On May 19, 1951, Queens birthed a legend. Happy birthday, Joey Ramone! 

Although he passed away in 2001, the Ramones singer's second solo album, ya know?, will be posthumously released on May 22nd. It is a collection of demos and unreleased tunes that he recorded over the last 15 years of his life. 



-- Audra

HEY BAY AREA! OMG, as the kids used to say last week. By the looks of that countdown widget above, Record Store Day 2012 is nearly upon us! What's Record Store Day, you say? Where have you been since 2008?! Under a rawk?

Record Store Day is our Chrismukkah! It's our Gay Days at Disneyland! It's better than Shark Week. It might even be better then Werewolf Day, if there was such a thing. Officially, "Record Store Day is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music." And how! Special vinyl and CD releases are made exclusively for this holy day! This stuff is LIMITED and is destined to go up in value (for people who value limited, exclusive, amazing stuff). Find out just what sort of exclusive stuff I'm talking about by viewing, downloading, or having tattooed on your soul this RSD EXCLUSIVE RELEASES PDF! Print it out and bring it with you. Share with neighbors. 

But the spirit of RSD isn't just about what you can buy (although that's pretty great). It's also about what you can DO at each of our Amoeba locations! We've got all manner of fun awaiting you...and it starts the minute our doors open!

Ever find yourself at a goth club feeling like you had two left buckle boots? Hearing some boss Sisters of Mercy tune and wishing you knew how to cut a rug with the hot goth chicks? Well, search no further as this is THE instructional video you have been looking for...


How to Dance Goth from APBS on Vimeo.
This video debuted at Hubba Hubba Revue's Goth Show, March 22nd, 2012 at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco and was made by their video masterminds Lara Miranda, Joyce Tang, Jim "Kingfish" Sweeney, and Brett Stillo. Starring Balla Fiya, Mynx d'Meanor, DJ Fact50, and Audra.

In this fast paced online information age - with its non-stop constant overload of new facts (and fiction) been Tweeted and shared in some digital fashion every single micro-second of the day - it is often hard for individuals to get beyond that condensed 140 characters version of a particular story. But yet, based solely on that short (often editorialized) synopsis of a much longer in-depth story many will embrace that opinion put forth and jump on the bandwagon of popular thought on said topic. A case in point I believe was back in mid - late January when singer Lana Del Rey suddenly trended (around the time of fellow trending items as Rick Santorum and Jeremy Lin)  as one of the most talked about individuals of that week or so. The trend was all related to her reportedly bombing on Saturday Night Live during her January live concert performance on SNL.

However her presentation on SNL was is secondary though since most folks who joined in the public mud throwing at this new pop star did so without having seen the actual TV show. Some did (mostly after the fact and in edited form) but a great many of these self-appointed critics who joined in the cacophony of critique (haterism?) hadn't even seen her SN: bit at all.  But that didn't stop them from joining in and critiquing the artist for such things as appearing stiff and nervous and just standing still as she sang during her SNL performance. They also echoed the other criticisms leveled against the artist  to such as she came from a privileged background, or that she changed her name and her image in her makeover bid of becoming a pop star.

"It was complete sexual anarchy. You couldn't tell the men from the women. It was really new at the time, and it still would be new."
-- John Waters, San Francisco Chronicle, 2002
It can be said that we San Franciscans inherited our gender-bending theatricality from The Cockettes, the flamboyant ensemble of late-'60's SF hippies -- gay, straight, and undecided -- who performed in glittery drag of all sorts in a series of legendary, over-the-top midnight musicals at the Palace Theater in North Beach. Founded by Hibiscus (real name, George Harris, Jr.) in 1969, the troupe enacted their own outrageous counter-culture parodies of show tunes (and some originals) and gained an underground cult following that eventually led to mainstream exposure. With titles like Gone With the Showboat to Oklahoma, Hell's Harlots, and Pearls over Shanghai, these extravaganzas featured elaborate costumes, rebellious sexuality, and exuberant chaos. They were soon pinned as the cutting edge of Freak Theatre and appeared in Rolling Stone, Paris Match, and Playboy. The group disbanded in 1972, after attempting a tour to New York.