SFLive 2010 is barely over at this point, and it was a hell of a lot of fun. This year was marked by quite a few minor criseseses but everything worked out in the end. For those who could make it, AWESOME, thank you. For those who couldn't, I hope you at least got to watch some of it online when the stream was behaving. I'm pretty sure we all had a blast - I sure as hell did, anyway.
Some of my favorite things about this year:
Ken and Sam stepping up to make sure we got a couple of excellent venues, especially in the mad panic after the whole SoCha debacle
Frankie, JB and Ken backing me up with basically no preparation and still helping me have the BEST DAMN SET I've ever had (and the audience may not have heard the cello, JB, but I sure did, and you were amazing)
The place getting completely packed during my set! (I'm still trying to figure out where they all came from, and why they all left when my set ended - I have a sinking feeling that my "Good night San Francisco!" may have led them all to believe the whole concert was over!)
People getting really into my Live Fight song, too, despite it being a blatant and purposeful ripoff of A Boy Named Sue (or maybe because of it? I dunno)
Having a couple dozen people just invade my home and probably pissing off my neighbors and just plain being awesome, between the parties and rehearsals and just plain ol' jamming (I will be cleaning up after these shenanigans for the next month, I suspect)
FINALLY getting to meet Jonathan Mann in person after all these years
Asolutely everyone who played outshone themselves in a big way. Here's some memories:
Finally getting to meet Jack Shite after all these years. He took us to that burger place on the pier (what was it called again?) and then to the Giants/Mets game.
"I'm gonna go get some garlic fries." And that was the last we saw of Mark for like half an hour. Apparently, they were worth the wait.
JB storming into the party on Friday night, already drunk: "Now it's a PARTY motherfuckerrrrs!!!"
Bacon dogs.
"7pm - Songfight. 7pm - HBO Boxing, no cover."
The old guys at the bar at Abbey who did not move during the whole show.
People actually dancing with each other during my "Back to the Well."
Irwin doing a surprise cover of one of my songs with me up onstage with him.
Frankie's whole set was mind-blowing, but then I got to rock the piano on "Crinkle Binkle" and "Funny Enough for You." I can die happy now.
T-SHIRTS!
$5 mojitos and $1 tacos.
Jonathan Mann has really hot fans.
The whole room completely clearing out when Mann finished and Octothorpe started.
Ken and me, front and center during Octothorpe's set, singing along with "Skyline."
JB's terribly caustic emceeing on Sunday: "And now here's ADD music, with a song that will sound exactly like every other song he's ever done."
Ken doing his "Hello my old Heart" with a very inexperienced Jen on the drums. Rock out!!!
Overall, this was one of the best weekends of my life. I love you all, and I'm dreading going back to work tomorrow.
"Warren Zevon would be proud." -Reve Mosquito
Stages, an album of about dealing with loss, anxiety, and grieving a difficult year, now available on Bandcamp and all streaming platforms! https://jonporobil.bandcamp.com/album/stages
first of all, thanks again to sam and ken for getting Mojitos, a pretty fun space, with a great bartender and staff. It made up for being in the worst neighborhood for parking in san francisco.
also, thanks to Spud for his posters, t-shirts, and undying love for Song Fight! Your esprit de corps is what keeps this thing going.
and thanks to all the folks that came from farther away than me (hour and a half drive). you know who you are.
and thanks to fluffy for throwing a party the night we had practice so i couldn't come. i heard it was fun.
and thanks to the band of course.
I'm not gonna get all sappy here but it was great to meet a few old timers I hadn't met before, see some old timers I hadn't seen in years, and meet some new folks i've never met before. I'm sure there were lots of folks I missed meeting (sorry) but thanks for coming and supporting the community.
I haven't participated much lately, but I always look forward to these annual shows. Not that the community isn't a great thing already in a virtual sense (on the forum and in the IRC) but meeting the avatars, playing music together, and realizing what a cool community of folks this is makes it all come full circle.
shit. i said i wasn't gonna get sappy. oh well. thanks everyone! good times as always!
When I checked the chatroom I didn't see any comments specific to my entry but UStream doesn't keep very much scrollback either, so I may have just missed it.
Best Live Fight ever!
Some of my highlights for the weekend:
- Meeting Frankie Big Face- I’ve been a fan for years, and it was an honor and a pleasure to play bass for him! Red Robot just ROCKED!
- Daddy Day at the Oakland Zoo Sunday before the show with Irwin and his 2 kids along with me and my 2 kids.
- Zipline reunites for the Live title. To usual form, we had no rehearsal, haven’t played together since the 501 fight. I threw down some very sensitive and emotional lyrics, Martin scrawled them larger so he could read them on stage. And we did our thing, total improv. I’ve been playing with Sam Zabor for 20 years, it’s the most natural thing in the world. Then we actually got 2nd place!
- People at Mojitos were so inspired by the 13/8 and 7/8 in the Berkeley Social Scene song “Interesting Times” that they got up and danced.
- Jennifer and that one guy in the live fight doing and very sweet pop song!
- The Fluffy set was super tight! In large part to the A-List rhythm section of Ken and Frankie.
- Sharing a mic with Spud and Lunkhead for “What we need more of is Science”.
- Having a baby-sitter so I could hang out with my wife and introduce her to all of my virtual friends.
- Trading solos during the Merisan set with the Flautist. I’m still not sure whether I was supposed to be a part of that solo section, but I thought it was good music in the end.
- Seeing Roy again and getting to sit in was sweet!
- Ken Super Duper Band and Stuff- Season Finale!!! Just Awesome!
- The “who’s your favorite Beatle and why” conversation with Frankie, JB, Erin and Sam.
- Jonathon Mann! This guy is just awesome! I had no problem losing the live fight to his stellar song! He’s got this song called “You should drink more water……cuz I don’t want you to die”, since I live my life by rock lyrics, I took this to heart. Since that J Mann show over a year ago I’ve started to drink a lot more water (and eat less) so much that over the year I’ve dropped 40 pounds. Even though I’ve jammed with Jonathon and submitted a couple of songs with him, he didn’t recognize me at first.
- Talking to Frankie, Frankie: “as a Nur Ein champion…….blah blah blah” Glen: “Well you know I’m a former Nur Ein champion too….blah blah blah” , Frankie “Oh, you were in that Super group?” (no respect)
- Although I missed the performance, watching the Seamus Collective set when I got home was awesome! What a band!
- Octothorpe live is a very enjoyable thing! Their set was true to form, super fun! (Why can’t they make a good recording?)
- The absolute best though was playing our BSS set, Ken,Sam, Erin, and Martin really brought it, it was just great to play those songs in front of people!
Phillipso, Older Brothers, Semolina Pilchards, Zipline , Thank Glennny for the Frisbee, The Odoriferous Valley, The Worldly Self Assurance, Berkeley Social Scene, Very Gentle Knives, Daddy Bop Swing Set, GUNS, The Kraken Lives, Cavedwellers
glennny wrote:
- Talking to Frankie, Frankie: “as a Nur Ein champion…….blah blah blah” Glen: “Well you know I’m a former Nur Ein champion too….blah blah blah” , Frankie “Oh, you were in that Super group?” (no respect)
Hahaha. To use a baseball reference (of course), who deserves more accolades: one of the six Astros who combined for a no-hitter in 2003 or someone like Roy Halladay who goes the distance and completely dominates the other team? I think we both know the answer.
Geez...I can't believe I'm home already. I'm still processing it.
Everything everyone has said so far rings absolutely true. Playing music with old and new friends is like nothing else. I'm already looking forward to next year.
Some of the small details I hope I never forget:
Following a group of drunken barhoppers down Mission Street at midnight while Irwin and Jon Eric spontaneously composed a song about crazy people on the bus - "Who doesn't?"
Explaining the Song Fight concept to some random dude who wandered into the Abbey during the gig.
Receiving a completely random and spontaneous hug from Jeff (of ADD music fame) before the Live Fight judging.
Not getting cut during the first round of Live Fight judging.
Not directly related, but interesting to note: After the show last night, I hung out at Mojito until everyone left, and then walked/stumbled back down the hill to my hotel. About half way down, a fine, upstanding citizen came up to me and tried to interest me in some "good Humboldt County bud." Ain't San Francisco grand?
========================================== Naked Philosophy, The Tedward Nixon Experience
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"Brilliant and disastrous at almost the exact same time" - Melvin
inevitableguy wrote:
Some of the small details I hope I never forget:
Following a group of drunken barhoppers down Mission Street at midnight while Irwin and Jon Eric spontaneously composed a song about crazy people on the bus - "Who doesn't?"
To be fair, that song was spontaneously composed at fluffy's place. We were just reprising it during the walk back.
"Warren Zevon would be proud." -Reve Mosquito
Stages, an album of about dealing with loss, anxiety, and grieving a difficult year, now available on Bandcamp and all streaming platforms! https://jonporobil.bandcamp.com/album/stages
Generic wrote:Asolutely everyone who played outshone themselves in a big way. Here's some memories:
JB's terribly caustic emceeing on Sunday: "And now here's ADD music, with a song that will sound exactly like every other song he's ever done."
To be fair (to me), that was a joke because I knew what his song was going to sound like, and it's completely different from his standard style. Unless he's been composing a lot of old-timey story ballads sung in basso voce and I wasn't aware.
The REST of my emceeing, yes, that was very "caustic".
I'm just getting my non-Songfight Live life back together. Still need to clean up the house and put all my gear away.
- Great to see everyone and very happy we got a group of folks to stay with us in Berkeley. It made for excellent brunches.
- BSS rehearsing with Frankie Big Face. We dubbed ourselves "Frankie Big Face and the Big Faces."
- The pizza place next to the Abbey was surprisingly tasty.
- Sound at the Abbey was difficult. Many thanks to my friend Matt for taking that on.
- Playing drums while Frank played the bass. Solid rhythm section bonding.
- I really liked playing on Frankie Big Face's set. Reminded me what stellar musicians everyone is and what can be accomplished when talent works together.
- I was a bit nervous for my own set, but it seems to have worked out. Probably the best Super Duper Band 'n Stuff yet!
- Mojito had really good nachos.
- Writing my live fight song with my fiance and then having her play the drums at the fight. Her first live drum performance ever!
- Jonathan Mann's set was tight. He probably should have headlined the show.
- InevitableGuy + Octothorpe = awesome!
- Performing with BSS is such a rare thing and even more so with Martyr.
It was a pleasure to see everyone. Thanks for letting us host this year. We'll see you on the East Coast next year!
Ken's Super Duper Band 'n Stuff - Berkeley Social Scene - Tiny Robots - Seamus Collective - Semolina Pilchards - Cutie Pies - Explino! - Bravo Bros. - 2 from 14 - and more!
i would just like to remind everyone that Ken eats kittens - blue lang
Jennifer forgets that she has written/cowritten a number of BSS and Seamus Collective lyrics. Most notably, she wrote all the lyrics of BSS' Hollywood Wax.
Ken's Super Duper Band 'n Stuff - Berkeley Social Scene - Tiny Robots - Seamus Collective - Semolina Pilchards - Cutie Pies - Explino! - Bravo Bros. - 2 from 14 - and more!
i would just like to remind everyone that Ken eats kittens - blue lang
First of all, thanks for playing on my set. Tasteful, artful, appropriate and sweet. And your rates were completely reasonable.
Secondly, the fact that this whole thing was video taped is, once again, ridiculous. Thanks for that.
Thirdly, just good to see you and all the other chums again.
Frankie, Ken, John, Glenny - thanks for your support during the live fight, even though I know you intentionally undermined my attempt to totally dominate the evening. Bastards, every last one of you, and well done at that!
Spud - good times! See you again soon, I hope.
Great to see and hear everyone. Fluffy's Run Faster has slowly become one of my favorite SF songs, due to repeated exposure to live performances. Thanks for everyone who made this year's event happen!
roymond.com | songfights | covers
"Any more chromaticism and you'll have to change your last name to Wagner!" - Frankie Big Face
I am a little late to this thread, but I'm still reminiscing so here goes. Some highlights:
* Brunch every morning in Berkeley with the album fighters and friends
* frankie big face rehearsal at the BSS space
* Hanging out for hours at Jupiter in Berkeley
* Picking up a drunk and surly JB Friday night before fluffy's party
* Meeting Jeff's friend Jake
* Hosting John and Dorie
* Getting our lady friends in the Bourbon Drops to come out and perform
* Playing a really good Merisan set with some great help from Ken, Glen, and Jessie
* Backing up frankie and Ken on their sets
* JB's set Saturday night was my favorite of the evening
* Watching John and Jeff write their live fight songs
* John describing lolcats (still think you should make a video podcast about that)
* Playing an awesome Jonathan Mann set, even though our drummer just had throat surgery earlier that week (thanks again for stepping in to play bass, frankie!), and getting to rock out live with BSS for the first time in a year, and actually with all the core members
* Seeing Brody and the Seamus Collective again
* The live fight, so many good songs!
* Ken and Jennifer performing together
* Going to the SF MoMA with Jeff and frankie
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