I was living upstairs at Club Foot when the manager of the club passed away. It was organized as a church and I became a mail-order reverend in order to keep the club open. I started booking most of the shows.
In the basement there was a rehearsal room, where Chris Isaac and Silvertone practiced for awhile. Many great artists came through including Club Foot Orchestra, Mark Eitzel and the American Music Club.
I booked rappers who came out from New York because there was no rap out here yet. For awhile, nobody else would book rap in San Francisco. Those guys just performed with 2 mics, one guy doing beat box and the other rapping. After the shows, they'd stand on the street for hours and continue.
Next door on the left was a little grocery store that sold fried chicken and sweet potato pie I lived on (Club Foot was on industrial Third street near Hunter's point.) Next door to the right was the SF chapter of the Hells Angels. They came to our shows all the time and bought beer. But they told me it'd be dangerous to come to their parties. They threw a big one a couple times a year. hundreds of bikes would be parked there. One block down was the police station, across the street was a warehouse and on the other side was an abandoned dock.
For six months, I was the general manager of Ashkenaz in Berkeley, CA. In that time, I increased revenue, improved the designs of posters and the monthly calendar, and diversified the bookings. I put in an average of 80 hours a week on a 30 hour a week salary. So I was rather relieved when someone else became available to take the position. It was fun but I'd rather write songs.
I'm currently managing the West Coast Songwriter East Bay Showcase at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley. It's once a month on Mondays and always has some great new talent. Come by and don't forget to say hi to me.
6 comments:
In the 80's, I promoted shows at various venues in San Francisco including Valencia Tool and Die, Sound of Music, Klub Komotion, Tenth Street Hall.
I was living upstairs at Club Foot when the manager of the club passed away. It was organized as a church and I became a mail-order reverend in order to keep the club open. I started booking most of the shows.
In the basement there was a rehearsal room, where Chris Isaac and Silvertone practiced for awhile. Many great artists came through including Club Foot Orchestra, Mark Eitzel and the American Music Club.
I booked rappers who came out from New York because there was no rap out here yet. For awhile, nobody else would book rap in San Francisco. Those guys just performed with 2 mics, one guy doing beat box and the other rapping. After the shows, they'd stand on the street for hours and continue.
Next door on the left was a little grocery store that sold fried chicken and sweet potato pie I lived on (Club Foot was on industrial Third street near Hunter's point.) Next door to the right was the SF chapter of the Hells Angels. They came to our shows all the time and bought beer. But they told me it'd be dangerous to come to their parties. They threw a big one a couple times a year. hundreds of bikes would be parked there. One block down was the police station, across the street was a warehouse and on the other side was an abandoned dock.
For six months, I was the general manager of Ashkenaz in Berkeley, CA. In that time, I increased revenue, improved the designs of posters and the monthly calendar, and diversified the bookings. I put in an average of 80 hours a week on a 30 hour a week salary. So I was rather relieved when someone else became available to take the position. It was fun but I'd rather write songs.
For 3 years, I worked doing administrative work at Palookaville in Santa Cruz.
For a year, I worked part-time administrating at Storyville in San Francisco.
I'm currently managing the West Coast Songwriter East Bay Showcase at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley. It's once a month on Mondays and always has some great new talent. Come by and don't forget to say hi to me.
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