Okey-dokey, artichokey. Just a brief update as to what's new: we've got a little acoustic show at the Noe Valley Farmers Market on Saturday June 1st, at 10am. Located at 3861 24th St., it's your go-to location for all things organic and leafy. Plus, your favorite Vintage Swing Noir ensemble will be shakin' it up and playin' your favorite tunes. Come on out, enjoy the sun and fun and bask in all the splendid music and deliciousness! Farmers rock. We also have a few dates lined up for our So.Cal & Vegas tour in mid-June, and we'll have more info on that directly (or just navigate on over to our Gig Page). We have a couple of upcoming gigs here in the city as well, including a show with the talented and charming chanteuse Miss Erma at Viracocha on July 12th. Located at 998 Valencia St., it's got the feel of an underground speakeasy, with redwood walls and decorative washboards hung about, and it's where we shot our video "Theories About You", as you may remember. It's always a swell ol time playing at Viracocha, so be sure not to miss it! Also, we played The Lost Church recently, and it was oh-so-much-fun. Brett and Lizzie, husband and wife co-owners of The Church, recently had a beautiful little baby boy, Ulysses, and yet they've never missed a beat with the running of their lovely little venue, hosting live music Wednesday through Saturday night. Rock and roll, indeed. In July and August, The Lost Church will be presenting another night of Musical Murder Mystery Madness and Mayhem, and you may remember that a few of us Brazillionaires were involved in the "Just Another Bloody Valentine" show over Valentine's day. Which was awesome. For that Valentine's production, Brett Cline wrote a show around the music of the Brazillionaires, incorporating a selection of our favorite tunes into a plot set in 1950's suburbia, starring the lovely and talented Erin Brazill herself in the lead role. As a string of murders rips through a quiet community, a bored housewife seeks to solve the murders while escaping from her droll existence (as well as her two-dimensional husband and self-absorbed daughter) with fantasies of being a lounge singer... Quite the show, we must say. Next up, however, is "The Sound of Music 30 Years Later: Von Trapped in the Attic!!" Let your imagination run wild with that one. And again, a few of us Brazillionaires will be involved in some capacity; keep your eyes on this space for more excitement and information. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy that weather! It's San Francisco, after all. Make the most of it, people. Cheerio.
So it is indeed Easter today, a bit earlier than usual this year perhaps, but we here at Brazillionaires Central are thrilled to see the trees and flowers in bloom in our fair Ci-tay By the Bay, the sun ascendant in all of it's glory, and the general awesomeness abounding. Let's get Sprung. Also, baseball season is about to start, which is terribly exciting, but that's a whole different story. Yes, we have gigs on the horizon, most notably April 27th at the Lost Church, 65 Capp St. in SF. Don't miss it, it will be kick-ass. Also we've got a date upcoming at Viracocha, exact details TBD, and a couple other things on the radar. For example, we'll be playing the Senior Center in Pacifica on April 14th (seriously, we love bringing the joy of music to the elder generation -- it's beautiful and amazing to see, and very gratifying.) Also, we're planning an epic SoCal tour, down to LA and over to Vegas, so brace yourselves. Seriously, hold tight, cus it's gonna be a bumpy ride. More info forthcoming. BAND TOUR!
Indeed, your favorite Vintage Noir ensemble visited our dear Mendocino over Martin Luther King Weekend for two very unique and special shows. We played a free happy hour show at The Stanford Inn on Saturday, January 19th at 5:00; 'twas a wonderful set, with a grand piano and all the associated awesomeness that goes along with that situation... We were semi-acoustic and sparkling darkly in a beautifully mellow mode. This cozy and warm festival of love was located at 44850 Comptche Ukiah Road, just outside Mendocino proper. The following night, we pulled out all the stops and tore down the house full throttle at The Caspar Inn. Ah, yes, we do so love playin' Ye Ole Caspar Inn, located in the town of Caspar at 14957 Caspar Rd... That was at 8:30pm on Sunday the 20th of January, and 'twas only $5 at the door -- so affordable! Next time we're up in Mendoland, you should most definitely come on out and join us for our shimmering wintery-sweet wonderland of sound, where dancing, singing, memories and surprises abound. It was decidedly awesome. BAND TOUR!! But wait, there's more! We played a most excellent show the other night at The Lost Church (located at 65 Capp St., in lovely SF). And we have to tell you, The Lost Church is one of the most amazing performance spaces you'll ever experience. We love it so much, in fact, that we managed to get ourselves involved in a Valentines Day Theatrical Extravaganza, involving a couple of Brazillionaires in featured roles. "Just Another Bloody Valentine" was definitely the high water mark for Theater in San Francisco in February. Seriously, it was the killer diller, to the hilt. Very attractively built. But if you missed it, tragically, well, you just go ahead and Stay Tuned, cus we'll be right back with more after this brief message, and there's gonna be EPIC collaboration going forward. Brett and Lizzy, the owners, proprietors and caretakers of the Church are the BOMB. Those two are pretty dern special, and as awesome human beings go, they're at the top of the list. And believe us, we know from awesome humans. Also, we played the Opening Night Gala for the NOIR CITY film festival on January 25th, and we played the Noir City NightClub at The Regency Lodge (1290 Sutter St., SF) on February 2nd to close the festival as well. Those were tip top hip to the hop. Let's do it again next year, and let's get dark. Also, just for the record, we love Christmas, and when it's the holidaze, ya gotsta represent, yo. Go forth in Merriment, Toss back some Eggnog and Flock the Tree, ya dig? Make the Yuletide Gay and Spread the Love Far and Wide. It's the Most Wonderful Time of The Year, after all, so let's get jiggy with Jesus and sing some carols 'round the piano, shall we? Yes, we shall.
Hello Bloggers and Bloggettes. We're just popping in for a brief update on our latest goings on. We played the Noe Valley Harvest Festival a couple of weeks ago for the second year in a row, and it was stellar. We really do enjoy playing outdoor festivals, with children and pets running about, booths and vendors of all varieties selling their wares, locals wandering around and enjoying the atmosphere, drinks and food being consumed, and the sun shining in all it's glory as our sweet melodies waft over the crowd. Lovely stuff indeed. At the moment, we're rehearsing a bit, working up a couple of new songs for your pleasure, and getting ready for a few parties and private gigs that are coming up. We've got another show at the Noe Valley Farmer's Market on December 15th, and a club gig here and there on the horizon as well. We'll keep you posted. In the meantime, take a look at our most excellent video in HD by clicking here to watch it on Vimeo, or by clicking here to watch it on our video page. Cheers! p.s. also, for all you sports fans out there, don't forget to check out our blog devoted to The San Francisco Giants and to Arsenal, a team in the English Premiere League. It's called, " The Pitch & The Diamond" and can be found by clicking here. It mostly revolves around sports, specifically Baseball and Soccer and the two aforementioned teams, but occasionally ventures off into uncharted territory. It's quite the entertaining little read, or so we've heard. Check it out! As Sergio Romo would say, "That's what's up!"
So yes, Summer was awesome, Fun was had, Adventures were adventured, Music was written, Videos were edited, Parties were thrown, Sports were viewed, Beverages were consumed, The Sun was worshiped, Weddings were enjoyed, Hotsprings were visited, Erin and Ryan got married (which was unbelievably beautiful and incredibly fun), Travel was traveled (to the South East US as well as to Italy), Many more Beverages were consumed, Restfulness was restful and now we return to you fully re-energized, with open arms and fiery amps, ready for action. We've got a few gigs on the immediate horizon, and we've played four since our little summer hiatus ended. Are you as ridiculously excited as we are to be back on the path? Well, you should be. We're not booking a ton of gigs in the next few months, but we are playing out. The NVHF, Off The Grid, an art opening, a private party... We'll certainly let you know if we're playing something special that you won't want to miss. We know we've been a bit remiss in our Blog Updates, and we apologize. But fear not, we are back, in full effect. Much more info is soon to come regarding future awesomeness, so stay tuned. We've had a few great gigs in the last month; On September 9th at 6:00pm, we played The Surf Spot in Pacifica, located on Highway 1 next to The Sea Bowl. It was a smashing success at a great venue, and we'll be back down in Pacifica soon, talkin with the seagulls and rockin with the waves. Then on the following Sunday, September 16th, we played with Polkacide in SF at Thee Parkside for a mid-day Fundraiser from 11:00am -3:00pm. The fundraiser was for Dawn's school, and we managed to raise some money to help Dawn educate those kiddies! There was a face-painting station and an arts and crafts table and some tasty food and snacks; we had a really lovely time. Then the following weekend, two good friends of ours were married on September 22nd, and we played their reception at an antique shop in Potrero Hill. Which was fantastic. Weddings are wonderful, indeed. Of course, the most recent Brazillionaires explosion was our rockin, stompin, big old hoe-down of a party at Amnesia Bar in the Mission. Man, do we love playing at Amnesia. The evening began with Joe playing an hour or so of Acoustic Piano. He played mostly old blues and some rags, and it was quite special. It's always a treat to hear live piano played in a bar, after all. We then Premiered our new video Theories About You; It was very well received, and it's rather impressive, to be perfectly honest. (Not too shabby for our first try at a truly professional video, and we know you'll enjoy it. We'll have a new blogpost about that directly.) After the Video, the Always Thrilling Hang Jones played a great set, and then we hosted a Lingerie Fashion Show (for which Joe was persuaded to play live piano at the last minute, because it's Amnesia, and Joe will inevitably play some old-timey piano at some point in the evening, that much is certain. He really cannot be contained, So we figured, "Hey, why not let him add 'Lingerie Fashion Show Accompanist' to his resumé?") After all the sexy hotness diffused a bit, We Brazillionaires played our set, and it was one of those nights where everyone onstage was locked in, totally connected as a band, playing with exceptional focus, energy, and expression, and we just killed it. Not to toot our own horn ("toot toot"), but we do play remarkably well. (Let's be honest; we're one of the best bands working in the San Francisco Club Scene right now, and we'd maintain that level in any city in the world.) But this night at Amnesia was special. One of the best shows we've ever played, hands down. And then, as we'd look out at the audience, it was just one sweating, throbbing, pulsing, grooving, swinging hot mass of positive energy. Amnesia gets HOT when it gets crowded, and the whole joint was jumpin, dancing their asses off. Such a great show, so many wonderful people showed up, we had such a great time... it was So Bloody Fantastic. We can't wait to do it again.
Anyway, it's great to be back. Life is unbelievably awesome
Greetings, fellow travelers. (As always, hypertext in this post is in bold red.) This here is just a little post to update y'all on some of the new developments in the world of the Brazillionaires... last weekend, we went into tiny telephone studios here in our beloved San Francisco, and we recorded the first two songs of our latest effort, "The Hitchcock Suite." We worked with Ian Pelicci, who also engineered our EP "Last Night In Town." We had a most excellent time, and we successfully recorded a fine new version of our song "Theories About You" parts 1 & 2. (We'll be shooting a video to accompany the track on May 19th at Viracocha, one of our favorite SF venues, and we'll have the final product up on our website, on Facebook and on YouTube in June. More on that to come!) Interestingly, we were in Studio B, the (slightly) smaller recording studio at tiny telephone, and in the studio was a Story & Clark upright grand that the folks at t.t. have been refurbishing. It's not quite totally up to 100% refurbished, but it had a magical, almost there, in-tune/out-of-tune sound that the piano tuner was supposed to correct the next day, but the quality of the piano was absolutely perfect for the brief piano outro that Joe recorded on the tail end of the track... kind of a minor kismet moment, when we just happened to be in the studio when that piano was in a perfectly imperfect state. 'Twas a fleeting moment of slightly flawed beauty, and we just managed to catch it before it drifted away... And now that we think about it, perfectly imperfect is an accurate description of our sound, generally; our sound is real, it's gritty, and it's noirishly torn and blemished. Perfect beauty is just so... boring, right? Which is why we record to 2" tape and use minimal overdubs, thereby capturing the essence of a live performance. None of this track-by-track, futuristic high-tech songbuilding for us, no sir! And definitely no synths or (gasp!) drum-machines. Not that that there's anything wrong with all that (Depeche Mode and Kraftwerk kick ass) but No, we prefer to play it straight though on acoustic instruments in one take, thanks. It's how we roll. And as for the piano, as Ian was mixing on Sunday, Joe played a bunch of old blues and ragtime tunes and recorded it on his little handheld recording device; he's promised to get all those tracks sorted and up on the website soon. We're looking forward to sharing it all with you, and we should have some videos of our session up soon. Good times! Also, since you asked, we've got a few gigs lined up in the near future, and besides, we thought you might like to know. :-) First off, on Friday May 11th, Erin's playing a solo show at The Center for Sex and Culture, located at 1349 Mission Street between 9th & 10th Streets. Then the following morning, May 12th, we'll all be at the Noe Valley Farmers Market at 9:45am for an acoustic hoe-down. We really do love playing the Farmers Market; it's an SF institution and it's a great place to get all your organic fruits and vegetables (as well as tasty Samosas and Quesadillas!) Then Towards the end of the month, on May 27th, we'll be playing a special event at The MakeOutRoom at 3225 22nd Street, to be known hereafter as "Crafternoon" ...or at least, that's what we're calling it. It's at 2:00pm in the afternoon, and it will feature local arts & crafty types doing their thing (knitting, letterpress, sewing, etc...) as well as local bands rocking out and a few novel surprises to boot. It should be a nifty little event, kind of unusual and perhaps unique, but that's just the sort of thing that gets us all riled up. We do love the unusual. We've also got a couple of gigs booked in June as well, playing Saturday June 9th at Noon for an OffTheGrid foodtruck event at McCoppin And Valencia, and then we'll be supporting our good friends Tidelands at The Hemlock Tavern on June 14th, located at 1131 Polk Street between Post and Sutter. So put 'em in your calendar, and come on out and join us! And Yes, indeedy, we played the Listening Room at The Lost Church on April 21st, and it was an exciting evening of Music, Theater, and Enlightenment. It's a cozy and warm new space in the heart of the Mission at 65 Capp Street, between 15th and 16th Streets. With incredible sound, an eclectic yet refined aesthetic and musical sense, and a suspended walk-way twisting and undulating through the air above the seats and the stage, it's one of the coolest new places to see live, acoustic music in San Francisco. We played there earlier in the year, on February 17th, and we were pleased to discover a very hip, but kind of under-the-radar new venue; we performed there most recently as part of an evening of music and performance, "Another Rock & Roll Nightmare!" There was, in fact, an Alien invasion, as well as the appearance of an interstellar bounty hunter (complete with shotgun and eye patch) and more than a few clever references and allusions... The Lost Church hosts a variety of different types of bands and performances, from Bluegrass Bands to Local Theater Productions to Experimental Music to Improv to Jazz, Funk, and Punk to Vintage Noir Pop with a Swing from yours truly, the fantastic and oh-so-charming Erin Brazill and the Brazillionaires!! We had a great time, and we're looking forward to the next opportunity to grace their space. Seriously, though, you should check out The Lost Church and see what they're all about; it's tops. All righty then. That's about it for now; we'll get some new photos and videos and audio tracks up in the near future. Stay tuned, and keep on rockin in the free world, peoples!!
All righty then. First off, all the Red text in Boldface is hyperlinked in this blog entry, so if you want to check something out in greater depth, click away!! So yeah, we played Cafe du Nord a couple weeks ago, and it is by far one of the coolest venues in the city... definitely one of our favorites. If you weren't there, you should have been, and if you were, well, you know what we mean!! We love Cafe du Nord, oh yes we do, we love du Nord, and we'll be true :-) It's located at 2170 Market Street, in a vortex of awesomeness... after you descend down a dark and perilous stairway, you'll find yourself in a swanky little speakeasy, with fabulous people, charming bartenders, delicious food & drink, and a back room bouncin' & jumpin' with tasty tunes from local and touring acts alike. A few Fridays back, on March 9th, we were supporting our good friends Sioux City Kid, playing the opening slot at 9:30pm. That right there was a rare opportunity to hear great bands doin what they do best, and thanks so much to everyone who came out to support us: all three bands killed it, and we Brazillionaires had a great ol' time. We packed the place and tore it up! In the future, you should definitely venture out into the mysterious San Francisco night, and then perhaps ponder the possibility of enjoying some amazing live music, courtesy of yours truly. You won't regret it, we promise! Those of you that consistently come out to support us are awesome indeed, and you deserve the best night of entertainment that roughly ten bucks can buy... and we've got that for ya right here. Treat yourself. Oooh... In other news, our penultimate gig on February 17th at The Lost Church was awesome as well... the Listening Room at The Lost Church is a cozy and warm new space in the heart of the Mission, located on Capp Street between 15th & 16th Streets; it's one of the most intimate and personal experiences a person can have listening to music. The venue seats about 40-50 people, and there's an upstairs bar, a smoking deck, and a high-ceilinged performance space with a swerving, undulating suspended walkway cutting and arcing through the air above the seats... watching a band play from the walkway up above, less than ten feet away from the musicians with a birds-eye view is a remarkable experience, and with the incredible sound, you just can't help but to stop and listen to that pin drop... and rather excitingly, we've booked another gig there on April 21st... it's very cool, but kind of an under-the-radar venue, so stay tuned ... we hear there might be a surprise alien invasion. Shhhhhhhhhh. It's kind of a secret. And hey, it wouldn't be much of a surprise if we let the alien out of the bag, now would it? In other band news, we've got quite few events upcoming in the next few months: As Spring is venturing a few green shoots up through the soggy soil here and there, we thought it might be time to get back into the Farmer's Market swing of things... so we'll be playing the Noe Valley Farmer's Market on May 12th at 10:00am, which is a great venue for families and kids, and you can buy lots of delicious produce directly from the farmers. Support local farmers and enjoy great music, all in one convenient location! It's located on 24th Street, between Sanchez and Vicksburg Streets, in Noe Valley at 3861 24th Street. They're open every Saturday from 8:00am to 1:00pm, and you can find us there on May 12th. And Not-to-be-missed: We have a gig on June 14th at the Hemlock Tavern, on Polk Street at Hemlock Street in SF, with our good good friends Tidelands -- they're recording and mastering their 2nd full length album "If..." as we type these very words... the show on June 14th is going to be their record-release party, so it'll be a raucous good time. We played with Gabriel & Mie of Tidelands at Viracocha fairly recently, back in January, and it was a great show. They're a duo, just the two of them up there on stage, but Gabriel sings, plays guitar while sampling & looping his own sound, then plays flugelhorn and loops that as well; while Mie sings and plays drums and keyboard simultaneously... the amount of beautiful sound they get out of just two rockin people is remarkable, and they write lovely songs as well. Come on out and support us! We'll also be playing a new event in June, and some of you may be familiar with it: The Off The Grid food truck event is where a whole bunch of incredible mobile comestible distribution units (AKA Food Trucks!) gather together in various spots around the city to bring deliciousness to the masses. They call it a "Roaming Mobile Food Extravaganza" and they also feature arts, crafts, and live music. And that's where we come in... We'll be playing at McCoppin & Valencia Streets on June 9th at 12:00 noon, and we're really looking forward to it! We'll have more info for ya on the home page as we get closer to the date, but this is something we've been wanting to get involved with for a while, and we're excited to get it a'rolling. Also, last but certainly not least, we're going back into the studio for a quick throwdown of some musical excellence on the last weekend of April to record the first two parts of our much beloved "Hitchcock Suite." Then we'll subsequently craft a thrilling video to accompany the music, and history will be made. So keep your ears and eyes open for that, sometime in June. Whew! That's about it for now, but we hope you're all keeping warm & dry (it's really raining out there today!) and we'll see your smiling faces again soon. Cheers!
...was incredibly awesome. Sioux City Kid killed it, and we were swell as well. Quality stuff all around. Intense electric music, whoopin & hollerin', rockin & rollin, kickin ass & takin names. Good times were had by all. Pure love.
All righty then. So we've got a few swanky new gigs coming up: we're playing at Cafe Du Nord in support of our good friends Sioux City Kid on this coming Friday night, March 9th (and we're doing a little radio interview on Radio Valencia tomorrow) as well as playing the Noir City Party on March 18th and performing at The Lost Church on April 21st. The Lost Church is a funky little venue on Capp Street between 15th & 16th... it's a converted performance space that used to be a loft, and now hosts acoustic bands and theatre performances, and the sound is immaculate. We played there previously on February 17th, and we were all very impressed with the space. One could literally hear a pin drop, in all it's crystal-clear pin-dropping glory, and the owners/hosts are lovely people that truly believe in local, acoustic music. It's a swell joint, and we look forward to playing there again. We've got a couple of other neato private gigs on the horizon, too, and we're looking forward to recording the first two sections of the Hitchcock Suite at our beloved Tiny Telephone on April 28th & 29th, and then shooting a video to accompany the recording on May 19th. Look for that on YouTube in the beginning of June! Otherwise, all is well, and we'll be adding more gigs in the near future, including some Farmer's Market shows (once the weather warms up a bit!) Cheers
Hey there, Brazillionaires!! So, in case you hadn't noticed, we'll come right out and say it: 2011 was a fantastic year for the Brazillionaires! We had quite a few adventures in 2011: We recorded an EP at San Francisco's own Tiny Telephone Studios in April; played a wildly successful record release at Viracocha in June; went on to a two-week tour of Europe, playing in Berlin, Amsterdam, Wales, & Ireland in July; and played a super-fun and popular mini-tour of LA in December; all while playing many, many gigs here in SF and spreading the Brazillionaires magic hither and yon. In short, 'twas a fabulous year for us all, and we're looking forward to even greater success in 2012. Bring It On!!!
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