No doubt you're already aware that Paul McCartney played a surprise free show at Amoeba Music Hollywood on Wednesday, June 27th.

Check out on this website how Paul McCartney Rocked Amoeba Hollywood in a great review by Marcus Kagler that also includes pics from outside the store as fans lined up to see Sir Paul. And also check out AMOEBLOGGER Miss Ess' (All The News That's Fit to Sing) review (with great pics) nearby here on the AMOEBLOG.

The ex-Beatle's instore got tons of media coverage, including from the Los Angeles Times and Access Hollywood. In fact, some media outlets reported that McCartney's Amoeba appearance upstaged Paris Hilton's appearance at the CNN building, where she was Larry King's exclusive guest, literally right across the street on Hollywood's Sunset Blvd. In addition to all of the TV coverage there have also already been several first-hand video postings on YouTube -- as of Saturday a search under "McCartney Amoeba" netted 21 video links, many of which are not the best audio-video quality, but regardless capture the vibe and excitement of the day-- makes you wish you were there if you were not one of the lucky ones to make it. There are other Paul McCartney Amoeba Hollywood clips found on YouTube, including one with Ringo Starr (yes, he was in the house but didn't perform) in the parking lot and one of Paul on the Amoeba instore stage saying "thank you....Amoeba --  a great shop or wot?" Note that the must-watch video below of Paul @ Amoeba is good professional quality, as it is courtesy of McCartney's YouTube Channel.

Keala C Ramos used to work at the San Francisco Amoeba Music, until he moved out East in the last couple of years. He lives in Queens and likes living in New York City but notices certain cultural differences from San Francisco -- like how coffee is served and the difference between the MTA and the MUNI. Keala continues to make music in New York under his own name and also his band name, the Nervous Breakdowns.

The Breakdowns, who were named by Esquire magazine in 2004 as "the rock band to go and see if you are ever in San Francisco" made a rep for themselves also by getting into constant conflicts with the SFPD -- usually while playing out on the street in places like the Castro.

The Nervous Breakdowns' discography includes The Begining of the End EP (featuring the song  "Undependent," which also appeared on Amoeba Music Compilation Vol. V) and the full-length Panic. As a solo artist Keala appeared on Amoeba Music Compilation Vol. IV with the song “E Kaha'oe.” The Nervous Breakdowns' lineup in SF was Keala Ramos (lead guitar), Matt Kajiwara (rhythm, vocals), Donelle Malnik (bass), and Charlyn Villegas (drums). Check out their MySpace where, among other things, you can hear the songs "Garage Sale" and "Nervous Theme."

*This is the second interview with a former Amoebite who has moved coasts to become a New Yorker.  The last one was with Nick Lesley.

AMOEBLOG: What exactly went down with the SFPD and the Nervous Breakdowns?

In my continuing series of lists, here is my next list. I was thinking again about how much I love the reissues. Those great 2 CD remastered deluxe versions. I get very excited when my favorite albums get the deluxe treatment. There has been a lot of deluxing over the last couple years of some of my favorites from the 70's and 80's.

But not much from that very important time in music which was the early 90's. I might be a bit biased about this period since this is also the period in which I graduated high school and started college. A period when my obsession with music and bands really developed. There have already been some great Slowdive and Pulp reissues, so those will not be on the list. The first two Ride albums "Going Blank Again" and "Nowhere" have also been reissued. But all these reissues are just imports, so I'm still hopeful they will be cheaper domestic versions out soon. There is a possibility that Morrissey will be going back to Warner! He is currently without a label again. Which is great news, since that is where his catalogue as well as the Smith's resides. It can't be too long until we see some great Rhino style Smiths and Morrissey reissues!

I originally was going to go through my CDs and just grab the ones that stood out from the 90s. When I was done, I looked at all the albums and realized all the bands were from England and all the albums were put out in the early 90's. I also realized these were the dirtiest and most used CD's in my collection. They have been through a lot and have been played many times and traveled all up and down the coast of California. It started out as 10 but quickly changed to 12. I could have easily went on and made a list of 25 but I had to stop somewhere. So here it is....My list of the top 12 british albums of the early 90's that I would like to see reissued...


Lush "Spooky" (1992) 4AD/Reprise

Remember the movie Friday when Smokey (Chris Tucker) says, "It's Friday, you ain't got no job and you ain't got sh*t to do?" Well, summer is here and if you don't got sh*t to do, walk into Amoeba on a Friday night. The store is buzzing with activity.

I thought about this when I was working Friday night. I usually don't work on Friday nights but I switched a shift in order to get the previous night off. At first I started plotting with a customer how to ditch work at go Grand Performances in downtown L.A. to check out Ojos De Brujo, who were playing for free. There were so many people in the store at that time; we figured no one would notice if I stepped out for an hour or two. But soon there was so much going on in the store I had forgotten about ditching work.

There was a grip of people not only shopping, but in to check out an instore performance by Carina Round, followed by a DJ set by Amoeba’s very own DJ Jun.

Carina Round wasn't really my cup of tea. She's good, that I can tell. With the instores, it's never about whether the acts are talented or not. If they are playing here, they are. It just comes down to people's individual taste. Talk to another Amoebite about the same performance and you'll get a whole different reaction. That's the beauty of Amoeba. If we all had the same tastes we'd be boring.

After Carina's set, Jun started his set with Barry de Vorzon’s "Theme from The Warriors." His set was cinematic, playing soundtrack cuts mixed with electro-house instrumentals. Jun ended his set with the Vincent Price spoken piece from Michael Jackson’s "Thriller" (one of the bonus tracks on the re-mastered version of the classic album) and blended it into Italian prog-rockers Goblin’s spooky theme song from Suspiria. I liked that very much.