‘Allo, lovers of music and culture. We are Under the Stars, a quasi-weekly column that stays on message with strong-ass opinions, presenting new music releases and upcoming shows. There’s something about June that really solidifies that summer is here again. So let’s keep it moving, hustling with the changes, thinking outside the margins. Hop in and spend some time with us.
CONCERTS AT THE METREON?
Do you remember that Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film from 2023? I can’t erase the hubbub it caused in the lobby of AMC Metreon from my brain. Stuff of wonders. That remarkably long run in theaters, initially committed to four weeks, went for at least 13, including screenings in AMC IMAX and other luxury formats, with a bazonkers opening weekend box office of $92.8 million domestic ($13 million alone from its global debut on IMAX screens), eventually grossing more than $261.6 million globally.
With the estimated earning breakdown of her deal with AMC, Taylor Swift, along with her family, likely kept around 57% of the gross box office, while much of the rest remained with the theaters. Holy cashola, Swiftie!
Well, AMC remembered those figures, too. So much so that they are getting into the live concert business. Well, sorta—fans will be able to watch live concerts on screen simultaneously at more than 300 AMC locations in 89 markets across the country. According to the Hollywood Reporter, AMC is launching what it calls Arena One, “a revenue share model where AMC will retain a ‘significant’ percentage of the admissions revenue and food and beverage sales, and Arena One participants will also get a “significant” share of the revenues.”
The program is designed to offer a live concert experience at a more accessible price point than traditional concerts, especially when compared to the cost of attending a live show in person, including travel, accommodations, and such.
With so-called “blue dot fever” affecting the concert industry in the wake of high prices, many shows are either being cancelled outright or forcing patrons to put those big tickets on layaway. (This year’s Coachella had a general admission cost starting at $549 before fees, while VIP passes ranged from $1,199 to $1,399.) This seems like the right time to provide another viewing option, right?
Arena One ticket prices will range from $40 to $75 before taxes and any applicable online fees, depending on the artist and market. Online ticketing fees will be consistent with standard movie ticketing fees. The whole shebang will kick off with performances from Bebe Rexha on June 17, Paris Hilton on June 18, and Maren Morris on June 20. Might we see Outside Lands or a Coachella-type fest at the AMC Metreon downtown in the future?
We will just have to wait and see… But I don’t doubt it. Go ahead and thank, yer local Swiftie, SF.
BROOKLYN FUNK ESSENTIALS, BLACK BUTTERFLY (DORADO)
1990s Webster Hall in New York City’s East Village is where I caught wind, live and direct, of what soul, hip-hop, spoken word, jazz, Latin, and, of course, funk, all rolled into one enchanted show could sound and feel like. It’s where Brooklyn Fun Essentials
Understand this is the era of the Brand New Heavies just blowing up, fusing with the likes of legendary MCs, including Guru (RIP) of Gang Starr; The Pharcyde; Grand Puba, Main Source, Masta Ace, and Kool G Rap. That Heavy Rhyme Experience joint dropped in ’92, so those ideas were not just in the air; they were ripe. So here comes Brooklyn Funk Essentials, which was, at the time, formed in 1993 at Arthur Baker’s recording studio after Lati Kronlund recruited several musicians through individual connections and clubs.
We’re talking about the late great Tony Allen of Fela Kuti fame, Bassy Bob Brockmann, Yuka Honda, DJ Jazzy Nice, E.J. Rodriguez, Joshua Roseman, Paul Shapiro, and Bill Ware III, as well as vocalists Joi Cardwell, Papa Dee, Hanifah Walidah, Everton Sylvester, and David Allen.
That Webster Hall show I caught was incredible. A warm June night and music hitting New Yorkers just the right way. Epic, Jack. Well, times have changed, and band line-ups have shifted and regrouped, but dare I say, this reworking of the mighty Brooklyn Funk Essentials still captures a feeling the band started with over 30 years ago.
Black Butterfly, their eighth studio album, released this year, yes lawd, on the quintessential imprint that is Dorado Records (eternal shout out to Jhelisa), Brooklyn Funk Essentials will once again keep your soul fed and brimming with positivity. Pick it up here.
WEALTHY WOMEN, CHILDREN (ANTISLEEP)
Sometimes it takes a really long time for reactionary art to lock onto a situation, but when it does hit, it’s undeniable. Peter Sisk, Don Doblados, and Andrew Harms make up the loosely SF-based sludgey noiserock metal band Wealthy Women. Or, as they’ve tagged themselves, heavy music made by people with their ears to the ground. I like that. Even more so, their dirgey ripper “Take It Back” illuminates a soaring wave of despair, reflecting the rampant toxic masculinity and online radicalization of young men under a certain monarch.
The five-word line-read for an easy-to-understand chorus is some of the finest metal-wordsmithing I’ve experienced in a minute. I don’t have allegiances to the old sludge-metal genre, but when Wealthy Women leans into the chorus, “inflation, immigration, disorder, the border,” you know exactly what the eff they are talking about because they’ve hit it way out of the park.
Pre-order the release for your new fave sludge-metal poets here, because they are speaking.
TRINITY ACE, LEARNING TO BE A COWBOY ON THE HORSE THAT BROKE MY ARM (COMMUNITY MUSIC GROUP)
I don’t care what anybody says, SF remains a small, cozy, connected city. I was reading about Trinity Ace in the Mission Local biweekly column, Richmond Buzz, a couple of weeks back. In between all the pizza talk (there seems to be some pizza buzz) and Bahn Mi gossip happening around Clement St these days, I found out about Trinity Ace performing at one of the hottest venues in the city earlier this May.
That would be the 4-Star Theater, speaking of seeing concerts at theaters. It seems as though a different indie music scene is happening (well, it’s been going on for a while) out of San Francisco’s Richmond District. Along with Trinity Ace, there is Double Helix Peace Treaty and Poor Image, showing talent always pushes through anywhere in this 7×7 city, right?
Fog doesn’t suppress; it luxuriates in the blanketing process.
This debut EP, Learning to Be a Cowboy on the Horse That Broke My Arm, doesn’t seem to rush anything; the alt-country folkie arrangements I’ve heard so far take their time to form, and vocalist Trinity Ace has a helluva instrument in that vocal box.
Be alert and aware; another scene is bubbling up in the Aves with an Ace on hand leading the charge. Buy the Trinity Ace debut EP here.
JON SPENCER AT BOTTOM OF THE HILL, NOVEMBER 13
Symmetry. How else would you explain it? In this era when folks are so stressed, chain-smoking Marlboro Reds has become a new fad (thanks, Charli XCX) with Zoomers, Boomers, Gen X, and Gen Y—’cause that Doomsday clock is a tickin’, the same year Bottom of the Hill is making that farewell hurrah.
End times like a mug, right? Well, legendary musical ass-kicker Jon Spencer returns with a new album and a full-out tour, y’all. Performing at the venue that many of us in the Bay Area have fond memories of first seeing The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion in their full glory.
Back when folks smoked in bars for fun. Oh, those were the days, friendo.
With a new album, Songs of Personal Loss and Protest (a fitting title for the past couple of years if I ever heard one) Jon Spencer will be bringing his post-punk rockabilly rave-up revue to that historic BOTH stage on Friday the 13th, one mo gin. That is symmetry, baby.
