Monday, March 30, 2009

Upcoming: Downtown San Jose's North First Street

A short detour today down North First Street in Downtown San Jose revealed the location of the much-anticipated Brazilian steakhouse Maceio. It sits right across the street from Paul J. Gonzalez's amazing mural of pandas in a bamboo forest. Next door is an interesting looking restaurant called Wow Noodle House & Juice Bar. We're hoping these two new dining spots will be open for the summer to further liven up Downtown. Here's a quick look at North First Street.

A mural by Paul J. Gonzalez


Maceio Brazilian steakhouse


Wow Noodle House & Juice Bar

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Upcoming: It's All About Mountain View


Yesterday was a beautiful day in Silicon Valley. And to be in one of the tech industry's main arteries was all the more beautiful. Mountain View, home to Google, will be the main feature in our upcoming issue, out April 6. With all it's restaurants and shops, Mountain View truly shines as a bright beacon of day and night entertainment in the valley. But you don't have to be a start-up prince or a microchip king to enjoy the spoils of quaint Mountain View. All you have to be is susceptible to the flattery of sunshine, friendly people and abundant food and shopping locales. Stay tuned for the upcoming issue all about Mountain View!




We're doing a Hi-Tech dining piece that includes uWink, an interactive dining experience created by Silicon Valley's original golden boy and founder of Atari Nolan Bushnell. Design Director Chris Schmauch and I ate here yesterday. We ordered our drinks and food right at the table via a touchscreen tablet! The cuisine was delicious (tortilla soup and caesar salad; garlic pasta) and the games were fun! We both favored the trivia on Zillionaire.



This Weekend in Silicon Valley: rap, sports, chili and Lily Tomlin

Courtesy of Livenation
[ 3/27 ] FRIDAY

Lil’ Wayne
HP Pavilion, 525 W. Santa Clara, San Jose
March 27: What can you say about Lil’ Wayne that hasn’t been said, he’s simply the voice of a generation: 7pm

[ 3/28 ] SATURDAY
Landon Donovan, courtesy of SJ Earthquakes

San Jose Earthquakes vs. Houston Dynamo
Buck Shaw Stadium-Santa Clara University
March 28: The Houston Dynamo will get DYNOMITED when they take on our San Jose Earthquakes: 7:30pm


San Jose Police Chief’s Chili Challenge
Club Auto Sport, 521 Charcot Ave., San Jose
March 28: The San Jose Police Department and San Jose Fire Department will be battling for bragging rights over who can make the best chili in Silicon Valley. Attendees will also enjoy wine, appetizers, live music, car show and, of course, wonderful bowls of chili!: Funds raised benefit the SJPOA Charitable Foundation: 5pm


Travis Gillespie, courtesy of SJ Stealth

San Jose Stealth vs. Portland Lumberjax
HP Pavilion, 525 W. Santa Clara St., San Jose
March 28: Tiiiiimmmmbbbbeeerrrr… what’s that the sound of? It’s the Portland Lumberjax getting cut down to size by our very own San Jose Stealth!:12:30pm

Home & Garden Expo 2009
Cocoanut Grove, 400 Beach St., Santa Cruz
March 28-29: A mega home improvement show featuring the latest in interior design, gardening, landscaping, kitchenware, household textiles, and cutting-edge alternative living concepts: 10am-5pm

[ 3/29 ] SUNDAY

Courtesy Fox Theatre

Lily Tomlin
Fox Theatre, 2215 Broadway, Redwood City (650) 369-4119
March 29: Join the ultra hilarious Lily Tomlin and her mega bank of characters as she discusses life, love, and pop culture: 7:30pm







Sunday, March 22, 2009

SXSW Day Four: traffic, crowds, heat, the end and three Israelis that shocked Austin.

Monotonix at Waterloo Park


Andy Cabic, the lead singer/songwriter of Vetiver, told me that trying to write about music is like trying to dance about architecture. And after four days of trying to make sense of the South by Southwest music festival, I'm finally understanding what he means. There are few words to describe the chaos surrounding this event. The only thing you can do is try to document and capture what is presented in front of you. I guess that's actually the point of this whole thing. There's no purpose here, other than to entertain. Sure, you can get into all the underlying monetary issues, and try to delve deep into the struggles that musicians face, or the backroom dealing that's going on all over town by greedy record executives looking for the "next big thing." But if you go that route, I assure you, you are missing the point. All you need to do is read the bumper stickers, posters and T-shirts, proudly urging all citizens to "Keep Austin Weird."

And nothing can be weirder than Monotonix, an Israeli threesome proned to lude acts on stage, perpetual crowd surfing atop drum kits, and a tendency to leave a venue while still playing their instruments, taking the party outside into the streets to climb on street signs and building edifices. Check out the last set of pics and viideo below.






Or, The Whale at The Wave nightclub

Or, The Whale at The Wave nightclub

Ann Yu of LovelikeFire

Vetiver at The Wave nightclub

Maus Haus (San Francisco) at The Wave nightclub

Dizzy Balloon (San Francisco)

Dizzy Balloon

Waterloo Park crowd

Dizzy Pilot from Houston, TX

Bill Kenney of Dizzy Pilot


Dizzy Pilot


Video of Monotonix at The Mohawk:






Saturday, March 21, 2009

SXSW Day Three: videos and the Bay Area represents


As promised, here are some videos of live SXSW 2009 performances. My personal favorite so far has got to be LovelikeFire from San Francisco. They have everything: energy, charisma, talent, a strikingly beautiful lead female singer and a sound that rivals the biggest acts out there.

Interviews with musicians proved a bit difficult, as the general controlled chaos of each event dictates that bands have to rush to set up, blast through their performance, then scramble to pack up and locate their next venue, only to repeat the process. During Vetiver's last song, lead singer Andy Cabic said they somehow had to pack up all their stuff and make it over to the University of Houston campus in 30 minutes to perform live on the radio. I presume they were horribly late.

At any rate, the festival is an amazing experience. It's rare that hipsters, freaks, musicians, weirdos, rockers and the like are ever given free reign over a downtown populous, yet here we are, packing the streets and bars with bright, colorful creativity. During the five days I've been here, the economy has never come up in conversation. And for good reason: the people here know that whatever happens outside this epicenter of weirdness, we will still be able to sustain ourselves on good music, friendly people and plenty free beer and barbecue.







The Thermals performing "I Let It Go" at the Historic French Legion park






The Thermals performing "Returning to the Fold" at the Historic French Legion park.






Cursive performing live at the Historic French Legion park.






Cursive performing "Some Red Handed Sleight of Hand" at the Historic French Legion park.






SFxSXSW: Bay Area bands gather at The Wave nightclub on Sixth St.





The Stone Foxes






Vetiver on the rooftop.






LovelikeFire






Or, the Whale

Thursday, March 19, 2009

SXSW Day Two: better late than never...




It was a hot one down in Austin as day two of South by Southwest kicked off early. The music and mayhem began at 10am, with venues all over the city hosting numerous bands, endless barbecue and scores of sun-drenched music fans. By late afternoon the lucky ones heard about a free lawn party at the Historic French Legion park on San Marcos St. It was a great place to grab some shade and watch about two dozen bands perform. The notables were Cursive and The Thermals. (Unfortunately, the WiFi in Austin hasn't proven to be very reliable, so uploading video has been a hastle. But we'll get to that soon enough -- The Thermals, Cursive, The Stone Foxes and more). For now, here are some pictures of day two. Enjoy and stay tuned for coverage of SFxSXSW, the Bay Area's own party down here in Austin, Tx. Yee-haw!

Ume, from Houston, TX

Best name for a hot dog stand!



The Jackalope

The Jackalope

Out on the back patio at The Jackalope


This truck travels all over the country handing out free ice cream!

Lawn party at the Historic French Legion park.

Kathy Foster of The Thermals

Hutch Harris of The Thermals

Death metal pizza?

Golden Error at Ms. Beas

Golden Error

The freaks come out...

Parts of Sixth Street look like San Francisco




Wednesday, March 18, 2009

SXSW Day One: sunshine, freaks, mudbugs and live music



The music portion of SXSW began today as hundreds of musicians, fans and freaks took to the streets of downtown Austin to drink ice cold Lone Star beers and watch dozens and dozens of little-to-unknown bands try to generate buzz for their music. It's early, still, about 8pm, but there is no sign of things slowing down anytime soon. Here, the party goes on for days, nonstop, with more than a few hundred bands set to take to the stages, streetcorrners, bartops, sidewalks, back alleys, public transportation and anywhere else deemed fitting for a live performance.

The Wave is taking a break from the madness to post a few pictures and a video taken at The Mohawk of an intersting band called The Mae Shi, a Los Angeles foursome with curious amounts of energy and equal amounts of strange face-making antics. Stay tuned. We're heading out later tonight to check out some more music and craziness.