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Wednesday, July 23
Ringo Starr
Mountain Winery
14831 Pierce Road, Saratoga
408.998.TIXS
Wed – 7:30pm; $55-$125
All these years after the Beatles split up, professional drummers from Phil Collins to Dave Grohl still cite Ringo Starr as a major influence. It's doubtful Starr could have ever summoned the god-stomping rhythms of a drummer like John Bonham, but that's always been part of Starr's charm—he didn't play like a drummer with something to prove, he played to the song, and often blew minds with the perfection of his choices. Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band perform in support of their latest release, Liverpool 8. (MC)
Thursday, July 24
Vanessa Carlton
Plaza de Cesar Chavez
Market Street and Park Avenue, San Jose
408.279.1775
Thu – 5:30-9:15pm; free
The bubbly pop-rock pianist has grown as a musician since her debut album, Be Not Nobody, hit the stores in 2002. Carlton rose to the top of the adult contemporary charts with her first single, "A Thousand Miles," but in spite of a duet remake of "Big Yellow Taxi" with Counting Crows' Adam Duritz being played in every major retail outfit, her follow-up album, a more solid and mature offering in 2004 titled Harmonium, didn't fare so well. The singer/songwriter pressed on, touring (with Stevie Nicks, even) and working on her 2007 release, Heroes and Thieves, alongside producers Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind, Linda Perry and Irv Gotti, and Carlton again received acclaim as "Nolita Fairytale," the first single from the Heroes and Thieves, took off on mainstream radio and cable music video network rotation last summer. Dusty Rhodes and the River Band open for the three-time Grammy-nominated artist. (CY)
Friday, July 25
Toby Keith
Shoreline Amphitheatre
1 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Mountain View
408.998.TIXS
Fri – 6:30pm; $37-$74
Toby Keith came from humble beginnings—he was a football player who didn't make the team and took to playing honky-tonk bars instead. He got his big break when one of his fans passed on Keith's demo to a Mercury Records exec, who finally signed him, and not for nothing—his first single, "Should've Been a Cowboy," hit No. 1 on the Billboard country singles chart. Keith is probably best known for being the "Ford Truck Man," for which he wrote the compelling, no-nonsense lyrics, "I'm a Ford Truck man, that's all I drive/ I ain't got no boundaries, I don't compromise," and for his controversial "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)," Keith's fair and balanced analysis of 9/11 and its aftermath. The Dixie Chicks said Keith's lyrics are "ignorant" and cast an unflattering light on country music; Keith responded by rebelliously PhotoShopping Natalie Maines' picture next to Saddam Hussein and displaying it behind the stage at his concerts. Take that, Chicks. (MC)
Saturday, July 26
The Dandelion War
Rasputin Records
1820 S. Bascom Ave, Campbell
800.350.8700
Sat - 7pm; free
During summer, Rasputin Records beefs up its live in-store performances, showcasing local and touring acts in a variety of genres. This week's offering is the Dandelion War, a San Francisco rock sextet that presents lush guitars and keyboards with a slight edge, sappy yet powerful vocals and percussive flourishes via maracas and xylophone. Despite its mellow sound onstage, the Dandelion War always brings a party, and at a recent Retox Lounge show the members came bearing cake, soda and crackers and meats. First they feed the stomach, then they feed the soul. (CY)
Sunday, July 27
Emmylou Harris
Mountain Winery
Mountain Winery
408.998.TIXS
Sun – 7:30pm; $40-$58
With Jimmy Gaudreau and Moondi Klein. For nearly 30 years, Harris—a 12-time Grammy winner—has straddled the fence between the traditional Nashville establishment and the so-called progressive, or New Country, movement—the only country artist welcome in both camps. She began as a student of country rock pioneer Gram Parsons, a onetime Byrd who blended elements of country's down-home past with the back-to-the-earth sentiments of '70s rock. Actually, it was ex-Byrd Chris Hillman who discovered Harris and introduced her to Parsons. Harris struck up a close friendship with the troubled musician before Parsons' 1973 death, contributing her trademark sad soprano harmonies to a pair of records—G.P. and Grievous Angel—that included some of the finest duets ever recorded. Harris went on to record with Parson's Hot Band, releasing her first true country album, Pieces of the Sky, in 1975. Over the years, she has forged a soft country-rock sound, sometimes lending her immaculate tone to folk and bluegrass settings and at times even flirting with rock.
Monday July 28
Alkaline Trio
The Fillmore
1805 Geary, San Francisco
408.998.TIXS
Mon – 6:30pm; $19.99
For the past decade, Alkaline Trio has been turning out the real sounds of young America, specializing in napalm-soaked emo that resides just on the grittier side of polished. From a career standpoint, the band has had a rough time of it, bouncing from one label to the next while perpetually skating below the mainstream, but the loyal following it has earned in the past decade is the sort of thing measured more by devotion and ticket sales than Soundscan numbers. The band's tenacity has paid off, and even if the lyrics are locked in a state of perpetual adolescence, the little brothers and sisters of the band's original generation of fans that now comprise the its audience don't seem to mind. (GW)
Tuesday, July 29
Chromeo
The Fillmore
1805 Geary, San Francisco
408.998.TIXS
Tue – 9pm; $24
Dubbed "the only successful Arab/Jew partnership since the dawn of human culture," the synth pop revisionist duo Chromeo makes one stop in the Bay Area on its "Fancier Footwork" tour. Best friends Dave-1 (vocals) and P-Thugg (keyboards, synthesizers and talk box) prove there's still a demand for '80s electronic-funk music. Their 2004 album She's in Control defined their indie, retro style with tracks like "Needy Girl" and "Mercury Tears." But it was their sophomore effort, Fancy Footwork, that firmly established Dave and P's talent for creating a funky, tongue-in-cheek pop sound that's here to "heal the fractured soul of dance music." (AF)
