This is my first piece with the tag "NSFW." Future employers, is that OK? Because I think it's kinda awesome.

No, this isn't some hokey April's Fool joke gone horribly, horribly wrong (or, gone horribly right...ILU Trent Reznor). I just realized I have been a horrible Internet mama and need to nurse my bloggy back to health.

Besides, there's still much to be said about Justin Timberlake, so, you know, priorities.

Anyway, I'm still doing Tripwire stuff, and going a little lighter on Mezzanine stuff, and always with popscene stuff, so I've been a busy bee. I caught Emiliana Torrini on Sunday, and she might be more funny than Bjork. Maybe. (She definitely has the facial expressions.)

--

Emiliana Torrini In NYC And SF

We’re big fans of Emiliana Torrini, which is why we were proud to present her first U.S. shows in support of her latest record Me & Armini. Here are the photos from her two sold-out, Tripwire Presented shows at Hiro Ballroom in New York and at The Independent in San Francisco. (read more here...)

I am still basking in the glory that was this show...during "Lights" lead singer Arnel Pineda asked everyone to hold up their phones, and I remember looking out into the stretches of the lawn, and all of the lights looked like fireflies fluttering together in unison. It was so beautiful.

Thank you to my dad, Stuart, Suz, Steph, Pantea, and Kim for making this experience as gorgeous as it was.

--

Live - Journey, Heart & Cheap Trick @ Shoreline Amphitheater | Mountain View, CA

Yeah, you read that headline correctly. In the biggest collective display of geriatrics on stage since the Rolling Stones, I had the pleasure in witnessing the greatest bands of our soft rock generation. And I gotta say – belting out "Open Arms" while eating Pringles with my friends in between is more or less paradise. (more...)

Where he beats up a tabletop fan and we talk about my Swedish husband-in-same-almost-nearly name Jens Lekman...

--

Interview - Jose Gonzalez

Jose Gonzalez is a very unassuming kind of guy off-stage. He lets me sit in the fancy cushy chair during our interview, and he smiles politely after every question he answers.

Performing, however, his quiet energy is heightened and transferred into his axe plucking. He sincerely looks like he's just on stage twiddling with his fingers, when in actuality, he's strumming along the strings of his guitar at such a speed of grace and precision it's hard not to gape. At his Yoshi's Tuesday night early show, he pops up on stage unannounced, picks up his main instrument, and starts playing – no introductions, no greetings. It's not rude so much as just apart of his methodology that is glossed with being reserved. Gonzalez's playing power is both quiet and steady, and based on the first show of a four gig run at the Oakland venue, I'd say his approach is successful. (more...)

I really shouldn't lament though; it's been a busy summer! What, with the stalking of Radiohead in three cities and rolling through multiple cannisters of film in the past few weeks, I only apologize that I have not been able to comment on why I fucking love Hall & Oates so much. Seriously? I just bought their Best Of and cannot pull myself away. Listen to "I Can't Go For That" as you brush your teeth while standing in your underwear in the morning, and you will understand. It's okay in arriving late to work because of this. It happens to the best of us.

I will take a moment tomorrow to gush about my esteemed lottery winnings in being able to photograph Radiohead at Outside Lands this summer; but for now, here are some pretty pictures from both OSL and the Treasure Island Music Festival, of which I spent about 26 hours with Morgan at and we did not kill each other. He did bodycheck me into a Walgreen's side wall though, so violence did creep up. Kristin, Vroo, Rosie, Danielle, and Miles all made my weekend too - I have the bestest friends.

Also, I was very lucky to have been published overseas/on the international interwebs over at NME.com last week. I used to read that site religiously every morning during my first year in college, and to start writing for them is a huge honor. The Pigeon Detectives were nice English blokes as well who talked a lot about 50 Cent and being a baller. Or something. We should have something live on the popscene website with them soon.

Lastly, my faux boyfriend Rickolas Reed is playing pop tomorrow night, and you can't even imagine how fucking stoked I am. Maybe? Maybe.

--

Photos - Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival, Day 1 | SF

Day 1 – Pure carnage

Highlights: Tears running before the show even started, being corralled like fluffy sheep, and falling in love.

I wanted to love the first day of Outside Lands. I really did. Everyone who knows me is aware that I have an absolute adoration for my city of San Francisco, and I was so utterly proud to be in attendance for the inaugural year of a huge festival. And hi, duh – Radiohead. But if I'm sobbing twice in an hour before I even get into the show? Well, shit's not right… (more)

--

Photos - Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival, Day 2 | SF

Day 2 – In limbo

Highlights: mentally playing "YYZ" on Guitar Hero in my head, dinner with Matt Nathanson, lots of geriatrics on stage during Tom Petty

How can you tell people to take public transportation when you can't increase service? That was still my gripe come Saturday, and though I was a rested Jenz ready to wait for my decked out train to come, it still took me over two hours again to get to where I needed to be. Maybe I'm just an angry little faux redhead, but man…missing seven bands as a result made me none-too-happy. (more)

--

Photos - Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival, Day 3 | SF

Day 3 – Complete redemption

Highlights: gorgeous weather (for San Francisco), lots of romantic guitar, Broken Social Scene still having 1,029 people in their band, and Jeff Tweedy being adorable

Somehow the weather gods smiled upon our little festival in the park on the last day of Outside Lands, and I arrived to Golden Gate Park with sun shining on my fire engine red hair and in a good mood – only 40 minutes door to door to witness people from Canada? Awesome! (more)

--

Photos - Treasure Island Music Festival Day 1 | SF

Words and photos by JENZ

Armed with a bottle of bubbles, my camera, and more snacks than a fourth grade field trip, my friends and I tumbled into the Treasure Island Music Festival early on day one to soak in the sight and sounds. But I had life-changing, brain-probing questions: would I see the creepy carrot again? Could I take excellent pictures in the photo pit while donning an eye patch? Was my butt showing in the dress I decided to wear? Questions abounded as we shuffled off our shuttle and through the festival gates. (more)

--

Photos - Treasure Island Music Festival Day 2 | SF

Words and photos by JENZ

Day two of the Treasure Island Music Festival was filled with some stellar string arrangements, wandering around the fields like an orphan, and finding out my alien starfish boyfriend has a twin. Going big on the weekends was never as fun as this. (more)

I remember when that kid did a cute number with a fedora on at an awards show about a year or two ago; so imagine my great surprise and ultimate discomfort when I found out that (a) he sings this song "Take You Down" that I really love and (b) the video for it is wildly inappropriate. I can't even post it here. It features:

• stage humping
• air humping
• hand humping
• too much hip humping everything else
• shirtlessness
• a weird rotating stage that has a bannister on it? Child security railing, perhaps?
  
• two backup dancers that I am pretty sure were strippers at one point
  
• hoards of screaming girls
  

This guy is 19 and has sleeves from his ears to wrist. It makes me feel so unaccomplished.

And in regards to that last bullet, I can't even comment on if he's attractive or not based on the fact he has major baby face and I remember learning about him from my 14 and 13 year-old cousins. Two years ago. Jailbait, anyone?

That being said, "Take You Down" is major babymaking music...I'll keep it in mind...

I'd also like to announce that my friend Wendy was the wonderful, wonderful person that coined the last phrase in the below article...she is a genius. I smell some awesome merch coming up...

--

Live - Wallpaper & Hot Tub @ The Independent | SF

I swear to God 08/08/08 was the apocalypse: public full-frontal nudity, debauchery in direct effect, and every guy I've had a crush on in the past four months all made an appearance. I wouldn't have changed it for anything in the world. (more...)

I miss you too.

So I've been a crazy busy bee, but it's with good merit. I was hired to be the blog editor over at Mezzanine, a cool venue I've always had good and drunken and sometimes good drunken experiences at (everyone remembers this, right?).

I've been neglecting my own poor blog, so I am sorry that I've been a bad partner. I have much to say about Radiohead in the next few weeks, why I like that stupid Jesse McCartney song, and much more. I promise to show some more TLC.

Here's some Tripwire shenanigans since the last time we tango'ed; I seriously still love that Wallpaper picture...and in the mean time, I can be caught over at the wonderful Mezzanine blog talking about His Thickeness and other inane stuff. Yay!

--

Interview - Trapped In The Van With Darker My Love

Words by JENZ

"There is an incredible amount of trust going on right now," I say as I am led into an unmarked white van by two strangers I've never met.

"Wait - are you gonna kill us or are we gonna kill you?" Tim Presley says with a glimmer of wicked in his eyes. Oh, boy...I'm having second thoughts about this interview...(more...)

--

Live - The Faint @ The Fillmore | SF

Dear drunk sluts at this week's The Faint show at the Fillmore: really? When my friend Danielle tells you "Dude, you're so drunk you're embarrassing me," pack your shit up and go the fuck home. I'm trying to dance front-row, man...

I was not alone in sharing this sentiment. The Monday sold-out show was packed skinny-jeans-to-skinny-jeans, and I wasn't about to let some inebriated ho ruin the party by getting all up in my grill. (She then flailed around some more after Dee's comment, slammed herself into a banister I'm sure on accident, and wobbled away from our trio all the while flipping us off. Awesome.) (more...)
--

Exclusive Download - You Say Party! We Say Die! "Moon (Wallpaper Remix)"

Last week we shared the news that You Say Party! We Say Die! is getting their remix on via Remik's Cube. The album comes out digitally on August 26, and features remix versions of the tracks originally found on their sophomore release, Lose All Time. One of the cuts, Wallpaper's version of "Moon," is now online and you can download it below exclusively from us.

This is the first time that the two artists have worked together, and Ricky Reed (Wallpaper) saw this tune as a gangsta rap throwback remix (think Ice Cube's "Today Was A Good Day"). (more...)
--

Live - Conor Oberst @ Bottom Of The Hill | SF

I once was two people away from buying a ticket to see Bright Eyes, and when I approached the box office, the ticketperson informed me that I was oh-so-close, but no dice.

"You know what then? Fuck you," I thought in my head as I went to have a consolation ice cream across the street.

That was six years ago. And I never got to see Conor Oberst in any form until Friday. It's been a long time in waiting. (more...)
--

Live - Bloc Party, Does It Offend You, Yeah? @ The Fillmore | SF

You ever have one of the bands you're completely stupid about? Like, someone asks you "Hey, have you ever heard of so-and-so?," and you start drooling and nodding like an idiot, unable to comment properly on your love for these groups?

I was in the presence of two of them last night, and I forgot my bib... (more...)
--

Live - Hercules And Love Affair @ Mezzanine | SF

You know what is tragic? Entering a room full of beautiful men than you can't have. This is the ultimate shitty situation for a straight girl, and something I have nightmares about... (more...)
--

Download - The Morning Benders' Covers Album

We've been following the dudes in The Morning Benders even since our very own Jenz hung out with them at a local playground. The indie popsters will be hitting the road once again in September, joining up with Ra Ra Riot for not-to-miss tour. (more...)

Random story of the day: I went to a rock bar in the Mission with Stuart and J.D. last night, and in between sets of Queens of the Stone Age and Sex Pistols that a dude picked from the digital jukebox, I chose Hall & Oates' "I Can't Go For That" and Stevie Wonder's "I Believe When I Fall In Love" as my tunes. And later, as I apparently didn't stick out as much as I thought, I then selected Interpol's "Obstacle 1" and Jay Z's "99 Problems."

I am tragic sometimes.

--

Live - Datarock @ Mezzanine | SF

Here is my first beef with Norway's Datarock: dressing in frickin' red track suits means I think you're gonna delve into some grime or potentially a phat MC battle, not that you're gonna bust out an electro jam about girls with phantom penises or jump around on stage like a bunch of lunatics.

But, lucky for these blokes from across the pond, they are adorable and talented to boot, and their ensemble eventually won me over as my cynical ass stood in the crowd at Mezzanine Saturday night for the Download afterparty. (more...)

Ah, the power of the 'bearded altbro'...do not underestimate this term, lovies.

I just want to point out right quick the irony from last Friday, from when I wrote, that I talked about seeing this man in concert but didn't think I would be able to since me and the ladies were going up to Echo Lake for the weekend. Well, where the hell do we pull off the freeway en route to Kimber but the Vallejo/Solano border where a Mickey Dee's was, and right as we pulled into the drive-thru I saw the lights of a ferris wheel from the Solano County Fair. Where I'm sure Mr. Sweat was running around in, with a hot dog and cotton candy. How incredibly tragic and mocking life was then.

(The weekend was full of amazingness and awesome, so all was not lost. But I was still bummed.)

I missed both husband's band on Wednesday and friend-of-a-friend's band Lazarus last night for the Mission Creek Festival, so I'm gonna try and make it up this weekend: Bloody Beetroots and maybe Joseph Arthur tonight, and then trying to hit Earlimart, Feist, or Gravy Train!!! tomorrow before ending the night at the Download afterparty for Datarock/Flosstradamus and then my friend Sean's superspecial warehouse party. Sunday I want to attend the Choose GOOD Block Party with my favorite Berkeley sunny indie kids the morning benders, but my mama is coming to hang out with me in the city, and she takes precendence. Duh.

Ratatatatatatatatat, I love you...can I have your bearded babies?

--

Live - Ratatat @ Slim's | SF

Here is the thing about the music scene sometimes in San Francisco: it can be brutal getting into at-capacity shows. You could give away your prized Pucci moped, a burrito, and maybe a blowjob for free, and it still wouldn't have guaranteed admission into Ratatat's sold-out Slim's show last week. Six different people asked me for an extra ticket as we walked into the SOMA venue for some electroshredding, and all I have to say is this:

For all that is holy and right in the world, get your Ratatat tickets now for the full September tour. It's gonna make you change your pants, bang a stranger in the bathroom, and sweat until it looks like you just emerged from a shower fully dressed. (more...)