Labeling a band an institution — implying it is past its prime — is a dangerous game. But if any group is capable of wearing the tag without insult, it’s Built to Spill, playing a two-night stint at Slim’s this weekend.
Led by chief songwriter Doug Martsch, the Boise, Idaho, group’s devotion to all things guitar — from fuzzy, distorted riffs to angular and precise compositions — has created the template for indie rockers of the past two decades and is embraced by new groups such as California X and Cymbals Eat Guitars.
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One of this year’s best dance programs isn’t being presented by just one company.
“Dances From the Heart 2,” the second annual benefit for Bay Area AIDS organizations on Sunday at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, features 10 local troupes: Ballet San Jose, Chitresh Das Dance Company, Company C Contemporary Ballet, Diablo Ballet, ODC/Dance, Post: Ballet, Robert Moses’ Kin, Smuin Ballet, Salsamania and Te Mana O Te Ra.
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Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon opened up to Elle magazine this month about her breakup with her husband of 27 years and band mate, Thurston Moore. The divorce is not finalized, but she blames it on the “usual” things: “Midlife crisis. Star struck woman.”
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Reese Witherspoon may have thrown a diva tantrum this week, but washed-up actress Tara Reid threw her own do-you-know-who-I-am hissy fit as well.
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Beyoncé’s cover of Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black” is featured in the new movie “The Great Gatsby,” but the deceased singer’s dad, Mitch, is not happy.
“She doesn’t bring anything to it,” he told The Daily Mail, adding that initially he was never asked for permission to record it. “They have got to pay for the privilege,” he said, “which is what they are doing. I can’t tell you how much it is but it’s a lot of money.”
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From the outside, George Watsky looks like any other American kid. His boyish face shows 19 of his 26 years. But when the Los Angeles-based rapper opens his mouth, he spits a verse out faster than you can do a double take.
Watsky is headlining The Fillmore on Thursday, a monumental show for the San Francisco native.
“When I was first discovering music and my passion for rapping and performing, the Fillmore is where I went to see shows,” he says in online posts.
Despite his young age, Watsky has been fighting an uphill battle for years to get him where he is today.
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When London teens Chilli Jesson and Sam Fryer met by chance at Britain’s Reading Festival a few years ago, neither had a clue how to write a song.
So they chose a quirkier path into showbiz: They formed their own talent agency, Thursday’s Children, named for the day they got paid at their straight jobs.
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Flamboyant Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte is getting a lot of attention for his new reality show, “What Would Ryan Lochte Do?” But it’s not the good kind of attention.
The Hollywood Reporter calls him a “lovable dope” who combines the worst stereotypes of frat boys with a big cuddly Labrador retriever. Nice! TV has been missing that very thing.
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Nick Lachey: I don’t always diss fellow B-listers in public, but when I do, I go big. Lachey opened up to Details magazine about his weeklong romance with none other than Kim Kardashian in 2006, saying that she basically used him for paparazzi bait during her incessant claw to the top.
“Let’s just say this: We went to a movie. No one followed us there. Somehow, mysteriously, when we left, there were 30 photographers waiting outside,” Nick said.
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America’s Sweetheart Reese Witherspoon was arrested along with husband Jim Toth during a suspected DUI incident in Georgia on Friday. According to The Huffington Post, she is “deeply embarrassed” for her behavior, which really was quite legally blonde.
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