Our pals at Zambaleta music school are throwing a kick-ass benefit show this weekend, featuring about 20 bands including Foxtails Brigade, Quinn DeVeaux, the Blank Tapes, and Kacey Johansing. Have you heard Kacey’s album? It’s pretty damn incredible.  Also playing is Glittersnatch, a supertrio featuring the best folk-singin’ babes in town: Megan Keely, Wolf Larsen, and Kelly McFarling. Listen as they harmonize prettily on their cover of Kids by MGMT:

If you can’t afford the $5-$20 sliding scale cover, you can also volunteer at the show and score some free class credit at Zambaleta while you’re at it. Read on for the details.

Every 2 hours of volunteering = 1 hour music class + 1 pound of good music karma.

And we have plenty of shifts so you can volunteer your heart out. If you are interested, shoot us an email at volunteer@zambaleta.org with 2 or 3 areas of your choice:

1. Fundraising & Sponsors – help approach sponsors and get donations before event and follow up with donors during and after event
2. Setup & Tear down – set up the space on Friday afternoon and tear down on Sunday evening. You get double credit if you tear down (that’s 2 pounds of good music karma and many more free classes)
3. Pickups – pick up donations and supplies week prior and during festival, drop off after festival. You need a car and some muscles. We will pay gas and you get double credit for being awesome.
4. Decoration & Signs – help with decoration from now to festival time
5. Door – collect cash and socialize (4 hour shifts on Saturday from 10am to midnight and Sunday from 11am to 8pm)
6. Stage & Sound – manage stage, help with sound needs (4 hour shifts on Saturday from 10am to 1am and Sunday from 11am to 9pm)
7. Food – set up and maintain food stations. Prepare and sell food (4 hour shifts on Saturday from 10am to midnight and Sunday from 11am to 9pm)
8. Bar – make and sell them drinks (4 hour shifts on Saturday from 10am to midnight and Sunday from 11am to 9pm)
9. Publicity & Promotion – reach out to media before event and take care of media during event; post posters and distribute flyers (whenever)

Let’s face it, you haven’t touched that Casiotone in years. It’s time to let go. Why don’t you head down to Zambaleta’s second Music Flea Market tomorrow and hand it off at to the next bright-eyed young musician? While you’re there, maybe you’ll find your true calling: the didgeridoo.

Saturday, August 7th
12:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Esperanza Garden
19th & Florida, San Francisco, CA 94110
Buy, sell, exchange, trade, teach, learn, play, dance, musical instruments, records, audio equipment, dance costumes.

Live performances and pizza all day.

[photo by prawnpie]

Zambaleta started doing these Music Flea Market events last summer and I’m stoked that they are back for the new season. The next one is this Saturday, June 5th at 19th and Florida from 12-5pm

It’s basically a Mission street sale except the items for sale are mostly musical instruments (if you’re a musician, this is the main reason you go to flea markets anyway). In addition, there are other music related items for sale including records and home audio equipment.

Feel free to bring some stuff down to sell on the provided tables or leave items with the coordinators to sell on consignment for the day, for a small percentage. There will be live music and food.

[photo by prawnpie]

Hey, stop playing an ironic version of “Smoke on the Water” on that oud (it sounds better on the shamisen, anyway). It’s time to take it to the next level and learn to play in Turkish 9/8.

Zambaleta is a new music and dance school on 19th and Florida. The are offering a free five days of music classes in early March. Here’s the scoop:

If you could play all the music in the world, where would you begin? We’re not there yet, but we have put together 50 classes for you to find that one sound you’ve always wanted to make. From March 1st to March 5th, you can come and try any of these classes for free and decide whether you want to go down that one road. So come to one, come to fifty. Bring your friends and your grandmothers. We love to hear you play.

Among the 50 (!) classes being offered next month are:

• DJ I with DJ Lamont Young
• Balkan Brass Ensemble with Gregory Jenkins
• Composing Without Your Brain with Cornelius Boots
• Indian Classical Theory with Gautam Tejas Ganeshan

Check it out, there are a lot more classes for instruments whose names I can’t even begin to pronounce, as well as more exotic stuff like “Blues Guitar”.

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!