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Flavorpill SF | NYC | LA | LONDON | CHI May 29 - June 4, 2007

 
 Sham Saenz   
Cultural Stimuli in SF
Issue 265: alchemy flavor

Thank the stars for the construction wizards who got the 580 overpass up and running before this weekend's Memorial Day parties. We're holding our collective breaths while rumbling over it that Caltrans' magicks are — like David Blaine's — for real. This week, in fact, is packed with creatives who can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. Japanther employ simple tools, a drum and a bass, to create a whirlwind of delirious noise rock; Loney, Dear borrows the Elephant Six formula and infuses it with a particularly haunting melancholia; while Secret Chiefs 3 and Mary Timony expand their own unique sound umbrellas. On the gallery walls, Margaret Wall-Romana gives lovely flowers a sinister edge and Sham Saenz conjures a colorful yet creepy prison world. The comedic arts, meantime, are practiced deftly by Louis C.K. and Bucky Sinister, who have a gift for turning even the most painful situations into something side-splittingly funny. Fire up your magic carpet, and spread it...

- Lisa Hix, Managing Editor

 

Flavorpill SF is an email magazine covering a hand-picked selection of music, art, and cultural events — delivered each Tuesday afternoon.







 


Wired.com is the real-time version of WIRED magazine, delivering exclusive, original reporting at the intersections of technology and business, entertainment, politics, culture, science, and art. With five million unique readers per month and more than 200 posts — 7-10 unique stories per day — Wired.com is the go-to site for thoughtful, hip technology news and information.
 Table of Contents TUE   WED   THUR   FRI   SAT   SUN   MON   ONG   FEAT
art Jill Sylvia; Margaret Wall-Romana; The Secretariat; Sham Saenz; Jeannene Przyblyski; Prelude to a Performance; I Pity the Dolls!
benefit Kafana Balkan
comedy Louis C.K.
dj Richie Hawtin; Adam Freeland
film Another Hole in the Head; Films from End of the World
music The Black Angels; The Mary Timony Band; The Raveonettes Electric Duo; CSS w/ Bonde Do Role; Loney, Dear; Ruby Iron; Sergio Iglesias & the Latin Love Machine; Pretty Girls Make Graves; Japanther; Zion I and the Grouch; Secret Chiefs 3
partyChillin' 9th Anniversary Party
reading Bucky Sinister
FEAT because laughter is medicine Funny or Die; cd review Various Artists, Urban Africa Club; streams Beats in Space




Zombies Everywhere!
If you missed last weekend's Zombie Mob, don't despair. Another Hole in the Head horror film festival is sending more sluggish brain-eaters your way.

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Tuesday TUE   WED   THUR   FRI   SAT   SUN   MON   ONG   FEAT


MUSIC: Folk Pop
Loney, Dear

when: Tue 5.29 (8pm)
where: The Independent (628 Divisadero St, 415.771.1421) map
price: $12
links: Event Info | Loney, Dear

Melancholic boys in their bedrooms need more than a guitar to convey their loneliness and unappreciated genius these days. Now they whip out glockenspiels, violins, a horn section, and of course, a childlike sense of whimsy. But Swede Emil Svanängen, the multi-instrumentalist behind Loney, Dear, stands apart from the pack of Stuart Murdoch and Sufjan Stevens wannabes, with songs densely layered with instrumentation, yet hushed and delicate as a flower petal. "I Am John," the sunny, Beach Boys-esque single on his Sub Pop debut, has such a tender quality that one feels slightly protective of him, as when seeing a little boy play in the street. (LH)

Note: Get there early to catch the much-hyped indie rockers Great Northern.

  Until 2005, which letter was treated as "a mere decoration of 'V'" in the Swedish language? The first randomly drawn correct response receives a pair of tickets to this show. Entries close at 6pm on Tue 5.29.



MUSIC: Spazz Rock
Japanther w/ Roman Gabriel Todd's Beast Rising up out of the Sea and Jurassic Park 4

when: Tue 5.29 (9pm)
where: 21 Grand (416 25th St, Oakland, 510.444.7263) map
price: $6
links: Event Info | Japanther | Roman Gabriel Todd's Beast Rising up out of the Sea

Sure, Japanther could rip your bowels out with their loudness, but as long as they've got your intestines in their grips they're going to make you dance through their propulsive disco-punk beats. If you had a chance to experience the Brooklyn band's drum-and-bass chaos — particularly their collaborations with synchronized swimmers — you know the experience is a character builder. To get you ready, Roman Gabriel Todd's Beast Rising up out of the Sea pound you to a pulp with arty noise. And for something completely different, impromptu musical Jurassic Park 4 starts the evening off; singing velociraptors, anyone? (LH)

Note: Japanther also play Wed 5.30 (9pm) at the Hemlock Tavern.



Wednesday TUE   WED   THUR   FRI   SAT   SUN   MON   ONG   FEAT


READING
Green Apple Books presents Bucky Sinister

when: Wed 5.30 (7-10pm)
where: Hypnodrome (575 10th St, 415.239.6825) map
price:
links: Event Info | Bucky Sinister

At times, Bay Area spoken-word artist Bucky Sinister reads in a voice like a bear that's been run over by a Harley a couple times on a gravel driveway. So if you think poetry is the realm of sissies, Bucky could change your mind. Inspired by Bukowski, he plunged the genre into the whiskey-soaked world of hardcore punk, pummeling his words in the middle of a mosh pit. These days, he's transitioning from spoken word to standup, detailing the most absurd moments as an atheist on the road to sobriety in his new book, All Blacked Out & Nowhere to Go. (LH)

So many books, so little time. Why waste it with a dud? That's why there's Boldtype — Flavorpill's monthly review of books that are well worth reading.



MUSIC: Rawk
The Black Angels w/ Vietnam

when: Wed 5.30 (8pm)
where: The Independent (628 Divisadero St, 415.771.1421) map
price: $14
links: Event Info | The Black Angels | Vietnam

The Black Angels' spellbinding live shows — and Passover debut — have a quintessentially '60s vibe, like Lou Reed drinking with Jim Morrison. Yet the dense reverb, looped organs, and fuzzed-out guitars also bring to mind psychedelic contemporaries the Brian Jonestown Massacre and recent tour-mates Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Frontman Maas' fire-and-brimstone lyrics inform the band's droning, organic style for an otherworldly, Altamont-inspired approach. Lines like "Don't stop moving, they're right behind you" seem paranoid at first, then become a call to arms. A new Summer of Love is truly upon us: hippie-haired Vietnam rock the stage tonight, too. (JMS)

Note: Spindrift and Greg Ashley (of Gris Gris) open.

  If Lou Reed and Jim Morrison were to get drunk together, who would drink whom under the table and why? Our favorite response in 50 words or less receives a pair of tickets to this show. Entries close at 6pm on Tue 5.29.



COMEDY
Louis C.K. w/ Dan Mintz and Kris Tinkle

when: Wed 5.30 & Thur 5.31 (8pm) / Fri 6.1 & Sat 6.2 (8 & 10pm)
where: Punch Line (444 Battery St, 415.397.4337) map
price: Wed & Thur: $18 / Fri & Sat: $22
links: Event Info | Louis C.K. | Dan Mintz | Kris Tinkle

Louis C.K.'s been in the trenches of comedy as a writer for late-nighters Letterman and Conan as well as the Chris Rock Show. Despite more recent career breakthroughs such as his own Lucky Louie and specials on HBO and Comedy Central, it's cult classic Pootie Tang — which he wrote (practically in his own language) and directed — that we'll carve into his tombstone. Backing up C.K. tonight are Louie alum Dan Mintz and local funnyman Kris Tinkle, who both bring a truckload of yuks. (TW)

  Where was Louis C.K. ranked in Comedy Central's list of 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time? The first randomly drawn correct response receives a pair of tickets to the 8pm show on Thur 5.31. Entries close at 6pm on Tue 5.29.



Thursday TUE   WED   THUR   FRI   SAT   SUN   MON   ONG   FEAT


ART: Opening
Sham Saenz: Panoptican

when: Thur 5.31 & Fri 6.1 (6-9pm)
where: Mama Buzz Café (2318 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, 510.465.4073) map
price:
links: Event Info | Sham Saenz

Luggage Store artist-in-residence Sham Saenz makes prison look downright pretty with his show Panopticon at Oakland's Buzz Gallery. These vibrant gouache paintings are interpretations of philosopher Jeremy Bentham's 18th century blueprints for a prison in which the population is constantly watched by all-seeing guards in a central tower invisible to the inmates. If you feel a bit voyeuristic, you can watch the hundreds of scenesters, hippies, and yuppies descend upon Telegraph Avenue during Oakland's Art Murmur night. But be on your best behavior, you never know who's watching you. (DS)

Note: This exhibition runs through Fri 6.29 (Mon-Thur: 7am-9pm / Fri: 7am-10pm / Sat: 8am-10pm / Sun: 8am-9pm).



MUSIC: Indie Rock
The Mary Timony Band

when: Thur 5.31 (9pm)
where: Bottom of the Hill (1233 17th St, 415.621.4455) map
price: $10
links: Event Info | The Mary Timony Band

With Sonic Youth, Lou Barlow, and Dinosaur Jr. all on tour this summer, it's beginning to look a lot like 1992. Adding to the retro-indie effect is the return of Mary Timony, whose all-girl math-rock band, Autoclave, was a Dischord staple in the early '90s before she moved to Boston to join the fuzz-pop trio Helium. Timony's latest musical incarnation includes former DC labelmates Devin Ocampo and Chad Molter. The band draws inspiration from Timony's Magic City-era fantasy rock as well as the sparser, punk-inspired sound that marked her more recent solo work. (CH)



MUSIC: Swingin' Jazz
Ruby Iron & the Knockout Combo

when: Thur 5.31 (9:15 & 10:30pm)
where: Café Van Kleef (1621 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, 510.763.7711) map
price: $5
links: Event Info

The voice of Miss Ruby Iron, aka Robin Coomer also of Loop! Station, could make just about any cover sound better than the original. As Iron, Coomer belts out old tunes like Sinatra's "All of Me" in a manner so powerful and beguiling, you can't believe you ever thought this kind of music was outdated. Her Knockout Combo includes bassist Seth Ford Young, who has also worked with Tom Waits and Mark Growden. Café Van Kleef's charmingly cluttered, future-rustic atmosphere creates the perfect backdrop for you to kick back with one of their famous fresh-squeezed Greyhounds and get your swing on, baby. (DS)



Friday TUE   WED   THUR   FRI   SAT   SUN   MON   ONG   FEAT


FILM: Festival
Another Hole in the Head

when: Fri 6.1 - Sat 6.23 (schedule)
where: Various Locations map
price: $10-20
links: Event Info

Horror these days is all about franchise, whether it's the umpteenth remake of an established classic (The Hills Have Eyes) or the continuation of a newer, extreme gore series (Hostel 2). Thankfully, Another Hole in the Head pumps fresh blood into the genre with nearly a month of eye-gouging, flesh-carving fun. Festival opener StagKnight sets a sanguinary suit of armor loose on a pack of blokes in the vein of zombie comedy gem Shawn of the Dead (2004), while the live version of Night of the Living Dead (1968) is sure to require more ponchos than a Gallagher show. (MS)

Note: Purchase an all-festival pass for $175.



ART: Opening
Jeannene Przyblyski: Comings and Goings: 2 Backwards Journeys Through Lands End

when: Fri 6.1 (6:30-9pm)
where: Southern Exposure (401 Alabama St, 415.863.2141) map
price:
links: Event Info

This self-guided walking tour, created by Jeannene Przyblyski and the Bureau of Urban Secrets, takes you down the San Francisco coast, from Sutro Heights to Sea Cliff and back, along a strip of unadulterated green space between the urbanized world and the ocean. The downloadable podcast or CD-ROM for Comings and Goings: 2 Backwards Journeys Through Lands End, provided by Southern Exposure, guides participants through benchmarks in the area's history and landscape from Victorian pleasure to military maneuvers and changes in the ecosystem. A comment on the shifting nature of history, the recordings tell different versions of the story, in different contexts, from different points-of-view. Przyblyski explains in further detail tonight at Southern Exposure. (LH)

Note: This exhibition is up through Sat 6.29 (Tue-Sat: 12-6pm).



DJ
Richie Hawtin w/Magda

when: Fri 6.1 (9pm)
where: Mighty (119 Utah St, 415.762.0151) map
price: $22
links: Event Info | Richie Hawtin

Hot on the heels of Movement, Motor City's own Richie Hawtin graces the decks at Mighty, serving up his trademark minimalist techno, inflected with industrial Midwest crunch and laced with European synth swells. While he's performed under a number of monikers (including IDM's groundbreaking Plastikman and the more cerebral F.U.S.E.) during his 15-year-plus career, Hawtin has returned to using his own name on a series of recent concept-based mix albums and 12-inches. Tonight he shares the ones and twos with his protégée, Magda. (CH)



DJ
Adam Freeland

when: Fri 6.1 (9pm)
where: Mezzanine (444 Jessie St, 415.625.8880) map
price: $18
links: Event Info | Adam Freeland

Though known primarily as a "nu-skool" breakbeat DJ, Adam Freeland knows how to bring it on all levels, whether it be straight breaks, tech-house, or dubby jungle. Freeland's popularity is also due to his knack for proper pacing, something that even some of the best DJs tend to forget about while in the mix. His set ebbs and flows, and he's unafraid to bring in a Spaceman 3 track next to Mylo and then transition to harder, more progressive tech-house before releasing some wicked breaks. Eclectic without being gimmicky, Freeland sees the lines that criss-cross and connect dance genres like few others. (KH)

Note: Also bringing some down-dirty funk to the evening is [e].



Saturday TUE   WED   THUR   FRI   SAT   SUN   MON   ONG   FEAT


BENEFIT
Kafana Balkan

when: Sat 6.2 (7pm)
where: Rickshaw Stop (155 Fell St, 415.861.2011) map
price: $10-25 sliding scale
links: Event Info | Kafana Balkan

Brass Menažeri, a Balkan Gypsy brass orchestra, belt out a chaotic mixture of sound that is part high-energy acid jazz, part Klezmer, and part something-similar-to-rock. They're in town raising funds for the Bread and Cheese Circus, which provides pure, unadulterated silliness to refugee children in Kosovo. The live band is joined by local DJ Zeljko, spinning Balkan music generally not heard at any venues West of NYC's Bulgarian Bar. Bonus: members of the Circus are on hand to turn adults back into children again. (EF)



MUSIC: Garage Rock
The Raveonettes Electric Duo

when: Sat 6.2 (9pm)
where: Café du Nord (2170 Market St, 415.861.5016) map
price: $15
links: Event Info | The Raveonettes

Relying on a brassy combination of lo-fi garage doo-wop and dreamy guitar reverb, the Danish duo of Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo, who are the Raveonettes, roared their way onto mixtapes and college radio with the pop-perfect songs of Chain Gang of Love. While their 2005 release, Pretty in Black, featured guest spots from heavy hitters like Ronnie Spector and Moe Tucker, the duo has stripped down its sound, jettisoning its touring drummer and bassist, and returning to its original, smaller scope, with Wagner on guitar and Foo on bass. (CH)

  According to one Raveonettes song, where might one look for love? Two randomly drawn correct responses each receive a pair of tickets to this show. Entries close at 6pm on Tue 5.29.



ALSO ON SAT

PARTY
Chillin' 9th Anniversary Party
Sat 6.2 (8pm) Mezzanine (444 Jessie St, 415.625.8880) map $6

Event Info
 
Chillin' provides the remedy for white walls and drab wardrobes with an array of art, clothes, jewelry, and accessories from 140 local designers, painters, and photographers. Visual and auditory experience provided by area filmmakers and DJs. (EF)



MUSIC: Underground Hip-Hop
Zion I and the Grouch
Sat 6.2 (9pm) The Independent (628 Divisadero St, 415.771.1421) map $22 / $20 advance

Event Info
 
Tha Town got its very own rap dream-team when underground stalwarts Zion I teamed up with Living Legend's the Grouch for Heroes in the City of Dope, where artful rhymes ride Amp's taut and funky beats from the hottest clubs to Mayor Dellums' inauguration party. (TW)

  What would Oscar the Grouch serve if you were to share a meal with him in his trashcan? Our favorite response in 50 words or less receives a pair of tickets to this show. Entries close at 6pm on Tue 5.29.



Sunday TUE   WED   THUR   FRI   SAT   SUN   MON   ONG   FEAT


ART: Performance
Prelude to a Performance w/ James Luna and Guillermo Gómez-Peña

when: Sun 6.3 (4pm)
where: Headlands Center for the Arts (944 Fort Barry, Sausalito, 415.331.2787) map
price: $10
links: Event Info | James Luna | Guillermo Gómez-Peña

James Luna, a conceptual artist of Lusieño Indian heritage who is the Center's current artist-in-residence, teams up with Meso-American performance artist/writer Guillermo Gómez-Peña to create an ongoing work building on both artists' previous challenging and humorous interrogations of museum culture's exoticization of "New World" races and cultures. Drawing from Marin's history and the larger history of California's colonization at the hands of missionaries, Luna and Gómez-Peña are sure to resettle the cultural landscape within the gallery space by unsettling the historical field that surrounds it. (MS)



FILM
Films from End of the World

when: Sun 6.3 (7:30pm)
where: YBCA Screening Room (701 Mission St, 415.978.2787) map
price: $8
links: Event Info

Russia is not exactly at the end of the world, but Blockade — Sergei Loznitsa's punishing art brut documentary of the 900-day Siege of Leningrad — places you at the epicenter of a veritable Armageddon. Combining rarely seen archival footage from the St. Petersburg Studio of Documentary Films with unnervingly vivid sound design, Loznitsa creates a harrowing abstract testimony on behalf of those who perished as well as a testament to what he calls "the nightmare of a completely absurd existence." That nightmare continues to play out across this program curated under the sign of Saturn. (MS)



MUSIC: Avant-Noise
Sergio Iglesias & the Latin Love Machine

when: Sun 6.3 (9:30pm)
where: Hemlock Tavern (1131 Polk St, 415.923.0923) map
price: $6
links: Event Info | Sergio Iglesias & the Latin Love Machine

Sergio Iglesias & the Latin Love Machine don't so much play shows as they do "happenings." With a half-dozen folks wielding various instruments and props, the local collective churns out fiercely chaotic improv-noise without the crutch of structure. It's often not clear whether they're playing the same tempo, song, or genre, even. The band is not recommended for the faint of heart (or ear!), but it's a blast of pure, much-needed adrenaline for those who like their rock chaotic. Come prepared to dance, because there's nowhere to hide in the Hemlock's sweatbox. (TW)

Note: Experience the live electronic experimental act, Antiguo Automata Mexicano, before Sergio hits the stage.

  Which "homemade" instrument would you create if you were a member of the Latin Love Machine, and why? Our two favorite responses in 50 words or less each receive a pair of tickets to this show. Entries close at 6pm on Tue 5.29.



ALSO ON SUN

MUSIC: Avant-Garde
Secret Chiefs 3
Sun 6.3 (8pm) Great American Music Hall (859 O'Farrell St, 415.885.0750) map $19 / $17 advance

Event Info
 
The Secret Chiefs 3's incantations in the form of Persian death-metal/progressive surf rock instill both fear and respect in the hearts of the band's audience — leaving one wondering whether the members actually practice black magic. (DS)

  Which experimental rock band did Secret Chief Trey Spruance start with Mike Patton and Trevor Dunn? Two randomly drawn correct responses each receive a pair of tickets to this show. Entries close at 6pm on Tue 5.29.



Monday TUE   WED   THUR   FRI   SAT   SUN   MON   ONG   FEAT


MUSIC
Pretty Girls Make Graves w/ Kill Me Tomorrow and Moonrats

when: Mon 6.4 (8pm)
where: Great American Music Hall (859 O'Farrell St, 415.885.0750) map
price: $15 / $13 advance
links: Event Info | Pretty Girls Make Graves | Kill Me Tomorrow | Moonrats

Back in 2002 on "Ghosts in the Radio," PGMG's grrrl lead singer Andrea Zollo sang, "Nothing really lasts forever, and we know it." For six years, this Pacific Northwest punk supergroup, featuring members of Murder City Devils and the Hookers, has been putting on high-energy live shows with old-school rock riffs so fast, hooky, and loud there's no denying their power. Now PGMG are themselves on the verge of becoming ghosts in the radio, as the group announced it was breaking up in January. It's sad to see a good thing go, but at least the band is doing everyone the courtesy of one last tour, a final chance to catch their spectacular show. (LH)



Ongoing / Upcoming TUE   WED   THUR   FRI   SAT   SUN   MON   ONG   FEAT


ART
Jill Sylvia: Ledger

when: Now through Fri 6.15 (Thur-Sat: 1-5pm)
where: Eleanor Harwood Gallery (1295 Alabama St, 415.867.7770) map
price:
links: Event Info

Jill Silvia's new work seems lifted from the fantasies of an overworked scrivener. Taking a knife to ledger paper, Silvia cut and arranged thousands of squares into abstract and representational mosaics, covering the territory of Cy Twombly's drawling penmanship, Japanese landscapes, and Italian minimalism. Some ledgers, stripped of their boxes, are intricate, skeletal grids whose transactions amount to gaping voids, suggesting that the search for meaning through organization is both arbitrary and futile and that the methods we employ to arrange our world provide more insight into ourselves than that which we seek to organize. Silvia's pieces are meticulous and charged with the prognosticative authority of accountants and oracles. (IA)



ART
The Secretariat

when: Now through Sat 6.23 (Tue-Fri: 10:30am-5pm / Sat: 12-5pm)
where: Aftermodern Gallery (445 Bryant St, 415.512.7678) map
price:
links: Event Info

Organized by artist and instructor-lecturer Geof Oppenheimer of UC Berkeley, The Secretariat features a versatile group of artists, including Walead Beshty, Tim Davis, Desiree Holman, Olga Koumoundouros, Yoshua Okon, and Patrick Rock. Like Erwin Wurm, many of the artists convey poignant themes through use of the absurd, notably, Beshty (who once photographed his head in various mall merchandise displays) and Holman (who, in a film, asked her actors to act like chimpanzees). This diverse staging is united by the works' playful exploration of sociopolitical ambiguities and paradoxes, offering valuable, timely criticism. (IA)



ART
Margaret Wall-Romana: The Spaces

when: Now through Sun 6.24 (Tue-Sat: 11am-6pm)
where: Bucheon Gallery (389 Grove St, 415.863.2891) map
price:
links: Event Info

Don't be taken in by the soft light and pastels: there's gloppy vegetable matter stuck between the petunias. The Spaces depicts verdant flora-scapes in varying states of fecundity. Uprooted from their flowerbeds, the artist's roiling heaps of foliage defy physics — her midair swamps are reminiscent of a storm of Raphaelite cherubim in heavenly procession. Featuring undergrowth in dark emerald hues, bone, and vine, the dark forms are set against romantic backdrops and sweeping vistas. These could be scenes from forgotten vanitas studies or some Danse Macabre, but while death may be certain and life fleeting, these paintings point to the wealth of beauty and pleasure that may be found in transient states. (IA)



MUSIC: Upcoming
CSS w/ Bonde do Role

when: Sat 6.9 (9pm)
where: Mezzanine (444 Jessie St, 415.625.8880) map
price: $12 advance
links: Event Info | CSS | Bonde do Role

Haters like to write off CSS and Bonde do Role as arriviste plunderers who program snippets of scenester-sanctioned pop culture into their Doctor Samples and set it all to a disco-punk, baile-funk beat. But so what? It's these two Brazilian groups' total lack of restraint and disregard for taste that makes them so fun. Why can't swiped Missy Elliot lyrics work in a song about Paris Hilton that sounds like a Diplo remix of the Go-Gos? CSS and Bonde do Role make it work — and when they play together, they make it work like Pop Rocks and soda. (MS)



ALSO ONGOING/UPCOMING

ART
I Pity the Dolls!
Now through Fri 6.15 (Wed-Sat: 2-6pm) Rx Gallery (132 Eddy St, 415.474.7973) map

Event Info
 
Greg Rivera and Mike Essl have to be the most badass obsessives around, having managed to amass a total of 175 homemade Mr. T dolls from the '80s. Check out the art show in honor the big lug with a soft side. (LH)



Features TUE   WED   THUR   FRI   SAT   SUN   MON   ONG   FEAT


  BECAUSE LAUGHTER IS MEDICINE: Funny or Die  

"Are you there, Internet? It's me, Will Ferrell." And with the launch of FunnyorDie.com, the call was heeded. Ferrell, along with Adam McKay and their company, Gary Sanchez Productions, modeled the site to invite viewer participation. Visitors not only vote for clips — granting them immortality or damning them to the depths of the crypt to die a (not so) lonely death — but are encouraged to upload and compete alongside Hollywood heavyweights for Net-traffic love. The site's filled with exclusives you won't find on YouTube, created by names from Zach Galifianakis to even Oscar de la Hoya and Brooke Shields, all raring to be the next viral video star. Just maybe, if you're worthy, you'll be one of Will's personal picks. Just don't tell Lisa Nova — they've got a "special" connection. (RB)



 


  CD REVIEW: Various Artists, Urban Africa Club  

Out Here
Released January 2007
$14.99 (Amazon)

All over the African continent, relatively cheap production software has opened a digital palette to producers and MCs. Urban African Club aims to introduce Western ears to the tracks that keep clubs sweaty from Soweto to Dakar. The compilation opens with Zola's "Bhambatha," a banger that exemplifies South Africa's increasingly dominant kwaito style. Its distinctive, inflected house bounce also underwrites "Atoti Pt 2," a fever-inducing party-starter from Kenya's Gidigidimajimaji. The compilation is bursting with hip-hop hybrids, from Tanzanian bongo flavor to Ghanian hiplife, but more familiar international styles also make appearances. Uganda's Peter Miles drops a digitized dancehall burner, while fresh permutations of rap from Senegal to Gabon round out the compilation. With such a vast reach it's inevitable that Urban African Club doesn't quite hold together; but that's a small price for such an ear-opening experience. (TW)

This review originally appeared in our sister publication Earplug.


 


  STREAMS: Beats in Space  

With an ever-growing global following, Tim Sweeney's Beats in Space is a testament to the power of niche media. Though it's hosted from the WNYU studios, the radio show is consumed via weekly podcasts by devoted music heads hailing from Södermalm to Shibuya. This week, it boasts a mix from disco-edit don Pilooski and the Dirty Sound System — who drop all things psych, cosmic, and left-of-center in support of their forthcoming Space Disco comp. Also, be sure to check out a mix by Andy Butler from recent DFA signings Hercules and Love Affair. And, lest we neglect the archives, take a look around for classic mixes by the likes of Kid Koala and Ninja Tune's PC. (CJN)



 


Flavorinfo TUE   WED   THUR   FRI   SAT   SUN   MON   ONG   FEAT


 
 
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Flavorpill SF is a free weekly email magazine covering cultural happenings across art, music, film, theatre, dance, literature, and DJ events. All content is produced by a local team of writers in SF. We don't include sold-out events, and all listings are pure editorial — no money is accepted from venues, artists, or promoters. Read more about us.
 
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A twice-monthly email magazine highlighting the latest in electronic music — including news, reviews, and original features

Books worth reading
A monthly review focusing on smart, readable works of fiction and nonfiction, from current titles to past gems

Global fashion trends
A twice-monthly, insider view on fashion trends breaking in Paris, London, New York, and around the world

International art
A twice-monthly email magazine covering art, design, and architecture with profiles, news, and reviews of international shows

World news once a week
A weekly roundup of the most important and engaging news stories from around the globe

 
 
 
 



 
 

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