Aidin Vaziri: January 2011

22 January 2011

Pop Quiz: Daniel Lanois

Aidin Vaziri | Daniel Lanois is best known for his work behind the scenes on career-defining albums by U2 and Peter Gabriel. But with Black Dub, his latest collaborative project, the Grammy-winning Canadian producer is happy to step into the spotlight. Working with bassist Christopher Thomas, drummer Brian Blade, and singer and multi-instrumentalist Trixie Whitley (the daughter of the late blues musician Chris Whitley), Lanois pays casual tribute to his Jamaican music influences on the outfit's self-titled debut album. Still on the mend from the injuries he suffered in a motorcycle crash in Silver Lake last year, he brings the group to the Independent next Sunday.

Daniel Lanois
Q: Do you remember the motorcycle crash?
A: I sure do. I broke six ribs, the collarbone and got two fractures in the hip area. It was intense. I just got my motorcycle back from the shop.
Q: What were you doing on a motorcycle? And what were you doing in Silver Lake?
A: Well, I've been riding since I was 16. It's my main form of transportation. I was going to the Henry Fonda Theater to catch a show and I never made it.
Q: Did the crash hurt more than playing guitar on the road for Scott Weiland?
A: No. It was the about the same amount of disappointment. He just couldn't shake that habit. I still love him, though.
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Review: Cake, 'Showroom of Compassion'

Review: Cake, 'Showroom of Compassion': Aidin Vaziri | Six long years may have passed since Cake put out an album of original material, but the Sacramento band's fans have stayed faithful enough to warrant a four-night run at the Fillmore next month. While the band's contemporary Beck has tried on several musical hats, Cake rewards its followers' patience with a record that sticks tenaciously with formula - that easily identifiable mix of John McCrea's deadpan spoken-word vocals, mariachi horns, off-kilter rhythms, Yardbirds-era riffs and unconstrained quirkiness. "Mustache Man (Wasted)" and "Long Time," in particular, sound like carryovers from the group's gainful mid-'90s period (even though neither quite measures up to "The Distance"). But evolution hasn't eluded Cake completely. The brooding synth-pop ditty "Easy to Crash" and instrumental "Teenage Pregnancy" seem designed to offer some breathing room during the live set, while the opening protest song, "Federal Funding," seems as if it were written exclusively for the NPR demographic. Of course, with a droll chorus that goes "Strategize the presentation/ Make them see that you're the man," you might get the sense that no time has passed at all.

Pop Quiz: Chuck Prophet

Aidin Vaziri | San Francisco singer-songwriter Chuck Prophet is fearless. After recording his most recent album, "Let Freedom Ring," in Mexico City in the midst of the swine flu pandemic, he's currently out on the road with fellow local musician Chris Von Sneidern performing the Clash's classic "London Calling" album in its entirety. Their pickup band, Spanish Bombs, plays the Great American Music Hall on Jan. 29, after a brief European tour (a portion of the proceeds from the show will go to the Food Not Bombs organization). We checked in with Prophet recently while the group was making its way across Spain.

Chuck Prophet
Q: You're covering the Clash's "London Calling." The whole thing?
A: Yep. It's crazy. Figured if the Coen brothers can remake "True Grit," why not? So we cast it like a movie. I thought, if Chris von Sneidern will do the Mick Jones bits, I'll do it. I thought I knew the record inside out. It's a lot more words and chords than I remembered. It's like learning Shakespeare.
Q: Do you even have to do the songs you don't like?
A: Oh, yes. I know it's not exactly the Virgin Mary on toast, but we're staying true to the record in that respect. We're not tinkering with the story. We're not changing the ending. We're not changing one comma. But we have changed the grooves under the songs' feet.
Q: Q: Do you remember what happened to Pussy Galore after they covered the Rolling Stones' "Exile on Main Street"? They broke up. How do you plan on breaking up with yourself?
A: I've been duct-taped back together so many times already, what does it matter?
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Singing The Smiths

Smiths Project: Janice Whaley sings entire catalog: Aidin Vaziri | Fans of the long-defunct British band the Smiths are an extraordinarily dedicated bunch. They bear large-scale tattoos of group leader Morrissey on their backs, attend annual conventions featuring look-alike tribute acts and, in Brooklyn, there's even a Smiths-themed speed-dating event called - what else? - Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now. But last year Janice Whaley took her adulation for the band to another level. The 35-year-old single mom spent countless hours in a closet-size space in her San Jose home recording every single song the Smiths released during their lucrative run between 1984 and 1987, using nothing but her own voice. She posted the results of her experiment every week on her blog, the Smiths Project. Read more.

Review: James Blunt, 'Some Kind of Trouble'

Review: James Blunt, 'Some Kind of Trouble': Aidin Vaziri | How will James Blunt ever top "You're Beautiful," the plonking ballad that has played at just about every wedding reception in the world since it broke free from his 12-million-selling debut album, 2005's "Back to Bedlam"? On his third full-length release, "Some Kind of Trouble," the British singer-songwriter figures he should try to be all things to all people. He makes like Jason Mraz on the jaunty but seriously flawed first single "Stay The Night" (sample lyrics: "We've been singing 'Billie Jean'/ Mixing vodka with caffeine"), rattles off a series of leathery rock cliches in "Heart of Gold" and throws out a fresh wispy-voiced meditation at every turn ("So Far Gone," "No Tears"). Even those people whose last musical purchase was the "Beverly Hills Cop II" soundtrack are covered with the otherwise baffling inclusion of "Dangerous." It may sound infinitely more polished and mainstream than its two predecessors, but the distinct lack of inspiration hardly makes "Trouble" worth the bother.

10 January 2011

Pop Quiz: Joe Satriani

Aidin Vaziri | While his lawyers were hashing it out with Coldplay in court, contending the hit "Viva La Vida" borrowed liberally from his track "If I Could Fly," guitarist Joe Satriani was keeping busy on the road. Between touring with his supergroup Chickenfoot and the Experience Hendrix tribute show, he managed to record a new solo album, "Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards." The 54-year-old San Francisco transplant (he's originally from New York) plays the Fox Theater in Oakland on Thursday. We spoke with him by phone from a tour stop in Denver.

Joe Satriani
Q: You did the Experience Hendrix tour. For a guitarist of your stature, isn't that kind of like going back to kindergarten?
A: I thought that it would be a good cathartic experience to finally do what I had avoided for so many years. I was so crazy about Hendrix when I was young, I would never play it in front of people. When this opportunity came up, I felt like I had to open it up and share it with people. It helped me collect all my thoughts and writings for the new record.
Q: It's a pretty complex record. Did you make it in reaction to dumbing things down for Chickenfoot?
A: There was just so much leading up to me writing and recording this record. From the inside looking out, the stuff I listen to in the morning on any random day is as big an influence as the stuff I do that you might see on YouTube.
Q: Do you remember the last time you went a whole day without picking up a guitar?
A: Yes, because it was earlier this week in Chicago. We had just played six days in a row, we had a video shoot and then we had a day off. My hand was killing me, and I didn't want to play guitar at all. So I had a good day just listening to music.
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Review: INXS, 'Original Sin'

Review: INXS, 'Original Sin': Aidin Vaziri | No one is going to begrudge the surviving members of INXS for trying to make an honest living. They are experienced musicians, were once great songwriters, and have funny accents. But there surely has to be a better way than this. On "Original Sin," a cast of random B-list rockers is drafted to fill in for late singer Michael Hutchence on drastically reworked versions of some of his most popular songs. It's like karaoke gone haywire. Rob Thomas helms a dreadful techno remake of the title track. Ben Harper offers an odd duet with French singer Mylene Famer on a rock-opera version of the last song that needed a rock-opera version, "Never Tear Us Apart." Train's Pat Monahan somehow gets mixed up in the whole thing, too, even though he can't drop any references to washed-up '80s bands in the lyrics as he's actually singing with one. Those are just the big names. What purpose could this album possibly serve other than bolstering egos and bank accounts? It's a lame excuse for a tribute to Hutchence, who could out swivel any of the guests here in his sleep. It does nothing for the songs other than to drag them through the dirt. Really guys, it's time. Either take the royalty checks and bugger off to some deserted island or rip it up and start again.

Review: Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, 'III/IV'

Review: Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, 'III/IV': Aidin Vaziri | Ryan Adams has described his band's latest double-length opus as a rock opera about the '80s, ninjas, cigarettes, sex and pizza. Hey, anything has to be better than the plodding Grateful Dead-obsessed releases that rushed forward a few years back. Even though the songs here are actually leftovers from the recording sessions for 2007's "Easy Tiger," they are generally vastly superior to anything that actually made it onto the album proper. Charged, emotionally frayed jams like "Happy Birthday" and "Kisses Start Wars" in particular feel like throwbacks to his "Rock N Roll"-era glory years, while the country rocker "Typecast" reaches back even further to his days as the front man for Whiskeytown. Untethered and freshly sober, Adams rips through a set of songs that pull together his many influences, from the Smiths on the cascading "Ultraviolet Light" to the Stones on the willfully messy "The Sewers at the Bottom of the Wishing Well." His experiments in hair metal ("Icebreaker") and aping the Replacements ("Kill the Lights") may not be as effective, but overall this is invigorating, engaging stuff - a return to form, even - that you only hope enough fans have stuck around to actually hear.

Pop Quiz: Carlos Santana

Aidin Vaziri | Carlos Santana had such a blast with last year's residency concerts in Las Vegas he's not only going back for more, he's also moving there for good. Beginning Wednesday, the Grammy-winning guitar great, women's shoe designer and longtime Bay Area resident begins another round of career-spanning shows at the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, bringing along a heavy cache of hits that includes "Black Magic Woman," "Evil Ways" and the bulk of 1999's multiplatinum "Supernatural" album. The 63-year-old Woodstock veteran might also touch on a couple of songs from his latest release, "Guitar Heaven."

Carlos Santana
Q: You've been playing some of the songs in your set since Woodstock. How do you not get bored?
A: Do anything, but don't play notes. There's nothing more boring than a guy playing a bunch of notes. It's like going to a gym and watching somebody do their exercises. Play big slices of life. You need to put the guitar down and practice vision and feeling your heart. For me, those are the requirements for staying relevant.
Q: Earlier this year, you proposed to your drummer, Cindy Blackman, onstage. How do you plan on topping that in Vegas?
A: I think we topped it by playing together at the Oakland symphony a couple of weeks ago. My friend who was there said, "You were having sex onstage in front of everybody."
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The Uptown Revival in Napa

George Altamura revives Napa's Uptown Theatre: Aidin Vaziri | George Altamura, the 79-year-old real estate mogul who owns a big chunk of Wine Country, has no idea how much he spent renovating the Uptown Theatre in Napa. He doesn't even want to know. "If I knew what it cost me, I probably wouldn't do it," he said on a recent rainy Tuesday afternoon at the venue. All he knows is, after years of doing things strictly for the money, he wanted to take this one on as a labor of love - something to give back to the city where he built his empire. "I used to come to the movies and sit right here," he said, standing in the center of the lovingly restored downtown venue that reopened its doors in May after a decade in the dark. "You had to pay 15 cents extra to sit in these loge seats, but I never paid attention to the theater because I was always with a girl." Read more.

07 January 2011

Bill Graham's 80th: A Celebration for a Cause

Bill Graham foundation holds annual fundraiser: Aidin Vaziri | When Bill Graham's friends, colleagues and family members set up a foundation in his name shortly after his death in 1991, they didn't intend to merely memorialize their fallen comrade. They wanted to make sure they kept the mercurial rock impresario's little-discussed humanitarian spirit alive. "Our office was a pretty close-knit space, so we would see Bill's philanthropy firsthand," said Bob Barsotti, the former production chief at Bill Graham Presents, who now serves as the president of the Bill Graham Memorial Foundation. "It was always done with little fanfare - usually just some person walking in the back door and walking out with an envelope," he said. "That's what we saw missing in our community after he died - the support for the little people." In honor of what would have been Graham's 80th birthday, the long-running foundation will hold its annual fundraiser at the Fillmore on Saturday with headliners Los Lobos and local singer-songwriter Jackie Greene.
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