Well, hello, lovers of music and culture. We are Under the Stars, a quasi-weekly column that stays on message with strong-ass opinions, presenting new music releases, upcoming shows, and other adjacent items. We keep it moving, hustling with the changes, thinking outside the margins. We’ve been doing this for five years… Spend some time with us…
Just a couple of odds and ends before we dive in… The first line-up announcement for the free Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival (October 2-4) dropped, and as usual, it’s a doozy. Get into Steve Earle, My Morning Jacket, Hot Tuna, Emmy Lou Harris, Molly Tuttle, Hiss Golden Messenger… check out more here.
As reported in Mission Local, the district will add a music listening venue this fall. After nearly two years of vacancy, the former Chase Bank branch at 2500 Mission will reopen as Hidden Frequency, a small, intimate music venue hosting immersive listening sessions and electronic and experimental music. Hidden Frequency founder Naz Khorram, also owns Arcana, the wine bar-plant store right next door. Nice to have an additional experimental music spot in the Mission.
Governor Newsom recently signed a bill making May 17 officially Bruce Lee Day, marking the moment he returned to San Francisco from Hong Kong at age 18—as Lee was born here and received birthright citizenship, which led to the launch of his acting and martial arts career in the US. Shouts to SF for formally recognizing this global icon.
And we just want to send a big wave of love to actor Danny Glover, who announced earlier this month that he has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Ever the rooted and connected-to-the-community San Franciscan, back in the day, Glover used to drive to the now-closed fish store at 2687 Mission Street, Wang Fat Fish Market, to personally get his catch of the day (at the time, they were one of the best fish stores in the city, which indeed really smelled like… well… a fish store). He was always polite when people in the neighborhood recognized him, waiting in line like everyone else, tending to his seafood purchases. That’s right: Star of Lethal Weapon and The Color Purple, shopping for his own fish.
We love ya, Danny Glover.
THE WOMACK SISTERS AT THE GREEK THEATRE, BERKELEY, AUGUST 15
Sometimes you see a combination, but the concept doesn’t quite materialize until you can hear it for yourself. We wrote about the upcoming and absolutely captivating The Womack Sisters self-titled album a few months back. But sometimes you need to refresh your memory to really grasp it. What can the amalgam fusion of siblings BG, Zeimani, and Kucha Womack and the production tactics of Gabriel Roth (aka Bosco Mann), co-owner of Daptone Records, generate? I’ll opt for the term bliss.
“If I Let You” is an elevated 60s-style soul-Latin combo, fully lived in and worked out by the distinct guiro-meets-organ shuffle step and the sisters’ vocals wafting over the top. It’s what classic Daptone does. Pre-order here and catch them along with Thee Sacred Souls and La Lom at The Greek here.
THE ODYSSEY CULT, “THE YETI’S EYES” FROM VOL. 3 (SILVER CURRENT RECORDS)
You know that feeling when you get a déjà vu jolt running through your body? Like you’ve heard something before, in a fever dream? Familiar, but it’s kind of untamed and just so far out. Welp, I got a good shot of that pristine chi listening to the outer-rock high-propulsion single from the soon-to-be-released album Vol. 3 by The Odyssey Cult.
Members of this self-described “all-star slugfest,” including several of SF’s finest musicians: guitarist Ethan Miller, Zoh Amba, Brigid Dawson, Paula Frazer, Inna Showalter, Anthony Taibi, and drummer Steve Shelly, notably of Sonic Youth and the recent “let it rip” supergroup of Orcutt, Shelley, and Miller.
Recorded at El Studio in SF by Phil Becker, the latest from this decade-old project returns with the right type of pummeling psych to light up the Andromeda constellations in the autumn skies. Pre-order here.
THE WRONG GIRLS
We used to be a proper country. A land made up of five-dollar foot-longs. Respectable baseball teams that focused on baseball, not writing repugnant ramblings on hats. And every summer, we’d be treated to those ever-golden stoner comedy flicks. Well, you can thank writer-director Dylan Meyer for the upcoming, hilarious and fantastic-looking The Wrong Girls.
It’s based on Meyer’s friendship with producer Maggie McLean, “I kept making this joke during production that it was my memoir, which is very funny when you watch the movie because there’s giant squids and telepathy and all kinds of other stuff in it,” she says in the film’s press notes. “But it feels very autobiographical to me when I watch it.”
Oh shit, my bad. Buried the lede. Starring Kristen Stewart as Frankie and Alia Shawkat as Molly, who play a duo that end up on a harsh one—but manage to maintain their classic “whut” stoner chillness despite being two weeks late on rent and having less than an ounce of weed on their person. I’ve shared apartments with people whose daily stakes were exactly just that. So this feels uncomfortably familiar, which is why I’m quite stoked it’s just a film. Not a monthly reality that resembles seven circles of slackerdom.
Now, some of y’all goobers (and you know who you are) went in on Supergirl. I’m having to do my own personal research on the matter because there’s just no way Supergirl can be any more corny than last year’s Superman. Let’s keep it a bean. Superman and that whole “punk rawk” love friction point? Corny McGoofball.
So I forbid you to come for Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat in a stoner flick. We need this type of “hilarity ensues” situation. Plus with LaKeith Stanfield, Kate McKinnon, Geena Davis, Tony Hale, Zack Fox, plus Seth Rogen and Kumail Nanjiani as the voices of Frankie’s and Molly’s cats? Sheeeit. I’m high already. The movie comes out August 14.
DIRECTIONS IN STEREO AT 540 BAR WITH DJ CIRCUIT 73 & GUILLERMO OF SWEATER FUNK
This has become the end-of-month hang. You check in to see what condition your condition is in. Directions in Stereo cues up an eclectic, sonic backdrop for the evening by way of vinyl records. Celebrating life, liberty, and the pursuit of positive vibrations. This month, the theme is wide open, a perfect setup for two DJs who can flip styles professionally with ease and voice. Expect the unexpected. Yes, there will be funk, soul, jazz, rock, pop, reggae, and more…but the combinations remain infinite.
Directions In Stereo is a human-curated sound and vision event going down in the heart of the Inner Richmond at 540 Bar in San Francisco, purveyors of local craft beer, seasonal cocktails, quarterly art shows, and vintage pinball machines. 540’s inclusive nature and community vision are a perpetual favorite for both residents and tourists alike.
“THE MUSIC NEVER STOPS: A REX FOUNDATION BENEFIT & TRIBUTE TO BOB WEIR” AT THE GREEK THEATRE, FRI/31-AUGUST 1
Anchored by Dark Star Orchestra’s return to one of the Bay Area’s most meaningful Grateful Dead stages, this weekend that coincides with Jerry Garcia’s birthday on August 1st and the beginning of The Days Between, the annual stretch between Garcia’s birth and the anniversary of his passing, when Dead Heads from all over descend upon Fog City to reflect on such a compact legacy.
For nearly 30 years, Dark Star Orchestra has occupied a unique place in that extended family, channeling historic Dead moments with love and unbridled on-the-spot passion, similar to the way Jerry and the boys would work out those vibrations and frequencies swirling in the air during the performance. Over 3,400 shows performed since forming in 1997 and still going, DSO has become a bridge between eras, offering longtime fans a way back into the feeling of specific Grateful Dead nights while giving younger audiences a firsthand experience of the communal ritual that continues to surround this music.
On Friday, July 31st, DSO will be joined by Melvin Seals & JGB featuring Jazz Mafia Horns, and on August 1, Garcia’s birthday, DSO will recreate the Grateful Dead’s August 1, 1973, Roosevelt Stadium show in full, the first time the Dead performed on Jerry’s birthday. That night will also feature Peter Rowan and the Sam Grisman Project performing music from Old & In The Way, bringing in another major piece of Garcia’s musical life through bluegrass, folk, and the Grisman family connection.
Proceeds will benefit the Rex Foundation, which has carried forward the Grateful Dead’s philanthropic spirit for over four decades by supporting grassroots work across the arts, education, environmental causes, Indigenous rights, social justice, and community-based change. Grab tickets here.
