When U2 comes to town: Vaillancourt incident 25 years later
I have to admit, I was pretty annoyed at you earlier this week. When the Archive Showdown! to decide the next Let’s Go to the Morgue! topic was done, you robbed me of my gallery of robot butlers. It...
View ArticleQ&A: Effie Phillips from the U2 concert photo
Since the archive series Let’s Go to the Morgue! began last year, I’ve been tracking down subjects from old San Francisco Chronicle photos to catch up and deconstruct their moments in history. I...
View ArticleRemembering the greatest MC Hammer ad in history
Please enjoy this MC Hammer Taco Bell commercial, found while conducting research for an upcoming archive gallery, “Too Legit: 25 Years of MC Hammer.” (Working title. Look for it this Thursday.) A lot...
View ArticleToo Legit: Celebrating 25 years of MC Hammer
I remember the moment MC Hammer hit rock bottom — I was a courtroom reporter for a celebrity-oriented wire service in Los Angeles in the mid-1990s, and the rapper had just filed for bankruptcy....
View ArticleTouch of Evel: A tribute to the Cow Palace
The San Francisco Bulls hockey team begins its season at the Cow Palace tomorrow night. By my count, this is the 147th reinvention of the Daly City arena, which has hosted two Republican national...
View ArticleFlaming Youth: The KISS Army at the Cow Palace 1977
From what I’ve seen, 1977 was a fantastic year to be a rebellious teenager in the Bay Area with a little bit of disposable income. There was no greater night than Aug. 16, when KISS played the Cow...
View ArticleAshkon’s new Giants World Series video: “We Are the Champions”
I’ve been enjoying Bay Area sports fan Ashkon’s tribute to the Giants World Series championship, which premiered early this a.m., and was shot in large part at the parade last week. I heard the audio...
View ArticleNKOTB in the Bay Area … are you in these 1990 photos?
How big of a deal were the New Kids on the Block in the Bay Area in 1990? More than 5,000 young fans lined up for an autograph signing featuring the parents of the band members. I’ve been receiving...
View ArticlePut a “Beyonce Cam” on It: Super Bowl halftime show
If you were like me, while watching the Super Bowl XLVII halftime show, you remarked, “Well, I suppose these camera angles are fine, CBS. But how is God seeing Beyonce right now?” Thankfully, my...
View ArticleBoots Riley, Roman Mars (and me) on Jesse Thorn’s Bullseye
High on the list of Bay Area cultural hallowed ground for me is the green room at the Punch Line Comedy Club in San Francisco. You’re surrounded by Dan Dion’s photos, featuring what seems like every...
View ArticleOakland Marathon: Legends of The Town rap playlist … UPDATED!
UPDATED Saturday 11:31 a.m.: Three reader requests have been added. More on that at the end of the playlist … My wife is running her second Oakland Marathon this Sunday. As an Oakland resident, I love...
View ArticleBeggar’s Banquet: Proof that it once cost $4 to see the Rolling Stones
When I first head about the stratospheric ticket prices accompanying the Rollings Stones “50 and Counting” tour, in a way it was a relief, because I didn’t even have to consider whether I could afford...
View ArticleI’m just waiting … Rolling Stones fans in the 1970s
While the Chronicle photo morgue is amazing beyond my wildest dreams, there are some blind spots in our archives. At some point in the last 30 years or so, somebody pilfered many of the Chronicle’s...
View ArticleGrateful Dead and the 710 Ashbury St. drug bust of 1967
We have quite a few blind spots in the Chronicle photo morgue, and one of the biggest ones is the music files. The newspaper didn’t cover rock music very much to begin with in the 1960s, and at some...
View ArticleReflections from that creepy old guy at your kid’s One Direction concert
Big mistake: I forgot my earplugs at the early screening of “One Direction: This is Us” last week. Always bring earplugs to drown out the high-pitched screams. That’s the first rule of covering teen...
View ArticleWalk on the Water Slide: Lou Reed played Marriott’s Great America in 1986
While digging in the Chronicle photo archives last month, looking for a Laserium listing in the pink section, I found a 1988 advertisement for rock concerts at Marriott’s Great America. This was back...
View ArticleLive orchestral pop album in a day: “Petty Troubles” record release w/ Van...
My favorite scrappy Oakland story of the new year involves Matt Montgomery, a video game developer and multi-instrumentalist who came to our attention last year when he was trying to raise $7,000 —...
View ArticleQ&A: Darlene Love, exciting and new, returns to San Francisco
The only way City Arts & Lectures could have planned this better is if “Lethal Weapon 5” was coming out this weekend. When City Arts booked Darlene Love for her Friday night appearance at the...
View ArticleMaking a case for “Frisco”
There are only two times in life when it’s excusable for a Bay Area native to say “San Fran”: 1. When instructing a tourist who has used these words never to do it again. 2. When you’re trying to say...
View ArticleSony’s cassette Walkman: The greatest gadget of my lifetime
“Ain’t nothin’ like it, her shiny machine/Got the feel for the wheel, keep the moving parts clean …” And with those words from 20th century poet David Lee Roth, coming through a pair of Tang-orange...
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