Launched in 1993, San Francisco's Noise Pop Music Festival has since turned itself into one of the West Coast's most popular musical events.  The central focus is indie rock and pop, but it features comedy performances, film screenings, and art panels.  In past years, the event has done quite a good job at encapsulating San Francisco's artistic nature, the arts being one of the city's most distinctive qualities.  Read more »

Recently I was lucky enough to see one of my favorite bands, The Virgins, perform at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. The first time I saw them was a few months ago when I went to a show they headlined at Cafe Du Nord (also in SF). When I went to that show, I'd originally gone to see one of the supporting acts, a local band called LoveLikeFire, but ended up falling in love with the sexy, driving bass lines and guitar licks, nonchalant vocals, and brutally blunt lyrics of the bad boy Virgins.

The Virgins hail from New York and played at the nearby All Points West this year. The CW caught some of their performance on video if you’d like to see live festival footage:  Read more »

Kelly and I had a GREAT time at the Now & Zen Fest! It was a bit of an adventure to get there, given the fact that we didn't realize we didn't know how to use public transportation in San Francisco as well as we thought we did. We ended up missing Lenka's performance :-( but we made it in time to see about half of Sara Bareilles' performance, which was completely wonderful and energetic. Unfortunately there are no pics of her, but we got into the photo pit for the rest of the festival. Coats PR got us VIP passes for the event so we were able to see the stage from a great view and were treated to catered lunch. I thought Gavin DeGraw was supposed to show up in the VIP section, but we must have missed him. So sad.

Check out our review of the festival and see the pictures in our "After Now & Zen" video (we also give the answers to the trivia questions). Here we are, the Queens of Bad Lighting and Shaky Cameras:

My friend Kelly and I got together this weekend to go to Radio Alice's Now & Zen Fest, which is held annually at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco CA. Here's a video of us right before we left for the festival. We have a few trivia questions about the five acts: Duffy, Lenka, Sugar Ray, Sara Bareilles, and Gavin DeGraw. Play along by leaving your answers in the comments. More video to come.

If you live in the Bay Area, you might be wondering what all the fuss is about the Now & Zen Fest that's happening this Sunday in Golden Gate Park. You may be asking questions like: Gavin DeWho? What's a Lenka? Isn't Sugar Ray that guy from Extra? If you find yourself in that category of questioners, fear no more. I have put together a playlist of songs that will most likely be played by the artists performing at Now & Zen. I picked my favorites from each artist--the alt rock and pop songs I, and many others, are looking forward to hearing. Go ahead and listen. And here's the link to buy a $25 ticket (seriously cheap, right?!) once you've decided these are the songs you want to hear too. A little bird told me to get your tickets early because the festival always sells out.

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Jeff Mackler, the Co-Director of the Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal,

giving a speech on Mumia's behalf and against the U.S. occupation of Iraq.

The Mobilization was one of 50 non- profit organizations represented at the 

free festival.

As the 2008 Power To The Peaceful festival got into full swing, excellent performances by the likes of Rebelution, one of the biggest new bands on the stateside reggae scene in 2008, and the articulately lamenting rap duo of Oakland pianist-vocalist Kev Choice and Richmond MC Silk-E, were juxtaposed on the main stage by an impassioned speech by Jeff Mackler, the Co-Director of the Oakland-based Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, to not just free Mumia, but also get the troops out of Iraq; the latter sentiment was echoed by underground San Francisco rapper Sellassie in an excellent bit of freestyle after Rebelution's set.   Read more »

Looking only at the lineup of artists, Outside Lands doesn't look a lot different than the four other big new North American rock festivals that have played earlier this summer. What makes it unique, says festival co-producer Allen Scott of Another Planet Entertainment, is its locale in a unique park setting in a unique American city.

"Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and Central Park in New York are probably the two most recognized parks in the country," Scott said in a pre-festival press conference. While Golden Gate Park has been the site of many musical events over the years, Outside Lands marks the first multiday, ticketed music festival with performances taking place at night.

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"Primus is an old comfortable pair of shoes," stated Les Claypool, bassist/frontman of rock group Primus, during an Outside Lands press conference. "And you get to a point when you’re wearing your old shoes that you long for some new shoes. And you wear them for a little bit, but it’s always good to come back to those comfortable shoes because – it’s like you know we’re going to do this big festival here in a couple of weeks." The festival he was referring to was Outside Lands, a San Francisco-based festival set to debut in one week. The festival is to be held in Golden Gate Park, a location which Claypool frequently takes his kids.
The 3-day, 6-stage event will feature a variety of acts over which any rocker, rhastafarian, folkie, or all-around music lover would squeal in ecstasy upon first hearing the lineup. To name a few, Radiohead, Tom Petty, Beck, and Wilco are scheduled to perform. On top of that, the Outside Lands festival will include Primus and Mike Gordon, two artists that the bass-playing community could really sinks its teeth int  Read more »