Mission Mission

Quinn DeVeaux and the Bluebeat Revue bring you back to the time when no one would take your seriously unless you had three hot chicks with long gloves singing backup and pantomiming lyrics. Singer Viola Viola, in particular, has a serious case of high-on-life. You’ll know exactly who I’m talking about when you see her. Revolution Cafe, 22nd and Bartlett. 9pm, no cover, tip lots.

The Nice Guy Trio will be playing their own arrangements of tunes by local composers and songwriters of all genres, including Marcus Shelby, Meklit Hadero, Aaron Novik, Dina Maccabee, and Dave Ricketts. The Red Poppy Art House on 23rd and Folsom. 8pm, $10-15 cover.

Everyone’s favorite yodelin’ Japanese-immigrant cowboy Toshio Hirano will be performing his monthly gig at the Rite Spot Cafe on 17th and Folsom. Ask him about how much he loves Jimmie Rodgers, and be prepared to have your ass charmed off. 9-12am, no cover, tip the man.

Aw hell, why am I even bothering to post today? You are all probably on your way to the park with a Rhea’s sandwich and a six pack of blue-ribbon-winning beer.

Chasing the Moon is a great video podcast that highlights local bay area bands. The performances are filmed in HD and recorded in a professional studio one block away from the best Vietnamese sandwiches in town. I’m serious about the quality of these productions; they make Nirvana: Unplugged In NY look like it was filmed in Super 8. Ok maybe not, but that shit looks good considering their budget of no budget.

In the pagan tradition, the podcast is posted every full moon, which works out to just about every 28 days.

This past Saturday, I was fortunate enough to sit in during their session with the Nice Guy Trio, a very unique jazz group on the Mission’s own Porto Franco Records.

The Nice Guy Trio in action. I had little reason not to believe that they are actually nice.

Producer Brian Berberich and recording engineer Scott McDowell do all of this work out of the goodness of their music-lovin’ hearts. They see is as an opportunity to keep their industry chops up and promote the awesome local music that’s going on.

The atmosphere at the session was really professional and they seemed to have things streamlined well. If they were stressed out, they hid it well. Once things got rolling the whole filming and performance took less than an hour.

Spectators sat in a corner of the studio on comfy cushions from the couch and were asked to stay quiet during recording. Restraining applause until "CUT!" was actually really difficult and awkward.

Chasing the Moon is expanding to do monthly premiere events with live performances at the newly opened Viracocha on 21st and Valencia. Their first was on Jan. 29 and you can expect to see more soon. The Nice Guy Trio premiere will be in 2 or 3 months.

Thanks to Brian, Scott, and the Chasing the Moon team for hosting and chatting with me! More pictures after the jump.

Update: Brian had this to add:

Elijiah Pahati is actually the biggest reason Chasing the Moon is so great.  He is the Director, Director of Photography, and Editor, and is why everything looks good.  He is also our partner, every bit the owner Scott and I are.

So yeah, props are due to the Directory Elijiah Pahati! Sorry for leaving him out.

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