NSFW (language/cartoon gore)

When the Kanye West/Spike Jonze collaboration, “We Were Once a Fairytale,” first cropped up on blogs a few weeks back, I was curious but always too busy to watch the ten-minute clip. Then a friend insisted I check it out, proclaiming it proof that Kanye “really is the voice of this generation.”

So I checked it out. And . . . wow. Just wow. Stop what you’re doing and watch it. Unless you’re at work/in class, because it’s a little bit grody. (Click here to read more…)

What’s better than reality TV?

A lot of things, but tonight and tomorrow night at 8 p.m., one very important one will be gliding over heart strings and plucking at souls in Berkeley’s very own Hertz Hall. That’s right, the University Symphony Orchestra will be performing and, from the looks of this weekend’s program, they’ll also be completely ignoring Halloween.

No “Night on Bald Mountain,” for these presumably un-costumed folks, led by conductor David Milnes, who probably won’t be wearing a costume either. But maybe they’ve got a few tricks up their sleeves for Saturday. We don’t know. Maybe Milnes will dress up as a “conductor” and wear like a train driver costume or something. Get it? Like another kind of conductor. Because he’s the conductor. That’d be clever. Right?

Anyway, I digress. The orchestra will play Rachmaninoff’s “Symphony No. 2,” Ernest Bloch’s “Suite Hebraique,” and Bloch’s “Concerto Grosso for strings and piano.” It’s only $5 for students, and even if classical music isn’t really your bag, man, it’s still sometimes fun to go relax and hear something you might not ever hear otherwise.

Rachmaninov - André Previn - Symphony No.2 Mvt.4 (3/3) [YouTube]
University Symphony Orchestra [Dept. of Music Calendar]

Every October Neil Young and his wife Pegi put on The Bridge School Benefit Concert at the Shoreline Amphitheatre to raise funds for the bay area Bridge School, which since its opening in 1986 has provided specialized education to severely disabled children. Young has invited various A-list entertainers to the mostly acoustic concert over the years, and this past weekend was no different. The bill this year ranged across genres, hosting Young himself, No Doubt, Chris Martin of Cold Play, Sheryl Crow, Adam Sandler, Monsters of Folk, Wolfmother and more.

The all-day show left the earlier acts with a little less support as concert goers drunkenly mingled throughout the large venue’s bars, food tents and recreational areas. But Monsters of Folk didn’t seem to care as they strummed and wailed away. The group played some original tracks and even a song from member Conor Oberst’s other band, Bright Eyes (a nice emo treat). (Click here to read more…)

Entering Oakland’s Fox Theater last Saturday felt like entering a cross between Alice’s rabbit hole and a circus tent. The lights were already dim, the stage framed by two foreboding Hindu/Buddhist statues, the ceilings all carved out and ornate. Not that any of this mattered anyway, because once Mika burst on stage, he took us out of this world.

But first, the opening act: Gary Go. Gary was a highly emotional pop-rock British singer-songwriter who apparently could also play instruments via the iPhone, which was pretty cool, even if he fumbled over it a bit. But although his applause was loud, the applause for the furniture movers assembling the stage for Mika was even louder. “You’re here to see Mika, right?” Gary asked at one point. Yeah, yeah we were. (Click here to read more…)

On Monday night at Bottom of the Hill, indie-dream pop duo—along with a plus one on drums—Beach House played a sold out show. The opening group, Papercuts, is a band my friend deemed “the kind you’d want to do your homework to.” I can’t say I disagree but I enjoyed them nonetheless. Beach House followed—and delighted. (Click here to read more…)

It was tough getting out of bed this morning.  My feet and legs were sore, and I felt like I had been hit by a train. A glorious, glorious train.

But the knowledge of another amazing day at Treasure Island got me going. Plus, I was going to get the perks of the press pass. And after it took only an hour and a half to get to the festival today, I was in a good mood.

Image of Tommy Guerrero by Anna Hiatt/Staff Photographer

12:40- I missed the opener again today (Sleepy Sun), but Tommy Guerrero’a diverse set of jazz, latin funk, and dynamic rock jams were a great start for day two. And though the crowd was noticeably more subdued today, it was upbeat enough to remind us that even without the turn-tables and drum machines that were pretty prominent yesterday, we don’t have to fall asleep.

Image of Thao by Emma Lantos/Staff Photographer

1:15- Thao & The Get Down Stay Down kept things going with some cute, quirky indie pop. And as a chilly wind blew in from the bay, Thao told the crowd, “When I first got here, I was cold like you guys.  Then I started to dance.  And now I am very comfortable.” Thao, a resident of San Francisco, said she hated every time she had to leave her hometown and was really excited to be back. In her words, Treasure Island was the “Bestival,” or best festial she had ever been to. It’s a little to early to tell for now, but she’s probably pretty close. (Click here to read more…)

2:33- I won’t say much now, as Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros just came on, and foot-tapping and finger-drumming just became irresistable. I think I’ll go jump in the crowd for a minute. Maybe I can benefit from some mass body heat while I’m at it, my fingers are so cold I can barely type. Woe is me! Back in a minute.

3:04- The crowd-warming experiment definitely worked. Or maybe that’s just the feeling of my soul being warmed by Edwarde Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. These guys rock. Pure fun. They’re up there right now doing a great teaser for Beirut (5:30) and the Decemberists (7:10), with their quirky instruments.

There’s no doubt about it: This is a day for horns, accordions and mandolins. It’s a day for disheveled hair and tambourines striking off-beats. The crowd is older and colder. There are more leather jackets, less flourescent spandex.

Image of Sleepy Sun’s frontman by Anna Hiatt/Staff Photographer

San Franciscan psychedelic rockers Sleepy Sun opened up the day with an energetic set featuring breathy, haunting, almost sexual vocals from frontman and woman Bret Constantino and Rachel Williams in tight harmony. Constantino’s harmonica added a bluesy folk element. Their slow, drawn-out rock set the tone for the rest of the day: chill. In both senses of the word. (Click here to read more…)

12:30- Welcome, back, folks. We, your humble, sleep-deprived servants at the Daily Californian, have just arrived at Day 2 of the Treasure Island Music Festival, duly prepared to have our faces melted. Yesterday was all about the  turntable, but now it’s guitar time. The Bay itself seems ready to rock– a thick, brooding cloud cover has developed and we’re getting buffeted by some pretty icy winds. If we don’t get thunder later tonight, I’ll be disappointed.
Hannah Jewell’s socks are currently being rocked by indie-psych outfit Sleepy Sun. She’ll be by in a few minutes,  undoubtedly brimming with clever observations. Right now, I’m going to brave the cruel elements and hunt up some of that sweet, sweet $6 festival pizza. See you in a few.

Image of Thao’s drummer by Anna Hiatt/Staff Photographer

1:55- The bassist for the Get Down Stay Down had entirely too much fun onstage. Bass players are supposed to be laconic, damnit. If you decide to play bass, you’re inheriting a sacred tradition of aloofness and disinterested cool. Leave the pogoing and the headbanging to the lead guitarist. This sort of thing is becoming a trend, and I don’t approve of it. Also, you damn kids should get off my lawn.

Violations of rock protocol aside, Thao & TGDSD put on a pretty sweet show. Thao is a legit fingerpicking whiz, and her smoky, sexy croon really gets into your head. I just wish she had more than 40 minutes for her set.

4:10- Are you tired yet of us complaining about the cold ? Well too bad, because SWEET JESUS IT’S FREEZING. The gods clearly don’t want this festival to continue.
After seeing their set, I’ve decided that I really, really like Vetiver. They rock a mean harmonica, sling salty blues licks and sing about highways. It’s a pretty worn formula, but it’s one that gets me every time. They’ve also got a real localist charm- a bunch of their songs are about obscure spots in San Francisco.
6:00- Bob Mould’s set was incredibly bracing, and the remaining acts are going to have a hard time topping it. When you see a punk rock elder statesman like Mould hurl blazing riffs into a crowd of his old-guard fans, everyone else is just going to seem hopelessly callow in comparison. Plus, there’s nothing quite like a mosh pit with a median age of 50. (Click here to read more…)

I just joined the Daily Cal this semester, so not expecting to get a sweet complimentary press ticket, I bought my tickets to the Treasure Island Festival like a normal person in August. I didn’t get a fancy shmancy press pass with all the luxuries. No internet access, no free water, no private bathrooms, no smug sense of superiority. I was roughing it. But I got to capture a perspective from the front lines: I wiggled my way through the crowd to get closer to the stage, I was part of the conga line at the end of Dan Deacon’s set, I wandered through the art booths and midway games, and I danced my face off pretty much all day. So here’s a wrap up of the true festival-goer experience:

For one, getting to the festival is a little bit of a task if you don’t have a car and a VIP parking pass. I left my house around 1040am to take Bart to the city and walk to AT&T Park, and by the time we got off the complimentary shuttle to the island, it was 1:15.

Still, it’s hard to even let bumps like this affect your mood at a place like the Treasure Island Festival. How often do you get to spend a day listening to fantastic live music surrounded by a conglomeration of artists, students, hippies, ravers, weirdos, and normal people who all share a love of music? It’s a pretty fascinating sociological phenomenon, and always a spectacle. Today’s weirdness included old-timey midway games, a few guys riding around in motorized cupcakes (literally, cupcake cars where you could only see the driver’s head poking out of the top), and about a dozen people dressed up in rubber robot and monster costumes who would run around and dance with people. The last one was probably pretty terrifying for the few handfuls of people tripping on acid.

These weird elements are typical of any major music festival these days, but Treasure Island is particularly unique for a few reasons. For one, Treasure Island sells out at 12,000 tickets, which is dwarfed by the 40-60,000 people the larger festivals like Coachella and Outside Lands attracts. It’s so small that you can hear the music playing from almost anywhere on the island. The art booths seem to spill towards the music into distances you would normally stand from the stage at Coachella. But it’s still large enough to provide a similar experience to these festivals, but small enough to feel significantly more intimate. Also, there are only two stages, and the schedule is designed so that when one band finishes on one stage, the next band starts on the other. This eliminates one of the worst things about music festivals: having to choose between two of your favorite acts playing simultaneously on different stages.

And thank God for that. With a lineup like Saturday’s, you don’t want to miss a thing.

(Click here to read more…)

5:15-So at first I was skeptical as to whether a music festival is really the place for Mike Skinner. His stuff seemed too wry, too intimate. I wasn’t sure whether it would work when shouted from a 6-foot stage. It’s cry-into-your-beer music, not try-to-avoid-spilling-your-beer-while-moshing-with-an-attractive-stranger music.

The lesson here, dear reader, is never trust any of my theories, because The Streets just put on a HELL of a show. Skinner had tweaked his arrangements just enough to make them arena-friendly. The drums on “Fit But You Know It” were more furious, the bass on “Blinded By The Lights” ballsier.
Skinner is the bossy kind of frontman– he likes telling his audience to jump, to get down, to take their shirts off, to shut the hell up. Damned if we didn’t obey his every whim, though. At one point, he even got people to start hurling condoms onto the stage. I’d like to see the guy from Passion Pit achieve something like that.

3:50- So as it turns out, Passion Pit plays instruments. To be fair, three of those instruments WERE synths. It was still surprising, since I was expecting a dude with a laptop and a dude with a mike. That seems to be how most everyone rolls around here. It’s not that easy to look cool behind a synth– it’s certainly not as easy as looking cool behind a guitar– but these gents have it down to a science. They bob and nod just the right amount, and they’re pretty masterful at showy, behind-the-back keyboard wizardry. I was impressed.

Michael Angelakos is an unusually taciturn band leader. He seems to ascribe to the “less talk, more rock” school of Frontman theory. He’s also incredibly courteous. For example, here’s how the set ended:

Angelakos: We’re gonna play one more. Thank you for being so attentive.

Audience: …..Whoo?

Today is supposed to be the more dance-oriented day of the festival, but so far, the crowd seems pretty subdued . I’ve only noticed about four or five people REALLY getting their respective freaks on. I did see one guy dressed as an imperial stormtrooper cutting a major rug. I guess the costume is appropriate, since today is all about science- fictiony electronica. Tomorrow’s the folk-rock day. Maybe then he’ll dress up like an orc.

2:20 pm- Just got back from Murs’ set. Fun stuff, but I think my enjoyment might have been hampered somewhat by my sobriety. Murs took the stage at 1:20, and by1:30, the air was downright redolent with the stank of dank. I imagine most his concerts are kind of like that.

Murs’ between-song banter is goddamn hilarious, though he did spend an awful lot of time poking fun at the Scottish emcee’s accent and hitting on girls in the front rows. That was kind of dickish, but I’ll forgive him, since his flow is sick and his dreads are MAGNIFICENT.

How about a setlist? We all dig those.
1. I’m innocent
2. Hustle
3. Silly Girl
4. Bad Man
5. The Science
6.Everything
7. Better than the Best
8. Dreadlocks
9. To Protect & Entertain
10. Madhouse
11. Me and Mrs. John
12. The OJ song
13. Lookin’ Fly

Image by Anna Hiatt/Staff Photographer