Mission Mission

Tomorrow, in Dolores Park: Unsilent Night!

Basically, there’s this composer from New York named Phil Kline who organizes mass boombox orchestras.  Here’s how it works: you show up at Dolores Park tomorrow at 7 p.m. with a boombox.  CDs and cassettes are distributed.  You pop one of these bad boys into your ‘box, everyone hits play at the exact same time, and BAM!  Music.

Performance art, people.  We’re going to play the song you lost your virginity to and you’re gonna like it.

Amnesia is unveiling a new mural by Andre Karpov tonight. You may recognize his other works at places like Pizzaria Delfina, and that alley by Range. He also happens to be a great songwriter and musician.

While this mural doesn’t quite have the excitement of the bear, it does feature a bunch of local mission personalities. That accordionist in the mural is none other than Rob Reich. In fact, Rob is playing during the unveiling with ragtime guitar genius Craig Ventresco (you may have heard Craig’s music in the movie Crumb) and Meredith Axelrod. They play there every Friday, by the way. I wonder if Rob knows he’s been muralized? If not, awk-WAARD!

Say, maybe you’ve been muralized too. You’re just gonna have to go and see for yourself; that’s why I posted an ultra low-res of the mural. Unveiling starts at 7pm. Amnesia is on Valencia between 19th and 20th. Stick around for the happy hour drinks!

Great show at the Hemlock Tavern tonight! In case you didn’t know they have shows in that weird walk-in ‘fridge area in the back.

Top Critters is a bizarre and wonderful 5-piece acoustic instrumental group that puts slide whistle and accordion to great use.  La Corde is a new group out of the mission that likes it’s punk of the post variety. Drummer Andrew can beat Metroid in under 2 hours and get the bikini ending; ask him how.

Oh yeah in case you missed it, last night at the ‘lock was awesome too. Dreamdate was cute as hell and played my fav song (that one that goes “uh-uh-oh uh-uh-oh”). Brian Glaze and the Nightshift rocked so hard I had to grab people and demand that they air guitar with me. The second thing might have had to do with drinking too many PBRs. Allan’s back, I had to! Successful evening all around.

Gaucho bandleader, Tom Cruise impersonator, and my upstairs neighbor Dave Ricketts (hey have you seen his guitar?) will be teaching an 8-week Gypsy Jazz guitar course at the new mission music school Zambaleta in January. You’ve probably seen Gaucho rockin’ those Django Reinhardt hits every Wednesday 8-10pm for the past 6 years (!) at Amnesia.

This class begins January 5, 2010 and meets every Wednesday at 1pm for 8 weeks for $150. Join this gypsy jazz guitar class to learn this distinct style. Learn the ‘la pompe’ strumming style and percussive playing techniques for rhythm guitar. Then switch gears to develop lead guitar skills. For this function, you will work on soloing using chromaticism, arpeggios, and glissandos. A guitar is required for this class.

After this class, you will play circles around that weird rocker dude in the mission. I occasionally play this stuff and I can confirm that it gets the ladies attention. Granted they are mostly senior citizens who want to feel how firm my arms are.

Django did all this with two fingers, by the way:

If that’s not your style, there are a ton of other classes being offered at Zambaleta, including Arab Oud. Not as cool as the Ultra Oud-Harptar, but halfway there!

There’s a metric fuckton of bands playing today at ATA celebrating their 25th anniversary. BBQ starting now and music at 1pm. Get your ass down there! Hopefully the sun comes out and doesn’t fake us out like it did yesterday. WTF sun? It was like “hey it’s a nice day”… sike! HAIL TIME. 992 Valencia St.

Saw this guy doing his thing last night at the Lab (16th and Capp). WTF dude, why don’t you play an instrument that actually exists?

But seriously, Jozef Van Wissem is the best one-of-those-players I have ever seen. According to Jozef’s wikipedia, the instrument is a Renaissance lute and his current approach is to write out traditional Baroque pieces backwards and add his own themes and variations. If I had to describe the sound, it’s like God barfing a golden slip-n-slide into James Hetfield’s brain while he’s vacationing at his summer home south of Tajikistan. Check out this vid of him that I recorded on my fashion/social accessory informationPhone:

Beep! is a great piano jazz trio made up of some Oberlin kids (Go Yeomen/Yeowomen!). In case you didn’t know, Oberlin grads have been steadily taking over the SF music scene for years. I’m not quite sure how you should feel about that… probably similar to how you feel about Canadians.

Pianist (ha!) Michael Coleman performs original compositions with a delightful blend of virtuosity and quirk. He has also been known to play wild versions Weezer songs (Blue album and Pinkerton only, of course), so be sure to request them in a non-obnoxious way. But don’t tell this Spaniard about it, ok?

As always, there’s no cover at the Revolution Cafe and I know that makes you broke you-know-what-sters happy. So throw a fiver in the tip jar will ya? They are sick of eating Stouffer’s. Rev is on 22nd and Bartlett next to that weird new hookah bar. They go from 8:30-11:30pm.

The Lab, that place you never think about (oh yeah, that place!) on 16th and Capp, is hosting two awesome events this weekend:

First, Friday night!  Mi Ami party!  Dudes are putting out a new 12″.  The evening will also feature bearded boy wonder Tristes Tropiques.  Flyer below, but don’t stare too long; Magic Eye don’t work if you’re not relaxed.

Second, Saturday night!  A live Tetris Tournament!  They’re gonna project that shit on a wall and name a winner by the end of the night.  Music by Microfiche, White Cloud, and Middle D.

Below, a classic Tetris conundrum.  I leave it to you, reader, to solve.  See if you can figure out what to do with that next piece (hint: Zepler doubling isn’t the answer).

Okay, talk to you guys later!

Bombshell Betty and Fromagique are hosting a holiday themed stripping burlesque show at the Elbo Room tonight. With names like “Rosy Areola” and “Vadge O’Fonner” how can you go wrong? Fans of boobs artistic expression shouldn’t miss this one.

If that’s not your bag, Evan Francis’ Spaceheater is performing at Coda Lounge as part of Jazz Mafia Tuesdays. Never been to Coda? No biggie, but I guess Stevie Wonder hangs there sometimes. If you like jazz flute over break beats then Evan’s your guy. BTW he’s not the flautist in Anchorman, but apparently they know each other real well. Jazz flautists probably have each other on speed dial to sub out gigs.

Quick, where’s the last place you’d expect a mission tribute band to come from? Concord was my first guess too… but my second was Ontario, Canada. Well it turns out that second guess was spot on!

Sure, be a snob and nitpick the liberal use of autotune and that premature Lady Gaga cover. But dig a little deeper and you’ll see that these guys are genuine mission. First of all, have a look at those jeans. Skinny, right? Next, take a listen to the track “Just Don’t Feel The Same”. What at first appears to be a song about lost love soon brilliantly reveals itself as a lament about a first visit to the Blue Macaw. “So Over You” is a subtle jab at Bi-Rite Market‘s inflated prices. And of course the title track of their EP says it all: “Cryin’ because My Burrito Fell Out Of My Timbuk2 Bag Somewhere Between 19th and 16th.”

In short: if you like the neighborhood, you’ll love the band. Personally, I think they are just ok. Their sound is basically a rehash of Limahl’s groundbreaking work in the fall of ’84.

Oh snap, I’d better watch it. They probably read this.