21 June 2023

BISS List 6.21.23: WANTED – A DangerAte Funktion (6.30) + Best of BISS this Week

Happy Pride BISS Listers! San Francisco Pride is a powerful reminder of the progress that has been made in the fight for LGBTQ+ equality. It is also a call to action, reminding us that there is still more work to be done. We are lucky to live in a place that recognizes this. Do not take this for granted people!

First of all, a huge thank you to Jenni, the BISS List’s Social Media Maven for keeping the newsletter going in my absence. Thankfully, she is able to cover for me again while I am away at High Sierra Music Festival. And of course, thanks as always to Phil for keeping the calendar full and awarding the tickets to so many!

It’s been over three weeks since I have been gone working at festivals back to back. No festival job(s) would be complete without the proper thank you’s to everyone involved so here goes… I will keep it short, I promise!

I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who contributed to the success of BackCountry Festival a few weeks ago. Thank you to the staff and volunteers who worked overtime to make it all happen! And thank you to the artists who kept the crowd dancing even through the wind and rain. There were many bands I was unfamiliar with, but I encourage you to explore other genres like I did. There were some amazing slide guitar players in the mix! It was great to see a few familiar artists on the bill who each put their own country twist on their sets. Eric Lindell performed a country soul set, Dead Winter Carpenters performed an all-country set, and Leftover Salmon fit right in with their songs from their latest bluegrass cover album. I was so busy working that I didn’t catch as much music as I would have liked, but I did catch the last song on the last day of the last set, which was Paul Cauthen playing his well-known tune, Cocaine Country Dancing.

Now on to #HogFarm… What an amazing successful event, again! I have so many thank yous to say on this one but will try to keep it short! The property was magical and epic as always, and the music was non-stop and amazing. Thank you to Shooting Star Productions, all the staff, and especially to my crew. You guys were incredible! I also want to give a special and huge thank you to Skye for stepping up and taking on more hours and providing me with more support than ever before. I appreciate your willingness to go the extra mile, and I couldn’t have asked for a better assistant (+ caretaker + rock + therapist + …). I know it was a lot of extra work, but you handled it all with grace and professionalism. It was also beautiful to see the tribute to our dear friend Jeff Rosen and to see the widespread impact he had on so many lives with the outpouring of love shown. He was an amazing human being.

#LastWeekend, I finally made it out to Stern Grove for Snarky Puppy + Isaiah Sharkey on Sunday. It was one of the most beautiful, gorgeous, and sunny days I’ve seen over there in a long time. The friends and the music were the perfect combination for a perfect Sunday. The weather was beautiful, with clear skies and warm temperatures. The music was amazing, with Snarky Puppy and Isaiah Sharkey putting on a great show. And the company was even better, with friends who I enjoyed spending time with hanging out in the sun long past when everyone else had left. Good times for sure. Special thank you to Gregg & Booka for taking me along for the ride!

#ThisWeek: On Thursday, Mark Karan returns to Sweetwater with his Buds including Mookie Siegel, Bob Gross, Scott Guberman & Anna Elva (*WIN*). Also on Thursday, in the North Bay, Victor Little’s Big Hit, hits Peri’s. On Friday, I’m super excited (& determined) to see Iceman Special at Boom Boom Room. I heard great things about these guys the last time they were in town. Good thing they are playing TWO nights and you have the opportunity to *WIN* for either Friday or Saturday!

#ThisSaturday, during the day, come out and support Bay Area Hip Hop Forever, a non-profit organization whose mission is to empower and uplift artists in the community through the positive influence of hip hop culture. (And for which I am on the Board) We are hosting our 2nd Annual Tupac Day in Oakland with a day of poetry readings, inspirational speakers, and live performances to celebrate Tupac Shakur‘s life. Join us as we recognize his outstanding work as an Artist, Actor, Activist, Poet & Songwriter with music, food, inspiration, motivation, and laughter.

#ThisSunday, I will be up bright and early to head to the Pride Parade. I consider myself to be a lucky human to live in San Francisco, which is one of the most accepting and inclusive cities in the world. The San Francisco Pride Parade is one of the largest and most vibrant in the world.

#ThisMonday, I head out for the High Sierra Music Festival. Hoping to break away from the site on Wednesday night to go see my favorite artist, Lantz Lazwell at the Plumas Club in Quincy. Maybe even some other artists will show up to play…?

#NextWeek, High Sierra Music Festival is taking place with a lineup including: Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit, Thievery Corporation, Marcus King, Moe, Cory Wong, Galactic, Circles Around The Sun, Diggin’ Dirt, Dopapod, Dumpstaphunk, Eggy, Fruition, John Craigie, The Nth Power & so so much more! Hope to see you there!

#NextWeekInSF, don‘t miss Dumpstaphunk w/ Sal’s Greenhouse on Thursday 6/29 at The Indy. That is a fantastic pairing of funky fun bands!

#MoreImportantly, I want to get the whole BISS List crew out to represent for this show, WANTED: A DangerAte Funktion on June 30th at Neck of the Woods. It was at this very venue at a show like this that BISS was born! Read more of this story in my post and be sure to check out the Spotlight below!

But wait, there’s more! This week’s #ListenToThis is “Ice & Fire” by King Canyon featuring Otis McDonald, Eric Krasno, Mike Chiavaro, & Son Little. Be sure to check it out below!

#seeyouattheshows,
~Pamela aka Miss BISS

SPOTLIGHT ON FUNKY FINALÉ

WANTED: A DangerAte Funktion

June 30th @ Neck of the Woods

DangerAte hosts as the house band for this incredible night of MCs, musicians, & DJs. featuring Gennessee (Noble House), Soulati (Felonious), Cait La Dee (Noble House), Lil Flower Nasti, Jayme Brown, and N’Galla McCoy. IYKYK, it’s something like a Tuesday Night from back in the day! Ask Miss BISS. Stay to the end, you don’t know who might show to bless this finalé! This will be an amazing evening of entertainment.

***Check out all of our Featured Shows.

LISTEN TO THIS

Listen to “Ice & Fire” by King Canyon (Otis McDonald, Eric Krasno, Mike Chiavaro) featuring Son Little, from their self-titled album.

Otis McDonald told us this about the new supergroup and album, “King Canyon started out as a fun little side project with my boy Mike Chiavaro on bass. Mike started sending me some ideas while we were locked down during the pandemic and as I laid down drums and percussion, we both agreed we needed some guitar to tie it all together. At that same time, I happened to be producing Eric Krasno’s album, Always, and I thought Kraz would know exactly what to do. Before we knew it, we had an entire album’s worth of material done. It was so fun and so easy with zero ego involved. All three of us immediately got on the phone and agreed that somehow we just started a band, ha! So we continued to refine the vision and then Kraz brought in some amazing guests to help expand our sound. One of those guests was Son Little. Kraz and Son Little happened to be visiting me at my studio at Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco, so we decided to open up a track that we were working on and once we thought we were finished, Son Little said ‘I’ve got something for this track.’ So I set up a mic and let him go. In one take he laid down all of the lead vocals on top of our song. That went on to be called ‘Ice & Fire.’ The rest is history.”