Buy tickets here. Share the event on Facebook here.
Reasons to not miss this:
1) The Mod Theme – Dressing up like a Mod means dressing up very nicely, like the Mod couple on our flier. How can you miss an event full of super attractive people dressed to the nines? It also means dancing to awesome Mod music DJ sets courtesy of Danny from The Frail!
2) The Blumenbooth – Our first Rock Hop in San Jose had an amazing photo booth provided by Aaron Blumenshine and it was a huge success (See photos from the last one here!). It only made sense to have him return for the San Francisco Rock Hop to capture everyones awesome Modwear.
3) The super solid line-up. Aside from yours truly this Rock Hop features performances from Finish Ticket, Picture Atlantic and Coast Jumper. It doesn’t really get any better than that.
Can’t wait to see you there! Over and out.
-Zen
[ RSVP on Facebook | Buy Tickets ]
We are so stoked for the theme of this one, it’s going to be lots of fun!
MIX CD SWAP -
Bring a Mix CD to trade and discover some new music! Drop one off when you arrive and then pick one up when you leave. Your CD must have a minimum of 10 tracks. You can decorate the CD however you like but you MUST INCLUDE A TRACK LISTING. You can only take a CD if you bring one!
DJ SET’S BY BLACKLIGHT FINDINGS -
Want to help create the playlist for the night? You can! DJ Lia of Blacklight Findings will be spinning REAL VINYL throughout the night. Bring your own Vinyl marked with the appropriate track you wish to have played and we’ll queue it up! You can submit up to three songs.
See you there!
-Zen
We’ve got a slew of home-base shows happening throughout March and April that’re worth checking out! Here’s the run down.
9pm. Free. All ages, with a full bar. Will Sprott from The Mumlers will also be playing an acoustic set. This is ERIN KEELYS FIRST SHOW BACK.
9pm. 21+. $5. A night of 21+ fun with our pals in Evolutia, Sunrunners and Coast Jumper.
9pm. 21+. $6. HELL&LULA (featuring ex-PDNF bassist Matt/Russell Henson) from Los Angeles joins us and Girl Named T for this very special San Francisco show!
6:30pm. All ages. Join us for a free performance AND grab some free digital downloads while you’re at it!
If you wanna get snuggly and personal with the PDNF crew now is the time as soon summer will be here and the time of extravaganza’s and tours will be upon us!
Love,
Zen
I keep trying over and over again to be a good blogger. I have all these ideas and say to myself “This week! This week is the week I get retrospective and look back and talk about 2011 and what a year it was! Oh what a year indeed!”.
But then I write some songs. Book some shows. Work on a music video. Plan to book the next Rock Hop. Other things happen and my poor little blog falls to the wayside. I promise I’ll do better. I swear.
In the meantime, we’re playing some music at Hotel Utah in San Francisco on February 4th with some really great bands and we really hope you’ll be there.
I made the flyer. You can RSVP here. You can uStream the whole event on the day right here. You can buy tickets here.
Love,
Zen
[Get Tickets] [Join the Facebook Event]
When Nik Bartunek from Picture Atlantic and I get together to talk it’s usually about one of two things: Dungeons and Dragons or how we can give back and help improve the local music scene. We’ve bounced a bunch of ideas around – for awhile we had a monthly local-band-meet-up planned where we would get together with local musicians we respected and schmooze. And by schmooze I mean bar-be-que and play games. We had one of these band-meet-ups, a small affair with the guys from WORD and Curious Quail and then both our bands got really busy and the thought kind of fizzled out.
One thing Nik and I have always wanted to do though is start our own series of events. We would book really great bands and we would charge as little as we could. We wouldn’t put Metal bands next to Acoustic acts and we wouldn’t make out of town bands play first. The other bands would all be musicians we knew and respected and the venue would be somewhere cool and hip that allowed for all ages shows and was down to be of service to the local community. We’d cut out the middle man, there’d be no booker or promoter other than us – that way we could charge less at the door and ensure that the out of town bands got the gas money they need no matter their draw. We’d cook up lots of fun giveaways and do our best to make sure everyone attending felt like they really got their money worth – like it was something special, a night to remember.
Well, that event is happening – we’ve given it a 50′s theme because we like dressing up nice and we’ve dubbed it The Rock Hop. It’s the first in what we hope will be a very long series and we’re pulling out all the stops to kick it off right. We’ll be opening the event, Picture Atlantic will be closing it and sandwhiched in the middle will be our very very good friends Ghost and the City and incredibly talented out-of-towners Fierce Creatures from Fresno. Our amazingly talented friend and photographer Aaron Blumenshine will be showing off some of his work and also providing a Photobooth (complete with goofy props) for people to snap their photo in. Psycho Donuts has graciously offered to donate a couple dozen donuts which we will be giving away to the first people through the door and SLG Publishing will be giving away free comics as well.
Speaking of SLG Publishing, we couldn’t be doing this without the support of them and their Art Boutiki. Nik and I have seen several shows at Art Boutiki and it’s a great venue – small, intimate and all ages. It’s tucked away behind a comic book shop and has just enough of that kitchy cool vibe to be hip.
Our hope is for future Rock Hops to also include plenty of fun sponsors, artists, friends and of course more amazing local and out of town acts. Maybe one day you’ll even see a Rock Hop San Francisco or a Rock Hop Los Angeles, who knows!
Anyways, we really hope you will join us in San Jose on this amazing night. We truly feel like we’re at the beginning of something great with a formula that we feel should be obvious. An event series that caters to what really matters: the music and the people who love it.
Magic missile,
-Zen
I spoke at lengths about how much I enjoy local music over on our Tumblr. You can read that blog post here:
http://pleasedonotfight.tumblr.com/post/4335217493/local-shows
But aside from just enjoying it, local music is important. Moreso, local art is important. Moreso, all ages local art events are important. Why? It’s a way for our communities to really connect. I mean really. Not over some big Hollywood blockbuster made in New Zealand or London but over something that is coming from the community – something real and tangible and right here and right now.
Why all ages? Because we need it. Because without all ages events there is nowhere for adults and teens and kids to co-mingle as equals. Kids and teenagers are limited to school yards and family homes and over-patrolled movie theaters where adults are forced into authority figure roles. Without a space to exist together – even if just for a brief moment – the younger generation loses respect for the older generation and the older generation can’t even begin to fathom how to interact with the younger like normal human beings. We have a lot to learn from each other and as things are we have no way to do that. Public spaces created by the community, for the community, away from giant corporations and heartless mainstream vendors slinging the latest cool energy drink are imperative to our ability to have a free-thinking educated united populace. There, I said it. It’s preachy but it’s true!
So our own little effort to create a slice of that has been in the form of Open Mic Night at The Grind in Redwood City, CA. It’s a space for anyone to come and perform their art, music, comedy, poetry, dance routine … you name it. Real people giving you a real slice of themselves at an incredible local business. It’s been running for almost a year and a half now and I love it. This month we have Rin Tin Tiger as the featured act and we would love to see you there as well, whether you’re performing or simply sharing in the experience.
I should also mentioned that this Friday’s benefit for Raphael House of San Francisco at the Dolores Park Cafe in San Francisco is our last official show with Girl Named T as she will be focusing on her own project from here on out. I know, I know, we said that about Erin and yes it’s true, you will probably see T again. For us at least she will be around, filming some videos and also recording songs for our new album so it doesn’t really feel like the right time to say goodbye. That being said, it’s worth mentioning that this is her last show as an official full time member of the band so that we can really pay honor to all the work she’s done with us. T, it’s been such a pleasure, you’re such an incredible talent and I look forward to working with you a ton more in the future.
Much respect,
- Zen
Back in March Mimi was critically injured by a drunk driver. In response her friends and family created ‘Rise and Shine Mimi’ to have a on-line presence and place for her supporters to gather and share their thoughts and feelings. Quickly – as all really important things do – it grew bigger and bigger and Rise and Shine Mimi partnered with Friends Against Drunk Driving and now here we are ready to play this fantastic benefit concert. I almost can’t count all the great friends who will be performing with us from Girl Named T (The main project of our own T. Sawi!) to Curious Quail to Rin Tin Tiger.
We’ll be going on right at 5pm and kicking things off so be sure to show up early and stay for the whole thing. It’s for a good cause and it’s going to be a good time!
-Zen
