San Francisco Dispatch #10: Cafe Du Nord - Tracing Figures, Torches, Filligar

This dispatch series was meant for Intraffik, but I'm posting it here.

San Francisco.  I took off in search of City Lights Books where Jack Kerouac used to hang out.  It’s a three floor bookstore, where half of those inside were tourists like myself.  I personally think the poetry section is lacking.  I went looking for my friend’s, David Shook, poetry book called Our Obsidian Tongues, which is on the longlist for the Dylan Thomas Prize.  It wasn’t there.

I swear I over-heard a conversation where a young man was trying to convince a young woman that there was nothing wrong with buying a physical book versus an eBook.  Another conversation revolved around the joys of going to a bookstore to browse around versus looking online for books.  And so City Lights Books is the refuge for those of us who refuse to accept the forward progress of technology.

The two streets that intersect the bookstore are interesting:  Broadway and Columbus.  Half the city’s strip clubs must be on Broadway while half of the Italian restaurants must be on Columbus.

Café Du Nord.  I am getting lazy here in San Francisco.  My eyes go through the music calendar of the San Francisco Weekly and as soon as I see a Los Angeles-based band, I circle the night.  And so it was on this night when I noticed that Torches was coming to San Francisco.  I had never seen Torches, but I did recognize the band name.  What better way to acquaint myself with a Los Angeles band then to see them in San Francisco, right?

First up that night was San Francisco based band, Tracing Figures.  The lead singer, Brianne, reminded me of Los Angeles based singer, Laura Vall.  Brianne sings her songs with intense deep vocals while at the same time coming across as the girl next door that you purposely make an effort to say hello to on a Sunday morning (or maybe a Tuesday morning).    

Torches took the middle slot of the night.  I suspect that most of us that were at the front of the stage were from Los Angeles.  They reminded me of two Los Angeles bands:  Local Natives and Eastern Conference Champions.  And yes, they made me really miss the Los Angeles music scene.  Even their cloths reminded me of hipster Silver Lake/Echo Park.

The headliner for the night was Filligar, which honestly was why most everyone at Café Du Nord were there to see.  As soon as they started to set up for their set, the crowd that was previously way in the back of Café Du Nord came to the front of the stage.  And I could tell immediately that they were going to put on a good show.  There was just this confidence to them as they stood on stage, waiting to kick off their set.  This band plays like they’re in a jam session.  Their set lasted an hour and 5 minutes with 10 songs on the set list and quick transitions between songs.  So yeah, about six minutes a song, which allowed for them to take their time exploring their music.

Comment of the set after the lead singer busted a guitar string:  Yeah, you know what just happened.  It’s game time.

Comment of the night from the BART station:  Everyone we’ve seen in San Francisco is young.  Are there any old people in this city?

Flying.  What I think is cool flying into an airport: watching another passenger jet landing parallel to your own jet.  Calming.

Random encounter.  I was walking to a venue and ended up in a brief amusing conversation with a homeless guy.

Homeless guy:  Do you have a quarter to spare?

Me:  No.

Homeless guy:  How about a dollar?

Me:  (laughter)

Homeless guy:  (laughter) I had to give it a try.