Compania All Stars in San Francisco!
The Compania All Stars, acclaimed dance troupe from Santiago De Cuba has been performing and visiting around the SF Bay Area. They have just performed at the Brava Theater in SF’s Mission District the weekend of May 21st and 22nd. The troupe is scheduled to make a couple of performances that are free to the public at SF Carnaval on 17th & Harrison on Sunday, May 29th at 2 pm and at the De Young Museum Friday Nights on Friday, June 3rd starting at 5 pm. I have the honor of emceeing this free event which features their performance as well as dance lessons taught by Ryan Mead and Sidney Waverling and their Rueda De Ritmo dance company at 5 pm and 6 pm. The Compania All Stars will start their performance at 7...
Read MoreIndia comes alive in SF!
The “Princess of Salsa”, India visited the SF Bay Area to a packed enthusiastic crowd of her fans at Roccapulco last weekend. India still possesses a tremendous singing voice and still displays a lot of heart, warmth and soul into her performances. I haven’t seen her in a long time but was impressed with her joy, her ability to connect with her audience (she wasn’t afraid to talk to us) and her professionalism. Backed by her musical director, the incomparable pianist and one of the former architects of the late RMM Sound, Isidro Infante and a hand picked group of crack local musicians, India tore it up with her repertoire of chart hits, beloved songs and a great tribute medley to her idol Celia Cruz. India is still an important artist who is able to connect in the commercial market but astute enough to deliver the real goods in...
Read MoreSF Is Still The Place To Be: YGB Fest w/Pedrito Martinez & Issac Delgado
The last few weeks have been a blur with great musicians making the San Francisco Bay Area the place to be for live music happenings! Two Cuban dynamos: the amazing Pedrito Martinez Group with special guest, iconic star vocalist Issac Delgado opened up the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival with a timba infused bang on Sunday, May 1st! The Pedrito Martinez Group has been turning heads with their huge timba/jazz sound performed entirely by four musicians led by the phenomenal vocalist/percussionist Pedrito Martinez. A lot of folks were anticipating an Issac Delgado concert but he was featured as the special icing on the cake on a couple of explosive descargas(or jam sessions) along with his son, Issac Jr. The crowd was still fired up from the dynamic musicianship and fiery call and response provided by Pedrito Martinez who was in fine voice along with his powerhouse group. Pedrito is also a phenomenal talent on congas and the sacred bata drums! I had the pleasure of interviewing both Issac and Pedrito on my radio program Con Sabor the night before the concert. During our on-air conversation, Issac let me know that he would be coming back with his orchestra in July! Both artists are dropping new albums in the new few weeks. Pedrito’s “Havana Dreams” will be coming out on Motema and Issac’s “Made In Havana” will be coming out of Sony...
Read MoreSF Int’l Film Festival Part 2
This year’s SF International Film Festival offered a diverse series of films and happenings. The strong Spanish/French/Uruguayian erotically charged comedy “The Apostate” featured the charismatic actor Alvaro Ogalia in the role of a frustrated man who demands that the Catholic Church remove his name from the baptismal record. A sensational film about the great record producers of our time “Soundbreaking” featured great insightful footage of the late George Martin who was considered the “fifth beatle” at work in the studio with the fab four. This fantastic music documentary also featured such pivotal figures as Sam Phillips, Phil Spector, Rick Rubin, Dr. Dre, Roger Waters, Daniel Lanois and others. The powerful documentary “Under The Gun” is a scathing look at the NRA and the consequences of America’s obsession with guns. The festival presented the screening of the impressionistic 1932 German horror classic at the Castro as their continuing series of combining a classic film with live music…this time provided by Indie electronic rock faves Mercury Rev featuring Cocteau Twins member Simon Raymonde . The results were an errie atmospheric evening with the music further accentuating the bizarre black and white visuals. The festival took advantage of the gentrified trendiness of the ever changing Mission district with screenings, happenings and parties. Despite all of these changes in the neighborhood, the films still took center stage as the festival reinvents itself in the old...
Read MoreSF Int’l Film Festival-Wild On The Latin Side & More
The 59th SF International Film Festival offers a spectrum of film as they moved their headquarters to the Mission this year to the Alamo Drafthouse formerly the New Mission Theatre and other venues such as the Victoria Theater and the Roxie. The Latin films programmed for the festival are varied, esoteric, sensual, strange and poignant. The Brazilian erotic drama “Neon Bull”, the dark, gritty Venezuelan drama “From Afar”, the delightful Mexican coming-of-age film “Leaf Blower” that focuses on 3 teenagers, the Bolivian/USA documentary “Salero” which comments on a fading way of life for salt farmers uprooted by a technological discovery on their land and the canny, erotically charged Spanish/French/Uruguayian film “The Apostate”. The Festival will also feature the live music/film screening of the 1932 horror classic “Vampyr” with the group Mercury Rev with Simon Raymonde of the Cocteau Twins. The festival kicked off their opening night at the Castro Theatre with the comic Jane Austin period film “Love And Friendship” starring Kate Beckinsale as a beautiful, amoral social climber. For more information on the entire festival which runs until May 5th, visit the web site:...
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