pharoahe Monch, and Xzibit. The Coup, as I had written before, were still touring in support of their hit album “Party Music” and the bill had also brought along with them human beatbox master, “The Human Orchestra” himself, Kenny Muhammad, who got the show rolling first that night.

They had an emcee introduce him first, a guy named Grady I think, who did a spoken word intro and even had a fellow up in the front of the stage named Bryce to do some human beatbox samples of his own. Kenny came on stage to the sound of bagpipes playing over the speakers and he got the crowd pumped up, teasing that their shows in New Orleans and Chicago had been the “hottest”, but the Fillmore was “going to get nasty”. He also mentioned that he was losing his voice from the long tour, this being the third to last show before it wrapped up three days later at the House Of Blues in L.A. Kenny said that “they wanted me to take a couple nights off”, but he “gotta give back”, to “give up some life” for the good folks who came out to see the show. His beatbox skills were quite impressive and the crowd loved him. I liked that he made a point to insist the audience “protect women” adding that they were not bitches, that we were all “sons of bitches… ain’t that a bitch”. Kenny did a bit of “Simon Says Get The Fuck Up” by the aforementioned Pharoahe Monch and brought a keyboard player up with him near the end of his set to do some ambient sounding bit, preaching “Love is life, life is love”. 

When he finished, Grady came back on stage and reminded us that they were having a raffle that would be awarding prizes at the end of the tour including a Suzuki motorbike and a snowboard, as well as some swag for folks later during the show, so I took a minute to throw my name in the hat. The Coup was really half the reason I was there that night and once more as expected, they didn’t disappoint, playing mostly tracks off the new album again. Singer Boots Riley, with his trademark afro and pointed sideburns dedicated “Wear Clean Draws” to his young daughter and he gave a shout out to Dead Prez before they did “Get Up”, a song they had collaborated on. They had a young lady sing a slammin’ version of “Rock Steady” by Aretha Franklin too. For their last number, “Fat Cats, Bigga Fish”, The Coup gave each band members a chance to do solos, including the guitarist doing a few riffs of “America The Beautiful”. 

Like he had in February, Boots gave a speech about his friend Jeremy whose father had been killed at the World Trade Center on 9/11, repeating a statement from him and other victim’s families that the media wouldn’t publish saying that they didn’t want “war for oil in our name”. He continued to condemn the government for themselves being in the business of supporting terrorism citing the 30,000 people who had been killed in Nicaragua by the Contras in the 80’s, a right wing insurgency that had been funded and trained by the infamous School Of America in Florida. Boots pointed out that our involvement in that dark page in history had earned us condemnation and orders of reparations from the International Criminal Court of which we still haven’t paid and continued to list America’s dirty laundry overthrowing democratically elected governments like Aristide’s in Haiti. “We fight for profit”, he said, “And 20 years from now, people are going to ask you what you did about it”, and he listed a few human rights organizations we could help in the struggle.

After their set ended, Grady mentioned that The X-ecutioners would be at Live 105’s B.F.D. at Shoreline later that summer and though I attended it, I think I missed their set on the second stage. They did the raffle drawing for the night and my heart skipped a beat when I heard my name! Seriously, I was honored to hear the words “Nick Baker” uttered through the Fillmore’s sound system. I was one of three people in the audience who won, but for the life of me, I can’t remember what I got, most likely a T-shirt or a CD. Grady did another spoken word bit and rejoiced that the world was celebrating “25 years of hip hop”, preaching, “3 L’s a day are necessary acronyms for hip hop’s existence… Life, Love, Liberty”. Before The X-ecutioners took the stage, they played a bit over the speakers starting with the theme music from “The Terminator” with Reece shouting “He can’t be bargained with! He can’t be reasoned with!” and then some samples from “Blade Runner”, finishing with Cyrus from “The Warriors” shouting “Can you dig it?!?!”

The crowd had already been pumped up from The Coup, so they had no trouble getting everybody jumping and freaky, one of them yelling, “If you paid good money to get here, make some noise!” They took a moment to give a shout out to fellow DJ Dan “The Automator”, who I had just seen with Medeski, Martin, & Wood at The Warfield less than two weeks before this show. My batteries on my tape deck ran out in the middle of their set, but thankfully they ran out quickly, so I was able to replace them and not miss much. The recording was hilarious because it sounded like they were scratching faster and faster, until they came to a breakneck speedy crescendo. I was able to get back on track in time for them to scratch up a cover of “Walk This Way” by Aerosmith, getting the crowd to chant along “Talk this way!” during the breaks. 

They also got the audience to chant “It’s going down!” during one song and when they took off at the end of the set, they got them chanting “We want more!” and “X-Men!” They came back for an encore and were urged to scratch ever more feverishly, getting the crowd to chant, “Faster! Faster! Faster!” When it was all over, they got us all to shout, “1,2,3… Peace!” a few times and that was that. There was no poster that night, but this was one of the first times I recorded myself walking out of the show, hearing one of the security guys out front reminding people to watch their step crossing the street. Incidentally, “Spider-Man” had just premiered that weekend, beginning a decades long string of hit Marvel comic book films that continues to this very day. 

https://archive.org/details/the-x-ecutioners-fillmore-5302

https://archive.org/details/the-coup-fillmore-5302

https://archive.org/details/kenny-muhammad-fillmore-5302

Cubanismo, Quetzal – Fillmore, SF, Sat., May 4

The hits kept coming that long week at The Fillmore, this the fourth show there out of five in only six days. It was always a treat to hear music from other parts of the world there, especially from the Latino diaspora. Bill Graham himself was a vocal fan of salsa music back in the day and I’m sure his grumpy ghost was a little more chipper that night. As their name suggests, Cubanismo is an orchestra of 11 Cubans and folks of Cuban decent ably fronted by trumpet player and band leader Jesus Alemany. Jesus had left Cuba for London in 1982 after studying music at Havana’s Conservatorio Amadeo and joining the renowned Sierra Maestra at the tender young age of 15. In England, he met his wife Susie who eventually became the band’s manager. Together, Cubanismo had been touring all over the world sharing their unique blend of Afrikas Soukaus, New York City salsa, old school mambo, and other genres. Jesus liked to call it “Son Music”. Their most recent album, “Mardi Gras Mambo” was released in 2000, but they had also put out an album of greatest hits the following year.

Around this time, they were fortunate to be riding a recent wave of newfound warming relations between America and Cuba. In fact, a week after this show, former president Jimmy Carter became the first president to visit the island after Castro took over, meeting with old Fidel face to face, much to the chagrin of right wing dickheads everywhere. Cubanismo was also joining a wave of Cuban bands now free to tour America like Los Van Van and the guys from the smash hit documentary “Buena Vista Social Club”. And like all shows at The Fillmore featuring folks from abroad, it was a safe bet that there were many Cuban ex-patriots, friends, and family getting their dance on in the audience that evening. Though Cuba was by no means Mexico, Spanish speaking people of all sorts were celebrating Cinco De Mayo that weekend, though Sammy Hagar, a gringo who had nonetheless become a transplant in Baja, was playing on that very stage for that holiday the following night. 

Opening that show was Quetzal, a bilingual Chicano rock band from L.A., led by singer, songwriter, and percussion player Martha Gonzalez. Over the years, she had corralled an impressive number of rotating members of this band while also achieving a PhD in Gender, Women, & Sexuality Studies. Quetzal had just put out their second album, “Sing The Real” that year and they played a handful of new songs from it that night including “20 Pesos” and “The Social Relevance Of Public Art”. She gave a shout out to the headliner, thanking them for taking them on tour and was saddened that this would be the last night they would be playing with “Los Hermanos Cubanismo”. The crowd was eager to dance and their songs made that more than easy for them. I like bands that have violins in them too. Martha thanked the audience at the end of their set and welcomed us to “take us back home” with their CDs for sale at the merch table in the back. She also announced that they would be returning to The Fillmore soon, playing with fellow Angelinos, Los Lobos, in six weeks, a show I was fortunate enough to also attend.

Soon enough, Cubanismo swarmed the stage and got the ball rolling once again and I was promptly cut from ushering to have some beer and join the dancing. Like other Cuban bands I’d seen, their songs were more like jam sessions, expanding at least ten minutes a piece. This allowed plenty of time for instrumental solos from the various members of the group, the horns, the flute player, the percussionists, and pianist to strut their stuff. Naturally, Cubanismo had little trouble getting the audience to participate, clapping along to the conga player and such. These shows, enjoyable as they are always made me regret that I took German in high school instead of Spanish, though as a Californian, I knew a handful of words and phrases through osmosis. One song everybody knew for sure was their cover of “Get Up, Stand Up” by Bob Marley. It was a pity that there wasn’t a poster at the end of the night since they certainly deserved one and came a long way to play there, though Sammy Hagar would get one the following night. I suppose it was only fair since Sammy was doing three nights in a row at The Fillmore and was a local celebrity after all. 

https://archive.org/details/cubanismo-fillmore-5402

https://archive.org/details/quetzal-fillmore-5402

Sammy Hagar & The Waboritas – Fillmore, SF, Sun., May 5

SETLIST : Shaka Doobie (The Limit), (unknown), Sympathy For The Human, Runaround, Three Lock Box, There’s Only One Way To Rock, Give To Live, Top Of The World, The Love, Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy, Why Can’t This Be Love, Finish What Ya Started, Eagles Fly, Little White Lie, High & Dry Again, I Can’t Drive 55, Heavy Metal, Mas Tequila, (encore), Right Now

It’s hard not to like Sammy Hagar. Yes, he might be the everlasting poster child for drunken, boorish frat rock, but even his most ardent detractors will admit he has one of the most distinct and powerful set of pipes in all the land. I had seen the so-called “Red Rocker”, (though his hair is mostly blonde with just a hint of strawberry), with Eddie Van Halen at the Bridge School Benefit in 1993, but this would be the first time I’d see him headline his own show. For those who don’t know, Sammy had replaced singer David Lee Roth in Van Halen in 1985 and served as their singer until his acrimonious departure in 1996. Sammy was replaced by Gary Cherone from Extreme, but that fizzled out by 2000 and the band went on hiatus. 

Sammy and Diamond Dave had just made amends and were about to embark on a co-headlining adventure with each other called the “Song For Song : The Heavyweight Champs Of Rock & Roll” tour, playfully also known as “Sans-Halen” and/or the “Sam & Dave” tour. Sammy had also just collaborated with the supergroup Planet Us alongside Neal Schon and Deen Castranovo from Journey as well as bassist Michael Anothony from Van Halen. That band was short lived and actually only recorded two songs together. Sammy would rejoin Van Halen the year after this show, and despite the overwhelming financial success of the tours they did together, Eddie wouldn’t stop drinking and things would soon fall apart again. Sammy would leave them for good in 2005.

But in those intervening years while Sammy was divorced from the Van Halen scene, he had been cultivating his new musical project, The Waboritas. Named after the Cabo Wabo, his venue/cantina/distillery that he founded in Baja back in 1990, he had since bought out the rest of Van Halen’s interest in the business and was actively promoting his Cabo Wabo brand tequila. Even my brother Alex’s old band, the Dance Hall Crashers, had played down there once. Suffice to say, Sammy’s was the only brand of tequila offered in The Fillmore for his three show stint and God only knows how much was consumed that night by the patrons and the band before it was all over. I didn’t envy the house maintenance guys who had to clean the bathrooms for these shows. I have never had any stomach for tequila, but my beloved wife has slowly been indoctrinating me into enjoying mezcal. Tequila consumption that night was certainly boosted by the fact that it was Cinco De Mayo. 

This had been my fifth show in only six days at The Fillmore and by this time, so my little spot ushering in front of the front of house soundboard was starting to feel like my home away from home. Sammy was still working on the Wabortias’ second studio album, “Not 4 Sale”, that would be released later that October, but he had more than enough of his own material, stuff from Montrose, his first band, and Van Halen standards to fill the setlist. In fact, he thoroughly mixed up the setlists for each night, a tell tale sign of a seasoned touring veteran and a well versed backing band. It was “An Evening With” show, so I was soon cut from ushering to join the masses growing steadily inebriated. Indeed, Sammy kept the hits coming one after the other until they finally took a little break before they did “The Love”.

Sammy joked around with his band, pointing out his guitarist, “Listen, Victor Johnson… You could almost pass as a Mexican with that fuckin’ hat! One that ain’t got no fuckin’ job, right? One that lays on the beach all day.” Then he turned his wisecracks to his bassist Mona Gnader, “You gotta understand, this is the first gig we’ve done since January? The only reason I got a girl in the band is because they are supposed to remember shit and I can’t remember shit. The question is what you got stuffed down there? You probably got some big ol’ dildo stuffed in there just ready for some motherfucker…. Excuse me, I assumed we were among adults… Speaking of adults… Waitress!… Adultress!” The boys in the crowd went wild as a scantily clad young woman came on stage with some drinks. Sammy ogled her for a moment, handed some drinks to the fans up front, and went on, “Oh Lord, you look really good too. Honey, this is business. I’m entertaining the crowd. Cheers! Listen you cheap fuckers. Don’t be tryin’ to mooch off me all night. I’ll help you a little bit. Now I got to see the waitress again… I’m afraid of any girl who’s taller than me. We’re the same size without the heels.” 

Sammy mentioned that he never played The Fillmore, though he had frequented it many times in the 60’s and 70’s He said it was “like the Cabo Wabo, but a little bigger… Thanks everybody. The show sold out in 20 minutes!” 

A few songs later, he addressed us again, “I look like Elvis down here. Remember the way they found Elvis? You didn’t read that book.” Then he pointed up to the balcony, “That girl up there, she stole my shit! I went up there and one of them girls stealin’ my beads, the other had her hand in my pocket tryin’ to find some money, the other had her hand down my pants holdin’ on to my shit. Fuckin’ dangerous up there!… The first time I went to Chevy’s, it was down in Carmel and they didn’t have any Cabo Wabo and I raised hell. I said ‘WHAT’?!?! I said let me talk to the manager. He came out, white nerd. You need a Mexican running a Mexican restaurant, right? Other than me, you know what I mean. I said ‘What’s up, no Cabo Wabo?’ and the guy says, ‘What is Cabo Wabo?’ Look, it’s fuckin’ tequila, you know… I didn’t eat there. I sent the guy a bottle of Cabo Wabo. Maybe they’ll catch on next year. But it’s Cinco De Mayo, so I can’t bad rep anything that’s got an X on it! Waitress!…”

Jesse Harms on keys played a little of “Taps” while the spunky young lady came on stage again with a fresh round of drinks. Sammy looked her up and down once more, “Did you change your clothes?… Tampax, you can probably use it. It’ll probably smell better when you bring it back to me”. He then led the band into an acoustic version of “Finish What Ya Started”. The batteries on my tape deck ran out during “Eagles Fly”, but I quickly replaced them in time to get most of “Little White Lie”, which Sammy busted out a harmonica for. Sammy urged the audience to continue drinking, “I’m gonna mix my own drink. I hope everybody is getting as high as I am because I don’t want to get up there without you. I don’t want to be here and have you down there. We got to be together!” They then did the back to back hits “I Can’t Drive 55” and “Heavy Metal” and once again Sammy summoned the waitress, teasing her, “Different shirt? I liked the first one better”. 

They finished the set appropriately with “Mas Tequila”, but the crowd immediately began chanting “Sammy! Sammy! Sammy!” and he came back with Jesse who began playing alone on his keys. All smiles, he cheered, “First of all, thank you for one of the best fuckin’ times in my life!” He went on to talk about how when playing a song, he can remember how it felt when he first wrote it and how songs can transport you back to memories like a great night, a great summer, the first time you got high, or when you fell in love. He spoke of “Back in ’91. I remember it like it was yesterday, when everything was good. It was 2 AM, I was rolling one up, I was getting high and writing lyrics, poetry really, no music, and I heard the piano in the other room”. He began singing the lyrics to what Eddie Van Halen had been playing on piano and it was “magic… gave me goosebumps” and they wrapped up the evening with “Right Now”.

The applause after they finished was impressive and I was actually a little surprised that they didn’t play more after such a positive response, but the lights came on and it was indeed all over. Sammy grinned and yelled, “I’m proud to say I played The Fillmore! See you tomorrow night!” They played some circus organ music over the speakers as we all filed out down the Fillmore stairs to get the poster waiting for us at the bottom. It was a good one too and thank heavens for that since it was the only one I’d get from that run of five Fillmore shows. God knows the other shows deserved one, especially Cubanismo. I’m afraid I believe this was the only time I’d see Sammy & The Waboritas, though he is alive and well. In fact, at the ripe old age of 78, Sammy has just began a 33 show residency at the MGM Grand in Vegas this year. And though the Cabo Wabo franchise in Hollywood went belly up, the one in Vegas is still open and getting people shit-faced drunk on The Strip to this very day.

https://archive.org/details/sammy-hagar-the-waboritas-fillmore-5502

Midnight Oil, John Eddie, Will Hoge – Warfield, SF, Tues., May 7

SETLISTS : 

(WILL HOGE) : Doesn’t Have To Be That Way, Let Me Be Lonely, Rock & Roll Star, Your Fool, Secondhand Heart, Better Off Now (That You’re Gone), All Night Long

(JOHN EDDIE) : Fell For It Every Time, Forty, Dead Ends, Gettin’ Kinda Old (Being Young At Heart), Lost Along The Way, Play Some Skynard 

(MIDNIGHT OIL) : Been Away Too Long, Too Much Sunshine, Forgotten Years, Under The Overpass, Trugannini, Haul Away, Luritja Way, Tin Legs & Tin Mines, Now Or Never, Blue Sky Mine, Say Your Prayers, Golden Age, King Of The Mountain, River Runs Red, Redneck Wonderland, The Dead Heart, Dream World, (encore), Tone Poem, Beds Are Burning, Sometimes

It had been only 7 months since Midnight Oil was in town with Will Hoge, but this time they had been finally upgraded from The Fillmore, where I’d seen them three times already, to The Warfield. They were still promoting their “Capricornia” album, so I was familiar with the material well by then, as well as the work of Mr. Hoge. But on this occasion, they brought along singer-songwriter John Eddie from Richmond, Virginia as the second opening act. John had been buddies with Bruce Springsteen and his name even appears on the letter board of a nightclub in the end scenes of the video for “Born In The U.S.A.” Bruce’s E-Street Band also backed John on his self titled debut album in 1986. Kid Rock covers his songs too, but I won’t hold that against him. Speaking of Donald’s deplorables,  Elon Musk started Space X the day before this show.

But I digress. Will Hoge got the crowd warmed up and once again, they politely listened to him. A DJ from KFOG made some opening remarks, reminding us that the big KFOG Kaboom show was coming soon. Will made sure to introduce his band members, including his brother from Nashville, gave props to Kim on monitors that night, and praised San Francisco for being cooler than New York and L.A. He got the crowd to sing along to the chorus of “All Night Long”, egging them on, declaring that “Midnight Oil is downstairs… They’d be disappointed if they can’t hear you”. He played “Secondhand Heart” and “Better Off Now (That You’re Gone)” for the first time in the bay area, new songs that wouldn’t be released until his next album, “Blackbird On A Lonely Wire”, dropped the following year. 

He finished his short set and John quickly followed him, apologizing to the crowd, “Enjoy your worst nightmare… the second opening band”. He too graciously introduced his group and gave a shout out to his sister in the audience who “still gets carded at 41”. John made sure to point out that his drummer was the son of Elvis Presley’s foot doctor. Speaking of the King, in 2023, John would collaborate with his widow Prescilla to create and produce the hilarious animated show “Agent Elvis” on Netflix. He made sure to thank Will Hoge and apologized about “the double booking shit”, apparently revealing that he wasn’t originally on the bill, but by some mix up they “were kind enough to let us play”. 

John then finished his set with “Play Some Skynyrd”, prefacing it by saying it was “about audiences that have not as nice as you’ve been tonight”. Naturally, people started yelling “Freebird!” and he indulged them, “Alright, alright… Get it out of your system… 1-2-3!… That’s the problem. People who yell ‘Freebird’ can’t count to 3… I wrote this song, started out as a joke song. I was in my bedroom and then the more I wrote, the more pathetic and suicidal it got”. In the middle of the song he counted to 9 and joked, “That’s all that we expect being the second opening band. As you can tell this is our rock ballad. Last time we played in San Francisco, we opened for The Mother Hips and I made a ‘Sister Christian’ joke and it turns out that their sister was married to the guy from Night Ranger. But for one brief moment, just for the fuck of it, pretend we’re your favorite band in the whole wide world!” The crowd cheered and he smiled, “That was good. But that kind of sounded like we were Creed or something. We’re your favorite fuckin’ band in the world! Our drummer lost his arm in a car accident! We’re taping a VH1 special and we’re taping a live comeback album tonight opening for Midnight Oil!” That got the crowd cheering again and he thanked us, “Y’all been more than patient.”

For some reason, Midnight Oil came on stage to the sounds of cows mooing over the speakers, probably a nod to Capricornia, the beef capitol of Australia, which their album was named after. Peter Garrett, the lead singer thanked us all for coming, promising a “sensational voyage of musical exploration”. The set was mostly the same stuff they played from the last Fillmore show and Peter busted out a harmonica again for “Blue Sky Mine”. He also did his usual round of left wing preaching, making sure to demand that the folks from Enron resign, that “suffering inspires dissent”, and encouraging us to “phone Washington”. Near the end of the set, he once more got the crowd to sing along to the chorus of “The Dead Heart”. Sadly, there was no poster at the end of the night and this would be the last time I’d see them perform, since the band dissolved later that December. Midnight Oil have since done a handful of reunion shows, but I don’t recall them ever visiting the bay area again, but I’m proud to say I got to see them four times.

https://archive.org/details/midnight-oil-warfield-5702

https://archive.org/details/john-eddie-warfield-5702

https://archive.org/details/will-hoge-warfield-5702

The Dickies, Down In Flames, Oppressed Logic, Scurvy Dogs – Covered Wagon Saloon, SF, Wed., May 8

SETLISTS : 

(SCURVY DOGS) : Talibuns, Over The Hill, Circle, Show Me Your Nuts, Working No Class, Pharmland, Who Shat In The Crisper?, Suburban Crimes, Violent World

(OPPERSSED LOGIC) : U.S. Attacked, What Choice, P.C. Full Of Shit, Not My Fault, What You Say, Mean Hippies, Say We Suck, Living Abortion, Ones That Control, Deranged, My Life’s A Fucking Mess, Get The Fuck Off, This Is Reality

(DOWN IN FLAMES) : Switchblade, Faster, Won’t Die No More, Wide Awake, What It’s Not, Fuck The World, Bricks In The Basement, Wasted Energy, Vices, Burn Bridges, Break Strings, Down In Flames

(THE DICKIES) : Solitary Confinement, I’m OK You’re OK, Nights In White Satin, Where’d You Get It, Give It Back, Fan Mail, Paranoid, Howdy Doody In The Woodshed, Waterslide, Manny Moe & Jack, My Pop The Cop, (I’m Stuck In A Pagoda With) Patricia Toyota, You Drive Me Ape, Dog From The Hare That Bit Us, Wagon Train, I Love Crack, If Stuart Could Talk, Gigantor, Nelly The Elephant. Banana Splits

After consistently attending almost every show at either The Fillmore or The Warfield for months, it is refreshing to pop in on a gig at small club, especially a bone fide punk rock venue like the Covered Wagon. Indeed, I had just wrapped up seeing five shows in only six days exclusively at The Fillmore, so I was in the mood for a quick change of scenery. And it didn’t get more punk than this line up. I know I had seen The Dickies before, I think at Berkeley Square, but it was before I had started my adventure in bootlegging, so this was the first time I would tape them. The venerable punk veterans had been making their unique brand of infectious, goofy musical earworms since 1977 and are one of those bands that despite their undeniable talent and admirable work ethic, still remain in relative obscurity. But their lack of mainstream success is to the benefit of their die hard fans who can still see them play such small venues at rock bottom prices. The show that night was only $10, a steal even in 2002 dollars.

Along with their endless touring, The Dickies had also finally put out some new material, releasing “All This And Puppet Stew” the previous year, their last album to date of new material. They had signed to Fat Wreck Chords and after five years of gentle prodding from Fat Mike, the head of the label and frontman for NOFX, they were able to get it done. Dickies’ singer Leonard Graves Philips joked during the show, “Fat Mike is my fuckin’ boss. Time flies when you’re on heroin. One day you’re cock of the walk, the next… a feather duster. It’s OK because I still have the biggest penis in the world. You gentlemen can dilute yourselves with the idea that size doesn’t count, but me and the mateys know.” Despite the procrastination regarding the new songs, they also released “The Dickies : The Punk Singles Collection” and “Live In London” albums just recently before this show. By then, The Dickies had already been together almost 25 years and had gone through numerous line up changes leaving only Leonard and guitarist Stan Lee, (no relation to the comic book veteran), as their only remaining founding members.

This was one of only a handful of shows I would see at The Covered Wagon, or CW Saloon as it was also known, before it closed only three months after this show. As I said, it was a bone fide punk venue, small, low ceilings, black painted walls covered in a myriad of random stickers, and reeking of stale beer. Quite frankly, I miss the place. It sadly would be one of many venue casualties the South Of Market area of San Francisco would suffer in the following years including such hallowed spots at Slim’s and the Paradise Lounge. So, re-listening to this night was tinged with a subtle feeling of loss and nostalgia. One great thing about the Covered Wagon, it was so small that one had absolutely no trouble hearing any of the bands and would be in fact in deep trouble if one went in without any ear protection. The show was being promoted by Lommori Productions, a local punk promotion group that still operates today, and they were advertising their website on the show’s ads.

The first two of the four acts up that night were from Oakland, starting with the Scurvy Dogs. Their singer introduced themselves, “We’re the Scurvy Dogs if you can’t read” and lamented, “It’s unfortunate that we have to play this early. We’re not used to that… Apparently, I’m pathetic… No duh”. After a couple songs, he pointed out somebody in the crowd taking pictures, “You guys need to have permission to take our pictures!… You’ll steal our soul!” They did a cover song which I didn’t recognize and he joked later with his guitarist, “We’re giving away a CD to whoever can guess who did the original” and the guitarist countered, “The first person who comes on stage and gives me oral sex wins!… Male or female. I don’t care! Equal opportunity employer.” Like most punk bands, their songs were break neck paced and short, so they were only on for about a half an hour.

Following them were Oppressed Logic who I was immediately impressed with when I recorded them opening for Suicidal Tendencies at the Maritime Hall back in 1999. Once again, their singer, Mike Avilez, had quite the mohawk and his punkish apparel was a radical contrast to his guitarist who looked downright clean cut in comparison. They opened with “U.S. Attacked”, a timely number less than a year after 9/11 and a couple songs later Mike introduced “Not My Fault” a a song “about goin’ to court”. Later, he warned the audience, “I gotta say you gotta watch out about using someone else’s toothbrush or razor or fuckin’ sharing needles cus’ Hepatitis C is on the rampage… You can’t get rid of me! Just make sure, razor blades and toothbrushes.” Then he pointed to his drummer, “And hanging out with him… This is dedicated to everybody fighting Hepatitis.” He seemed a bit serious about it, so I gathered his warning about the disease came from personal experience. Despite the small crowd, they managed to whip them up, Mike shouting, “Let’s just get one pit in this fuckin’ dump!” before they ended their set with “This Is Reality”.

The last opening act was Down In Flames from Fair Haven, New Jersey. They had just released their debut, self titled album that year and their singer, Ian Thompsen, wasted no time cracking jokes, starting their set yelling, “Hello Cleveland and you fuckin’ suck!” Like the others, their music was rowdy as hell and by this time, a young, skinny woman with a shaved head had entered the mosh pit and was making trouble, even by punk rock standards. Clearly, she was wasted, but I was deeply offended that she kept entering the pit with a full pint glass of beer, spilling all over everybody. I did my best to avoid her, but like I said, it was a small club and it was hard not to. There’s nothing that will frustrate me more than people wasting beer other than wasting it by spilling it on me. Seriously, she must of lost at least three pints that night. The band couldn’t help but notice her boorish behavior and repeated referred to her as their mom. Anyway, before they did “Bricks In The Basement”, Ian asked, “How many of you fat fucks are here to see The Dickies?… Give it up for The Dickies, god damn it!” Later, he hinted that he might try to crowd float, though there were only about a dozen people in the pit, joking, “Will you catch me? Will you hold me tightly?…. Mom?”

Finally, The Dickies took the stage and Leonard introduced themselves, doing his trademark wiseguy schtick, “I would just like this opportunity to thank you and it’s great to be back in the swinging singles city of… Chicago! I love it here in the Windy City! Oh, by the way, did I mention that I am Jesus Christ? But enough about me. Here we go!” and they opened with “Solitary Confinement”. A few songs later, Leonard continued his wise cracks, “Thank you for being so kind. We never thought this was going to happen but, we’ve now after being in the same band for 50 years, decided to change the name of the band… the band is now called Olga & The Dickies… Hey, speaking of old guys… speaking of really old guys… speaking of super, super old farts. We’re still young at heart. This next song is so old…” Then everybody replied with the traditional response, “How old was it?” and Leonard continued, “When we wrote this song, RuPaul still went by the name Pat Smear!” and then they did “Give It Back”. 

Afterwards, Leonard confessed, “Green Day?… I fucked em’. Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers?… Dropped a load in him too.”  and then later, he asked, “Before we proceed any further, do you have any questions?” The crowd shouted all manner of random stuff, but Leonard dryly replied to each, “I don’t know.” Near the end of the set, he gave a shout out, “Yeah, what the heck, he’s been dead a year now, so I’m going to dedicate this song to him again. This one goes out to a god amongst retards, Mr. Joseph Ramone. It’s a country western song. It’s called ‘Wagon Train’.” Incidentally, I saw that The Dickies opened up for The Ramones at The Fillmore in 1988, a poster that stands out in the Fillmore poster room and a show, as you might imagine, I was jealous that I didn’t attend. As I’ve written before, Joey had died the year before and many bands I had seen since he passed had done dedications and Ramones covers in his honor. 

When they finished the song, Leonard thanked us, “You know, you’re such a great lookin’ bunch of kids. We’d love to go down on each and every one of ya’, but we just don’t have the time. So instead, I’m gonna tell you a joke that I don’t think you’ve heard before. Goes something like this… A robot walks into a bar. He sits down and orders a drink and the bartender says to him, ‘Get out of here! We don’t serve your kind here!’… And the robot says, ‘Yes, but someday you will!” The crowd groaned and Leonard countered, “What, that’s not fuckin’ edgy enough for ya’? You just a bunch of hip punk rockers? OK… How about this… A nigger robot walks into a bar… says, ‘Hey you dyke bitch! Pour some drink down my fuckin’ spout! And the Palestinian nigger kyke kraut bastard says, ‘Get out of here! I’m going to blow myself up and take you and the World Trade Center with me!’ and the robot says, ‘OK, I’m leaving’… Oh, I see you liked that, huh? A little gratuitous violence, a little racism and all of a sudden you’re a bunch of happier shitheads, aren’t you?… You bunch of Rice-A-Roni eating, cable car riding… you bunch of lesbians, you… Yeah, yeah, I thought you’d cheer that, huh? That’s the way you want to play it? That’s the way we’ll play it.”

At the end of the set, Leonard busted out a squeeky toy and turned to his other guitar player and said, “OK, Igor. Let’s do that adorable New York Dolls song that you do. I said I want to do the fuckin’ New York Dolls song that you do!” and then they did “Nelly The Elephant”. Now, most punks know that “Nelly The Elephant” is actually a Toy Dolls song and I thought perhaps that was also why Leonard made that joke earlier about the name change to Olga & The Dickies since the Toy Dolls frontman is Michael “Olga” Algar. But what I didn’t realize was that Olga from the Toy Dolls WAS the other guitar player and I didn’t recognize it was him! Yes, Olga did a rare string of shows with The Dickies around this time and I was lucky enough to catch one of them, especially at a venue this small. Olga sang the song, giving Leonard a break and me and the crowd went nuts for it. They finished the night with a super fast version of “Banana Splits” and that was that. Soaked in sweat and that obnoxious woman’s spilt beer, I exited the Covered Wagon for the last time into the cool night air and made the long walk home back to the Tenderloin. 

https://archive.org/details/the-dickies-cw-saloon-5802

https://archive.org/details/down-in-flames-cw-saloon-5802

https://archive.org/details/oppressed-logic-cw-saloon-5802

https://archive.org/details/scurvy-dogs-cw-saloon-5802

Steven Wright, Johnny Steele – Warfield, SF, Fri., May 10

It’s a rare occasion when The Warfield would get a comedy show, so I made sure I would catch every one I could during my stint as an usher, even the ones I had never heard of before. I was however familiar with Steven Wright and was really looking forward to seeing him live for the first time. For those who don’t know, Mr. Wright had been cracking people up since the 80’s with his bone dry, witty one-liners. He had also become synonymous with Quentin Tarantino’s seminal debut film “Reservoir Dogs”, speaking the part of the movie’s radio DJ, K-Billy. Though he is primarily known for his stand up, few people recall that Steven also won an Oscar in 1989 for Best Short Live-Action Film for producing, co-writing, and starring alongside Rowan Atkinson for “The Appointments Of Dennis Jennings”. The film being only a half hour long, he joked during his acceptance speech, “We’re really glad we cut out the other 60 minutes”.

Opening that night was Johnny Steele, a well known bay area comedian who had taken over for Alex Bennett after he was fired from his morning show on Live 105. Johnny’s real last name is Lopez, but he changed it to honor his steel industry hometown of Pittsburg, and had won the San Francisco International Comedy Competition in 1992. His set was short, only about 10 minutes long, but he got a few good zingers in there, introducing himself, “You might remember me from some of the jobs I’ve been fired from”. He went on to crack jokes about Reno, Circus Circus, and Las Vegas in general. I always remembered his one about how Vegas was all about booze, strippers, and gambling and some marketing genius said, “You know what’s missing?… Children!” I liked that he thought the current San Francisco mayor at the time, Willie Brown, looked like the guy from the Monopoly box. He also posed the question, “Are we still supposed to pretend that George W. Bush is not retarded?”, citing the sensitivity people were feeling after 9/11, a touchy subject at the time obviously.

After a short break, Steven was introduced, calmly walked out on stage and he wasted no time giving us one non-related, noodle scratcher after the other. There are too many to mention without just reciting the whole routine altogether but I’ll drop a few here like “I need a baby monitor for my conscious and subconscious so I know what the hell I’m thinking”, “What if I was born a day early? How my life would have been different?… Probably nothing, but I’d ask that question yesterday”, “I have two rare photographs, one of Houdini locking his keys in his car, the other is of Norman Rockwell beating up a child”, “I saw a sign, next rest stop, 25 miles… Man, that’s pretty big. People must get really tired around here”, and “I remember when I was a fetus, I would sneak out at night while my mother was sleeping. I thought now would be a good time to steal stuff while I don’t have fingerprints”.

At one point, he said, “I just remembered, I’m not supposed to talk to strangers” and started walking off stage, but returned. Near the end of his set, he busted out an acoustic guitar and gently sang some of his comedic ponderings, declaring, “This doesn’t go something like this. It goes exactly like this” and he would sing lyrics like “My dad says if worse comes to worse, we’re screwed” and “My friend does voodoo acupuncture. You don’t have to go. I’ll be walking down the street then all of a sudden… Ooooo. That’s better”. And though each joke seemed random and rambling, it’s easy to fall in love with his highly cerebral mental process and his droning Bostonian voice becomes almost hypnotic. There wasn’t a poster at the end of the night, but I’d be lucky to see Mr. Wright perform at The Warfield again five years later.

https://archive.org/details/steven-wright-warfield-51002

https://archive.org/details/johnny-steele-warfield-51002

De La Soul, Swollen Members – Fillmore, SF, Mon., May 13

SETLISTS :

(SWOLLEN MEMBERS) : Killing Spree, New Details, Fuel Injected, Bring It All Home, Pillow Fulla Scrilla, Deep End, Lady Venom

(DE LA SOUL) : Gettin’ Down At The Amphitheater, Buddy, Plug Tunin’ (Last Chance To Comprehend), A Roller Skating Jam Named “Saturdays”, Simply, Fever Of The Month, The Choice Is Yours, Oooh., All Good?,  Ego Trippin’, Declaration, U Don’t Wanna B.D.S., Itsoweezee (Hot), Breakadawn, Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey) / Piles & Piles, Stakes Is High, The Bizness, (unknown), (unknown), Dinninit, Watch Out, Bionix, Wonce Again Long Island, Let Let Me In, Sh.Fe.MC’s, (DJ ending)

It was safe to say by this time, I was more than familiar with De La Soul, this being my 7th occasion to see them perform in only 6 years, four of which I professionally recorded at Maritime Hall. Naturally, you’ll find musings and history about all these shows if you care to review them. De La were a crew that I thought would just be around forever and considering the frequency which they visited the bay area, my assumption didn’t feel unfounded. But I fell out of touch with some bands like these, especially after I stopped ushering, artists which I was spoiled to see every year, and before I knew it, I discovered that this Fillmore show in 2002 would be the last time I’d see them on stage… well, to see them with David “Trugoy The Dove” Jolicoeur anyway. Yes, Trugoy passed away in 2023 at the all too young age of 54 and though his cause of death remains undisclosed, he did have a history of congestive heart failure. Regardless, that pretty much means curtains for the one and only De La Soul, but for all those who had the pleasure, a night of hip hop with those guys was a night to remember. De La had just played at The Fillmore the previous November with the (also) recently late great Biz Markie and that show got a poster, one of my favorites, but this one didn’t. 

Opening that night was Swollen Members from Vancouver, relatively unknown in America, but would become the second best selling hip hop artist in Canada second only to Drake. Manchild, one of their rappers, had spent some time trying to get his solo career off the ground in San Francisco, but eventually returned home and they were between albums at this time, having released “Bad Dreams” six months before and about to release “Monsters In The Closet” six months later. Three of their seven songs they did that night would be new ones. The single “Fuel Injected” would be used later in the soundtrack to the Playstation 2 video game, “Matt Hoffman’s Pro BMX 2”. I remember my friend Hefe gave me that game as a present once, but for the life of me, I was terrible at it, despite my best efforts. They were talented and I could see why they were big back home and had no trouble getting the crowd to chant “Set It Off!” as they began. I thought “Pillow Fulla Scrilla” was a clever number, a solo song by Moka Only, one of their rappers. He also did a little freestyle a cappella  before they did “Deep End”.

DJ Maceo came on stage between sets and spun records until the other De La crew was ready. He did however have to take a break saying, “Give me a second. I gotta go to the bathroom right now”, but then returned admitting, “Well, this time I didn’t have to take a shit.” When the set began in earnest, he made sure to “thank everybody in this motherfucker who’s been with De La Soul since 1989! Say Hoooo! Say De La De La De La!” They opened with “Gettin’ Down At The Amphitheater”, a song they collaborated with Common and quickly followed that with “Buddy”. Trugoy was a little disappointed in his “trying to get the ladies to sing along… You sounded like shit, ladies” and then he gave shout outs to fellow old school hip hop contemporaries, A Tribe Called Quest, The Jungle Brothers, and Queen Latifah. We were all in for an unexpected treat when they brought up fellow Queens resident Andres “Dres” Vargas Titus from the Black Sheep on stage with them to do his songs “Fever Of The Month” and “The Choice Is Yours”.

Afterwards, Dres made sure to dedicated that last one “to all the ladies in the house. Ladies, where are ya’, ladies? Now listen, when you see the hip hop videos, it’s usually the slick young ladies in the bikinis on and all that shit, standing by the poolside, have the thong on and all that shit. We know there’s a lot of other styles of ladies in the house, whether you’re short, tall, you’re wide, you’re slim, or what have you. We know y’all represent hip hop. You represent hip hop ladies or what?!?” Then the crowd cheered and he went on, “When I get in a club, me personally, what I like to do is look for a lady that just wants to have a good time. You know, she has a little something I can hold on to, you know what I mean? That’s the kind of lady I like. We like to dedicate this to all the ladies. Don’t be afraid of what you got, ladies.” 

De La Soul covered a lot of material that night and brought Dres back up with them near the end along with one of the members of the Hieroglyphics too, though I can’t remember which. They wrapped up their set with “Sh.Fe.MC’s”, but Maceo stuck around on stage and kept spinning records for a while. He shouted, “Show some motherfuckin’ love for yourselves! We’ve been on 2 hours and 5 minutes! You want us to stop now? We’ve outlasted any hip hop show that you’ve ever been to in your entire life! 2 hours and 6 minutes! Get home safe tonight, lot of weed smokin’, drinkin’ at the bar. I know a couple of you popped Ecstasy”. Eventually, the house turned on the lights and everybody shuffled out downstairs and I took my time, knowing that there was no poster waiting for me. That was it. Really, it wasn’t until I was revisiting this show that I was beginning to appreciate De La’s contribution to that critical “mid-school” of hip hop from the late 80’s and early 90’s that lifted the genre from a derided, obscure musical movement from the underground of New York City to the stratospheric heights it has achieved commercially and critically today. 

https://archive.org/details/de-la-soul-fillmore-51302

https://archive.org/details/swollen-members-fillmore-51302

Sound Tribe Sector Nine, The Jethro Jeremiah Band, Karsh Kale – Fillmore, SF, Thur., May 16

SETLIST : Havona Ascent, Kamuy, Mischief Of A Sleepwalker, Circus, Ramone & Emiglio, Movement, Life’s Sweet Breath, Jebez, Tap In, Grow, For My Peeps, We’ll Meet In Our Dreams, Moon Socket, Satori, (encore), Surreality, EB

I has heard murmurs about this new band for a bit before this show and was glad to finally catch them for the first time. I would soon become entranced by their genius level musicianship and unique blend of funk, electronica, jazz, drum & bass, a mixture once dubbed as “livetronica”. They definitely had their hippie/jam band element too which was good because they allowed the tapers into their shows and I was able to find a crystal clear recording of this evening on Internetarcive.org. The instrumental sound that these guys put together is air tight and they join a short list of likeminded, eclectic instrumental bands like the Greyboy All-Stars and Medeski, Martin, & Wood. One could also see how they took a page from the trip-hop guys in England around that time like Roni Size and Tricky. 

Originally from Snellville, Georgia, Sound Tribe Sector Nine emigrated to Santa Cruz in 1997 and quickly made a name for themselves down there. This was to be their first Fillmore show, but it sure as hell wasn’t going to be their last. To date, they’ve been over ten times there since and would return only five months later to do back to back shows on that very stage, one of which I was fortunate enough to attend. Likewise they’d play the Warfield and the Regency Ballroom on a number of occasions, at least five times each, so like the Dead, Primus, and Metallica, we’re spoiled by these guys. I have to admit, I wasn’t entirely sure how to write out this band’s name. They have since abbreviated their name to STS9, but originally they were billed with all the words and numbers written out, so I felt it was right to address them as such, but they’re also known by the hybrid title of Sound Tribe Sector 9, with the numeral on the end. Anyway, I suppose it doesn’t hurt that the group has more than one handle. Personally, I prefer it written out, but that’s just me. 

Opening that night was a brief set by Karsh Kale, an Indian trip-hop multi-instrumentalist. This guy shredded on the tabla drums and helped loosen up the crowd before the main event. I would see him again only two months later opening for Tabla Beat Science at The Fillmore as well. Karsh also joined Sound Tribe on stage for the first few songs, his lightning fast tabla beats ably matched by Zach Velmer on drums. Seriously, I have no idea how Zach keeps up that pace night after night for hours on end, most of their songs clocking in well over ten minutes. They had a radiant young woman going by the name of Audio Angel as well who sang her siren song during “Movement” and came back later for “Satori” and a fellow named Scott Miller also joined the band during “Tap In” playing on a didgeridoo. Their music was downright hypnotic, songs flowing into each other, the kind of music that you’d have to be a music student to really follow. 

There also was a local young man named Jethro Jeremiah playing acoustic guitars and singing upstairs in the poster room that night. He was a bit of a hippie himself, mixing in a bit of reggae and soul. I only caught a few songs of his but I know one was called “Hail To The High One”. He mentioned that he also had gigs coming up at the Mountain Aire Festival in Angel Camp and downtown at Pier 23 with a full band. But the night belonged to Sound Tribe. These brilliant young men kept this up for well over two hours, so long that I underestimated the length they would play and my tapes ran out a half hour before it ended. But I was so impressed, I stayed until it was all over all the same and knew I would have to hear them perform again. The crowd clapped loudly in unison of their encore and they finished the night with “EB”. Late as it went, I still had enough time to hike over the hill and catch the midnight premiere of “Star Wars II : Attack Of The Clones” at the AMC theater near my place in the Tenderloin. Like “Phantom Menace”, I was underwhelmed, but they are both remain good movies to watch with the sound off. 

https://archive.org/details/sts9-2002-05-16.shnf

https://archive.org/details/sound-tribe-sector-9-fillmore-51602

https://archive.org/details/jethro-jeremiah-band-fillmore-51602

https://archive.org/details/karsh-kale-fillmore-51602

Billy Bob Thornton, Randy Scruggs – Fillmore, SF, Sat., May 18

SETLISTS : 

(RANDY SCRUGGS) : (unknown), Little Maggie, I Wanna Be Loved Back, (unknown), Passin’ Thru, You Ain’t Going Nowhere, (unknown)

(BILLY BOB THORNTON) : It’s Gonna Be Alright, The Game Of Love, Walk Of Shame, Smoking In Bed, Dark & Mad, Your Blue Shadow, That Mountain, Angelina, If You Had A Soul, California Dreaming, Island Avenue, Private Radio, (encore), Lost Highway, Hang On Sloopy

By this time, I’d seen a handful of “celebrity vanity bands”, some better than others, but I was genuinely interested in the one Mr. William Robert Thornton. Ever since his breakthrough role in “Sling Blade” which won him an Oscar for Best Screenplay as well, I had enjoyed his work and Billy had been racking up notable leading and supporting roles in such films as “Primary Colors”, “Armageddon”, and “Monster’s Ball”, the last one which had just come out the year before this. He had also been nominated for Best Supporting Actor for the underrated Sam Raimi film, “A Simple Plan”. Little did I or most of his admirers know, was that Billy was also a bone fide musician, having played drums for a ZZ Top cover band called Tres Hombres, which had had the honor of opening for Humble Pie and the MC5. To this day, he has a tattoo of his band’s name on him and has been close friends with ZZ Top singer-guitarist Billy Gibbons for years. Mr. Thornton had also just wrapped up principal photography for what would be “Bad Santa”, a role that would become one of his most memorable and beloved, so suffice to say, Billy Bob was on a top of the mountain back then. 

He had also stunned the world’s tabloid media by becoming the husband of the boner inducing superstar Angelina Jolie in 2000, whom he met on the set of the comedy “Pushing Tin”. They were an odd couple, he 20 years older than her and they were relentless in their public displays of affection. The duo further raised eyebrows by actually wearing tiny vials of each other’s blood as pendants in necklaces. He even wrote a song about her, appropriately titled “Angelina” and sang it for us this night. Sadly, their marriage would ultimately dissolve soon after this show, but Angelina would go on to marry Brad Pitt and that worked out great.. Right? Anyway, Billy Bob’s debut solo album, “Private Radio”, had just came out the previous September and he had just completed a European tour with his capable band of ringers and was now in the middle of a  modest tour of the west coast. They originally intended that tour to take place the previous fall, but like so many others, 9/11 forced them to reschedule.

His stature as a celebrity afforded him the ability to recruit his aforementioned band of ringers, but he had also was able to bring along the remarkable Randy Scruggs on the tour to open for him. Randy was the son of venerable bluegrass veteran Earl Scruggs, who will always be fondly remembered as the author of the immortal TV theme song to “The Beverly Hillbillies”, “The Ballad Of Jeb Clampett”. Randy had recently been awarded a Grammy for Best Country Instrumental Performance for his version of “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” and would ultimately win four as well as garner the title of Musician Of The Year from the Country Music Association Awards three times. He thanked Billy Bob and praised his “fantastic band” between songs and his chops on the guitar were indeed very impressive. Mr. Scruggs performed a couple songs that he had recorded previously as duets as well, one being “I Wanna Be Loved Back” with Emmylou Harris, the other “Passin’ Thru” with Joan Osborne, a Johnny Cash cover that had been used in the soundtrack for the film comedy “Happy, Texas”, two years prior. He also did a cover of “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, a band which coincidentally Billy Bob had once served as a roadie. Sadly, this would be the only time I’d see Randy since he passed away in 2018 at the age of only 64.

Billy Bob let his drummer do a little intro before he sauntered casually on stage with his eight piece band, donning a red, long sleeved, snakeskin print shirt and a black wool cap. The show was only about half sold, but the crowd was enthusiastic, giving him a warm welcome as they opened with a cover of “It’s Gonna Be Alright” by Gerry & The Pacemakers. His voice wasn’t Pavaratti, but it wasn’t half bad either and they continued with a more recognizable cover, “The Game Of Love” by The Mindbenders. Mr. Thornton was quite talkative as actors tend to be about explaining their songs during the breaks and first mentioned that despite the rivalry between here and L.A., he would be living up here if his kids weren’t all down there. Going on to say that he once as a boy got to meet Willie McCovey from the Giants and was so impressed, he named his first band when he was 10 years old, The McCoveys. Then he talked about how he had a bunch of “shitty jobs growing up” like working in a saw mill, having some work buddies that “did nothing all day, smoke dope, and watch cartoons like ‘Deputy Dawg’”, and he dedicated the song “Smoking In Bed” to them.  

Afterwards he said, “I spent several years of my like in a state of paranoia, not that I’m not now… Less, but I spent a long time where I was afraid to go out of the house. I didn’t want to face my fears… Anyhow, it was a pretty dark time” and then they played “Dark & Mad”. Billy Bob gave a shout out to actor Jim Varney who had just passed away from lung cancer the previous June at the young age of 50. Jim was best known as the comedian behind the Ernest movies, but also notably played the voice role of the Slinky Dog in the “Toy Story” franchise. He mentioned that Jim was a “talented guy” and a “descendent of the Hatfields, from the Hatfields and McCoys” and went on to tell a story about Jim’s grandmother who “never left the valley she lived in and she loved the sound of the trains. She used to hear it over the mountain all the time and she just couldn’t bring herself to get out of the valley… But the trains go by and she said it always sounded like music to her and always loved it. ‘One of these days, I’m going to see the train’ , but she never did and I always thought that was an interesting story… Her world was that small”. Then, they played “That Mountain Shadow”. 

Later, he talked about his late younger brother, Jimmy Don, saying, “He was a character this guy. So, I got a soft spot in my heart for San Francisco. My brother died here in 1988. He lived on Hyde Street and he was a great guy, my best friend… His ghost is around here”. Billy Bob then proudly announced that he and his wife had “recently adopted a baby, 9 months old” from Cambodia in March, though ultimately Angelina would adopt the baby as a single parent and then went on to sing the aforementioned “Angelina”. Before they did “If You Had A Soul”, he explained, “I know at least four people who don’t have a soul, people literally don’t have a soul at all. I wrote a song about one of those people. This guy had no soul at all… it was like an inverted one”. For the last few songs, they brought up a couple of back up singers, starting with the hippie standard “California Dreaming” by The Mamas & The Papas, a clear nod to Fillmore’s rich musical history. 

After they finished, he came back to the subject of his brother and how he “used to live in Houston and he never fallen in love before…. apeshit over this girl, a waitress from one of those all night places he used to go to and he started acting different and everything. I always wondered what the hell was wrong with him. One night in the middle of the night, she told him she didn’t love him anymore and left… They didn’t have a dog. They didn’t have a rat. But anyway, she took off and he went to this place where she used to work, stayed there all night. He didn’t know what to do and he went a little bit crazy. So, what he decided to do was get in his car and drive to Philadelphia… You know a bit of geography, Philadelphia is over here, Houston is over there. It was a long drive. So, he got this beautiful Buick and took off and she lived on a street called Island Avenue. When he got there, he sat outside her place for a while just looking at it, trying to think of what he’s going to say to her and suddenly he thought, ‘Hey, she doesn’t want to be with me. What am I doing here?’ He started the car and drove back to Houston.We wrote a song about her. It’s called ‘Island Avenue’ and it goes like this.”

Billy Bob finished the set with the title track of his new album, introducing it, “I’ve been clean from hard drugs for 21 years. That doesn’t count herbs and things like that, wheatgrass juice”. The audience cheered loudly until they returned to the stage and then began their encore with “Lost Highway”. Billy addressed us one final time, “ You’re not going to get out of it, but we’re going to do the obligatory audience participation before we go… You’ll know it immediately, so just sing… You know how when people play and they get the audience to sing along and the first time, they don’t quite sing it loud enough, so they say, ‘Let’s do it again, louder now, this half of the room and that half of the room and it goes on, you know… Well, we’re not going to do that. We’re going to do something different. As soon as it’s your turn, just sing your asses off, just as loud as you like… I have to say the people of Los Angeles last night were insane. They sang so loud, but you gotta beat these people. You gotta beat them. You’ll do way better, right?”

The crowd cheered and we all sang along to the chorus to “Hang On Sloopy”, an old 60’s pop classic first made famous by The Vibrations. They broke it down to just to Sam the drummer at one point and Billy Bob cut him to silence at the count of four and the sounds of all of us singing, “Heeeeey, Hey Sloopy, Sloopy Hang On” filled the room. It was quite gratifying actually and Mr. Thornton seemed pleased by it. His keyboard player gave the band a little outro as the song ended and that was it. Since the show didn’t sell that well, I wasn’t shocked to discover that there was no poster at the end of the show, but I was nonetheless disappointed. I haven’t seen Billy Bob since, but rest assured his career is alive and well, especially since he’s the lead on Tyler Sheridan’s popular TV show “Landman” on Paramount now. 

https://archive.org/details/billy-bob-thornton-fillmore-51802

https://archive.org/details/randy-scruggs-fillmore-51802

Kids In The Hall – (early & late show) – Warfield, SF, Sun., May 19

Kids In The Hall – Warfield, SF, Mon., May 20

I know I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating that comedy shows were a rare a welcome change of pace for ushers, so I saw as many as I could. This was particularly important for these nights, since I was woefully uneducated in the works of Kids In The Hall. This comedic sketch comedy supergroup took up the mantle of their Canadian counterparts at SCTV in the late-80’s and likewise presented a brilliant counterpunch to the live sketch format of Saturday Night Live. SNL’s headmaster Lorne Michaels quickly saw the potential in these young hosers of the north and helped produce their first pilot for the CBC and then for HBO. There, they developed into a series, moved to CBS, before they disbanded in 1996 after their only major motion picture, “Kids In The Hall : Brain Candy” came out. 

Each member went their separate ways for a time, Dave Foley having a very successful career on TV with his gig on “NewsRadio”. He had just married his second wife only three months after these shows. Bruce McCulloch had put out a couple musical comedy CDs, the first “Shame-Based Man” in ’95, then “Drunk Baby Project” just five months after these shows as well. Kevin McDonald had done extensive work on TV, including appearing also on “NewsRadio” with Dave and numerous voice overs for animated shows like “Lilo & Stitch” and “Inspector Zim”. Mark McKinney had been working for “Saturday Night Live” as both a writer and cast member, appearing in several SNL movie spin-offs as well as putting on his “Fully Committed” one-man show in Montreal that summer. Finally, before Kids In The Hall first dissolved, Scott Thompson had already began a reoccurring part in “The Larry Sanders Show” until 1998 and he even had a role on an episode of “Star Trek : Voyager” the following year.

But after one already successful reunion tour in 2000, the demand from their loyal fans only grew as to recruit these Kids back together once more two years later for what would be their new outing, which they dubbed their “Tour Of Duty”. The sight of them in the show’s ads with camouflaged army helmets perhaps was some sort of commentary about the so-called “War On Terror” that the Bush regime was just beginning to inflict upon the world, maybe a comedic reflex to attempt to raise our spirits and/or revolt against America’s knee jerk, fascist tendencies with the power of satire. Whatever reason, having them at The Warfield for these nights was a welcome relief for one and all, so welcome in fact that they added a late show by popular demand to the first night, so I was actually lucky enough to see them perform their show three times in little over a 24 hour period. 

They started the show with a humorous recorded announcement about (in a deep disembodied voice) “WHERE THE MONEY GOES”. The banal PSA sounding voice went on to say that “13% goes to raw materials, 29% goes to promotion, 3% goes to rehearsals, 2% goes to fine hotels and traveling in luxury, 9% goes to the mayor of (and then in an obviously edited voice jump) SAN FRANCISCO, 11% goes to legal fees” which left a meager “1% for our hard working troupe”. They then took a moment to allow their musical director, someone I think was named Ray something to come out and sing a song on his acoustic guitar backed up by a recorded drum track. He seemed like a nice guy, but his “if you can feel it, yea, yea, yea” song went over like a lead balloon and I had to hear that god awful song at the beginning of all three shows. I advise you skip it if you listen to the recordings. Trust me, you don’t want that tune crawling around in your head. It didn’t help that they brought him back up in the middle of the set to do another, albeit less annoying number. 

But for each shows, the built up anticipation was worth it as they began with a funny video on a large projection screen hoisted above the stage showing how each member was called to duty as it were. One by one, Bruce first appearing on “Blind Date” before hearing a flute rendition of the first few licks of their show’s theme song summoning him over his phone. Scott had been practicing his duck “Aflac” voice at home in the hope that he would be recruited to do their commercials. He heard the flute music, and shouted “Yeah, yeah! I hear you!”, but when he was rejected over the phone, angrily rebuffed “Oh yeah?!?! Aflac you!!!” Finally, Dave was on a beach in a turn of the century style swimsuit about to swim to Catalina Island “for the children of the world” when his call came through. And soon enough, the show was underway to thunderous applause as the sketches began.

Like I had said, I was shamefully ignorant to most of the Kids’ material, but in a way, it was a good thing, since it was mostly new to me. They quickly got into a hilarious infomercial bit, briefly commenting on the jingoistic tenor of the time, which included a machine that would automatically wave your American flag for you when your arm got tired from doing it. Their logic was that if you stopped waiving the flag then “the terrorists win”. One sketch I did remember was the Quebecois canoe hunters singing “Alouette” as they rowed on stage in search of gunning down businessmen for their fine suits. Bruce came up afterwards to do one of his funny songs, advising us about things that you should never do such as, “Never have an affair… (long pause)… and when you do, never make your excuse ‘Did you see her? She’s fucking beautiful!’”, “Never trust a person who says ‘trust me’”,  and “Never wear a wedding dress to another woman’s wedding and say ‘What? This old thing?’”

One sketch they did which was clearly unforgettable was the “Chicken Lady Blind Date”. For all those unfamiliar, the titular character played by Mark would greet Dave much to his chagrin, adorned in white feathers, a beak like prosthetic nose, and with a piercing shrill, chirping voice, uncannily also imitating the manners of a hen to a tee. Each show, Mark would offer Dave dinner in the form of an omelette which she would later reveal after Dave sampled it that “The eggs are fresh! Straight out of my body and onto your plate!” One smart ass in the crowd for the second show yelled out after Dave took a bite, “Tastes like chicken!” Anybody who knows anything about comedians performing live that the one thing they hate more than hecklers is people who try to upstage them. Dave got the last laugh by picking up some of the eggs from his plate and hurling them in the direction of whoever blurted that out. Got a big laugh.

Another upstager came during the second nights rendition of their “Citizen Kane” sketch, but they were ready for them as I’m sure it’s happened before. When Dave first wondered what the movie he watched was, yes, somebody up front yelled “Citizen Kane!”, from which they simply stopped the sketch mere seconds after it began and took a bow, proceeding to walk off stage as if it was already over. Of coarse, everybody cracked up and they came back and finished it. Kevin got caught up as well with wisecracks from the audience during his “Sir Simon Milligan & Hecubus in :The Pit Of Ultimate Darkness” sketch going on about “Evil!!!” as stuff, but joking that “because we don’t have the next four jokes, let’s just move on to the next sketch”. Everybody loved it. It’s this kind of brilliant and expertly honed improvisation which is why they were as successful and beloved as they were.

One crowd pleaser from the night was when Mark came out to do his famous “Headcrusher” bit. Again for those who don’t know, this was a lonesome, sweaty, Peter Lorre voiced guy who would hold up his hand in front of his face and pinch the heads of people in the distance with his thumb and forefinger. He employed a handheld video camera with a feed to the projection screen so one could see his forced perspective as one by one, he would accost audience members up in front, hold out his free hand and “crush your head!” One astute audience member obviously familiar with the sketch held his hand flat, one above his head, one below his chin in an effort to stop him. Mark paused and got a big laugh when he admitted “Your defensive maneuver is noted… Therefore I will spare you”. Then when the man lowered his hands, he quickly took the opportunity and struck back shouting “Squish! Squish! Squish!” Comic gold.

By the time they came to the end of the show on the second night, the gang came on stage to thank the audience and Dave mentioned, “We had the most fun with the city with all the beautiful freaks… Up in the balcony, I smelt marijuana. You know our stance on Mary Jane. You know we’re a crack show!” Thankfully, they had an awesome and well deserved poster for the folks at the end of the night, so I was able to score a couple of them. They would release a live DVD from this tour the following March from their show at the Queen Elizabeth Theater in Vancouver, though it left out a couple of the bits I heard these nights including “Chicken Lady”. 

One last mention, a few years later, I ran into Dave Foley in Los Angeles while I was visiting my brother who lived downtown there at the time. Yes, Dave lived around the block and just happened to pass by us on the street while he was walking his dog and I greeted him warmly but discreetly. With great pride, I told him that I had seen all three of those shows and how enjoyable they were. He politely (as Canadians famously are) thanked me and said how much he enjoyed those nights as well and had hoped to play at The Warfield sometime again in the future. I always like “NewsRadio”, one of the rare American network sitcoms that was actually worth watching, and have continued to admire Dave’s work since, particularly his role in the most recent season of “Fargo”. 

https://archive.org/details/kids-in-the-hall-warfield-51920

https://archive.org/details/kids-in-the-hall-warfield-52020

Peter Murphy, Michael J. Sheehy – Fillmore, SF, Tues., May 21

SETLISTS : 

(MICHAEL J. SHEEHY) : (unknown), No One Recognized Him, (unknown), Teardrop Time, Just A Word, I Shame You With My Kisses, Sweet Blue Gene, Everything Is Beautiful, (unknown), I Tremble For You

(PETER MURPHY) : Things To Remember, Fake Sparkle Or Golden Dust?, No Home Without Its Sire, All Night Long, Creme De La Creme, Jungle Haze, Your Face, Gliding Like A Whale, Crystal Wrists, My Last Two Weeks, Roll Call, (encore), Girlchild Aglow, I’ll Fall With Your Knife, Cuts You Up, (encore), Subway, Just For Love, (encore), Space Oddity

By this point, I was no stranger of the work of Mr. Murphy, having seen him three times on his solo outings and back to back shows with Bauhaus in 1998 as well, but this would be the last time (to date) that I would see one of his solo shows. Thankfully, I would see him in 2005, for another pair of back to back shows with Bauhaus again at The Warfield. Peter had recently relocated to Turkey with his new wife and embraced the indigenous style of music, enlisting Turkish-Canadian composer Mercan Dede to help make his new album, “Dust”. Released just a month before this show, his new sound alienated some of his hardcore vampirish fans, but they packed The Fillmore all the same to pay tribute to this crowned king of all things goth. It had already been a long weekend having done both Billy Bob Thornton at The Fillmore and two days of shows with Kids In The Hall at The Warfield all while working during the day. To top that off, I had one more to go, seeing Musiq with Cee-Lo on that very same stage the following night, so I was already a bit limp for this show, but that fatigue would be the impetus of one of my favorite rock & roll anecdotes which I will get to in a moment. 

Opening that night was Michael J. Sheehy, the frontman for Dream City Film Club, though he was performing solo on this occasion. For the record, he’s not, nor is he related to the congressman or the Irish-Gaelic football star of the same name. Armed with a heavily reverb laden electric guitar, he kept the crowd sullen but entertained during his somber set. He mumbled between songs, “I was looking in the mirror one day and I was thinking ‘You boring, stumpy bastard… You need to get a sense of humor. So, I wrote this song that isn’t too funny”. Afterward, he introduced “Teardrop Time” as a “song about a relationship that begins with premature ejaculation and goes downhill from there”. I actually thought that one was pretty funny. Keeping up his string of zingers, he later said, “Let’s try a song that’s a little more lighthearted now. This song is about death” and then he did “Sweet Blue Gene”. He wrapped things up with a cover of “I Tremble For You” by Johnny Cash.

Peter eventually took the stage with his band, one member who he described as “an expert on the violin amongst other things” and a percussionist. He wasted no time debuting his new material, playing the first three songs off the new album in order, before dusting off a golden oldie with “All Night Long”. At first he didn’t talk much, but he had a funny little exchange half way through the set, joking, “You know, I was going to say you can ask questions too”. He lent his microphone to some girl up front and she asked, “When are you going to play ‘Just For Love’?” and he responded, “Oh my God, don’t you understand that they’re all just for love? I don’t make any money out of this. This is for you and my voice. Another question?” A different girl blurted out, “Bad boys! I love your music! I love you!” and he grinned, “I thought you were a very nice looking boy, but now that you’re a lady… I’m very picky. If I were a girl, I’d be onto you” and then he continued with “Crystal Wrists”.

Which brings me back to my fatigue related story. Yes, I was fading, though I was still up front, gently swaying to the music, but apparently Peter noticed my condition. At the end of the song, without warning, he threw one of the small, folded white towels the Fillmore crew had set aside for him at me and I had just enough time to feign my head sideways as it flew passed my right ear! I quickly snatched up the towel and he looked right at me and playfully scolded me, “You were sleeping”. It got a big laugh from the crowd and I laughed along with them, declaring to a young lady next to me, “Hey, I was awake enough to dodge it!” A little later, another girl actually offered me her backstage pass in exchange for the towel, but knowing that I had to get up to work at 7 AM the next morning, I knew I didn’t have the energy to stick around any longer. Besides, I didn’t know anybody back there and I wanted to keep that towel as a memento. I still have it to this day and who knows, maybe I can clone him in the future if I can scrape up some of his DNA.

He did three songs for his first encore, but clearly it wasn’t enough, since his fans loudly chanted, “Peter! Peter! Peter!”, prompting him and his band to return for a couple more. They busted out a didgeridoo for the aforementioned “Just For Love”, ending with an impressive percussion solo. But even that wasn’t enough to satisfy these brooding goth kids who cheered him back on stage for a third encore and their affection was rewarded with a beautiful cover of “Space Oddity” by David Bowie. They brought the show to a close with a rapturous violin solo and Mr. Murphy thanked us all, “Sweet dreams! Bye bye!” Sadly, there was no poster, but I did overhear myself on the recording walking out, lamenting about how tired I was and having to come back the next night and then for a long reggae festival at The Warfield two days later. I mentioned that I was lucky if I would get more than four hours of sleep, but that tomorrow was probably to be my last day of work on the gig I was on, second to the last day for sure if it wasn’t. Thankfully, I played through the pain and made it to both shows.

https://archive.org/details/peter-murphy-fillmore-52102

https://archive.org/details/michael-j.-sheehy-fillmore-52102

Musiq, Cee-Lo – Fillmore, SF, Wed., May 22

SETLISTS : 

(CEE-LO) : This Is A Man’s World, Bad Mutha, Hot, One For The Road, Git Up Git Out, Live (Right Now), Cell Therapy, Frankie Beverly, Gettin’ Grown, Lovely Day, Closet Freak, Super Freak, 5 To 1

As you might have read from recent previous entries, I was on a roll that week seeing shows and this would be the finale of a five day run. So, I was grateful that it was an enjoyable one at that being Musiq with Cee-Lo opening. It was certainly a stylistic left turn from the grim goth sounds of Peter Murphy on that very stage the night before to say the least, though I enjoyed that one as well for entirely different reasons. Unlike Peter, who I had seen on many occasions, this would be the first time I’d see Musiq, who I knew jack shit about around then. Just mentioning his name at this show is evidence of my catching him when he was an up and coming R & B star since he would soon change his stage name to Musiq Soulchild which he has been known as ever since. 

He had just released his second studio album, “Juslisen”, a mere two weeks before this show and his fans were chomping at the bit to see him that night. Hailing from Philadelphia, Musiq had quickly made a name for himself, signing to Def Soul in ’98 and he had only gotten bigger ever since. The new album had just debuted #1 on Billboard and would rack up three Grammy nominations including Best R & B Album, and 2 for Best Male R & B Vocal Performance. Later that year, he would go on to win the ASCAP Award for Best Male R & B Artist and would collaborate with fellow notable musicians like Santana at The Roots as well as briefly tour with Alicia Keys, who had just hit it mega-big with her debut solo album. So, it was clear that I was seeing someone perform that evening who was of significant importance to the genre. 

However, the evening’s joy was tempered by the welcome though solemn news of the conviction of Bobby Frank Cherry, the Klansman responsible for the infamous bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963 that claimed the lives of four innocent girls. Though it was justice long overdue, nearly forty years after that unforgivable deed, that heartless, unrepentant scumbag would live out the remainder of his worthless short life behind bars until he was called home to hell two years later. Good fucking riddance. Anyway… sorry. I just wanted to get that one off my chest. Back to the show at hand.

Unlike Musiq, the opening act, Cee-Lo, I was indeed familiar with. I had the honor of recording him with his band, The Goodie Mob, at Maritime Hall on three separate occasions, including back when they were a humble opening act for De La Soul in 1996, only the fifth show I had recorded there up till then. His raw, brilliant sound from the Dungeon Family of the “Dirty South” would be a welcome compliment to to stylings of Musiq. Cee-Lo had recently started to branch out on his own, putting out his first solo album, “Cee-Lo Green & His Perfect Imperfections”, which dropped just three weeks before this show. This would be his first solo tour and he had just performed on “The Late Show With David Letterman” for the first time that April. I was also delighted that he did a guest voice on the Adult Swim (based in his hometown of Atlanta) animated series, “The Brak Show”, one of my favorites. There, he played a literal hip hop monster with the hilarious name of “Prime Cut Miggity-Mo Macdaddy Gizzabang Doggy Dog Dog”. 

The crowd was already rowdy by the time Cee-Lo took the stage and he got things going with a cover of “It’s A Man’s World” by James Brown. For some reason I can’t remember, I missed the first few songs on my recording, but got everything after “Git Up Git Out”. After he finished that song he said, “Y’all are a diversified listening type of community, right?… We don’t want to give you something ultra-cool all the time. Want to give you something different, do some rock & roll” and then they did “Live (Right Now)” which was indeed rockin’. He followed that with an old Goodie Mob standard, “Cell Therapy”, his keyboard player starting it with a soft intro and then Cee-Lo egging him on later into the song, “Share your gift!” Cee-Lo also gave a shout out to his guitar player before he did his smoking solo during that song, “Get loose! Show us what you can do!”

He fooled around with some more bits of covers, singing a fewlines of the chorus of “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?” by Culture Club during “Gettin’ Grown” and finishing it with “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers. Truth be told, I always hated both of those songs, but when Cee-Lo did them, they were enjoyable, especially when they ended it with another intense guitar solo and getting the crowd to chant “Oooo! Oooo!”. After they finished, he said, “Before I go any further, give it up for my band, Electric Sex! I’m talkin’ about havin’ an instrument for intercourse!… I feel the energy off your ass! I’ve had about as much foreplay as I can stand. I got to freak somebody!” and then they appropriately went on to play “Closet Freak”. They complimented the freakiness of that song by transitioning into a cover of “Super Freak” by Rick James. He kept the crowd pumped asking, “Y’all tired yet? Y’all ready to quit? Y’all tired yet? Y’all wanna hear some more Cee-Lo?” and then they did a couple licks of “Word Up!” by Cameo before beginning a rather surprising cover of “5 To 1” by The Doors. I was impressed that Cee-Lo was gracious enough to pay respect to The Fillmore’s hippie pioneers. 

But perhaps, for better of worse, the most memorable thing to happen during Cee-Lo’s set was what he did at the very end of it. By the time he began “5 To 1”, he had already took his shirt off. Now, for those who don’t know, Cee-Lo is a big guy, I mean a BIG guy. I’m talking in the ballpark of around 300 pounds. So, whatever “crazy” (Gnarles Barkley pun intended) mental health issues Cee-Lo may or may not suffer from, body dysphoria clearly isn’t one of them. But then he literally lowered the boom as the song ended as he turned around and dropped trousers to the horror of everyone. To this day, I still can’t unsee the visage of his gargantuan anal crescent. Still, game recognizes game and one must admire him for having the courage to so publicly allow his freak flag to fly high.

The main act was preceded by a DJ from KMEL who riled up the audience declaring that the “loudest part of the arena here is going to get the free T-shirt!” She gave shout outs to “San Jose… The City?… My favorite part of the bay, is Oakland in the house?!?” I think the crowd was actually still in a little bit of shock from Cee-Lo’s undressing by the time Musiq got on with his band, I know I was, but they were jubilant nonetheless. He had quite a large and capable band with him including some very talented back up singers. And though I didn’t know any of his songs, it was abundantly clear that his fans did, singing along LOUDLY to most of them, especially for “Just Friends”. Exhausted as I was, this was a good one to finish my five show stretch on, though like Peter Murphy, there wasn’t a poster at the end of the night. I overheard myself on the recording again plopping down the Fillmore stairs at the end of the night saying how glad I was to make it and how I didn’t think I was going to pull through. I went home and finally got a good night’s sleep which I would sorely need to have the energy to get through the lengthy One Love Festival, a cavalcade of reggae stars that I would see at The Warfield that Friday. 

https://archive.org/details/musiq-fillmore-52202_202512

https://archive.org/details/cee-lo-fillmore-52202

One Love Festival 2002: Toots & The Maytals, Israel Vibration, Luciano, Tanto Metro & Devonte, Dean Fraser – Warfield, SF, Fri., May 24

SETLISTS : 

(DEAN FRASER) : (unknown), (unknown), Small Axe, Jamming, Redemption Song

(ISRAEL VIBRATION) : Hypocrites – Norwegian Wood Intro, Jammin’, Get Up & Go, (unknown), (unknown), Ball Of Fire, Vultures, Why Worry, Cool & Calm, (unknown), The Same Song, Red Eyes

(TOOTS & THE MAYTALS) : In The Dark, Get Up Stand Up, Pressure Drop, Time Tough, Country Roads, Monkey Man, 54-46 That’s My Number

Since the sinking of the Maritime Hall, I had been making a deliberate effort to see as many reggae shows that passed by The Warfield or The Fillmore knowing they were few and far between. So, you can imagine my relief when a whole five band mini-festival of bone fide reggae stars was to come to town. Lord knows, though I was overjoyed to be there, I have seen and recorded all these acts at one time or another, so I’ll keep their back stories on most to a minimal. You’ll have no trouble finding out more information about them in several previous entries. The Maritime folks had put on a couple of these so-called “One Love” festivals down at Pier 30/32, but this time a truncated version of it was passing through town on a 22 city tour. This cavalcade of talent would continue on to Europe the following year as well. We were catching (obviously) the west coast leg of the tour, but on the east coast, they had Tony Rebel on the bill instead of Israel Vibration.

First up was sax player extraordinaire and producer Dean Fraser who was touring alongside his longtime collaborator Luciano. I had recorded them together at the Maritime back in 1999 and Dean had helped produce many of Luciano’s albums, including his most recent one, “A New Day” which got him a Grammy nomination for Best Reggae Album. He and his band performed a couple instrumentals of his own which I didn’t know the names of, but he soon did a few unmistakable Bob Marley instrumental covers starting with “Small Axe” and going on to do “Jamming” and “Redemption Song”. I have to hand it to Dean, he is one of the best sax players I’ve ever heard, a tone crystal clear and unwavering. The man has a perfect ear and it’s easy to see why he’s been so successful as a producer. Talented as he was, he was only given 15 minutes to play allowing him only those five songs.

Still, Dean was tough act to follow to say the least, but Tanto Metro & Devonte did their best. To most lay people, they consider reggae as a rather homogenous genre, but those versed in it well enough know that like all other genres, that is not the case. So, that being said, Tanto Metro & Devonte were definitely representing the dancehall wing of that style, a much rougher drum and bass take opposed to the silky, easy listening smoothness of Mr. Fraser, though he also helped produce one of their albums, “Ratings” in 1995. I had recorded Tanto Metro & Devonte before also in 1999, opening for Beenie Man, one of the dancehall greats. To be perfectly honest, they struggled at the beginning to get the sparse crowd in the mood. Granted, it was a tough time slot since reggae audiences are notoriously tardy to arrive. That, and their set was only ten minutes longer than Dean’s, but by the time they finished, some folks up front were getting irae and dancing. 

They had an emcee introducing the acts and before Luciano got on, he announced that there was to be a prize to whoever could tell what time of the year Reggae Sunsplash took place in Jamaica. After a few unsuccessful guesses from people in the audience, one person got it right and was awarded a free One Love T-Shirt. He introduced Luciano saying that “it was 7 years ago when this brother went into the hills of Jamaica to receive the 10 Commandments Of Reggae!” He didn’t go on to list those commandments, but we took him at his word and enjoyed Luciano’s set all the same. I liked the female back up singers he brought along with him too. Like the previous act, Luciano’s thick Jamaican patois made it practically impossible to decipher any of his lyrics, so consequently I wasn’t once again able to figure out his songs titles. But whatever, the guy is a solid entertainer and I was glad to see him again so soon. He had in fact just played The Warfield only three months earlier for the big “Bob Marley Day” show with Bob’s youngest son Damian and others. 

Next up was Israel Vibration and I was happy to see them since it had actually been some years since Pete Slauson and I recorded them at the Maritime. Unfortunately, like so many others, Israel Vibration stole a bunch of the songs we recorded, put them on a live album without giving us one thin dime, much less even credit for it. So, despite being allowed to come back and perform at the Hall, we made a point not to record Israel Vibration since then and having no obligation to stick around for their performances, I would call it an early night and go home. I regret having done that now, especially since singers Apple Gabriel and Cecil recently passed away. They, having suffered polio together as kids, were frail to begin with. Israel Vibration made beautiful music and I’m glad I got to see them this one final time and their band did a nice instrumental intro for them, coving “Hypocrites” by Bob Marley and “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” by The Beatles. Coincidentally, I’d see Cornershop at The Fillmore the following night and they too would do a cover of that Beatles song. 

The emcee came up for the headliner, describing Toots as the “cornerstone of the rich cultural heritage of reggae” and the man himself soon danced onto the stage opening his set with “In The Dark”. As usual, Toots was swinging his microphone all over creation, anywhere but near his mouth, so once again, the poor monitor engineer on duty did their best to contend with the feedback. But squealing speakers aside, Toots as always got the crowd jumping and had no problem during “Pressure Drop” getting us all to sing “Oh, yeaaaaah!” during the chorus. Between songs, he got us to chant “Roots… Rock… Reggae!” too. Toots’ voice soared as he did a long soulful intro to “Country Roads”, his famous cover of the John Denver song. 

He did a couple slow breakdowns before speeding up again during “Monkey Man”, so forgetting he had done so while transcribing the tape to CD years later, I put in a few track breaks on that one, mistakenly thinking that the song had ended. He wrapped up the night with a long version of “54-46, That’s My Number” and by the time it was all over, it was already well past midnight. I had just completed a five show in a row streak before getting one night off to rest before this one, so I’m glad I got as much sleep as I did, since this clearly was a doozy. I wouldn’t get much rest before having to do double duty the very  next day seeing Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter do a free in-store at Amoeba Records before dashing over to The Fillmore to see Cornershop. Sadly, neither this show or Cornershop would get a poster. In fact, I wouldn’t get another one until four shows later when The White Stripes played The Fillmore eleven days after this night. 

https://archive.org/details/toots-the-maytals-warfield-52402

https://archive.org/details/israel-vibration-warfield-52402

https://archive.org/details/luciano-warfield-52402

https://archive.org/details/tanto-metro-devonte-warfield-52402

https://archive.org/details/dean-fraser-warfield-52502

Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter – Amoeba Records, SF, Sat., May 25

SETLIST : Lullaby, Your Side Now, Winter Hunter, Don’t Let Me Go, Doralee

By this time, partially because of the overwhelming arsenal of bootlegs I’d amassed, I had severely reduced the amount of CDs I was purchasing, but I still loved Amoeba. From time to time, I’d pick up a little something, but I especially appreciated that hallowed hall of music because of the free in-store performances they’d have. And because they’d start early, at 2 PM on this occasion, and always last less than hour, I would have plenty of time to cruise over to The Fillmore to usher a show there later. Many of the acts that do in-store shows will perform at venues later that night and this was the case for Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter who played at Cafe Du Nord, opening for Virgil Shaw.

Jesse Sykes is a honey-voiced singer/songwriter from Seattle by way of New York. She had met Phil Wandscher from Whiskeytown in 1999 and formed this band with him as well as sharing a romantic relationship for over a decade. The Sweet Hereafter had just released their debut album, “Reckless Burning” before this show and they were playing without their drummer Kevin Warner that afternoon, though he would be joining them later at Du Nord. They were a welcome addition to the whole “heroin country” scene around that time, joining such acts as Mazzy Star, Cat Power, and the Mojave 3, keeping their fans blissfully sullen. 

Like I alluded before, Jesse had a sweet voice and it was warmly complimented by her violinist, Anne Marie Rujiancich. Jesse also played acoustic guitar while Phil accompanied her on his electric one. After a couple songs, she smiled and said, “I like the fact that you can bring a dog in here… We’re from Seattle”. They then played a new song called “Winter Hunter” which they would release on their second album , “Oh, My Girl” in 2004. Later, she mentioned, “Obviously, our record’s available… Thanks to Amoeba for letting us play. They’re very kind” and then added that they’d be playing at the Starry Plough in Berkeley the following week where they’d also have the full band. They finished their set with “Doralee” and I had ample of time to get some dinner before seeing Cornershop at The Fillmore later that night. 

https://archive.org/details/jesse-sykes-the-sweet-hereafter-amoeba-records-52502

Cornershop, Julie Plug – Fillmore, SF, Sat., May 25

SETLIST : Staging For Plaguing Of The Raised Platform, Good Shit, We’re In Yr Corner, (unknown), Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown), Sleep On The Left Side, 6 AM Julladar Shere, Brimful Of Asha, Lessons Learned From Rocky I To Rocky III, (encore), Spectral Mornings

I had seen Cornershop four times by then, twice as an opening act and twice  as a headliner, but this would be the final time I’d see them perform live. I always loved their music though I’ve repeatedly complained that their frontman, Tjinder Singh, always seemed like he was in a sour mood while he was on stage. I’m happy to report that this time it was not the case and he was all smiles that night. His jovial mood was reflected by the crowd and I would go so far to say that this show was the best one I’d ever see them play.  They had just released their “Handcream For A Generation” album two months before this gig and though the music was brilliant as always and received great reviews, they would part ways with their record label, Wiija, shortly afterwards mostly due to low record sales. Incidentally, both Noel Gallagher and bassist Paul McGugan from Oasis, whom I saw Cornershop open for at the Bill Graham Civic in ‘98, contributed to songs on that album. They would open for Oasis again in Las Vegas a month before this Fillmore show as well. 

I had just seen Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter do a free in-store performance at Amoeba Records earlier that afternoon and they were playing at Cafe Du Nord later opening for Virgil Shaw. Beginning the festivities that night at The Fillmore was Julie Plug, an indie rock band from San Francisco fronted by Des (Julie) De Leon and guitarist Terry Nicolas. They had been around almost a decade and had just put out their second album, “Whatever You Wonder” earlier that year. I thought they sounded a little like The Sundays, but after a few songs, the rest of the audience and I kind of lost patience with them. Their sound was rather monotonous and to make matters worse, I couldn’t make heads nor tails of their lyrics, so after a while listening to their set again, I sort of gave up trying to figure out the song titles. They never made another album after that one and this would thankfully be the only time I’d see them play. 

Cornershop came on stage to the sound of a funky soul instrumental piece playing before they got things going with a new song, the awkwardly titled “Staging For Plaguing Of The Raised Platform”. A couple songs later, they busted out the sitar for “We’re In Yr Corner” and then they did another instrumental from an earlier album which title escapes me. They followed that with a cover of “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” by The Beatles. Coincidentally, the legendary reggae group Israel Vibration played an instrumental cover of it as well the night before at the “One Love Festival” at The Warfield. A couple songs later, they did a version of “6 AM Julladar Shere” which went on for over 15 minutes! Extensive as it was, I’ll always love that song and it never grows tiresome to me. 

They then did their big hit, “Brimful Of Asha”, and then finished their set with another new one with a weird title, “Lessons Learned From Rocky I To Rocky III”. It was a rather long encore break, but the audience clapping in unison eventually brought them back all on stage where they finished the night with another new one, though with a less cryptic title, “Spectral Mornings”. Like “6 AM Jullandar Shere” this was another long one, spanning over 12 minutes, and was also sung in Hindi. They ended that one with excellent sitar and percussion solos. Sadly, there was no poster to mark the occasion, continuing a drought that would continue for seven shows until the curse was finally broken when The White Stripes would play on that same stage a week and a half later. 

https://archive.org/details/cornershop-fillmore-52502

https://archive.org/details/julie-plug-fillmore-52502

Garbage, Abandoned Pools – Warfield, SF, Mon., May 27

SETLISTS : 

(ABANDONED POOLS) : March Of The Empire Intro, L.V.B.D, 9 Billion, Fluorescein, Start Over, Army Of Me, Sunny Day, Monster, The Remedy, Mercy Kiss, Seed

(GARBAGE) : Push It, Temptation Waits, I Think I’m Paranoid, Special, Cup Of Coffee, Till The Day I Die, Not My Idea, When I Grow Up, Hammering In My Head, I Just Want Something To Do, Shut Your Mouth, Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go!), #1 Crush, Queer, Supervixen, Vow, (encore), Milk, Only Happy When It Rains

It had been six long years since I’d first seen Garbage and that being but one of the bands at the B.F.D. at Shoreline and it had been a short set at that. But now I was to see one of their own gigs, headlining The Warfield. In the intervening years, they had been keeping busy though, even composing the theme song to the James Bond movie, “The World Is Not Enough” in 1999. Garbage were continuing what must have seemed like an endless tour to them that had begun all the way back in the previous October promoting their latest album, “Beautiful Garbage”. When they weren’t touring as the headliner, they were opening for such illustrious acts as U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and No Doubt, not to mention a number of festivals. This marathon would go on for another seven months and it came to no surprise that the rigors of this undertaking took their toll on the band’s exhausted members. 

By this time, singer Shirley Manson was having throat problems, which she mentioned repeatedly during their set that night. Her voice would go out entirely a month after this show at the unfortunate time as they were performing at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark. Eventually, it had been discovered that she developed a vocal fold cyst that was safely removed by corrective surgery. Gwen Stefani, the singer of the aforementioned No Doubt and fellow rock hard midriff goddess, recommended a voice specialist and Shirley soon was back in the pink again. But to make matters worse, Butch Vig, their drummer and producer extraordinaire got sick twice on this tour, first with a bout of Hepatitis A and Bell’s Palsy, a second time with food poisoning. He even was replaced briefly by Matt Chamberlain while he recovered.

The new album, though warmly received by critics, didn’t make as much money as their previous efforts, though understandably that was a high bar to match. They blamed lack of promotion from their record label as many acts do when their albums don’t sell, though one can always debate the fairness of that argument. Regardless, the show at The Warfield quickly sold out. Shirley had also become an ambassador for MAC cosmetics and their AIDS fund that March where she endorsed a lipstick called VIVAMAC IV and all the proceeds from their sales went to that charity. But sadly, her marriage to Eddie Farrell had begun to deteriorate around that time and they would divorce the following year. 

Opening that night was a band called Abandoned Pools, a solo project of Tommy Walter, the bass player for The Eels. They had just released their debut album, “Humanistic” the year before this and the single “Start Over” was featured in the soundtrack of the film comedy “Van Wilder” that March. They had also toured with A Perfect Circle and Lenny Kravitz as well as writing the theme song to “Clone High”, a short lived animated show on MTV. They came on stage to the sounds of the “March Of The Empire” from “The Empire Strikes Back” which coincidentally Cornershop used to introduce themselves at their show at The Fillmore only two days before this. It was loud, but very clear sounding, which makes sense, Butch Vig being such a golden eared sound guy. He could afford such a pristine audio package and it made it all the easier to decipher their lyrics and song titles. I thought Abandoned Pools was OK, but ultimately forgettable, though I did enjoy their little DJ-drum breakdown they did during “Sunny Day”. I actually thought they sounded a bit like a grungier version of Sunny Day Real Estate and it wouldn’t surprise me if that song was a tribute to them of sorts. Tommy made sure to point out to the crowd that it’s easy to find their records in stores since they are conveniently located right next to ABBA. 

But the crowd went nuts when Garbage took the stage, Shirley sporting a dyed blond crew cut and white tank top with no bra. Oh yes, as usual, her headlights were on high beams all night and no one was complaining, especially not me. After  the first two songs, she paused and thanked the crowd, “Good to see so many friends here tonight! I’m losing my voice, but what the heck. I still sound the same”. Later she had a longer exchange with the folks up front starting with somebody showing her a homemade portrait they did of her which she responded, “Is that a drawing of me? That’s a rather flattering picture of me. It looks nothing like me, but it’s very cute”. That encouraged others to pipe up and she joked, “You might as well say it now cus’ there’s not going to be another stop in the show”. She noticed someone threw a sign on stage, “Garbage rocks my socks?… Please don’t throw shit at the stage. It makes me really mad”.

It went on and Shirley denied the advances of one of her more lusty fans in the pit, “No kisses, but you have my admiration and that should be better than a kiss. Cus’ you can kiss everybody, you don’t necessarily admire them”. Then somebody handed her a bouquet of flowers and she smiled, “Thank you so much! These are beautiful”. Butch had taken a break or something and she wondered, “Do we have a drummer?”, while the band waited for him to return. Daniel, their bass player, filled the silence with some riffs, but she playfully rebuked him, “I will smash you bass over your head if you don’t stop playing so loud… I was trying to say before I was rudely interrupted by Daniel playing the silly bass line on his bass was that we thank all our fans for coming out for us”. Butch eventually returned, maybe suffering from one of the previously mentioned maladies and they got things rolling again. Before they played “When I Grow Up”, Shirley gave a shout out, “Alright, Michelle & Nicole, two lovely ladies I met yesterday, this song’s for you. This is for when you start your own rock band. I’ll be coming to your concert!”

For a woman who was losing her voice, she had quite a lot to say between songs actually. A couple tunes later she thanked Abandoned Pools, Christopher Buck, their lighting director who flew across the country for them, and the hospitality. She went on, “Who else do I want to thank? I’d like to thank my mom, just because” then she pointed to her fellow band members, “I’d like to thank Duke and I’d like to thank Daniel and I’d like to thank Butch and I’d like to thank Steve… Duke! Duke! Duke!” They veered off from their original material and Shirley introduced the next song, “I don’t feel like playing a sad song. I’m rebelling. I feel like playing something happy. Fuck it up! There’s children in the audience. I’m not supposed to be swearing. Let’s do The Ramones! I think we need a bit of Ramones in our life, don’t you? I know this is turning out a bit shambles, but I can tell you’re from San Francisco. You’re used to that kind of that. I don’t think that came out right”. Then they did a respectful cover of “I Just Want Something To Do”. As I had mentioned in other shows I’ve written about around this time, lots of artists were covering Ramones songs in honor of their recently departed singer, Joey Ramone, who had succumbed to lymph cancer the year before this show. 

Before they did “Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go!)”, Shirley mentioned, “Tonight’s a special night because this is the hometown of my friend J.T. Malloy who is a writer…. I know there’s a rumor that he doesn’t exist, but he does exist because I’ve touched him and kissed him and he writes amazing books and he’s an amazing person and inspiration. His flatmate’s here tonight, Astor… Lovely to meet you tonight”. Then she was distracted by somebody throwing a pair of boy’s underpants on stage. The batteries on my recorder ran out during that song, but I managed to replace them only losing “#1 Crush” and “Queer” leaving two more songs for the end of their set. They returned for an encore, starting with “Milk” and then Shirley called attention to failing voice one more time, “You’ll have to sing along. My voice is gone” before wrapping things up with their hit single, “Only Happy When It Rains”. Naturally, she had no problem getting everybody to sing, especially during the “Pour you misery down” part of the chorus. 

Garbage would return to the bay area that fall alongside The Distillers opening for No Doubt performing at the ARCO arena in Sacramento and the Shark Tank in San Jose, then known as the Compaq Center, though I didn’t have the pleasure of going to either of those shows. But they would return again to that very stage three years later in 2005 where I would see them not once but twice, first that April and then later that September. Sadly, none of these Warfield shows would get a poster and they would disband later that year, though they would eventually reunite in 2011 and continue to make music together to this day. In fact, though I didn’t attend, they just performed at The Warfield only two months ago. It’s a safe bet that they like that venue. 

https://archive.org/details/garbage-warfield-52702

https://archive.org/details/abandoned-pools-warfield-52702

Nickelback, Jerry Cantrell, Default, Course Of Nature – Warfield, SF, Tues., May 28

SETLISTS : 

(COURSE OF NATURE) : Better Part Of Me, Gain, Difference Of Opinion, Creep, Caught In The Sun, Wall Of Shame

(DEFAULT) : Slow Me Down, Sick & Tired, Seize The Day, Somewhere, Let You Down, Live A Lie, Wasting My Time, Deny

(JERRY CANTRELL) : Hellbound, What The Hell Have I, My Song, Cut You In, Bargain Basement Howard Hughes, Anger Rising, Down In A Hole, Them Bones

(NICKELBACK) : Woke Up This Morning, One Last Run, Hollywood, Breathe, Leader Of Men, Do This Anymore, Hangnail, Old Enough, Never Again, Where Do I Hide, Figured You Out, Too Bad, (encore), How You Remind Me

OK, OK, OK… Before y’all start cracking jokes, I want to point out a few things first. Back then, I didn’t know Nickelback from Adam. They were still relatively new and I was ushering practically every show at The Warfield and The Fillmore that I was available to do. Secondly, I hadn’t seen Jerry Cantrell since I saw him with Alice In Chains at Lollapalooza in 1993, nearly a decade before this show. It was doubly important to me since Layne Staley, the singer of Alice In Chains had just died of a speedball overdose just 53 days prior at the all too young age of 34. That being said, it is no secret that for the many years since their heyday when I saw them, Nickelback had become the brunt of derision to the point of laughingstock. Indeed, Rolling Stone magazine actually ranked them the second worst band of the 90’s, just behind Creed. Of course, that is a matter of opinion, but one would be hard put to find somebody who would admit to liking Nickelback today, at least one that would admit it publicly. What I did surmise early was they were another one, like Creed, Three Doors Down, Staind, just to name a few, of that genre around that time I like to call Republican Rock, like a more tepid version of the Nu Metal genre whose popularity was beginning to wane. 

But to all who choose to hurl stones at these hosers from Hunna, Alberta, I should point out that around this time, these guys were laughing all the way to the bank. Their third album, though having the ill timing of being released on 9/11, was a blockbuster, certifying platinum three times in the U.K., six times in America, and a whopping eight times in their home country of Canada. They were ambitious too, clocking in 256 concert performances in the year 2000 alone and this time, their tour manager/front of house sound engineer boasting that “Supposedly, this is the most equipment that any band has ever tried to put on stage here”. Naturally, I would dispute that claim citing Motley Crue and the Blue Man Group having gear on the Warfield stage that would normally be employed for arenas, but that’s an argument for another time. This would be known at the Jim Beam “Road To The Rackhouse” tour and I’m sure many an ounce of that fiery liquid was consumed by patron and artist alike that evening.  There even was a promotion where you could log on to the Jim Beam website and upload your photo ID for a chance to win a trip to see Nickelback at the Jim Beam Distillery in Louisville. I declined to enter for a number of reasons, one being that I have little stomach for hard liquor.

I had just seen Garbage play on that stage the night before and this one was going to be an even longer show having four acts total. First up was Course Of Nature, a band from L.A. by way of Alabama. They, being the first of the four acts, was only on stage for a handful of songs and I think since my tape space was limited that night, I only recorded three of their tunes as well as only two of Default who followed them. I most likely was trying to ensure I had enough ammo to get all of Mr. Cantrell and the headliner. One of their songs was actually a surprisingly respectful cover of “Creep” by Radiohead. I’d go so far as to even say, apart from Cantrell’s set, that it was a highlight of an otherwise disappointing show. 

Like I said, Default came next, who like Nickelback were fellow Canadians, though they came from Vancouver on that nation’s mountainous west coast. Years before, they had given their demo to Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger, who was so impressed that he produced their first two albums. They were relatively big back home, having won a Juno Award for Best New Group that year. Ironically, they were picked up to join this tour after the last tour they were on was cancelled and the headliner for that tour was… Creed. Yes, Scott Stapp, the leader of the so-called “worst band of the 90’s” had injured himself earlier that year, suffering a concussion and vertebrae damage from being involved in an automobile collision. 

My patience was eventually rewarded when Jerry finally took the stage. He had been busy around then releasing a solo album called “Degradation Trip” just three weeks after this show and a double “Volumes 1 & 2” version of it later that November. He had just got back to performing live after receiving reconstructive surgery on one of his hands. The injury occurred while playing football with Brian Kehoe from M.I.R.V. and other bands and the poor guy got his pinky finger caught in Brian’s shirt sleeve! Not a very glamorous way to injure one’s self, but I’m sure he embellished the story at least once. Anyway, he opened his set with “Hellbound”, one of his new songs, but quickly followed it with an Alice In Chains number called “What The Hell Have I”. The latter song was originally going to be on their “Dirt” album, but got shelved and was later used in the soundtrack for the Arnold Schwarzenegger box office bomb “Last Action Hero”.

Jerry greeted the crowd afterward shouting “God damn! How y’all doing out there? I used to call this place my home, so it’s kind of my home away from home in a little bit of a way” and then he played “My Song” and “Cut You In”, tunes he recorded from his first solo record “Boggy Depot”. He followed that with a couple more new ones before announcing, “I wanna do a couple of songs in the honor of a dear friend of mine, Mr. Layne Staley” and then he finished his set with “Down In A Hole” and “Them Bones”. He and his band left the stage with the audience literally shouting for more, chanting “Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!” One couldn’t help but be reminded of that chant regularly repeated on the “Jerry Springer Show”. But that was it and Nickelback was next.

Before I continue, I should present one caveat on my re-listening to the recording from that night. Last evening, I was tripping balls on mushrooms and was coming down from the experience, calming my overworked brain with copious amounts of Christmas beer. Such a combination would make anybody amenable to whatever music they were listening to and forgive any boorishness from Nickelback and their fans. I will say this with total objectivity that they could indeed play. They were tight even during some songs that were at a breakneck pace. Part of me was even thinking, “What has Nickelback ever done to me? We even have the same initials!” Also, I was initially feeling guilty from an incident that happened that day and thought earlier (before I got all mashed) that listening to Nickelback would be my punishment.

I’ll try to keep it brief, but I was in the city earlier that day delivering some forgotten supplies to my beloved wife for her job at her hair salon and went to have a late breakfast at a place called Katie’s Kitchen on Haight Street, just a block away. There, my enjoyment of said breakfast was hampered by a noisy conversation by a group of young women sitting at the table next to me. One of my few pet peeves in this world is when people say “like” too frequently while talking and these women were saying it up to three or four times per sentence. When I encounter such people, I start saying “like” to myself out loud every time they do it, in the hope they overhear and get the message which they tragically didn’t. Fed up and on my way out, I stopped my waitress who was standing right next to them and loudly said, “I just LIKE want to LIKE thank you for LIKE the best breakfast that I LIKE had in LIKE a really LIKE long time… I really LIKED it”. Then I turned to the stunned women at the table, smiled, blurted one last “LIKE” at them and walked out. I could hear one of them behind me as I was leaving muttering, “He seems really angry”. To my defense, that was just me being a smart ass. 

But after watching a glorious sunset on said mushrooms and taking the time one does high on such things for deep introspection, like I said, I felt guilty about it, even if they deserved it. But back to the show at hand. Thank you for your patience. I’m happy to report that just before I started writing, I discovered a quality bootleg copy of Nickelback’s set from that night on YouTube and will listen to it while burning it to disc later. Perhaps then, I will have a more accurate appraisal of how Nickelback did that show. Incidentally, as further evidence of my inebriation, the notes I traditionally take while listening to recordings, well this one’s legibility becomes increasingly and hilariously sloppier as the notes went on to the point where the last few notes are practically unreadable. Sorry, I continue to digress.

About halfway through their set, Chad spoke to the crowd, “We’re going to do a little diddy, use you guys a guinea pigs to find out whether you like it” and then they played “Do This Anymore”, a new song that wouldn’t be released until their next album, “The Long Road”, the following year. Afterwards, he asked, “So, what do you think? Does that one make the cut? You guys need some water?” Later, he thanked the opening acts and demanded “On the count of three, I want to hear San Francisco fucking rocks!!!” Naturally, they obeyed him. I stopped listening to the recording last night after they finished “Figured You Out”, so when I finished listening to the rest of the set earlier today, Abracadabra!, my notes became legible again. 

As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t know the band at all before that night, but I did recognize their hit song “How You Remind Me” which they predictably saved for their encore. I mean, I knew the song. I just didn’t know they were the band that did it. Chad addressed the crowd one more time, “You guys feel like singing along? Good, cus’ I’m fuckin’ tired. Alright, you got your singing voices on? And obviously we need to be sitting on a fuckin’ cloud to play the song. Mass bong hits underneath the fuckin’ stage”. He started it slowly, playing alone on his acoustic guitar before revving it into high gear with the rest of the band and of course, their fans dutifully sang along. Regardless, I was impatient and grateful when the show ended and haven’t seen Nickelback since. This was one of the rare times that I actually wasn’t disappointed that there wasn’t a poster. I would consider having one in my possession as downright incriminating. 

https://archive.org/details/nickelback-warfield-52802

https://archive.org/details/jerry-cantrell-warfield-52802

https://archive.org/details/default-warfield-52802

https://archive.org/details/course-of-nature-warfield-52802

The Steve Kimock Band – Fillmore, SF, Thur., May 30

SETLIST : (Set 1) : Jam, You’re The One, Five B4 Funk, Electric Wildlife, Why Can’t We All Just Samba?, Elmer’s Revenge, (Set 2) : Coles Law – Tangled Hangers, Sabertooth, Thing One, Avalon

I had recorded Steve so many times at the Maritime Hall either between his tenure with Zero or with KVHW, that it was actually hard to keep track of just how many occasions I’d encountered this guy, that, and once at The Warfield with The Other Ones in 1998. The Hall had already spawned, (count em’) THREE live albums from Zero, but with the sinking of the Maritime, Steve, like myself would also move on to other venues. This would be the first of two times I’d see him with his solo act at The Fillmore, the second a year after this opening for Soulive. He had just put out a live double CD called “East Meets West” the previous November, so named because it was recorded both at the Bay Hall in Yokohama, Japan and the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. Like I said, I had seen Steve with The Other Ones, but he dropped out in 2000 and he brought bassist Alphonso Johnson, formerly of Weather Report, Santana (in the 80’s), and Jazz Is Dead (who I also recorded and released an album from the Maritime), along with him. 

Veteran hippie keyboardist Pete Sears manned the keys and none other than his obnoxious self, the ugliest man in rock & roll, fellow Zero bandmate Martin Fiero was there with his tenor sax. It was just an evening with Mr. Kimock, but he did two sets, so I had to work through the first one and wait out the set break and the first couple songs of the second set before I was set free from my ushering duties. The usual armada of hippie tapers guys were there nestled into their section next to the front of house sound board, so I’m happy to report that I was able to find a quality recording of that evening on archive.org. They had a DJ with the clever name of DJ Toby-Wan spinning records in the beginning and later during the set break. Incidentally, Toby-Wan would also be playing alongside Steve at The Fillmore at the aforementioned gig a year after this one. 

Each set was only five songs long, but each song being the sprawling and extensive jam band sagas that they were, most running 15 minutes or longer, the total time of the night went well over two hours. It was all instrumental, but Steve spoke to the crowd after the first couple songs, “Yo! Thank you so much! We haven’t played here for a long time. We haven’t played Santa Cruz in a long time”. The crowd playfully booed and he went on, “I came here in 1975 with $5 in my pocket”. He then wished his wife, Jennifer, a happy second anniversary, peered out into the darkness saying, “She’s hiding somewhere”. They then did “Five B4 Funk”, where they gave they repeatedly gave the audience a moment to pause to go “Woooo!” 

It may have been Steve’s band, but I was most impressed with Rodney Haynes, the drummer at that show. Rodney, a native from the New York City area, used to back up saxophone virtuoso Wayne Shorter and like Alphonso, had also worked alongside Santana for years, so his jazz and hippie credentials were already impeccable, but I couldn’t get over just how lightning fast this guy could play, mind boggling really. It was easy to see that after he had initially been hired on by Steve in 2001 for a limited three week tour, that he was brought along full time, keeping Rodney by Steve’s side until 2005. I would go so far as to say that Mr. Haynes was the main reason, though despite being utterly exhausted from work, that I stuck it out for the remainder of the second set. 

Steve was gracious later, introducing his band saying, “This is the portion of the program when we pause… In case you’ve been living under a rock, here on guitar Mitch Stein!… On the electric bass, Alphonso Johnson… Rodney Haynes on the drums!” Rodney clearly got the loudest cheer of the band. “Everybody’s favorite recovering special guest, Martin Fiero on sax!” During DJ Toby-Wan’s set break, I went upstairs to the poster room and caught a couple songs of an act whose name I didn’t catch. They were a simple guitar and bass duo and they did a cover of “Simple Twist Of Fate” by Bob Dylan, a cover that The Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia band would frequently do. It had been a long, seven-show drought of not getting posters at the end of the night, but I’m happy to say that Kimock’s would be the last one of that draught. A week later, I would see The White Stripes on that stage and the curse would be broken at last. 

https://archive.org/details/skb2002-05-30.rode-nt2.shnf

https://archive.org/details/steve-kimock-band-fillmore-53002

The White Stripes, Brendan Benson & The Wellfed Boys, The Kirby Grips, Whirlwind Heat – Fillmore, SF, Tues., June 4

SETLISTS : 

(THE KIRBY GRIPS) : (1st Set) : Washing Machine, Fireman, Restraining Order, Needless, Put Another Record On, (2nd Set) : Mod Boy, (unknown), (unknown), All The Time

(BRENDAN BENSON & THE WELLFED BOYS) : Good To Me, Tiny Spark, How ‘Bout You, Folk Singer, What, (unknown), You’re Quiet, Lightnin’ Never Strikes Twice, I’m Easy, Insects Rule, Maginary Girl, Metarie

(THE WHITE STRIPES) : Dead Leaves & Dirty Ground, I Think I Smell A Rat, Jolene, Hotel Yorba, Lord Send Me An Angel, Apple Blossom, Ball & Biscuit, I’m Finding It Harder To Be A Gentleman, Death Letter, Motherless Children, Love Sick, Little Room, Pick A Bale Of Cotton, The Union Forever, MEDLEY : We’re Going To Be Friends – Rated X – Astro – Jack The Ripper – Lafayette Blues, Fell In Love With A Girl, Cannon, Offend In Every Way, Screwdriver, (encore), You’re Pretty Good Looking (For A Girl), Hello Operator, De Ballit Of De Boll Weevil

I knew jack shit about Jack White and his sister/wife Meg before I saw them that night, apart from that everyone else on Earth seemed to be talking about them. This bi-colored dynamic duo from the Detroit, Michigan area were the talk of the town ever since their debut Fillmore show in 2001, but they were back and were already outgrowing venues of that size, compelling the folks at The Fillmore to add a second show the day after this one. I originally mislabeled my tapes as being from the second show and I admit that upon discovering a better recording of The White Stripes’ second show on YouTube, I listened to that one, burning it to disc and taking my usual amount of notes along the way. Thankfully, upon discovering that I only had the poster from the first show in my archives, I re-listened to my own tapes and discovered that it was indeed the first of the two shows that I had attended. Considering the amount of shows I was ushering around that time, this slip up is understandable and I’m glad I caught it in time. 

The White Stripes’ third album “White Blood Cells” had been out for nearly a year by this show, assisted by Redd Kross bassist Steven Shane. Steven gave a shout out back to them when he later released an album of his own called “Redd Blood Cells”. In an interesting marketing ploy, The White Stripes made a video game available on their website to download called “Stripe Out”, a parody of Atari’s “Super Breakout”. Whoever achieved the highest score on the game would receive a “unique box of stuff put together by Jack & Meg White themselves from their own personal collection”. Indeed, their marketing genius and flair for self promotion was undeniable, especially with their strict adherence to their trademark peppermint stick color scheme in all things. 

Singer/guitarist Jack & drummer Meg were indeed a married couple or at least were until 2001. Jack’s real last name was actually Gillis, but he took Meg’s last name after they sealed the deal. Now, why the rumor of them being brother and sister erupted and had traction is a subject of debate, but take your pick. Maybe it was because they looked a little like each other, or maybe the “ooh-la-la” scandal factor of the two so-called siblings getting it on added to their mystique, or maybe by the very virtue that people were curious at all fueled interest in them in the first place. Jack referred to Meg as his sister a couple times that evening as well. Who knows or cares in the end? One could suggest that this was merely another provocative marketing scheme. Whatever the reason was, people got hooked on them fast and by this time, they were criss crossing the country, wowing audiences. Five months after this, they would play on “Saturday Night Live” and would record their concert DVD called “Nobody Knows How To Talk To Children”, cobbled together from their performances from 4 nights at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. Though the DVD was never officially released, it would become a rare bootleg in the future.

There would be a couple opening acts before we would see them play, the first being Whirlwind Heat, a trio who also hailed from Michigan, Grand Rapids to be precise. Jack had seen one of their gigs and offered to record them, their debut album titled “Do Rabbits Wonder?”, which wouldn’t be released for another year. They were pretty weird actually, loud as hell, and the singer, David James Swanson, certainly screamed a lot. I had little hope of deciphering his lyrics, especially since country star and “Yellowstone” spank bank heroine Lainey Wilson’s song “Whirlwind” kept popping up on the internet every time I tried. Every song on their new album was named after a color, having seemingly no relevance to whatever David was going on about, but I did manage to make out that they did “Orange”, “Yellow”, and “Green”. Though that album wasn’t out yet, David did mention near the end of their set that they had some 7-inch vinyl records for sale at the merch table. 

Strangely enough, the most pleasant surprise of the night came not from the main stage, but from the band playing upstairs in the poster room during the set breaks. The Kirby Grips were there, an all-girl band who like Whirlwind Heat, who had been picked up by Jack White’s independent record label, Sympathy For The Record Industry. I recognized the drummer, Michele Grace Kappel, right away since my brother Alex had actually dated her for a while. I watched as she adorably nodded her short cropped, blonde, grinning head to the beat, accompanying the fuzzy electric guitar and bass and I was captivated by their brilliance of their simple but irresistible songs. Incidentally, in case you’re wondering, a Kirby Grip is a kind of hair clip. I wish I could have heard them play longer, but my ushering duties compelled me to return to my post But after Brendan Benson finished his set, I was damn sure to bounce back upstairs to get a couple more from them. 

Brendan is a singer/songwriter and also fellow Michigander from Royal Oak who had just put out his second album, “Lapalco”, that February. Jack would go on to collaborate with Brendan a couple years later to form The Raconteurs, a band that I would frankly enjoy better than either of their efforts on their own. I love Jack’s music, but god help me, I can’t stand his voice. Brendan, on the other hand, has a brilliant voice, so together they would be a match made in rock & roll heaven. The White Stripes would later record his song “Good To Me” which would have the honor of become the B-side to their smash hit single, “Seven Nation Army”. Brendan didn’t talk much between songs that night, but his tunes were pretty fast, except for the last one, “Metarie”. He and his band, The Wellfed Boys, also did a cover of “Lightnin’ Never Strikes Twice” by the swinging 60’s English rock band The Move, a predecessor to E.L.O., that night. Like I said, I went back upstairs to the poster room and caught a few more songs from The Kirby Grips, though I could barely make out the lyrics to the last one over the overbearing volume of their fuzzy electric guitar. 

The crowd went wild when The Stripes took the stage and they quickly went through a couple numbers before they did a cover of “Jolene” by Dolly Parton. They did quite a number of other covers that night like “Rated X” by Loretta Lynn, which was one of the only songs that Meg sang. They had befriended Loretta around that time and dedicated their new album to her. They dusted off some other covers like Son House’s “Death Letter”, “Lovesick” by Bob Dylan, “Motherless Children” by Blind Willie Johnson, “Lord, Send Me An Angel” by Blind Willie McTell, (funny that they did two songs by two separate “Blind Willies”), “Jack The Ripper” by Clarence Stacy, and two songs by Leadbelly, “Pick A Bale Of Cotton” and “De Ballit Of De Boll Weevil”. Clearly, The Stripes had done their homework regarding America’s blues roots, further exemplified by Jack’s skill playing slide guitar. The following night they also did an assortment of covers including “Stop Breakin’ Down Blues” by Robert Johnson, “For The Love Of Ivy” by The Gun Club, “I Just Don’t know What To Do With Myself” by Burt Bacharach, “Isis” another song by Bob Dylan, and “Look Me Over Closely” by Terry Gilkyson,

One funny coincidence was that during their song “The Union Forever”, Jack rattled off some lyrics from a song used at a party during the film classic “Citizen Kane” and only a couple weeks before this, I had seen back to back shows of the comedy troupe Kids In The Hall at The Warfield where they did their famous “Citizen Kane” sketch. Indeed, I still could hear Kevin McDonald’s high pitched voice droning loudly, “Citizen Kaaaaane!”, in my head through that song. Most of The White Stripes’ songs were actually pretty short, most of them spanning only two to three minutes, some even less, a welcome departure from the sprawling jam band sagas that The Steve Kimock Band performed on that stage the last time I was there. And though I found Jack’s shrill voice grating, there was no disputing his musical talent as a songwriter and guitarist. I hate Billy Corgan’s voice too, but like him, there are VERY few people who could shred on lead guitar while singing, much less write songs of their calibre. 

One song that really made an impression was the sentimental ballad “We’re Going To Be Friends”, a rather touching departure from their other comparatively bombastic numbers. Also like Billy Corgan, Jack’s voice is actually rather pleasant, even childlike, when he’s not screaming his lungs out. The tune would be immortalized a couple years later when it was featured during the opening credits of the cult film, “Napoleon Dynamite”, the first time a White Stripes song had been used in a movie soundtrack. Late night talk show host Conan O’Brien would also have The White Stripes perform it on his final episode of “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” in 2009. They finished their set with “Screwdriver” and when they came back for their encore, Jack mentioned something about how the people of San Francisco didn’t like The White Stripes at first. For the last song of the encore, he got the crowd to sing along to “Boll Weevil” singing, “He’s looking for a home!” 

The White Stripes’ success would only increase as the years went on, but this would be the only show I would record of theirs. I saw them play at The Warfield a year later, but for some reason, I didn’t record them. Like I mentioned earlier, I would see The Raconteurs a couple times, but this dynamic duo would ultimately call it quits in 2011. Jack continues to tour to this day as a solo act, but Meg has since retired from the music industry entirely, so reclusive that she even declined to show up to her own induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame this year. She was one of only three female drummers to have that honor. 

I’m just glad that I received a poster from this show to commemorate this momentous occasion, especially since it had officially ended a seven show poster draught. Still, I have to admit that I liked the poster The Fillmore made for the following evening better, one of those rare occasions where they printed two completely different posters for back to back shows. My guess is that the first poster had already gone to print by the time they added the second show. I would get only one night off before beginning an exhausting  stretch of TEN shows in a row, the first three on that very stage, two with The Get Up Kids followed by one with the Hieroglyphics. 

https://archive.org/details/the-white-stripes-fillmore-6402

https://archive.org/details/brendan-benson-fillmore-6502

https://archive.org/details/the-kirby-grips-fillmore-6502

https://archive.org/details/whirlwind-heat-fillmore-6502

The Get Up Kids, The Locals, Hot Rod Circuit, The Jealous Sound – Fillmore, SF, Thur., June 6

The Get Up Kids, The Locals, Hot Rod Circuit, The Jealous Sound – Fillmore, SF, Fri., June 7

SETLISTS : 

(THURSDAY)

(HOT ROD CIRCUIT) : Because I Got High Intro – Radiation Suit, At Nature’s Mercy, Knees, Flight 89 (North American), Let’s Go Home, Radio Song, The Night They Blew Up The Moon, Get What You Get, Now Or Never, Consumed By Laziness, The Pharmacist

(THE GET UP KIDS) : Let The Reigns Go Loose, Mass Pike, Overdue, Holiday, All That I Know, Lowercase West Thomas, (unknown), I’m A Loner Dottie A Rebel, Campfire Kansas, High As The Moon, No Love, Don’t Hate Me, Walking On A Wire, (encore), Out Of Reach, Action & Action, Ten Minutes, Hannah Hold On

(FRIDAY)

(THE JEALOUS SOUND) : What’s Wrong Is Everywhere, For Once In Your Life, Bitter Strings, Quiet Life, Naive, Does That Make Sense, Priceless, Anxious Arms

(HOT ROD CIRCUIT) : Radiation Suit, At Nature’s Mercy, Knees, Consumed By Laziness, Radio Song, The Night They Blew Up The Moon, Get What You Get, Safely, Irish Car Bomb, The Pharmacist

(THE GET UP KIDS) : Let The Reigns Go Loose, The Worst Idea, Mass Pike, Overdue, Holiday, All That I Know,  Fall From Grace, Valentine, Stay Gone, Grunge Pig, I’m A Loner Dottie, Campfire Kansas, High As The Moon, No Love, Don’t Hate Me, Walking On A Wire, (encore), Out Of Reach, Action & Action, Ten Minutes, Hannah Hold On

This would begin the first two days of an eight day stretch of shows in a row, part of thirteen in only fifteen days. I suppose The Get Up Kids was a comfortable way to begin, their fans being fairly civilized. Hailing from Kansas City, Missouri, they were one of a handful of notable alternative rock acts coming out of the Midwest. The Get Up Kids had just put out their “On A Wire” album three weeks before this show and though critics liked it, the fans didn’t so much. But I had never heard of them before, so it was all new to me that night and the same went for the opening acts. I recorded them all, totaling five CDs, but unfortunately, the first one was unreadable, so I didn’t get the sets of The Jealous Sound and the beginning of Hot Rod Circuit on the first day. These things happen. Four discs is still plenty. 

Strangely enough, the highlight of these evenings, at least for me, would be a band that wasn’t on the main stage at all. Upstairs in the poster room, The Locals performed. These kids, and I mean kids (still in their teens) kids, were actually employees of the kitchen up there, one a cook, two as servers. They were brand new, straight out of high school and I liked what I heard, making a point to catch a few of their songs between sets on both days. They even did an unreleased song the first night called “Borderline Creep” and were louder than most poster room bands, most being acoustic groups, so they had no trouble getting some attention at both of these sold out nights. I was delighted to see them actually busking on the street in front of The Fillmore on the first night and I was able to get a couple of those songs as well. I don’t think I’d ever heard of a band at The Fillmore doing that before and I imagine the management gave them some slack. 

The Locals would ultimately soon change their name to The Matches over a dispute with a Chicago band of the same name. They titled their first album “E. Van Dahl Killed The Locals” after Yvonne Doll, the singer of The Locals from Chicago. But the name change didn’t harm their career much, since that first album would be released on Epitaph the following year leading them to some notoriety. They would even go on to headline at The Fillmore on a number of occasions. Though I haven’t seen them on that stage since, I did catch them opening for the Dance Hall Crashers at Slim’s the following year and then with Yellowcard at The Warfield in 2004. 

The first act on the main stage was The Jealous Sound, an indy rock band that were still brand new and wouldn’t release their debut album, “Kill Them With Kindness” for another year. Like I said, I’d lost the first day, but have all of the second. They began their set with a recording of that infamous geek earworm “Mr. Roboto” by Styx. God help me, I used to like that song… and then I turned 13. Anyway, They were alright and the audiences seemed to like them, though their sets were short. Somebody yelled out the ubiquitous “Freebird!” and the singer replied, “We’re working on ‘Freebird’”. This would be their last day on the tour and The Get Up Kids gave them a shout out on the second day, their frontman Matt Pryor saying, “They drove straight through Texas. They signed with us in Texas… and the stars at night are big and bright deep in the heart of Texas.”

Next up was Hot Rod Circuit, originally from Alabama, but had recently relocated to Connecticut. The just put out their “Sorry About Tomorrow” album that March and would be quite busy, clocking in a staggering 250 shows that year. They came on stage on the first night to the sounds of the stoner anthem “Because I Got High” by Afro Man playing over the loudspeakers. They too were pretty good, playing mostly the same set with a couple variations, doing “Let’s Go Home, “Now or Never”, and “Flight 80 (North American)” on the first night and “Safely” and “Irish Car Bomb” on the second one. 

The Get Up Kids would come on stage to some weird ambient music playing in the background, then opening with “Let The Reigns Loose”. I appreciate that Matt’s lyrics were easy to understand, making deciphering the setlist a breeze. Very clean sound, kind of reminded me if Green Day and John Mellencamp had a baby. They would perform the same first six songs on both nights before switching songs up. During “Mass Pike” on the second night, Matt introduced it, “This song is ladies’ choice. So, every girl grab a guy. Every guy grab a girl. Every guy grab a guy. Every girl grab a girl…. I don’t give a fuck!” Before they did “Overdue”, Matt said, “How ya’ doin? I cannot begin to describe how excited we are to play here, not just San Francisco, which we’re always excited to play, but The Fillmore in general, because honestly, this place is awesome. This song goes out to the four J’s. Jimmy, Jim, Janis, & Jerry.” Then another band member blurted out, “Jerod? Jerod who?” and Mark answered, “Garcia… Never heard of a Jerod”. 

They made sure to give shout outs to the opening acts on both nights, even pointing out The Locals and dedicated “Campfire Kansas” to somebody in the audience who had driven all the way from their home state to see the show. They began their encores with “Out Of Reach”, on the first night, Matt joked before that song, “Give it up for The Band…. not us, The Band… Robbie Robertson”, a subtle homage to the Fillmore’s hippie roots. They dedicated another song on the second night to Hot Rod Circuit saying, “It’s called ‘High As The Moon’ and so are they!” Afterwards, Matt got into a little tiff with somebody up front afterwards when someone asked them to play some “hippie shit”. He countered, “What exactly is hippie shit? Is our old stuff hippie shit?… Number one, we’re at The Fillmore, so that’s bad ass. And number two, If we’re going to play some hippie shit, then let’s play some hippie shit, brother!” and then they went into “No Love”. In the middle of that song they did a little breakdown and Matt smirked, “Is this hippie enough for ya?”, followed by some band intros declaring, “We’re a bunch of stupid, redneck hippies… Sing it hippies!’

I had copied the setlist on the second night from the sound man on a napkin and for some reason, they had “All I Know” listed as “George”,“Don’t Hate Me” is called “Amy”, and though “Up On The Roof” was on the list, they didn’t play it. The cheers during the encores were loud, especially on the second night where the crowd chanted, “Get Up Kids! Get Up Kids! Get Up Kids!” Matt praised the venue one more time, “The fuckin’ Fillmore, man! God damn! No shit. If we had a place in Kansas City that has half as much history as this room does, we would… have something… It wouldn’t be Kansas City.” I’m glad I was able to catch both days and I’m happy to say that they made a rather handsome poster for these shows. The following night, I would see a very different act on that stage indeed, witnessing the east bay hip hop stylings of the Hieroglyphics. 

https://archive.org/details/the-get-up-kids-fillmore-6702

https://archive.org/details/hot-rod-circuit-fillmore-6702

https://archive.org/details/the-jealous-sound-fillmore-6702

https://archive.org/details/the-matches-aka-the-locals-fillmore-6602_202512

https://archive.org/details/the-get-up-kids-fillmore-6602_202512

https://archive.org/details/hot-rod-circuit-fillmore-6602

Hieroglyphics, Colt 45, Goapele – Fillmore, SF, Sat., June 8

SETLISTS :

(GOAPELE) : Romantic, Catch 22, Soweto Blues, Childhood Drama, Too Much The Same, Closer, Everybody Loves The Sunshine

(HIEROGLYPHICS) : DJ Intro, After Dark, (unknown), Fight Club, (unknown), (unknown), Make Up Your Mind, Acupuncture, Dr. Bombay, (unknown), Catch A Bad One, The Last One, (unknown), (unknown), (unknown), Mistadobalina, (unknown), Make Your Mind Up, (unknown), Oakland Blackouts, At The Helm, (unknown), (unknown), You Never Know

Though I had seen members of the Hiero crew since the last time I recorded them at Maritime Hall back in 1998, this would be the first time I’d see them assembled together since then as well as the first time I’d see them headline at The Fillmore. I had written extensively about the origins and escapades of this east bay cavalcade of hip hop artists for years, so feel free to return to some of my previous entries for more extensive back stories. But for now, I’ll keep it tight. Since the aforementioned Maritime’s sinking the year before this show, I had made a point to see as much hip hop when it came to The Fillmore or Warfield, since such shows were few and far between. Thankfully, the Hieroglyphics had been busy touring separately and together, and though each member had released several solo efforts, the crew was finally on the verge of putting out the long awaited follow up to their debut album. “Full Circle” wouldn’t be released for another year, but they were already showcasing some new material from it that night. Apologies that I was unable to decipher about half the set, but those jams came fast and furious, some being straight up freestyle anyway. Still, there were plenty of golden oldies in there that I had no trouble recognizing.

One thing that made this show notably special was the addition of Goapele to the bill. Goapele Mohlabane is a brilliant R & B singer-songwriter from Oakland and a graduate of the prestigious Berklee College Of Music. Her father was an exiled political activist from South Africa and her first name actually means “move forward” in the native Setswanay language. Her family had relocated to the east bay where she quickly made a name for herself with her undeniable talent, catching the attention of members of the Hiero crew. She had just put out an extended version of her debut album “Closer” on the Hieroglyphics Imperial label called “Even Closer” and it made such an impression, that she was soon picked up and signed by Columbia. She would also lend her sweet and powerful voice to the song “Make Your Move” on Hiero’s upcoming new album. 

There was a DJ spinning records for a while before her band came on stage to join him and they transitioned seamlessly into her first song, “Romantic”. Like I said, Goapele was more of an R & B artist, but from the first few seconds after she started singing, she had won over the crowd already. Seriously, that’s not an easy thing to do. The Hiero crowd is difficult to impress, especially for an artist of another genre. The brilliance of her songs and the seriously soulful quality of her voice made it obvious that this was a woman who had studied music for real. A couple songs in, she introduced their cover of “Soweto Blues” saying, “This next song I’m going to do is dedicated to all those who fight for struggle and all those whose parents and families fight for struggle and everybody we know who got in trouble for struggle. This song is about the Soweto youth uprising in 1976 when the youth younger than us got together, the elementary school, the high school students, to march in the streets to keep our own language, our own culture, to have equal education and they were killed. But it wasn’t in vain and Miriam Mekeba wrote this song.” 

Incidentally, I had tried to record Miriam Mekeba at Maritime Hall back in 1997, but clearly uniformed about the recording was rather upset about the whole thing and chided our camera people to “turn those cameras off!” until we retreated. It’s a pity since I really appreciated her music and it would have been a hell of an album. Anyway, back to the show at hand. From there, Goapele went straight into her song “Childhood Drama” and “Too Much The Same” which she followed with some band introductions, followed by her DJ doing a little breakdown that included some snippets of “The Payback” by James Brown. Continuing her appreciation of her 70’s soul influences, she finished her brief but beautiful set with a cover of “Everybody Loves The Sunshine” by Roy Ayers. Goapele had definitely made a good impression on me and I was happy to see her a year later at the KMEL House Of Soul show at The Warfield with Talib Kweli, Common, and Gang Starr. It would be another 12 years until I would see her after that, headlining a stellar New Year’s Eve show at Yoshi’s in Oakland with my wife in 2015. 

Needless to say, Goapele was a hard act to follow and the Colt 45 crew tried their best, but their tough guy bravado kind of fell flat after such an inspiring set. Incidentally, boxer Lennox Lewis had just defeated Mike Tyson that night after they had a rather tense scuffle before the match, yet another example how machismo won’t help you prevail in the end against sheer talent. Still, the Colt 45 crew were able to get the crowd a little motivated goading them to chant “Schoolyard!” briefly as well as that “Oh-wee-Oh-Ohhhhh!” bit from the Wicked Witch’s soldiers in “The Wizard Of Oz”. But they were only on for a few songs and their DJ took over again until the Hiero guys were ready and got things rolling for real. 

The DJ started them off, melding right into “After Dark” and when they finished, one of them shouted, “How many y’all are some real Hiero-heads in the house tonight?!?” The members took turns doing Hiero and solo songs, some from the Souls Of Mischief people doing “Make Up Your Mind” and “Acupuncture”. One of them rallied the audience later, “We’re all ready to party tonight! We’re just trying to get our stretch on. This is just a warm up. Say Hieroglyphics!” Though I was familiar with some of the Hiero songs, I had no trouble identifying the stuff when Del The Funkee Homosapien took his turn starting with “Dr. Bombay”.  After “Catch A Bad One” it was obvious that the herb was being fired up everywhere and Del said, “Who got that Hiero album “3rd Eye Vision’? You got that hydra? White widow? Anybody got that El Guapo? Anybody got that bubblegum? Who got that bubblegum?” and then he did “The Last One”. 

It was gratifying to hear one of them praise Goapele between songs calling her talent, “ridiculous… Give it up for Goapele! She opened up and she ripped it tonight! I don’t know the adjective that she got, that she owns. You got to send some extra love. She’s everything that true artists tweak and originality personified. She expresses that. You all show her some love!” They kept things going for a long while, especially since it was a home town crowd and another thanked us later, “How long we going to be doin’ this shit? Forever! Say on and on and on and on!” They also thanked us for supporting their website, one of the first created for a hip hop group that already had been running for about eight years by then. One of them insisted that we pick up T-shirts and a “Hiero thong” adding, “You’ll get more ass if you put on the Hiero thong!… Girls, you want your man to last a little longer? Put on the Hiero thong!”

Later, they did a little of the customary splitting up the crowd to which side was the loudest and one of them made a reference to the fight that night, taunting the other side, “Obviously, we got a bunch of Mike Tyson fans over here. You about to be knocked the fuck out!” They finished their set with “You Never Know” and had no problem getting all of us to shout “The Hieroglyphics yeah!” during the chorus. They thanked us again adding that it was “overwhelming… all of us here on stage”. Sadly, there wasn’t a poster to be given out as there was the night before for The Get Up Kids, a very sharp turn in musical styles between these two acts. But it would only be a year later when the Hiero crew would return to headline on that stage and I would also see them in 2005 at The Warfield at the SW Weekly Music Awards. 

https://archive.org/details/hieroglyphics-fillmore-6802

https://archive.org/details/colt-45-fillmore-6802

https://archive.org/details/goapele-fillmore-6802