| Wed 29th Nov | Chris Hillman @ Foleys Cellar, San Francisco To those of you familar with 60's Rock and 70's Country Rock, Chris Hillman requires no introduction. For the rest of y'all, he was a founding member of the Byrds, leaving in 1968 to found the Flying Burrito Brothers with the legendary Gram Parsons, cofounded Manassas with Stephen Stills in the early 70's, and later formed the Desert Rose Band. He's also done a fair amount of solo stuff, so I was really looking forward to checking the dude out, hoping of course to hear some of my old Byrds faves... After getting shafted by Yahoo! Maps (led to the wrong end of O'Farrell, where I actualy found a park!) I had to make my way over to the Union Square area, parked in the usual spot next to the Sony Metreon, and walked a short distance up past Macy's to Foleys at 243 O'Farrell. The venue itself was under the pub, quite small, but with a good atmosphere - sorta like a reaaaally small Gluepot in shape, for those of you who remember the old Ponsonby live music landmark. It was about 7.30pm by this stage, and who should I see at the door but Jim and Lynn, a couple from Foster City i'd met at the Don McLean concert during the San Mateo County Fair earlier in the year. They headed across the road to grab a bite while I ventured downstairs and secured a likely table not far from the stage - good for sound and vision (and beer glasses). The opening act (who's names escape me!) came on around 8pm, and played a set for around an hour - he on guitar, harmonica and vocal, she on vocal. Mainly folk-sounding, they slipped in a cover of Primal Scream's "Higher than the Sun" at the end - cool! After a short break, Chris Hillman and bandmate Jim Monahan ventured out on stage, sat down, and played for the next couple of hours, interspersing classic music from the last few decades with witty and insightful asides. There were Byrds songs (Time Between, So You Wanna Be a Rock'n'Roll Star, Have You Seen Her Face, Hickory Wind, I am a Pilgrim, You Ain't Going Nowhere, Feel a Whole Lot Better), Flying Burrito tracks (Sin City, Wheels) and a whole bunch of solo recordings and tracks from some of Hillman's other groups, Manassas and the Desert Rose Band... There was definite crowd appreciation and respect for these guys - and they kept most of the audience who requested particular songs happy. A fine display of musicianship, banter, and audience appreciation. Afterwards, Chris was more than happy to sign the assortment of records (remember those?!) and CD's that fans had brought along for the occasion - including my Byrds and Burrito's CD's... cheers, Chris! :o) |
| Thu 23rd Nov | Thanksgiving! |
| Fri 17th Nov | Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter @ Marin Civic Center, San Rafael Noz and I spent the day driving around sightseeing, going to San Gregorio Beach, exploring Highway 84, and eating junk food... around 5.45pm we left home and headed up 101 for San Rafael in Marin County - no mean feat in Friday afternoon rush-hour traffic, which tends to last half a day or more... Finally arrived nearly 2 hours later (the drive took 45mins when going to see Jethro tull @ same venue!) and parked behind the Marin County Civic Center Veterans Auditorium, away from the riff-raff. Hung out for a while in case Herbie and Wayne had yet to arrive, but time (and the temperature) was against us so we ventured inside for a quick liquid refreshment before the gig. The 8pm start came and went after we were seated, a mere 5 rows from the front, and the near-sellout crowd showed it's enthusiasm by clapping until the lights finally dimmed and an immaculately dressed Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter took the sparse stage. Only a Steinway Grand Piano and a few microphone stands were present, Shorter carrying his instrument onstage... For the jazz aficianados, these two required no introduction. Vital members of Miles Davis' 1960's Quintet that made such classic albums as "E.S.P." and "Miles Smiles", they also have had distinguished "solo" careers from the 1960's onwards, with albums such as "Maiden Voyage", "Headhunters" and "Future Shock" showing the many facets of Hancock's talents and imagination, and Shorter having "Juju" and "The All Seeing Eye" among many others to his name, and seminal fusion albums such as "Heavy Weather" from the group he cofounded in the 1970's, Weather Report. The show itself was a virtual non-stop improvisation session, with both Herbie and Wayne having plenty of scope to solo, but usually taking time to complement one another. They each featured on many of the others solo albums aside from their work together with Miles Davis, so after more than 30 years of history together they know each others style intimately. The going may have beenheavy for those expecting more traditional jazz standards, but it was musically rewarding nonetheless... The crowd dispersed pretty damn fast after the show, the temperature being not at all conducive to standing around outside. Unless you were looking to meet the gentlemen in question, of which myself and a few others with like thoughts were inclined. We waited outside the backstage door inside the venue, and amazingly enough were just let in along with guests who I assume were invited! Herbie and Wayne remained inthe very stylish suits they performed in, each holding court with a small group of a few friends and fans. There were only about 2 dozen people in the room all together, but one of them looked strikingly familiar. On closer inspection it was none other than Carlos Santana, a music fan as well as legendary musician in his own right of course. Over the course of the next 20 mins or so I was fortunate enough to obtain autographs and photos with all 3 gentleman, each of whom were disarmingly friendly and happy to oblige. These were definitely musicians of the "old school", when the appreciation of a fan-base was often what kept the gigs coming, before the days of music videos and blatant industry commercialism. An honour to have attended their performance, and to have met them afterwards, however briefly. If only Miles were still around... and my Dad would have loved both this and Santana's recent show! :o) Returning to the car, where Noz had been checking out the limitations of Bay Area Radio programming, we headed back off towards San Francisco, and ended up in a bar on Haight, just along from Ashbury. Unlike NZ on a Fri night, this bar was sparsely populated, and we headed back home (for another coffee) after a drink... |
| Thu 16th Nov | Flaming Lips @ Maritime Hall, San Francisco Noz flew in on his way back to NZ to experience some guitar noise in the big smoke... however, United had other ideas about his flight arriving on time (don't they always?!) so after waiting an extra 3 hours the plane arrived from LHR complete with Noz and we headed off into the city almost under the Bay Bridge, to the Maritime Hall. Although we arrived at the fashionably late time of 9.50pm for an 8pm show and thus expected the worst, the Flaming Lips themselves took the stage a mere 5 mins after we arrived, opening with an audio-visual sound test showing a guy talking and listening, while his voice came out of the appropriate speaker. This was merely a taster of the show to come, as the group opened with the first song off their latest album, "Soft Bulletin", featuring a stunning projected visual backdrop, sometimes showing members of the band playing drums etc, while the real band played along in time... The Flaming Lips are a three-piece from Oklahoma (but don't hold it against them), with keyboards, guitar and vocal/percussion - hence the use of the "play along with" video! Other visuals through the show included a bizarre black-and-white sequence with a woman being dragged through mud/water holding onto a rope attached to a Horse, and one of the more recognisable peices of footage from the Vietnam War where a prisoner is shot through the head, falling to the ground with blood spurting up like a drinking fountain... The show lasted a couple of hours, but seemed shorter - usually the sign of a good evenings entertainment! Grabbed a t-shirt on our way out the door, then loitered to see of any Lips wanted to scribble on my CD. The sidewalk-Nazi around where we parked informed us we couldn't stand there, so we wandered around front where some roadies were loading equipment from a lift to be picked up by truck. Sure enough, the band appeared lugging their own equipment and were more than happy to sign stuff and shoot the $h!t with a couple of Kiwi's... then back home for a Coffee!!! |
| Sat 11th Nov | David Tua vs. Lennox Lewis, Las Vegas David "Tuaman" Tua was set to KO Lennox Lewis at the Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, NV, USA. Thousands of fans had flown in from New Zealand and his native Samoa, making their presence known vocally and with an abundance of island-print shirts and lavalava's. TV3 in NZ recorded a record audience 10 times that of the usual TV1 news viewers, and the TAB had huge money coming in supporting the Tuaman. David Tua, the 27 yr old Samoan currently residing in Mangere, South Auckland, arrived to the resounding blowing of a conch shell, and the pounding of log and other drums. A fitting welcoming and entrance for a true Warrior. Lennow Lewis, on the other hand, came in to a confusing mixture of English Royal culture, including a guard of honour, and Jamaican riddums. It promised to be one of the most exciting fights for a long time... But Tua's date with destiny wasn't to be, at least not this time, due in part to an early blow from Lewis aggravating a training injury to Tua's rib cartilage. This immediately affected Tua's performance, although he seemed to have the upper hand on Lewis in 2 of the opening 3 rounds, visibly staggering the reigning champ with a blow or two. From then on Lewis was able to avoid most of Tua's shots, although if a few had connected it may have been another story altogether, injury or no injury. That Tua managed to survive through 12 rounds with Lewis is testimony to the man's durability, and the fact he was able to dance around the ring when most opponents would have been long out for the count. For now, David Tua needs to concentrate on recuperating fully from his injury, then lining up a fight with the likes of Evander Holyfield or even Mike Tyson (watch those ears sole!). After that he should have proven to even the cynical Americans that he deserves another shot at, and being crowned, the undisputed World Heavyweight Champion! |
| Fri 10th Nov | Fatboy Slim @ 1015 Folsom St, San Francisco Another English musician-turned-DJ-turned-producer, christened Norman Cook at birth, performing at 1015 Folsom St, close to 6th St in the SOMA (South Of MArket) district. The plan was to meet at Vikrams pad - so I picked up Giorgio around 8pm and we headed for Noe Valley, where Elena and Marty were already at Vikrams. We got there just in time for the Pizza delivery. After making pigs of ourselves, imbibing a Sam Adams or 2, and watching bits of "Blade", we piled into Vikrams and my cars and headed across town to 1015 Folsom... We made good time, arriving around 9.30pm, however it appeared as if half of San Francisco had already arrived before us, such was the extent of the bloody queue!!! Not wanting to miss an opportunity, I elected to stick around and Giorgio concurred. However, the others piked and headed elsewhere for Groove Collective... We stood for an hour, then submitted to body searches in case we had any naughty stuff stashed on (or in!) our persons. We didn't, but Giorgio had a pocket-knife, so we headed back to the car to dump it and the cool posters we scored. Luckily we didn't have to queue again, so in we went and had the first of many Red Bulls (in my case) and Heinekens (in Giorgios). It appeared the Fatmeister wasn't due on until 1.30am (the Krusting hour!) so we stood back and surveyed the scene for a couple of hours, watching and listening while lots of locals got down to the big beats. Giorgio retreated to the wall by the doorway to the main room, while I secured a spot upfront, just to the right of the DJ booth. As you do... 1.30am rolled around, and to much cheering and general raucousness Norman appeared at his workbench, stylishly dressed in a nice blue island-style shirt - same as yours truly. I rock. Opening with some fonky sounds like "Right Here, Right Now" from "You've Come a Long Way, Baby", Norm kicked @$$ with his selections, interspersing songs and big beats with samples from his rather large collection of white label and other vinyl products stacked behind him... Two hours passed pretty darn fast, although I was starting to feel it even with Red Bull inside me (also had some water for good measure!). I was expecting, and hoping for, some of the more eclectic stylings Fatboy's known for on the other side of the globe in England, interspersing some cheesy numbers with the beats. But maybe the locals here in San Francisco aren't quite open-minded enough or ready for that much musical diversity in a single sitting... :o) |
| Wed 8th Nov | Banco de Gaia @ Backflip, San Francisco Banco de Gaia, better known to his Mum as Toby, performed a set as DJ to a packed Backflip at 601 Eddy St in the city. Vikram, Elena, Marty and I arrived at 8.30pm, when the doors were due to open, but managed to come in through the out door (to quote Led Zeppelin), and escape the $8 cover charge. We had to wait until just after 10pm for the man to appear, but when he did he kept the place pumping for a little over 2 hours with an eclectic mix of his own tunes, and the likes of Future Sound of London featuring in the mix... |