BeatNonStop A Weblog by Chris Macias Bee pop music critic Music geek (n. myü-zik 'gEk) 1: A person who proudly wore KISS commemorative pajamas in third grade. 2: A person who owns multiple copies of the same album, still buys vinyl and has a room dedicated to 2,000 or so CDs and records. 3. A person who wrote a five-part series about traveling with a local band in their stinky van - and loved every minute of it. 4: Chris Macias, the Bee's pop music critic, serving Sacramento's music scene since 1999.

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« July 2005 | | September 2005 »

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August 31, 2005

Th' Losin' Streaks need your help

Bad news from Th’ Losin’ Streaks' camp. Sacramento’s great garage-rock band is currently touring Europe, and singer Tim Foster got an overseas call that his Oak Park flat was burglarized. Gone is a bunch of Th’ Losin’ Streaks’ vintage gear, including amplifiers, fuzz boxes, guitars, plus rare records and vintage clothes. Ouch.

Sacramento’s music community is stepping up with a benefit. All proceeds from Sept. 21's “The Hideout,” a weekly garage-rock night at the Press Club (21st and P St.), will go toward Th’ Losin’ Streaks. DJ Joey D will spin some tunes, and Lyme Regis will rock later in the night. The show starts at 8 p.m. For more information: (916) 444-7914.

Posted by cmacias at 4:21 PM | Comments |

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August 26, 2005

Shooting the breeze with Santana

Just got off the phone with Carlos Santana. The guitar guru is coming to town on Sept. 17, so he was talking up the tour and a new album coming in November (“All That I Am”).

Talking with Santana is a lot like listening to one of his guitar solos. He’ll start a thought, pause, and then go on and on with colorful and heartfelt answers. And he always seems to be in a darn good mood. One of the first things he said to me was, “I’m happy,” and ended the interview by thanking me for “(my) really beautiful and soulful questions.” At one point he even told me, “That’s the best question I’ve been asked in my whole existence.” Shoot, I thought it was a fairly simply query about how he knows when it’s right to collaborate with someone. That made my day, anyway.

I got a sneak listen of “All That I Am” to prepare for the interview. Like “Supernatural” and “Shaman,” the album is full of cameos (Mary J. Blige, Sean Paul, Joss Stone and even Bo Bice from “American Idol”) and headed for pop radio. Santana also said that he’s completing an all-instrumental album and hinted that he might collaborate again with Michael Shrieve and Gregg Rolie, two founding members of Santana. Sounds cool, especially for fans of old-school Santana. So stay tuned for my full Santana story.

Posted by cmacias at 2:00 PM | Comments |

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August 25, 2005

Petty thoughts

I'm kicking back in my kitchen right now with some coffee and "The Waiting" playing on my boom box. It's my way of decompressing after last night's excellent Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers/Black Crowes bill at the Sleep Train Amphitheatre. (Check my review at sacticket.com).

I've seen Petty and company quite a few times over the years, and it's always a quality rock 'n' roll experience with tasty guitar heroics and time-honored songs. I kind of became a Petty fan by accident. I'd grown up on FM rock radio, so songs like "The Waiting" and "Refugee" were ingrained in my musical memory. But I'd never paid to see him live until the early 1990s. And I only went to that show at the old Cal Expo Amphitheatre to see Petty's opening act, the mighty Replacements. The Replacements were unfortunately a drunken mess, and not in that fun, punk rock kind of way. They were just sloppy and uninspired. My friends and I stuck around for Petty's set, and soon found ourselves singing along and having a hell of a time. The guitars were loud and melodic, the songs stately and rockin'. He even played an early version of "Free Fallin'," and after such a good time we all gave our props to Petty.

Posted by cmacias at 12:38 PM | Comments |

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August 23, 2005

Deftones release date

Now hear this: The Deftones "B-Sides & Rarities" set is coming Oct. 4. It's a CD of unreleased and import-only tracks plus a DVD of the Sacto. band's videos and backstage footage. Hear the band cover tunes by the Cure, Cocteau Twins, Duran Duran, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Smiths plus some acoustic tracks. I lobbied singer Chino Moreno to include "Too Many Freaks," one of the Deftones' earliest songs, but guess it didn't make the cut. Here's the full tracklisting:

CD:

Savory
Wax and Wane
Change (In the House of Flies) (Acoustic)
Simple Man
Sinatra
No Ordinary Love
Teenager (Idiot Version)
Crenshaw Punch / I'll Throw Rocks at You
Black Moon
If Only Tonight We Could Sleep
Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
Digital Bath (Acoustic)
The Chauffeur
Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away) (Acoustic)

DVD:

7 Words
Back to School
Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)
Bored
Change (In the House of Flies)
Digital Bath
My Own Summer (Shove It)
Minerva
Hexagram
Bloody Cape

Posted by cmacias at 1:26 PM | Comments |

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August 22, 2005

Back in Sac.

Feels good to be back in the River City after spending the last week in Minneapolis. But I had a great time mentoring some very bright high school journalists, even if I’ll have to watch my back in a few years when they’re gunning for my job.

There was some time for sightseeing in Minneapolis, and though I didn’t purify myself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka (a la the scene in “Purple Rain”), I did make a trip to First Avenue. That’s the club featured in “Purple Rain” and it was …. well, a nightclub. And a half empty one at that. But it was still a trip to see the spots where Prince, Morris Day and Apollonia Kotero stood two decades ago.

It took a couple days to decompress from the trip, but I checked out a ridiculously amazing set by Z-Trip last night at Harlow’s. This DJ seems to have Ginsu knives for hands, slicing and dicing songs together into some incredible mixes. Z-Trip’s one of the few guys who can blend Blue Oyster Cult, Incredible Bongo Band, AC/DC and the “Star Wars” theme into a single set and get people to dance their buns off. A live drummer, guest rapping from Busdriver and trippy visuals all added up to a mix masterpiece.

Speaking of clubs, there’s a new Wednesday night weekly at the Press Club called “The Hideout.” It’s a night of DJing and bands on the garage-rock tip hosted by Joey D. This Wednesday’s live action includes Rock the Light and a “farewell” set from Riff Randals. Joey D spins at 8 p.m. and the bands start rockin’ at 9:30. $3. For more information: (916) 444-7914.

Posted by cmacias at 3:24 PM | Comments |

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August 10, 2005

Gone fishin'

BeatNonStop is taking the week off to help run a camp for high school journalists. So instead of riffing on music, I'll be teaching the next generation of cub reporters about the finer points of the inverted pyramid story, and how to justify an iPod as an office expense.

But be on the lookout for my interviews with Andre 3000 of OutKast on Friday and Carrie Underwood (a.k.a. the "American Idol") on Aug. 19. In the meantime, here's a pic of me getting those golden quotes from Andre 3000 in San Francisco. Catch you on the flip side.

Posted by cmacias at 2:32 PM | Comments |

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August 8, 2005

Props to Peter Jennings

Peter Jennings passed away Sunday. So what does this have to do with music? Hip-hoppers are all about recognizing a guy who can work a microphone, so it’s no wonder that Jennings was name checked in a couple of hip-hop songs (and both times as a rhyme with “Peggy Fleming”):

“Ciggedy-catch the scoop from Peter Jennings/
Do a spin like the mag and I slide like Peggy Fleming” (Das EFX, “Mic Checka”)

“I put words together like Peter Jennings/
And skate on (expletive) like Peggy Flemming” (Tha Alkaholiks, “The Next Level”)

In the spirit of Jennings, perhaps hip-hop’s favorite newscaster, here are three other TV talking heads who’ve made their way into rap songs:

“You’re always spreading rumors, whether bad or good/You’re the damn Walter Cronkite of the neighborhood.” (Run-D.M.C. “You Talk Too Much”)

“We get more props than Dan Rather and it don’t matter.” (Gang Starr “Alongwaytogo”)

"Connie Chung brung the bomb as it comes from Oklahoma/Things are getting serious, Kumbaya” (Fugees, “The Beast”)

Posted by cmacias at 11:20 AM | Comments |

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August 5, 2005

Done deal

The rumor mill was correct. System of a Down, Mars Volta and Hella are indeed coming to Arco Arena on Oct. 9. Tickets for this whopper of a show go on sale Aug. 13 through TicketMaster. For more information: (916) 649-8497.

Posted by cmacias at 11:23 AM | Comments |

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Feeding the pod

Loaded up the iPod last night with some new goodies:

- The Pixies, "Live at UC Davis"
- DJ Z-Trip, "Uneasy Listening"
- Various '80s ska bands, "Dance Craze"
- Broadcast of "Maximum Rock and Roll" from the mid-1980s
- M.I.A., "Arular"
- Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps, brass judges' tapes from 1984-1985
- mix of Baltimore club tracks (Rod Lee, DJ Technics, Knuckleheads, Jonny Blaze)

And what's getting much play on your iPod these days? Send an email to cmacias@sacbee.com.

Posted by cmacias at 10:54 AM | Comments |

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August 1, 2005

Weekend wrap-up

It was a busy one, and it went a little something like this:

Thursday: Got a headstart to the weekend with Team Sleep at Empire, and wow they sounded great. I saw an early version of this Chino Moreno side project about five years ago at a Christmas party for Heckler magazine. Team Sleep didn’t sound so rehearsed back then, but fast forward to Thursday and they sounded like a whole other band. It was very powerful and moody, and the cameos from Pinback’s Rob Crow and Mary Timony of Helium (which also opened the show) sealed this deal.

Friday: Headed to San Francisco for an interview with Andre 3000 of OutKast. He talked about his role in “Four Brothers,” the new John Singleton movie, other acting projects and what’s been up with OutKast’s new album. Andre flew into San Francisco earlier that morning and seemed a wee bit tired, but was still chatty and excited about his new movie. For you fashionistas out there, Andre (a.ka. Esquire’s “best dressed man in the world”) was wearing Keds sneakers, straight leg jeans, a bright orange Polo shirt and a nifty straw hat.

Later Friday night I caught Diplo at Milk DJ Bar and Lounge. They should’ve called that place Café Au Lait because it was very hot and steamy with all the party people. Diplo spun a bunch of Brazilian “baile funk” tracks, some bass heavy club music from Baltimore and other goodies. Here are a few tunes I remember from his set:

Yaz, "Situation"
M.I.A., "Bucky Done Gun"
Debbie Deb, "When I Hear Music"
White Stripes, "Seven Nation Army" (sped to about +8 on his turntable)
Gwen Stefani, “Hollaback Girl (Diplo remix)”
Missy Elliott, "Lose Control"
Kraftwerk, "Numbers" (the version on “Miami Bass Classics”)
Freestyle 17, "The Party's Just Begun"

Saturday: Chuchumbe showcased the music – and climate – from its native Veracruz, Mexico. The La Raza Galeria Posada was filled with folks sweating and trying to cool off in the muggy room. Stickiness and sound problems aside, Chuchumbe’s son jarocho music was simply wonderful. An opening set by Lado Oriente from San Jose helped make this one of the best Latin music shows in recent memory. But La Raza Galeria Posada needs to change the game plan for hosting future shows like this. There weren’t nearly enough chairs to go around, and the space just isn’t big enough to accommodate more than a few dozen folks comfortably. Problems with feedback and ventilation also need to be addressed. But a big thumbs up for the quality of the gallery’s music programming.

Sunday: Chillin’ at home with the following records:

Brick, “Dazz”
Geto Boys, “Mind Playing Tricks on Me”
DJ Technics, “The Theme”
OutKast, “Flip Flop Rock”
Z-Trip, “Uneasy Listening” mix

Posted by cmacias at 1:45 PM | Comments |

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