I am behind in concert reviews, partly because I am training at KALX, partly because I’ve been so busy in the scene I haven’t been home to write! So let’s get to it.
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Dr. Nora Free & The Liberation Sextet: Ornette Coleman Elder Celebration, The Back Room, Oct. 17th 2025
Haiku Review:
Intimate jazz thrives
outside stuffy jazz center.
Feel it in your face!
I wrote about how I feel jazz lost it’s way when it went to Julliard here.
I mention this because what I witnessed on Friday at The Back Room in Berkeley is the way I feel jazz is meant to be seen and heard live. Well, second only dancing to dixieland, stride, big band, and all the various early, “jungle music” forms meant for music halls and dance clubs.
And I should point out this was “free jazz”, or at least tribute, to a man who helped spearhead the movement.
Yeah, yeah as opposed to “locked up” jazz. Ha. Ha.
I am not a big fan of free jazz. I need some structure, some identifiable swing, or melody otherwise it sounds to my ears like people doing… whatever. But I am also a student of music history and I LOVE when the locals pay tribute to those who came before. Even if I may not like the specific sounds. However, I need not have worried for Friday’s show Nora Free and her sextet blazed like fire on a backyard BBQ in modes that I personally found accessible and easy enough to dance my fingers around in the air. It was hot.
My personal favorite was “The Jungle Is A Skyscraper”, the title alone had images in my head of future dystopian cityscapes being reclaimed by vines and flowers as the city folk hustled on their routines. Another song titled, “Three Wishes” seemed to almost start with a Klezmer swing making me want to skip in a circle.
Now, despite being a lover of dancing, in these types of musical environs I really like the ballads and slow pieces because so often the flurry of fingering and fast licks can be used to hide mistakes and mask what might be lesser musicianship. I notice this a lot with many of the “prodigies” that get passed to me on social media. It looks amazing but lacks the depth and craftsmanship of a journeyman. So when the band played one Coleman’s few ballads you got a true sense of the cohesiveness within all the “free” both in the genre and in Nora’s band.
And that’s Dr. Nora Free. She wrote her thesis on Coleman. But that just a “fun fact” because all that scholarly undertaking did not get in the way of great time, with great players, laying down great music.
I must confess part of the reason for that is the venue itself. The Back Room is my favorite venue in The Bay Area. Intimate, always great sound and not a single bad seat (most of the seats are plush couches). This is important because it just gets you so relaxed and in the zone as opposed to the SF Jazz Center (or what I lovingly call The Hardly Strictly SF Jazz Center) where I feel like I usually have to sit upright and pay attention like it is a lecture.
On Friday I just reclined and let the music drift around me like mist; sometimes cool, sometimes humid and enjoyed all of it with a nice bottle of thick red wine. The 90 minutes flew by like a train and I could’ve sat for another 90.
It revitalized my Jazz DNA. I’ve seen many great shows at SF Jazz but I never have come away feeling full bodied like I did Friday. Because the SF Jazz Center is just that- a center. Great though it is, it has taken jazz the way of Classical music, away from Main Street and funded by people up on hills with money and the prices, people, and names etched on the wall reflect that.
The Back Room… well it’s literally a back room with brick walls, you feel like you are hanging out with friends at a jam session. Or in my more wish fulfillment moments amid the smoke haze of the Village Vanguard in the 1950s in New York City. And the prices and ambiance reflect that. The prices do not however, reflect the top quality that will be feeding your ears, eyes, and soul.
And coincidentally the next night I happened to be walking by Tarragon Cafe near Haight Street in SF and there was, free jazz. Literally free every Friday and Saturday, no fee to enter. And after that I was given a flier for even more jazz at the Peacock Lounge!
So go and see these great local musicians keeping one of foundational genres alive! Because Jazz is not dead. It is right where it needs to be down in the bars and on the streets among the Main Street vital, refreshing, and free.
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Shonen Knife & Pack A.D., The Bottom Of The Hill, Oct. 13th
Haiku Review:
The Knife deliver
But Pack A.D. burn down house
Bands prove rock not dead
The Shonen Knife Trio returned The Bottom Of The Hill with their Everyone Happy Tour. I have seen them there twice before so I guess that makes me a fan. I don’t usually see band more than once (unless they are local). It’s a money management thing. But I admit in full disclosure I got a “photo pass” (i.e. guest list), and ironically my phone died so I could not actually take any photos!
The Bottom Of The Hill is one of my favorite venues in SF. It’s the perfect balance of put together and divey. It is small but I can always find a little space in the back or on the side to dance. Well, the Shonen Knife show was sold out. Though I talked to a couple people who still got tickets the day of at the door, so always, always check the box office day of if it is a show you REALLY want to see. You almost always get lucky, in my experience.
Anyway, the Shonen Knife show was sold out. I reiterate because I always show up for the opening acts. You never know what glories you will get to experience. And the Pack A.D., a female group from Vancouver… Well two females (drum and guitar) burned down the house with all kinds of rock sounds… You’d immediately think White Stripes because they are a duo. Ah but you see soon you find yourself thinking of Hendrix and The Edgar Winter Group, T.Rex, and of course Heart, even Girlschool or Hole, and then shift to The Paul Butterfield Blues Band. This duo was impossible to pigeonhole other than to say they are a rock band that kicks ass. They are not derivative at all like, say, Greta Van Fleet gets ripped for being a lesser Led Zeppelin. Nope. This band just kicks all the rear that rock used to kick in the late 60s through the early 90s; sleazy, sensual, often dangerous. I was not familiar with them before this night. I checked one or two songs on-line but the live show made me a convert. They had done their homework to ensure nobody could say they are just The White Stripes 2.0 or a duo version of The Who… Nopey nope nope! They are not derivative but swallow everything like they are a black hole of rock.
And even though it was only ten songs I felt like I’d just seen full show at Winterland Ballroom! Ha! In fact the set was so kick ass that I uh… kinda sorta well… don’t remember much of the Shonen Knife portion! Yikes!
So, Shonen Knife the cult power-pop/punk trio from Japan definitely kicked ass. I certainly bounced around the floor. And I particularly enjoyed the cute ditty, “I Am A Cat”. But I could not shake the previous band out of my blood! Part of this I think is because I had seen Shonen Knife before and knew what to expect. To steal a Talking Heads album title, “More songs about buildings and food”. And they served what they do well, handmade outfits and all. But I guess my soul was craving something new in this era where everything seem to be recycled or on repeat as corporate just smashes the nostalgia button with throwback festivals.
Also there is something about your first time. I saw Shonen Knife at the same venue in 2018 for the first time and they were just so damn fun and adorable. And I think after your first time one can kind of get into an… OK what else have you got mindset? Especially if you are like me and don’t got full fanatic over musicians. Also, the energy in the room was different this time… it felt like much of the crowd was there to say they were there for the social media points or because tik-tok made a song viral. I’ve noticed this to be true across many shows and venues of all sizes more and more recently. I guess tik-tok is replacing what radio used to do when introducing people to new music.
But paying the ticket price for just, “that one song?”
Hey, if it exposes people to more music new to them EXCELLENT!
One other factor here is that the space between the two acts felt longer than normal. And that can lead to the energy the opener has built fleeing out of the room. Unfortunately, this stuff happens sometimes in live settings.
Now, I can’t recall if Shonen Knife did the phony leave the stage then come back on for an encore but my memory is telling me they just took the applause and stayed on stage. The night ended in fabulous fashion with a cover of The Carpenters “On Top Of The World”, which they had originally recorded in the 90s for a tribute compilation. I was on the sidelines or in the back for most of the show so couldn’t really see the band much but it didn’t matter I come for the music and communal experience, I don’t always need to see the band. It’s not like they were doing acrobatics or swallowing swords. They were rocking out. So, as instructed, I rocked out.
Favorite Of Set:
Everyone Looks Like Everyone
Wolves and Werewolves
I Am A Cat
Top Of The World
WHAT YOU WITNESSED OR WHAT YOU MISSED:
PACK A.D.
Cellophane
Los Angeles
Haunt You
Everyone Looks Like Everyone
Dollhouse
Animal
Wolves and Werewolves
Corba Matte
Sirens
Yes, I Know
SHONEN KNIFE
Mango Juice
Buttercup (I’m a Super Girl)
Bear Up Bison
Twist Barbie
Jump into the New World
MUJINTO Rock
Vamos Taquitos
Afternoon Tea
Cookie Day
Ghost Train
I Am a Cat
Miracles
Concrete Animals
Wasabi
Green Tea
Sweet Candy Power
E.S.P.
Banana Chips
Riding on the Rocket
Burning Farm
Top of the World
Banana Chips
Riding On A Rocket
Top Of The World
SIDE RANT:
A personal pet peeve I have with venues is the music they play before the show and in-between acts. If you are going to play songs- COMMIT to it and crank the damn volume! I loathe being surrounded by 3-5 different and unrelated conversations while there is some groovy song on that I can half-hear. Play that shit loud and keep the energy going. I believe the tepid volume level of the DJ is another reason energy leaves a room between acts.
It is particularly bothersome if I have been all worked up by a great opener and then it all withers while I am hearing total bangers played at muted volumes. And don’t tell me this is not a dance club. If people want to talk loudly they can go to the lobby or go outside. This is a concert, not a coffee at a cafe! I come to hear music and dance so I want to HEAR the music or don’t play it all.
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Sophie Ellis-Bextor, August Hall, Oct. 28th
Haiku Review:
Disco music, gays!
Mac and cheese for the dance floor!
Uh… Why nobody dance?
Disco and gays! It’s like mac a cheese for the soul. And it’s always a pleasure to see disco done with a live band as opposed to whatever overpriced karaoke Madonna did on her Celebration tour. Opener, Holiday Sidewinder also brought some fabulous gay disco banging energy though it seemed to be entirely backing tracks, no live band. I get it. Bands cost $$$. The performance was slightly too cutesy in a Sabrina Carpenter way for me BUT I liked that they brought that 2010 trashy dance anthem energy on songs like Boys Will Be Toys. We need more of that in the mainstream, straight up cheesy dance bangers. The audience clearly enjoyed it by the cheers though there was not much dancing, just bobbing and swaying despite this music being club music bangers! Spoiler alert they “danced” the same for Sophie.
So the Holiday Sidewinder’s set ends and then the waiting begins with music at WTF volumes? And here it seemed to drag on even more so than at Shonen Knife. But the disco night finally began! Sophie has great stage presence and I thought she was younger but at 45 she is closer to my age than many in the audience. Wow!
]She was so personable and gracious. The limited stage decoration was super cute (I think it had a light up palm tree and flamingo) and the video visuals fit with the campy energy. I had a lot of fun. But the audience… while they cheered the audience… they did not really dance! I know I beat this drum a lot but this was disco music and GAYS! How? What? Why? Really?
It is so frustrating because I’m in the back sweating but up by the stage people just swaying and bobbing or standing there like somebody is selling them miracle car wax!
This felt so stark compared to seeing Róisín Murphy at Warfield the year before where it was also disco and gay. And people were MOVING. It was a frenzy. Also TBF Murphy’s set was nonstop I think she maybe talked between songs twice and didn’t even really pause for applause. It was just nonstop music like at a club. I was spent at the end of that show.
The song everyone was “waiting”, for Murder On The Dancefloor was huge in the clubs in the early 00s when I was going back then. And in the past few years it got reborn thanks to the film Saltburn, which also helped it go viral on tik-tok and then there was the cover by Royel Otis… So there were certainly people present solely for that one song. When it came on the phones came out (though it seemed mostly the younger crowd doing so).
Fine by me. If one song gets younger people out to these shows to experience music beyond their peers and algorithms great. I just wished… more people danced to you know… the live disco music. The show ended with Sophie singing solo on the balcony it was great because I was on the balcony, yes, dancing to the a capella! If she didn’t notice she was blind. LOL!
She noticed.
Favorite of Set: Time & The House/Disco Medley
WHAT YOU WITNESSED OR WHAT YOU MISSED:
HOLIDAY SIDEWINDER:
Leo
Tra$h Can Luv
Ripe
Cliffhanger
Strawberry Daiquiris
Die Hard
Unrelatable
Boys Will Be Toys
Crystal Bay
SOPHIE ELLIS-BEXTOR
Relentless Love
Take Me Home (Cher cover)
Dolce Vita
Hypnotized
Me and My Imagination
Time
Hearing in Colour
Ready for Your Love
Glamorous
Get Over You
Lady (Hear Me Tonight) / Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love) / Can’t Fight This Feeling / Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)
Freedom of the Night
I Feel Love
Not Giving Up on Love
Layers
Crying at the Discoteque
Heartbreak (Make Me a Dancer)
Murder on the Dancefloor
Bittersweet
Don’t Know What You’ve Got ‘Til It’s Gone
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Haute and Freddy, Cafe Du Nord, Oct. 30th
Let me get this out of the way… once again people were not doing much dancing. WTF? And I could not see the stage at all, so I gave up even trying and danced harder. Not many others could see the stage either so I dunno why they just stood there staring at the backside of other audience members. But whatever… San Francisco I guess…
Now, I have never been to Cafe Du Nord before in all my years of living here. Lovely venue. Very tiny. Again I couldn’t see the stage because it was packed. And in many ways this was a plus because I just listened and danced to the music. This is especially important here because Haute and Freddy have a total aesthetic. A visual theater kid thing going on that while not terrible… well… Let me backup.
In the 90s there was this skit that aired on Comedy Central, a game show titled, “Plant or Animal” where contestants had to guess if the audio was Robert Plant or an animal. I’m recalling it now because industry plants are all the rage in music conversations and it leaves you wondering if there are any true “animals” like Iggy Pop, Devo, Klaus Nomi, or Lene Lovich out there that could make the mainstream. That is how cynical I, and much of the music fandom, have gotten.
I discovered the duo Haute & Freddy looking for more modern acts doing the old new wave and synthpop sound to send to a DJ friend of mine in Portland because we communicate mostly by sharing songs. I watched a couple videos and immediately the jaded cynic in me wanted to do a hard pan even though I LIKED the songs. I liked the songs fer fuck’s sake. But something just felt… off.
But since I liked the songs I had to stop myself and dig deep to see what biases might be coming to the surface that are not allowing me to simply enjoy the music… It felt too good to be true for one thing. But all this over thinking prompted me to attend the show last minute and experience the band live for myself so I could more properly give a critique.
You see Haute & Freddy are marketed like they new oustiders coming to revive the underground DIY scene but they have the full on aesthetic of professional well funded theater kids, specifically Ren Faire. Even the website caters to that imagery. And the music videos I saw were very well produced and also manifested those themes.
Hell, even the merch (which was better than anything I’ve seen from any larger act this year) and the live show leaned into that. Before their set began there was audio of a woman with a British accent narrating the fairy tale of Haute and Freddy fleeing the circus… How very twee.
They dress up in ren faire costumes when they perform and even many who come to their shows also dress up. On Thursday I saw everything from 16th century court jesters to a man dressed in red and white Edwardian attire like he was about to sell popcorn to the sparkle goths present. All of this might lead one to say, “So what?”
Well… this was the tiny Cafe Du Nord, and Haute and Freddy don’t even have out a proper album yet. I started to ask myself- Am I at the ground level for the next industry plant? Am I seeing a total package roll out before it, “comes out of nowhere?” Or is this a real deal once in a lifetime band?
Because while the music was great and fun it sounded too clean for the venue, honestly. Pristine clean studio level backing tracks being used for the harmonies and other instruments. And also those music videos as I said were well produced. So this says to me they have money behind them in some way. No real DIY act has money for that kind of production in a music video, let alone mutiple videos, trust me.
So just like when Billie Eilish, “came out of nowhere”- Or hell even Lady Gaga in the beginning… For me, music aside, it all felt a little to on the nose or precocious trying to be, “different”. Like somebody in a marketing department spotted them on social media being quirky and put together a team to make them stars…
The whole package feels like what an executive running a focus group THINKS outsiders are like and are trying VERY diligently to make the next industry darling. Taking an act and being just weird enough for the masses approval without scaring them but not authentically outside enough to draw the true underground crowds that like to slam dance like it is a survival and dress not for show but because it is their personal style.
On that note, much of the audience also felt like focus group outsiders. Or like the bridge and tunnel people who come to exotic erotic ball and snicker uneasily at the sights they never see in the suburbs. Being an outsider is not a way of life for them like say… Cyndi Lauper or the aforementioned Lene Lovich. It’s felt a little like the song Common People but for underground music.
Haute & Freddy even have a song to perfectly cater to these people called, “Freaks” with lyrics like this:
After midnight, when the sun goes down
There’s a villain beggin’ to come out
Spotless on the surface
I can always tell you’re a freak
All the tight-laced, ready to offend
All the shy girls show a little skin
Life is for the wicked
Not so heaven-sent
All the pretty girls and all the pretty boys
They get dressed up and go out dancing
All the pretty girls and all the pretty boys are freaks
It’s a banger. They also have a song titled, “I Like My People Weird”. It can come off like a teenager giggling about how much they are rebelling against their parents by dressing and acting different. Also this kind falls under that cliché of, “show don’t tell” us you’re freaks.
Whether this is truly organic or DIY is not necessarily important, especially if the music is good. It just is. But as somebody who has seen some real kinky (and dangerous) DIY live shows… It can feel like somebody cosplaying being an outsider, especially if they come from a more well off background. Also outsiders tend to in some way lean into the camp… this was missing the camp part of the equation. It all felt too earnest and sometimes too serious in the aesthetic.
But again, I couldn’t see that stage! Ha!
So I danced a fervor and tried to whip up the people around me into a similar craze and was rather unsuccessful. I repeat however the music was great overall, high energy fun. But some songs ended WAY too soon, which felt jarring and awkward. I was really grooving hard and then they just quit.
If you are trying to do the synth-pop 80s business go long or go home. You gotta pull that Pet Shop Boys 8 minute epic. It would even fit with the ren faire business if you treat like an epic poem and could amp up the camp. But near the end the 12 song set they dropped another new track Dance The Pain Away…
If there is justice in the damn world, this will be a gay anthem for the ages and a mega hit banger. And as much as I hate gaming the charts, eff it, if we have to game the charts to get this on regular radio and in the malls so be it. Right banger this one is.
Conversely, the super gay opener, Jack Powers (great porn name BTW) was low budget and campy as fuck. This is the kind of go for broke DIY that resonates to me as truly underground and vital. The audio was not pristine the backing videos were shoestring. It felt very authentic. And while some songs felt too short there were some real bangers. I certainly feel like they would be perfect as a regular local act at your Saturday night gay club/bar. They also came fully equipped with the filthy mouth of the gay underground that the far more “proper” Haute and Freddy lacked.
I am glad I went but I am unsure what to make of the Haute & Freedy so far because, again, it feels too on the nose. And I am kind of fed up with being duped in all areas of life. I liked most of the songs and I wish that was all that mattered. But we’ll see where they go and how I feel about it all as the roll out unfolds.
And we’ll find out whether I think they are a plant or animal.
Favorite Of Set: Dance the Pain Away
WHAT YOU WITNESSED OR WHAT YOU MISSED:
JACK POWERS:
Could not locate set list. *sad face*
HAUTE AND FREDDY:
Anti-Superstar
Fashion Over Function
Sweet Surrender
Sophie
Fields of Versailles
Femme Hysteria
I Like My People Weird
Freaks
Scantily Clad
Dance the Pain Away
Symphony for a Queen
Shy Girl
