Mission Mission

Apparently Stevie Wonder decided to jump on stage with The Jazz Mafia at Coda Saturday night.  Sounds like fun:

When Stevie Wonder got on stage at Coda he acknowledged the band and was very polite and gracious. Stevie got a mic and did a short “sermon” about how beautiful this music is – talked about the connection between John Lennon and Donny Hathaway, and how those songs moved him when he first heard them. I think Joe’s version of that song really did inspire Stevie to get up on stage with us – I feel like if we woulda played a funk jam instead, it would’ve probably not happened the same at all. Anyway, as the song wound down and Joe gave 110% we could tell Stevie wanted to SING too – he was inspired. So we chatted with him for 5 seconds and decided on the tune “All Day Sucker” which is a tune we used to play a lot in Supertaster and also with Realistic Orchestra for the annual Stevie Wonder Birthday Tribute that we put on. I have to say that when he started singing the song it was beyond goosebumps…the crowd was going completely insane yet being very respectful, the band was playing better than ever and we honestly had no idea that Stevie would even want to sing with us. He did what I felt like was my favorite version of that song ever. As the tune was nearing a stopping point a leaned over to Bagale and suggested testing the water by playing the riff from “Can’t Help it”, the hit song he wrote for Michael Jackson. Joe gave me a huge smile and head nod.

(Read the rest of the TL/DR writeup)

(Photo Kathleen Neves | Thanks to EPA and Around the Bay for the writeup tip)

San Francisco band Girls was on the front page of Pitchfork again this morning (sorry dudes, I read Pitchfork), which led me to spend the last hour at work watching Girls music videos.  Oops!

Unsurprisingly, most of them feature SF scenery.  Here’s one I came across today that I hadn’t seen before – starring Dolores Park:

Not my favorite song (“Lust for Life” is!), but still not bad.

These dudes are getting crazy famous, so see them at the Swedish American Hall on November 20th or Bottom of the Hill on November 21st before they start playing bigger venues.  Awesome.

Here, real quick, is why you should see Eats Tapes next time you get a chance.

Everyone’s favorite one-trick pony will be performing live  at the Make-Out Room for four days straight starting this Sunday!

Hey now! It’s Jonathan Richman!

This manchild will be playing mere blocks from your home September 20th-23rd, so catch him while he’s hot.

Do you care?  Did you ever?  San Franciscans often shit humongous bricks over this guy, I’m curious to hear if this is still the case.

Reader Erich sends this in from 16th and Mission, signaling the very end of the neighborhood’s latino music megastore as it transitions into a T-Mobile megastore.  While I never went into the store, I’ll miss gawking at the Ricky Martin handprints cemented to their entryway.

More on Ritmo Latino’s closing at Mission Loc@l.

Local DJ Spinnerty‘s [warning: scrolling marquee text, gif animations, hit counters & ironic colors ahead] track, “Feels Like Rain,” has hit the top 20 list of most popular tracks on The Hype Machine.  Most importantly, the track is hella good.

(link)

Energy 92.7 is going tween.  A damn shame.

When news of the station’s transfer of ownership dropped over a week ago, the Examiner nailed it:

Listening to the station is almost like being in a club with their cool DJs and interesting show segments. From the Clubbers Commute to the Mix at 6, one always feels their on the cutting edge of dance music. This is further enhanced by the station’s great partnership with its advertisers who cater to the station’s demographic. So any time while driving around town, you feel as if you’re in a cool club like Infusion Lounge or Wunderland instead of really just on your way to the video store. True though at some point when listening to songs in heavy rotation you’re minding you’re not dancing the night away, but trapped at a stop light in your beat up Jetta.

(link)

A commenter recently reminisced “anyone remember those hardcore punk shows at the 16th St BART summer of 99? things sure were cooler then…”

Apparently the Mission is still cool.  MrEricSir brings us an on-the-ground iPhone report of the scene last night.  Most importantly, the microphone was engineered out of a can of PBR.

Get the full story.

Authenticity win

Check out this music video by Girls.

So says this week’s Things San Franciscans Like.