Remembering the Encores

Who: Shafty When: June 10, 2015 Where: Doc's Lab/ San Francisco, CA With: Rachel, Kellie, Matt, Phil, etc. Of Note: I'm pretty sure I'm a patron of the arts now! Okay, so, my first December in SF, I went to a run of moe. shows and made a friend, Rob who lives in Portland because I am was not allowed to have friends in San Francisco at that point in time. Rob and I became internet friends and then even realer friends when I headed to Portland for a work event and stayed the week-end. I'm pretty sure you become bff5eva when there's fondue involved. (And a hilarious bit by Natasha Leggaro where she calls and Applebees and tries to make a reservation. That is perhaps a different story though.) Anyway, Rob plays in a Phish tribute band called Shafty. I saw them when I was in Portland; they're fantastic. He said that they were putting together a northern California tour and would be stopping in San Francisco. I was excited to see them again! Being me...

Jaymes Young featuring Phoebe Ryan / We Won't Did you know that if you're enough of a narcissist, all songs can be about you?  "Don't call me up at 2 am tonight/ It feels so damn good and I wish you would..." This song is beautiful and I can't stop listening to it. 

Who: Tove Lo When: October 3, 2015 Where: The Fox Theater/ Oakland, CA With: Ange, Chelsea Of Note: Now I have two girl crushes! Once upon a time, I went to Australia. And when I was in Australia, what little time I spent in my hotel rooms/ Airbnb apartment, I spent with the TV turned to the, now defunct, FUSE network (essentially Australian MTV when MTV was still predominantly videos). Anyway, one of the videos that was on constantly was Tove Lo's 'Habit'. 'Habit' is one of those almost perfect pop songs. From the opening, slightly whiny, "Oh ohs," through the contrast of the lilting melody of the verses paired with their provocative lyrics, and onto the desperation of the, "forget I'm missing you," of the chorus... it's really just glorious. And that's before you get to the bridge that builds in stair steps, with additional instrumentation on each repetition of, "Can't go home alone again/ Need someone to numb t...

This isn't about a concert. But, let's be honest, most of this is really just me talking about how music makes me feel. I'd like to talk about some music that made me feel things last year, music disguised as a movie: 'The Last Five Years'. 'The Last Five Years' is a movie I've recommended to everyone I've talked movies with in the last year. Based on an off-Broadway stage production, it's the story of Jamie and Cathy and their five year relationship. Jamie tells the story from the beginning to the end; Cathy tells the story from the end to the beginning, with one key intersecting point in the middle. It's a sparsely cast film, relying on Anna Kendrick (who I often say I would just... watch eat a salad or something) as Cathy and Jeremy Jordan (who, as I've noted before , I adore) as Jamie. Both performances are stunning. One review (and I wish I could remember where it was but google is failing me) noted that many actors can si...

What?  Actual music?  That's crazy talk! Spotify Discover Weekly has been killing it lately!  To see what they've served up that I like, you can follow my 'Liked from Discover Weekly', a playlist where I toss the week's highlights to not lose the song/ remind myself to check out the band.  It's here: Here's a couple of my recent repeat songs: Zerbin / World's On Fire When I was preparing my senior all-state solo, Glazunov's Saxophone Concerto, there was a passage that my lessons instructor told me, "No!  This is drunk French people reveling in the street!  Play happier!"  The passage from this song, "So we danced in a fount of Parisian merlot with our head in the clouds..." reminds me of that passage. BONUS (A bonus within a bonus?  What is this?  Crazytown?: Joseph Lulloff / Glazunov's Saxophone Concerto And, man, if I ever wanted to make myself feel badly about squandered talents: I used to be able to...

Who: Kacey Musgraves with the Lone Bellow and Humming House When: April 25, 2015 Where: Fox Theater/ Oakland, CA With: Alex Of Note: HUMMING HOUSE!!! 2015 was a year in which I traveled a lot. Too much, maybe. Anyway, traveling that much is how I ended up waking up after four days in NYC and a full week in Chicago, flying from Chicago to SFO, and heading straight to a restaurant across the street from the Fox. And I still didn't yawn during the concert as much as Alex, despite the fact that I'd been awake since approximately 4am PST. I am a beast. Alex loooooves the Lone Bellow, which is (I think) mostly why we went to this show but, HOLY HELL HUMMING HOUSE. Humming House were the first opener and were the most amazing, high energy, poppy side of bluegrass band ever and they looked like they were having SO MUCH FUN on stage. One highlight was 'Cold Chicago', a foot-stomping ode to getting back to the Windy City that has the most satisfying bum-chick driv...

Who: Beach House When: December 18, 2015 Where: The Filmore/ San Francisco, CA With: Chelsea, Katelyn Of Note: This is not actually about Beach House So, it's January and that means reflecting on the year that has passed, correct? We'll get this out of the way first: I totally did not write enough in 2015. I'm looking to remedy that in 2016 starting now. Anyway, 2015. I feel like 2015 was a year in which I was not very kind to myself. I often felt out of sorts, and was far harder on myself than I needed to be (even for me) and was certainly more emotional than usual. Several times throughout the year, I noted that it was exhausting being me which, while true, is not something I've ever felt as acutely as I did this year. I've spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out why - why was I so much tougher on myself this year? Why did I not treat myself with the care and respect I treat others with? What on earth was I doing? 2015 was a year in w...