San Francisco 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 …read more

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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 …read more

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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 …read more

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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 …read more

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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 …read more

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Venue: GIORDANO BROS.
Address: 303 Columbus Ave. @ Broadway
Neighborhood: North Beach 
Types of bands that play here:  Jam Bands, check out JamBase for schedule
How often there’s live music:  5 nights / week
Points given for:  Great neighborhood bar feel in a terrific neighborhood, no cover, good for discovering local music
Points taken away because: can get jam packed; JamBase isn’t kept up-to-date about who is playing
Overall: The “most kissed music journalist” would be happy to get kissed here
Giordano Bros. is a San Francisco venue which doesn’t always make the list of those venues that you should visit if you’re looking for live music in …read more

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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 …read more

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