Author Archives: Jason Miller

Roger Waters performed The Wall to a sellout crowd at AT&T park on Friday night, and it was nothing short of spectacular. Having seen this show scaled down (for lack of a better term) inside of an arena, Waters took it above and beyond.

For the 8 stadiums scheduled on the tour, Waters has redesigned and scaled up The Wall significantly. The genius behind Pink Floyd’s finest work says, “The stadium show couldn’t have been done 40 years ago. We couldn’t have filled the space in a way that would have been emotionally, musically, and theatrically satisfying. Technology has changed. Now we can.”

The Wall is double the width of the indoor arena show, coming in at an enormous 500 feet wide and standing 40 feet from the floor. The 20,000 square foot wall is the largest projection surface ever toured in a live entertainment with over 1,000 bricks displaying hi-definition images from 41 state-of-the-art video projectors.

Read More »

After a triumphant return the evening before at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, the Seattle supergroup Brad should have dazzled for a second night in a row. Instead, they disappointed. A sold out crowd watched as one of the most underrated and truly distinctive singer/songwriters of the last twenty years, Shawn Smith, took the stage in what seemed to be a drunken stupor.

Stone Gossard and the rest of the band did their best to cover for their very animated frontman that evening, but it all came crashing down quickly during an impromptu version of Purple Rain that lead into a dissastorous version of the Mother Love Bone classic “Crown Of Thorns.” Fans were walking out mid-show completely disillusioned.

It’s truly a shame that the show was so bad. The band’s new record, United We Stand is one of the best albums I have heard this year. It’s a modern day classic, showcasing Smith’s soulful vocals with Gossard’s incendiary guitar playing and the band’s incredibly tightly wound grooves.

Read More »

If the vocalist of the Northern California country gold supergroup Brokedown in Bakersfield looks and sounds familiar, it’s probably because you saw her and her band The Gramblers playing a remarkably great stripped down version of the Hall & Oates classic “I Can’t Go For That.” Her name is Nicki Bluhm and the video clip of her Van Sessions take on the soulful classic, has taken the social world by storm and become a viral hit.

The video has received over 1 million views and Bluhm even received a personal email from John Oates himself. I would like to think the next step is an open invitation to jam with the duo Live at Daryl’s House but that remains to be seen.

Nicki Bluhm sings along side her husband Tim Bluhm, of The Mother Hips fame backed by some of the best musicians in and around the San Francisco Bay Area. Their setlist features a brilliant selection of often forgotten ’60s and ’70s country classics that fall somewhere between honky tonk and sweet country soul breathing new life into classics from Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, and Gram Parsons just to name a few.

Nicki and Tim Bluhm are both big fans of vinyl records.”We pretty much exclusively listen to vinyl and most of our collection is thrift store finds”, says Nicki Bluhm. She continues,”When I met Tim our vinyl collection meshed together. Some of the best records I found in his collection are old Bee Gees records. I was really appreciative that he opened my eyes to those.”

Read More »

Electropunk, digital hardcore, industrial synthpunk, or whatever you want to call them, Mindless Self Indulgence pulled off one of the most uniquely captivating live performances I have seen in quite some time.

It’s a testament to their continued touring success and incredibly dedicated fan base. I remember first hearing about this band back in the day when Korn and System of a Down were at the top of their game and MSI were the opening act. Unlike these nu metal dinosaurs, MSI have adapted, and their forward thinking is why they continue to be relevant.

I can say with one hundred percent certainty that they are one of the most diverse acts around today, and their show here in San Francisco last weekend at the Regency Ballroom was nothing short of brilliant. The energy of singer Jimmy Urine (I know, terrible name) should be enough for Red Bull to use him as their new spokesperson, while his onstage personality and theatrics should prime him for his own Broadway show.

Read More »

A few years ago, I struck vinyl gold while living in Dallas, TX. A friend of mine from Good Records, Chris Penn aka DJ Cee Pee, put together two boxes of hand-picked metal records for me. He had just picked up several hundred used records from a Dallas college radio station as they were throwing them out and going digital. 

Although many of the classic albums included had some pretty good wear going on with the sleeves, the actual vinyl was in excellent condition. It was a vast selection of ’70s and ’80s metal, a gift from the vinyl gods above.

Back in the ’70s, college radio stations would put notes on the front of each record with comments from other DJs at the station along with a description of the band. Reading these notes today can be quite entertaining, as you’re about to see. Here are two gems from Aerosmith, along with the original notes and comments from the DJs themselves.

Read More »

Even though The Monsters of Rock Cruise happened last month, and I left you hanging after my Day One recap (thank you, SXSW), I thought I would revisit the topic and share more photos taken during the second day of what is surely one of my most unique experiences. With that said, let me take you back to February 26, 2012—which felt to me very much like February 26, 1986.

Day Two on the Monsters of Rock cruise is where the party really got started. Baltimore rockers Kix kicked off the day with a blistering set on the ship’s top deck. These guys are terribly underrated and quite possibly the finest “Hair Metal” straight ahead rock band of their time. They sounded better than ever, blasting through classics from their 1988 masterpiece Blow My Fuse.

Later on that day, Night Ranger took the inside stage and showed everyone why they are still incredibly relevant. Jack Blades and company brought everyone back to a time when “Sister Christian” was a radio staple. They even stretched their set to include the enormously popular Damn Yankee’s power ballad “High Enough,” which sounded better than the original.

Read More »