Last Saturday - Mission District
I was in the bay area for work about two months last year, but I only went to San Francisco one day for a baseball game. Why, why, why? San Jose was fun, and I got to know sleepy Santa Clara really well, but why didn't I get up to San Francisco more often? I've been asking myself this since last Saturday, when I headed up to the Mission District to see what was up. Continuing my normal behavior of strange self deprivation, I didn't rent a car and went up on Caltrain. I got off at the last station where AT&T Park is, and didn't immediately know where I'd head next. I decided to go to an intersection mentioned in the lyrics of my favorite band. Why not? After a half hour or so I ended up at Delirium Cocktails on 16th Street where I had a bunch of happy hour 2.50 Lagunita IPAs. The bar and area reminded me of Austin somewhat, so I knew I must be somewhere pretty cool.
I had a copy of SF Weekly, so I had the addresses of places with shows going on, but I didn't have a map. Some people at the bar were helpful as far as telling me where places were, but when it came down to it I wanted to be sure I didn't get lost so I headed somewhere on that same street. It was a Mexican restaurant called El Rincon, and three bands were playing that night. The girl taking money at the door was very nice, and asked me who I was there to see. It factored into how much each band got paid. I told her I didn't know, but she said to make sure and cast my vote before I left. The first band consisting of a guy/girl acoustic duo and they were already playing. Unfortunately, I was out of money and the place had no ATM, so the girl directed me up the hill to Safeway. By the time I got back, they had only a few songs left to play so I didn't get a good feel for their music.
The second band, DownDownDown was obviously who everyone was there to see, because the area in front of the stage went from empty to a decent sized crowd instantly once they started playing. I enjoyed a Hemp Ale or two as they played, first from the bar and eventually from the back of the crowd. Five members in this band, four guys and a girl. Bass, guitar, and drums always playing and sometimes the guy and girl only singing but sometimes playing keyboard and guitar and probably other instruments I'm forgetting. They had quite a bit of equipment, including a huge mixer and several boxed lights which were controlled via pedals by one of the band members. They did some cool falsetto stuff and some creative song morphing into "Burnin' For You" and "Killing Me Softly" during separate original songs. Their set seemed really short--I definitely wanted more. I bought their EP and talked to the lead singer for a bit during the next band's set. Sometimes I wonder if I come across as too drunk or annoying when I talk to the bands, but hopefully instead I'm somewhat interesting to talk to since I tell them specific things I liked or didn't like rather than a generic "you guys were great." In this case, I told him how I liked the song morphing and that I always planned on doing something like that in a band.
I have to mention this short blond haired girl who was there for the DownDownDown show. She was so happy! She wasn't so much dancing to the music, but several times she would see someone she knew across the bar, smile, and skip and jump over to them to give them a hug. Very cute. Unfortunately she left before I could say hi.
The third band was OK but pretty conventional. The guitar player was just playing chords along with the bass notes, so not very interesting. And, the area in front of the stage cleared out after DownDownDown. I had to leave in the middle of their set to catch the last train, so I stopped at the door to register my vote for the second band, and headed out. Here is where things get a bit ridiculous--stay tuned.
I had a copy of SF Weekly, so I had the addresses of places with shows going on, but I didn't have a map. Some people at the bar were helpful as far as telling me where places were, but when it came down to it I wanted to be sure I didn't get lost so I headed somewhere on that same street. It was a Mexican restaurant called El Rincon, and three bands were playing that night. The girl taking money at the door was very nice, and asked me who I was there to see. It factored into how much each band got paid. I told her I didn't know, but she said to make sure and cast my vote before I left. The first band consisting of a guy/girl acoustic duo and they were already playing. Unfortunately, I was out of money and the place had no ATM, so the girl directed me up the hill to Safeway. By the time I got back, they had only a few songs left to play so I didn't get a good feel for their music.
The second band, DownDownDown was obviously who everyone was there to see, because the area in front of the stage went from empty to a decent sized crowd instantly once they started playing. I enjoyed a Hemp Ale or two as they played, first from the bar and eventually from the back of the crowd. Five members in this band, four guys and a girl. Bass, guitar, and drums always playing and sometimes the guy and girl only singing but sometimes playing keyboard and guitar and probably other instruments I'm forgetting. They had quite a bit of equipment, including a huge mixer and several boxed lights which were controlled via pedals by one of the band members. They did some cool falsetto stuff and some creative song morphing into "Burnin' For You" and "Killing Me Softly" during separate original songs. Their set seemed really short--I definitely wanted more. I bought their EP and talked to the lead singer for a bit during the next band's set. Sometimes I wonder if I come across as too drunk or annoying when I talk to the bands, but hopefully instead I'm somewhat interesting to talk to since I tell them specific things I liked or didn't like rather than a generic "you guys were great." In this case, I told him how I liked the song morphing and that I always planned on doing something like that in a band.
I have to mention this short blond haired girl who was there for the DownDownDown show. She was so happy! She wasn't so much dancing to the music, but several times she would see someone she knew across the bar, smile, and skip and jump over to them to give them a hug. Very cute. Unfortunately she left before I could say hi.
The third band was OK but pretty conventional. The guitar player was just playing chords along with the bass notes, so not very interesting. And, the area in front of the stage cleared out after DownDownDown. I had to leave in the middle of their set to catch the last train, so I stopped at the door to register my vote for the second band, and headed out. Here is where things get a bit ridiculous--stay tuned.
Labels: music
posted by PlaysByEar at 1:30 AM
1 Comments:
bring on the the ridiculousness! That's what we're paying to hear!
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