We watched Watchmen

Seen Watchmen yet? If not, read our take on it. And before you go, see the interviews with stars Billy Crudup (Dr. Manhattan) and Malin Akerman (Silk Spectre II) in the current issue of The Wave Magazine, at www.thewavemag.com.

SYNOPSIS:
In an alternate 1985 America, costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday life, and the Doomsday Clock (which charts the USA's tension with the Soviet Union) is permanently set at five minutes to midnight). Following the murder of one of his former costume-clad colleagues, the masked vigilante Rorschach’s paranoia pays off, when he uncovers a plot to assassinate all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his onetime fellow crime-fighters – a ragtag group of washed up superheroes, only one of whom has any special “powers” – Rorschach glimpses a disturbing conspiracy with links to their past and catastrophic consequences for the future. Their mission is to watch over humanity... but who is watching the Watchmen?

REVIEW:
This cinematic adaptation of the legendary graphic novel is at once intense, enigmatic, romantic and magically surreal, not to mention explicitly bloody. The first 10 minutes alone are worthy of the ticket price, as the back story of the tale’s dystopian society (it’s the 1980s, Nixon is still president) unfolds in a stylish montage set to Bob Dylan’s anthemic track “The Times, They Are A’ Changin.” Squeamish viewers will have trouble with more than one scene later in the film – the violence is at times unrelenting, and always unsettling. But the story’s concept is so intriguing, and so cleverly avoids any superhero clichés, the film remains captivating in spite of the graphic (pardon the pun) violence.

Cast wise, the actors may not be household names, but all give solid performances. Notable is Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian – his tortured chuckle and tragic timing makes The Dark Knight’s Joker seem positively cheery. Also noteworthy is Oscar nominee Jackie Earle Haley as the implacable vigilante Rorschach, who hides his identity behind an intriguing, ever-morphing ink-blot mask. Rorschach may be the catalyst behind much of the film’s cringe-inducing violence, but he also gets some of the most killer lines. In the hands of a less nuanced actor, the inconspicuous Dan Dreiberg (who when suited up is nice guy hero Night Owl II), could have come across as self-pitying, but acclaimed performer Patrick Wilson’s portrayal is warm and endearing. On the female front, Malin Akerman is solid and sweet as onetime superheroine Silk Spectre II, while Carla Gugino manages to overcome an overdone aged makeup job to lend dignity to mark two’s mother, the original Silk Spectre – now wasting away in a retirement home on a diet of nostalgia and noontime margaritas.

Billy Crudup is rendered unrecognizable as the mysterious and mesmerizing Dr. Manhattan, although we do see him in some flashbacks, before he became a glowing, well-built blue man with the ability to control matter. While his inability to connect with, and sometimes comprehend, human emotions and frailty makes him an at times frustrating character, his confusion adds to the philosophical slant of the tale, which views humanity as both mindlessly violent and amoral, yet also capable of being courageous and noble.

Anyone buying tickets to this film will no doubt expect the usual ingredients of a graphic novel’s cinematic adaptation: bone shattering, blood spattering violence, insane special effects and lots of sexy, world-in-peril drama. That’s here in spades, but the flipside of this tale’s doomsday, brink of nuclear violence scenario also makes for some surprisingly poignant moments, and even some soap opera style, skeletons-in-the-closet drama.

With its philosophical, sociopolitical tale getting garbled in the at-times disjointed screenplay, Watchmen may not be the most lucid, coherent tale to have hit the screens in recent times. But with its talented cast, impressive visuals, sublime use of music (everything from Bob Dylan and opera numbers to ’80s tracks such as “99 Luftballoons” and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”); it remains nothing short of a triumph in the realm of cinematic experience.
-Jo Abbie

SXSW: Interview with Lisa Light of The Lovemakers

Lisa Light and Scott Blonde of The Lovemakers

The Lovemakers – Lisa Light
SXSW shows: Mar. 20 @ The Wave (SFxSXSW showcase)

While many bands choose to stay up in San Francisco where the local music scene is more compact, this band has never let us down. Their frequent shows at The Blank Club are epic dance parties of sexual tension and gyrating pop tunes. “We always have so much fun in San Jose,” says Lovemakers singer Lisa Light. “People definitely know how to party down there. I think every town has a style of seeing a show, which can be capitalized upon in certain ways, so I think why we like playing there is people are really open to dancing and just kind of being a little bit rowdy.”


The Wave: So, what are you up to?
Lisa Light: Well, I’m lying in bed with my cat right now. I’m a little bit sick. No shows this week. We are leaving on a little short tour out to South by Southwest. We’re leaving on the 14th and we’re playing some California dates on the way out.

TW: Hope you feel better before that starts.
LL: I do too.

TW: Have y’all played SXSW before?
LL: Yeah. At least three times. It’s totally fun. I think the first time we went, before we were on Interscope, we were just kind of doing our own thing and crashed the town and played some college dorms. So that was our introduction, because we didn’t know what was going on or how it was supposed to work.

TW: Was that when Times of Romance was out?
LL: No, this was before that when we had our self-titled record out. It’s always just so hectic that it’s best to have no expectations except for parking trouble and to just try to have a good time.

TW: Do y’all have time to relax and wander around the town?
LL: Austin is different because it’s just like a big party and we have to be there for a few days, so there’s time to wander around. Touring in general there’s not really any time for anything because it’s just always in the car.

TW: Do you enjoy touring?
LL: It’s a band of fun versus hard work, a lot of boredom and driving. It’s just like its own class of living. I’m sure people have weird ideas about what it’s like. It’s 15 hours in a van, you get to live your life for 45 minutes each day, but those 45 minutes are what you’re there to do. It’s really cool to play every day and get into a groove of performing really well and being really comfortable on stage. But everything is always changing and the more you play in a row things just gel. And then of course there’s always weird sh** that happens that would never happen if you were just sitting at home.

[Eds. note: Due to space, and time, Ms. Light's long anecdote about playing a police officer's benefit concert deep in the Australian Outback was removed.]

TW: Let’s Be Friend is the new album. Is it still slated for a summer release date?
LL: I don’t know. We just got done mixing. We’re actually shopping it right now, meaning we’re looking for a label to put it out. So that’s what is pretty much happening now. Talking House is a production house, they are also a label, but to a lesser extent. It’s possible we could put our record out with Talking House, but we’re just exploring some options.

TW: Can you tell me about the sound?
LL: It is a lot of pop songs, as we do. If you were to play it side by side with Times of Romance I’d say it’s a little more rockin’ and a little more raw sounding, however, it’s similar, we have the same person mixing, Cliff Norell, so sonically it’s similar, and kind of how we always do a little bit of this, a little bit of that. There’s a few ballads as well. It’s kind of what you’d expect from us, lots of dancing numbers and weird off-the-cuff stuff.

TW: Y’all just played the Blank Club in February. You play there a lot and are kind of one of the few bands that still come down to San Jose and doesn’t forget about us down here.
LL: Well, we always have so much fun! There’s always a really good crowd down there. People definitely know how to party down there. I think every town has a style of seeing a show, which can be capitalized upon in certain ways, so I think why we like playing there is people are really open to dancing and just kind of being a little bit rowdy.

SXSW: Interview with Spence Koehler of The Stone Foxes

You simply can’t talk about 2009 buzz bands with out mentioning this blues-driven rock quartet from San Francisco. Their self-recorded album is raw but surprisingly well-produced, and its dirty, melodic slide guitar ambience sounds like what Springsteen would have done if he grew up in a steel factory community in Russia.

The Stone Foxes – Spence Koehler
SXSW shows:
Mar. 20 @ The Wave (SFxSXSW showcase)
Upcoming show:
Apr. 25 @ The Independent in San Fran; May 28 @ The Starry Plough in Berkeley

TW: So what have y’all been up to?
SK: Just gearing up for South by Southwest.

TW: Are y’all excited?
SK: Yeah. It’s kind of an honor to get asked by Talking House and the Live 105 to be in on their showcase. I’m pretty sure it’s Talking House’s showcase and Live 105 is cohosting or sponsoring it. So that’s how it got us there. We’ve got two booked so far. And we’ll just see how it goes from there.

TW: Are y’all taking a bus? Flying?
SK: We recently bought a sweet 15-passenger van so we’re going to truck it down there.
In January we did a two-week tour of the entire West, like down through LA and then out to Phoenix then Vegas, then up through Boise, up to Seattle and back down. But we did that in two of our own cars, so we decided that we needed a van to get out there. And we got this enormous ’91 Dodge Ram van, so we named it the White Whale. That’s going to be our ride. We’ve taken it down to LA and San Diego so we’ve deemed it road worthy. We took out the back bench, so we’ve got a drive, passenger and two bench seats and then all the gear in the back.

TW: Do y’all make it down to the South Bay at all?
SK: Every once in a while. We’ve played there. I’ve got a cousin down there and know different people down there, but we haven’t played there that much. We’d love to. We just haven’t had any booking offers.

TW: Tell me about the music; are y’all partial to any categories or genres?
SK: Everything we play seems to be based in the blues, whether it goes toward rock ’n’ roll or toward country a little bit. More electric blues for sure. Lots of slide and real over-driven dirty blues. Also the raw tunes we write are loosely structured in the blues so it’s like blues, rock, roll and country I’d say.

TW: When did the self-titled album come out?
SK: We started recording it in April and we just did it in our garage, just wanting to document what we had so far, didn’t really have big plans for it. We recorded it all ourselves and mixed everything ourselves and once we had it mixed it sounded pretty decent so we pooled some more money together to get it mastered and some people started liking it so we put that out in August and have since gotten some great managers who’ve helped push it to radio and other venues and kind of really helped us out.

TW: Are y’all still playing tracks off that album or will there be new stuff in Texas?
SK: There’s going to be new stuff for sure. I think even on the tour in January a third of the set was new at some shows. So we’ve written a lot since then. There’s a lot in the bag. We’ve been thinking summer might be the next time we record or maybe do some touring. But we’ve got some pretty sweet and exciting material that we’re all developing, playing it out and giving it all kinds of tune up.

TW: There’s a lot of buzz around The Stone Foxes. You have Aaron Axelson raving about it, a lot of press calling it a great buzz band for early 2009, is this something y’all pay attention to, does it stress you out, or all you just going with the flow?
SK: It’s kind of exciting. This is something that we do for fun and for people to respect it and get excited about it then that’s fun; we’re glad that people like the music that comes out just naturally.

TW: And you all have jobs right now?
SK: Yeah. We’re all working day jobs. I work at a plant nursery up in Richmond in San Francisco. Everybody has got their own little thing that they’re doing. You kind of just got to find something that is fairly flexible so you can take off for a weekend or a week to go down to Austin, which I went to school for product design and when you’re building models or working on some big project for 70 hours a week you can’t really do that. You kind of have to find something you enjoy doing that’s going to give you some freedom to move around a little bit.

SXSW: Interview with Alex Robins of Or, the Whale

Or, the Whale – Alex Robins
SXSW shows:
Mar. 18, 1am @ The Independent
Mar. 20 @ The Wave (SFxSXSW showcase)
Upcoming Bay Area shows:
Mar. 28 @ Starry Plough in Berkeley;
Apr. 17 @ The Fillmore (green apple music festival); San Francisco

The Wave: So what are you up to, man?
AR: We were actually finishing mixing our new record that’s coming out in the fall last night. No official release date yet. It’ll probably be at the end of September. But we’re sort of still working towards that. It’s funny, we were mixing the record and I got a phone call from my fiancé saying she smelled gas in our apartment. So I came home and then basically smelled the gas also, I picked her up, I turned off the gas, we went to the studio to wait it out and I made a call to our gas company and now I have to wait here at home until they come out and see what’s up.

TW: Well, be sure to crack a window or something.
AR: Yeah, well it’s fine now. Everything’s fine now. It’s been off for twelve hours but it’s definitely not how I wanted to spend my day.

TW: Are you up in San Francisco?
AR: I live in San Francisco, yes.

TW: Are you from there?
AR: I’m not originally from here. I was born in Michigan, in Detroit, and I sort of lived there until I was a pretty little kid, I was like nine, and then my family, along with myself, moved to Southern California and I grew up from nine to 18 there, San Diego, and then I went back to college in Michigan, and then I came here. So I’ve basically spent half my life in Michigan and half my life in California.

TW: So where did you pick up on the country undertones to your music?
AR: It’s strange how much this genre of music gets put into a box. If someone’s into techno they don’t automatically think they’re from Detroit, which has a very reputable foundation in creating techno. Or if it’s very upbeat pop music it’s from a certain area. Plenty of bands have sang with quote-unquote fake British accents and no one thinks they’re from England. To me, country music is really just another form of music; it’s another genre of music that I think the more you limit and the more you pigeon hole it the more you’re cutting yourself off to all the possibilities of it. We all came collectively together with a love for just playing music as this big band and having a good time. I think that a lot of classic stuff like The Band and the Rolling Stones, it always seemed like a lot of fun to be in bands like that and just listening to the music you could feel the energy and feel the great down-home vibe and I think that’s very apparent to those types of records and those types of bands. When we got the band together it was very much trying to be like that and trying to create that kind of energy, that family band kind of atmosphere.

TW: Ever played down here in San Jose?
AR: I think we did one show down there and it was very strange. It was just not put together super well…but that’s a cop out. I think we should get our asses down there. It’s not very far and it’s a different city. I don’t think we should expect people from the South Bay to come up here. We should go out of our way.

TW: Have y’all played Texas before?
AR: We have played Texas. We’ve only had one national tour and we did it in the summer right after we originally released Light Poles and Pines. We released it ourselves and distributed it ourselves and it was very local, very low budget, a good way to get something we had and sell at shows and go on tour and sort of do it in the self-motivated world. We did a month-long tour around the country. We’re really excited about coming back to Austin. Everyone always says “You’d do great in Texas”

TW: The music seems kind of fitting.
AR: Yeah, and not only that, I don’t know if it’s necessarily limited to Texas. You want people to see you so we need to go there. People want to see us play music. We’re slowly becoming a better studio band, but we’ve always prided ourselves on being a good live band and it’s definitely a different story from Light Poles and Pines. That record was made two years ago, and we’re a far better band now in all walks of life. We’re really proud of it and it’s a great record and we’re happy with it. But in terms of the actual output and the product on it, we’re itching to get this next record out in the Fall.

TW: Do you have a title for it yet?
AR: I think we’re gonna just self title it. It’s sort of one of those things where it’s going to be our next band statement…and it’s also really hard to make decisions with seven people in the band with pretty much a democracy like we have; it’s very hard to get every one to agree on it. But I think that we’re sort of all in the same boat. It seems like the right thing to do. And people love to talk sh** about our name.

TW: It’s a Moby Dick reference, right?
AR: It is. People ask, “Well, why is there a comma there, what does Or, the Whale mean?”…and I appreciate that because at least it’s creating a reaction, you know? I think people either love it or hate it. I was reading some article about us coming up to Seattle and someone commented on the bottom of it, “Could this be the worst band name ever?” And it’s like, do you really sit at home and think about what could be the worst band name ever? Is this really it? I mean, come on, there are so many terrible band names out there.

TW: Who came up with it?
AR: Matt [Sartain] came up with it. We actually have three English majors in the band and I’m a history major. Some of us in the band have this affiliation with cool nautical stuff and had read Moby Dick and I’m a big Melville fan; he’s written some cool stuff, and I think that we were trying to pick pieces from lyrics we liked or songs we liked and it’s so hard because you’re basically saying this is what our music is going to represent. It’s very hard to narrow it down. We often get literary nerds, or emails from the Melville Society that are like we love your name and we got emailed by a couple of biologists from up in Seattle about narwhals and had a long conversations about it and I honestly feel like we’ve really sort of grown into the name. And I think the name really fits our band.

TW: Will you be playing a lot of the new material at SXSW?
AR: We’ll be splitting it up pretty evenly, because honestly these songs are relatively old to us. We’ve been playing most of them for at least eight months to a year but we definitely understand that songs off the first record have some great merit and there are some awesome songs on that record and we’re really stoked on them. With that said, I definitely think the newer songs feel fresher and feel a little more lively and a little more like us, considering that the older songs were some I wrote before the band even formed.

SXSW: Let the coverage begin!

Vetiver, by Alissa Anderson

As promised, today begins our coverage of the ultimate music festival: South by Southwest. I will be heading down to Austin, Tx. on Monday, Mar. 16 to bring the festival directly to The Wave readers. In the meantime, I've been working feverishly to interview local Bay Area bands that will be making the trek to the Lone Star State as well. If you haven't seen it yet, here's the video interview with Los Gatos natives dredg. I'll meet back up with the experimental rockers next week to see how they're coping with SXSW.

Starting today, I'll be posting our pre-SXSW interviews with Bay Area bands. Stay tuned for interviews with Or, the Whale (Sunday); The Stone Foxes (Monday); and The Lovemakers (Tuesday). Beginning Wednesday, I'll be posting (as often as possible) all sorts of great stuff, from video interviews with bands to images and whatever else happens down there.

For now, here's Andy Cabic of Vetiver:

Andy Cabic (second from right) with Vetiver

SXSW shows:
Mar. 18, 10pm @ Emo’s Jr.
Mar. 19, 11pm @ Radio Room

Upcoming Bay Area shows:
Apr. 7, Santa Cruz @ The Crepe Place w/ Richard Swift
Apr. 8, San Francisco @ Great American Music Hall w/ Adam Stephens (of Two Gallants)
Apr. 15, San Francisco @ Palace of Fine Arts Theater w/ Fleet Foxes

The Wave: You’re about to head to Europe. What’s it liking playing there compared to here?

Andy Cabic: Hospitality is a little better. They treat musicians, generally speaking, much better than they do in the states. When I first used to play there, there was a lot more smoking, but that’s changed a lot from town to town, country to country. Other than that, they are more patient listeners I would say, but that might be the tendency of the venues we’ve played over there.

TW: Have you played in Austin before?

AC: It’s been a long time. We played once there in 2004. Never been to South by Southwest. We played with Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom.

TW: Are you excited about playing SXSW?

AC: It sounds like some kind of controlled chaos. I’m sort of apprehensive. Not nervous but just I don’t know what to expect. It’s not something that I ever really have been enthusiastic about doing but it seems like it makes sense to do it this year, so we’re going.

TW: Why not enthusiastic?

AC: It’s not my bag. My music isn’t suited for that, to be honest. It has dynamics so at times it might be suited for it, there’s also moments in our set that are quiet and contemplative and it’s just going to be a bunch of drunk people running around like crazies, so we’ll see how it works.

TW: Are you going to have time to check out Austin?

AC: I’ve been to Austin before. I’m not looking to check out any other bands. I’m just going there to play.

TW: You seem sometimes uncomfortable with putting a label or a genre on your music. Is that accurate?

AC: Introduce me to the person that loves to put a label on their music and I’d like to see what they find so exciting about that [laughs].

TW: Particularly with the music you play, it tends to incorporate a lot of different styles and moods, talents, do you ever find yourself having trouble describing it to people? Say you’re in Europe and you meet somebody in a hotel, they ask you what you do, you say you play music, they ask what kind…what would you say?

AC: Umm. I don’t. I say just go and listen to it. I guess if I’m forced to say something I say I’m a singer-songwriter, but that’s not very helpful either. So I don’t know. It's tricky. It's sort of like writing about music is like dancing about architecture. It's not easy to carry across...thenuances of what you're doing just have to be reductive.

TW: You grew up in Virginia and spent some time in North Carolina, but how big of an influence has the Bay Area been on your?

AC: It’s definitely my home now. It’s had a big influence on some of my music. Just the environment, the venues, everyone was very supportive when we were getting going and still are. It’s got a feeling and ease to it that makes creating and focusing on what you’re doing not difficult.

TW: You’ve said that you hear some songs and it reminds you of the bay or waking up in San Francisco on a sunny morning, do those kinds of tangible placements effect you when you’re writing music, do you feel they are coming out through your music?

AC: I hope so. That would be nice. I tend to write songs with some of the rhythm that I usually get when I’m home in the midst of daily living, which would be like going on walks and hanging out with friends and stuff. So that’s what I do when I’m home and I think that does have an impact on my song writing.

TW: What can you tell us about your new album Tight Knit?

AC: Tell you about it? What do you want to know?

TW: You’ve said that recording Things of the Past was such an enjoyable experience. Was it similar for your new album?

AC: It was made pretty much the same way, at the same studio, with the same instrumental gear, and the same people playing on it, so Thing of the Past was sort of an effort, an experiment, to gear up for Tight Knit. So it kind of went along the same lines as that one, how that one went.

TW: Did you take any divergent paths in creating some of the songs on the album or do you feel it’s pretty much has the feel you were going for and that you’ve come to embody in you music.

AC: I’d say so. It’s not like I was trying to reinvent anything or do anything…it’s got sort of more layered arrangements; it’s got different instrumentation; it has different sonic range of treble and such that maybe wasn’t quite explored on other records. It’s got everybody playing together and comfortably and I think we’ve learned a lot from playing with each other. It’s the fourth record I’ve done with Tom so at this point I think we were able to bring all the things we’ve picked up on over the years.

TW: You’ve said you tend to take time with your music when you’re writing, is that a conscious choice that you make, has it ever frustrated you that you take so much time in crafting and producing albums?

AC: It’s not a conscious choice, well, every choice you make is a conscious choice. If I decide right now to go play tennis, then I’m deciding to not go work on a song. So it’s just that kind of thing. You decide to engage in life, then you’re deciding not to sit at a keyboard at home. But I don’t get frustrated about it. It’s just living your life and I’m not in any hurry. I just take it as it goes.

This Weekend in Silicon Valley:

It's is going to be nice this weekend. Really nice. So why not turn off the TV and head out into the world to experience Silicon Valley at its finest? There are concerts, fairs, parades and more. See for yourself...


[ 3/13 ] FRIDAY




San Jose Home Show
San Jose McEnery Convention Center, 150 W. San Carlos St., San Jose (888) 560-EXPO
March 13-15: Attention, home owners: You’ll find the latest in everything to make your home and garden look spectacular with, exhibits, seminars, and aisles of vendors to answer your home care needs.

Gem Faire
Alameda County Fairgrounds, 4501 Pleasanton Ave., Pleasanton
March 13-15: More than 100 exhibitors from all over the world will be offering the best deals west of the Mississippi on jewelry, gems, beads, crystals, silver and minerals and more.

Our Town
Heritage Theatre, One W. Campbell Ave., Campbell (408) 866-2700
March 13-15: Campbell Theatre Company presents Thornton Wilder’s timeless portrayal of family, marriage and small-town life.


[ 3/14 ] SATURDAY

Photo by Joshua Uziel

The Mumlers
The Blank Club, 44 S. Almaden Ave., San Jose (408) 29-BLANK
March 14: Don't miss these San Jose folk indie rockers perform at one of Downtown's finest live music venues. For an interview with lead singer and songwriter Will Sprott, go here.

San Jose Super Toy, Comic & Record Show
Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, 344 Tully Rd., San Jose
March 14: Are you an Easy-Bake Oven collector, or are you just looking for a new ViewMaster Viewer? Either way, the San Jose Super Toy Show will have what you need, featuring more than 200 toy, comic book and record vendors selling new and vintage items.

The Great Gatsby Rummage Sale
Santa Clara County Fairgrounds-Expo Hall, 344 Tully Rd., San Jose
March 14: It’s all about “rummaging” at this year’s Great Gatsby Rummage Sale, featuring furniture, children’s clothing, computers, house wares, and much, much more!: 8am-Noon

The 158th Annual San Francisco St. Patrick’s Day Parade
Market St. and Civic Center Plaza, San Francisco (415) 395-3417
March 14: A huge parade with floats, dancers and bagpipes followed by a festival featuring arts & crafts, food, beverages, children’s activities and much more: 11:30am


[ 3/15 ] SUNDAY

Jazz on The Wharf
Santa Cruz Wharf, Beach St., Santa Cruz (831) 420-5273
March 15: Dance on the wharf to great jazz, along with food and activities for the kids: 11:30am-5:30pm

Courtesy of California Pops Orchestra

Carol Channing in Concert With The California Pops Orchestra
Venture Christian Church Theater, 16845 Hicks Rd., Los Gatos (650) 856-8432
March 15: The California Pops Orchestra would like to welcome Carol Channing for a night of humorous storytelling and music: 3pm

Fantabulous Events Bridal Show
Hilton Hotel, 4949 Great American Pkwy., Santa Clara
March 15: So he popped the question. Are you popping with planning stress? Head over to the Fantabulous Events bridal show to see the latest in formal wear, wedding cakes, gowns and much more: 11am-4pm

Sunday Salsa: Spanish Harlem Orchestra
Memorial Auditorium, 551 Serra Mall, Stanford University (650) 725-ARTS
March 15: Prepare to have your mind blown by one of the baddest orchestras around. That’s right, please welcome the Spanish Harlem Orchestra!: 2:30pm

San Jose film makers have a hit with Whiskey Tears

A great short film shot on location in Downtown San Jose premiered last Friday night at San Jose's Voodoo Lounge. The film, presented by Element 151, won the crowd over with its booze-riddled plot line and rock-a-billy characters played by Eric Callero, Brittany Dawn Tilleman, Bianca Pegg and Brad Kranich. After the film screened, local bands The Pimpsticks, Shitkickers and Whiskey Avengers performed. The latter two were featured heavily in the film's soundtrack. The film makers, writer and producer Chante Cardosa and director Frank Door, are shopping around for distribution now so keep an eye out for it in the near future. Check out the movie trailer and an interview with the cast and crew.

The trailer:

Whiskey Tears - Teaser



The interview:
with (from left) screenplay writer and producer Chante Cardosa; actors Brad Kranich and Bianca Pegg; and director Frank Door.