John Zorn’s 65th Birthday Celebration w/Laurie Anderson and Terry Riley The Chapel September 3rd, 2018 All photos by Jonathan Pirro. While many musicians will choose to ring in certain birthday years with private celebrations, or the occasional big, single-show event, experimental-music maestro John Zorn busies himself by performing dozens of concerts — a practice he began at age forty, and has continued steadily for the decades that followed. 2018 has marked his 65th year on this planet, and he kicked it off in a similar fashion, with seven performances across four nights at The Chapel, his most recent San Francisco…
Author: Jonathan Pirro
Jonathan Pirro
A tireless music enthusiast across dozens of genres, Jonathan has been regularly attending concerts in numerous roles, from dedicated staff member to passionate fan, for nearly two decades. A graduate of the East Bay's own SAE Expression College, he has a Bachelor's degree in Sound Arts, though he has been exploring the visual aspect of the music industry as a concert photographer for ten years in between his recording projects. When not at a show -- whether in the photo pit or hogging the front and center of the rail -- you can usually find him in the throes of his intense powerlifting routines at the gym, exploring the food and cocktail scene of the Bay Area at large, or preparing for his next intense year at the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert.
Carpenter Brut & Jean Jean The Regency Ballroom April 14, 2018 All photos by Jonathan Pirro. While most modern bands with a heavy 80s influence tend to go the style of new wave, baroque pop, or fuzzy garage, artists associated with the synthwave genre have pointed themselves at the pulsing sounds of analog synths and dark melodies with minor chords, and the resultant enthusiasm for the scene has never been higher. In addition, popular TV shows like Stranger Things and Mr. Robot are also opting for the blinking, sparkling sounds of yesteryear, sparking an even wider interest in the modern…
Mike Patton & John Zorn with NT Fan (Trey Spruance) The Chapel March 25, 2018 All photos by Elizabeth Gohr. Northern California native Mike Patton is, perhaps, one of the best examples of a living embodiment of the many arts and facets of life that make up a place as complex as the Bay Area. His pedigree, which spans over thirty years, ranges far and wide; from symphonic Italian pop, to gnashings of vocal snarls and otherworldly sounds made by the human mouth, and even to densely-layered alt-metal within the work of Faith No More. It made sense, therefore, that…
Eugene Hütz is no stranger to chaos and excitement in live music. As the frontman of the gypsy-punk collective Gogol Bordello, he wears dozens of hats — sometimes literally onstage, as well as metaphorically — from writing explosive, thought-provoking lyrics, to being executive producer on the band’s newest record, Seekers & Finders, as well as cranking up the energy of his audiences to feverish heights. On the eve of the band’s 2018 tour through North America, SF Sonic had a chance to talk to Eugene, in one of the rare moments that found him NOT dancing wildly onstage with his…
Kimbra and Arc Iris The Regency Ballroom February 13, 2018 All photos by Jonathan Pirro. As a producer, it’s a difficult feat to balance complexity, whimsy, and pop sensibilities in music, particularly when your main role is singing the songs as well as writing and performing them. Nevertheless, New Zealand’s Kimbra is no stranger to juggling these tasks with remarkable efficiency, as she proved Tuesday night at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco. A significantly larger space for her than in previous tours — I, for one, last saw her perform at The Independent four years ago — the stop…