The Scene: Free Live Music in San Francisco

Hello, beautiful readers! I apologize for being absent these last few weeks. The good news is that The Scene is now once again gainfully employed — yay! Paying bills = happy blogger!

That being said, I’m working on re-vamping the writing schedule for The Scene so that you will continue to get the high quality, reliable, and variegated kind of information that you’ve come to expect from this site. Look to April as the resumption of all things The Scene! And I thank you for sticking with me through this transition. It’ll be worth it, I swear!

In the meantime, at the beginning of this post I embedded a little something from The Mummyshots, a band that The Scene will be reviewing (if all goes as planned) in April — enjoy!

Another update: so, I know it was just last week that I made an announcement about how The Scene was gonna work. Truthfully, though, once I put together that first weekly FYI post, the sheer size of the thing was prohibitive! So, let’s try this now:

Every day, I will do one FYI post for the following day. The rest of it should work out just the way I said it would. I just think it’d be better aesthetically for you, Dear Reader, to not have to scroll through pages and pages of text to get to what you wanna know: where the awesome free live music is!

If you have any suggestions, I am all ears! In the meantime, forward, ho!

So, if it’s all right with you, I think we should perhaps take a moment here and just kind of evaluate our relationship. Lemme go first, ’cause I have a lot of things I wanna say.

First, I want you to know that I know that I haven’t been very attentive lately. At least, I know that’s how it must’ve seemed to you, and I’m sorry if you felt neglected or unimportant. The truth of the matter is that I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and planning about us, and perhaps I should’ve included you in that process, but it was just something I think I had to go through on my own, which I’m sure you can understand.

And, so, I think it’s important that you know that I am committed to us, to what we’re doing here, and now I feel like I can make these commitments to you:

1) Every Sunday, I will post an “FYI” item that will list at least two non-DJ-driven and one DJ-driven live music events for each day of that coming week.

2) I will post a “Coming Soon” item every first and third week of the month, which means that I will review a new act every second and fourth week of the month, and I will post those reviews within a week of seeing the show.

3) I will complete and post one interview every month, either with an artist, a venue operator, a booker, or someone otherwise involved with the local live music scene.

4) I will continue to develop this site to include a social network/discussion board, podcasts, and a media library.

5) And, finally, I will continue to encourage all of you to contribute to this site with your recommendations and feedback. Your participation is invaluable to me, and anything that you would like to see in this space…well, let’s just say, I’m listening and eager to please.

That’s it! That’s what I wanted to say. And please feel free to respond; I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject. You can either leave a comment on this site, or feel free to send an e-mail to info@hearfreelivemusic.com. Thank you, all of you, and tomorrow, the new structure shall reign!

 
Bob Dylan – The Times They Are A-Changin’

Hello, all of you beautiful readers and fans! So, I just wanted to let you know that, despite all appearances, The Scene has been hard at work these last couple of weeks. I am formalizing my process in bringing good content and information to you on a daily basis, which is to say that you, Dear Reader, will be able to get some good ideas about where to hear awesome free live music pretty much any day of the week.

“But what if I like things the way they are?” you may ask.

Lemme ‘splain.

All of the reasons why you love The Scene will still be intact: I’ll still be doing reviews, I’ll still be doing interviews, I’ll still be giving you last-minute heads-up and FYIs when appropriate. Plus, you’ll still be getting my signature cunning and witty confabulations. I just want to add a little structure and reliability to the mix, and to offer up more media content and opportunities for you to interact with both The Scene and other readers. The Scene will be more than a resource; it’ll be a community of music lovers, casual or impassioned, and the artists and venues who bring us all together.

Sounds pretty good, no?

Sweet!

And so, with all of that being said, on Monday, February 8th…well, all will be revealed. Sort of like “Lost” season six, but with only slightly less showy special effects.

Peace, babies!

It was a lovely, end-of-summer kind of day here in San Francisco. I was chatting back and forth with a friend of mine about life and unemployment, and how being unemployed is both scary and freeing: somehow, anything seems possible.

At some point during my usual litany of daily job search attempts and his welcomed reassurances that everything will be all right, he asked me point blank, “What do you want to do?”

Hm. Interesting.

And almost as quickly as he asked the question, I knew I had the answer: I want to listen to live music, and then I want to write about it. YES!

Hence, this blog. Welcome! The concept is simple: find places in San Francisco that provide free live music, listen to said music, and write it up for whomever may be interested. This place is where we can all come and share our experiences with live music with each other. True, I get to be Big Dog on this hunt, but I want you, dear reader, to be an active participant in this project.

And, as I get more savvy with blogging and get to know the local scene better, I plan to bring to you not only a written account of shows that I see, but also links to band and venue Web sites; interviews with the artists and venue managers and staff; and audio podcasts with artists, venue staff, and other audience members.

O.K., gang, that’s it for now! You’ll be hearing from me very soon.

Peace.