Hey hey! Wouldn’t you know it, the Everything Ecstatic Classic Simpsons Trivia night is back! And this time, it’s at SF’s very own version of Barney’s Bowl-A-Rama, Mission Bowling Club! And it’s not just a night of trivia, we’ve also got a very special themed Simpsons menu (Steamed Hams! Sloppy Jimbo’s! Duff Beer!), cocktails (yes, the Flaming Moe shot specials will be back), crazy cool prizes (you bet!), episodes in between rounds and even VIP bowling lanes (The V stands for Very.)
To celebrate this momentous achievement in the field of excellence, the dinner and drinks menu for the evening will consist of Simpsons dishes inspired by Laurel Randolph’s awesomely outrageous “The Unofficial Simpsons Cookbook.” It’s a damn, hell, ass fantastic cookbook with LEGIT recipes for your fave Simpsonian foods like Little Meatloaf Men, Sloppy Jimbo’s and even a Space Age Moon Waffle. We’ll be giving away cookbooks and bottles of Uncle Moe’s Secret Hobo Spices (among other cromulent prizes) to celebrate the Bay Area release party of the book and this can’t miss function. (FULL MENU BELOW!)
We have discounts on team ticket packs, so gather Lenny to your Carl, your Holy Rollers, Nelson, Martin and Milhouse to your Bart on the Road, or just a bunch of S-M-R-T barflies and come get down on Sunday, October 3rd, for what will surely feel like being in Springfield for a night.
Your pin pals,
Everything Ecstatic and Mission Bowling Club
Note: The event layout will be intentionally socially distant from team-to-team and proof of vaccination is required for entry.
(Ticket price includes entry to event. All food and drink charged separately on-site.)
With the world at a standstill, I figure a good way to keep projecting the sound of the Bay from where I’m standing, is with this little monthly feature that y’all can look forward to from here on out. Look for a few deeper track and artist highlights, along with newsletter style links to other music-related happenings in the Bay Area at the bottom.
Follow Everything Ecstatic on Twitter or Facebook and support the Bay Area music scene! Much love. — AS
Baybs – “Would You Dare”
Out today, “Would You Dare” is the lead single off of Baybs’ debut EP, Introvertigo. Fronted by SF’s Craig Jacobs, Baybs emerged last year and I was happy to have booked them on stage at Amnesia a couple of times. The EP is coming out June 11th on local faves Text Me Records, and I’m stoked to see Text Me staying committed to indie rock along with the loads of hip-hop that they’ve been churning out.
“Would You Dare” is polished slacker folk rock, backed by singers Melissa Russi and Chloe Zelma Studebaker (of Zelma Stone) and Jacobs’ hook is a real nice payoff. The track is produced by Timothy Vickers who’s sporting a golden touch on the boards as of late. Jacobs describes this music as a salve for fits of agoraphobia and social anxiety: “The times I felt like literally jumping out of my skin, the only thing that helped was picking up a guitar and creating a melody and building a composition from there.”
Waterstrider – “Liquid”
I’ve always half-joked that Oakland-based Waterstrider’s Nate Salman has an impossible voice. He registers eye-popping high notes and it’s even more otherworldly live. With a spectral electronica beat, “Liquid” sounds like it could be playing in a spaceship rave with Salman’s vocals ranging over a chaotic light show. Salman, who’s been exploring the building blocks of his existence and identity constructs as of late, has this to say: “The song describes a vision of hope rising out of fear. In this time of disconnection, uncertainty, and isolation I am aiming to reassure others (and myself) that we are not alone.”
Sour Widows – Twin Peaks Sessions
This third highlight comes from Oakland’s Sour Widows, who put out their stellar debut EP on February 28th. And now last week, the band released a stripped-down Twin Peaks Session featuring just singers Maia Sinaiko and Susanna Thomson on guitar on a rooftop overlooking San Francisco from Twin Peaks. They played renditions of songs “Whole Lotta Nothing” and “Low Doser,” which are memorable for the way they sound as they are for the way the Twin Peaks Sessions video series is produced; you feel the crisp fog overhead rolling parallel to the tunes.
I love what Twin Peaks Sessions have been doing in featuring Bay Area bands in this serene, birds-eye setting. It’s a super DIY operation, but the sound and video quality are top notch. Peep the Sour Widows session below and hit up the Twin Peaks YouTube channel here.
Producer Wax Roof has worked with some of Bay Area hip-hop’s best. Now, he’s released his own EP, Top Floor, featuring appearances from Caleborate, Ymtk, theMIND and more.
Peep the saucy new single from SF darkwave pop duo NRVS LVRS, “Prom Night Blues.”
Do-it-all producer, pianist and MC Kev Choice just released his albumcreated primarily during shelter-in-place and yes, it’s called Social Distancing. Check out this piece on Choice by Emma Silvers in the SF Chronicle Datebook section. (Also, big shouts to Kev Choice’s daughter, Anya, a basketball star at Cardinal Newman HS who has committed to play ball next year at my dear UC Santa Barbara. Go Gauchos!)
The new P-Lo video for “Get Lit” features a collage of video footage from fans dancing to the jam. It’s dorky AF, but it’s a cool look at how multi-cultural the Bay Area hip-hop fanbase is and the man writes a hook with the best of ’em.
Paris is the setting for Pamela, the new short film from astronauts, etc. frontman Tony Peppers, Chaz Bear of Toro Y Moi and the Berkeley-based Company Studio. Peppers is the film’s main character, shrouded in mystique as he courses through the city mindlessly breathing and exploring in a lovelorn state.
The film, which comes across like an elaborate mood builder for the eventual introduction of Peppers and Bear’s new track, “Metropolitan” is shot using a Super 8 camera and is riddled with modern impressionist nostalgia for the most Parisian minutiae: A top floor patio smoke, spooning the foam of a sidewalk cafe cappuccino, a stroll through an art museum, deep breaths over a red wine lunch and having a think seated on the edge of the Seine; all with the same sense of calm.
The cinematography (from Bear and Samantha Sartor) experiments with inside out distance captures. One shot focuses on Peppers walking out onto the street, then zooms out to reveal the building’s full imposing facade. Another begins focused on pages of a book, then pans out to show Peppers reading under a tree in a park. The intention is always to give more windows into the essence of the mind in Paris, from different vantage points.
All in all, Pamela serves as an artistic music video for “Metropolitan,” which plays through the film’s denouement as Peppers’ elegant “Pamela’s Theme” score fades down, into a newfound canvas laid down by cathedral bells. The first official track from Peppers and Bear delves deeper into the David Axelrod-esque psychedelia wormholes that Peppers started digging into on astronauts, etc’s 2018 LP Living In Symbol. With the voice of hypnotic waking life stitched through, “Metropolitan” represents an effective convergence of the enveloping keys of astronauts, etc. with a touch of the Toro y Moi groove and we’re left wanting more. Here’s hoping for it…
Hyped to announce the first Everything Ecstatic Presents show of 2020! We’re partnering up with the good peeps at Noise Pop for ZOLA’s album release party at Cafe Du Nord on Thursday, January 23rd.
ZOLA is the musical project of SF native Zola Johnson (not to be confused with Zola Jesus.) She has an elegant and powerful voice that guides her gorgeous indie R&B/pop songwriting in both English and French. Her debut LP, Don’t Eat, is out Friday, January 24th on KIDinaKORNER Records.
Joining the bill are fierce Bay Area stalwart rocker Emily Afton and SanduNdu, the solo project of EE faves Bells Atlas.
Get to know ZOLA on my Noise Pop Podcast Sound of the Bay LIVE episode and peep her gorgeous Twin Peaks Session atop the San Francisco fog bank below.
On Thursday, December 5th, we hosted three of our favorite Bay Area indie bands in an intimate evening at Amnesia. Better yet, it was a phone-free affair courtesy of our friends at Yondr and everyone felt well…present.
The music was beautiful and our pal Ginger Fierstein was there with her Holga camera to capture some of the show and crowd. I’ve always loved Ginger’s photography because she uniquely captures the magic of a moment. Peep the photos below, some words from Ginger and follow Everything Ecstatic on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on what’s next!
“I try to anticipate feeling and emotional moments when I’m shooting. I only have 12 shots on a roll, so I have to be careful not to waste them. The goal is to make each frame a worthwhile memory for whoever’s in the frame. I think I do a lot of double exposures to extend the life of the roll, but to also try and capture something a little less literal than a straight photograph could.” — (All photos by Ginger Fierstein)
We’re presenting the second “Cult Classic Party” in the Analog Time Machine series with the best Christmas film of them all: Die Hard! Our first ATM party was back in May for the 40th Anniversary of the Warriors and now, we’re super hyped to present THE cult classic holiday movie!
Thursday, December 12th at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco, it’ll be a Die Hard screening + themed beers from Local Brewing Co (Yippie-Ki-Yay IPA and Hans Gruber Lager!) and a pre-show DJ set called “Elevator Music” by Chad Salty!
On Thursday, August 1st, Everything Ecstatic is putting on another show and this time, we’ve teamed up with Yondr to make it phone free! That’s right folks…dude who puts his phone up the second the music starts and records the whole first song? Gone. Homegirl who scrolls through Instagram instead of watching the bands. See ya!
If you’ve gone to a Dave Chappelle or Jack White show recently, you’ve probs seen what Yondr does. They make these little sleeves to pop your phone into at a show so you can’t pull it out ’til it’s over. I know, I know…this is what it’s come to, to ween us away from our phones at live events, but damnit if we don’t need it sometimes. They’re also based out of the Mission and I’m stoked to collab with them on this show…And what I love about booking this showcase, is that it illustrates how it’s not just major acts that benefit from a phone-free experience, it’s local and emerging artists as well (and it’s also just $5 at the door at Amnesia on Valencia St; full details at this link)
With that, here’s a bit about the all-Bay Area lineup!
Salami Rose Joe Louis
Recently signed to Flying Lotus’s Brainfeeder records, Salami Rose Joe Louis is the project of producer/multi-instrumentalist Lindsay Olsen. Her music is a trip into outer space for people who are standing on their own two feet. Dig it.
Foxtails Brigade
A total fucking staple in the Bay Area scene, Foxtails Brigade are a baroque-pop group helmed by singer Laura Weinbach. Collectively, they’ve been putting down one of the strongest live performances in the Bay for a minute.
MPHD
A tech-house producer at his core, MPHD is a shape-shifting DJ who’s a staple in SF. We premiered his Repetition EP last year and it’s a short, but steady slap.
This was a long time coming. Sure, the Hiero Day festival graces Oakland every Labor Day weekend, but Saturday night’s Hiero After Dark party at The Midway in SF represented a far more ambitious event for the Hieroglyphics crew. It was so crucial for the culture and nothing short of a triumph.
We can’t deny the influence that Hiero has on Bay Area hip hop culture. Their legacy is timeless. But building on that legacy by propping up other artists in the Bay and mainstream nightlife culture, is what Hiero After Dark did best. The Midway was an apt massive space for the 2,000+ goers and felt like a hip hop funhouse.
“Tonight was about connecting the new era…” Hieroglyphics’ Pep Love told us. “…connecting the artists with the new wave doing business: venues, promoters, people who curate events… Community and culture is what packs the house and that’s what Hiero does best.”
Everything Ecstatic is crazy excited to partner with Subsonic and Popscene on a new 90’s electronic dance party coming to Amnesia on Saturday, June 8th!
DJ’s Aaron Axelsen (Subsonic) and Spinelli (Everything Ecstatic) will be dropping classic 90’s electronic bombs from acts like Björk, The Chemical Brothers, Air, Roni Size, Everything But The Girl and more!
You can snag pre-sale tickets for $8 and RSVP on Facebook here. One lucky pre-sale ticket purchase will win a very special CD (remember those?) Come party with us. Holler!
Well this is exciting… Everything Ecstatic is presenting a movie at the Mission District’s iconic Roxie Theater! And not just a plain old movie, but a full-blown “cult classic party” celebrating the 40th Anniversary of The Warriors, with an immersive evening of film, music and beer. We like to call this little endeavor, Analog Time Machine.
Here’s the gist: Analog Time Machine is a film, a DJ set to start the evening featuring music from and inspired by the film and themed beers from our friends at Local Brewing Co.
The Show: Thursday, May 23rd at the Roxie Theater on 16th St & Valencia. Music at 845, film at 930. Sharp. Tickets are $15 here.
The Film: Walter Hill’s 1979 cult classic, The Warriors tracks a New York subway gang on a mythic 30-mile journey from the north end of the Bronx to their home turf in Coney Island. Their only obstacle is every street gang in all the five boroughs.
The Music: A 45-minute DJ set by our boy DJ Nutzeffekt, with music from and inspired by the film. Think Joe Walsh’s iconic “In The City” and old school soul-sample-addled Wu-Tang cuts.
The Beer: SOMA’s Local Brewing Company will have fresh cans of their Chasing Haze IPA (a double hazy IPA loaded with Citra hops and a touch of Mosaic and Hollertau Blanc hops too) and Honey Punches of Oats Pale Ale (A Spring seasonal pale made with honey from the beehives on the Fairmont Hotel’s rooftop hives…seriously)
Everything Ecstatic 