They play at a deafening volume...and capped off a night of many bands, mucho volume, and libations for all.
North Beach was alive with music & festivities over the weekend too as the 53rd annual North Beach festival took over the hood. Aside from the officially sanctioned entertainment on outdoor stages, there were other little combos working indoors along the streets. The usual blues bands were rocking SF's self proclaimed oldest bar, The Saloon where barflys buzzed around the doorway, and the unofficial beat community center Live Worms gallery even had a band playing for the art show. Amongst the other spots where bands played was the legendary corner bar the Condor, who recently were granted a permit from the entertainment commission. Of course, rumor has it, the benign live oldies band featured over the weekend, will soon give way to yet another adult themed strip/topless entertainment theme.
Meanwhile down a long lonely & empty stretch of Broadway, across from a boarded up pizza joint and shuttered Afghan eatery, a for lease sign hung on the spot formerly known as The Crow Bar. In the 60's this location was called Basin St West where the likes of Ike & Tina Turner, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Ramsey Lewis and other jazz & soul greats once played, but now, much like the rest of fabled North Beach, is just a faded shadow of it's former self.
North Beach was once the west coast's premiere entertainemnt district... whether you were a can can girl, comedian with an arrow through your head or struggling folk musician ... everyone cut their teeth there.
Everyone from Maya Angelou to The Dead kennedys, Janis Joplin to Metallica... all earned their chops in this San Francisco neighborhood...
Hoyt Axton - Greenback Dollar
Janis Joplin w/ Grateful Dead - Turn On Your Lovelight
The late bluesman known as John Lee Hooker should need no introduction to real American music aficionados.
Here's some tracks future SF club owner John Lee Hooker recorded back when he bounced around from label to label in the 50's & 60's using different names...
John Lee Hooker - I Love You Baby (Hug And Squeeze You - Part I)
John Lee Hooker - "Too Much Boogie" (mp3)
from "Too Much Boogie"
by John Lee Hooker
SnailWorx
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Stream from Rhapsody
More On This Album
A Bay Area lady, and original member of Sly & The Family Stone, guitarist Gail Muldrow remains an unsung hero of funk & soul. While Sly grew legendary, for his chops almost as much for his fabled unreliability, the talented crew that helped bring him worldwide acclaim too often languished in his shadows. Gail is Sly's baby cousin and after remained with Larry Graham in Graham Central Styation. Here's Gail laying down some greasy funk & serious bluesy soul from a recent solo disc.
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Gail Muldrow - "Where'd You Get Yo Funk From" (mp3)
Gail Muldrow - Stranger Things
from "Cleen Spirit"
by Gail Muldrow
Global Recording Artists
Buy at eMusic
There are occasional opportunities to see Gail rocking with ex-members of The Family Stone, and rumor has it even with the reclusive Sly himself, who's scheduled to appear at an outdoor show in San Jose next month with members of his old crew.
July 7th, Sly and crew are scheduled to appear at Arena Green, right next to the HP Pavilion. The bill also features the Average White Band and the Latin Sensations (featuring Jorge Santana and other members of Malo, El Chicano and other Latin rock performers)
In the meantime, here's some more grooves you can definitely count on from Gail Muldrow...
I love how she pile drives through Nancy Sinatra's "Bootz" as fierce as Megadeth or the punk band Government Issue did in the 80's, only with far more soul. This recent solo disc also features Sly alum Greg Errico on drums. Worth a listen if you can appreciate the paths she paved to get to today.
Gail Muldrow - Bootz
More On This Artist From Her Own Website
In the interest of the arrival of Summer, I thought I 'd throw out some more tracks in honor of this hot time o year...
like this one featuring Gail with Sly
Sly Stone - Hot Fun In The Summertime
and it appears...with summer almost officially here...
then the heat is officially on...
from the beaches and boardwalks to boardrooms...
Sam Cooke - Summertime
In the silicon valley, the latest quasi casulaty is Terry Semel...although, it's hard to feel sorry for a guy who took home around 75 million in pay , give or take a few recently...
Yahoo, shakeup, more froth & fissure than facts or fiber...
Yahoo! Once the internet darling, the company that has slowly slid into a precarious position of irrelevance and now they reach for uh...Jerry Yang? This is the same kid who boiled like a frog for so long in the pot already, gave up control & let the whole shebang slip away...creating failed inititiatives, and throwing good money after bad...
He's the same guy that basically allowed Yahoo! to slide into it's murky miasma, and gloated as the company became so heavily capitalised they were rumored at one time to be near to purchasing Disney/ABC...
Now they have somehow let their golden goose die, from being the top dog in search, to a sick & lost puppy... albeit still clinging to billions in capital.
Strangest of all was how aghast they were as their own contractor, some startup named Google, actually out Yahooed them...
If I was a shareholder, I wouldn't expect to see much of a catalyst for change in effect by simply putting Jerry Yang back in there...
He created it, but he got paid handsomely and walked away... and the souless execs and MBA's ran it into the ground...
Yahoo, shakeup, more froth & fissure than facts or fiber...
Yahoo! Once the internet darling, the company that has slowly slid into a precarious position of irrelevance and now they reach for uh...Jerry Yang? This is the same kid who boiled like a frog for so long in the pot already, gave up control & let the whole shebang slip away...creating failed inititiatives, and throwing good money after bad...
He's the same guy that basically allowed Yahoo! to slide into it's murky miasma, and gloated as the company became so heavily capitalised they were rumored at one time to be near to purchasing Disney/ABC...
Now they have somehow let their golden goose die, from being the top dog in search, to a sick & lost puppy... albeit still clinging to billions in capital.
Strangest of all was how aghast they were as their own contractor, some startup named Google, actually out Yahooed them...
If I was a shareholder, I wouldn't expect to see much of a catalyst for change in effect by simply putting Jerry Yang back in there...
He created it, but he got paid handsomely and walked away... and the souless execs and MBA's ran it into the ground...
Feeling Carioca - Bikini Talk
from "Rio To Go"
by Feeling Carioca
More On This AlbumAnyhow... enjoy yer week... I'm getting back to the garden...
Chet Baker - Summertime
...and tommorrow night I'll be performing some Event Magic while bartending at the 4th annual Valley Schwag party south of market ...here's a shot from last year
see ya around...
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