Last Call
(photo: Robert Alleyne) To all the bands and all the fans... Thanks for 15 years full of music, fun, and local love. We've had a blast and we'll see you at a show soon. Listen Local, The Bay Bridged
20th Street Block Party releases 2021 lineup
After a year's delay, beloved San Francisco street festival 20th Street Block Party is making its return to the Mission District. And we don't think it would be a stretch to say they're back and better than ever — check out this killer lineup. Y La Bamba Con Brio L.A. Witch French Cassettes Same Girls King Isis LOUDA Y Los Bad Hombres Strange Cities The only major change is that, like Outside Lands and other events, it's shifting to October. Other than that, some typical pandemic precautions are in place: Guests will need to reserve a spot to prevent overcrowding, [...]
The Stern Grove lineup is here and you’re gonna want to see it
Later this month, one of our beloved concert institutions is going to bring live music back to life in the Bay once more. Starting June 20, Stern Grove Festival is bringing acts like Thundercat, Joan Jett, Perfume Genius, and Ledisi to San Francisco. Of course, this won't be without some COVID-related caveats. Each show requires reservations, which will be released 8 days prior to the event on a first-come, first-serve basis, on sterngrove.org (psst: If you're looking to get tickets to Ledisi and the Seshen, that's today). There will be fencing and other measures to ensure social distancing, and mask [...]
Reisender re-emerges with new album, ‘Fmly’
Today, San Francisco's Reisender releases Fmly, their first since their 2016 debut. To celebrate, they've released the video for their latest single, "Naked Eyes," as well. You might already have heard that Reisender started with a busted mandolin copped at a flea market in Germany ("Reisender" is German for "traveler"). The mando has always been present in Reisender's repertoire, but on Fmly, bandleader Paul Conroy leans even further into synth-fueled pop sounds. However, this time there seems to be a drop of darkness added. But honestly, aren't we all feeling that these days? (The plague masks also feel appropriate for [...]
Live Event Alert!! ‘Stop Making Sense’ with Andrew St. James
I've already told the story of how the first time I saw Stop Making Sense I leaned over to my dad in the theater halfway through and said "Dad, can we go? This is so boring." I've come to appreciate David Byrne and co. over time, and if you haven't yet you're really missing out on great live performances. As we slowly transition to live music, Fast Times is offering us the chance to at least view some from behind our windshields. Andrew St. James will open the night's proceedings with a live set, followed by music videos from local [...]
‘Making Ways’ returns with Shamir, Nada Surf
Remember Rob and Making Ways? Rob Goodman is a local artist and music fan (and a former writer of ours, and someone who still occasionally lends us his artistic talents). In addition to the day jobs we all have here at TBB, his side projects have often revolved around music — namely a robust library of concert posters. For a while, we were helping get the word out about his podcast, Making Ways, which covers "the intersection of art and music" — previous guests include industrial designers, children's book illustrators, and musicians like Heather D'Angelo of Au Revoir Simone. Like [...]
Fast Times! goes ahead online with Lalin, Healing Potpourri
Forgive us, but the last time we told you anything about Fast Times! was eight months ago. Since then, Andrew St. James and crew have been chugging along, simply transposing their concert series — which kicked off in late 2019 at the Chapel — online. And while we haven't had the time or staff to be able to highlight all of Fast Times!' excellent events recently, I thought I'd shout this one out because this lineup boasts a number of our faves: Sandy's, Healing Potpourri, Lalin, and of course Andrew St. James. This is their 2nd installment in a monthly [...]
Save the Arlene Francis Center with us.
Even if you're not from the North Bay, you've seen their name around here many times — the Arlene Francis Center in Santa Rosa is a mainstay of Sonoma County's music community, and has been since the '90s. Like many, many, many other venues, the pandemic has hit them in the pocketbook pretty damn hard. So they're doing what we all do best right now: Hosting a livestream-slash-fundraiser. Actually, this one is pre-recorded -- but it's debuting online tonight. Catch sets from Slugger, Down Dirty Shake, and Heidi Benjamin, emceed by our own Derek Nielsen. How can you help? [...]
Saturday livestream will pay tribute to Dominic Miranda
If you even dabbled in local music in the last decade and a half you might have experienced Dominic Miranda's work: in The Record Winter, in Rex Goliath, as Payphone. It's more likely, though, you experienced it secondhand, through the other artists he collaborated with and inspired. Since the mid-'00s, his presence was a consistent, anchoring force in notoriously boom-and-bust South Bay music scene. In October of last year, Miranda passed away from complications of a heart condition, leaving a clear loss in San Jose music. And on Saturday night, the breadth of his influence will be apparent as artists [...]
Avi Vinocur’s ‘Hindsight’ will make you miss going places
This morning, San Francisco's Avi Vinocur announced a new album, arriving next Friday. Recorded entirely on his iPhone in his apartment, Hindsight feels like a ship-in-a-bottle encapsulation of the year that's behind us (check the pun in the title). But the storytelling is fiction: Each song is set in a different time and place, something most of us didn't get to experience a lot of last year. Hindsight by Avi Vinocur Strung together, the album sounds like a solitary road trip. A quiet backroad, the dying fuzz of losing a local radio station, a reason known only to you. Since [...]