New feature: My playlist!

Check the new box at the left, click on the play button and then scroll through my new playlist, which has a pretty random selection of songs I've been listening to lately, songs I haven't listened to in awhile, and songs I discovered while cruising - chief among them a song called "Suds and Soda" that's credited to U2, but features a female singer and violin - anyone know who that is and when it was recorded? I start with Kinky, an older song, "The Headphonist," which features Sacramento's own (sorta) John McCrea of Cake. There's just a ton of stuff here. Go for it!

Kinky Wednesday - not to be missed

Heads-up people: Kinky is in the house!!! Or, very nearly. Wednesday night, the firey five will bring their singular blend of Latin rock, techno and funk to Harlow's, and I INSIST that you show up. Seriously, there are very few bands I recommend this highly, but I do so based on having seen them four times in very different environments, and Harlow's will be the most intimate yet. They are HUGE in their native Mexico, and understandably: They are funky as shit, don't sound like anyone else, are sexy, likeable guys, and they know how to work an audience.

Here's a little video of the band live last year, doing (a portion of) one of their best songs, "Mas," and you should get SOME idea of the ferocity of a Kinky show. But there's nothing like seeing them live. Seriously, again: SEE KINKY!!! Tickets are only $20 at the door, a tiny fraction of what you'd pay for some of the big-name shows coming to the area. Fugget Tha Police! Get Kinky!

Wednesday evening coming on...

Hey gang - some tips on local music this weekend, as there's very little in the way of touring bands, and besides: We've got some good people playing in this town, go show 'em some love.

Thursday night at Marilyn's offers a chance to see two of the best new - and young - artists in town, Christopher Fairman and Ricky Berger. Fairman is a moody, angsty singer songwriter in the vein of some of Britain's best sensitive white guys: Nick Drake, Roddy Frame, maybe even a little Thom Yorke. Generally quiet, laid back stuff, Fairman takes the "come to me" approach, rather than hitting you over the head. Hear it on his debut album, Born Broken, which came out last year. Check out his MySpace page.

Opening for Fairman on Thursday is the even younger (20?) Ricky Berger, whose voice is immediately striking, and whose songs on her forthcoming debut album are immediately accessible in a sort of Rickie Lee Jones way, blending folk, a little jazz and a directness in both sound and delivery that is refreshing. Very promising indeed. To find out more about her and her album, visit her MySpace page. This girl is, along with Kate Gaffney, a prime candidate for Sacramento's next act to go national.

Yesterday's most likely acts to go national did so, and are back in their hometowns - and playing Old Ironsides on Friday and Saturday. Mark Curry made a terrific debut album for Virgin Records back in the early '90s, and Bob Zoppi's band Agnes Stone recorded for a major around the same time. Zoppi is a terrific singer with the stamp of approval of no less than Clive Davis, and Curry is a road warrior who just keeps on going. They play Old I Friday night.

Saturday night's double bill features Brian Ballentine of Nevada Backwards (Adaven?) and Hans Eberbach, former singer of national label vets Sweet Vine and the subsequent Looking Star. Eberbach is usually described as "blue eyed soul," and is very good at it, check out this cool online video. Ballentine's own bio on his MySpace page describes him as "a sharply dressed and tortured troubadour whose sound is reminiscent of shattered windowpanes strained through phosphoric acid."

These are four talented guys, all locals, all veterans of the label runaround, and all well worth checking out. And cheap to boot! And don't forget the new kids, especially Ricky Berger. You'll be glad you did.

DMB gets even closer...and sooner!

So close, they were right under my nose...in addition to their three Greek Theatre dates in September, The Dave Matthews Band will be playing Raley Field on Monday August 25th. According to the Another Planet Entertainment website, tickets will go on sale for the West Sac show on Saturday, March 29. For more info, go to APE's website.

Dave Matthews Band tickets onsale TODAY!

Tickets are on sale now - as of 9 a.m. March 6 - for the Dave Matthews Band's summer 2008 tour, which will hit the Bay area's Greek Theatre on Sept. 5, 6 and 7. Tickets won't go on sale to the general public until March 29, but you can get pre-sale tickets at the band's website. (If that link doesn't work, try again - it worked for us, then it didn't. We're guessing it's a little BUSY right now. The URL, should you need it, is www.warehouse.davematthewsband.com.)

The band is working on a new album with Rob Cavallo, but there is no release date yet. It is, after all, only March. The tour starts in late May on the East Coast.

Sometimes you can take a leak...

...at face value:

Another Planet Entertainment has confirmed that, yes indeed, as reported here a week ago, Radiohead, Jack Johnson and Tom Petty/Heartbreakers will be playing the Outside Lands Festival in Golden Gate Park on Aug. 22-24. More info to come at their website - and here.

Also, Treasure Island is set for a month later, Sept. 20-21 on Treasure Island. More info at the festival's website. (Yes, I know the site only has last year's dates - trust me on this one.) There are no names yet - I'm open to leaks! Last year was a beautiful day with Thievery Corporation, Kinky, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist, M.I.A. and many others. And that was just Saturday...

In other, even more immediate news, the on-again/0ff-again Van Halen swing - said as recently as Saturday to be off - is apparently on-again. And I still don't care.

And more immediate news I DO care about is that the Swell Season - also known as the band featuring Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, the charming duo that made "Once" not only one of last year's best movies but also won an upset Oscar for Best Song - will be playing the Paramount Theatre in Oakland on April 26, just a day after they play Coachella, and definitely a better place to see them than that clusterfuck. Tickets went on sale Sunday morning and have already sold out - I have failed you, and myself. Ah well...I'm over it already.

Explore the Swell Season further at their myspace page.

And I'm still not sick of this song (though I can see it from here)...so...



And don't forget the Sacramento Sound Art Festival, which takes place this Friday and Saturday, featuring a bunch of local and not-so-local artists at the Vox Gallery, at 19th and X Streets in Sacramento. Check the festival's myspace page or their website for more information. I'd give them more of a bump, but besides Bill Burg's name, I don't recognize anyone except for Ross Hammond. But as with many bands I've never heard of, the names SOUND cool...Audioemetic, Gendarmes, Jolthrower and Smite! all sound kind of cool.

And finally, yes, I know that only this last item actually has ANYTHING to do with the Grid - and I have to admit that I'm starting to feel that the whole Grid thing was a bit of an abstract pretense - who actually limits themselves to these 800 square blocks? I spent the weekend in San Francisco and Land Park, and will soon be heading out to ski. And the Grid has nothing much to do with them. I think I would be quite bored if I limited myself to the Grid.

Nice blooms these days, though...

On the other hand, I'm wondering, Grid people, if anyone knows what's going in at the corner of 10th and D...272 residential units and 101,000 square feet of retail, the notice from the City says...what's up with that? "The Creamery" they say. What say you, Burg?