07 January 2026

BISS List 1.7.26 Spotlight on SOUL Brass Band + The Best of BISS This Week

Happy New Year, BISS Listers 💜

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy New Year as we step into 2026! I hope the start of the year has treated you well, wherever you landed for the holidays. Here’s to more music, more connection, and plenty of good nights out in the year ahead! Thank you to everyone who’s been following the BISS List for five minutes or for more than twenty years. I’m really glad you’re here.

Last Two Weeks in Review: This first BISS of the year is a little extra, in the best way. With the holidays and one planned week off, we have a little more to cover from the final stretch of 2025 and the jump into 2026, mixing shows I made it to with coverage and shared moments from the BISS community. On a personal note, I was still being cautious over the past week and a half, making sure my sniffles were gone by New Year’s Eve, doing my best to be respons… responsib… you know, that grown-up thing. Responsible.

That said, I still got out and caught a few great shows along the way:

12/27: Karl Denson’s Sexy 69th Birthday Celebration @ The Fillmore
12/27: Ricky G KDTU After-Party Show @ Boom Boom Room
12/31: Yo La Tengo / Luna @ The Fillmore
12/31: NYE with Afrolicious @ Boom Boom Room

From the Pit: We’ve got a couple of excellent pieces of coverage from BISS contributing editor Gabriel David Barkin during this stretch. If you missed these nights or want a closer look, be sure to check out the reviews and galleries below.

12/23: Dead Freaks Unite for the Grateful Dead’s Tom Constanten | Review & Photos
12/27: Karl Denson’s Sexy 69th Birthday Celebration | Gallery

From the BISS Community: Congrats and a big thank you to two of our lucky BISS List ticket winners. Congrats on winning a pair of tickets, and thanks for taking the time to share your experiences from the shows. Sharing photos or videos is never a requirement, but when it happens, it adds a lot. And we LOVE it! Check out this post with community contributions from Cody for Hillbilly New Year’s Eve-Eve with Caltucky @ Plough & Stars and from Sherri for Mike Dillon Band ft Brian Haas @ Ivy Room.

On My Radar: I am off to see the Wizard on Wednesday for an overnight retreat with one of my clients at the Sphere in Vegas. But I will be back for the weekend, and here are the shows I am looking at:

Thu 1/8: Rainbow Girls w/ Sabine McCalla @ Freight & Salvage
Fri 1/9: The Westones, Animal Prince, Izzy Wise @ Rickshaw Stop (*WIN*).
We love The Westones around here! If you want a little taste, make sure you check out this week’s #ListenToThis pick below featuring “Wait A Minute” by The Westones
Fri 1/9 LATE NIGHT: Fuzz Collective @ Boom Boom Room (*WIN*)
Sat 1/10: The 15th Annual Bowie Bash @ Great American Music Hall
Sat 1/10: Ladies Night w/ Topaz @ Boom Boom Room (*WIN*)
Mon 1/12: Mustard Plug + The Toasters @ Bottom of the Hill

And as always, you can choose your own adventure. Be sure to check out the Best of BISS (highlights below), the Win Tickets page & the full calendar on the website for even more shows happening around the Bay and beyond.

Looking Ahead: If you’ve been reading BISS for a while, you know I have a deep love for New Orleans–flavored music, and I know a lot of you do too. That’s why I’m excited to share that the SOUL Brass Band are coming through for their first-ever Northern California tour: Mardi Gras Rolls West. Be sure to check out the spotlight below for all the dates and locations, plus your chance to win tickets.

Thank you, BISS Listers, for reading, sharing, and supporting live music in all the ways you do.

~ Pamela aka Miss BISS
#seeyouattheshows

SPOTLIGHT ON SOUL BRASS BAND

SOUL Brass Band
Mardi Gras Rolls West Tour

Jan 22nd @ Moe’s Alley (*WIN*)

Jan 23rd @ The Chapel (*WIN* Tix + Merch Package)

Jan 24th @ HopMonk Tavern Sebastopol (*WIN*)

Jan 29th @ Crazy Horse Nevada City (*WIN*)

Jan 30th @ Sausalito Cruising Club

The heartbeat of New Orleans is headed to the West Coast this month as the Soul Brass Band launches its first-ever Northern California tour. The “Mardi Gras Rolls West” Tour will bring the band’s explosive blend of brass, funk, hip-hop, and second-line soul to cities from Santa Cruz to Sacramento.

Soul Brass Band is led by drummer, vocalist, and cultural torchbearer Derrick “Smoker” Freeman, and powered by an all-star lineup of New Orleans musicians. The tour ignites on Jan 22nd, kicking off a week-long celebration packed with vibrant horns, irresistible grooves, and the unmistakable joy of New Orleans street parades. Each performance promises to transform venues into a living Mardi Gras procession—complete with beads, brass, and the boundless energy that defines the Crescent City.

LISTEN TO THIS

“Wait a Minute” – The Westones

This powerhouse supergroup from Oakland fuses heavy soul, deep-pocket funk, and raw R&B into a sound that’s as timeless as it is fresh. Featuring seasoned players who have toured nationally with acts like Dirtwire, Con Brio, Midtown Social, Smoked Out Soul, Afrolicious, and The Routine, the band brings a rare mix of chops, chemistry, and grit.

We spoke with saxophonist Chris Hoog and he told us that “Wait a Minute” was the first song they ever wrote: “It began as we were in Brendan Schwarz’s basement listening to a Meters song called ‘Tippi-Toes.’ We loved the guitar and wanted something of our own with this feel-good funk vibe. Brendan came up with the guitar hook, Nitty Hein established a bass line that fit perfectly around it, we started jamming and the rest of the parts revealed themselves organically. We first played this live as an instrumental track at our summer residency in Oakland but as Kisura heard it, she scribbled words down in her notebook that would later become the lyrics. The story for ‘Wait a Minute’ is actually pretty typical for all of our music that tends to be organic and collaboratively written.”

You can catch The Westones at Rickshaw Stop this Friday (1/9) with Animal Prince and DJ Izzy Wise—and you can *win tickets* from the BISS List!!

*Got some new music we should listen to? Submit it for review!