Aceyalone
Aceyalone's albums are thought provoking alternatives to the easy-to-swallow, mind-numbing, chart-parading music that so many people define as "real". To many, Aceyalone is a "true MC," to many others, a gifted poet.
Slim’s - Sunday - Nu Gruv Alliance

The Aislers Set
www.aislersset.com
A fistful of years ago, San Francisco sentimentalists Henrys Dress fused pillars of feedback with chantilly pop and disaffected vocals. When the Dress slipped away, drummer/co-vocalist Amy Linton picked up a Guild twelve string and began working on the smartly penned collection of tunes that would provide The Aislers Set with its set. The sound sways between its influences: gentle surf, '60s bubblegum and garage punk. Members of Poundsign, Track Star and The Fairways share the load.
Great American Music Hall - Friday - 10pm

Alabama Thunderpussy
Armed with a "we will rock you and leave a mess" attitude and sludgily hypnotic, colossal riffs, ATP'S Southern-fried trailer park metal has added three discs to graphic artist Frank Kozik's label.
Justice League - Saturday - 10:30pm - MAN’S RUIN

David Andrews
www.davidandrewsband.com
David Andrews, singer/songwriter for Portland-based Calobo, is out on his own these days, pushing his intelligent, classic pop agenda towards greater and greater heights.
Last Day Saloon - Sunday

Azeem
www.dogdayrecords.com
Ismail Azeem is a wordsmith who founded the early '90s live hip hop collective Telefunken. Azeem's ability "to give wings to English" brought him to the spoken word stage of the 1994 Lollapalooza tour, two book publishings, a gig writing and touring the world with Spearhead and many a poetry slam championship.
Storyville - Saturday - 9pm - STRAY RECORDS SHOWCASE

Bile
www.bilestyle.com
What keeps the loud and agressive-to-the-max ensemble off the coattails of their more radio embraced peers (read: Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, et al.) is their primary engagement with dirty electronica and the straightforwardness of their motivations: they just want to make addictive music that helps people lose their lunches.
Maritime Hall - Saturday - 10pm - Bush and Gore Tour

The Black Heart Procession
www.southern.com/southern/band/BHP00/
Somber is a mild description for the wounded organ and piano melodies of Black Heart Procession's Tobias Nathaniel. The melodies set the songs in slow motion for the strained, weary vocals of guitarist Paul A. Jenkins, who whines with the bloodshot pathos of some skinny, poetic drunk, staggering home in a late-night snowstorm.
Starry Plough - Saturday - 11:30pm

Black Kali Ma
Paradise Lounge - Saturday

Blanket
www.blanketsf.com
If Blanket were a real blanket, it would be huge and soft, with satin edges and little prickly bits woven into it to keep it interesting.
Paradise Lounge - Friday - 11:30pm

Bonfire Madigan
www.killrockstars.com
Self-described as "New Music Orchestral Soul-Based Chamber Punk," Bonfire Madigan evokes the natural elements (sea, sky, time, motion, stillness) as much as it does the indie-femme context with which it shares roots. The Bonfire is fueled by the expressionistic cello and homestead voice of Madigan Shive. With the generous assistance of Sheri Ozeki on contrabass, bells and whistles and Tomas Palermo's engaging percussive beats, Bonfire Madigan provokes the inside strings as well as the feet.
Café Du Nord - Sunday - 11pm

J. Boogie
J. Boogie is Justin Boland, host of San Francisco's only Underground Hip-Hop radio program. Voted "Best Hip-Hip Radio Show" by SF Weekly and "Goldie Award" winner by the Bay Guardian.
Bimbo’s - Saturday - Om Records Showcase

Franklin Bruno
www.absolutelykosher.com/bruno.html
Best known as the bespectacled guy fronting the Inland Empire's word-wise rock trio Nothing Painted Blue, Franklin Bruno has already penned and recorded volumes of his own reflective, beautifully crafted songs.
Makeout Room - Sunday - 9pm - ABSOLUTELY KOSHER showcase

Cali Agents
Underground lyrical sensations Rasco and Planet Asia are the Cali Agents and their debut LP, How the West Was One (Ground Control) is one of the most highly anticipated hip hop albums of the year.
Slim’s - Sunday - Nu Gruv Alliance

Carlos
Café Du Nord - Saturday - 10pm - Amazing Grease Records Showcase

Chrome Molly
Bottom of the Hill - Saturday - 11pm

Creeper Lagoon
www.creeperlagoon.com
Creeper Lagoon's Ian Sefchick and Sharky Laguana, a songwriting team since high school, craft great rock songs with a digitized appeal. The band's pensive, folk-pop sound is enriched, by liberal loops and creepy samples.
Verdi Club - Thursday - 9pm - OPENING NIGHT PARTY

Nels Cline
www.cryptogramophone.com
On his most recent journey into the unknown, madcap guitarist Nels Cline tempers the talents of a quartet into futurist minimal jazz. Nels demonstrates his versatility and musicianship with sonic wit on both acoustics and electrics.
Bruno's - Saturday - 11pm & 1am - Cryptogramophone Showcase

Alex Cline, Jeff Gauthier, G.E. Stinson
www.cryptogramophone.com
Brother Alex Cline has also released a stunning disc this year on the inimitable Cryptogramaphone. Marshalling chaos and spaced ambience into a cohesive jazzy texture, the peripatetic percussionist has shown a steady hand in managing his own musical affair.
Bruno's - Saturday - 10pm & 12am - Cryptogramophone Showcase

The Court and Spark
Hotel Utah Saloon - Friday - 11pm

Russ Dewbury (Strut, The Jazz Rooms, Counterpoint)
www.ubiquityrecords.com
Brighton, England-based Dewbury is one of the top DJ's, promoters and radio hosts on the European circuit. He has developed a reputation for quality compilation releases including the hugely successful Africa Funk and Club Africa series for Strut.
Paradise Lounge - Friday - 12am - UBIQUITY RECORDS SHOWCASE

DJ Vinnie Esparza (Ubiquity/KUSF)
Recently voted Best Local DJ for SF Guardian's 2000 Best of the Bay, Esparza serves with Sharp as your Ubiquity hosts.
 Elbo Room - Saturday (doors open @ 9:00pm)
And Playing
 Elbo Room - Sunday (doors open @ 9:00pm)

Etienne de Rocher
Foley's - Saturday - 8pm

Eyehategod
Justice League - Saturday - 12:30pm - MAN’S RUIN showcase

Dora Flood
www.doubleplay.com
The Bay Area's Dora Flood bridges the long distance with a heady dose of Anglophiliac guitar pop. Though it began as a shoegazer band, Dora Flood pines for the other side of the pond with enough restraint to keep things left coastal.
Paradise Lounge - Friday - 9:30pm

Dr. Rock's Great Stone Sound System
(turntables & efx)
Sunday, The Elbow Room (doors open @ 9:00pm)

Dryspell
The power-pop punctures of Dryspell have brought them a healthy dose of stark, raving press and supporting slots for such mentionables as Smashmouth, The Flys, Fishbone and Jimmy Eat World.
Hotel Utah Saloon - Saturday - 9pm

Mark Eitzel
Mark Eitzel is a lot happier than he used to be, although his reputation still has him as the loneliest heart in the world; with his emotionally scarred voice translating his equally intense lyrics, Eitzel's music goes straight for the jugular.
Hotel Nikko - Sunday - 4pm - Singer/Songwriters-in-the-Round

Encore
www.75ark.com
Encore's re-dedication to the black renaissance that hip hop brought about before the message got diluted informs the simple beats and jazzy sample work, as well as the smooth lyrical reportage.
Bimbo’s - Saturday - Om Records Showcase

Fabulous Disaster
Covered Wagon - Sunday - 5:30pm

The Flames
Covered Wagon - Sunday - 4pm

Paula Frazer Band (former Tarnation member)
www.paulafrazer.com
Hotel Utah Saloon - Friday - 10pm
Also Singer/Songwriter Showcase - Hotel Nikko Sunday - 4pm
Frazer is best known for fronting the alt-country outfit Tarnation, a recently dispensed umbrella title for Frazer and her various cohorts. She's also one of the most sought-after vocal collaborators in the indie scene today, appearing on albums by Cornershop and Handsome Boy Modeling School. Each of her songs are a landscape, full of weathered prairies, ramshackle dwellings and their sad inhabitants.

Gardener
Accompanied by a host of bandmates and friends playing tabla, flutes, sitars and bongos, Van Conner (bassist of Screaming Trees) and Aaron Stauffer (vocalist of Seaweed) make like stoned college pals making good on a variety of experiments in instrumentation and songwriting. Acoustic guitars shimmer and plunk beneath Stauffer's warm, husky voice, while stray bits of percussion and the occasional slide guitar nudge the proceedings slightly off-kilter.
Great American Music Hall - Friday - 9pm

Tommy Guerrero
www.beggars.com
For former superstar skateboarder Tommy Guerrero, the past two years must be like a reincarnation. Sure the guy's been playing guitar and bass since he was thirteen, but how could he have known that his brand of melodious shuffle jazz would earn such critical success and popular success? Guerrero's tunes, structured around ruminative blues progressions and nearly bossa nova beats, feel like the rush and calm of San Francisco's hills, running a breeze over your face and limbs.
Café Du Nord - Sunday - 8:00pm

Neil Hamburger
www.dragcity.com
You want funny? You got funny! Neil Hamburger is one of the true nouveau comedians of our time and his time is coming right up! But seriously, this kids got talent. Real talent! So come, laugh, enjoy and get ready for your sides to split!
Bottom of the Hill - Sunday - 10pm

Hell's Belles
Consisting of three powerful front-women and their smoking buck drummer, Hell's Belles are most often described as "fast, dirty, heavy and sexy as hell itself."
Bottom of the Hill - Saturday - 9pm

David Hopkins
www.davidhopkins.net
Irish singer-songwriter David Hopkins grew up listening to Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen. The cloudy bubble of Dublin, backed by the rarified soundtrack, must have made him feel the world was a wistful dream of expression and solitude. Consequently, his tender voice shudders as if finding refuge in a dry doorway on a stormy night.
Hotel Utah Saloon - Sunday - 8pm

Imperial Teen
www.imperialteen.com
Bubblegum hooks and indie-rock rhythms are just two of the delightful ingredients in Imperial Teen's pop concoction. The even boy-to-girl ratio and the dynamic that stems forth from it calls to mind Breeders as much as the band's well-tempered electro-isms draw comparisons to E.L.O. and less compulsive new wave projects of the past twenty odd years.
Great American Music Hall - Friday - 11pm

Jim Yoshii Pile-Up
www.absolutelykosher.com/yoshii.html
Makeout Room - Sunday - 8:15pm - ABSOLUTELY KOSHER showcase

Jill Knight
Foley's - Saturday - 9pm

Chris Knox
The New Zealander has been playing music in one form or another since his early punk band the Enemy was launched in 1977. He's been an inspiration and force to no fewer than three generations of Flying Nun bands, and 20 years on, Mr. Knox shows no signs of slowing down. His latest solo record, entitled Beat is currently being released domestically by Thirsty Ear, it is a bit more introspective and serenely thoughtful than others of recent years. The codified arrangements and acerbic wit however, are still in charge of the board and fountains of classic, happy pop get over in the end.
Bottom of the Hill - Friday - 12am

Laughing Stock
www.waysandmeans.com
The hypnotic compositions and unusual instrumentation alone make Laughing Stock unique. The SF trio's beautifully strange sonic textures and infectious rhythms are created by the peculiar ten string Chapman Stick played by Alex Nahas, the eerie noirish style of organist John Brevik, and intoxicating bouts of tribal trash can drumming by Eric Gebow.
Cafe Du Nord - Sunday - 8pm

Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers
www.lavaysmith.com
Rollicking along through barrelhouse and boogie woogie, stride and bop, the San Francisco favorites re-create the racy energy and superb musicianship of roaring twenties nightclubs without faux posturing or rockabilly slips. Smith's singing recalls a young Bessie Smith or an alto Anita O'Day while pianist and arranger Chris Siebert keeps things fresh with lively 8-piece charts and tremendous verve.
Café Du Nord - Friday - 10pm, 11:15, 12:15am

Live Human
www.matador.recs.com
There probably hasn't been a group that has integrated turntables and samplers into the band format as thoroughly as San Francisco instrumental combo Live Human. The concept behind the group, which consists of the aforementioned two elements along with a live drummer and double bassist, is a lot headier than the group's infectious, melodic and relentlessly fun music suggests: Spare but busy, the songs feature hyperactive drum beats buttressing jazzy, elastic basslines, while the sampling and scratching brings in a world of weird sounds, few of which are recognizable.
Verdi Club - Thursday - 9pm - OPENING NIGHT PARTY

Man of the Year
Bottom of the Hill - Saturday - 10pm

Man Or Astro-Man?
www.astroman.com
Surf'n'Nerf rockers Man Or Astro-Man? formed in Auburn, Alabama in 1992 (or as the band would have you believe, accidentally crashed their space vessel and began performing sonic experiments). Since 1993, they have released two dozen singles, two EP's and a score of long-players, including a document of their loose wires and computer wreckage theatrical performances entitled, Live Transmissions from Uranus.
Great American Music Hall - Saturday - 11pm

Jono Manson w/ Ed Ivey
Last Day Saloon - Friday - 9:30pm

Bradley Martin
Is this guy bitter? Is he right to be? Martin's bedroom-style alt rock shuffles with the edgy animosity of someone who's not so sure he wants to go rocking but does anyway just in case it'll help him forget the lovers that have screwed him over. Not to say the L.A.-based twenty-something is a foppish whiner; his steadily strummed ditties of regret and forgiveness evoke empathy on the strength of their infective melodies and convincing delivery.
Paradise Lounge - Friday - 10:15pm

Mates of State
www.omnibusrecords.com
Edinburgh Castle - Friday - 12:15am

Dawn McCarthy
With the Faun Fables, Dawn McCarthy crosses boundaries of time and distance to evoke an Appalachian dream of elfin wonderworlds and tragic conditions. Most remarkably, McCarthy sings a mean yodel that she is unhesitant to unleash upon a mesmerized, spellbound audience. The rest of the time her voice is as haunting as an abandoned coal mine while it dances with the even-tempo guitar that seems to pluck itself.
Foley's Irish House- Saturday - 7pm
Also Singer/ Songwriter Showcase - Hotel Nikko - Sunday - 4pm

Julius Melendez
CMJ is indeed privileged to have Grammy Award-winning trumpeter Melendez with us on this occasion. A resident of Oakland, Melendez is one of the most well-respected trumpet players in the international music scene. Though he is known most widely for his role in Carlos Santana's brass section, he has also lent his fluid playing and deep knowledge of Latin melodies to Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Chucho Valdez, Eddie Palmieri, The Grateful Dead and Shelia E.
Verdi Club - Thursday - 8pm - OPENING NIGHT PARTY

The Mooney Suzuki
www.themooneysuzuki.com
Look at it this way: there comes a time when many young, contrary individuals realize that perfection, for them, was attained before their birth. Critics guffaw and the masses turn their heads but the believers stand witness: young girls (and boys) swooning and screaming to the beat of the Beatles and the Stones, folks freaking to MC5 and the Velvets were not just moved by the new but by the truth; by art as if by gospel. The Mooney Suzuki makes this phenomenon its own, night after night after white-hot night. Amen.
Great American Music Hall - Saturday - 10pm

Mos Def
In last year’s critically acclaimed solo debut “Black on Both Sides,” lyricist/ musician Mos Def broke away from his peers in the Native Tongues collective Black Star to create one of the most innovative and aesthetically ambitious hip-hop records to date. The Brooklyn native recalls the b-boy beat stylings of The Roots as he waxes soulful and poetic on politics and sexuality, but isn’t opposed to reworking a Chili Peppers hit for added effect.
Maritime Hall - Friday - 7pm - Lyricist Lounge

Matt Nathanson
Hotel Utah Saloon - Sunday - 9:15pm

The Mountain Goats
www.absolutelykosher.com/mgoats.html John Darnielle, songwriter and only full time member of Southern California's The Mountain Goats, is awfully prolific; he's probably recorded more songs than any of his Inland Empire contemporaries, and certainly written countless more that remain unreleased. His songs are both immediate and well-crafted, first striking with Darnielle's impassioned delivery and sharp-edged words, and then following up with his colorful poetry and complex melodic structures. On "Ontario" (one of Goats' many songs named for a geographical location), for example, he frankly emotes, "I know what my weaknesses are/Probably better than you do...I thought I knew what my weaknesses were, anyway/And then the orange tree blossomed last Saturday/There was nothing in it but pain for me," proving that each carefully chosen word has a bite to it.

No Forecfield
No Forcefield is an awesome collective of scratchers and avant attackers founded by Brain (drummer of Primus and Praxis) and Extrakd (bassist for El Stew). Under the roof of their post-media blitzkrieg they bring with them the wicked samarai styles of DJs Eddie Def (founding member of Bullet Proof Space Travelers) and Disk (founding member of The Invisibl Skratch Piklz) and the the drool-inducing finger acrobatics of guitarists Larry Lalonde (Primus) and Buckethead (Praxis).
Storyville - Saturday - 9pm - STRAY RECORDS SHOWCASE

November 17
www.N17.org
Phoenix-based industrial metallurgists N17 have been ravaging the lower 48 states with their bag of quick change hardcore grinding and burly hooks.
Maritime Hall - Saturday - 9pm - Bush and Gore Tour

Pablo Wong (featuring Kyle from Fuck)
Bottom of the Hill - Friday - 10pm

People Under the Stairs
Bimbo’s - Saturday - Om Records Showcase

Persephone's Bees
www.persephonesbees.com
After hearing Angelina Moysov's theatrical voice flitter about in Persephone's Bees, some Brit-pop wannabees may be inspired to try a little Russian. Balancing cabaret and new wave, as well as the English psych and swagger influences, these darlings of pop go one step further to whip the whole thing into a keyboard-tickled, r&b hive.
Café Du Nord - Saturday - 11pm - Amazing Grease Records Showcase

The Places
http://www.absolutelykosher.com/places.html
Singer/guitarist Amy Annelle delivers her ballads with a balance between abstraction and spice that draws the listener in, beseeching him to rest a while in the pop orchestration's pretty but prickly groves.
Sunday the 17th, 7:30pm @ Make Out Room

Quetzal
Representing the perennial insurgent forces of youth within the East L.A. community is Quetzal, an 8-piece Latin jazz ensemble founded by guitarist Quetzal Flores "to promote the deeper ideas behind the meaning of being an artist and a Chicano." By using both traditional and non-traditional instrumentation, the group defies easy categorization and better mirrors La Rasa in general and its actual diversity.
Elbo Room - Friday - 11pm & 12:30am

Ramona the Pest
www.kingtone.com
This show doubles as a record release party for the Bay Area's best kept secret so be forewarned that the usual angst and brood mood may be mitigated by gaiety. Valerie Esway never fails to reveal layers of emotion clothed in bluesy, articulate phrasings. She and hubbie Lucio Menegon trade tempered acoustic guitar patterns throughout the songs with extra delights from multi-instrumental comrades.
The Starry Plough - Saturday - 9:45pm

Etienne de Rocher
Foley's Irish House - Saturday - 8pm
Also Singer/ Songwriter Showcase - Hotel Nikko
Sunday - 4pm

Roller
Covered Wagon - Sunday - 9:45pm

Rorschach Test
The Denver/Seattle group uses post-hardcore and pulsating programming to conjure a world all its own, populated with pyrotechnical theatrics and the wandering souls of grinding guitars.
Maritime Hall - Saturday - 12am - Bush and Gore Tour

See Jane Run
See Jane Run has honed its jagged, melodic alt-rock to a fine point on its third and recently released disc, Last Night's Dream. While all the players are strong, lapsing into dense weaves of moody mid-tempo tantrums, the focal point is definitely singer/guitarist Nicole Katler, whose lyrics unflinchingly examine the good, the bad and the ugly sides of relationships.
Paradise Lounge - Friday - 10:45pm

Gregory Scharpen, KALX dj
Host of Songwriters-in-the-Round Hotel Nikko - Sunday Under the name Carnacki, Gregory Scharpen dj's on KALX 90.7 fm on Sunday nights from 6:30 to 9. He also works on the shows "Discourse on the 8th and 9th" (classical music, Monday night, midnight), "Information Overload" (experimental noise, aka "limited appeal", Wednesday night, midnight), "Arts in Review" (people talking at considerable length about theatre, painting, etc., Thurday at noon), and "Film Close-Ups" (people doing the same about movies, Saturday evening at 5:30).

DJ Sep
The Elbow Room - Sunday (doors open @ 9:00pm)

The Sick
Covered Wagon - Sunday - 6:20pm

Sister 7
www.arista.com
Last Day Saloon - Friday - 11pm & 12:15am

Snake River Conspiracy
www.repriserec.com/src
This lady-led ball-busting band is directed by hardcore visionary Jason Slater- a founding member of Third Eye Blind who left when the trials of commercial success got too compromising. From all reports, the talents of front woman Tobey Torres will keep them from the pop trap but may lead towards a similar plane of success.
Maritime Hall - Saturday - 11pm - Bush and Gore Tour

SoulTree
Starry Plough - Friday - 11pm

Spoonbender 1.1.1.
Bottom of the Hill - Sunday - 9pm

The Spoozy's
www.jetset.sinner.com/spoozys.html
Mix the quirky, intellectual new wave of Devo with the spacemen shtick of Man Or Astro-Man?, take it to an (il)logical extreme, and you'll be somewhere near the orbit of this manic quintet. Better yet, find a beat-up vinyl version of the B-52's' classic "Rock Lobster" and play it on a turntable prone to violent RPM fluctuations, and you're even closer.
Grat American Music Hall - Saturday - 9pm

Robert Stewart w/ Ed Kelly
Bruno's - Friday - 11pm

Substance Abuse
The name may call to mind a variety of chemicals designed to alter one's biochemistry. The excess of substance, however, more likely refers to a high concentration of massive beats and beatific missives.
Slim’s - Sunday - Nu Gruv Alliance

Superbuick
Kimo's - Saturday - 10pm

Suplecs
Suplecs beer batter their bluesy New Orleans rock in heavy grooves and a secret recipe that is said to include dual vocals and heavy rock-outs. Their live performance is a sweat-fest featuring loud, swampy assaults on your pleasure zone.
Justice League - Saturday - 9:45pm - MAN’S RUIN showcase

Sushi
Edinburgh Castle - Friday - 12:15 am

Swarm
www.swarminfo.com
Let's face it: most hard rock bands that survive the test of time wind up dishing out the same tired hooks and looks. That's where Swarm is different. Its distinctive, always-new metal energy brims over with sketches of reggae, punk and soul.
Bottom of the Hill - Saturday - 12am

Texas Terri & the Stiff Ones
www.texasterri.com

Tiny
www.tiny.to
Tiny's twang-tinged melodic hooks may be more pure pop than alt.country but with the familiar lyrics of painful nights and half-forgotten dreams, you'll swear you've heard them before.
Hotel Utah Saloon - Friday - 9pm

Trans Am
www.thrilljockey.com
Since its 1992 debut, Washington, DC "post-rock" outfit Trans Am has straddled the wide artistic chasm that separates raging rock instrumentalists and retro, Kraftwerkian electronicists. In the past few years it has bounded forward to mete out raunchy bass and guitar opuses followed by orchestrations of new-wave electro-ambiance and live drumming followed by synth chords, snappy drum machine rhythms and vocoder-effected vocals. All the better to augment the Man vs. Machine imagery that distinguished the trio's earlier works.
Bottom of the Hill - Sunday - 11pm

Noe Venable and the Ruiners
Ghost Voices on a snowy television set. Pirate transmissions from the late night wasteland. Runaways dancing by the side of the freeway. Venable sings in a language of vivid pictures and emotion, exploring with curiosity and compassion the rich world of the lost and lonely.
Hotel Utah Saloon - Sunday - 10pm

Virginia Dare
www.absolutelykosher.com/virginia.html
There's a screw where the whammy bar should be. An autoharp where you might not expect one. And isn't that Greg Freeman from the downers'n' flowers instrumental group Pell Mell on bass? Why, yes it is. You've stepped into the subatomic world of Virginia Dare, inhabited only by the trio and their melodious country-punk fare.
Makeout Room - Sunday - 9:50pm - ABSOLUTELY KOSHER showcase

Chris Von Sneidern
Hotel Utah Saloon - Sunday - 8:30pm

Wussom*Pow!
www.omnibusrecords.com
Edinburgh Castle - Friday - 10:15pm

Zion I
Built on an unshakable foundation of skills, this Berkeley-based trio bear inspiring messages of liberation, celebration and contemplation with a funky, jazz-inspired sound.
Slim’s - Sunday - Nu Gruv Alliance