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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« September 2007 | | November 2007 »

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October 31, 2007

Trick-or-Treat

Happy Halloween to y'all ... are any of you wearing some music-related costumes? Is there a bald-headed Britney out there, or how about a "hyphy" Halloween costume (stunna shades, Vans, dreads, grill)?

Anyway, let's put our hands in the BeatNonStop trick-or-treat bag and see what goodies we've got for Halloween:

- It's the show so nice it's happening thrice. Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons just added a third concert for Sacramento, and it's set for Jan. 31 at the Sacramento Community Center Theatre. Tickets go on sale Saturday through Tickets.com or the Community Center's box office (916-264-5181).

- What's this I'm hearing about Jackie Greene performing on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien?" Sounds like he's up for an appearance in about a week. Stay tuned ...

- And right here, next to the Sweet Tarts and packs of Gummi Worms, looks like we've got a spooky Halloween mix. Here's how it goes:

Theme to "The Amityville Horror"
Joy Division, "Dead Souls"
Iron Maiden, "Phantom of the Opera"
Gravediggaz, "Graveyard Chamber"
Theme to "The Omen"
Bauhaus, "Bela Lugosi's Dead"
Sufjan Stevens, "John Wayne Gacy, Jr."
Kate Bush, "Waking the Witch"
Black Sabbath, "Electric Funeral"
Tones on Tail, "Movement of Fear"

Posted by cmacias at 12:32 PM | Comments |

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October 26, 2007

Creature feature

Now it's time for "Sunday Single" to tap into the spirits of the Halloween season. So we bring you a spooky and kooky song from Mr. Lobo, the local horror-movie host of "Cinema Insomnia." Think of Mr. Lobo as the heir apparent to Bob Wilkins, the guy who inspired many a childhood nightmare with his "Creature Feature" TV show from 1964 to 1979.

With producer Michael McMorrow, Mr. Lobo offers a song called "Halloween Candy," so get out those trick-or-treat bags and check it out.

MR. LOBO
Song: “Halloween Candy”
Influences: Bob Wilkins, Dr. Demento, “Monster Mash” (“That song is the ‘Jingle Bells’ of Halloween,” says Mr. Lobo).
Behind the song: “Michael (McMorrow) said, ‘Hey, I’ve got this song and I think it would be great for a Mr. Lobo Halloween song,'" says Mr. Lobo. “He just had the tune, but I could write the lyrics and create the name of the piece. So I ran up to a recording studio in Sausalito and recorded it in 20 minutes or something. I'm really amazed how it all came together.
"It's something I always really wanted to do," adds Mr. Lobo. “I’d done some song parodies, but never really done a straight-ahead Halloween novelty song. I can see people sitting around a punch bowl in stupid costumes tapping their feet to this thing."

Click on the button below to hear "Halloween Candy":

On the Web: www.myspace.com/mr_lobo

Posted by cmacias at 11:37 AM | Comments |

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October 24, 2007

Catching up with Goldie Gold

Goldie Gold calls and says he’ll be on the north side of town for a while. That's the cue to grab a notebook and head toward Marconi Avenue. It's been tough getting a hold of Goldie Gold lately. His hip-hop group, the Federation, released an album through Warner Brothers earlier this month and he’s been criss crossing the country. Lately it’s been a lot of back and forth from Los Angeles. So I make a turn off Marconi Ave. and call Goldie Gold. He tells me to meet him in front of an apartment complex down the street. And when I see him, I can tell he’s pretty whooped. We sit down at a small table in front of one of the apartments and he takes a couple pulls of Hennessy. Goldie’s dressed in black, wearing a baggy Federation t-shirt that says “Live Fast, Die Fun” on the back. A rapper named Twin Laden comes out for a second, asks Goldie for a cigarette.

Goldie, 26, is originally from Fairfield but moved to Sacramento back in high school. He was shot as a teenager in Fairfield– a set-up, Goldie figures now – and ended up moving in with some relatives and went to Valley High School. Goldie became tight with a rapper from Oak Park who’s no longer with us. It’s still hard for Goldie to talk about this, especially the funeral. The conversation shifts. Goldie talks about how Tila Tequila is using one of his beats. He talks about recording “Go Hard or Go Home” with E-40. He talks a lot about turning negative situations into positive ones. He wishes the situation would’ve turned out different for his friend. And then it’s getting late, so Goldie goes into his friend’s apartment and brings me a Federation t-shirt. He has some final words: “Tell your peoples to stop the violence. We’ve got all these gangsters and drug dealers, but where are the doctors and lawyers at? It’s time to put this nonsense behind us.”

Posted by cmacias at 3:06 PM | Comments |

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October 23, 2007

Led Zep-Again

Last week, in the wake of a bunch of Led Zeppelin news, BeatNonStop offered the question: What are your favorite Jimmy Page guitar solos? A couple readers left comments, and one e-mailed a memory of seeing Led Zeppelin way back in the day. Here's what was said:

From Tony Intintoli, Antelope:

In '75 or '76 I was 12 and with my older brother we stood four hours in line for tickets in Tucson for a show in Phoenix in the ASU center. We were the last ones in line to get tickets before sell out. That was the year Jimmy Page lost his son and I think he was the one with a broken arm leading to many postponements. (BeatNonStop note: I think he was referring to Robert Plant)

Here's a couple of things I remember:

- During "Dazed and Confused" Page playing the guitar with a bow string (and) turning it into a thread. There was a green square laser surrounding him (and) the square would move with the beat, turning into the old spiral graph on the stage with smoke all around. It was cool. But then he lost his foot pedal and was on the ground for quite a while finding it. Then in one part of the show a bomb explodes and Page had his face too close to it. With my binoculars I watched Plant coming to his aid, reading his lips, "'Are you ok? Do you need to stop?" But they didn't.

- Bonzo's drums, closing my eyes and not believing there was only one drum kit.

- "Going to California," with four stools in the front of the stage, all acoustic. That was cool. They didnt play "Whole Lotta Love." The "Presence" album was mostly played ("Achilles Last Stand," "Nobody's Fault But Mine.")

Looking back 30-plus years, damn I'm glad I went - and boy am I getting old. Now to dig up old CDs and relive it again ... thanks for bringing it up.

Posted by cmacias at 2:59 PM | Comments |

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October 19, 2007

It's a zoo out there

The Zoo Human Project is a trio by way of Roseville that’s led by the husband-wife team of Derek Martinez and Jen Cordero. But their song, "NWT," takes a peek at the two before they settled into marriage and wondered if they’d be better off as friends. Check it out - in a platonic sort of way, of course.

THE ZOO HUMAN PROJECT
Song: "NWT"
Style: Acoustic rock that’s suited for
a coffeehouse or the club.
Members: Derek Martinez , Jen Cordero (both on vocals/guitar), Kevin Sakamoto (percussion/vocals)
Influences: “There’s a clear Dave Matthews influence to our guitar parts,” says Martinez. “My wife is more inspired by independent singer-songwriters. She’s definitely a fan of Ani DiFranco.”
Behind the song: “Jen and I, before we started dating, we were really good friends,” he says. “It was that whole ‘Ross and Rachel’ thing. That’s the easiest way to describe it. We were expressing the fear we both shared of going into that new phase. So the verses aren’t very optimistic. But the chorus is celebrating the fact that it’s working.”

Click on the button below to hear "NWT":

On the Web: www.thezhp.com

Posted by cmacias at 1:12 PM | Comments |

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October 17, 2007

Good Day, An Angle

Anyone catch our beloved indie-rockers An Angle on "Good Day Sacramento" this morning? It was a nice change from hearing about Marianne McClary's wedding for the 10th zillion time. Anyway, the head Angle known as Kris Anaya sure looked sleepy in the pre-performance interview. Then again, pretty much everyone seems sluggish compared to the perpetually perky Mark S. Allen. So Allen's asking Anaya about An Angle's environmental bent (this was new to me) and Anaya went into this anecdote about how he'd recently done a body detoxifier, drinking some concoction of lemon, water and cayenne pepper for 10 days. Wonder if he drank that via a tall can ... The producers basically told everyone to hurry up and play, and then An Angle played a rather lovely version of "On My Way." The only problem was that the show cut to a commercial before the song was finished, but An Angle really hit the spot this morning.

Haven't seen a YouTube of this performance pop up yet, but how about seeing An Angle in the flesh? The band performs tonight at the Press Club, and I would hearby like to invite Julissa Ortiz to come join me. Just kidding! ;)

Posted by cmacias at 2:38 PM | Comments |

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October 16, 2007

Whole lotta Led Zep

Let the Led Zeppelin onslaught begin. The band's due for a one-off reunion gig on Nov. 26 in London, but judging by the hoopla don't be surprised if a full-blown tour gets announced one of these days. In the meantime, Led Zeppelin’s merchandising wing marches on. The band announced Monday that its back catalog will finally be available for downloading starting Nov. 13. That's the same day that a two-CD “best of” compilation called “Mothership: The Best of Led Zeppelin” gets released. And the following week finds a deluxe version of Led Zep’s “The Song Remains the Same” concert film reaching store shelves (both in the brick-and-mortar and online senses). So much for the lowly single-disc version that I bought so many moons ago.

Led Zeppelin’s always had a place in Beat Non Stop’s record collection. I remember listening to the live version of “Dazed and Confused” – all 26-plus minutes of it – while riding the bus during a 5th grade field trip. And what a happy day it was when I figured out how to play the acoustic intro on “Over the Hills and Far Away” and “Thank You” on guitar. So all of this Led Zeppelin talk has me thinking about my favorite Jimmy Page guitar moments. I’ll post mine below, and feel free to chime in with a comment or an e-mail to cmacias@sacbee.com. Here goes:

Favorite Jimmy Page guitar solos

“Black Dog” (and that main riff still kills after all these years)
“White Summer/Black Mountain Side” (from Led Zep’s box set)
“Rain Song” (love that use of alternate tunings)
“Heartbreaker” (for that acapella guitar break that burns and burns)
“Since I’ve Been Loving You” (from “The Song Remains the Same”)
“Bron-Yr-Aur” (more alternate tuning loveliness)
“I Can’t Quit You Baby” (from Led Zeppelin’s box set)
“Stairway to Heaven” (the ultimate classic rock guitar solo?)

Posted by cmacias at 2:37 PM | Comments |

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October 12, 2007

Come on feel the noise

Norcal Noisefest 2007 is going down all weekend with lots of experimental music to flip your noggin. (You can read more about it here). So “Sunday Single” is tapping into that noise with a track by Instagon, which performs Sunday around 6:30 p.m at the Space Theater (2509 R St.). Instagon's song, " "Into Thee NOISE Factory," requires an open mind and a taste for the avant-garde but give it a spin, won't ya?

INSTAGON
Song: "Into Thee NOISE Factory"
Style: Experimental, outsider sound
Influences: Sun Ra, Flipper, Grateful Dead
Players on "Into Thee NOISE Factory": LOB (bass, effects), Matt Kretzmann (guitar, effects, recorder flute), Jim Willig (drums), Lydia Clark-Frank (clarinet)
Story behind the song: "Instagon is a project that started in the early 1990s," says LOB, the cryptically named leader of Instagon. "The concept is based in chaos theory. I never rehearse, I never practice, and never play with the same ensemble. It happens and then it’s gone, so it’s an experience for both the band and the audience.
"This is a track that happened live at Luna’s Cafe," LOB adds. "It was just a track that came out really well, and that’s the whole point. They key is to put together a weird ensemble who’ve never played together and record it. That’s the chaos factor."

Click on the button below to hear "Into Thee NOISE Factory"

On the Web: www.tif.org/instagon

Posted by cmacias at 1:04 PM | Comments |

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October 10, 2007

Tell me about protest songs

Just got back from taping a segment for the National Public Radio show "Tell Me More." So I spent an hour this morning at Capital Public Radio, where I was patched into NPR's mothership in Washington D.C. to talk with host Michel Martin about protest songs and message-oriented music in the current marketplace. Also on board for the discussion was Serj Tankian, lead singer for System of a Down, who was being piped in from New York City.

We had a few minutes to kill after our various microphone levels were checked, so Serj, the NPR producers and myself made some small talk through our conference call-like set up. Unlikely topics included Genesis (and Serj admitted to even being a fan of the band during the 1980s Phil Collins era), the Van Halen reunion tour and Serj also talked about his solo show on Oct. 28 at Slim’s in San Francisco. He said that Larry LaLonde of Primus will be playing guitar at the show. Nice …

Don’t want to spoil the segment, but the discussion turned out to be lively and fairly provocative. I talked about some of the topics about my "subtle songs of protest" story that ran in late July, Serj mused on some of the backlash he’s faced after taking strong political stances and his own ideas about the intersection of music and politics. And then at the end we all joined hands and sang “Kumbaya.” Just kidding …

The bad news is that Capital Public Radio doesn’t carry the “Tell Me More” show. Diss! But once the show airs, it can be downloaded from iTunes and NPR.org, or heard on Sirius Satellite Radio. I haven’t been told yet exactly when this protest songs segment will air, but I’ll be sure to keep you in the loop.

Posted by cmacias at 11:11 AM | Comments |

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October 8, 2007

Lucky strike

Now it’s time to borrow some dialogue from Pink Floyd’s "The Wall" and ask: "Is there anybody out there?" I know you state worker types – and those in other selective workforce sectors – have today off so you can reflect on the accomplishments of one Christopher Columbus. Or something like that.

But like the course of the Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria, all’s moving forward here at BeatNonStop’s headquarters. Over the weekend I received a sampler from the upcoming “Brit Box” from Rhino Records. It’s a four CD set dedicated to subsets of British alternative-rock from the past two decades (Brit Pop, Shoegaze, etc.). This sampler CD includes tracks from the Smiths (the obligatory “How Soon is Now?”), Lush’s lovely and ethereal “For Love” and “Only Shallow” by My Bloody Valentine, which is arguably the ultimate Shoegaze anthem given its wall of swirling guitars and barely decipherable vocals.

Most of the songs on this sampler are fairly pedestrian, but one song is getting spun and spun again: “Lucky Man” by the Verve. I didn’t know this song before, and when I saw the title I wondered if it was a cover of the Emerson, Lake & Palmer tune by the same name (sing along: “Ooooooh what a lucky man he was”). It’s a cool power-ballad, in a Brit Pop sort of way, that’s filled with swelling sentiments and ace vocals from Richard Ashcroft. Wouldn’t ya know it, I just gave the song another spin.

BTW, here’s how my Monday playlist is shaping up. Right now it’s a mix of Brit Pop, hyphy and other random stuff that looks strange on paper. Any of you stuck at the office today want to share yours? Leave a comment …

“Lucky Man,” The Verve
“For Love,” Lush
“Bang Bang,” Federation
“Go Dumb, Go Stoopid,” Young Dez feat. JP
“Big Bad Ene,” Big Oso Loc
“Dream All Day,” The Posies
“Dead Souls,” Joy Division
“Crank That,” Soulja Boy
“Regret,” New Order

Posted by cmacias at 1:20 PM | Comments |

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October 5, 2007

Burnin' for you

The Brodys have cultivated a longtime following for their its rock-till-you-drop songs, but the band goes a little introspective on this week's "Sunday Single." Sure, all of the Brodys' riffing guitars and catchy choruses are in check, but "Ropeburn" represents a more thoughtful side of the band known for songs like "Beer Truck Driver" and "Cheerleader."

THE BRODYS
Song: "Ropeburn"
Style: Pop-rock with “radio-friendly” practically written all over it.
Members: Tony Brusca (vocals/guitar), Ace Kapoor (guitar), Dave Kline (drums), Chris Chaussee (guitar) and Troy Hook (bass).
Story behind the song: "'Ropeburn' is a song I wrote about not letting life get you down," says Brusca (a.k.a. Tony Brody). “It’s sometimes too easy to ‘give up,’ ‘join them’ and forget the cool parts – like when I used to get rope burn in junior high PE trying to climb that damn rope and ring the bell. I got close a few times, but never quite made it. Some kids just quit and joined the basketball team, but I just kept trying. We’re all looking for a better life, but we have to keep trying. Life won’t get better on its own. We have to ‘make ourselves’ try and climb that rope every day.”
See them: Friday at Old Ironsides (1901 10th St.)

To hear "Ropeburn," turn up your PC and click on the button below:

On the Web: www.brodys.com

Posted by cmacias at 10:28 AM | Comments |

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October 3, 2007

Kels is coming back!

Some of you may want to lock up your daughters. The rest of you might want to bust out that Lone Ranger mask. The reason? Looks like R. Kelly is coming to Arco Arena on Dec. 16. BeatNonStop saw "Kels" last year at the Memorial Auditorium, and it was one of the wackier shows in recent memory. We're talking songs with monkey noises, operatic odes to booty and, of course, some lip-synced passges from "Trapped in the Closet." This show should be a doozy, and we'll holler when more information about the concert comes through.

In other Arco Arena news, the Mexican teen-pop band RBD canceled its show set for Oct. 14. Dios mio! Look for ticket refunds at place of purchase.

Posted by cmacias at 12:57 PM | Comments |

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October 2, 2007

All the shows that are fit to print

Today's Coming Distractions has another round of scoop about upcoming concerts - y'all hear about the George Strait show? - but here's a few more gigs that just got on our radar:

- Jacoby Shaddix and Jerry Horton of Papa Roach are the featured guests at an acoustic "KWOD Private Session," which will go down at the Hard Rock Cafe on Oct. 23. Hear the two wax on and get all sentimental when telling the stories behind Papa Roach's biggest hits. They'll field questions from the audience, and play some songs, too. And here's hoping that Jacoby doesn't show any rare footage from "Scarred," the show he hosts on MTV. Those skateboard accidents on "Scarred" are just plain gnarly.
So how can you attend this oh-so special show? Listen to KWOD (FM 106.5) and prepare to be their 837th caller or something, or enter to win tickets at www.kwod.net.

- The other singer in Destiny's Child not named Beyonce, that would be Kelly Rowland, has a show lined up for Oct. 30 at Empire. Stay tuned for more ticket info.

- Team Sleep, the side project of the Deftones' Chino Moreno, just announced new tour dates and will perform at the Boardwalk on Nov. 29. (That's not Thanksgiving, is it?) Again, stay tuned for ticket info.

Posted by cmacias at 3:34 PM | Comments |

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