Michael Musika
Nearly a year ago, I filmed Michael Musika at The Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco. I planned to combine the footage with a One Night Music session down the road. Michael wore a dark, hooded cloak that engulfed him like a shadow of something much larger than his physical self; indeed, there is an immaterial aura that accompanies the fellow. When you see a parade of 15 brass and woodwind instruments marching onstage to open his show, or listen to him speak about his current picture-book/album project, you get a sense of the majestic mystery that enshrouds the otherwise shy and humble Mr. Musika.
Dave Gleason
“Outside of New York, San Francisco is probably the worst area for country music in the nation.”
Joe Goldmark, Bay Area pedal steel player1
Outside Café du Nord I borrow a light from Smelley Kelley, a smallish man in a large white cowboy hat who talks a metallic Great River Iowa twang. I’m here to see Dave Gleason, but Kelley’s band, Red Meat, is headlining. Kelley extends a yellow bic toward me and strikes it, then nods toward the club and the man inside that I have come to ask him about: “He’s a better country musician now that he lives in LA,” Kelley says about Dave. “LA will do that to you. Polish you up. Wear you down.” Kelley has no delusions about his country music career exploding in San Francisco, but still he wants nothing to do with LA or Austin. “And forget Nashville,” he says. “You can’t find good weed in Nashville.”
Felonious
When I was in high school, there were a few tenuous years I listened almost exclusively to hip hop. Then it was musical theater, Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson, then boy bands, and then alt rock: my friends and I, like most people who are sane, question the substance of our early musical proclivities. But following a rough breakup, something big in me shifted: I discovered folk and never turned back. This is not that story. But somewhere in that story is a piece of myself I let go along the way. This is where I find that piece.
Buckeye Knoll
Over the past seven years I've had the pleasure of playing several roles in Doug Streblow's life. Whether it be roommate, bandmate, record producer, or all around confidant, you'll have to trust me when I say that he is one of the most genuine people you'll ever meet.
Jack Hirschman
By Ildiko Polony
It is tradition for Jack Hirschman - 2006 Poet Laureate of San Francisco and one of the last living Beat Generation poets - to welcome in the New Year with a poem. At a small art gallery in North Beach on New Year's Day, surrounded by friends and fellow artists, he and his wife, Aggie Falk (who will be featured in an upcoming One Night Music session), host an annual New Year's Day, Bring-Your-Own-Plate brunch. Following Jack, others stand and share their poetry, their acappela ballads, or their bluegrass guitar jams. Topics often take on the political, the silly and the deeply personal. Jack's ode to 2010 is the first of five poems that he shared with One Night Music from his North Beach apartment on January 2, 2010 for our new Poetry Series.
Backpack
I spent a lot of time recording bands in Santa Barbara, so it was nice to have some of Santa Barbara come to me. On June 27th, 2009, Backpack unloaded at my front door. San Francisco was all-time that day, and while they recorded a One Night Music session on my back deck, the city was alive with blossoms and short shorts. Backpack is Mallory Watje, Eliot Ray Burk, and Jacob Jaffe, plus an ensemble of friends and lovers. The band, primarily led by Malorie's siren-sung calls, features two guitars, bass, and sometimes drums. They come from a long line of Santa Barbara local stars and starlets, such as Girl Band, stints with Water Color Paintings, and probably more.
Lady Lazarus (Melissa Ann Sweat)
Lady Lazarus is Melissa Ann Sweat, a creature of California who currently resides in San Jose after a brief love affair with San Francisco in 2008. That's where she used a four-track tape recorder to create her first EP appropriately titled Home Recordings. It's a precious handmade self-release complete with threaded edges, handwritten tracks names, and clever artwork - a true "do-it-yourself" creation.
Bird By Snow
Bird By Snow is all the land, air, dirty dirt, guitar and looping that could stream from one person. A musical spirit motivated as much by the West Coast Lo-Fi music scene, as by mulch-laden paths amidst ancient Redwoods. Fletcher resides in San Francisco, where he has cultivated much of his music, but tours frequently carry him off. Gnome Life Records, his own creation, and the label of Bird By Snow, is a lovely crafty entity that makes beautiful records with lots of love.
Honeycomb
Emily Ritz likes Honeybees. She makes films about them, and her musical ensemble, Honeycomb, resembles the intimate detail and dripping architecture of the complex kingdom from which the band so aptly takes its name. Perhaps queendom is a more accurate title, but not in the benevolent dictator sort of way; if the band of eight (five ladies and three gents) were to praise a higher being, she would be some creative goddess of divine rhythm.
Brianna Lea Pruett
Mike and I sat in flimsy fold up chairs at an even flimsier table on the sidewalk outside Pirate Cat Radio Cafe during a gloriously sunny and lazy Labor Day afternoon. We waited to rendezvous with Brianna Lea Pruett and Lady Lazarus - we were to catch them before they kicked off their Indian Summer Tour with a performance on Elia's radio show that evening. Soon enough they arrived, guitar and keyboard in respective hands, and musical conversations quickly ignited. We walked around the corner to my girlfriend's house where a party of One Night Music contributors and friends had convened. With the receding sun on our minds, we scurried to gather the audio and video equipment, and then marched 14 blocks to Dolores Park.
From the Blog
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A hip hop symphony? Meet Jazz Mafia and their show Brass, Bows & Beats -
Bill Lewis, Owner of Muddy Waters Cafe, Brings Eclectic Live Music to Santa Barbara -
Ellie Fortune Live at Li Po Lounge in San Francisco (6 MP3s) -
Aural Stimulation For Lovers On Valentine’s Day: A One Night Music Playlist -
Our First Birthday: A Reflection On The First Year Of One Night Music
One Night Music Contributors
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Ryan Andersen
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Ian Andersen
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Elia Vargas
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Megan Sullivan
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Candice Davantzis
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Hannah Jewett
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Karen Nedivi
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Stephanie Gonot
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Cian Riordan
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Amelia Altavena
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Scott Boone
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Myles O’Donnell-Lawson
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Alex Vacar
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Jennifer Kindell
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Michael Albright
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Laura Birshan
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Molly Hahn
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Jenny David
