World Famous In San Francisco

So the girls show was so good, and there's photos and good times write ups coming, but... I'm just going to get this over with.

The best thing I can say about Yes Please is I really hated it. Sadly, though, it was a reaction to the performance and less to the music, which I heard best described as sounding 'like the Juno soundtrack'. Who likes this stuff? And Feist! Cat Power has a lot to answer for.

Speaking of Cat Power, the performance. This was like some art piece based on Chan Marshal's disastrous and irritating performances. The show starts and when I walk up to the stage I see four precious indie girls sitting at the edges of the stage. Posed on stage actually. If these girls weren't posed, then good for Yes Please for having a set of Stepford Urban Knitters at her disposal, but my guess is they were posed. Anyway, they are rapt by what is center stage. Rapt!



Center stage is what I assume to be Yes Please -- crouched under a blanket, rocking back and forth, and warbling over the Juno soundtrack which is magically coming out of the PA even though there isn't an instrument in sight. Eventually this girl makes her way out from under the blanket, she's so vulnerable! Meanwhile, a new set of kids take the blanket she's crawled out from underneath, spread it out picnic style, and sit down on it and watch -- no adore -- adore her.

What the fuck alternate reality is this? Eventually she sits down Indian style and plucks out a few notes from a guitar she's had hidden away. When I turned to walk out I noticed I was the only person not on stage or on a blanket.



On the plus side, her set was short!

Donuts started off as a club night at The Knockout a little over a year ago with the idea to mix together vegan donuts, live bands, DJs, video and fashion into a poorly lit bar. Within months of starting, Donuts had a well-developed online presence and were mentioned in 7x7 and the SFB Guardian. Due to its hotness, Donuts got pregnant and gave birth to additional clubs like Donuts Disco and Sauerkraut. Donuts is curated by Kat Matutina (resident DJ Pickpocket) and visual artist/videographer Alison Childs. Without further adieu, here are the 6 reasons why I don't like Donuts:

DJ Pickpocket
Allison Childs
1. The promoters are prettier than you. How is a girl supposed to keep her self esteem in tact going out to a club where the promoters aren't some fugly worn-out-and-put-away-wet ex-hipster dude they can rely on sleeping with at the end of the night when they've had too many drinks and their friends have disappeared? I dunno about you, but when I go out to the club, I wanna be surrounded by REAL WOMEN who either look like Xena, Chyna or Mo'Nique. Not these two hot, too hot girls.

2. Party photographers won't take a picture of you. Married older brother types only wanna take pictures of mousey inde girls. Not your fine ass.

3. Vegan donuts guy is the only person who will talk to you. No really.

4. Forget about your band, you're never gonna play at Donuts. Donuts once referred to itself as the Part Time Punks (a long running weekly LA club night) of San Francisco... as if Part-Time Punks only booked bands from Olympia and people that have been popular for over five years. Forget about Donuts being a breeding ground for new musical talent, if you see a band at Donuts, chances are you've seen them before. To be honest, Donuts looks more like a mini Popscene in it's booking of safe, established bands.

5. So straight you might as well be in Daly City. I even attended their one year anniversary that looked sorta gay with hey willpower playing and all. Now I don't necessarily want a room full of queens, but I want to at least feel like I'm in the presence of gaze.

6. Not sure of their motivations. Venture capitalists are pretty easy to figure out. When I asked the door guy how the money was split, he said all the money went to the bands. I kind of believed him. So if these promoters aren't in it for the money, you'd think they'd be in it for the art right? Well... maybe. The only artists I see getting a break from Donuts are the fashion designers... who don't have any other nightlife I'm aware of to showcase their talent in. It's pretty apparent that Donuts is not trying to nurture any scene or break any new visual/musical artist. They'd be a little more curious and adventurous in their booking if that were the case. I suspect their motivation is personal popularity. I feel like an asshole for mentioning that suspicion. I'd love to be proven wrong.

The next big Donuts party:

I'm usually SO annoyed by bands from Olympia. You know why? I'll tell you why: they have it TOO easy! Olympia is the home of K Records and Kill Rock Stars. So it's easy for a mediocre band from the small-ass town of Olympia to get a deal with either of these prestigious labels. All the college radio stations cream their pants for anything with the K or KRS stamp of inde approval. I've seen it before. Why can't Olympia be like any other town? Why can't they have great unsigned bands that break up after not releasing anything?


Fierce Perm is one of those rare bands from Olympia that actually rule. They're not on K or KRS yet... but they deserve it. They played at LADY!! last night, which was pretty rad. It was my first time seeing the band, and I was really impressed. They were really punk rock in the ideal sense. They made their own kind of punk rock. The drummer was gorgeous. He's not my type or anything, but he looked really cool playing the drums. There should be a welfare program for gorgeous drummers. The government should send a check to him because he really shouldn't be doing anything else.


Carletta Sue Kay played right before the perm. Instead of their full rock band, there were only two of them. I liked it better than their show I saw a week earlier at the Eagle. I payed closer attention. Their song selection was phenomenal and they really committed to overindulging. Plus their outfits were OTT.

I'm really sorry to report that I missed Woman of Color. I was drinking white wine at a friend's house. I was not aware of the time. Elton Tom said he really loved their MP3's. We'll report on them soon... I'm thinking they need to create a high-concept MySpace page first.