Newsletter: Rambling in Healdsburg, Punk Icons, Hip hop games shows & More!
Hello friends, and welcome to Smart Mouth!
Smart Mouth is an email newsletter zine that I, "Dammit" Damian Burford aims to send out every week with local music news and event recommendations, with the occasional profile, interviews or other long reads about the local community. Smart Mouth is an extension of my "Word Of Mouth" column for the Napa Valley Register, with a focus on discovering our new home of Sonoma County.
I've been running a subscriber drive with Facebook & Instagram ads! Once I get 500 subscribers, I'm going to throw a free concert for those subscribers with some of my favorite North Bay artists.
Thank you to everyone who clicked the link and signed up! Sorry for repeating a lot of this information week after week as we build our subscriber base! My goal is to use this newsletter as a resource to learn more about my local community, as well as spread the word about what's happening in town!
It turns out there is a LOT going on in the North Bay, but information and news is scattered, if it exists at all. So we've been working on building a home for all those misfits like myself who are looking for more punk/alternative and counter-culture offerings than your standard night of "Live music."
THE RAMBLE
This past weekend, my life-partner and I made the short pilgrimage to Healdsburg for the BloodRoot Ramble on Saturday June 6th. It was a beautiful community driven event with one of my all-time favorite bands, SPOON headlining. The day was an absolute blast and I rambled on and wrote waaaaay too many words about my experience that day in the Healdsburg sun.
Read about our adventures below:
Damian Burford
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. If you'd like to submit an event please email me at smartmouth707@gmail.com
Thursday night is HAPPENING in the North Bay! There are so many excellent events, that it's hard to chose just one. So fuck it. I chose them all!
Thursday June 11: Agent Orange, The Drowns & The Freak Accident @ Phoenix Theater: Petaluma
Here's where you will more than likely find me on Thursday night. Hanging out at the infamous Phoenix Theater in Petaluma for a night of legendary SoCal surf-punk from Agent Orange! I've had literally hundreds of chances to see Agent Orange over the many years I lived in Colorado, but somehow they always seemed to escape me. This will be my first time watching these punk rock trailblazers and I can't think of a better place to see them than the Phoenix.
I'm equally excited to see Seattle's The Drowns, fronted by my old pal Aaron "Rev" Peters, who I knew from his previous band Success! The Drowns play "Blue Collar Punk Rock" that is in the same vein as One Man Army, Rancid or Dropkick Murphy's with a Pacific Northwestern edge.
Tickets will run $28.99 and are available on the Phoenix Theater's eventbrite page.
Thursday June 11: Whose Rhyme? Hip Hop Gameshow hosted by Dark Matter Lives – Lost Church: Santa Rosa
What the hell is a Hip Hop Gameshow? I have no clue, but count me intrigued! This is something unique and special happening in the area. I'm not familiar with anything else like this happening anywhere, not just the North Bay! If I wasn't already committed to Agent Orange on Thursday, I would be in the back of the room working to experience this damned cool idea!
Described on the Lost Church website, here's what you can expect:
"A live, interactive, improvisational, hip-hop game show where freestyle MC’s play a variety of hip-hop games and the audience becomes part of the show! With live beats by Psychedelic, improvisational Hip Hop duo Dark Matter Lives! Hosted by King Lung and Crystal Mathmatics and featuring Kayatta, The Maine Man and Mr. BMMNM. In collaboration with DKD Productions."
Sounds AWESOME! They have another event happening July 30th, and I'm looking forward to checking it out.
Tickets for this will run you $22.90 from the Lost Church website.
Thursday June 11: Minor Gold – Little Saint: Healdsburg
When I first started building the Smart Mouth curated calendar, I went through and listened to damned near every single band coming through the area. I'm an old punk rocker, but I also love, love, love me some classic Americana, folk & old school country. Little Saint regularly hosts some of the best up and coming artists of those genres, and most of those events are FREE Thursday night concerts.
Minor Gold is the acclaimed duo of Tracy McNeil & Dan Parsons. They will bring their easy brand of acoustic americana folk rock to the Little Saint this Thursday afternoon. Maybe its because I'm listening to their track, "Way To The Sun" as I type this, but I can't help but think it feels like sunshine bottled in a song. They craft something really special and I hope they return to the area soon, when I'm not so damned busy!
This is a FREE event! RSVP at the Little Saint website
Saturday June 13: Jesca Hoop & Faun Fabels – HopMonk Sebastopol, The Abbey
Jesca Hoop is a Santa Rosa native, currently living in Manchester, England! Hoop is currently touring for her newest record, Long Way Home.
Hoop was someone I was not familiar with before stumbling upon her concert listing on KC Turner's website, but I was intrigued as I read in her bio, "Discovered by Tom Waits, and brought on tour by Peter Gabriel."
I was delighted as I found an artist who reminded me of Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, Iron & Wine and a folkier Lana Del Rey.
Faun Fabels from Oakland will open the show with their own brand of dark folk tunes, as well as back Hoop for her set.
Tickets will cost $30.57 from the HopMonk website.
Tuesday June 16: Brett Dennen - Napa Music Hall
Napa Music Hall is the new venue organization that is running the Napa Valley Opera house after the Blue Note was not allowed to renew their lease. After a successful run of BottleRock AfterDark shows, the Music Hall is ready to officially kick off their own music events with Brett Dennen.
Dennen will be performing in the more intimate club space in the downstairs portion of the Music Hall.
I didn't initially recognize his name, but as soon as I hit play I instantly recognizes Dennen's voice. Dennen is an alternative folk-pop singer whose music was everywhere circa 2010. His stuff is reminiscent of Paul Simon, Tom Petty and Ben Folds, while also fitting in well with that daytime talk show crowd that ate up artists such as Jason Mraz, Jack Johnson and John Mayer.
Cool, laid back stuff. If I was still living in Napa, this would be a no-brainer concert to attend. We'll see if I can find the energy on Tuesday to make the trek to Napa!
Tickets will cost you $68.10 with the Napa Music Hall requesting a $20 minimum on food and beverage purchases.
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!
That's it for this week!
We'll be back next week with more show recommendations and more than likely a rambling review of Agent Orange at the Phoenix Theater!
Please reach out and let me know what we've missed for this week!
-Damian