Pop Quiz: Keane

Pop Quiz: Keane

Aidin Vaziri | When Billy Joel tries to rock out on the piano he looks like a drunken cab driver. But in the hands of British trio Keane, the dodgy old instrument sounds like Coldplay and old U2 rolled into a big ball of, um, something that is really awesome and round. Keane's debut album, "Hopes and Fears," released earlier this year, has already netted a hit with the gale- force pop of "Somewhere Only We Know." We spoke with songwriter and pianist Tim Rice-Oxley.



Tim Rice-Oxley of Keane
Q: The last time I saw you guys, it looked like your singer was doing karaoke because you were hunched over the piano the whole time.
A: We've had that problem at smaller venues. But as we get bigger, the stages get slightly higher and we become more visible.
Q: What you need is one of those Kool & the Gang keyboards that you hold like a guitar.
A: I've thought about it, all Herbie Hancock style. There's something a bit too ironic about those.
Q: Well, you're doing just as much work as anybody else. Why not get your share of the attention?
A: Exactly. I certainly do a bit of jumping around onstage. Maybe the Kool & the Gang vibe is the way forward.

Pop Quiz: Hayley Westenra

Pop Quiz: Hayley Westenra

Aidin Vaziri | What the world needs now? Not love, but more hot teen classical singers like Hayley Westenra. The 17-year-old New Zealand soprano has sold more than 2 million copies of her new album, "Pure," and will become a regular fixture on TV screens over the next few weeks. She appears in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the "Today" show and "PBS Great Performances".



Hayley Westenra
Q: Is it true that there are no natural predators in New Zealand, so everyone is into extreme sports like bungee jumping and shark wrestling?
A: Yeah. Down in Queenstown in the south island you can do all that. I don't know. It's not really my thing. I do some rock climbing, but it's not quite so extreme.
Q: Do you have a pet cheetah?
A: Oh, no, no, no.
Q: But you are going to be in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Have you performed around large cartoon characters before?
A: I haven't, no. It's going to be quite an experience. Apparently, I'm on the Green Dog float, whatever that means.
Q: Do you hate it when, during the holidays, used-car commercials are all, "It's turkey time for deals at San Jose Datsun?" I totally hate that.
A: Yeah.

Live Review: Wilco

Live Review: Wilco

Aidin Vaziri | Wilco can do no wrong for rapt Fillmore crowd: Some people still haven't gotten over it. "I don't believe in red and blue states," Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy said, introducing the song "Kingpin" during the band's second encore at the Fillmore on Monday. "I don't believe anybody voted for Bush. I honestly don't. It's impossible." No wonder the experimental rock group sold out three Bay Area shows in just hours -- it couldn't find a more sympathetic audience even if it headlined the biggest kebab joint in Fallujah. Then again, Tweedy could have said just about anything and inspired the same roar of approval. "Some of our favorite shows were played here," he cracked at one point. "Quicksilver Messenger Service, the Who, Moby Grape." Whooooooh! Then, after a quick run through "Monday," he shrugged, "That's the first time we played that song, but it's Monday, so it's appropriate." Yeaaaaaaaah! The Chicago band's entrance alone, to the sound of ringing alarm clocks and a grainy film of a swimming octopus, inspired the kind of hysteria usually reserved for things like the last few seconds of the Super Bowl or the return of certain biblical figures.

Pop Quiz: Simple Plan

Pop Quiz: Simple Plan

Aidin Vaziri | For years we thought no good music ever came out of Canada -- and then we got Alanis Morissette, Avril Lavigne and Sum 41, which proved us right. But that didn't include Quebec, which is a good thing for Simple Plan, a multiplatinum pop punk band from Montreal, out on the road promoting its second album, "Still Not Getting Any." Packed with songs about teenage alienation and the hazards of Botox, it is naturally making lead singer Pierre Bouvier a messiah for impressionable teenage girls.



Simple Plan
Q: Has one of your own songs ever made you cry?
A: Not made me cry.
Q: Did you cry at the end of "Titanic"?
A: You know, I'm actually waiting for a movie that's going to make me shed a tear.
Q: Not even when Leonardo DiCaprio got eaten by a shark and Celine Dion was like, "Whooouaraaaaaaagghgghh-ma heart will go on!"?
A: No. Sometimes I'm on the edge where I feel like my lip is trembling. But I'm still waiting for that movie that's going to make me cry.
Q: Man, you have no soul.

Look Who's Singing: Minnie Driver

Look Who's Singing: Minnie Driver

Never mind the critics -- Minnie Driver puts acting aside to sing: Aidin Vaziri | Minnie Driver is different from most actors who want to sing. How? She knows the last thing the world needs is another actor who wants to sing. Calling from a tour bus that is traveling across Europe, the star of such movies as "Good Will Hunting" and "Grosse Pointe Blank" doesn't hesitate when asked to name just one film colleague who has successfully made the career jump. "I can't," she says. But, she adds, "I'm fully prepared to be a pioneer." The 34-year-old British actress is taking a yearlong break from Hollywood to promote her debut album, "Everything I've Got in My Pocket," recorded in the West Hollywood garage of producer and musician Marc "Doc" Dauer with members of the Wallflowers, Pete Yorn's band and her dog Bubba. The black lab's contribution should not be underestimated. "Bubba would routinely come in, destroy the studio in his enthusiasm for being there, and then pass out behind the piano," Driver says. "So we'd record a song and when we would play it back and it would be like, 'huh-huh-huh-huh- huh.' And everyone would look at each at other and say, 'What's the f -- dog doing on there? Shut him up.'"

Live Review: Nancy Sinatra

Live Review: Nancy Sinatra

Nancy Sinatra's boots still fitting: Aidin Vaziri | She walks out onstage wearing black aviator glasses, vinyl snakeskin pants and a bulky leather jacket she eventually removes to reveal an enormous lightning bolt necklace. She makes weird hand gestures. She says, "I'm Nancy, let's get friendly." How could we not? The set leans heavily on the bikini years, as her band -- including drummer Pete Thomas of Elvis Costello's Imposters and pianist Don Randi, a former member of Phil Spector's Wrecking Crew -- charges through stomping, go-go era hits like "How Does That Grab You, Darlin' " and "The Last of the Secret Agents." There are surprises, as well, in the form of glassy-eyed readings of Australian singer-songwriter Kasey Chamber's "Barricades and Brick Walls" and Art Garfunkel's "99 Miles From L.A." Both work primarily because they inspire just enough people to look at each other and go, "What the f -- ?

Mayhem and mood swings -- a day with the Donnas

Mayhem and mood swings -- a day with the Donnas

Mayhem and mood swings -- a day with the Donnas: Aidin Vaziri | It is the last Tuesday in October, the day the Donnas release their sixth album, "Gold Medal," and the quartet have just stepped off a plane and swept up the elevator into a radio station. Bassist Maya Ford says she's in a bad mood because she found a Lenny Kravitz collage in the bathroom: "I don't like him because he's too short and wears high heels, which I think is lame." Her bandmates nod furiously in agreement. "I saw his wardrobe case backstage at a show we were playing together and it was huge," guitarist Allison Robertson says. "It was bigger than ours, and we're, like, four girls." Besides, singer Brett Anderson reckons, "He's a midget." Disappointed that a disco ball hanging in the control room doesn't work, the band asks the DJ to summon an intern to flick the overhead lights on and off to create the proper vibe. Then, after a long conversation within the band about movies and cocktails, drummer Torry Castellano turns to the DJ and says, "We don't even need you here." After the interview is over, Ford tells him, "I once called up to request a Don Henley song and you guys made fun of me." Apparently, she still hasn't gotten over it.

Pop Quiz: Ryan Cabrera

Pop Quiz: Ryan Cabrera

Aidin Vaziri | Ryan Cabrera is best known as the guy who broke Ashlee Simpson's heart on her MTV reality show. But he's not just some random dude with a funny haircut who ended up as the subject of Ashlee's first single, "Pieces of Me." He's an aspiring singer-songwriter in his own right with a serious John Mayer streak. Cabrera's debut album, "Take It All Away," was co-produced by Goo Goo Dolls front man John Rzeznik. And thanks to extensive touring in frat houses and with Jessica Simpson, Cabrera is winning over all kinds of fans.



Ryan Cabrera
Q: In the last 24 hours, how many times have people asked you about the Ashlee Simpson lip-synching debacle on "Saturday Night Live?
A: I'd probably say 30 or 40 times.
Q: That's it?
A: Well, we tried to hold off most of those questions, but those are the ones that just went with it anyway.
Q: Do you have a good answer?
A: I could, but I just stay away from it. It has nothing to do with me. So I just duck out. What can you do?
Q: You could be all like, "Whatever!" And then stick your hand down your pants.
A: There you go. That's a perfect answer.

Live Review: Jimmy Eat World

Live Review: Jimmy Eat World

Don't say emo to Jimmy Eat World: Aidin Vaziri | Jimmy Eat World may have just hit the top 10 with its fourth and latest album, "Futures," but good luck picking the band members out of a lineup of Starbucks employees. On Monday afternoon, kicking off Live 105's annual Studio Sessions concerts at Metreon, the Arizona natives were almost apologetic as they took the stage, perhaps recognizing that people actually want their rock stars to look like bisexual magicians, not baristas. Taking in the small audience's muted reaction, singer-guitarist Jim Adkins slyly reminded them that it could be worse. "Open up your hymnals to Page 143," he cracked.

Pop Quiz: Nancy Sinatra

Pop Quiz: Nancy Sinatra

Aidin Vaziri | In 1966, Nancy Sinatra got famous singing "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'." Nearly four decades later, all the young men who were turned on watching her prowl by with her blond bouffant and sex kitten voice have turned out to pay their respects. Morrissey, Thurston Moore, Steven Van Zandt, Bono and the Edge are just some of the people who helped out on Sinatra's self- titled new album.



Nancy Sinatra
Q: Of all your collaborators, who wears the best cologne?
A: You know what? I don't think I smelled cologne on these guys.
Q: Really? I always imagined Bono dousing himself with L'Eau D'Issey Pour Homme.
A: No. Jon Spencer, Pete Yorn, none of them.
Q: Morrissey looks like he would smell really good.
A: Morrissey is a great-smelling guy, but he's more soapy clean.