by Erick Pressman

Back in December, there was a bit of a panic attack moment that was had. It turned out that on the same night Wild 94.9 threw their epic Wild Jam concert featuring Chris Brown and Drake, local stoner rockers Om played the Independent with Lichens and a local band Barn Owl.

What to do? Surround ourselves with teenagers and check out something that most people in their early 30s try their hardest to avoid, or do we go with the safe evening and get ears destroyed by a walls of amplifiers? After much soul searching, and realizing that Barn Owl were a local band and were playing the Hemlock the following month, Wild Jam won the moral debate while we patiently waited for January 26th, 2011 to roll around so Barn Owl could blow our minds.

Well, the show finally rolled around and while the entire month leading up to the show was spent playing the fuck out of Barn Owl's Ancestral Star lp, what we didn't know about the show on the Hemlock was that it was a benefit for KUSF, which had recently been sold by the University, behind the backs of the student body, station staff, and the rest of San Francisco.