Music Blogger Archives — Page 35 of 39 — San Francisco Bay Guardian Archive 1966

NOISE: Rrrrr…. RTX! In Oakland! In a warehouse! In the flesh!

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February 2, 2007

Whoa, news flash! If you love Royal Trux, you’ll wanna get your ever-lovin’ bad self down to the WC Warehouse/Ghost Town Gallery tonight, Feb. 2, to see Truxer Jennifer Herrema tear it up as RTX.

Herrema was in awesomely raspy form when she played Bottom of the Hill a few years ago (we won’t even go into the nutty Cocodrie Royal Trux show further back). And though she only lives a hop, skip, and several hundred miles away in LA, this doesn’t happen often, so…you know what you gotta do. And because it’s a house party you’ll have to figure out where WC Warehouse/Ghost Town Gallery is on your own. Doors open at 10 p.m., and Raspy Mugs and Hot Tubs open.

Expect Herrema to appear in other parts after the March release of her band’s next album, Western Xterminator (Drag City). Get an eyeful of RTX though after the Oakland art crawl. If you can see through them bangs…

NOISE: Wet Confetti, city

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February 2, 2007

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Gang of Four twiddler, meet a gang of three: Wet Confetti. Dave Allen, the G4 bassist, played on and produced the Portland, Ore., combo’s new album, Laughing, Gasping. You can also catch the trio in Brendan Canty’s third Burn to Shine DVD, along with Sleater-Kinney, the Decemberists, and the Shins – burning down the house with the sheer rock.

These kids will be playing at the Hemlock Tavern, tonight, Feb. 2, on a bill with the Fucking Ocean and Fierce Antler. Too much.

NOISE: Avett Bros., bro

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February 2, 2007

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We’ve told you before – and we’ll tell you again: these Avett Bros. are strong. Strong, strong songwriters.

Country & Yaaarrrr. Courtesy of www.theavettbrothers.com.

The combo will be playing alongside Willie Nelson, Rage Against the Machine, Bjork, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Arcade Fire at this year’s Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival on April 29. But if you’re not going down then, see ’em tonight, Feb. 2, at Slim’s, SF. That excuse about being scared of soaring standup basses ain’t gonna fly anymore.

Bavarian cream: Herzog blogged

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February 1, 2007

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I’m sure you Herzophiles have been languishing for days now, waiting for the rest of this interview (the best niblets made it into the paper here). Here are the ready-for-blogging-goggles portions. A veritable, unsugary feast of Bavarian whimsy.

SFBG: There are some awe-inspiring landscape images in The Wild Blue Yonder. Where were they shot?

Werner Herzog: That was in southern Venezuela.

SFBG: How would you describe your relationship to the land – I hear you’re a big walker?

WH: Not a walker I travel on foot once in a while. When it comes to essential things I would travel on foot. But I’m not a hiker and I’m not a backpacker. I am an outdoors person when it comes down to it, but when you say “walking on foot,” I’m not walking leisurely. I’m traveling, and I’m not into the business of backpacking. And I’m not in the business of jogging.

NOISE: Thee More Shallows sell out to Anticon

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February 1, 2007

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Our longtime faves, the underappreciated Thee More Shallows, are making a break for a whole ‘nother kinda big time. The top-notch indie rockers have signed to Bay Area out-hip-hop imprint Anticon.

Could such a deal have come to pass because a certain TMS band member is the landlord of another certain Anticon reg? Dunno – but I’m psyched that these guys will be getting more attention for their forthcoming album, Release Book of Bad Breaks, said to be full o’ weird Casio, absolutely filthy breaks, and, whoa, French horn.

Thee More plans to tour more in May. That Kiss Me Deadly-style suitcase full o’ gear is packed and ready to go.

NOISE: Shake it with Social Studies

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February 1, 2007

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No studies, just fun times last week – at the Rickshaw Stop’s anniversary series of shindigs and then Social Studies on Jan. 26 at Bottom of the Hill. J’adore those kiddie tambourines that were distributed to the audience for those bang-along songs.

Came in just in time for Magic Bullets whose vocalist was a deadringer/-singer for Robert Smith. The stellar indie pop kept on keeping on when Social Studies entered rocking dark denim, synth, and a terry-cloth headband. Natalia R’s dulcet tones evoked, gosh, 10,000 Maniacs-era Natalie Merchant – and that’s not an insult! An extremely Social-ized crowd went ape, like monkeys drunk on KROQ. More please! SS’s next show is Feb. 10 at Hemlock Tavern.

Getting social at BOH. All photos by Ka-ching! Chun

NOISE: Booyah, Broken West

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January 31, 2007

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Ever find yourself sitting round, twiddling your 10 thumbs, then you toss a CD with so-so cover art on the ole player, and then you stop, do a double take on the name and the art and realize: I like this. Who are these people and where have they been all my life?

Due to the constant influx of mail at the office, that happens to me all the time – I’m glad to say. And the latest band that made me feel those special feelings, once again, is LA’s Broken West, who have a new Merge album, I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On out right now.

Originally called the Brokedown (another band in Chicago inadvertently put the kibosh on that handle), the Broken West make indie pop that wouldn’t be out of line in the small but growing pile of January listenables that includes the latest by the Shins, Lewis Taylor, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. See if they pass your own high standards for tuneful indie when the band plays on Monday, Feb. 5, at Cafe du Nord, SF.

NOISE: My how Time Flys…

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January 30, 2007

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Is raucous, reeling rock with a sense of punk history your poison? Cradle your Nuggets comps close to your cold, cold heart? High on those bad boys in the Cuts? Then the Time Flys‘s latest, Rebels of Babylon (Birdman), is for you, you, you. The Oakland combo’s second album is a quantum leap into a gritty, grimy future of hand-claps, cocky vocalizing, and filthy-sounding guitar riffs.

This is where late ’70s NYC punk meets early ’70s Detroit rock, drawing blood in some extremely unsterile back alley and vowing to be friends forever more. Yeah, you can toss around references to DMZ, Lyres, Real Kids, the Voidoids, the Dead Boys, and all those other pluralized pussies — if you wanna annoy me! Better, you can practically taste the snot pouring off these archetypal rock ‘n’ rollers. Nice.

The Time Flys – spelling be damned! – toast their new record with a party, natch. Apache and the Pets open on Friday, Feb. 2, 10 p.m., at the Knockout, 3223 Mission, SF. They’re going down on history, as they’d put it, so get in on some of this action.

NOISE: Wilding with Wild Life

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January 29, 2007

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The latest hard-psych tie-dye advocates have gotta be Wild Life. The SF band managed an impressive amount of hair-tossing and head-banging at a recent Hemlock Tavern show, playing betwixt Mammatus and New Thrill Parade.

Dig that dragon headdress in the background. All photos by Snap! Chun

Drone, psych, and facial hair combined with the convulsive skronk of Jesus Lizard and other Midwestern troublemakers. The loud combo’s next show is at Edinburgh Castle on Feb. 24.

Who’s your sugar daddy?

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January 29, 2007

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Guardian A&E intern Elaine Santore discovered MillionaireMarch.com, and nothing has quite been the same since; here’s her take on the online dating site:

Not long ago, a good friend alerted me that we were behind on our MRS degrees. In a panic, I grabbed my BlackBerry and clicked on the “Tasks” icon. Sure enough: below reminders to “Wash my face” and “Do NOT text/IM/call/MySpace that guy” was “Get MRS degree.”

At 24, I feared I’d missed the trophy wife boat forever. Thankfully, the good folks at Jane magazine spotlight online dating in its Feb. issue, and mentioned MillionaireMatch.com. Millionaire Match’s homepage poses the all-important questions:

“Does your economic success make it difficult for you to meet that special someone?” Um, duh. Non-intern men in SF are very intimidated by my success. So much so that I had to move back into my parents’ house just to feel at their level.

“Why try other dating websites that can only claim to get results, when you can meet tens of thousands of successful and quality singles and friends right here!” Awesome! I need friends.

Millionaire Match defines a millionaire as anybody who makes over $150,000 a year. Non-millionaires and celebrities (no income bracket provided) are also invited. The site allows you to create a free profile, but offers a gold membership for $19.95 a month. (That’s half the membership fee for Parisexposed.com. Hot.)

After a couple hours of perusing the site, I found that some members appeared to be actual millionaires. A fair share of men my age, however, looked like they were in search of a sugar mama. No shame in the game, boys. Holla for the dollar!

NOISE: Waits’s cheap shite serenaders

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January 26, 2007

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Hey, who let the raindogs out? Revere that downtown trainwreck of a songwriting god? Bow down before all beery minstrels’ household saint? You love Tom Waits – ‘fess up.

You’re not alone – 21 Grand has found a way to freshen up the ole bandito’s catalog with “Everything’s a Dollar in This Box: The Songs of Tom Waits on cheap instruments” featuring 5 Cent Coffee, Stella!, Salty Walt & the Rattlin Rattlins, Dogs in Doublets, and more bad puns than you can shake a gin bottle at.

It’s happening Saturday, Jan. 27, 8:30 p.m. at 21 Grand, 416 25th St. (at Broadway), Oakl. $6-$10. (510) 444-7263. Be there or be under the table in a deep drunk – or better, be both.

NOISE: Mano y Germano

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January 24, 2007

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The cultie fervor surrounding ex-John Mellencamp fiddle player Lisa Germano at South By Southwest last year was a thing to behold. Toss those Mellencamp associations aside – her songs were lovely that night. And it’s gravy that she has such a deliciously gruesome/goth sensibility as well – check out the cover art for her most recent album, In the Maybe World (Young God), below.

She opens for soundtrack composer Michael Brook (whose last CD she performed on; she plays in his group tonight, too) Friday, Jan. 26, at Great American Music Hall. Caw, caw.

NOISE: Bhangra for cause, just ’cause…

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January 23, 2007

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No bucks but eager to get it on, bhangra stylee? BBC Radio 1’s Bobby Friction is bringing the Project Ahimsa British Invasion tour to 111 Minna Gallery, SF, on Feb. 2.

The face of Bobby Friction

The rarely seen-stateside DJ – known as the “Casey Kasem of the global bhangra scene” – is passing through NYC and LA as well – all in the name of charity. (He hosts Bobby & Nihal Radio Show on BBC Radio 1 as well as BBC Radio 1 Sirius Satellite Channel.) Consider the fact that when Friction appears he’ll likely be bringing music that rarely gets heard around these parts, apart from his own Net stream.

Also all funds go to SF’s Project Ahimsa, one of the first desi-founded US youth-music education charities. The group, known for its “Tablas + Turntables” program, provides instruments and teacher salaries to help disadvantaged youth in the US and the developing world. Behold the current TV video on the T+T project.

The kicker: the event is free to the first 500 who sign up here.

Now you have no excuses. Go bhangra.

NOISE: Symphony for you little devils

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January 22, 2007

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I know there are oodles of deeply closeted classical freeeaaaks out there, who are far too shy to venture toward the mink stole and helmet hair cabal at Davies Hall. Good news is that the San Francisco Symphony’s Friday 6.5 Series now offers an earlier program at 6:30 p.m. than the usual 8 p.m. performance and features an intro by the conductor for the evening, accompanied by music generated by the fine members of the pit.

SFS music director Michael Tilson Thomas leads the pack.

I think we can all agree that it’ll be nice to eat earlier than later for a change. San Francisco Symphony’s Friday 6.5 Series continues on Friday nights at 6:30 p.m. at Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness, SF, with Lawrence Foster conductor, and Radu Lupu, piano, on Jan. 26. Coming up: Feb. 9: MTT and Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano; March 16: James Gaffigan, conductor, and Yundi Li, piano; May 4: Hans Graf, conductor, and Alexander Barantschik, violin.

NOISE: Mmmm…Mammatus — and more, so much more

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January 19, 2007

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Love is meant to be spread around — like STDs, dear mater always used to quip. But this weekend I’m thinking that the place to be is the Hemlock Tavern. I mean, tonight is EAR (Spaceman 3’s Sonic Boom’s latest experimento project) — shroomatronics! Then tomorrow’s late lineup features Santa Cruz/San Francisco heavy combo Mammatus — after Jay Reatard of ye olde Reatards messes wit’ your mind at an early show.

All that glitter may be Mammatus, playing Hemmy way back when in early 2006. Photo by Kimberly “Snap!” Chun

Then Sunday – fuhhhh-kkkk — it’s SF’s venerable musical mischief makers: Fuck. The band that dare not speak its name. Except that it does. Regularly. With much vim and vinegar.

NOISE: Daze of Caroliner and Smiths tribs

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January 12, 2007

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Boy, a busy weekend is upon us – and how! First up Saturday is Caroliner’s rare performance, after a reception for the ensemble’s CCA’s Playspace Gallery show, “Twenty-three Years of Hernia Milk and Ergot Dreams: A Retrospective of Caroliner.” The reception runs 6-8 p.m. Jan. 13.; the music/noise begins at 8 p.m. at the Graduate Center on Hooper Street, SF. The exhibition continues through Jan. 19.

Local color Caroliner-style. Courtesy of cakeandpolka.blogspot.com.

But if deeply weird noise and mind-blowing visuals aren’t your bag o’ tea, there’s also Sweet and Tender Hooligans, a tribute to Morrissey and the Smiths, on Jan. 13 at Slim’s, 333 11th St., SF. The Curse, a Cure trib combo, opens, maintaining a way ’80s vibe. Word has it that the longtime LA Smiths lovers of SATH apparently slay Moz-insane weepers and screamers everywhere. No shirts – ever!

NOISE: MV/EE hit the bummer road

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January 12, 2007

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Ecstatic Peaceniks MV/EE and the Bummer Road will be hitting that asphalt hard in conjunction with their new album, Green Blues, out Jan. 23. They appear Feb. 26 at Hotel Utah; meanwhile cock a sleepy yet strange ear to their version of “Powder Finger,” courtesy of Arthur mag.

NOISE: Lady Sov with Jelly on top

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January 11, 2007

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Oh by the way if you wanna check out oodles of MC Jelly Donut footage (the Killing My Lobster pastry that challenged Lady Sovereign to battle), visit this portion of YouTube. Sweet.

SF can’t stop pulling Sovereign’s jammie leg.

And in case you missed it on the news (slow news day?), here’s the Jelly Donut statement:

“We decided to take the beef to the next level the way most hip-hoppers do: a battle. It’s not the easiest thing in the world to arrange a rap battle between a pastry and Jay Z’s newest nuisance, so we decided to go guerilla. Yes, a hostile jelly flood at her January 8th show at Mezzanine in San Francisco.

NOISE: Britney in bikini shape? And K-Fed 2.0?

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January 11, 2007

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Whoa, the juicy Brit Spears “gossip” of the day is pictured on TMZ, you non-TMZ junkies. Check the new Britney consort. Who is the mystery dude? He’s more muscular than the ex, yet still somewhat K-Fed-esque, and for all we know, he hasn’t recorded any “music” yet! Always a plus. Now about that bandana…

Ahoy, baby weight! Courtesy of www.tmz.com.

NOISE: Lady sov takes another stab!

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January 10, 2007

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Guardian contributor Ari Messer checked out Lady Sovereign at the Mezzanine on Jan. 8. Here’s his review of the show:

Love her or hate her – doesn’t she look adorable?

Around seventh or eighth grade I made the transition from oversized Stussy sweatshirts and hypercolor basketball T-shirts to even bigger local punk band tees — I remember a burgundy Fury 66 shirt that reached to my knees. So imagine my surprise when, after DJ Frampster adroitly warmed, cooled, and dancehalled the packed, couple-heavy crowd (did one partner drag the other?) at the Mezzanine on Monday, Lady Sovereign, “officially the biggest midget in the game” according to herself, poked out from behind the backdrop curtain displaying her silhouette in grand scale, and proudly flashed her sparkling clean white Stussy hoodie. Not only was it practically the same Stussy from my past, but it kind of fit. The 21-year-old Londoner and rising grit-rap grime star immediately busted out one of her tastemaking ditties, “Ch’Ching.”

Like her tune “Hoodie,” “Ch’Ching” was seemingly designed specifically for viral MySpace distribution. Something about the white girl sporting white, plus the remarkable number of Brit dialects and breaks in Frampster’s over half-hour set, which got the crowd moving in language-as-dance-partner waves, established the unexpected mood for the evening: playfulness.

NOISE: Chavez lives, live

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January 9, 2007

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Guardian contributor Michael Harkin caught Chavez’s reunion performance at Slim’s on Dec. 30. Here’s his review:

Chavez’s return to playing live shows certainly isn’t a comeback of the “we were once stars, and are now in need of money” variety. The ear-ringing muscularity of their take on ‘90s indie rock could conceivably have found a place in the popular consciousness in 1995-1996, but somehow it didn’t work out that way. Very few below-the-radar rock bands sound like Chavez anymore: when the word “indie” gets dropped, people tend to think of the Shins before they think of a band like, say, Shellac. Whatever the status of their popularity, the melodic, often hummable force of Chavez is brutal in the most wonderful way, and San Francisco was lucky enough to experience the flattening steamroll of that force once again.

At Slim’s on Dec. 30, vocalist and guitarist Matt Sweeney, like most of the band, maintained a pretty quiet onstage disposition: why talk when you can play to a big crowd? Going so far as to shush well-meaning guitarist Clay Tarver when he started chatting up San Antonio with the audience, he made clear this was clearly a professional affair. Sweeney — who released Superwolf (Drag City) in 2005 with Bonnie “Prince” Billy, and a onetime member of Billy Corgan’s short-lived Zwan — is the band’s most famous face. Chavez’s other members are a bit less known, although not entirely: drummer James Lo played in Live Skull, and everybody’s heard of bass player Scott Marshall’s dad — yep, Garry Marshall, creator of Happy Days.

NOISE: 21 Grams…? For a Rogue cause

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January 5, 2007

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You love Gram Parsons, you know you do. Hot Burritos are your real-deal meal. Nudie suits are so cute. Dark ends of streets are where we meet.

Gram_Parsons sml.jpg

So you know you wanna c’mon down to the seventh annual “Sleepless Nights,” Gram Parsons tribute and benefit concert, Saturday, Jan. 13, at Great American Music Hall. Especially ’cause the show benefits the Pat Spurgeon Kidney Foundation, the organization started on behalf of the Rogue Wave drummer. This year’s hoedown in honor of the country-rock pioneer includes Dave Gleason’s Wasted Days, Red Meat, a Mover reunion, Real Sippin’ Whiskeys, Paula Frazer and Patrick Main, Elisa Randazzo (of Fairechild) and Ben Ashley (of the Shore), Sweetbriar and Eric Shea (solo). Former Parchman Farmer Shea is all over here because it’s his baby – he began the event seven years ago.

“Pat Spurgeon from Rogue Wave is an incredible drummer and an even more incredible human being. He was born with one kidney and it totally failed on him,” Shea states. “Pat was able to get a transplant in 1993, but that kidney is failing and he’s in urgent need of a new one.”

Spurgeon has been on dialysis since April and is hoping desperately to find a donor, the organizers say. Provided he finds a donor, there will be an enormous amount of costs that both Pat and his donor will incur. In a logical world, medical insurance would cover his donor’s and his expenses after the procedure, but it does not; so he and his family must carry the financial burden. The expenses can be huge. To learn more about Pat’s plight, organizers bid you to go to www.RogueWaveMusic.com

“Sleepless Nights” happens at the Great American Music Hall , 859 O’Farrell, SF. The show starts at 9 p.m. Tickets are $10 advance/$12 door. (415) 885-0750.

NOISE: Imagine Mac World Weir-ed

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January 5, 2007

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Not-dead Dead member alert! Macworld plug alert!

The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, a nonprofit state-of-the-art mobile recording and multimedia studio, will pulling into the Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco and stopping for a spell, from Monday, Jan. 8, through Thursday, Jan. 12. The mobile studio gives free workshops to students throughout the country, and Pulitzer Prize-winning shooter Vincent Laforet will take a group photograph of the first 250 attendees who come to the bus to commemorate its decade of edutainment.

Dead dad Bob Weir lead a student recording session Monday (reservations only) and will be at a book signing Tuesday, January 9th for Come Together: The Official John Lennon Educational Tour Bus Guide to Music and Video (Thomson). Free daily tours of the Bus and seminars featuring introductions to all of the latest gear are available daily at Macworld. It’s happening at Moscone Center, 747 Howard, SF.

NOISE: Sonic Oldster sing-along

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January 4, 2007

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Yeah, everyone’s tired of those Sonic Youth AARP jokes – but this clip takes the cake for the sheer enjoyment – behold Young@Heart singing SY’s “Schizophrenia.”