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Wednesday, October 15
Laaz Rockit
VooDoo Lounge
14 S. Second St, San Jose
408.286.VODO
Wed – 8pm
How OG is the Bay Area thrash-metal pioneer Laaz Rockit? OG enough to have a YouTube clip of one of their old-school music videos from back in the day, which features all the requisites for bad-ass thrash: chainsaws, black jeans, high-top sneakers and faces obscured by more hair than Cousin It. Oh, and the music rocks too, with thrashing (duh) guitar riffs, wailing solos and vocals that sound somewhere between singing and screaming. For all the attention given to Metallica over the years, there seems to be a missing history of like-minded groups who not only influenced Lars and the gang, but actually helped bring thrash metal to the mainstream. One of those bands is certainly Laaz Rockit. Also playing tonight is War Prayer, Vicious Rumors, and Mudface. (GW)
Thursday, October 16
Agent Orange
VooDoo Lounge
14 S. Second St, San Jose
408.286.VODO
Thu – 8pm
Why these guys didn't put their cover of Dick Dale's "Miserlou" on their new best-of is beyond me. It was the perfect match-up of old-school surf classic and punk rock, delivered by the Grand Poobahs of the Orange County sound. Over the last 20 years, Mike Palm and company have (1) transcended the joke that everybody thought surf punk was; (2) pointed the way to the multiplatinum success of SoCal bands like the Offspring while showing an uncanny ability to avoid any type of mainstream success themselves; and (3) knocked our asses out on a 15-foot wave of power chords. This is U.S. history, I see the globe right there. The Flames and the Uglies also perform. (SP)
Friday, October 17
Dialtone
Caravan
98 Almaden Ave, San Jose
408.995.6220
Fri – 9pm; free
The Los Angeles–based rock trio Dialtone describes its sound as "New Wave-grunge-disco-punk" (a.k.a. indie rock). The band is made up of brothers Paul (guitar) and Mike (drums) Orea and George Maiale (bass). Dialtone combines catchy melodies with amusing lyrics to create songs that poke fun at pop culture, especially people's obsession with technology. Their debut album, No Hang-Ups, was released earlier this year. An added bonus: The band has provided free downloads of it via its MySpace page. (AF)
Saturday October 18
Voodoo Glow Skulls
San Jose Skate
397 Blossom Hill Road, San Jose
408.226.1155
Sat – 6pm; $12 (includes skating)
The Voodoo Glow Skulls stood out in the third wave of ska thanks to the relentless, epileptic speed of their songs. Their first full-length album, Who Is, This Is (1994), was chock-full of similar sounding, Spanglish-speaking, horn-blasting punk rock ska played at twice the speed as most of their contemporaries, all of which fueled mosh pits like napalm feeds a fire. Prepare for serious "Insubordination" played "Sin Berguensa," and of course the ever-living call-and-response chant, "Whodoo voodoo wedoo? Fuck You!" Don't ask, just scream it. (MC)
Sunday, October 19
Will Durst Comedy Spectacular
Little Fox
2209 Broadway, Redwood City
650.369.4119
Sun – 7pm; $18-$20
After last week's debate, it seems tough to crack a smile at the current state of politics (easier to cry or vomit if you ask me), but, like SNL and the Sara Palin sketch, Will Durst and friends have managed to find humor within the current election. Durst recently published The All American Sport of Bipartisan Bashing, a book that John Stewart is no doubt a tad bit jealous of, with lines like "George Bush is as wrong as Wyoming Sushi" around every paragraph. Of course, Durst's writing career is only a recent intrigue; he cut his teeth as a political comic long before picking up the pen. Laugh along Durst and fellow comics W. Kamau Bell, Hari Kondalolu, Betsy Salkind and Nato Green as they mock, parody and satirize everything Fox News calls significant. (GW)
Monday October 20
Patti Smith
The Warfield
982 Market St, San Francisco
408.998.TIXS
Mon – 8pm; $25
If ever there was a rock legend who lived by the axiom "Always leave 'em wanting more," it's Patti Smith. Rock & roll is littered with examples of musicians who burned out or faded away before their time, and yet Smith's premature retirement in the early '80s was a source of serious angst for a lot of people, who apparently felt that if they kept complaining about it, she might come back—and it worked! Smith came back with an album in 1988, only to disappear once more until 1996's ironically titled Gone Again. In a 30-year career, Smith has released only 10 proper albums—which admittedly is better than the four that fans thought they would have to settle for when she dropped out two decades ago. (SP)
Tuesday, October 21
MC Lars
San Jose Skate
397 Blossom Hill Road, San Jose
408.226.1155
Tue – 6pm; $12 (includes skating)
MC Lars may seem all cute and funny, but watch your back. He'll out-think ya, then he'll sink ya. "White Kids Aren't Hyphy" had him loading up on treal lingo from the Yay Area, but then admitting "I don't what I just said on this verse, do you?" (The Stanford grad also thanked Silicon Valley for inventing the Internet, which was a nice gesture.) "Generic Krunk Rap" was a surgical strike on that subgenre, and the little olive branch at the end ultimately made it even more brutal, once you remembered it was a reference to Eminem's creepy "apology" at the end of "Kill You." "21 Concepts" was a bizarre take on "99 Problems" that seemed like a cleverly disguised attack on Jay-Z himself ("if you're having lyric problems I feel bad for you son"), although I could be reading too much into that one. The point is, MC Lars is more punk than you. (SP)
