Quite a bit going on this week. There’s going to have to be some compromises for some folks out there but hopefully you already made you decision and are ready for a fine week in live music this week…
Tonight, Bay Area synth-poppers Shakes Gown hit up Blondie’s.
Tuesday, garage surfer band Girls do San Fran’s Amoeba Records at 6pm, Bad Brains and P.O.S. do a double nighter (Tuesday and Wednesday) at Slim’s, Mayer Hawthorne soothes the Rickshaw Stop, and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros rock out The Independent.
Wednesday, Arctic Monkeys test out their new sound with The Like at Oakland’s The Fox Theater and James Taylor sings to aging hippies at Mountain Winery in Saratoga.
Thursday, Phoenix and The Soft Pack come to destroy The Warfield, the epic line-up of Chairlift, El Ten Eleven, and Magic Bullets rock the Bottom of the Hill, and one of my favorite bands of the year, Fanfarlo, performs with Red Wire Black Wire plays a free show at Popscene. Also, The Brunettes, Throw Me the Statue, and My First Earthquake are playing the Rickshaw Stop, Thee Oh Sees and Wooden Shjips rock the Eagle Tavern, and Citizen Cope does The Mystic Theatre.
Friday finds The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and the amazing Cymbals Eat Guitars at The Great American Music Hall, prog-rock giants Porcupine Tree and That 1 Guy play The Warfield, The Dodos do a 6pm show at the San Fran Amoeba Records, dredg plays San Jose’s The Blank Club before heading out to Europe, The Twilight Sad and Frightened Rabbit come to charm The Independent, Sea Wolf plays Bimbo’s 365 Club, and folk legend Pete Seeger performs at Nob Hill Masonic Center.
Saturday parties up with Little Boots at The Independent, Mount Eerie plays at 21 Grand, Entrance and Amazing Baby rock out at the Bottom of the Hill, and The Twilight Sad and Frightened Rabbit do the Voodoo Lounge in San Jose.
Today is a great night for stand-up comedy in the city.
First you have Patton Oswalt at the Nob Hill Masonic Center, David Cross at The Warfield, Mary Van Note with Special Guests at The Dark Room, Liz Grant will be doing a Live DVD Taping at The Clubhouse along with Naked Comedy later that night, Eddie Griffin at San Jose Improv, Tommy Drake at Rooster T. Feathers, John Pinette at Cobb’s Comedy Club, John Mulaney at Punch Line Comedy Club, and Marga Gomez at The Purple Onion. Laugh it up fuckers!
See you out there!
Shakes Gown – 
Persona Non Grata from Mirror, Live EP (2009)
El Ten Eleven – Living On Credit Blues from Every Direction Is North (2007)
My First Earthquake – Outta The Band from Downstairs (2009)
Fanfarlo – I’m A Pilot from Reservoir (2009)
Phoenix – 1901 from Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (2009)
David Cross – My Wife’s Crazy! from Shut Up, You Fucking Baby! (Disc 2) (2002)