Mission Mission

Though it’s not even a year old, The Chapel is the lone Mission venue (even including the honorable mentions) in SFist‘s list of the top 10 music venues in SF. Here’s why:

Valencia Street’s newest music venue has a lot of soul for a newcomer. The beautifully revived church-like 1914 building is the official West Coast home of New Orleans’ legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band, so naturally the music lineup leans towards the soulful and folky side. The rest is rounded out with local acts graduating from Mission District dive bars and national touring acts that play to the Valencia Street sensibilities.

Read on.

[via The Tens]

“Let it be known that Pop’s has been around since 1947, and I like old things,” says Michael “Spike” Krouse, the new owner of Pop’s, “Pop’s is not going away.”

Krouse is a longtime San Franciscan and a longtime SF bartender and bar owner, having worked at several bars all over town before taking over ownership of Madrone Lounge (and reinventing it as the now very acclaimed Madrone Art Bar) about 5 years back. It came to our attention today that he is the new owner of Pop’s right here in the Mission! So, we asked for a Q&A, and he was into it:

Mission Mission: In general, and specifically in San Francisco, what makes a bar a good one?

Spike: A good bar to me is all about AUTHENTICITY. I came to San Francisco because I wanted to be in a place that was unique to everywhere else. I expect the same things from the places I eat and drink at. That’s what makes them special. It can be divey or fancy as long as it’s authentic. And when it’s done right it becomes alive with energy, and you feel that energy the moment you walk in the room. Great bars can and will stand the test of time, they are not trendy, they move beyond what is artificial and become a fabric of the place and time that they exist in.

It’s been an adventure, and one that I can’t wait to do again at Pop’s. Madrone is as much about me as it is the neighborhood and the location. The location dictates what the bar becomes. The customers define the bar. I just listen to them — and my staff. It’s kind of like throwing darts: sometimes you hit a bullseye and sometimes you miss the board. At Madrone I’ve done both, but I keep trying new things.

Besides the neon sign? The history: it was started in 1947 by World War II gunner Jack O’Connor returning home from the South Pacific. His dad helped him open the bar, hence the name Pop’s. (See the attached picture.) It became an instant SF institution that allowed him to foster both his innate man-of-the-hour persona, and his enduring affinity for fun. He was also a bartender at the Hungry I and 12 Adler (now Specs). He also opened up the New Hearth, known for “High Balls and High Times.” He was married five times and liked to gamble. (See attachment #2.) Over the years the Bar has had a few different owners (Bradley Fitzgerald, Francis Prieto, and currently Malia and Harmony). In the early ’80s Pop’s moved to the current location for whatever reason. Probably a rent hike. Nonetheless, the history of the bar has character and I love that aspect.

24th Street is still the heart of the Mission, it’s still Mom and Pop, it’s still authentic. I remember my first visit 20+ years ago, when I was a student at the art institute and I was turned on to Precita Eyes and Galeria de la Raza. I take my kids to St. Francis Fountain, and play in the mini park while we wait. I like La Victoria Bakery, and Roosevelt Tamale Parlor. I like all the murals, and I especially like that it still feels like the San Francisco I fell in love with.

Change is inevitable. And these two streets are comparable. Over here, for the most part we have people who care about the neighborhood and how their business fit into the fabric of the community. I think that’s super important. You can’t be just a taker. Especially in areas like 24th and Divisadero. They are both small tight-knit communities. My take on the overall changes I see in the city is this: I came here 22 years ago, because I fell in love with San Francisco, I fell in love with the idea that no matter who you were or what you were into, this city would welcome you. I came here with a very little bit of $ in my pocket and found place to live, and a way to grow and experience the life I wanted. I may have grown up in Las Vegas, but I came home the moment I moved here. And now I’m raising my children in San Francisco. What concerns me now, and I hope the politicians can figure it out, but if I was 20 years old now, I don’t know how I would be able to move here and make a life. I think we need to maintain a place for the young dreamers; otherwise our great city will become less unique. We need different people.

Yes I do. It’s going to be a place where everyone is welcome and everyone feels at home. I’m so happy to have a bar with such a strong history in San Francisco. Any bar that has lasted 67 years has earned the right to continue and thrive. I can’t wait to push it forward with integrity.

[Photos by the San Francisco Public Library]

Oh, plus, beer by a million local breweries! Once again, The Bay Bridged presents their expert fusing of local bands and local beers. Here are the set times, just announced:

12:50pm: Magic Fight (Main Stage)
1:35pm: French Cassettes (Loft Stage)
2:20pm: Kelley Stoltz (Main Stage)
3:05pm: Golden Void (Loft Stage)
3:50pm: Shannon and the Clams (Main Stage)
4:50pm: Mikal Cronin (Main Stage)

Additionally, the North Beach Brass Band will be performing throughout the day and DJ Jamie Jams will be spinning between sets.

Get tickets!

[via Joshua Cobos on Instagram]

P.S. If you’re a fan, perhaps let Joshua know.

The fine folks at BAYCAT, who spend their days teaching and empowering Bayview-Hunters Point youth, are in the midst of a 7-week fundraiser that involves Instagram and hashtags! Each week, there’s a theme (such as last week’s: “our digital city”). Anyone can post photos that illustrate the theme, and each week a judge judges the best ones. And for every photo submitted, BAYCAT gets $1. And at some point down the road, the best overall photo wins some prizes.

This week, I’m the judge, and I picked the above photo. The below photo is runner up.

The next theme is “unexpected art.” Submit your entries via Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, using the hashtag #BAYCATbyYou

Our pal Valerie, in the latest entry on her blog about subletting in different neighborhoods all over SF, tells the story of a spring romance, and how it made the Mission feel (and how it continues to make the Mission feel, even now that it’s long over):

We finally happened when I moved to Bernal a few months later. I was loitering around 22nd Street when I bumped into Donald and his friends at the Latin American Club. I politely asked how he’d been and if he’d decided on New York. He was going to leave in May. We realized we were going to be neighbors during my stay in Bernal, and joked about how we would throw rocks at each others windows and find ladders so we can climb through, just like in Clarissa Explains it All.

That night continued with peanuts and whiskeys at The Homestead. I suggested we go back to my office and eat Girl Scout cookies but we ended up making out the whole way back to his house.

Read on for the whole story.

[Photo also by Valerie]

[via Tara Taylor]

Brendan Canning, who released his second solo LP a few weeks back, performs this Wednesday at the Chapel, so we asked our pal Jarid Maged, a legit BSS scholar, to perform a Q&A. Here it is:

Jarid: Back when the Broken Social Scene Presents solo records were released, they sounded to many like bonus BSS albums, so much so that BSS band mates toured in support of those records, and their songs later resurfaced at BSS shows. This album, however, is very different. No Broken Social Scene Presents, no Arts & Crafts (rather, your own Draper Street Records). You Gots 2 Chill is so laid back, so beautiful, that I’ve found it really hard to call this a true sophomore solo record (in the wake of Something For All of Us). What was it that steered you in this direction?

Brendan: It’s true. The BSS presents series was more of a way more Kevin and myself to have a final and unequivocal say on how our albums should sound without having to check with everyone. Everyone in BSS had their own bands: we did not; and so I suppose YG2C is really my first solo effort and my new band has no direct affiliation to BSS. Although Greg Calderone, multi-instrumentalist in my band, starred in This Movie is Broken.

For the past fifteen years or so I’ve been playing more and more acoustic guitar, so much so that I would say it’s my primary instrument. That is the inspiration behind this album. A lot of years of collecting riffs, developing my style
and then finally the opportunity to breathe and make some creations that I’ve wanted to make. The first installment if you will.

With this record, did you feel at all liberated with distancing yourself from Broken Social Scene Presents? Given that this is the first solo record since the hiatus was announced, did the core members of BSS – or your own time in BSS – have any influence at all on the final product?

Ohad Benchetrit of BSS/Do Make Say Think and myself collab’d on Post Fahey and Makes You Motor at his studio Th’ Schvitz. Those tunes were finished before I did the bulk of this record with Steve Singh, also a band mate and high school chum.
He also runs a home studio, Hutch.

Like many major cities, Toronto’s changing with the times, becoming, like San Francisco, very tech heavy (and very expensive). When I think Toronto, the last thing that comes to mind these days is the ability to, well, Chill (yet you somehow seem to pull it off). I noticed you’ve lived on Draper Street for over two decades, so you’ve definitely seen a lot of things change around you. How much of your own Toronto experience played into the song writing and recording process?

Well it’s my life so Toronto is a huge part of where my inspiration comes from. From the filthy air, to the never-ending condo sprawl, to the beautiful people I get to see every day and the vibrancy that never lets me down. Most of the time. Your own sanity is your own responsibility.

There’s so much do-it-yourself all over this record, from the living room recordings, right down to the cover art. Broken Social Scene started out very DIY, and grew into one of the most influential bands (brands, even) in indie / Toronto music, providing the foundation for what would become one of most well-known labels in the business in Arts & Crafts. Do you see Draper Street Records growing into something more than You Gots 2 Chill?

I believe the phrase don’t put the cart before the horse should be heard. Baby steps.

Is there a story behind the voicemails, and the decision behind in putting some on the record? I heard that you still have a landline (“Long Live Land Lines” perhaps?). I’m picturing a tape recorder answering machine too, no?

No, just automated voicemail on the landline. I still like talking on a landline. I had a lot of riffs collected on my answering machine and it’s really a big part of my process so why not invite people into that world for thirty seconds?
Now it’s voice memos on the cell.

To date, the videos in support of the record (“Plugged In” and “Bullied Days”) are stunning low-budget films that have kept you almost entirely off-screen – needless to say, a bit of a change from that Brendan Canning as John Travolta character we saw in Something’s “Love Is New” a few years back. Why the decision to stay off-screen this time around?

No reason in particular-it just worked out that way and I like the fact I’m not really in the videos save for a cameo.
I leave certain creative decisions up to my partner in the label, Sarah Haywood.

So, visa issue in October; there seem to be more and more of these lately. First, that sucks (and I missed you in New York). What happened?

A boring and expensive and terribly annoying story which I won’t bore you with. I suppose the positive is that I was able to re-jig the band and swap out a couple members. After two shows we made three line-up changes. It just worked out that way.

Compared to the Broken Social Scene collective of somewhere between a dozen and two dozen touring members at any given time, relative to BSS tours, what’s life on the road been like this time around?

I love my new band and we’ve become a tight unit in a relatively short period of time. It’s very familial and a back to basics kind of tour. Snug in a van, long drives, winter frost with the finishing line in LA. I’m enjoying it for all it’s worth. My bandmate Greg and I jumped in Mara lake in the Canadian Rockies a few days ago. Extremely cold and life affirming. New band baptismal.

When I think Broken Social Scene live shows, chaos comes to mind. I have to imagine these shows are very different. Gone are the leg kicks this time around?

It’s true-there are no leg kicks. That is not to say this band doesn’t get very loud and proud but it is not a BSS show, this band is very much it’s own thing and it’s solid.

It’s been awhile (October 2011, in fact; for now, the last Broken Social Scene show in the US), but any San Francisco memories you’d like to share?

All SF gigs for BSS were ALWAYS memorable.

Our first shows at Great American Music Hall, Bimbo’s, the Filmore, Outside Lands, you name it. SF was basically top three in the world for BSS and it was always an event. I am forever grateful for the love we got in that town. That’s why we played our very last gig in North America in SF.

I will soon be touching down at the Phoenix Hotel and that is basically like saying I’m home.