San Fran Voice

Venue: GREAT AMERICAN MUSIC HALL

Address: 859 O’Farrell Street @ Polk Street

Neighborhood: “Polk Gulch” area generally, although we all know that means different things for different people.

Types of bands that play here:  Like many San Francisco venues, the Great American Music Hall is happy to host a diverse group of performers including both local and non-local acts although it’s one of the better spots in the city for the non-local stuff.

How often there’s live music:  Almost every night baby!

Points given for:  History of the venue, size of the space and the fact that they’re calendar has links that let you listen to many bands’ music right on their site.  Oh, and they always participate in the SF music events that are multi-venue (like Noise Pop).

Points taken away because: I’m sure I can think of some if given enough time.  Less local stuff than other places, I suppose.  And pricier because of the types of shows.

Overall: The Bay Area’s Most Kissed Music Journalist thinks that if a date is good enough to take you to GAMH, you should reward him or her with some serious smooching.

2007 marks the one hundred year anniversary of the Great American Music Hall and that alone says something about the importance of this venue to the city.  Established just after the Great Earthquake as a restaurant and bordello designed to meet the scandalous needs of the Barbary Coast era, the Great American Music Hall has undergone changes that keep it modern even in the twenty-first century.  At the same time, that history is held there in the walls and gives a sense of importance to any show that you might see there.

And what might you see there?  Well, unlike many of the other spots in the city where people go to hear live music, Great American Music Hall is a music venue with a bar (as opposed to a bar that hosts live music).  So, you go here to hear the acts that are from other locations and are familiar with good spots to play in the city of San Francisco.  But it’s not so much where you would go to hear big name acts.  Instead, you get more off-the-wall-but-known characters, SF favorites and unique acts that you might not have thought to see if you didn’t think to yourself one night, “hey, I wonder what’s playing over at Great American Music Hall”.

As for the details of the venue itself … it’s a two-level venue with a balcony up top and a good-sized floor space down below.  The stage is big so multiple bands can get there stuff set up to avoid prolonged pauses between the night’s musical players.  You can get right up front if you want to or hang back by the bar and still hear well either way because the sound in the venue is better than good.  Tickets are usually somewhere between $15 and $30, more if you’re doing dinner-and-a-show which is the balcony seating special often offered at events.

 

 

 

Venue: BIMBO’S 365

Address: 1025 Columbus Avenue @ Chestnut St.

Neighborhood: North Beach

Types of bands that play here:  Bigger but somewhat off-the-wall names (see below)

How often there’s live music: Weekly

Points given for:  Large space, big stage, great sound, interesting acts

Points taken away because: Usually pricey and with a drink minimum, shows often sell out early

Overall: Recommended by The Most Kissed Music Journalist as a place to go on special occasion dates; it’s a fabulous “once in awhile” place when bands you know and like are playing there but not a “let’s see what’s happening there this weekend ‘cuz we’re bored” types of place.

Bimbo’s 365 is one of the San Francisco live music venues that is as wonderful for the story behind it as it is for the bands that play there.  It’s a place which has been a part of the San Francisco music venue scene since the 1930’s (see its history here), making it a place which contributes to the rich history of San Francisco that makes the city what it is today.  Because of this, it’s a venue which has a long list of big names that have graced its stage and you really feel like you’re having a whole experience – not just a night out – when you go to this place.

Bimbo’s 365 is nicer than the average music venue in San Francisco.  You can see it when you walk up to the line of dressed-up people awaiting entrance and you glance at the gold scripted “Bimbo’s” logo inscribed in the sidewalk beneath the towering marquis.  You see it in the plush décor of the venue, the darkened bar which sits off to the outside of the music space and the number of tables available for those patrons who wish to sit during the event.  That the place is nice is reflected in the price of the tickets that you buy to enjoy events here, but it’s also reflected in the quality of the sound and the performers themselves which grace the Bimbo’s 365 stage.

Frequently, the acts which come to Bimbo’s are those which are fairly well-known but somehow still off-the-beaten track.  For example, Cake is a band which has performed at Bimbo’s – they’re a well-known band with a mainstream following but they’re also a little off-the-wall in terms of the music they produce.  The Dresden Dolls, The Fab Four and Tainted Love are other acts which fall in to this same category.  Because the people who perform here are practiced in the art of performing, you’re virtually always guaranteed a good show.

Check San Fran Voice on Mondays for the week’s music line-up to see if there are any shows at Bimbo’s 365 or visit the venue’s show info page for information on upcoming performances being held there.

Venue: THE INDEPENDENT

Address: 628 Divisadero Street (between Grove and Hayes)

Neighborhood: Alamo Square

Types of bands that play here:  Numerous genres, often national acts that you know by name

How often there’s live music: 5 – 6 x / week

Points given for:  Gets bigger acts than many SF venues, regularly hosts good music, maintains local feel while being an actual music venue

Points taken away because: It’s a real venue so you’re paying real concert prices, although they generally range from $10 - $20 / ticket so it’s not so bad

Overall: Not the place I’d go to just to stop in and see who is playing but definitely one of the first calendars I’d check if I knew I wanted to go see a good show soon.

Many of the music venues that I write about here at San Fran Voice are actually bars which happen to be known for their live music.  San Francisco is a great city for this type of neighborhood approach to hearing good music from various-sized acts that are both local and national, which is great because it makes it possible to find music all throughout the different neighborhoods of the city that doesn’t cost a lot to see.  However, there are a few places in San Francisco which are actual live music venues that you go to specifically because you want to see the band that is playing there.  Sure, there’s a bar and these places are sometimes 21+ joints, but you don’t go there to go to a bar, you go there specifically to see the band.  The Independent is one of those places.

However, The Independent offers a happy medium between being a concert venue and a bar.  You go there because it’s a venue and it’s large enough to accommodate the good-sized crowd of folks who come to the often-sold-out sometimes-big-name shows that The Independent is known for hosting.  There is enough space to dance, the stage is big enough to accommodate the sets of opening acts as well as headliners, and you can coat check your items before browsing the merch tables set up by the bands. But the space isn’t TOO large, meaning that there is still that sense of intimacy at The Independent that would be lacking if the venue grew any larger.

Similarly, The Independent does a great job of balancing out some big name acts with support of local bands.  There are nights when the bigger names in the San Francisco local music scene are packing in the place with their area fan base.  And The Independent hosts certain events which can make the place seem like your comfortable neighborhood joint even though it’s a venue (events such as their Monday movie screenings and the occasional “battle of the bands” night).  On many nights, the music here could be described as “rock” but the genres that drift through the doors range from quiet folk / Americana stuff to near-hardcore metal bands.  The Independent seems more interested in hosting good music than in concerning itself with being the home to a specific type of music which is really what a good venue is all about.

The Independent keeps an updated calendar of shows on the venue website at all times and the calendar almost always has links to the MySpace or website of the bands that are playing so you can easily get more info on acts that you aren’t too familiar with.  Check San Fran Voice on Mondays for the lineup of shows happening in the city that are recommended to be seen; shows from The Independent regularly make the list.

Venue: GRANT AND GREEN

Address: 1371 Grant Ave. @ Green St.

Neighborhood: North Beach

Types of bands that play here:  Depends on the night; blues / jazz, pop / rock, instrumental, lots of cover bands

How often there’s live music: ~ 4x / week

Points given for:  No cover; casual crowd; good weeknight but great weekend music; great exposure to local bands

Points taken away because: If there’s any sort of crowd, it takes forever to get a drink; small stage can limit the intensity of some bands when playing here

Overall: The Most Kissed Music Journalist thinks making out in the corner of this bar is not a bad idea

Grant and Green is one of the live music venues of San Francisco which I know the best.  It’s in North Beach, the neighborhood that I call home, and so when I feel like going out but don’t want to have to deal with hailing taxis or hopping on cable cars, I traipse my way down the street to this neighborhood bar and see who might be playing.  There’s never a cover to get in the door, so even if it turns out that I don’t like the band, there wasn’t any harm in stopping in.  And, more often than not, I think that the band is worth hearing.Grant and Green is located, as its name would suggest, on the corner of Grant Ave. and Green St.  This puts it in close proximity to the numerous wonderful restaurants in North Beach and near enough to other bars to make jumping from place to place to diversify your night something that can easily be done.  The crowd is generally what I think of as a “North Beach crowd”, although more on the laidback side of the typical North Beach spectrum  – meaning that the average age of patrons is probably about 30 and you’ve got people dancing along with the music but no one going too college-kid-crazy.  Tourists end up here regularly although it’s very much a neighborhood bar.The stage at Grant and Green is small, so large (many member) bands often look like they’re kind of crowded up there.  For that matter, the venue itself is fairly small so it can get crowded, but it’s the kind of crowd that gives each other enough space so that you can always see and hear the band well and can move with the music if you so choose.  And what kind of music would that be?  Well, one day it might be a blues / jazz band and the next it might be an 80’s pop cover band.  In general, the music is hard folk / light rock in intensity but the genres and acts vary greatly, with more happenin’ stuff happening on the weekends.

Venue: HEMLOCK TAVERN

Address: 1131 Polk Street between Sutter and Post

Neighborhood: “Polk Gulch” according to the website, although everyone I know agrees that it’s “that neighborhood between Russian Hill and The Tenderloin”

Types of bands that play here:  Alternative … not in the sense of the music genre “alternative” but in the sense of “hm, familiar to something I know but a bit different”; example: an upcoming show by a faux French band and a weekly “Punk Rock Sideshow”.

How often there’s live music:  Almost every night of the year, baby!

Points given for:  Really interesting mixture of people in the crowd as well as performers invited on stage; music every night means you can just stop in and see who is playing and you can hang in the bar for no cover if you don’t care to see them

Points taken away because: small, narrow venue so it’s hard to see the band unless you’re right up front so get there early

Overall: The Bay Area’s Most Kissed Music Journalist would be happy to take a date to any show here

There are a series of bars along San Francisco’s Polk Street which draw a really diverse crowd of people.  The bars themselves are quite different, from the Asian tranny bars to the college dance spots, but their proximity makes them prone to bar-hopping so you get an interesting mix every time you enter one.  As the night gets later and people end up at the bar at which they feel most comfortable, Hemlock Tavern draws in a crowd composed of two different basic types of people: late-college, early-young-professional types and edgy music lovers.  The crowds are separated between then no-cover bar / pool table area and the low-cover live music section of Hemlock, although they convene periodically in the enclosed smoking room adjacent to the main room of the bar.

You can tell the difference between the crowd of people who is just there to enjoy a drink and those who are there for the music.  If nothing else, you can see it in the way that the music fans stop off quickly to get a decently-priced drink at the bar before heading directly to the back where a neon arrow indicates the door to the live music part of the bar.  These folks get their hands stamped for the show and then head through the sound-proofing plastic gates of the doorway to enter a narrow room with a raised stage at one end.  A mirror lining one entire wall of the room helps to make it feel as though the place is bigger than it is and the line of booth seats and small tables which runs along it helps to give the place a cozy feel.  But really, when you enter the music room at Hemlock Tavern, you’re entering a small space which is rapidly going to become crowded with people.  For a concert space, this is good … music is all about experience and being crowded in with other music lovers helps to make that experience feel like a shared one.

The music coming from the stage is coming from a combination of local San Francisco bands and bands visiting the city from national and international locations.  I’ve only seen a few shows at Hemlock so far but what they seem to have in common is that they’re a little bit “different”.  These aren’t the “alternative” or “indie” bands that you would see at a place like The Warfield or Great American Music Hall but instead are the kind of bands who are made up of people who live a really self-directed alternative lifestyle.  The result is a music which tends to be fresh and new although not always perfected.  The shows are low cover ($5 - $10) and there are usually two or three bands playing each night so you get your money’s worth.

The best part about Hemlock is that you can count on it always having something going on.  You can stop in on any night of the week and ask around to find out who is playing and what their music sounds like.  If it sounds good to you, you can pay your cover and head in to the music room.  If not, you can mingle with people throughout the rest of the bar, paying nothing and enjoying that interesting neighborhood diversity that makes up this stretch of Polk Street.

Venue: RED DEVIL LOUNGE

Address: 1695 Polk Street at Clay

Neighborhood: Russian Hill, more or less

Types of bands that play here:  looks like a range, including a decent amount of local stuff, some bigger names and non-band events like the burlesque show I saw (see below)

How often there’s live music:  3 – 5 nights per week

Points given for:  super sexy ambience with red and gold interior and that loungey lighting, diversity of bands that play here, intimacy of setting, strength of the drinks

Points taken away because: intimacy is good but small can be bad depending on the band

Overall: a yes, yes, yes from me

Last week, when I was doing my research into what bands were playing in San Francisco during the upcoming few days, I came across information about the Girl-O-Rama Girly Show, a burlesque cabaret performance which was taking place at the Red Devil Lounge.  Deciding that it had been far too long that I had lived in San Francisco and failed to take advantage of the regular opportunity presented here to see modern burlesque in action, I planned a date and headed over to the venue.  I tend to be horribly unobservant and so had never noticed this corner bar before, despite the frequent number of times that I’ve wandered along Polk Street, so this was my first time at Red Devil Lounge.  And I found that I loved it.

Entering the venue, the first thing that I realized was that it’s a really, really intimate place.  I found this interesting, since I’d seen the lineup of shows in the bar’s near future and it includes some of the bigger local names as well as some throwbacks-to-the-past that could easily draw in some decent-sized crowds.  (The March lineup included such performers as Sir Mix-a-Lot and Veruca Salt.)  Looking around a little bit more, I saw that the small space was actually a two-floored venue, with room up top to give those who didn’t want to be crammed down below some additional breathing room.

The bar itself takes up a huge chunk of one wall, offering what I think was a decent-sized selection of draft beer (although I’m not a beer drinker myself so no quoting me on that) and a bartender that night who was quick, friendly, and made my drinks strong enough to enjoy without being strong enough to knock me over in a single shot.  The stage is at the far end of the rectangular space, and despite the fact that we were seated decently far in the back of the crowd, we were up fairly close to the action because of the small size of the venue.  It’s one of those places that has a couple of bad seats, depending on how tall the person in front of you has, but which, for the most part, offers a good view from everywhere.

It’s hard to say what the sound system is normally like at The Red Devil Lounge because the sound differed for the hosted recorded-music show than it would for a live event, but I didn’t have any problems with it.  The Red Devil Lounge is, most certainly, a place I’d return to again to see another show.