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Listings are
in the opposite order of appearance: headliner is listed at the top,
next is the support band(s),
and the last band listed is the opener.
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Sunday
March 20 2022 2:00PM doors -- music at 2:30PM ••• 21 AND OVER $20 A Memorial for Joe Sloan, the former lead singer of Spot 1019 All welcome to attend! All proceeds will go into a trust for Joe's son, Eli Penelope Houston digital.penelope.net/ alternative, punk rock, folk-rock, singer-songwriter The Doorbs www ... Chamber of Vestibules chamberofvestibules.com/ punk rock Penelope Houston -from Oakland, CA -The first thing you’ll read in any overview of Penelope Houston’s career is that she fronted the seminal San Francisco punk band, The Avengers. While her involvement in that band and the power of the music she helped create with them should never be diminished, it seems odd that the two short years she spent in a band while barely out of her teens could overshadow a long, award-winning career as a pioneering singer-songwriter. Any serious examination of her work should not put the emphasis on the fact that she was in the Avengers, but instead on why she was in the Avengers. Her fearlessness made her willing to take the creative plunge into the nascent and exciting world of punk rock in the late 70’s without much experience as a writer or performer. The subsequent series of battles, successes and disappointments would provide her with the courage to take risks in everything she’s produced since. In the early 80’s while clusters of bands were peddling a tired rehash of the original punk scene, Penelope had already moved on. After spending time abroad in the wake of the Avengers break-up, Penelope returned to San Francisco with the experimental and singular acoustic styles of artists like Tom Waits and the Violent Femmes pulling her further away from the world of punk and electric rock music. She was also able to access the influence of her youthful fascination with great English folk-rock icons such as Pentangle, Fairport Convention, and The Incredible String Band. As exciting as this progression was for Penelope, she was taking an artistic leap at a time when the music underground was still very guarded and conservative. The folk traditionalists weren't accepting of her angsty vision of what folk music could be and the alternative clubs weren’t interested in sheltering some quiet folkie with jazz and country flourishes regardless of how much punk attitude Penelope still brought to her music. Despite the travails, Penelope was at the forefront of an impassioned female singer-songwriter movement as the decade progressed. Starting in the early 1990s and continuing to this day, she would enjoy a large following in Germany and be anointed with (the almost rudely limiting) "Queen of Neo-Folk" tag. Along with the likes of Michelle Shocked and Suzanne Vega, she helped pioneer a sound that would reach its commercial peak with the Lilith Fair set in the late-90s. By that point most of her contemporaries had either flamed out or shifted into creative cruise control, but Penelope refused to choke out her muse. As she moved her music into the new century, her lyrics remained edgier and more thought provoking than anything in the singer-songwriter realm. She’s never been afraid to present her own cynical worldview, yet can offer hope when the world is in its bleakest state or deliver realism when the world has lost its mind. Stylistically, her sound has rarely stayed the same. To appreciate what ten years of an unchained muse sounds like, compare the raw folk-rock of her 1987 debut, Birdboys, with its mandolins and spare percussion, to the offbeat glam-pop and literate balladry of 1999’s Tongue. Juxtapose the aggression and earnestness of 1993’s The Whole World to the sophistication and insouciant cool of 2004’s The Pale Green Girl and admire an artist who’s not afraid to gamble on a persona switch or two. She’d also gained fuller command of her voice, turning it into a lascivious, knowing mix of protest singer angst and sex-kitten come-on, which often times was more Julie London than Shawn Colvin. Ultimately, her restlessness serves a purpose. She strives for a pinnacle of songwriting, performance and fidelity that secures her place in the hearts of her fans and music lovers around the world. And she won’t pause until that goal is achieved. Shortly after the release of Pale Green Girl, Houston embarked on a successful tour of the US and Europe with an Avengers 2.0. But in her typical fashion, Penelope could not just stop creating new music. The artist that Ira Robbins proclaimed as "the archetypal indomitable rock'n'roll woman” needed to make some new statements through song. The past several years have provided tons of vital source material for her art: poisoned marriages, divorce, independence, lawsuits, a return to university, and nine Avengers tours. A new chapter has opened for her and she has continued to sharpen her message in songs that demand declaration. The Doorbs -from San Francisco CA -The Doorbs is comprised of surviving members of Spot 1019 as well as their friends from diverse SF bands (Wannabe Texans, Mingo 2000, Tarnation, Yard Sale, SF Seals, Uncle Grape, Hobbit NYC) who perform at secret private parties and who have coalesced for a performance at Bottom of the Hill doing Spot 1019 songs, Joe Sloan songs and absurd cover songs Joe liked or was known to sing on occasion. Their combined participation in music encompasses almost 300 years of experience and all members are stoked to be playing Joe's music at an event in his honor. Chamber of Vestibules -from Richmond, CA -Chamber Of Vestibules is a rock band that delivers fun and excitement. |
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