Marc Weinstein of Amoeba Music, named top record store in the country. Photo: Vinyl Hounds So sooner had the ink dried on our story about Amoeba celebrating National Record Store Day tomorrow with, among other things, an appearance by The Lonely Island Berkeley boys, than the news crosses our transom that Rolling Stone has named Amoeba […]
Music
The boys are back in town: Lonely Island trio hit Berkeley
Jorma Taccone, Andy Samberg and Akiva Schaffer: visiting their Berkeley hometown Update, 7:30pm: Exciting news: Dina, one of the managers of Amoeba, writes in to say that this event is NOT sold out as of 5 o’clock 4.14.11. “There are still wristbands available for those who pre-order the new album. Thanks! Peace” Thanks Dina. The […]
If you needed a reason to hear Mahler 6 this afternoon…
Friday morning, Berkeleyside previewed the weekend residency by the Vienna Philharmonic in Berkeley. You can see and hear a glimpse of Friday morning’s rehearsal in the video above, which shows the orchestra rehearsing Gustav Mahler’s Sixth Symphony. The performance is this afternoon at 3 p.m. and there are still a few tickets left. It’s your […]
Feast of concerts, classes during Vienna Phil residency
Vienna Philharmonic in concert. Photo: Terry Linke. A little over 133 years ago, Han Richter conducted the Vienna Philharmonic in the first performance of Johannes Brahms’ Second Symphony. Tomorrow night, the Vienna Phil conducted by Seymon Bychkov will play the same Brahms symphony in Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall. The Vienna Philharmonic, one of the world’s greatest […]
Berkeley indie band Roosevelt Radio ‘had a blast’
We recently reported on Berkeley indie band Roosevelt Radio and their bid to win the chance to work with legendary producer Don Was. The five members of the band went to Los Angeles to compete in the Gimme The Gig competition on February 17. Berkeleyside reader Scott Empringham was there and reported that “These guys […]
Indie band competes for top recording contract
Tonight, a young Berkeley band will compete in Hollywood in a competition called “Gimme the Gig”, and, if they win, they’ll get the chance to work with legendary producer Don Was (think Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop and almost any other big name in popular music, and Was has worked with them). But Roosevelt […]
‘This was my company’: Rapper Yelawolf revisits Berkeley
There isn’t much rapper Yelawolf hasn’t seen or experienced. As his online biography notes, this “badass Alabaman” was born Michael Wayne Atha to an absentee father and a bartender mother, he attended over 15 schools while “soaking up slang and spiritualism in Baton Rouge, Antioch, Tennessee, and Atlanta”. He worked as a commercial fisherman in […]
New Orleans comes to Berkeley: the Treme second line
If you didn’t make it to the Treme Brass Band second line parade to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Arhoolie Records on Saturday you really missed something. Fortunately, Berkeleyside was there to give you a hint of the wonderful music and atmosphere on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. And it is just a hint: from the […]
Bollywood Berkeley takes the stage tomorrow
Bollywood Berkeley, which describes itself as “the largest collegiate Hindi film dance competition” (and who are we to argue?), will be at Zellerbach Hall tomorrow night. The competition has eight teams from a number of UC campuses as well as the University of Arizona, University of Washington and University of Southern California. UC Berkeley is […]
RAW party in Berkeley showcases local artists
The party that the national arts organization RAW is throwing Thursday night at the Hotel Shattuck Plaza defies description. It’s part fashion show, part art show, and part disco bash, with a dash of liquor and plenty of attitude thrown in. About ten local artists will show off their wares in an event that pulsates […]
Berkeley’s “jazz funeral without a body”
On Saturday, as part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Arhoolie Records, the New Orleans-based Tremè Brass Band will lead a second line parade from Civic Center Park to the Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse. One observer of New Orleans traditions calls the second line parade “a jazz funeral without a body”. The parade […]
Saxophonist Joshua Redman: Forged in Berkeley
Jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman: rooted in Berkeley. Photo: IMN. When Joshua Redman was growing up in Berkeley, his mother took him to a bewildering variety of music performances: Indonesian gamelan, Japanese Taiko drumming, African drumming, Persian traditional music, and so on. “It’s quite possible that if I hadn’t grown up in Berkeley I wouldn’t have […]