Notes from a fan . . . I was in San Francisco over the weekend -- primarily to see the Meters, a band which I have a tremendous affinity for. The second record I ever bought (hold on to your socks, kids) in 1969 was "Cissy Strut." When musicians talk about a beat being "in the pocket," this record kind of defines that. The show was at the Fillmore and ran a little late because of technical problems in the first set, but I thoroughly enjoyed it
Ziggy Modeliste has emerged as a real showman and really played it up for his hometown crowd (he's lived in the Bay Area for years), Leo Nocentelli played guitar faster and with more charm than anyone has a right to expect, George Porter -- what can I say, the master of funk bass, and Art Neville is looking and sounding great. They're finishing this mini-tour on Friday night at the new Nokia Theater in Times Square. Although obviously things are still in flux I would expect they'll play Mardi Gras and Jazzfest next year in N.O., and maybe do more touring. I'm pretty much not interested in reunion gigs generally, but these guys are worth seeing and they play fiery hot . . . The show ran late so I went over to Club RX (where yrs truly actually played a little at the tenth anniversary of the Mad techno weekly last Friday), but got there too late to hear John Tejada and Justin Maxwell's live set. On to the "Gingerbread Warehouse" -- this place is set up as an art-gallery-warehouse-speakeasy in the industrial area off Cesar Chavez. Tables, chairs, a bar with $3 setups and bring-your-own- brown-bag-baby, which sounds good but I have to say it was rather antiseptic, and the place was only half-full and not very much excitement. Delano Smith was playing when I arrived, pretty OK but not thrilling. Mike Clark started around 2:45 and I stayed until he finished at 4:30. The last 45 minutes were pretty darn good and he had at least a few of us out on the floor. I have to say, though, that alcohol has become the focal point of the dance music scene in SF to an unprecedented extent. Don't get me wrong, I like mine as much as anyone, but instead of contributing to party-hearty looseness it just has become a big distraction. So I hope Delano and Mike had a good time, and it was worth it being in SF this weekend with the 75 degree sunny weather no matter what, but I do wish there was more of a crowd ready for serious music action. Fred
