July 31st, 2009 03:36pm
by Beck
The Helmet Cam is so 2006. It might be good for riding a Big Wheel down Lombard Street or jumping around at a Scary Kids Scaring Kids show, but for the rides at the SoCo Fair, you need something you can strap on. Something low-tech and hi-def.
Behold: The Headband Cam.
It’s retro like John McEnroe and inescapable like a spycam.
And it turns out you really need two of them because once …
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July 29th, 2009 08:35pm
by Beck
You gotta love what Aces frontman Derek Irving is doing over at the Last Day Saloon this week.
It’s called the Lo-Fi Explosion and along with his band kicking out what he likes to call “blues trash,” they’re joined by Russian River Brew Co. faves Huge Large and eye-candy courtesy of burlesque troupe Jellyfish Kiss.
He’s imagining a meeting of the tribes: “I think that anyone who’s a fan of any one …
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July 24th, 2009 11:22am
by Beck
My advice: Get to the Russian River brewpub early Saturday night because they’ll be barring the doors at some point and it’s no fun listening outside on the sidewalk.
It’s brewmaster Vinnie Cilurzo’s 39th birthday bash and one of his favorite bands – Huge Large – will be blowing out the barley-sack sound baffles and debuting their new song “Vinnie’s Beer.”
The city fire marshall, who seems to drop in about once …
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July 17th, 2009 03:10pm
by Beck
The Live at Juilliard series kicked off last Sunday, but for me the launch party is really this weekend as local indie-rock trio Santiago takes the park stage at dusk.
How many bands have a song about Juilliard Park?
Singer-guitarist Gabe Meline is a musical historian who knows Sonoma County like the back of his hand – or shoulder (dude’s got a tattoo of the signpost for Fourth and A streets on …
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July 16th, 2009 12:29am
by Beck
It’s a new painting by Brooklyn artist Tim O’Brien, who dreamed up this freaky Chuck B. for Travis Louie’s “Monsters?” exhibit that opened last week at Copro Gallery in Santa Monica.
Read all about his creative process…
I interviewed “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz three times and always found him to be cranky and neurotic. You gotta call it how you see it. He once told me, “I read more books …
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July 14th, 2009 06:38pm
by Beck
Playing catch up as usual, I was reading the June 29th issue of the New Yorker in mid July when I ran across a poem by San Francisco poet Julie Bruck: “The ‘World Famous’ Lipizzaners.”
A few lines in, she writes:
“county fairs like this,
where you wander among pygmy goats at dusk
to locate the gate, always pay cash.”
It sounds like any fair across America, from Two Egg to Tacoma and Tucumcari in …
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July 10th, 2009 03:33pm
by Beck
I had a good chat with Alejandro Escovedo earlier this week. The Austin rocker says he’s more focused than ever and judging by the career-spanning “Real Animal” – he’s never sounded better. I know he loves to play loud (he totally woke up the entire New Orleans Jazz Fest with an early morning show when I saw him in 2007), so it should be a helluva show tonight at the …
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July 9th, 2009 01:20am
by Beck
Poaching on the music celeb beat, Beck (Hansen) has a new feature on his website called Irrelevant Topics.
Don’t worry, he promises it’s all done “without promotional pretext or editorial direction.”
To kick it off, he called up Tom Waits, the West County growler who’s been showering journalists with irrelevant interview responses (about spider mating rituals, how the mink fits into the weasel family and archaic Texas laws) for at least …
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July 3rd, 2009 07:25pm
by Beck
3. Tiffany, the ’80s teen pop-star who brought you “I Think We’re Alone Now” and “Could’ve Been,” has grown up to be…
a Playboy model, yes…
a “Hulk Hogan Celebrity Wrestling” grappler, yes…
and, above all else, a gushing gay icon who loves nothing more than sunning down by the pool at the Russian River Resort.
With a new club single (”Dust off and Dance”) under her belt, she returns to the Triple R …
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July 3rd, 2009 12:29am
by Beck
Imagine you’re director Karan Johar. It’s around dusk. You’ve got some free time before a long night shoot from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. in the Healdsburg plaza. What are you gonna do?
Read the Press Democrat story about the Bollywood invasion of Wine Country.
Wait, did this crackpot writer really just say the neighbors on Greens Drive seemed like they could care less about a Bollywood shoot?
Surely, there’s something else worth …
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Your Daily Dose. Whenever. Whatever. Wherever. Trolling Sonoma County and beyond, John Beck looks for cracks in the pop facade.
