". . . beautiful and stoned."

What an amazing last few weeks it's been here in SF on the pop culture tip ... for me, at least. It started off with Josh Rouse at Bimbos followed a few days later by Steve Almond's reading and signing at The Booksmith and then all of this ....

Last Saturday, Thievery Corporation played a last minute show at The Fillmore - a block from my crib. They were originally scheduled to play at The Warfield on Sunday night, but I thought I'd see Better than Ezra, instead. When I heard TC had added a 2nd show, I figured I had to go see them. They've been a favorite of mine over the past few years. It's difficult to categorize them - they don't fit into one specific genre. Downtempo lounge music is probably the closest bucket you can place them in, but even that isn't accurate, especially after seeing them live. The label on their most recent album - The Cosmic Game - sums it up fairly well, "A kaleidescopic swirl of psychedelia, dub, indian, brazilian, rock, easy-listening and other worldly influences". Other stand out albums by TC include The Richest Man in Babylon and The Mirror Conspiracy. Conspiracy includes Lebanese Blonde, which I think Zach Braff included on the Garden State soundtrack and is one of the more mainstream TC tunes. If you haven't heard much of TC, let me know and I'll burn you a mix. Anyhoo, given all the solid shows I've seen out here, I've pretty much given up on keeping an official list of the cream of the crop. Regardless, I can easily say (and yep, I know I'm prone to a certain level of exaggeration from time to time) that this was the *best* live show I've seen in at least 5 years. At the core of Thivery Corporation are 2 DJs. They had 6 bandmates with them and another 6 vocalists. Each vocalist rotated in for each song. 4 sexy French and Brazilian women shakin their thang (oh ... and 2 French doods) and delivering sultry, smoky-voiced vocals that had the crowd mesmerized for 2 straight hours. The mind-altering sounds kept the audience's energy level super high throughout the night. Each song just got better and better. I caught many people (including myself) turning to their friends with this look of utter disbelief of how amazingly everything was coming together. Pure bliss! I walked out with a huge smile that I couldn't wipe off my face for a few days ... well, at least until I walked back into Cellblock One on Monday morning.

Last night started out with a quick dinner over at Ino Sushi in Japantown. This narrow, sparesely decorated restaurant run by an elderly/very friendly Japanese couple has been around for years. It seats about 9 at the bar and the same # at a few tables. It's all about the nigiri at Ino. If you're into the Super Godzilla Rainbow Spider Dragon roll scene, this isn't the sushi joint for you. This place has crazy fresh fish. Tried some Aji (Spanish Mackerel) for the first time, as well as some Hirame, Hamachi, Toro and Sake. Every single piece of flavorful nigiri was melt-in-your mouth awesome. Nobu is the only place I've ever been treated to better Toro. Anyhow, Ino quickly received the *top* billing on my SF sushi list - without any debate.

After falling in love with Ino, it was off to see the new flick Crash, which was just released (wide) last week. It cost roughly $7.5mm to produce and had already grossed $9.1mm over its first 3 days. Paul Haggis co-wrote and directed the film. Haggis is most well-know for penning Million Dollar Baby last year. He first made his name writing for the hit TV drama Thirtysomething back in the 80s. Anyhow, the movie is quickly picking up critical acclaim in addition to powerful audience word of mouth ... and now I can see why. It's got my *movie of the year* vote so far (yes, I know it's only May). The ensemble cast includes Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon, Ryan Phillippe, Larenz Tate, Jennifer Esposito, Thandie Newton, Ludacris, Brendan Fraser and many, many others. Crash is a drama about race relations in Los Angeles. It borrows its style from Magnolia, among others, in that weaves many stories into one 36 hour narrative with Cheadle's character eventually providing the glue which binds all the stories together. The acting and cinematography are simply stellar. The film can get a bit preachy, but the subject of race relations is one that, while perhaps not on the current national list of talking points, will continue to play a supporting role as long as our generation lives. So in that vein, the subject matter might get old to some, but a fresh, well-done take on it is always welcome in my mind. The movie drew me in almost immediately and threw me around on a roller coaster of emotions that looped in ideas of class, race and culture. I'm having trouble putting all my feelings about the movie into words, but I thought that the critic Lisa Schwarzbaum summed it up perfectly, "The stunning, must-see drama Crash is proof that words have not lost the ability to shock in our anesthetized society. I can't remember the last time I have felt so galvanized, disturbed, and moved by full sentences, unadorned by gratuitous profanity, flying out of the mouths of screen characters as ordinary as you or me or the guy idling at the next traffic light on an average day in Los Angeles at Christmastime."

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Next week: Madeleine Peyroux at the Palace of Fine Arts (SF Jazz Festival), followed by The KFOG Kaboom with The Wallflowers playing under the Bay Bridge (with SF's biggest fireworks display of the year).