The Burlingame Voice

Topgolf: Is the cash cow running low on milk?

We noted the news that Callaway and Topgolf were looking to get a divorce here on the last Topgolf post.  I didn't fully catch that the financial struggles were on the Topgolf side instead of the equipment (Callaway) side, but a WSJ piece lays it all out.  The entertainment center business (i.e. the hi-tech driving range) is good--just not quite as good as it has been.  There are big hopes in City Hall that Topgolf will drive serious tax revenue allowing the city to shoot for the green with a smooth pitch and sink some long putts.  But.....

Serious golfers are reliably showing up on golf courses, spending money on their equipment and golf balls. But recreational players are no longer as keen on shelling out some $70 an hour on a driving range for fun these days.  Lately, the Topgolf business has been hit hard by slowing consumer spending. Same-venue sales fell 8% in the second quarter from a year earlier, the fourth consecutive quarter of declines. The sales drop was even worse for big-group events because of “corporate belt-tightening,” according to the company.  (Ed:  think Westin, Hyatt, Marriott).

The company initially thought that visitors to Topgolf would become newbie golfers who might seek out its products after trying them out at those venues, which carry Callaway equipment. As it turns out, hitting a few balls at a recreational driving range isn’t enough to convert people into Callaway faithful.

The steeper price tag might be one contributor: In its location in Edison, N.J., for example, it costs about $155 to reserve one bay for a two-hour session during peak hours. And that doesn’t include food or drinks. Topgolf is trying out different ways to lure customers, including variable pricing, tweaks to its promotions and adding concerts and live DJ nights.

Here's the bottom line

Topgolf itself isn’t a lousy business—it is profitable and generated a 15.5% margin on the basis of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization last year. Its top line grew at a healthy 27% compound annual growth rate between 2021 and 2023 before the recent slowdown, and it still has a long runway of new locations. (Ed: especially our little B'game location).  It will, however, first need to prove that it can bring customers back after the first handful of visits.

Now, let's chat about those "DJ nights".  I never went to the movie nights at the old driving range during Covid, but I recall they did draw a bit of a crowd to Boringame.  What's the curfew policy these days on the Bayfront?

Jazz at the Grill

Broadway Grill continues to be a beacon of live jazz in B'game.  The Monday night jam at Max's Opera on the Bayfront hosted by KCSM DJ Chris Cortes is good too, but the Grill has much better food and ambiance.  Wednesday night saw recent Grammy winner Jamie Davis bring a swinging quartet to the restaurant.  That swelled to a sextet after another tenor sax player and trumpeter sat in for the second set and other notable guests took a turns at bass and guitar.

Davis is the vocalist for the Count Basie Orchestra which just won a Best Large Jazz Ensemble Grammy last month for their latest album.  Great stuff and you can't complain about the (non-existent) cover charge.  Check out the Grill's music calendar here.  Music is generally happening three nights a week or more.

Local Jazz: Swinging Songs of Disney

Wedged as we are between EssEff and Stanford/Palo Alto, we need to take advantage of any opportunities for local live music that pop up.  The Monday night jazz jam at Max's Opera House has been going strong as has the Wed-Sat schedule at Broadway Grill.  Both venues' live music adds to the ambience for a nice dinner out.

Local non-profit Jazz at the Ballroom is another option for pop-up jazz.  The organization has done events at the B'game library, at private homes and the Hillsborough Raquet Club which is a nice venue for medium sized affairs.  This Saturday, January 27th, Jazz at the Ballroom brings Professor Cunningham and his Old School band to the club for "Swinging Songs of Disney".  The band is billed as

This award-winning New York based band performs the most swinging and grooving repertoire deeply steeped in the New Orleans tradition; from early jazz to early R&B— the likes of Sidney Bechet, Fats Waller, even Fats Domino. It is one of the most sought-after Hot Jazz Bands on the international festival and Lindy Hop dance scene.  The group is fronted by in-demand vocalist/reedman Adrian Cunningham, an Australian native based in NYC, and one of his home country's finest jazz exports. The ensemble consists of some of the most energetic and accomplished musicians on the New York circuit and has been a regular hit in the NYC underground party and swing dance scene.

So, they are stretching out a bit into Disney songs like ""Everybody Wants To Be a Cat" to "I Wanna Be Like You" and "Under the Sea.".  Uncle Walt would be pleased.  You can see the details and reserve tickets here.  I saw the JATB last event at the Hillsborough Raquet Club--it was easy to get to and park, cash bar and up close and personal seating.

B'game History: Architect William Whifler remembered

The quarterly Burlingame Historical Society meeting held on Thursday at the Lane room in the library was another uber-local affair.  Having family members appear to describe their ancestors' contributions to our fair town is right in the sweet spot of the Society's mission.  William Whifler grew up in Burlingame, mostly at the end of Drake Ave.-- the house he designed for his German mother (next door to the family homestead) at 1544 Drake is now on the National Historic Register.  We covered the award when it happened in 2017 here.  He graduated from BHS where he met his high school sweetheart and soon-to-be-wife, joined the Navy and eventually graduated from Stanford in the burgeoning field of electronics.  He determined that "there wasn't much of a future in electronics" so he shifted to architecting and building many of his own designs.

Whifler's son, Graeme, was the featured speaker with two other siblings in attendance.  Graeme is a film director having done early rock videos for The Residents and other Ess Eff bands before shifting to the horror film genre.  The program kicked off with a montage of Whifler-designed houses in the area beautifully photographed and set to Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain.  We were the first people to ever see it.  It looks like the video on his website, but without the soundtrack which added a lot.  I hope to be able to link to the full version in the future.  Early family photos followed including looking past the end of Drake into a dairy farm field that abutted the old Mills Estate.  That would be Devereaux and Ray Dr. today.  Young Whifler used to take his .22 into the fields for plinking around.  We also saw an early Eucalyptus grove that was harvested for oyster poles.  I'm not totally sure what an oyster pole is, but perhaps someone will enlighten us.

Many of Whifler's houses are gone.  His design aesthetic used large windows ("I make glass houses" and "no curtains allowed") with a Mid-century Modern theme.  Some were the victims of remuddling and the OPEC energy crisis put a crimp on the style.  But Whifler's lasting contribution to B'game is our City Hall.  I've never been a big fan of the City Hall design, but I am willing to consider that my view may be tainted by some of the shenanigans I have seen over the years in Council chambers.  It originally had a big fountain in front and that might make a good restoration project if the water nags would allow it.  Maybe hearing about Whifler will cause people to leave City Hall where it is--remember this nonsense?

In 1967, Whifler founded the architecture program at CSM where he taught the local crop of students.  You can get a good view of his work at the website dedicated to him here. 

By request, Graeme finished with a discussion of his career in film.  We did not see any of his video work for The Residents, but I found something that certainly looks like Graeme's work here.  The video he did show reminded me of why I don't watch horror movies, but Graeme seemed pleased that people tell him he gives them nightmares.  That is why the program was billed "For Adults".  Here's Johnny....I mean Graeme

Volunteer Profile: BCE President Jen Faber

I recently had a chance meeting with the current BCE president, Jen Faber, and after a pleasant conversation she agreed to do more of an in-depth "interview" for the Voice.  Afterall, why let "Mark at the Mic" Lucchesi have all the fun profiling people in town?  We talked for about an hour about her background (molecular biology and history), why she passed up a chance at med school, and worked in a medical lab and for J&J.  But BCE was the topic du jour and you can find more details here.

Once your kids are out of BIS and especially after they are out of BHS, you tend to lose touch with the organization.  I have.  I still believe it is a critical contributor not just to the school system, but to the overall quality of life and our shared investment in B'game.

As the mother of three boys, Jen started as a BCE donor, then volunteer and eventually became a board member.  She was a site director at Hoover which is often a jumping off point to further BCE involvement.  As Covid hit and some people moved out of B'game, BCE experienced some turnover which may have contributed to Jen taking on the presidency after only four years in town.  See what can happen when you raise your hand?

The main function of BCE-- raising money and granting it back to the schools--is pretty stable.  With a fiscal year starting July 1, the funds granted have been between $2.6M and $2.7M for the last three years --the Covid years.  There are expenses and the endowment needs to be maintained in case there are more economic disruptions.  The grants have funded 19 additional teachers which is why multi-year stability (or better yet growth) is important.  The additional staff are teaching music (7), PE (5), language (2) and five other assignments.

Jen revealed that she has a "challenger" mentality--probably why we got along right off.  She sees the BCE board and presidency as a political position in the sense that one needs to know how to influence other bodies like the District, the Trustees and the City while understanding where to pick one's fights.  We didn't get into that too much, but if and when one arises, I will know who to ask about it.  Here's our selfie taken during the interview in case you want to say hi when you see her around town.

Bgame on the Ave: Tight squeeze

The 2023 rendition of Burlingame on the Avenue appeared to be quite a success.  I went for part of both days and it was crowded--especially around the main stage.  It wasn't crowded there because of all the people, but rather because of the decision to turn the stage 90 degrees from its usual orientation.  Plenty of people noted that left only about 10-12 yards of space between the front of the stage and the construction fence for the Post Office project.  It only fit a couple of chairs, one umbrella and the cross traffic to the food trucks cut right through the dance floor.  Several musicians noted how cramped it all felt playing to the crane.

Both days were hot and seemed humid for B'game.  Perhaps some of the Hurricane Hilary moisture found its way here.  The "Bayshore Stage" on Primrose next to the Gourmet Food Alley would have been a much better location for the Main Stage---it had shade from the buildings, more room for seating and dancing and less cross-traffic.  Let's hope the Post Office project is far enough along next year that the "community space" can handle the main stage.

Here's the closers, Smokin' Slice of Mojo, bringing it home on Sunday evening.

Music in the Park draws a crowd

Anyone who thinks B'game isn't hungry for more musical entertainment would have to change their mind if they were at last night's first Music in the Park event of 2023.  By my estimate the crowd approached 2,000 people.  If someone did a more extensive count and came up with 2,500, I would not argue.  The weather was perfect pre-heat wave.  And the move back to the backside of the new Rec center was most welcome.

The band, Fleetwood Macrame, pays tribute to one of the most popular bands of all time and stuck to the later, more popular songs.  They did slip in one early Peter Green blues era tune near the end.  There were tons of kids and dogs, a food truck and a Mr. Softee truck.  I'm not sure where everyone parked and in spite of all the kerfuffle over how many more bike lanes we need, I was the only bicyclist I saw all evening, but somehow it worked out.

There are three more concerts on July 14, 21 and August 11th with details here.  Check out the new Fleetwood Mac fans.

KCSM: Great Jazz on the Hill

Saturday was the second post-Covid rendition of the long running Jazz on the Hill program put on by KCSM.  It was chilly, blustery day on campus but that didn't stop an estimated 3,000 people from coming by for at least part of the day.  I caught the first two student bands on the radio simulcast and they were great.  Arriving for the third set, Mimi Fox and her organ trio, I was met by a much mellower mood.  It can be tough to get a stylish jazz acoustic guitar sound across to an outdoor spread-out audience regardless of how talented she is.

The fourth set was Akira Tana's quartet with celebrity guest John Handy sitting in on sax.  Handy, who turned 90 in February, was presented with a lifetime achievement award by CSM.  He is spry and witty.  He relayed how Dizzy Gillespie had viewed a similar large crowd years ago and quipped "This must be a free show because I don't see all you people in the clubs" where there's a cover charge.  Akira Tana leans towards the harder side of jazz which I prefer.  Most impressively, John Handy traded licks with Mads Tolling on electric violin.  His ability to get his alto and tenor sax to sound like an electric violin was.....electrifying.

The fifth set was the Spanish Harlem Orchestra just off a plane from Mexico and returning from South Korea.  No jet lag here.  They had the crowd on their feet dancing and warming up.  Kudos to the Daily Journal for being an anchor sponsor of the concert.  Put it on your calendar for the second Saturday in June--gloom or not!  Here's Handy making the magic at 90.

The BAAZ is back--for a couple of weeks

With a hat tip to Thin Lizzy, here is an ode to the Burlingame Avenue Autonomous Zone--the BAAZ:

Guess who just got back today?
The wild-eyed BAAZ that had been away
Haven't changed, had much to say
But man, I still think them blocks are crazy
They were askin' if you were around
How you was, where you could be found
I told 'em you were livin' downtown
Drivin' all the merchants crazy

The BAAZ is back in town (the BAAZ is back in town)

I said (the BAAZ is back in town)
(TheBAAZ is back in town)
The BAAZ is back in town...ow..ow.owwn

 

As reported in the Daily Journal here, the council has voted to bring back the BAAZ for two weeks in August--exactly three years after it was stopped as we noted here.

 

The closure will take up two blocks of Burlingame Avenue east of Primrose Road, west of Lorton Avenue and a small portion of Park Road. The Park Road segment will be a small portion of the road ending before the city-owned parking lot, so vehicles will be able to park or turn around. The council also agreed to start the two-week street closure after the Burlingame on the Avenue festival, Aug. 19, which is hosted by the Chamber or Commerce, and reopen the streets Labor Day, Sept. 2.

 

There was council commentary on the thing we need most on the Avenew--live music.  I'm not sure it needs to be taxpayer subsidized beyond waiving the entertainment permit and encroachment permit fees, but 5 grand is a modest amount either way:

 

(Council member Emily) Beach said the city could work with the downtown businesses and the Chamber of Commerce to provide a musical ambiance the remaining two weekends.  “Quite frankly, the smaller single [or] duo instrumental might create exactly the right ambiance as opposed to a big loud band that some people may like the style and some people not like the style,” Beach said.

One option, she suggested, would be for the city to set aside $5,000 to match restaurants or businesses who may want to hire a small band for the night and then the city would reimburse the business up to $500.

Mark your calendars for Art on the Ave Aug 19-20 followed by two weeks of strolling the BAAZ for dining, tippling and hopefully some good music.  Maybe we will even see our guitar-strumming council member out busking on the Ave.

Jazzman passes: A terrible loss for B'game

This is a very difficult post for me to write but acknowledging the passing of one of the coolest guys in B'game is necessary.  I first met Andrew Speight eighteen months ago and wrote about him here.  His vision for local jazz of the highest order continued to blossom as I noted here.  He was the band leader for the regular mid-week gigs at the Broadway Grill and I last saw him there on Wednesday--the day before he died.  You can get more of a sense of the man from this NBC Bay Area report.  Andrew was a mainstay of the opening weekend at the new Keys Jazz Bistro in North Beach, as noted by his friend Simon Rowe in the NBC piece, and I told him so between sets that night.

My relationship with Andrew evolved from new acquaintance to being good buddies over the last eighteen months.  I was a regular at his House of Bop club on Capuchino Ave. and he was a regular at my place for drinks, music and planning about bringing more jazz to B'game.  Regardless of how obscure of a jazz record that was playing when he walked in, he would pick out the artists by name and expound on their playing and their personalities.  After he did that with a particularly unusual album I was playing, I expressed amazement at the skill and he said, "it's not hard when you have played with the guy yourself".  I often felt like I was sitting in his SF State class instead of my side yard.

The loss is hard to grasp when you understand what we had planned for B'game.  His first album since the 1980's was recorded at his house last year.  It's mixed, mastered and in the queue to be pressed with the working title "Live in Burlingame".  The LP would help promote a Burlingame Jazz Festival that he hoped to arrange the weekend before or after the Monterey Jazz Festival when a number of his artist friends would be passing through the Bay Area and would be available for gigs.  The plan was to have two or three venues to allow for the local kids to get some stage time.  Andrew was an educator to the end.  We lost a gem of Burlingame and all that could have been.  Here he is at Keys Jazz Bistro on November 12.  RIP.

Update:  The local jazz community sent Andrew Speight off in style yesterday (Dec. 18) with a three-hour jam session at Broadway Grill.  About 40 musicians sat in with the closing number featuring a 5 horn front line.