By Brent James

Whether you’ve attended one of our amazing live shows or maybe even a more casual event such as an album signing, there’s no doubt that there’s never a dull moment at an Amoeba Music brick and mortar store! While every gig here in the store is special, here’s a list of the top shows of 2018 that really blew our socks off! In no particular order…

1. Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids, Friday May 18th, 2018

The show kicked off with a procession (led by King Idris of course) that started off at the stage and snaked around the store. Snatching anything and everyone in its path, the band eventually made it back to the stage and kicked off a rousing 45 minute set of material from the band's latest release, An Angel Fell. Watching Idris do his thing would be almost enough to satiate even the most hardened music/Jazz fan, but The Pyramids held their own-laying the foundation for what turned out to be a top notch Jazz show that had jaws dropping and eyes widened with adoration from an appreciative crowd. Even the legendary Rhodessa Jones was in attendance. The evening truly had a special feel to it.

2. The Motels, Friday April 5th, 2018

What an absolute DREAM it was to host the legendary Martha Davis and The Motels on the Amoeba Stage! Playing in support of their latest album, The Last Few Beautiful Days, Davis and Co. tore through a set of familiar classics and newer, soon-to-be Motels staples that left jaws dropped and a the crowd wanting more! See them when you get the chance.

Ring in the holidays with a Cruel Yule! Join the Film Noir Foundation on Wednesday, December 19, 7:30pm at San Francisco's Castro Theatre for the annual Noir City Xmas. This year's feature is Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter (1955). The holiday season is the perfect time to share this timeless noir fairytale about the eternal human struggle—between avarice and atonement, sinners and saviors, good and evil. Robert Mitchum gives a legendary performance as a vile and conniving ex-con masquerading as a man of the cloth. He's not about to let two innocent children come between him and a long-hidden bounty. Shelley Winters may be a gullible mark for this faux preacher, but spinster Rachel Cooper (a memorable portrayal by Lillian Gish) knows the devil when she sees it. Actor Charles Laughton created a stunning work of magical realism, the only picture he'd ever direct. Why not quit while you're ahead? This is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece.

In addition to bearing gifts of compelling cinematic artistry at Noir City Xmas, host Eddie Muller will reveal the program for the upcoming Noir City 17 festival, which runs January 25-February 3, 2019 at the Castro Theatre. Plus, for your holiday shopping pleasure, we'll have Noir City 17 Passports (all-access passes) for sale, along with select FNF merchandise, on the Castro mezzanine.

By Kai Wada Roath
Ambassador of Confusion Hill and host of the Super Shangri-La Show

"Delilah got in action, Delilah did her kootch
She gave him satisfaction and he fell 'neath her spell,
With the aid of love and hootch"
~ "Sam and Delilah" (1931) by Duke Ellington

There have been many songs and movies about the Nazarite stud-muffin and that saucy, seductive gal from Sorek. Popular groups whose music makes my ears cringe like...uggg...Queen, Grateful Dead, and The Cranberries have all sung about the famous story of romance and betrayal. Me, I'd rather put a quarter in the jukebox for Nat King Cole's "Song of Delilah" or Tom Jones' 1967 hit, "Delilah" (which has stabbing murder lyrics like a Johnny Cash song).



On the tropical isle of Jamaica, Eric "Monty" Morris and other early ska musicians recorded songs in the '60s about the Biblical dysfunctional duo too.

By Jon Longhi

Welcome to this month’s Having A Movie Moment With Jon Longhi, where I review recent Blu-ray releases. Both of these Blu-rays came out in the past three months. This month, I review two very different movies that just happen to have the word Horror in their titles.

Horrors of Malformed Men, Arrow Video:
This movie is like going to a Cirque Du Soleil show where all the performers on stage accidentally ate the brown acid. I own a huge collection of cult films and along with the films of John Waters, Salvador Dali's Un Chien Andalou, Fellini's Satyricon, and Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Holy Mountain, and this movie pretty much rules the roost of the "HOLY SHIT, WHAT THE FUCK AM I WATCHING?" segment of my collection. The second half of this movie is like a sustained psychedelic assault on the senses. Director Teruo Ishii really pulled out all the stops to make this a one-of-a-kind experience. The movie is an adaptation of the writings of Edogawa Rampo and combines elements of his novels Strange Tale of Panorama Island and The Demon of The Lonely Isle with some of his short stories. The end result is a literal bombardment of strange surreal perversions. There's incest, bestiality, cannibalism, and a number of sexual fetishes that seem unique to Japan. There's a scene where a man sewn into a couch molests women who unsuspectingly sit on it.

By Kai Wada Roath
Ambassador of Confusion Hill and host of the Super Shangri-La Show

"Come on baby, I need gravy...
Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie, give me gravy tonight!"
~ Lyrics from Dee Dee Sharp's song "Gravy" (sequel to "Mashed Potato Time")

Are you already day-dreaming of gnawing on a turkey leg like a frenzied barbarian warrior like I am? We may not be eating lobster, deer, ducks, clams, and berries like they did in 1621, but we now have Great Aunt Nora's famous oyster stuffing. If there is one holiday that my growling torso-cave desires yearly, it's the Day of Thanks. Did you get stuck watching the Macy's parade and listening to horrible dentist office digestive jazz at your Mother-in-Law's last year? Well, here are my suggestions to add some spice to the day if you are hosting this year...for he who controls the Spice, controls the Universe!

First, we need some big birds on the boob-tube playing all day long. I'm not talking about Follow that Bird (starring John Candy and Dave Thomas), I'm talking about THE GIANT CLAW! Let it be noted, that the producers of the film originally planned to use a stop-motion model created by Ray Harryhausen, but they lacked the moolah at the last minute so they used this amazingly creepy marionette for the bird. Also, if you look closely, a flying saucer can be seen in Grand Central Terminal during the giant bird's attack on New York City, as they used stock footage from Earth vs. the Flying Saucers for this movie. I like to think both alien invasion and giant bird attacks happened at the same time. This 1957 classic should almost be played on repeat, much like Darby O'Gill and the Little People should be on Saint Patrick's Day, however I got a few more choice feathered flicks for you to add for this Super Feast Thursday.