Newsletter: Comics & Comedians! Forestville adventures! Death and more this week in the North Bay!
Hello friends and welcome to Smart Mouth!
Smart Mouth is a weekly email blast of news, commentary & a curated show calendar about the art and music community in the North Bay. It's a work in progress and I'm happy to have you here while we figure out the final form of this thing!
Happy Wednesday, ya'll!
On Thursday of last week, I worked a training shift at the Lost Church's new location in downtown Santa Rosa. It was a damned fun showcase with James Kelly of Redwood Chrome and Juke Tannins.
I stood in the back of the small show space and ran the sound board and soaked it all in and felt at home.
In another life Tannins was a stand-up comedian. He's got big energy and personality that it flowed out of him and his guitar in spades. James Kelly joined him for the second half of Tannins's opening set and the two laughed and performed together as old friends with fantastic energy and banter. Kelly took the stage as the headliner and played his first ever set as a solo performer.
Kelly shed his full band persona and locked in with a performance that often reminded me of Nebraska era Springsteen in the best of ways. It didn't feel like a rip off or homage, but rather two artists who have been able to tap into that same very raw and haunting space.
It was a great, intimate crowd of about 30 people watching. Both artists had a blast performing on the small stage, and in turn we had a blast watching them.
Tannins plays often around town, mostly in more "Happy Hour" Live music settings, and commented on how much he loved performing in the listening room space of the Lost Church. See where he's playing next via his instagram page.
Kelly is performing with his full band this Friday night in Forestville. More info on that show below! He has a solo album in the works and hopes to release it soon.
Thanks for a great night of training at the Lost Church! Thanks to my esteemed trainer Catherine for all the great support!
This week, I wanted to highlight a number of upcoming events that have just been announced, along with shows this week I recommend! So let's get to it, shall we?
Just Announced:
Saturday July 25: Book Signing // Meet & Greet: Dave Eggers
New York Times best selling author, Dave Eggers is making a surprise appearance at the Napa Bookmine on July 25th! Eggers is the author of Contrapposto, The Eyes and the Impossible, The Circle, & MORE! This event is free, but The Bookmine appreciate your RSVP below so they can plan for your attendance!
Sunday, July 26: Napa SoFi District Battle of the Bands have announced their upcoming line up for this year's festival! Less of an honest to goodness Battle of The Bands and more of a day festival celebrating local artists and small businesses, SoFi is a day long block party with at least four stages of bands performing. The first wave of bands announced include: Change! Pop, Clementine Darling, Oke McFly, and many many more!
It is free to attend and one of the best damned days in Downtown Napa! Seriously! This is THE BEST FESTIVAL IN NAPA. BottleRock be damned!
Tuesday July 28th: Live at Lagunitas: Consequence Cosign Sessions with Bully
Lagunitas Brewing has announced the next artist in their free summer concert series and it's BULLY! Really great pop-grunge in the vein of Liz Phair, but with the dirty guitar rock sound of Dinosaur Jr or Nirvana. Bully has been popping up a LOT on my Spotify playlists and I have become a big fan of her voice cracking vocals. I caught her playing a rip-roaring afternoon set at BottleRock in 2024 and was sold. Damned cool stuff, and I can't wait to see her for FREE at Lagunitas great amphitheater. Tickets are super limited, so jump on them NOW!!
Sunday August 2: THE BRITISH ARE COMING: A Night with Peter Asher & Jeremy Clyde
Sebastiani Theatre in Sonoma proper, just announced a performance from Peter Asher & Jeremy Clyde!
From the event page: Peter Asher of Peter & Gordon and Jeremy Clyde of Chad & Jeremy join forces for the first time in several years for an intimate, living-room style conversation and concert experience. It’s an unforgettable evening of music and memories featuring songs and stories moving from their sixties heyday as recording artists to Jeremy’s success on stage, television (Downton Abbey) and film (The Iron lady) and Peter’s Grammy-Winning career as producer and/or manager of the likes of James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Barbra Streisand and more.
Peter Asher is the subject of the popular music documentary PETER ASHER EVERYWHERE MAN, which is currently in theater now and has been playing all over the Bay Area to rave reviews. If you missed the Documentary, you can catch it on Saturday August 1st at the Sebastiani, the night before his performance at the Sebastiani.
Railroad Square Music Festival announces first wave of bands!
Appearing at the free festival on September 20th will be:
Toast Machine, Kalei Yamanoha, Dark Matter Lives, LBC Mariachi, Ballet Folklórico, BrightDarkDawn, Ulysses CFM, Addie finch, Brie Paige & Pazifico.
More information on the yearly event, please visit: https://www.railroadsquaremusicfestival.com/
THIS WEEKEND'S RECOMMENDED EVENTS:
I've been actively building a curated calendar of local events happening in and around the North Bay, that I feel should be on your radar. It still needs some work, but you can check out that work in progress at smartmouthcalendar.com.
There are SO MANY PROMOTERS in the area and so little details about the events happening in town. Most promoters do not have websites and only sparsely promote on Instagram making it difficult to find out more information. If you'd like to submit an event please email me at smartmouth707@gmail.com
Thursday July 9th: Death Medicine presented by the Luminous Threshold Collective Lost Church Santa Rosa- $15 cover
Shameless self promotion: I am running this event on Thursday! I don't know what I'm exactly getting into, but the Lost Church Santa Rosa GM, Bryce Dow-Williamson said the prior Death Medicine nights were truly unique open mic experiences! I'm excited to see what these events are all about!
From the Lost Church website: Bring your songs, poetry, stories, dance or any other expression your heart feels called to offer around the topics of death and grief.
The event will be an open mic format where people can sing, dance, recite poetry, or speak extemporaneously about their experiences of death and grief and be witnessed and heard by a radically present and loving audience in a well-held container.
Friday July 10: Parade Garden, Izzy Lilly, Redwood Chrome & Big Tractor - Forestville Club - $10
First off, I absolutely adore the very charming promotional video Parade Garden put together for this show on Instagram. They're working to become the KING OF DIVE BARS in Sonoma County area! I don't know shit about the band otherwise, but I've got their tunes playing now on YouTube and I like what I hear. Cool soul infused indie rock with a DIY spirit.
Other artists include the dynamite bluesy singer-songwriter Izzy Lilly, Punk-Blues explosion from Redwood Chrome & Folk-punks Big Tractor.
Friday July 10: Under A New Sun album release party with Vista Francisco, Dillon O'Bannon & The Sea Shells - Shady Oak Barrel House - $15 cover
A couple of months back, I went out in search of adventure on a Friday night in Sonoma. I ended up at the Arlene Francis Center and stumbled upon Vista Francisco (Read about that night HERE!) , a damned great group of local emo/indie/pop-punk rockers. Damned cool stuff! I'm also a big fan of Shady Oak! I am currently closing at Crooked Goat in Petaluma, or I'd be at this event checking out more of the local acts!
I listened to a bit of Under A New Sun's new single and its a little too Nu Metal meets Coheed and Cambria for my liking, but I'm an out of touch old man. So who cares what I think other than I think this will be a fun night of young and hungry local area artists!
Friday July 10: Graphic Novel book signing with music from Radio Insecto - $15
There's not a lot of info on this one, so I almost skipped posting about it. But the Press Democrat did a really great article about Steve Lafler and this graphic novel and mentioned this event. I love comix and graphic novels, especially stuff from Fantagraphics. This graphic novel got some really great write ups and I'm looking forward to checking it out.
From the Press Democrat: “Crazy for You” book signing and concert with graphic novelist Steve Lafler and his band Radio Insecto
Friday July 10: Parson Jones and Grace Amulet - Lost Church Santa Rosa $15
More Lost Church goodness! (Even though I am working there, I promise I only post stuff I'm interested in!) I wasn't familiar with either of these acts, so I hit play and I was treated to some cool and different kind of "singer-songwriters." These are not the folks sitting in the corner of the bar and restaurant performing while you eat your dinner and ignore them... They are crafting something special.
Parsons (who I guess is also Kerry Conlan?) has cool, hip hop and looping songs with an indie rock and soul influenced sound.
Amulet's online tracks also have a lot of samples and more of an ethereal vibes that bring to mind Lana Del Rey. From the Lost Church website: For this stripped-back performance, Grace Amulet returns to the songs that first inspired her to write, alongside intimate piano-accompanied originals centered on storytelling and voice.
Saturday July 11: Ok Comedy Presents: North Bay Krushers Roast Battle - $15
Again, I promise this isn't just a Lost church fan account, but they're doing some really interesting stuff and I promise to only promote the stuff I'm really interested in. ;)
On my first night working at the Lost Church, I encountered Ok Good Comedy's Chantavy Tornado & Abram Rabinowitz. Immediately I clicked in with their sense of hustle and what they are trying to produce. They're doing the good work, and learning how to promote their events better! I expect big things from them in the future!
These Roast Battles are hugely popular in SF, Oakland and Sactown! This is going to be a huge night for laughter as each comic roasts each other, the crowd and more!
Four battles. One winner. $100 prize plus trophy that carries into the next round.
Local Wine Cunty comics and judges holding it down.
High level roast energy, North Bay chaos, nothing safe.
Battles
Oliver Graves vs Abram Rabinowitz, Melissa Christine vs Edith Peng, Brian Holden vs Noah Radke, Fairfield Jonny vs Lilli Johnson
Host: DJ Deks - Featuring: Chantavy Tornado And Miles Olson
Judges: @hvppymille_, @lyssymay03, @laurenblackthegoat, @thiicknikk, @haley_katz
LOOKING FOR MORE UPCOMING EVENTS?
Make sure you visit SmartMouthCalendar.com! Also, let me know what I'm missing! What shows and events are you looking forward to in the North Bay? Send them my way and let me know! SmartMouth707@gmail.com!
There is a TON of stuff happening in the area, and many venues, promoters and bands do not advertise much more than an instagram post or two. So there's so much happening off the radar. What cool shows are you planning on going to in the near future? Sound off in the comments!