Trick or treat? Sweetest of the latter, definitely, and likely one-time-only at this juncture. A decade after S.F. classicists the Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Santana – and just before punk pioneers Dead Kennedys, but five years before the East Bay’s thrash metal explosion – the Rubinoos birthed a Bay Area legacy. New Wave would come and go, but power pop pogos forever. The quartet’s self-titled 1977 bow and the rejuvenation two decades later with 1998 comeback Paleophonic remain nuggets of the genre. Jon Rubin, Tommy Dunbar, and Donn Spindt date back to the start, and bassist Al Chan joined in 1980. Trick or treat, without any fright, your Halloween will be filled with delight! – Raoul Hernandez
