Mission Mission

Just finishing up work and wondering how you might be able to take advantage of the warm, sunny weather in the Mission today?  Well, head on over to Dolores Park for an evening featuring local faves the Ferocious Few along with talented up-and-comers Il Gato (who just released their new album All These Slippery Things), the Shants, and Wolf & Crow.

Bring a blanket (unicorn pattern works best), booze (might I suggest some champagne?), and a few friends (needn’t be ferocious) to check out one of those timeless summer shows that makes me proud I live in this neighborhood.  The fun starts at 6pm and lasts until dark!

[Photo by killerKAMera]

Patrick from Serene Lakes (pictured) wrote in to say, “We used to play quite a bit in SF a few years ago and haven’t played in quite a while, 3 + years, so it’s kind of a reunion show / possibly last show ever.” Epic!

From their official bio:

Serene Lakes started out as an acoustic band from members of Wormdrive (RIP) and Oak Knoll and then progressed in to the rock powerhouse you now know and love.

One of the other bands on the bill, Sleeptalks, sort of remind Patrick of old Stereolab. The show is tonight at the Knockout, $5.

Myles made the announcement this morning: His new 7″ is out now. Limited quantities I’m sure, so get ‘em while they’re hot.

Previously:

Gonna Find Boyfriends TONIGHT

Some shots from this Sunday.  (As usual, click to zoom.)

Watching the World Cup final in the Valencia Street garage of the Mission tricycle stereo guy — thanks! (Sorry, Orange.)

The Ferocious Few on Valencia:

The lead singer telekinetically tuning his guitar:

Another rockin’ band on 24th…

…so rocking, in fact, that their house was doing that Flight of the Conchords wiggle:

Hey, look, another bike band Fossil Fool!

And my personal favorite: French Tacos! The Croque Monsieur (Croque Señor?) was particularly l’awesome.

All and all, a good day (but we really need it to go until at least 4 or 5 PM).  We can do this once a month, no?

On the downside, there was a curious lack of food vendors.  And while I’m sure it’s a permitting nightmare, I’d like to see the city help our favorite food carts get in on this.

The top half of the poster contains everything you need to know:

Though I’m sure we’re all pumped for !!!, Surfer Blood and She & Him too. And the Ferris Wheel of course.

Official site is here.

Lots of folks probably had the time of their lives. India did, and here she enumerates why:

-Was amazed by how much he sounds the same/how attractive I find a 68 year old man
-Probably ruined my vocal chords screaming
-Not like he could hear me, but he did wave a lot
-This is the closest I have ever been to a Beatle
-This is also the closest I have ever been to God
-When he sang “Two of Us” I screamed and wet myself because I want to walk down the aisle to that (I mean, apparently. I yelled that when they started playing it so it must be true).

Read on.

Photo by auweia.

This time around, you can presubmit your mixtape for Judges’ Choice consideration, so they’ll be able to really appreciate my putting “Party in the USA” by Miley Cyrus right up against “You Bet” by Kaela Kamura.

Get to work!

See the San Francisco Mixtape Society for all the details.

Every Friday morning, 24th/Mission BART commuters are serenaded with the lyrical stylings of this wandering shade of Johnny Cash.  Too bad I wasn’t able to capture “Walk the Line” in this particular instance.

Apologies for the shaky video, as I was walking with a slow, dragging limp.

I’ve had some exceptional luck lately, running into two different local bluesmen, each willing to share a couple songs and some knowledge about the proper way to tame a harmonica.

The Blues Man of 16th Street offered to teach me how to bend a note. Usually I carry my own harmonica around, but on this night it was sitting in my desk drawer. When he told him that I’m trying to learn, but won’t ever be able to play like him he quickly replied “Yes you can. Yes you can. You just gotta keep at it.” And then, “always have your harmonica with you, you never know when inspiration will strike you. I always play my own stuff [even though he's demonstrating something different here, just for instructional purposes]. Your music is yours,” he said, patting me on the chest, “it comes from you.”

(Sorry the videos are dark. Unfortunately that’s my dopey voice you hear in the background)

Next, Drake Dillen, who lived on Valencia near 22nd a few decades ago while doing construction work, played me a few of his old favorites. He had a falling out with his brother and had to leave the city, fell on some hard times, got into some trouble, and finally made his way back to the city to, possibly, sing out the blues into the cool foggy nights.

So proves this joy-saturated love letter of a music video by filmmaker Daniel Jarvis and Sierra Frost of local band The Downer Party. It contains the above two images, and LOTS MORE. Says Jarvis:

Shot on the Canon HV-30 aka “The Cowboy Cam” at Mission Dolores Park, 24th and Harrison, The Uptown, The Phone booth, Bernal Heights (courtesy of Loren Risker) and all over the roads of San Francisco!

Here it is:

(By the way, isn’t that band name kind of a redundant play on words, seeing as how the Donner Party were a pack of total downers anyway?)