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Amoeba Co-Hosts Screening for Rodriguez Documentary ‘Searching For Sugar Man’

Posted by Billy Gil, July 13, 2012 12:28pm | Post a Comment
searching for sugar manAmoeba, Sony Pictures Classics and The Los Angeles Film School are teaming to host an advance screening of the critically acclaimed documentary Searching for Sugar Man, about elusive ’70s rocker Rodriguez, on July 24 at 8 p.m. You can get tickets July 24 at Amoeba Hollywood to attend the LA Film School screening, as well as pick up the soundtrack (preorder here), which comes out July 24, featuring Rodriguez cuts like “Inner City Blues” and “Sugar Man.” Sony Pictures Classics will release the film at the Landmark Theaters in Los Angeles this Friday, July 27th. Check out the film’s official Twitter and Facebook pages to receive additional movie release information.”
 
Sixto Diaz Rodriguez (so named because he was the sixth child in the family) was the son of middle-class Mexican immigrants, born in Detroit in 1942. His music, which sounds a bit like Donovan with Cesar Chavez’s politics and psych touches, first was released in 1967 with the single “I’ll Slip Away” on small label Impact. From there, he released two albums on Sussex, Cold Fact (1970) and Coming from Reality (1971).  
 

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What I Listened to Most in 2008

Posted by Miss Ess, January 1, 2009 04:23pm | Post a Comment
Since I write about what I listen to fairly often, this list may be a bit redundant, but consider it a happy round up! This is what was getting to me the most in 2008, whether it was released in 2008 or 1974, whether I'd heard it a zillion times before or it was something new to my ears.

Rodriguez - Cold Fact


Bonnie Prince Billy - Lie Down in the Light


Bobby Charles - s/t


Sun Kil Moon - "Glenn Tipton" from Ghosts of the Great Highway


Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers - "Islands in the Stream"

A Year in the Life of Amoeba San Francisco

Posted by The Bay Area Crew, December 30, 2008 07:18pm | Post a Comment
It's been yet another eventful year here at Amoeba San Francisco, our 11th here on Haight Street! Below is a sort of best-of, a bunch of the highlights from the year for us, from instores to holiday events-- read on to celebrate the end of 2008 with us!

Going back to January 2008, we kicked off the new year with a groovy instore from Devendra Banhart.

devendra banhart at amoeba

January also saw the second annual Amoeba Art Show, held at the Space Gallery here in San Francisco. Many of Amoeba's employees, you see, are also fantastic artists, and so a huge gathering of pieces created by said employees from both the Berkeley and San Francisco Amoeba stores was shown, and the event also included some music, drinking and general hobnobbing. The art below was created by Amoeba Berkeley's Zak Wilson. More info about the event can be found here.


Then, in February, Vampire Weekend hit the stage for a HUGE and thrilling performance. You can go right here for a review and all the photos from that show.

Rodriguez' Cold Fact

Posted by Miss Ess, August 28, 2008 12:13pm | Post a Comment
In 1970, Detroit native Rodriguez released his auspicious debut album, Cold Fact. It failed in the charts. His follow up album fared even worse, and he was subsequently dropped from his label, his music doomed to obscurity.

sixto rodriguez cold fact

Luckily for us, reissue label Light in the Attic has recently re-released Cold Fact, and it is a fantastic surprise, a cohesive, shrewd and confident record. Oh, and it sounds effing great cold fact rodrigueztoo! The album is awash in late 60s-era production touches, along with Forever Changes-like horns and overall orchestration that add to the complexity of the songs. Rodriguez' vocals are plaintive and his delivery style somewhat Dylanesque, although I think his voice is much more consistent than Dylan's. A few of my coworkers have said the album sounds much like Donovan, but I think it sounds much, much smarter than any Donovan record. The songs are clear eyed views of poverty, city life, sex, drugs and rock n roll-- views of the muddled '60s. I love how in the album's second song, "Only Good For Conversation," he calls a woman out as "the coldest bitch I know" by the second line! I think the album is pretty bold for 1970. It also still sounds fresh to these ears, even today.

Rodriguez was born Sixto Diaz Rodriguez in 1940s Detroit to Mexican immigrant parents. He was discovered playing guitar in bars by Dennis Coffey and Mike Theodore. Coffey was a member of the Funk Brothers, the incredible crew of musicians that had played on countless Motown Hits. The two signed Rodriguez to the Sussex label, where he would record his two albums before being dropped. The label folded a few years later.