SKINNY SINGERS
The Independent
August 13, 2007

The highlight of Thursday night's Skinny Singers concert at the Independent was special guest Phil Lesh encoring with the band on a few Grateful Dead covers, including “Friend of the Devil,” “Ripple,” and “Sugaree.” The Skinny Singers draw from the same bluegrass-country-rock n'roll-Americana tradition as the Dead, so their fans completely lost their fucking minds screaming and cheering as if the Beatles had landed when Phil appeared. ...

SKINNY SINGERS
The Independent
August 13, 2007

The highlight of Thursday night's Skinny Singers concert at the Independent was special guest Phil Lesh encoring with the band on a few Grateful Dead covers, including “Friend of the Devil,” “Ripple,” and “Sugaree.” The Skinny Singers draw from the same bluegrass-country-rock n'roll-Americana tradition as the Dead, so their fans completely lost their fucking minds screaming and cheering as if the Beatles had landed when Phil appeared.

The Skinny Singers band includes Tim Bluhm from the Mother Hips, and Jackie Greene, a young blues and soul singer who has made himself known through an album that got picked up by SF's mom-rock station, KFOG. This unlikely pair were accompanied by a drummer and together played a soulful mix of blues and outlaw country cover songs, as well as some of Tim's and Jackie's original tunes.

Jackie Greene is a pianist, singer, and guitarist who has one of those "million-dollar" voices. You can tell from the first note out of his mouth that he's both naturally gifted and well-schooled. On Thursday night, in the low lights and haze of a dozen joints floating through the crowd, he sang like a gruff blues vocalist, smoothly matching his stride piano and wicked blues guitar styling. In spite of the loose atmosphere, Jackie's pop sensibilities ran like a river through each song he sung, and it reminded me of Elton John's country western rock n'roll records like Honky Château or Don't Shoot I'm Only the Piano Player.

Tim Bluhm's roll in the band is definitely a supporting role to Jackie Greene. He alternated between laying down grooving bass lines and offering some skronked-out country-blues guitar playing that was like watching a tightrope walker who flails and staggers but nails every step.

Tim's restraint on stage made the few songs he took over as lead vocalist feel special. His vocal technique ranges from sweet falsettos to blown-out rock n'roll shout-singing. With Skinny Singers he seems to be in a really comfortable place with a moderate volume band playing loosely arranged songs that give him room to show off the nuances of his earthy voice. Hearing Tim sing is like listening to the sound of redwood branches rustling in a gusty breeze coming off the Pacific.

There's a special connection between these two singers. They share a love of country western and rhythm n'blues roots music, but onstage they each pull the music in different yet complimentary directions: Jackie towards a classic pop feel; and Tim towards a rough-hewn California naturalist vibe. Check them out if you're in the mood for some masterful 70's Americana folk rock!

[Jeff Bissell]

[STREAM] Skinny Singers: Various Tracks  

All Time Top 10 list of Deal Breaker Bands



I'm a self-professed music snob. I don't deny it, hide it or pretend it's not there.

I embrace my snobbery, and music is a huge part of my life, end of story. So when it comes to dating, music can be an issue.

On the one hand, when I'm talking to someone and we are vibing, and music comes up and we both mention the same life-changing bands/albums, my face gets hot, my gut clenches up, and my crush starts to take hold. Damn I love watching someone talk passionately about music, that's fucking hot! ...

All Time Top 10 list of Deal Breaker Bands



I'm a self-professed music snob. I don't deny it, hide it or pretend it's not there.

I embrace my snobbery, and music is a huge part of my life, end of story. So when it comes to dating, music can be an issue.

On the one hand, when I'm talking to someone and we are vibing, and music comes up and we both mention the same life-changing bands/albums, my face gets hot, my gut clenches up, and my crush starts to take hold. Damn I love watching someone talk passionately about music, that's fucking hot!

On the other hand, bad taste in music can cause panic to strike my face and make me start checking the room for the nearest exit.

This is where the deal breaker bands come into play. Now, I realize this may sound harsh, judgmental, and, well, perhaps a bit elitist, but I don't give a fuck. I've had this discussion with lots of friends, those who have a similar list and those who think I'm weird…

Well folks, I am weird. We all have our little instant dating turnoffs – man hands, sentence finishers, sweat pants – and for me music taste is key. I can't imagine dating someone with bad taste in music. I'm a vegan and I have no problem dating meat eaters, but if they have bad taste in music…dude…not happening.

Which brings me to my All Time Top 10 list of Deal Breaker Bands. These are bands that, if we were making out and I discovered you were an ardent fan of any of them, your ass would be kicked out of my bed…fast. Is that mean?

10) John Mayer (Wuss)

9) The Polyphonic Spree (Need I say more?)

8) Linkin Park (If you like this band, you are a douche)

7) My Chemical Romance and other such poser alt/rock offenders (I hate you)

6) Incubus (I just threw up a little in my mouth)

5) Korn (This one hurts extra because I went to High School in Bakersfield…shudder)

4) Ben Harper (Put your clothes back on)

3) Jack Johnson (Really???)

2) The Dave Matthews Band (I just actually kicked you)

And the all time number one deal breaker band is…

1) Sublime (I may never have sex again…seriously…)

This may seem harsh, but I can't have the same tongue that utters the words "Sublime ROCKS" in my mouth, now can I???? I can be your friend and try to forget your horrid taste in music, but that is as far as it can go. I'll probably wake up in a cold sweat thinking it was all just a dream and you would never listen to Sublime…and then I'll have to go throw up. I know some of you equally musically neurotic types out there have a similar list…oh yes you do…

So come on, who's on your top ten??? Let me know: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

xo
[Katie Kaapcke]

RADIO RANDONE
THE MUMLERS
Anno Domini Street Market (San José)
Sept. 7, 2007

I feel really weird about writing a review for a show my band played, but the event itself was so much fun I just have to. And don't worry, I'm leaving my band out of it...

Apparently, during the summer in San José free shows are put on once a month by some really awesome people. The event is the Anno Domini Street Market, and it’s like a tiny arts fair/live music fest that happens in a parking lot downtown. ...

RADIO RANDONE
THE MUMLERS
Anno Domini Street Market (San José)
Sept. 7, 2007

I feel really weird about writing a review for a show my band played, but the event itself was so much fun I just have to. And don't worry, I'm leaving my band out of it...

Apparently, during the summer in San José free shows are put on once a month by some really awesome people. The event is the Anno Domini Street Market, and it’s like a tiny arts fair/live music fest that happens in a parking lot downtown.

Friday, Sept. 7th, Schande (my band) played with The Mumlers and Radio Randone. It was one of the funnest shows I've played in a while. Typically, I hate playing outdoors since I really don't think rock music belongs anywhere but a closed, sweaty room. BUT, I was pleasantly, pleasantly proven wrong.

A good sound system helped with this turnaround, but ultimately it was the people that made the night so fun. The vibe at the street market was super chill. Everyone was out to listen to music, hang out with friends, and peruse amateur art. It was like a block party where you realize your neighbors are the sweetest people on earth and also have great taste in music.

I'm not gonna review my own band, nor am I going to review The Mumlers, as I have already reviewed them for WireTap (they were, of course, jaw-droppingly amazing, as always).

I do want to talk about San José’s Radio Randone, though:

Oh. My. God... These dudes blew me away with their jazzy-soulful hip-hop that is impossible not to love. Two guys, two turntables, and two microphones. They're style is mainly turntablism, but they had a few guest musicians and a guest vocalist for a few songs. An MC from Ozomatli joined them for 2 songs and blew everyone away with hilarious lines such as "giving more breaks than Nell Carter" and "back when Michael Jackson touched his first kid."

Everyone in the crowd was smiling, laughing, and had their hands in the air. Many were, in fact, waving their hands like they just didn't care. Radio Randone are the kind of DJs/musicians you could listen to everyday and never tire of. Never.
 
So ultimately, what did I learn last Friday?
 
        1. Outdoor shows can be really fun.
        2. San José's Anno Domini Street Market rocks.
        3. The Mumlers still floor me.        
        4. Radio Randone are my new favorite find of the year.
 

[Jen Chochinov]

[STREAM] Radio Radone: Various Tracks
[STREAM] The Mumlers: Various Tracks

So I had this great idea for a blog. No, really, I did. I was fully prepared to be witty, perhaps insightful, and – in my mind – even mildly engaging. Sounds grand, doesn't it?

The topic? Flyering. Or rather, how much flyering sucks, to be more precise. I even had a great title already worked out: "Flyering - The Disease With a Name." It plays off of Betty Freidan to make an analogy for how flyering is like being downtrodden by a silent invisible menace.

The menace? The total dislike of passing out flyers. It's a great topic because alongside myself, the vast majority of people I know who have to flyer to promote their art hate it. H-A-T-E it. Yeah, the act of handing out flyers is so heinous that I had to throw in capital letters and spell it out to reiterate my point. ...

So I had this great idea for a blog. No, really, I did. I was fully prepared to be witty, perhaps insightful, and – in my mind – even mildly engaging. Sounds grand, doesn't it?

The topic? Flyering. Or rather, how much flyering sucks, to be more precise. I even had a great title already worked out: "Flyering - The Disease With a Name." It plays off of Betty Freidan to make an analogy for how flyering is like being downtrodden by a silent invisible menace.

The menace? The total dislike of passing out flyers. It's a great topic because alongside myself, the vast majority of people I know who have to flyer to promote their art hate it. H-A-T-E it. Yeah, the act of handing out flyers is so heinous that I had to throw in capital letters and spell it out to reiterate my point.

The blog I began to write on this topic had decent potential. I talked about how uncomfortable flyering is, I drew upon anecdotes from my youth where feelings of shame and being "dirty" were linked to having artistic passion. I talked about whether or not my teenage awkwardness manifested itself when it came to promoting my own music (oh yeah, I totally went there), and I talked about the odd relationship between not caring about receiving flyers yet dreading passing them out like its doomsday.

Sadly though, in writing the blog I just couldn't get it to translate the way I wanted without it sounding like either a really bad diary entry or a trying-too-hard Psych 101 paper. Point blank, the blog sucked. Badly. However, since I do think the topic is relevant and one a great many of us can relate to, I want to keep the dream alive. I'm doing the only thing that makes sense to me right now: I'm presenting a few of my thoughts in bullet form. It's a tried and true method, perhaps not redefining creative genius, but work with me here...I do this for you, the people.

* Those of us involved in music, film & art rely on flyering as a significant form of self-promotion. We need for you to know that we are performing or exhibiting, and what better way to get that message out there than with a carefully designed and lovingly crafted piece of colored paper? Yet within this very necessary PR tool is a cesspool of discomfort and awkwardness. Simply put, passing out flyers makes all the awkward, self-loathing periods of puberty feel like one's heyday of confidence and self-comfort. No, it's true. I don't know exactly what it is about the experience of passing out flyers for shows that is festooned with non-desirability; but what I do know is that the notion of walking up to absolute strangers and announcing intricate details of your genitalia seems not only easier, but somehow more desirable than approaching said strangers with a flyer for an upcoming show.

* Flyering is weird because, being in a band, flyers are a pretty effective method of promotion, but there's something so intrusive, so awkward, so forcefully extroverted about it. It's completely self-aggrandizing to interrupt strangers from their conversations, drinks, and/or thoughts to say nothing more than "Hey, my band's playing this/next [insert day of the week here], you should check it out. It's gonna be a cool show."  Plus, you can't help but wonder if after you've walked away from those whom you've just passed out flyers to, that the alarm bells are going off in their heads, warning, "Nerd Alert!" I think the relentless feelings of discomfort within this exchange stems from the notion that essentially what you are saying to people when you pass out a flyer is, "Hey, I have interests outside of work, sports, money & relationships, and consequently I use the medium of song through which to channel the tangential thought planes through which my mind traverses upon. Wanna watch? Here's a flyer." Aaawwwkwaaaard.....

* Having a disdain for passing out flyers seems nonsensical since receiving flyers really is a neutral, benign act. When I am the recipient of a flyer, I never accept the paper thinking, "Now there is someone who strays from the status quo and has a vested interest in counter-culture. By golly, godspeed to you, you defier of the mainstream!" Nor do I think, "Wow, if they could have found the right job they probably could have been more normal. Maybe they never learned to love..." Nope. My main thought is always, "Huh, neat flyer. I'd like to go to that show, I hope I don't flake out." And then the flyer finds a home either in my back pocket or my purse where it stays for quite some time.

* I really envy people who are not turned off or afraid of the self-aggrandizing aspects of flyering. Is it ego or self-absorption that allows people to be really confident when handing out flyers? Like this idea that, "Hey, I'm great. What I do is great. I think you'll be really stoked not only to know about this upcoming show, but to go to it as well." Or is it that people who are comfortable handing out flyers just don't have their heads up their asses? 

So there it is, the summation of my thoughts on flyering. I wanted to initiate a space where we could agree or disagree on whether or not flyering sucks, and basically just get some communication & story swapping going. We're trying to create a sense of community here at Wiretap, and so I really thought this would be a great way to maybe generate involvement in perspective sharing of sorts. I still don't feel as though I've brought the topic up – flyering, the disease with a name – as well as I would have liked to, but hey...it's a beginning.

If you have thoughts, opinions, and/or stories of shame or fame you'd like to share about flyering, please feel free to send me an email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it. It'd be really fun to make a new blog based on what you have to say.

[Jen Chochinov]

THE BONELESS CHILDREN FOUNDATION
Stars for Anyone
(2007; self-released)

With Stars for Anyone, The Boneless Children Foundation has created a massive album that swerves and boogies with classic rock n'roll riffs and delightfully quirky and engaging lyrics. The songs overflow with ideas, while musical passages are juxtaposed in a way that suggests the giddiness of a band like Sparks. Over the course of the record, the band's unchanged instrumentation and singular vocalist makes Stars for Anyone an entertaining but exhausting listen. ...

THE BONELESS CHILDREN FOUNDATION
Stars for Anyone
(2007; self-released)

With Stars for Anyone, The Boneless Children Foundation has created a massive album that swerves and boogies with classic rock n'roll riffs and delightfully quirky and engaging lyrics. The songs overflow with ideas, while musical passages are juxtaposed in a way that suggests the giddiness of a band like Sparks. Over the course of the record, the band's unchanged instrumentation and singular vocalist makes Stars for Anyone an entertaining but exhausting listen.

The Boneless Children Foundation rocks guitar, bass, and drums for almost forty minutes on this eleven song album, with lead guitarist/singer/songwriter David Sophia Siegel leading the way. He's a reckless lead vocalist who shouts, croons, pleads, and sings over the carefully crafted music with such emotion that you can't help but listen to what he's trying to say. On the track "Sigh," for instance, he sings of wounded disillusionment in a subdued voice while the band plays a mid-tempo shuffle with such delicate dynamics that the track could easily be a radio hit.

Siegel's also a wild and thrilling guitar player who makes his songs chug and squeal like T.Rex or Television. But he isn't hanging his hat solely on his stellar guitar heroics. Many of these songs are crafted with pop hooks and melodic touches that satisfy like the Cars or David Bowie. The Boneless Children Foundation's combination of epic rock maneuvers and classic pop melodies reminds me of Weezer, but with rootsier rock influences that will appeal to fans of the White Stripes or Two Gallants. Stars for Anyone is self-recorded, and the album's lo-fi tone has a rawness that contrasts nicely with the complexity of each song's arrangement.

As a full-length album, Stars for Anyone feels overstuffed. The band could probably have let the songs take more time to develop. After 6 or 7 songs, Siegel's voice wears a bit thin, yet the band hammers away somewhere between Crazy Horse and the Police. I'm left feeling that Stars for Anyone will please The Boneless Children Foundation faithful, but is probably a bit too heavy for the uninitiated.

[Jeff Bissell]

[STREAM] The Boneless Children Foundation: "Stars For Anyone"