Feb 13, 2006

folkers...

currently really into the Bay Area's nascent new folk scene...i've heard it being compared to NY's Garage renaissance of a few years back...though personally i think it has a bit more substance and sustainability...

some of my favs: Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, Faun Fables, Rogue Wave and Jolie Holland...

i've had the good fortune to see Newsom play a bunch...she used to do gigs (do people still say gigs?) at Momi Tobi's cafe in Hayes Valley a bunch with my friend, singer-songwriter ORTH/ Shivshark...Momi Tobi's is where almost every young poet in SF works presently or has worked in the past...tangent: BB and i ran into Joanna and her ex-boyfriend (Noah, from The Pleased) in the East Village outside of a cafe during the Marlins/ Yankees World Series (go Marlins!...um...i mean, anyone but the Yankees!)...that was a strage trip, the East Village was a total vortex that week...no joke, we randomly ran into Joanna and Noah (who we knew from SF), some punk dude BB was friends with (from KC), Parker Zane Allen and Micah (who we were really good friends with from SF), this tweeker dude named Jon from one of our SF State poetry classes...and this was all within 4 days of being in NY, and this was all within a 4 block radius...truely truely strange...who ever said you're anonymous in New York is a liar...

...Devendra is ufin' rad...hippie grad of the SFAI (where Bill Berkson teaches)...and the ONLY hippie i'm a fan of...

...Holland...well, two words, her song "Darlin Ukelele"...it totally kills me...

oh yeah, though not from SF (though he did live there for a year) check out the music of singer-songwriter John Greiner, one of my very best friend's from Kansas City MO...he recently opened up for y'alternative super star Richard Bucnker (who also lived and made music in SF for a while)...if you're in the city (SF) John's going to be playing at The Makeout Room really soon...here's his page http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=26732028

and wait, did i hear something about Brandon Brown and Alli Warren's folk/hip hop/happy hardcore outfit Bound To Get Fuller billed to open up for Edmund Berrigan's alternative folk-hop group in the coming months in SF...?

...i just bought my first i tunes song for 99 cents!...Keak Da Sneak's "Super Hyphie" from his brand new album That's My Word...

...currently listening to Ol' Dirty Bastard Return To The 36 Chambers...


8 comments:

Unknown said...

You didn't run into me. Sniffle.

Unknown said...

You didn't run into me. Sniffle.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...

You didn't run into me. Sniffle.e.

John Sakkis said...

the way that week went i wouldn't be surprised if i saw you though...just didn't know to recognize you yet...

BB said...

yeah that was a weird vortex of a weekend, I'll second that. Plus we met CA Conrad chilling on a tree stump or something outside of st. mark's and we were all like, "Scuse me, do you know where the Poetry Project is?" and he's all reading a Jocelyn Saidenberg book like, "Uh, it's right here." And couldn't find non-Starbucks coffee. and stayed up all night and flew home completely cracked out of our minds, I believe you were writing new captions on the people in the New School course catalog like, "Hi I'm a New School bumblefuck!"

But this comment is really about how I'm not that into Devendra Barnhart. I just have to disagree about the only cool hippie thing, there are no cool hippies. You'll have to forgive my harshness, I love those Nevada City folks, but also I've been listening to "The black Album" and "The Gray Album" just over and over and over again, and not only do I have deepening respect for Jay's lyrics, I'm renewedly floored by Danger Mouse's work. Been reading a lot about it, interviews and whatnot, and think it's sort of an interesting model for a poetics of translation actually. But also, Jay-Z vs. Devendra Barnhart, you know where my money goes. it's hard to yell when the barrel's in yr mouf!

John Sakkis said...

what we need is a devendra/ jay-z mash up...any takers?

and yeah, i totally forgot about randomly meeting conrad...

the new school catalog...yeah, i think i wrote comic bubbles that said "hello my name is merk" about 400 times...

oh yeah, and remember Fran the bartender from The Independent?...she's all "where you guys from?"...where all "san francisco"...she's all "so, are you guys gay?" where all "haha...no" she's all "you guys should come to my birthday in SOHO" where all "fa' sho"...