Category: Music

  • Menlo Park: Drawing rave reviews

    The newish SF Standard is breaking through the SF Comicle news cycle with some different reporting and a conversational style. I get a daily email and click through to interesting pieces which, so far, have been free. They gave a two-thumbs-up to the changes happening in Menlo Park regarding housing and downtown vibrancy especially regarding the restaurant scene. Under this headline

    How a sleepy Peninsula suburb became the Bay Area’s hottest homebuying market

    The Standard notes some interesting things about MP’s Menlo Oaks neighborhood re-development that contrast with B’game.

    The small, tree-lined enclave is pocked with active job sites. Foundations have been poured where modest ranch homes once stood. The transformation has been swift and, for builders and sellers, wildly lucrative. Home values in Menlo Oaks are at all-time highs, according to Zillow, driven by an influx of luxury developers rebuilding the neighborhood house by house.

    The typical home is just shy of $3.2 million, a 4.2% increase over the pandemic-era peak. It’s the biggest price pop across the entire Bay Area. And Menlo Oaks has plenty of company. Of the seven Bay Area neighborhoods currently at their highest-ever values, five are in Menlo Park, according to Zillow’s data.

    It’s hip to be square, at least for home builders. Menlo’s flat, right-angled lots are easy to build on, and the city’s planning process is fairly straightforward by Bay Area standards. A developer who gets one design approved can build others like it fairly quickly.

    Most of the suburb’s housing stock is post-war, meaning demolishing a building won’t bring the same preservationist outrage as tearing down a Victorian. (Or a mostly original Arts & Crafts bungalow, Mission style, Tudor, Eichler or French Normandy as we have in B’game)

    “The good part about having kind of uninteresting architecture is that no one minds,” said Sotheby’s agent Chris Iverson. “‘Oh, you knocked down a ranch house and built a modern farmhouse? OK.’”

    The piece highlights one big developer, Thomas James Homes, that has been very active in Menlo Park (more than 50 projects). I see them scraping the occasional house here in B’game too. But the major difference is the commercial uptick in MP.

    The demographic shift (meaning Boomers selling); Springline’s importation of San Francisco brands like Burma Love, Che Fico, and Barebottle Brewing; plus cultural events at the Guild Theatre, bring a “daily energy” that makes the city feel vibrant well beyond the workday.

    We could use some of that culinary uplift and the Guild Theatre is a nice venue with some fun entertainment that we desperately need, but at the end of the day maybe we’re better off not attracting the scrapers.

  • Interfaith choirs ring true

    Although I am a huge music fan I don’t listen to much choral music outside of church. Upon hearing that there would be an interfaith choir concert at St. Catherine’s on Sunday, I was intrigued and had nothing else to do during our second rainfall of the Fall. What a pleasant surprise the concert proved to be! It was a delight from the opening, somewhat atonal (in a good way) organ solo emanating from the big pipes in St. Cat’s choir loft to the four-choir rendition of Oh Happy Days as the closer.

    I learned that this was the 16th annual concert by the North Peninsula Interfaith Choir. They underestimated how many people would show up such that they were out of programs when I entered so pardon the inexact names of the choirs. St. Paul’s Episcopal church and St. Catherine’s Catholic church represented B’game. San Mateo was represented by the Congregationalist church and the Church of Latter-Day Saints’ choirs. Here’s what it looked like when they all combined for the closer.

  • B’game Live on the Ave

    Yesterday was the second of four consecutive days of music on the Avenue with three bands each day. I stumbled upon the stage yesterday morning and that lead me to figure out what was happening later in the day. I wasn’t alone in my serendipitous listening as I watched Sheryl and the Pretenders and Red Hot and the Saltines perform. About a dozen friends stopped by to say hi and most of them also stumbled into the event either that day or the prior day. So here’s your PSA about today and tomorrow. The event is hosted by the City and the Chamber of Commerce whose Event calendar is here.

    In chatting with Mayor Peter Stevenson, we agreed that by next year the “town square” should be complete and we can move the stage off the street and get better acoustics than the solid wall of the Apple store. Both bands were very good. Red Hot is a female singer from Millbrae and she and the Saltines covered everything from Seals & Croft to The Who. Here’s them near the end of their set as dusk set in.

    bgame live

  • “A Walk With Wine” draws a huge crowd

    With lovely B'game weather on a Friday afternoon, wine lovers and those who just like a good party were out in force for "A Walk With Wine".  The DBID is to be congratulated on a huge success.  30 merchants poured wine and chatted up the attendees all of whom were in fine spirits.  I went into several establishments that I pass all the time but had never visited.  That's the point.  Penflora Designs, Margaret O'Leary and Del'Oliva all made positive first impressions.  There were bands at Coconut Bay for the check-in and under the pergola across from the Apple store.  That band, called Edgehill, was composed of all local parents who live on or around Edgehill Dr. and apparently have kids at BIS.  They were good and I would have loved to hear more, but the clink of wine bottles called further up the Avenew.  Seeing lots of locals gave me a "It's still a small town" boost.  Here's Edgehill.  If anyone knows more about them, please add a comment.

    Edgehill band

  • Peanuts and Vince Guaraldi in B’game

    The B'game Historical Society had standing room only on Wednesday at the Lane room for a presentation about the history of the Mendelson/Melendez production company and the Charlie Brown TV specials.  Voice readers know the company is born and bred Burlingame and may recall when Lee Mendelson himself did a presentation back in 2013 here.

    This time around Lee's sons, Sean and Jason, focused in on the music that accompanied the various TV specials.  The driving force behind the music was local composer and jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi who passed away in 1976.  After the sons did some archival digging in various places, the original tapes of the Peanuts music were located, remastered and repressed (on bio-vinyl no less!).  It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown! is the current release.  Originally recorded in the famous Wally Heider Studios in EssEff, it was the twelfth Peanuts score by Guaraldi.  I won't attempt to tell the whole story that can be found in the liner notes, but Linus continues the proselytizing that began with A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965.

    The story Sean told about how the Christmas special came about was pure local gold.  The TV sponsors (mainly Coca-Cola) had turned down another of Lee Mendelson's shows but offered him a chance to fill a Christmas slot if he could give them a script in a couple of days.  He rushed back to his partner Bill Melendez and to Charles Schultz who pulled the script together over a weekend.  Guaraldi put the music together and Lee added the lyrics on the back of a napkin.  The Coke execs were unimpressed, but Lee told them to let their families decide if they liked it and the classic was born.  That's the short version.  To get the long version, you hadda be there.

    Peanuts presentation

  • KCSM 60th Anniversary: A movie and more music

    Last night I was fortunate to attend the premier of a brand-new movie documentary about the 60-year evolution of KCSM into the worldwide jazz destination station it is today.  91.1 FM is a local jewel.  Thanks to streaming off of KSCM.org or just saying "Alexa, play KCSM" that jewel is now listened to around the world.  And it's not just the station playing a highly curated mix of jazz, blues and R&B; the annual concert Jazz on the Hill that returned in 2013 after Covid subsided is one of the best things about summer in the Bay Area as we noted here and here.

    Fortunately, Palo Alto Online got an even earlier preview and reporter Peter Canavese was able to take extensive notes, so I don't have to try to summarize the movie.  You can read his lengthy review here.  That leaves me free to share some of the post movie Q&A session with a panel of 15 KCSM announcers (they prefer that to "DJ").  With Chris Cortez asking the questions and vocalist Tiffany Austin sitting in after her participation in the movie, we got a rare survey of how these announcers migrated to KCSM over time, especially after KJAZ folded and donated its huge library to KCSM.  A couple viewed San Mateo as a bit of a bumpkin location to work but came anyway, some came up through the student ranks from the college and others saw the passion of their predecessors and wanted to be a part of it.  The challenges local jazz musicians have getting heard was a theme — music director Jesse "Chuy" Varela listens to all submissions, but neither he nor the station dictate what gets played.

    It was noted that the announcer ranks were a bit long in the tooth as was the audience.  "Keeping Jazz Alive" takes care and feeding.  The internship program could be expanded and the worldwide reach, along with the movie buzz, will hopefully help fundraising and student participation.  I asked the station manager, Dr. Robert Franklin, about the plans for distributing the movie.  It will run at the SF Indiefest in February and the DVD will be a gift during the next pledge drive.  Hopefully Netflix will pick it up as well.  We're lucky to have KCSM as our home station and these globally recognized on-air voices as its curators.

    KCSM Announcers

  • Topgolf: Is the cash cow running low on milk?

    We noted the news that Callaway and Topgolf were looking to get a divorce here on the last Topgolf post.  I didn't fully catch that the financial struggles were on the Topgolf side instead of the equipment (Callaway) side, but a WSJ piece lays it all out.  The entertainment center business (i.e. the hi-tech driving range) is good–just not quite as good as it has been.  There are big hopes in City Hall that Topgolf will drive serious tax revenue allowing the city to shoot for the green with a smooth pitch and sink some long putts.  But…..

    Serious golfers are reliably showing up on golf courses, spending money on their equipment and golf balls. But recreational players are no longer as keen on shelling out some $70 an hour on a driving range for fun these days.  Lately, the Topgolf business has been hit hard by slowing consumer spending. Same-venue sales fell 8% in the second quarter from a year earlier, the fourth consecutive quarter of declines. The sales drop was even worse for big-group events because of “corporate belt-tightening,” according to the company.  (Ed:  think Westin, Hyatt, Marriott).

    The company initially thought that visitors to Topgolf would become newbie golfers who might seek out its products after trying them out at those venues, which carry Callaway equipment. As it turns out, hitting a few balls at a recreational driving range isn’t enough to convert people into Callaway faithful.

    The steeper price tag might be one contributor: In its location in Edison, N.J., for example, it costs about $155 to reserve one bay for a two-hour session during peak hours. And that doesn’t include food or drinks. Topgolf is trying out different ways to lure customers, including variable pricing, tweaks to its promotions and adding concerts and live DJ nights.

    Here's the bottom line

    Topgolf itself isn’t a lousy business—it is profitable and generated a 15.5% margin on the basis of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization last year. Its top line grew at a healthy 27% compound annual growth rate between 2021 and 2023 before the recent slowdown, and it still has a long runway of new locations. (Ed: especially our little B'game location).  It will, however, first need to prove that it can bring customers back after the first handful of visits.

    Now, let's chat about those "DJ nights".  I never went to the movie nights at the old driving range during Covid, but I recall they did draw a bit of a crowd to Boringame.  What's the curfew policy these days on the Bayfront?

  • Jazz at the Grill

    Broadway Grill continues to be a beacon of live jazz in B'game.  The Monday night jam at Max's Opera on the Bayfront hosted by KCSM DJ Chris Cortes is good too, but the Grill has much better food and ambiance.  Wednesday night saw recent Grammy winner Jamie Davis bring a swinging quartet to the restaurant.  That swelled to a sextet after another tenor sax player and trumpeter sat in for the second set and other notable guests took a turns at bass and guitar.

    Davis is the vocalist for the Count Basie Orchestra which just won a Best Large Jazz Ensemble Grammy last month for their latest album.  Great stuff and you can't complain about the (non-existent) cover charge.  Check out the Grill's music calendar here.  Music is generally happening three nights a week or more.

    Jamie Davis at Bway Grill

  • Local Jazz: Swinging Songs of Disney

    Wedged as we are between EssEff and Stanford/Palo Alto, we need to take advantage of any opportunities for local live music that pop up.  The Monday night jazz jam at Max's Opera House has been going strong as has the Wed-Sat schedule at Broadway Grill.  Both venues' live music adds to the ambience for a nice dinner out.

    Local non-profit Jazz at the Ballroom is another option for pop-up jazz.  The organization has done events at the B'game library, at private homes and the Hillsborough Raquet Club which is a nice venue for medium sized affairs.  This Saturday, January 27th, Jazz at the Ballroom brings Professor Cunningham and his Old School band to the club for "Swinging Songs of Disney".  The band is billed as

    This award-winning New York based band performs the most swinging and grooving repertoire deeply steeped in the New Orleans tradition; from early jazz to early R&B— the likes of Sidney Bechet, Fats Waller, even Fats Domino. It is one of the most sought-after Hot Jazz Bands on the international festival and Lindy Hop dance scene.  The group is fronted by in-demand vocalist/reedman Adrian Cunningham, an Australian native based in NYC, and one of his home country's finest jazz exports. The ensemble consists of some of the most energetic and accomplished musicians on the New York circuit and has been a regular hit in the NYC underground party and swing dance scene.

    So, they are stretching out a bit into Disney songs like ""Everybody Wants To Be a Cat" to "I Wanna Be Like You" and "Under the Sea.".  Uncle Walt would be pleased.  You can see the details and reserve tickets here.  I saw the JATB last event at the Hillsborough Raquet Club–it was easy to get to and park, cash bar and up close and personal seating.

  • B’game History: Architect William Whifler remembered

    The quarterly Burlingame Historical Society meeting held on Thursday at the Lane room in the library was another uber-local affair.  Having family members appear to describe their ancestors' contributions to our fair town is right in the sweet spot of the Society's mission.  William Whifler grew up in Burlingame, mostly at the end of Drake Ave.– the house he designed for his German mother (next door to the family homestead) at 1544 Drake is now on the National Historic Register.  We covered the award when it happened in 2017 here.  He graduated from BHS where he met his high school sweetheart and soon-to-be-wife, joined the Navy and eventually graduated from Stanford in the burgeoning field of electronics.  He determined that "there wasn't much of a future in electronics" so he shifted to architecting and building many of his own designs.

    Whifler's son, Graeme, was the featured speaker with two other siblings in attendance.  Graeme is a film director having done early rock videos for The Residents and other Ess Eff bands before shifting to the horror film genre.  The program kicked off with a montage of Whifler-designed houses in the area beautifully photographed and set to Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain.  We were the first people to ever see it.  It looks like the video on his website, but without the soundtrack which added a lot.  I hope to be able to link to the full version in the future.  Early family photos followed including looking past the end of Drake into a dairy farm field that abutted the old Mills Estate.  That would be Devereaux and Ray Dr. today.  Young Whifler used to take his .22 into the fields for plinking around.  We also saw an early Eucalyptus grove that was harvested for oyster poles.  I'm not totally sure what an oyster pole is, but perhaps someone will enlighten us.

    Many of Whifler's houses are gone.  His design aesthetic used large windows ("I make glass houses" and "no curtains allowed") with a Mid-century Modern theme.  Some were the victims of remuddling and the OPEC energy crisis put a crimp on the style.  But Whifler's lasting contribution to B'game is our City Hall.  I've never been a big fan of the City Hall design, but I am willing to consider that my view may be tainted by some of the shenanigans I have seen over the years in Council chambers.  It originally had a big fountain in front and that might make a good restoration project if the water nags would allow it.  Maybe hearing about Whifler will cause people to leave City Hall where it is–remember this nonsense?

    In 1967, Whifler founded the architecture program at CSM where he taught the local crop of students.  You can get a good view of his work at the website dedicated to him here. 

    By request, Graeme finished with a discussion of his career in film.  We did not see any of his video work for The Residents, but I found something that certainly looks like Graeme's work here.  The video he did show reminded me of why I don't watch horror movies, but Graeme seemed pleased that people tell him he gives them nightmares.  That is why the program was billed "For Adults".  Here's Johnny….I mean Graeme

    Graeme Whifler

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