Today's outdoor SF Symphony concert in Justin Herman Plaza was fun and exciting, but for vastly different reasons than their usual concerts. The amplified sound quality was impeccable, and the playing was great, but - most importantly - the Symphony got to share their music with a much wider audience than they normally access. The concert was markedly informal, even for famously-lax conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, and its outdoor nature added a fresh flavor of unpredictability. At one point, Tilson Thomas held a particular note for 15 seconds when the wind flipped a page in his score. A few moments later, he continued conducting with his right hand, while reaching over and grabbing a binder clip from the concertmaster's music stand. The general atmosphere of the concert was also dramatically unpredictable. Sirens and horns mixed periodically with Beethoven and Berlioz, and bells from the Ferry Building delayed the start of two separate pieces (at the hour and half-hour). Add that to the mixed audience of families, businesspeople on their lunch breaks, schoolchildren, homeless people, and one guy in a baseball cap tap-dancing along to the music, and you've got yourself a cross-section of San Francisco's population. Still, the best part...
Tuesday's show, Matisyahu Unplugged, was an acoustic performance for an audience of over 400 people, sponsored by Chabad of the Tri-Valley. Matisyahu headlined on vocals, accompanied by D.P. Holmes of Dub Trio on guitar, with an opening performance by Josh Cohen, at Livermore's Bankhead Theater. The atmosphere was full of Chabadniks and other local Jews together for a chill evening. As Matisyahu improvised, receiving thunderous applause upon his arrival, he gave an impression of the mood by saying into the microphone "Hey Rabbi, you told me this was going to be a low-key evening!" Low key it might not have been, but it was a unique opportunity to meet a contemporary musician and a practicing Orthodox Jew. Advertised at local congregations around the East Bay and beyond, one major draw of this performance was the fact that the Jewish community had the chance to find out what's inside the head of a practicing Jew who is simultaneously following his dream performing music. The mood was light and "playful," according to Margaret Sawyer, an avid arts enthusiast. Matisyahu's demeanor with the audience between songs showed a side of him that few get to see. In-between some of the songs, Matisyahu had Q&A sessions, asking...
Second Sun isn't like every other electronic/dance act out there. Lead singer (yes, he sings) Antoine was practically bursting with energy as he explained Second Sun's show. "We're a live act," he said. "When we're onstage, we're playing our own songs and remixes, and we're playing them live, just as a rock back would make songs and then play them live onstage." Antoine explained that their live show gets pretty crazy, "especially after being cooped up in the studio," because they're actually playing keyboards and triggering sequences in real time. Their show even includes live vocals, which is highly unusual in the techno genre. Saturday's show will also feature some special tracks that aren't on Second Sun's records. "We like to make the live show special," Antoine said. "In our live show, we play some stuff that's never been released, and probably never will be." Antoine said to look out for a remix of ACDC's Thunderstruck, and a bootleg remix of MIA. He said that beyond licensing issues, Second Sun likes keeping some special songs for their lives performances. "People beg us to find a way to get it released," Antoine said, "but for us, we love the idea of...
Imagine clothed figure drawing and painting from eight artists, many of them using the same models, and it's unlikely you'd envision the diversity of East Bay Figure Painting Group's first show, currently running at Berkeley's Firehouse North Gallery. The surprisingly simple theme of "Work From the Model" brings us everything from Diana Blackwell's life-size, colorful, bold acrylics to Deborah Rogin's small, subtle pencil drawings, highlighting each artist's style and skill. Some models, such as Bob and Edna, appear in three different artists' work and look original in each. But it's not just the range of mediums and approaches that's interesting. The East Bay Figure Painting Group itself is unique in its focus on re-emerging artists. The question of how to sustain oneself as an artist of any kind is a difficult one. Get a non-demanding, probably low-paying day job and do art in the evenings? Squeeze in art while pursuing another career? Find work that allows you to use your creative skills in a profitable way? Artists can get burned out just trying to navigate it all. One of the East Bay Figure Painting Group's founders says, "Sustaining a lifetime of creative work is an art in itself." The...
Jewish Heritage Night at Tuesday's Giants game featured an eclectic mix of Jews, from Jewish summer camp staff and a young adult group to Chabad (serving Kosher hot dogs and He-Brew beer before the game). There was no obvious attraction, like Israeli basketball star Omri Caspi at the Warriors' Jewish Heritage Night last February. Rather, the Jews came out solely for the fun of celebrating their history, and gathering together as a community. As I learned at Chabad's pre-game tailgate barbeque, Jewish history is intimately intertwined with baseball. "Hank Greenberg came along at a time when Jews were very oppressed in America, and anti-Semitism was at its most rampant," said Howard Sapper, originally from Pittsburgh. "Hank Greenberg gave American Jews a reason to have pride, and from that place you get many many Jewish baseball fans." Sapper said that Greenberg was one of the main draws for pre-war and post-war Jews to baseball. However, on this particular day, aside from some fairly insistent JNF ads on the scoreboard, I didn't see much Judaism inside the stadium. The national anthem and 7th inning stretch were not sung by Jews, nor was the first pitch thrown out by one. Between the 4th...
