With all the attention I’ve been paying to Endangered Blood coming to the Bay Area on Dec. 10 (links: one, two), I should mention there are two creative-music shows that conflict with it.
1) 21 Grand Benefit at Church of the Buzzard (2601 Adeline St. at 26th, Oakland)
It’s a really good cause. You can read my little rant or the more informative and objective piece at kqed.org. Bottom line, the money raised here will go to folks who supported the local creative-music scene for years and who are still hopeful of finding a new place to host shows, after the city of Oakland chased them out of their current location.
The music here will be varied, reflecting 21 Grand’s open-minded tastes. Highlights will include junk percussion master Moe! Staiano; Alee Karim (formerly bassist with Moe! in the band Mute Socialite); and SL Morse (Dominique Leone on keys, Curtis McKinney on bass, and Sarah Lockhart, drums). Lockhart booked shows at 21 Grand up until this year, when she stepped down for some much-deserved rest.
Details at Bayimproviser.com and on the 21 Grand site/blog.
2) Host Family at Subterranean Arthouse (2179 Bancroft Way, Berkeley)
This is a two-guitar quartet that includes Karl Evangelista of Grex. On their MySpace page, you can check out the jazzy “Moon Songs” trilogy, including shredding guitar solos from Evangelista and Andrew Conklin (not necessarily in that order) … or the King Crimson-like stacking of linear guitar notes on “Peel.” It’s a band with a lot of influences and a lot of possible directions.
This show is the release party for their debut CD, Dream Recess, and the performance will include the group playing a live score to Buster Keaton’s short film, The Scarecrow.
Opening act is Shatter, a sextet of local improvisers: Lance Grabmiller (laptop electronics), Phillip Greenlief (sax), Tom Djll (trumpet), Tim Perkis (laptop electronics), John Shiurba (guitar), Karen Stackpole (percussion, gongs).
Memory Select: Journeys in Creative Music 