Last night at Amnesia, Emperor Norton’s Jazz Band introduced this as a 1930′s Louis Armstrong classic, but you probably know it as the 90′s remake “Buddy Holly” by Weezer.

They perform every first Sunday at Amnesia if you want to catch them next time and join the sing-a-long.

First: one of the baddest (in a good way) guitarists around Michael Abraham is leading a tribute to legendary jazz bassist/pianist Charles Mingus tonight at Amnesia as part of the SF Jazz Hotplate Series. The band features a sick (again, in good way) lineup of local musicians: Dayna Stephens, Erik Jekabson, Sylvain Carton, George Ban-Weiss, and Eric Garland. 8-11pm. Mike also leads the Wednesday night Jazz Jam Session at Amnesia.

Secondly, on another side of the musical spectrum: STRING METAL band Judgement Day will be performing an intimate little show at the Porto Franco Art Parlor tonight at 7:30pm. Anton Patzner is basically this sicko genius who runs his violin through a Marshall stack. His bro shreds out power chords on the cello and they are joined by a drummer. You will head bang. Hard. The Art Parlor is at 953 Valencia the show costs $15.

You don’t want to miss this: Slavic Soul Party is a Balkan brass band from Brooklyn that doesn’t make it out here too often, and when they do it’s in much bigger venues. They just announced that they’ll be playing at the Mission tonight.

In addition to the Serbian brass band tradition, they mix in some American funk, soul, New Orleans, and whatever-the-fuck-they-want traditions. They even did a Nirvana tune on one of their records (and not some trite version of “Lithium” or something… try often overlooked In Utero gem “Very Ape”)!

Tonight (Sat, Nov 13) they will be performing at Amnesia with the Bay Area’s own premiere Balkan brass band Brass Menazeri. Who knows, if you’re lucky you might catch them all teaming up like Voltron and marching up Valencia St. later tonight.

Traditional jazz outfit Gaucho has been holding down the Wednesday 8-10pm slot at Amnesia for over 7 years. That has got to be one of the longest-running gigs in the Mission, right? Their new album “Pearl” was released today by the Mission’s own Porto Franco Records.

The record was recorded in Amnesia early this year while the bar was closed during the day. I was fortunate enough to sit in on those sessions while munching on my first ever Rhea’s sandwiches and it was a real treat. “Pearl” is almost entirely original compositions by guitarist and band leader Dave Ricketts that feel right at home with classic trad jazz standards.

A few songs feature vocalist Tamar Korn who they met last year on tour in NYC. Her amazing falsetto voice makes me feel like I’ve travelled back to a time where “dudes” where “fellas” and “fixies” were “penny-farthings“. Here she is singing a song about Dave’s cat:

You buy the record (CD or download) and check out some free tracks at Gaucho’s web site.

[photo by Brenda Ernst]

We’re a little late to the game, but last week Amnesia removed their classic old red sign in favor of a spiffy new one.  Looks like they’re finally moving forward with that whole nautically-themed rennovation that was alluded to a few months ago.

So, how does everyone feel about it?  I for one can’t wait until they start installing the portholes.  One question though:  What are those ellipses supposed to imply?

Illuminated at night

Before

[New Sign Daytime Photo by joachimsf]

[Old Sign Photo by battyward]

Previously:

Amnesia Going Nautical

You all love the French, right? After all, this is San Francisco and I’d like to think we are Paris’ equally smug North American sister city. The best way for you to celebrate Bastille Day is to head over to Amnesia to see the always swingin’ gypsy jazz band Gaucho from 8-10pm.

There will be drinks, Charleston dancing, an accordion, authentic 30′s French jazz, and a REAL beheading. I’m not even joking. I was put in charge of constructing the guillotine.

Update:

Shameless tells us of more Bastille Day awesomeness:

There is also a Mods v Rockers Bastille day celebration at the Make Out Room. Supposed to be French guest DJ’s and dancing. It starts around 10 so fun neighborhood times to be had.

And Heather says this is going on at the Rickshaw Stop:

Don’t forget Bardot A Go Go! http://www.myspace.com/bardotagogo

My favorite soju-slingin’ bar Amnesia has been redecorating, and it looks like they are going for a nautical theme. They are soliciting donations for items such as:

-Old Steamer Trunks (antique big leather and metal kind)
-Large docking rope
-Lamps, lanterns with nautical appeal
-Ship wheels
-portholes (round frames or windows)
-Chandeliers (send a picture first!)
-old, thin barn wood
-Any wooden barrels of any size
-wooden ship figure heads
-old model ships
-old ships in bottles
-taxidermy of the nautical variety… fish, sea birds, etc
-any other sort of old-timey nautical nonsense that seems appropriate for our cozy chamber.

This seems like a somewhat odd request from a place that’s across the street from a goddamned pirate store, but who am I to judge. Contact them amnesiasf (at) gmail.com if you’ve got the goods.

(via Mission Locatl)

“And like that, poof, he’s gone.”  I am inclined to think that Otter was not in fact behind it this time.  It’s a good thing that everybody and their brother already photographed this to death, because now it’s really dead.  Alas, no one had the foresight to put up a sign in Cantonese warning that this art is “very hard to get it.”

Anyone know the story behind this Banksy whitewashing?  Any of the other Bansky pieces throughout the city suffer a similar fate?

UPDATE!!!  An anonymous commenter seems to have the scoop:

The building owner lives in Texas and received a notice from the city. Not knowing the significance of the piece, or what it was, he had it painted over. The owners of The Curiosity Shoppe live in the building and were obviously unable to convince him to keep it.

Yikes!  However, this is the kind of thing that happens when you have an out of state absentee property owner who doesn’t seem to know or care about the culture of the area in which his property resides.

Also, I was able to get a free Chinese language lesson out of this too.  Apparently, Cantonese and Mandarin refer only to spoken language, whereas written language is always known vaguely as Chinese.  So, even though most of the residents of Chinatown happen to be Cantonese speakers, that sign was nonetheless written in Chinese.  Case closed! 

Previously:

San Francisco Has Banksy Fever!

Banksy Fever Continues!

Enough Banksy for Chu?

It sounds like there are angels in that gourd. The Kora is probably my favorite African harp/lute instrument that is fashioned out of a calabash. What’s yours?

Mike Abraham is also probably one of the baddest guitarists I’ve ever seen in any style. You never know who will pop in at his jam. Head over to Amnesia tomorrow at 10pm to check it out. I’ve got my fingers crossed that a jazz hand-farter will show up.

That’s the artistic director Abigail Munn performing.

Circus Bella does it the old-school way and sets up free open air one-ring circus performances in parks. They feature a live band with original music written and performed by Rob Reich. You may remember last summer when they posted up in a beloved park in the ‘hood that starts with a “D” and translates to “pains”.

They are ramping up for the summer season and hopefully coming to a park near you. The next SF performance is at Yerba Buena  Gardens on July 3rd. They run on donations from supporters so find out how you can get involved here.

If you’re like me, you didn’t know St. Patrick’s Day was this week until you heard folks bitching about the parade downtown this past Saturday.

Well, now that you’re all caught up, get into the spirit by checking out this cool show at Amnesia tonight. Live drankin’ songs and sea shanties by the Barbary Ghosts, a duo featuring Sean (the owner of Amnesia) and 2009 Accordion Babes Calendar pin-up Joan.

Starts at 10pm and costs 5 bucks. And as always from 8-10pm there’s Gaucho Gypsy Jazz doin’ what they do.

Your favorite dimly lit music venue Amnesia (Valencia b/t 19th and 20th)  is hosting a great Mardi Gras themed party tonight! They start at 9pm and the cover is $7-10 sliding scale.

Headlining are the California Honeydrops, a smokin’ rhythm and blues band out of Oakland and one of my favorites in the bay area. Opening is Damon and the Heathens, a kick-ass punky soul band. Go for the awesome party; stay for the cheap plastic jewelry.

Vids of these fine bands after the jump.

(full disclosure, there will be no soul tub this evening)

Norma Miller speaking at Savannah Jazz Club 2/10/10

This is pretty rad. 90-year-old Norma Miller (aka “the Queen of Swing”) is a pioneer and creator of the Lindy Hop, by far the most popular form of swing dance today. She was featured in movies such as 1941′s “Hellzapoppin” (proving that “hella” was used, in a more primitive form, 70 years ago), and also worked with a lot of the big names back in the day. You know, like Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Fletcher Henderson… no big deal.

She used to hang at the Savoy in Harlem during it’s prime, the site of some of the first integrated music/dance events in American history.

Last night local dance promoter Chris Lee showed her around the mission, starting at Amnesia, where traditional jazz outfit Gaucho plays every week, then to Savannah Jazz Club on Mission and 25th, where she did a guest lecture.

My buddy Nathan A. had the scoop:

When they introduced her, she bounced up on the stage with more spring in her step than a woman less than half her age. I couldn’t get over how sharp she was – how animated. She had mind like a steel trap! She had us all on the edge of our seats while recalling the “good old days”. She told us how moved she was to see all these young people carrying on the the original American dance form – and a tradition she helped establish. She was hilarious, crude, and sentimental. She worked with Red Fox, Richard Pryor, and Bill Cosby doing a bit of comedy after her legs started to give out eventually.

Check out this clip of her with Frankie Manning (RIP) tearing it up… WILD!

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!

Gumshoe that I am, I took to the case immediately by contacting my awesome friend Vic (LADIES: HE’S SINGLE!), who often sits in with the gypsy jazz band.  He sent in the above image, and the following:

It’s a dell arte “minor swing” model guitar. Note the pick wear right below the strings by the bridge and the Gaucho sticker on the cutaway. These sorts of guitars are pretty distinctive so it should be easy to spot if it pops up somewhere.

 

More details: it was stolen out of the back room at amnesia sometime after Gaucho finished their set at 10pm at Sep 30. It was in a blue Alpine brand gig bag.

Thanks Kat… some might call you a hero…

Oh, whoops, totally didn’t mean to include that last sentence.

Send any clues this way!  Rumor has it Dave Ricketts has found a suitable replacement, but I’m sure he’d appreciate getting his old guit-box back.

Related: if you ever have  a chance to make it to Amnesia Wednesday for gyspy jazz night, prepare to shit your pants over its novelty.  A scene like no other.  Whew.  I recommend it.