For Those About To Rock

Lannister twins face dark future after ‘Game of Thrones’ finale

Cersei Lannister (Lena Headley) looks out at King's Landing from the Red Keep in the most recent episode of HBO's "Game of Thrones." (HBO images)

At times uneven and oddly paced, the sixth season of HBO’s blockbuster “Game of Thrones” wrapped Sunday with an explosive final episode.

For those who haven’t watched all of the most recent season as well as any corresponding books in the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series, here’s a spoiler warning.

While the Stark family is the beating heart of the series — they’ve been the focal point since the first episode — I continue to be fascinated by the Lannister children.

Though youngest sibling Tyrion, played by Peter Dinklage, is my favorite, I feel that the finale tipped its hand toward its endgame with the elder twins, Cersei, played by Lena Headley, and Jaime (right), who Nikolaj Coster-Waldau plays.

Cersei’s always been manipulative and cunning, but crossed an irredeemable line in the season finale, bringing an abrupt and cataclysmic end to her trial for incest and regicide. In conspiracy with Qyburn, the resident Dr. Josef Mengele of “Game of Thrones,” she used hidden casks of wildfire, the universe’s more-potent-than-fire substance, to blow up a sept, a holy building, and everyone inside it. Those inside included anyone suspecting her of wrongdoing as well as many rivals, politicians and claimants to the throne.

As part of the collateral damage, the king, her last remaining child, son Tommen, jumped out of a window to his death, leaving her as queen by default and elevating creepy Qyburn to second in command.

It feels as if we've reached the boiling point on plot developments that heating since the pilot, when Jaime chucked Bran Stark out of a window to keep his sister-loving ways a secret. It’s difficult to paint “The Kingslayer” as sympathetic, considering he attempted to murder Bran, assassinated the “Mad King” Aerys, has killed scores and raped Cersei on the floor of the sept next to the corpse of their eldest son, the rotten King Joffrey.

Both have done heinous things, but Cersei’s act of mass murder pushed her across the moral event horizon. Dressed in black “Maleficent” fines, she was funereal as she became the queen of Westeros as well as its villainous (villainess, too) final boss.

Queen is a mantle she wanted, but lost all three children getting there. She flashed a wicked smile as she watched her enemies die across the city.

She is the woman who quipped the show’s title – “When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die” – but who could have foreseen she would put such an emphasis on the death part?

Cersei's become a terrorist (left) and that’s not a word to be used lightly. She demolished a church and murdered dozens to free herself from the possibility of a guilty verdict.

Whether Jaime knows this is yet to be seen. It was clear from the episode’s penultimate scene that regardless of how much he knows, he finds his new, all-powerful queen worrisome.

Earlier in season six, Jaime made part of his political pitch to peacefully take over the castle of Riverrun by saying he will do “whatever it takes” to get back to Cersei. Now, he's in an impossible spot.

George R.R. Martin, the creator of this universe, has said that, like William Faulkner, he believes the only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself.

I want Jaime to find out what Cersei did. This would be juicy for the show's well-matched, but kinda icky power couple. More than 20 years after Jaime assassinated Aerys to save the citizens of King’s Landing from death by wildfire, his sister and lover weaponized the same substance to carry out a brutal, unforgivable attack.

With the upcoming final season to be split into two parts, the stakes rise as we steer toward the series finale.

So I want to see Jaime to face a choice between what’s best for the Seven Kingdoms and his love for Cersei. It will be a much harder decision than killing the Mad King. But I expect the fate of Westeros to hang in the balance.

Since his journey over the course of the series has been one of redemption – he has not killed any Starks since he vowed to Catelyn Stark he would not, he took Riverrun without bloodshed, he let Brienne escape after the takeover – I think if the moment comes, he will kill his twin sister and earn a new moniker: “The Queenslayer.”

Aging musicians' live shows still worth it

Bob Dylan performs at the Azkena Rock Festival in Spain in 2010. Dylan kicks off a two-night stand at Berkeley's Greek Theatre tonight. (Courtesy photo/Alberto Cabello)

As Bob Dylan kicks off the first of a two-night stay at Berkeley’s Greek Theatre today, there’s bound to be a familiar chorus.

No, not the one singing “Blowin’ in the Wind,” although that’s bound to happen, too.

It’s a chorus that comes from the crowd regularly when he or other musicians of a certain age – let’s lump them into the “classic” category – play live today. They sing about how these musicians aren’t what they used to be, that we’ve missed their prime and that going to the show isn’t worth it.

I’ve gotta be honest – there’s some truth to that assessment. Unless you’re a hardcore “Dylanphile” or the rash of 2016 musician deaths has driven you to “catch ’em all,” Pokémon style, you can probably skip out.

As someone who has seen Dylan four times on what’s been dubbed his “Never-Ending Tour” since a June 7, 1988, stop in Concord, I have a complicated relationship with Dylan’s live show circa 2016. It’s like an old married couple: “Sure, my partner upsets me sometimes, but I still love ’em.”

But for the unwed, so to speak, caution is advised. Casual fans seeking a carbon copy of the Dylan who made his essential 1960s folk and rock albums are going to come away disappointed. He doesn’t look like that, sound like that and, often, doesn’t even play the songs like that anymore.

During a rendition of “Maggie’s Farm” a decade ago at ARCO Arena, the tune was unrecognizable until Dylan croaked the opening line because he rearranged the song. He does that. Considering he’s been playing some songs for five decades, it's hard to fault him.

The cries that these old, gray hairs, they ain’t what they used to be, ain’t what they used to be are bound to resurface come October when Dylan, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Roger Waters, Neil Young and The Who converge on Indio for the Desert Trip festivals.

Looking at their catalogs is a “who’s who” of classic rock, but those who expect Macca to look and sound the way he did when he wrote “Hey Jude” are setting themselves up for disaster.

While McCartney, The Stones and The Who are sure to deliver the hits at that festival, it’s hard to imagine Dylan or Young will follow that script. I can’t see either of those men, who have made careers out of following their artistic impulses, doing anything other than exactly what they want.

If Dylan hasn’t made it abundantly clear during the past half-century, he doesn't care what anyone thinks. Or what they want to hear. To paraphrase a Bill Maher “New Rules” rant from earlier this year, we are not here for Dylan. Dylan is here for us.

Case in point: Tonight, he arrives supporting Fallen Angels and Shadows in the Night, two successive albums of songs performed by Frank Sinatra. Hopping on the Dylan train means rolling with whatever may come, even when he gets into phases when he does a Christmas album. Undoubtedly, some of Old Blue Eyes’ material will be sprinkled among the familiar tonight.

For committed music fans, though, there’s still value in seeing legends perform. Peak Steely Dan came in the 1970s, but last summer, they played a communal show with a gaggle of musicians at Mountain View’s Shoreline Amphitheater. Given the band’s history of collaboration with dozens of musicians even in its prime, was such an approach so far removed from the “real thing?” Not really.

As for seeing Dylan live in 2016, is he going to sound like a bullfrog gargling Jack Daniel's? Yes.

Is he a commanding stage presence? Not especially.

Is he still worth seeing? Absolutely.

He leads a tight, crisp band. He mixes in some latter-career nuggets, such as “High Water (For Charley Patton)” and “Duquesne Whistle,” too. I find his whiskey-croak voice endearing. It's unmistakable that it's Dylan.

Maybe his prime is gone, but the story of his career – and others of his age and ilk – is still being written. There's still an opportunity to be a part of that story, even for those who see Dylan tonight instead of in Greenwich Village circa 1962.

Accepting Dylan and other classic acts as they age is a "yes or no" prospect. There’s sure to be those disappointed by the gray hairs, but for those who take them as they are now, it’s still worthwhile.

BottleRock gives women chance to reaffirm credentials as headliners

Florence Welch from Florence + The Machine sings Saturday at the BottleRock Napa Valley festival in Napa. (Courtesy photo/Jon Ching)

An unusual thing happened Saturday at the BottleRock Napa Valley music, wine, beer and food festival.

Florence + The Machine, one of the three-day Napa event’s headliners, put on the best set of the weekend. With a shimmering curtain of yellow lights behind them, the British indie rock and chamber pop played a positive, life-affirming set of hits and favorites.

As they did, their singer, Florence Welch, owned Napa. Her soaring voice climbed scales as she prowled the stage in bare feet. She encouraged fans to hug, “touch each other’s faces” and love one another.

So what’s so unusual about this? That it was Welch – a woman – leading the way on the main stage of a major musical festival.

To anyone rolling their eyes at that, consider this: To compare to another, slightly larger Bay Area music festival, Outside Lands in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, BottleRock has had more women musicians leading its main stage headliners in the past two years than Outside Lands has in nine lineups, including this summer’s.

Zero isn’t a hard number to beat, though.

That’s not an aberration, either. It’s pretty common. Superfly, which presents Outside Lands as well as Tennessee’s Bonnaroo, one of the largest fests in the nation, also has never had a female artist leading the charge on a full day of events. In more than 15 years, Indio’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has had one female headliner, Icelandic art pop chameleon Björk, in 2002 and 2007.

Just last week, Huffington Post looked at 10 large-scale festivals – including ‘Roo, Outside Lands and Coachella – and determined that while more than 51 percent of their attendees are female, out of roughly 4,000 total acts, just 12 percent were female-only and 10 percent were mixed-gender groups, leaving just under 80 percent as exclusively male.

With two of its six headliner slots since in the past two years going to mixed-gender groups led by women, BottleRock is ducking those numbers.

It’s showed a willingness to see as viable main stage draws that aren’t exclusively men with Welch this year and the Gwen Stefani-led No Doubt in 2015. It’s also showed racial diversity in its headliners, booking OutKast in 2014 and Stevie Wonder this year.

“BottleRock’s diversity is a result of booking the best bands and musicians in all genres,” said Dave Graham, CEO of Latitude 38 Entertainment, the Napa-based firm which puts on BottleRock. “No Doubt and Florence + The Machine headlined the past two years because they were clearly the best choices to headline the festival. . . . We really do not think about gender or race when booking our lineup, but we put a lot of thought into what is the best fit for our attendees.”

Neither Welch nor Stefani needed to prove that women can hold down the main stage at large-size music festivals. Or, more accurately, they shouldn’t have to. It should be self-evident.

But as much as I want that to be true, why did it feel like such a revelation to see Welch commanding the crowd?

Because it doesn’t happen often enough. There shouldn’t be a shortage of female headliners or a broader spectrum of representation, for that matter. Those voices need to be heard.

Are we to believe that Madonna wouldn’t draw? That Beyoncé, who can sell out stadiums, can’t pull in tens of thousands? That Adele, who breaks album sales records, couldn’t carry a lineup? Puh-lease.

Yes, there are complexities and challenges to making a lineup, from “radius” clauses – exclusivity rules that limit where and when an artist can play before or after a festival – to artists who just don’t want to be involved in festivals due to branding or personal preference to cost to other reasons.

What Welch and No Doubt’s Stefani did was reaffirm that, indeed, the girls can hang with the boys. BottleRock sold out every day this year and on No Doubt’s day in ’15.

Sales often speak loudest, so while diversity is not the literal bottom line, inclusion is vital for fans of BottleRock and its organizers in the years to come as well as the music-listening public in general.

“The wonderful thing about music is that there is so much incredible talent out there, no matter what kind of music you are into,” Graham said. “For instance, my iPod is an eclectic mix of everything from Sylvan Esso to Gary Clark Jr. As long as artists continue to produce great music regardless of genre, we are confident we will be able to offer a quality, interesting and diverse lineup each and every year.”