The Burlingame Voice

KCSM Jazz on the Hill - 2016

This year's Jazz on the Hill drew a great crowd due to the lovely, light breezy weather (after the Friday heat wave) and due to Charlie Musselwhite's following.  The blues harmonica player has been recording for 50 years.  Instead of driving over to Berkeley Friday night and plunking down $46, people got to see him for free on Saturday.  Summer may be two weeks away but it didn't feel like it Saturday.

KFOG's Demise

Dave Price from the Daily Post noted the demise of radio stations KFOG and KGO in his editorial yesterday.  I seldom listened to KGO, but I have been a KFOG listener since the day they went to rock 'n roll.  Wikipedia helpfully notes

On September 16, 1982, they dropped the easy listening format for a blend of album-oriented rock which they called "Timeless Rock". The first song on the new format was "Rock This Town" by The Stray Cats. The station featured a wide range of music, from the psychedelic sounds of the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane to newer artists such as Prince, the Eurythmics, and the Thompson Twins. They avoided more commercial bands such as Loverboy, which were widely played on many other AOR stations at the time. KFOG's specialty programming included "10 At 10", ten great songs from one great year interspersed with old newscasts, commercials and film clip, hosted by Dave Morey and more recently Annalisa. A nightly "Psychedelic Psupper" showcased music from the psychedelic era and the "Sunday Night Idiot Show" featured an eclectic collection of oldies hosted by M. Dung. KFOG was inspired by San Francisco's free form rock radio heritage, dating back to KSAN.

I was tuned in on Sept. 16, 1982 as "Rock This Town" played and was a devoted listener for a long time.  Unfortunately, KFOG slowly turned to KSLOG for me as the play list seemed to shrink and the "San Francisco Sound" was de-emphasized.  Dave Price noted that DJs Annalisa, Rosalee, and the morning team were all let go last Thursday and we now get a station "on autopilot.  No live hosts.  Music being cued up as if it were from an iPod with recorded announcements every once in a while."

There is a lesson in here for us all.  When you start to sound like everyone else (or we start to look like everywhere else) in a Vanilla World of chain stores, chain restaurants and cookie-cutter McMansions, you lose your soul.  The end of the good times is soon followed by BORING.  Let's not be BORINGAME!

Musings on Ocean Beach (OB, San Diego)

My global travels often set me to thinking about B'game.  Call it homesickness perhaps.  I made the latest post about noise at SFO while I was in Tokyo a couple of weeks ago.  Tonight I am wrapping up a week in San Diego which is my second visit in six weeks.  I found a great restaurant in the Ocean Beach neighborhood of San Diego during the last visit and I just took a party of 25 back there tonight (sounding a bit like Bruce Dickinson, I know).

What struck me about the evening was not the restaurant, good as it was.  Ocean Beach (  "OB"  ) is every bit as desirable as B'game.  Arguably it is more desirable since it is on the beach, but it is also 20 minutes out of downtown San Diego (like B'game), filled with cute bungalows that cost $1.4M+ (like B'game) and in a region that is growing via the 3rd wave Internet boom, biotech and the like (like B'game).

So why are there no ugly, Hong Kong-style glass block offices, chain stores, or McMansions encroaching on the ambiance of OB?  Why are there local restaurants, clubs that actually host live bands, and antique stores and other local businesses apparently surviving just fine?  Do they have smarter City Council members who take the "long view" as espoused by Linda Lees Dwyer on this post?  Are their citizens and voters more engaged than B'game voters?  Do they have higher IQs?  Better General Plans?  I'm puzzled.  OB feels like Old Burlingame, yet it survives in 2015.  Why is that and what can we do about it?

Travelling to the Dead

The Grateful Dead's two night Fare Thee Well affair at Levi Stadium was a sight to behold (it even had a rainbow).  After 2300+ live shows in the last 50 years, the band can even overcome the loss of Jerry Garcia on lead guitar to put on a great show.  If you are into it, you know how fun it was and if not, you are too late.  But from a Peninsula everyday-Joe perspective, getting to and from Levi Stadium was educational.

I headed to the 7 pm Saturday night show on the 4:45 pm Caltrain, connecting to VTA in Mountain View which dropped me off steps from the stadium.  The Giants game had just ended and happy fans had started south from Fourth and Townsend.  There was a soccer game at Stanford.  But without a doubt, it was a Dead Train.  SRO all the way.  Six bucks from B'game to Mtn View is a deal even if the weekend local is slow.  At least we had an amateur guitar player to lead a sing along!  Caltrain can afford to add another car or two.

VTA and Caltrain coordinated very well after the show with a special Caltrain holding in Mtn View at 1:35 am.  Imagine my surprise getting off the train at B'game Ave. at 2:15 am and seeing a bunch of people hard at work at Tell Apart.  The Twitter acquisition doesn't seem to have dimmed the animal spirits one bit.  When someone complains that some twenty-something just outbid their friend by $200K for a house in B'game you will know why it happened.

The Deadheads like to think this rainbow is Jerry smiling down on the proceedings.  Why not?

Midday at the Oasis

It was windy but beautiful up at CSM today for Jazz on the Hill.  I'm pleased that the annual festival is back after a couple of lean years during the last recession.  A variety of sponsors and an anonymous donor helped make for another great line-up today.  Dirty Cello was a nice surprise as a nine-piece string band and the Anton Schwartz Quintet always puts on a professional set.  But the highlight for me was 71 year old Maria Muldaur singing the blues (or Bluesiana music in her parlance).  Of course, she closed with Midnight at the Oasis!

The five food trucks were busy as well, but I think the Off The Grid selection in B'game is better.

Fun in the City

One of the benefits of living in B'game is our very central location.  A short hop to Palo Alto and Silicon Valley, easy access to Half Moon Bay and twenty minutes to downtown EssEff on a good day.  Monday night was a "good day" because the 9ers were on TV, but I had plans to go to the symphony.  We have some music lovers on the Voice and an entertainment drought in B'game so allow me to quote a bit of the review of the London Philharmonic performance from the Mercury News

But Prokofiev's concerto was enough to make you believe Jurowski and Bavouzet are some kind of musical soul mates. At first glance, the Russian conductor and French pianist seem to be very different types. Jurowski is a precise, understated podium presence, given to small, careful gestures; Bavouzet, agile and impish, is just as precise, but the overriding impression is one of an overgrown prodigy out to dazzle his listeners.

I went the following night for

The Philharmonic's second program, scheduled for Monday evening, will feature Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini," Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8 in C minor and Magnus Lindberg's "Chorale."

and it was excellent as was the view of EssEff city hall bathed in orange light.  It could be Giants orange or Halloween orange complemented by the Dia de Muertos posters on display, but either way the whole evening was a pleasure.  We are paying the living costs to be this close to EssEff so we might as well enjoy the good parts whenever possible!

Entertainment Drought in B'game

Let's face it.  B'game is a daytime town.  Once you get past the dinner hour, it's basically dead out there.  Various establishments have tried to liven up our downtowns--Tavern Grill was awesome for about six months, B'way Grill fights the trend and Towle's Seafood (not breakfast) was even better with fun bands four nights a week.  But right now, we are at a low point--well below sea level.

I was out on Saturday night on the Avenew.  I had a great time, good meal, saw a bunch of friends, made a couple of new ones and was really looking forward to seeing live music on the "backside" of the Avenew at Rue du The.  Kudos to those guys for trying to make something musical happen.  One thing led to another and I didn't get to Rue du The until after 9:30.  That meant I heard two songs from Kristen Jones and her pick-up band made up of members of Sea Trade who were all down from EssEff.

Kristen came by the table to say hello and told us they had to finish by 10pm due to the rules about outside music.  Now that is just sad on a Saturday night on Donnelly Ln.  We were surrounded by parking lots and empty retail, not to mention the poor burned-out historic houses.  We have to do something about these arcane rules that cause musicians to shut down the amps when any self-respecting musician is still warming up.  C'mon B'game.  Let's not roll up the sidewalks at 10pm!  Here's the band on the back patio at Rue du The.

B'game on B'game Avenue

This weekend was the "Burlingame on Burlingame Ave." event and a chance to get out, mingle with some locals and see a lot of visitors getting exposed to the new Avenue streetscape.  The whining about how the new streetscape would be too narrow to host the event and it would have to stay on Howard like last year turned out to be just that--whining.  There was more than enough room and the restaurants appreciated the event's return.

The general impression was the there was more actual arts & crafts this year which is ironic since it is no longer called ArtzFest.  I had a chance to chat with one of the guys who started the original Art in the Park back in 1967.  Local Neil Dobson was relaying how he and Carter Church were BHS students when they had the original idea to do the event as a BHS art exhibit.  They enlisted their art teacher, Mr. Van, to get permission from the City Council to hold the event.  Apparently, after much back and forth on the dais, Mr. Van had to berate the council--including Vic Mangini and Bud Harrison (both of whom had deep BHS ties) to approve the event.  Once approved, Neil and Carter set it up and slept in front of BHS overnight between day one and two to guard the art.  Just another fun B'game story.  Here are some shots from today including the Living Statue guy who was popular and the band Group Therapy from B'game that played both days.  If you missed it, you missed out.

Cool Visitors

Sometime I think I take for granted how cool B'game can be.  We make jokes about Boringame and it's true--there are plenty of weekend nights when the coolest thing you can do in town is get an fro-yo.  But we also have to remember we are a destination for a lot of people who live in even more boring places.

That thought occurred to me on Friday when I went to the California Audio Show at the Westin.  (Acknowledge that the Westin is in Millbrae, but the theme is still valid--maybe more so for Millbrae).  The Audio Show is a bit of a geek-fest for audiophiles.  They filled 3 floors of the Westin with ridiculously high-end audio gear.  I got to wander around and listen to speakers the size of Mini-Coopers, $50K turntables, reference recordings of classic vinyl. You get the picture--big boy toys.

And all of these people paid ToT (to Millbrae, in this case), ate at the Elephant Bar or on B'way and generally added to the local economy.  Here is a very nice lady named Cookie who was a sound engineer for Windham Hill and OTR and is now with Blue Coast Music giving a hands-on seminar with the guy playing guitar in the front and showing the various ways to enhance the recording---in a meeting room at the Westin.....

 

Jerry Day 2014

After celebrating the Kohl Mansion's 100th anniversary, I went up to McLaren Park in EssEff to catch the last band of the day at the 12th Annual Jerry Day in memory of the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia's birthday.  Tucked in between the Excelsior district and Visitacion Valley, this we a fun little find albeit foggy as expected even while B'game is beautiful.  Jerry would have been 72 yesterday and next Saturday is the anniversary of his passing. Here's Melvin Seals and JGB closing the festival.