This month we are celebrating 20 years of Amoeba! It's our anniversary! And one of the ways we wanted to celebrate was by highlighting here for you some of our best, most memorable instores of all time! We have been so lucky over the years -- we've hosted shows, signings and events with Paul McCartney, Queens of the Stone Age, The Shins, Flight of the Conchords, John Waters, The Gossip and zillions more. You can find video footage and interviews from many of our instores right here! Read on to find out what three of our most seasoned instore reviewers thought were some of our very greatest.

But first, get further immersed in our 20th Anniversary! To check out our first Anniversary blog post, with testimonials from some of our favorite customers, click here! Our second Anniversary post is an interview with co-owner Marc Weinstein about getting the Berkeley store off the ground all the way back in 1990 and what Amoeba means to him. Read it right here. Our third Anniversary post includes Top 10 lists from some of our old skool employees -- click here to check out their favorites in music and movies from the past 20 years!

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Wooden Shjips are my favorite local band. See this past piece to read more about why I particularly adore them, and you should too. You can check out some of their music and tour dates on their Myspace page, watch a video from their '07 Amoeba instore here and see more pictures here. Read on for my interview with Nash, Wooden Shjips' keyboard pro.


Miss Ess: What have you been listening to lately?

Nash: In the past week I have been listening to a lot of Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and a few things I just got for my birthday, La Düsseldorf and Cold Son.

ME: What music was playing in your house when you were growing up, before you had a choice about it?

Nash: I think my mom listened to a lot of soft rock radio in the 70's because I seem to know all those songs when I hear them now, and my dad was always into classical and opera, but I only really remember him playing Christmas music. I always had a record player in my room and certainly played whatever kid records I had, like Sesame Street, Muppet Show and Disney records. And with two older brothers, I was hearing plenty of Beatles and Rolling Stones, not to mention a little disco, before age 10.

Wooden Shjips is, quite simply, my favorite local band. They have really gotten it all right. They've got it right in sound, melody, musicianship, energy, independence, intelligence and gentlemanly-ness (very important).

They have a dense, heavy, fuzz-filled sound that nonetheless still reverberates with hooks and energy, and it's at their fantastic live shows that they show off this sound at its peak. They have stripped it down to just the right basic elements with nothing remotely computerized (thank god!). Those who speak and judge quickly may lazily label them "stoner rock." Have you ever gone to see a "stoner rock" band where they busted out a trumpet? Yes, the musicians lock together in repetitive, tantalizing riffs, and yes, they have big amps, but the moral of the story here is although we do happen to live in a hipster- approved "stoner rock" time, didn't your mom ever teach you to not judge a book by its cover?


This band is far too smart and skilled to be labeled by simpletons. They started off their recording career by literally giving away a 10" and a 7" to anyone that happened to find them at Aquarius Records, or anyone that would listen. Imagine that, a San Francisco band, a ROCK band, no less (it's a rather rare breed here, don't know if you'd heard.), that cares more about building an audience of listeners than making money? Wooden Shjips' first live performance was a free show at Cafe Du Nord. Again, they used their sound, their songs and their mysteriousness to build word of mouth support that packed the room. Their second show ever was opening up for recently recuperated 13th Floor Elevators' Roky Erikson! They've parlayed all this into a recently released full length, self titled record on Holy Mountain and they just got back from playing at CMJ. One of the record's tracks was featured in the giveaway CD in a recent issue of Mojo. They got a write up in David Fricke's section in Rolling Stone. They released a single on Sub Pop. Not bad for less than a year's time since that first show. A little intrigue and all the skills to back it up was all it took and this band is officially en fuego.