Over at Amoeba Music Berkeley, 2008 has been a year full of thrilling instores and special events. Keep reading to check out about some of the hand-picked highlights:

In February, hyperactive punk band the Black Lips stopped by for an energetic instore appearance. You can see all the pictures from this event on our website here. You can also watch an interview and performance from their Amoeba Hollywood appearance right here.

It's been yet another eventful year here at Amoeba San Francisco, our 11th here on Haight Street! Below is a sort of best-of, a bunch of the highlights from the year for us, from instores to holiday events-- read on to celebrate the end of 2008 with us!

Going back to January 2008, we kicked off the new year with a groovy instore from Devendra Banhart.

Yesterday Amoeba San Francisco was flooded with spirits in their finest Halloween garb...

Our annual Horrific Halloween Costume Contest took place and this year's event was hosted with aplomb by our own Mike Bee (aka Batags) and DJed aptly by Dracula..er...Nero Nava.

On Saturday, October 25th, Amoeba sponsored an event coinciding with the drop of the new version of Guitar Hero, entitled Guitar Hero: World Tour. As you may or may not have heard, Amoeba is featured in the game as a playable level which is unlocked as you play through the "Tour" career mode of the game. So naturally, to celebrate the release of Amoeba's first venture into the video game world, the folks of Amoeba Berkeley had a wee soiree down the street at Blake's On Telegraph. The event was held on the top two floors of the three floor bar, where patrons could not only be the first ones to purchase the new game, but could also demo a single guitar version for Xbox 360, or the full Rock Band version on the PS3.


This is the first time that a Guitar Hero title has been sold with the full Rock Band set up, including an updated guitar (now 25% bigger and with a sunburst finish), an updated drum set (similar to the Rock Band 2 drum set with 3 drum pads and 2 "cymbal" fan pads to better recreate the feel of a real drum kit), and my personal favorite, the microphone. Unfortunately for yours truly, my voice had been rendered useless by a cold, so I could not belt "Living On A Prayer" at the top of my lungs.

The set up of the event was pretty neat, with DJ Vinnie Esparza spinning a great mix of tunes varying from Latin soul breaks, to artists you would assume would be played at a Guitar Hero event: Sabbath, Maiden, Slayer, etc. Before entering the event I had wondered how we could have a DJ and multiple versions of the mainly musical game all going at the same time. Upon arriving, however, I saw that the game stations were equipped with nice headphones for each person, so they could hear the rock, while not interrupting the bar's other alcoholics.

I have the good fortune to be part of the in-store crew here at Amoeba San Francisco, and this affords me many opportunities to do one of my favorite things ever: see live music.

I’ve seen some bands that I GREATLY admire (Earth, High on Fire, The Raconteurs, Thurston Moore, The Breeders, Boris, The Dirtbombs… the list goes on), some bands that I’m unimpressed with (I’ll keep those to myself), and sometimes it’s something I’ve never heard before, but it’s always something different and new.

One factor that can affect my experience as a viewer is whether or not the performers are having fun and are excited to be here. When artists are psyched up for the unique experience of an Amoeba instore, it makes their show all the better for everyone!


What is the point of this personal rambling, you might be asking yourself? Well, this coming Sunday, July 6 at 2pm, The Kids Of Widney High are going to be performing LIVE for FREE, and I can’t wait to see them. Have I ever seen them before? Nope. But I did watch the video for “Pretty Girls” on the Amoeba Website. After that I wanted to see more, so I clicked over to YouTube and found this mini-documentary about the school and the songwriting class that has created this group. It’s worth watching the entire thing, but be sure to check out just after the 9 minute mark, when former member Shantel Brown says “…and I hope they get to go back to San Francisco again.”  WHAT?!?! Are they going to be way excited to be here? That makes ME all the more excited… I think YOU should come by and check it out. There’s nothing like a room full of people who love music, is there?

Continue reading