Music

Music

History Park's Leonard and David McKay Gallery hosts an exhibit that dives into San Jose's pivotal place in rock history. Titled South Bay Flashback: Riffs, Rhythms, and Revolution, the display features '60s rock posters from concerts that shaped the era. Icons like Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, Grateful Dead, and Jefferson Airplane performed here, laying groundwork for cultural shifts that extended beyond music into technology and innovation.

Towards the end of Tether, there is a song called Silk and Velvet; its sound is characteristic of Annahstasia's debut album. Fingerpicked acoustic guitar and her extraordinary vocals husky, expressive, elegant are front and centre. The arrangement is subtle but not drearily tasteful: arching noise that could be feedback or a distorted pedal steel guitar, which gradually swells into something climactic before dying away.

Each of these venues offers a markedly unique experience: You can front a live band, reserve a private stage for you and your friends, knock back tiki drinks while waiting your turn, or-because this is Portland-serenade the clothes off a pole dancer. Whether you're a classically trained performer or more of a shower singer, here are our favorite karaoke spots in town.

We've come to this realization that it's time because - and I say this as humbly as I can - we're coming up on almost 30 years of the band being together. We have 26 Top 10 singles and 12 number ones. I mean, God, this record we're feeling is probably the best work we've ever done.

Quizzes There were many viral moments and characters in the news this year. See if you can remember who said what, and what was said. From iconic sports clips to the Karen Read trial to the Coldplay kiss cam clip, this year has been full of unforgettable one-liners and moments that dropped jaws, warmed hearts, and fired locals up, as we head into 2026. See how well you remember these key players and their quotes in this quiz.

Recently, I had reason to dust off a very interesting memory from secondary school. It was in the locker room before gym - always a moment of compromise, given the element of partial undress - when a girl, let's call her Gemma, rounded on me. What Gemma lacked in physical stature, she more than made up for with haughty imperiousness. And this time, she had a pack of other girls with her.

The Doors' Riders on the Storm is one of the greatest rock songs of all time. And fans can experience this classic which was released as the second single from The Doors' fantastic sixth album, 1971's L.A. Woman in a whole new way beginning on Jan. 9. That's the day when a drastically reimagined version of the song will be released on YouTube.

We had fun you can hear humour a bit on the album and we went through some tough times, existential crisis, and you can hear that too, says Theusen over a video call from her home in Copenhagen. Goodbyehouse became one of 2025's runaway underground successes thanks to that emotional openness as well as the duo's canny blend of Dido-esque balladry, shoegaze haze and minimalist pop.

Nothing can quite describe the feeling of standing in front of the stage at a rock concert, immersed in bodies, pushed to the point where you can't breathe, and everyone's screaming lyrics, singing along, phones aloft while they're being pummeled by the driving sound of grunge. This past Saturday night, Dec. 20, Dexter and The Moonrocks brought grunge back to Portland at the Crystal Ballroom. There was a twist, though. Their sound has a bit of country twang.

Glastonbury Festival has reported a rise in profits after a strong year that featured performances from global stars including Dua Lipa and Shania Twain, enabling millions of pounds to be channelled into charitable causes. Accounts filed at Companies House show that Glastonbury Festival Events Limited, the operating company behind Glastonbury Festival, increased revenues to £75.2 million in the year to March 31, 2025, up from £68.4 million the previous year. Pre-tax profits climbed to £7.7 million, compared with £5.9 million in 2024.

Ballad written in half an hour as a favour for a friend has left its mark on audiences in Ireland and around the world

Among those watching was Irish musician Bob Geldof, who became determined to help in the only way he knew how. Thus began an unlikely pairing of pop music and activism that would inspire other charity singles like 'We Are the World' and lead to the historic Live Aid concerts. The iconic Christmas single, 'Do They Know It's Christmas?', was written by Geldof and Midge Ure. It would raise £8m for Ethiopia within a year and forever changed the relationship between charity and celebrity.

The production is uniquely rhythmic and layered, the instrumental performances are all pretty bulletproof, and Cameron Winter's writing is just ridiculously good. He is able to show us beauty and despair, and the beauty in despair and the despair in beauty. The best track to me is Islands of Men, which builds over this hypnotic instrumental while Winter sings about isolation and self-illusion. Other highlights would be the title track and Half Real, which feels like a dizzy, intoxicated folk song.

Every week for the past month or so has been bittersweet because every week San Jose grows one step closer to the closing of one of the area's best venues, Art Boutiki. However, as their final days draw near, the venue continues to host an array of unique local artists, and this week-three days before their doors shut forever-is no different.

With Christmas just days away, Damon Albarn stopped by BBC Radio to read Dr. Seuss' classic children's book, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Stream his rendition here, and listen to a preview below. Get Gorillaz Tickets Here Since its publication in 1957, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! has been adapted for TV, film, and as a 2007 musical. A live-action film starring Jim Carrey and directed by Ron Howard was released in 2000, followed by a CGI adaptation voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch in 2018.

Just over a month after he was released from prison following a 16-year-long stint behind bars, Max B is back with his first new full-length in four years. The rapper has surprise-released Public Domain 7: The Purge, the seventh installment of his ongoing Public Domain mixtape series. You can listen to it below. Public Domain 7: The Purge follows Max B's 2021 album Negro Spirituals.

The late '90s saw the advent of new subgenres variously dubbed trip-hop, downtempo, electronica and chillwave. The overall style was exemplified by Massive Attack, Portishead, Sneaker Pimps, Morcheeba, Zero 7...and Thievery Corporation. Deeply hypnotic melodies, sophisticated arrangements, top-flight guest vocalists and an undeniably sexy vibe are among the hallmarks of the music. Decades later, it still sounds fresh. Thievery Corporation was and remains better than most in blending world music elements into the heady mix.

Forget the vinyl revival. CD players and compact discs are back on Christmas lists this year amid a wave of 90s nostalgia and coveted deluxe releases from big acts such as Taylor Swift and Pink Floyd. Demand for compact discs peaked in the mid-00s and many households ditched their systems and libraries as digital music took off. But the distinctive whirr is returning to bedrooms around the country, with retailers and marketplaces experiencing an uptick in appetite for vintage tech and music to play on it.

Basically, anyone who wants to participate grabs a color-coded bell, and the conductors raise their colored flags when it's time for those bells to be rung. At first, it takes everyone a little bit of time to get accustomed to it, says James Burke, the executive director of MMNY. But, you know, by the end of a half-hour music jam session, the first-timers are really genuinely making music together, and the compositions get kind of more complex as the program proceeds.