by Boris Dawood on I've never seen anything quite like this. I didn't know who Fela was or how to even pronounce his name, but the cast, the set, the lights were fantastic. The sound was loud at times and it was more uncomfortable to see 75 year old Men bopping to Afrobeat, but I guess they were having as much fun as I was.
by Robert Rudack on If there's a fire, you're probably going to die. Especially if you're here for The Moth. Especially if you're in the balcony. Especially if you blew too much money on bottom shelf wine, served in a plastic cup for $6 a pop, and are half-drunk, wedged into a sea of poetry slamming, storytelling, moderately hostile New Yorkers. I think the Nuyorican Poets Cafe can be summed up by the following story: once, at The Moth, a man passed out while seated on stage, and his place was immediately seized by the woman standing directly next to him. And this was while he was still on the floor and the staff was scrambling to clear the insanely crowded room so the paramedics could get through. The man ultimately regained consciousness after a few terrifying minutes and, unbelievably, walked to the microphone and told a quick tale about his lengthy history of fainting. He then disappeared into the streets of the Lower East Side. And, naturally, the show went on. Welcome to New York.
by Andy W. on After just moving up from LA, I started looking to get into the SF music scene. I have always seen Cafe Du Nord listed under band's tour dates and what not. I finally got to go there this past weekend. I caught a Emily Haines late show and was quite pleased with the venue. Cafe Du Nord has a 1930s motif-feel to it. It does not have the pretentious indie music club scene feel, as there's plenty of room for seating and billiards. The only place I can compare this too is probably Club Spaceland in Silverlake of LA proper, which has a billiard off-room, mainly use for smoking. But unlike Cafe Du Nord, the segregation of the rooms made it clear that if one was there to play pool/smoke, you weren't there for the show. Cafe Du Nord also had these 2-3 great smoking chairs by the bar, though out of the way for any visual view of the stage, they do give out an "I'm here to lounge with my friend" feel. And still these seats were in ear-shot of the music stage. I like the casual-ness of a music venue like this, instead of the pretentious punk feel of some of the more Alt-rock clubs. This place reminds me of The Hotel Cafe in LA on Cahuenga Blvd, which has a minor 30s' motif thing going too. I highly recommend both places for some casual music that involves a girl and a guitar.
