Packed house for Mahler’s 3rd at the Santa Rosa Symphony, fantastically conducted by Francesco Lecce-Chong (seen celebrating after the big finish).

Mýa performing for free in Oakland after Sunday's Black Joy Parade: www.instagram.com/p/DUrlTIgEvp2/

I really, really liked this book.

The guy’s got a reputation as a grouch, but yesterday at The Chapel, he was gyrating and high-kicking his legs in the air! (OK, OK, that was The Last Waltz at Winterland… but he still loosened up a little.)

Reminder to never trust AI (A Love Supreme was recorded nearly two years later, in December, in one day)

In the darkest night ohhh I search through the crowd Your face is all that I see

Yearning is back! How can we parlay this into viral POV vids of Tristan un Isolde

Didn’t mean for this to be a prediction of Ilia’s performance but at least now Gen Z knows how it feels

Anthony Ant spent his adult life bringing the Bay Area music scene together. On Thursday night, the scene convened at the Starry Plough in South Berkeley to dance, shout, jam and remember the powerful trumpeter.

There's an opportunity for public comment next Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 2 p.m. on the proposal to extend the install of 'R-Evolution' for another six months (thru Oct. 5, 2026). www.kqed.org/arts/1398668...

Debi Thomas

Statehood when

Went to the Castro Theatre reopening last night to see a movie, and was very surprised to find myself thinking: "Could it be that all my worries were unfounded? What's happening here?!"

Some dissenters here at the Castro Theatre reopening

An inspiring show last night from Rabiah Kabir, a fresh new voice in Bay Area jazz.

Talked with folks involved in the flood of rap shows at Yoshi's, once known for traditional jazz, and deliberately changing with the times. Yes, they have received complaints! But not many. (Gotta say, as someone who's seen Scarface / Quik / Spice 1 and others at Yoshi's — it really works.)

They’re still doing this

Pretty stacked lineup announced at Mosswood. As you'll read, I miss the J.J. Fad / L'Trimm / Egyptian Lover element this year, but this plus the Pavement "pre-party"? It's still pretty nuts.

BREAKING: California College of the Arts, the last nonprofit art and design school in Northern California, will close by the end of the 2026–2027 academic year. Nashville-based Vanderbilt University will take over the San Francisco campus.

A Sunday read for you about a cult scandal in my city.

Was at the Santa Rosa Symphony rehearsal today and, after the Mendelssohn and Haydn, Caroline Shaw’s ‘Entr’acte’ drove 30–40 attendees out of the hall 😂

Mayor Jacob Frey: “To ICE, get the fuck out of Minneapolis.”

I wrote a big ol' guide to January aka the busiest art month of the year. Pace yourselves and stay hydrated! www.kqed.org/arts/1398514...

Breaking some news for @coyotemedia.org here. Incredibly sad about this — some of the best nights of my life have involved this club — but I’m also so honored and grateful to Ramona, Kathleen and Lynn for trusting me with this story. www.coyotemedia.org/san-francisc...

This is the way

Watched ‘After the Thin Man’ last night for NYE and noticed the San Francisco Chronicle… with front-page stories about Culver City, the Mayan Theater and Cheviot Hills—all in Los Angeles.

Just some stuff I liked

Power went out so I’m having tomato soup and reading ‘Hamlet’🎄Merry Christmas🎄

“I will sing in San Francisco. I will sing for nothing in that city ... If necessary, I will sing in the streets.” On Luisa Tetrazzini’s free Christmas Eve concert at Lotta’s Fountain in 1910:

“Everyone wanted to go home.” On Miles Davis’ Christmas Eve recording session, 1954: tomreney.com/miles-davis-...

OK, officially anti-“lore” now

A 2026 calendar, each month with a different Kent Porter car-driving-into-storefront photo: would pay good money for this

Catch me, @ogpenn.bsky.social and @theluketsai.bsky.social on Forum this morning, from 9–10am. (Wish I could say we'll have dogs in the studio!) 88.5 FM / kqed.org

Hell yeah to this double feature coming to the Grand Lake for Noir City in January

After watching ‘Rififi,’ the guy who’d been sitting behind me held the theater door open for me as we left, and only then did I see that he was Tom Waits

On KQED radio right now: The best Bay Area music from 2025! With @nastiaaa.bsky.social and @ogpenn.bsky.social, plus Jamel Griot and Arts & Crafts playing live in the studio:

Wrote about turning 50.

Lots of fun on the radio this morning discussing Bob Dylan's famous 1965 press conference at KQED — which took place 60 years ago this week. Hear me on Morning Edition, talking with Brian Watt (@radiobwatt.bsky.social): omny.fm/shows/kqed-s...

The big roundup of shows from 2025 that helped me feel free from encroaching fascism, with one-sentence reviews of each:

This is a crazy back and forth between a Spotify exec & an artist whose music is up on the platform. We're able to pay more b/c we pay less 👎 In "Confessions of the Pricing Man: How Price Effects Everything", pricing consultant Hermann Simon explains why that thinking is flawed

For Bay Area rap heads, I wrote about the underground rap era of the mid-90s for KQED. www.kqed.org/arts/1398432...

Francis Albert Sinatra at work onstage, circa 1967.

Watch Waymo try to spin this into an uplifting story

Get with it America

Back at it again

‘The Monkey King’ is such a stunning, gorgeous work of art. I can’t say enough good things about this world premiere that, truly, feels destined to travel the world. At @sfopera.bsky.social through Nov. 30.

You mean to tell me that E-40, Gaye Lebaron and Twinkie Clark all have the same birthday?

RIP Todd Snider, who briefly lived in Santa Rosa and went to the JC. He once bounced a check at the Last Record Store. His songs were so good we eventually forgave him.

The 'OAKLAND IS PROUD' mural has been repainted in the same spot as the original (below), along E. 12th Street in East Oakland. @ogpenn.bsky.social with the story: