TAMPA, DAYTONA, DC

I don’t know if I mentioned these dates in the last blast. We’re headed to Tampa this weekend (minus Stephanie Finch - a long story). Plus, I’ve got solo gigs in Daytona Beach, FL and Arlington, VA. Deets below.

What can I say? We’ve been busy(ish). The run of dates with Garland was nuts. We had a ball. So much that when we got home we were tempted to drag the drums and amps up into the apartment and mow through some chord changes just to keep the party going. “Let’s not and say we did. . . .” - Stephanie Finch

Too many high and low lights to get in here. But the man himself brought the goods. God Bless Garland Jeffreys AKA “The King of the Streets,” “The Sexiest Man in Nova Scotia,” “Poet Laureate of Sheepshead Bay. . .” Why not? God blessed us with him.

Meanwhile James DePrato and I (collectively known as El DePravo), scored a surf film I’ll be telling you more about down the road. It’s about the women who brave Ocean Beach, or “OB” as it’s known, which is a harsh mutha of a mistress of a surf spot (also known as the “surfer’s treadmill”). The paddle out is enough to make you turn around and get back in the car, crank the heater and cry.

If you want a good read, and long form journalism is your thing, check out “Playing Doc’s Games”. A New Yorker piece about Ocean Beach that made the rounds. I’m sure it’s out there somewhere. Again, I hate to insult people with links. You’re smart. You can find it.

The surf film will premiere at the Great Star Theater on June 2 in Chinatown during the SF Doc Film Fest. The newly restored Great Star was the place where in the 80’s you could see Chinese gangster movies 365 practically 24/7. For the premiere, James and I might show up with our reverb tanks and guitars. More deets to come. I’m 30,000 feet over Colorado on my way to Tampa, so not quite plugged in to all my calendars.

As for the Great Star, it warms my heart to see another theatre escape the wrecking ball. Personally, I like to sit in the dark and stare at a big screen. Just the other night Patrick Winningham and I went to see Purple Rain at the Metreon. The crowd was wild. In fact, the two gals sitting next to us got so emotional that when Prince or “the Kid” was fixing to bust into Purple Rain they handed us tissues. And for good reason.

Meanwhile we’re losing these places of worship every time I rest my eyes. San Francisco is a great movie town. I saw every film I could at the many art houses here. In fact, when Stephanie Finch agreed to sit in the dark at the York Theatre on 24th street and sit through Godfather I and II back to back way back when, I knew she was the one. We went in there at noon or so and it was dark when we got out. We weren’t really going out at the time, but you know… it made an impression on me. A DEEP impression.

Hey, it’s not all bad. There’s good news. The Vogue is still rocking thanks to my man Adam of Thee Crepe Place fame. And now with the former Chinese Opera hall turned movie house the Great Star back in business along with the New Mission being transformed by the Alamo Drafhouse folks, we’ve got hope.

Well, the sun it out and we’re out too! Continuing to eke out a living over a stack of worthless plastic on the hillbilly highway. Still on the run, still in search of our next victims.

If you make it out to any of these shows, bring some folding money. I’ve got merch. Vinyl. 7” 3-D box sets too! In fact, we’ve got 180 gram LP’s. That’s a lot of grams. Try snorting that.

Oh, and k’s mag Four by Two has released its New York Issue. Always handmade, hand printed, folded, cut, perforated, bound and stapled on recycled paper. And if you lick it, it tastes like lemon meringue pie. http://www.fourbytwo.org/

All the best (and all the rest),

-CP

PS: Those who tuned into our ‘Alex Nieto’ song and dug it; you can buy a download on Bandcamp here: https://chuckprophet.bandcamp.com/releases Pay-what-you-want - 100% of the proceeds go to the Justice for Alex Nieto fund.

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GIGSVILLE: “6 billion people in the world and you want to be among

those who will never seen The Mission Express live?”

Show details: http://chuckprophet.com/gigs/

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“Where we raise our glasses to the club that takes the time to get those annoying bubbles out of the sodas for you…”

FRI APR 29 BANK & BLUES DAYTONA BEACH FL USA Chuck Prophet (Solo). Tickets $11.24. Doors at 7:00 PM. Show at 8:00 PM.

SAT APR 30 TROPICAL HEATWAVE TROPICAL BREEZE STAGE YBOR CITY FL USA Chuck Prophet & Mission Express. Tickets $35.

SUN MAY 01 IOTA CLUB & CAFE ARLINGTON VA USA Chuck Prophet (Solo). Tickets $20. Doors at 7:30 PM. Show at 8:30 PM.

SAT JUN 11 NOVATO FESTIVAL OF ART, WINE AND MUSIC HOPMONK TAVERN STAGE NOVATO CA USA Chuck Prophet & Mission Express.

SUN JUL 17 HOPMONK TAVERN NOVATO BEER GARDEN NOVATO CA USA Chuck Prophet (Solo).

FRI JUL 22 FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE AT THE PLAZA CLOVERDALE DOWNTOWN PLAZA CLOVERDALE CA USA Chuck Prophet & Mission Express.

SUN SEP 04 RANCHO NICASIO NICASIO CA USA Chuck Prophet & Mission Express.

Alex Nieto was a pacifist

LISTEN HERE NOW: https://soundcloud.com/chuckprophet/alex-nieto-chuck-prophet

A few days ago Kurt Lipschutz and I were in my shoebox-sized “office” space in SOMA toying with our Temple Beautiful musical and I was absently strumming my guitar. We meandered into complaining about this, that, and the other thing when we got into the Alex Nieto civil case verdict which had just come in. We got charged up. “He was a Buddhist, Man! “He was born in General Hospital!” I hit the loudest chord I know (a “B” barre chord with all the remaining strings ringing open) and shouted to the walls, “Alex Nieto was a pacifist!” “A Forty Niners fan!!!!!” he answered back. Soon there were two chords going back and forth and we were digging what we were hearing bouncing around the room - 20 minutes later the song had pretty much written itself.

Later, we took a walk up 7th Street toward the Muni underground on Market, and the weight of responsibility to the memory of Alex Nieto began to sunk in. We argued over a couple of lines, fixed them, and parted ways. Coincidentally I had a session booked the next day at Matt Winegar’s new studio in his garage in Oakland. When I got there I picked up an acoustic and sang it to Matt. Then, he simply handed me his Gibson Les Paul and got behind the drums. We passed instruments back and forth and within a couple hours we had a track.

Some of the small details may be wrong, but the big picture is there. And I’m still not 100% sure I pronounced Nieto correctly. [I think it’s Nee-Eh-Toe].

What I do know is that Alex Nieto was a good dude, with no criminal background whatsoever, probably more of a contributing member to society than I am, and a good brother, and a son to two strong parents. He was killed by police eating a burrito in Bernal Heights, a gentrifying neighborhood that he grew up in and … he did not deserve to die.

He. Did. Not. Deserve. To. Die.

He was executed because a couple young white professionals new to the neighborhood where Alex spent his whole life were threatened by a brown-skinned 28-year-old in a 49er’s jacket. They profiled him as a gang member and called 911.

This culture clash is nothing new. Some of you may remember the DropBox dudes who printed out a land deed to take over a community soccer field. Their attempt to change the natural order of things at a public park where pickup soccer games had been the norm as long as anyone could remember gave us all a good laugh. It’s an oldie but goodie. But we’re not laughing anymore.

Now it’s war.

Yes, Alex had a taser. It was for his job as a security guard. In that park, as a result of those 911 calls, cops unloaded 59 bullets in and around him. A federal jury of non-San Francisco residents ruled that the four San Francisco police officers who fired those bullets and killed him two years ago did not use excessive force. How many bullets would that have been?

I know I’ve ranted and raved about life here in Start Up City. And how the city has bent over to give tax breaks and incentives to Techies. And about corruption and unchecked growth. And what kind of effect all this gentrification is having … and on and on.

Now hold on. I get it. One of the things I love about San Francisco is that everybody comes from somewhere else. These young techies came here to chase a dream too, just like the rest of us. I’ve said it before: San Francisco is where I invented myself. It has been my education. In the arts and culture, politics and sexes. I was an 18-year-old brat who’d seen the DK’s at the Mabuhay and wanted more. I enrolled in SF State, dropped out, and tuned up. I played in bands. Backed comedians. Pitched in on student films. Met the people who would change the course of my life. And yes, I was dead lucky.

If you want to post/share etc. here’s the link https://www.facebook.com/chuckprophetofficial/posts/10153434861720423

(For a more professional account, go here for an excellent piece of long-form journalism by Rebecca Solnit: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/21/death-by-gentrification-the-killing-that-shamed-san-francisco.)

Power to the people right on,

-CP

West Coast Spring dates with Garland Jeffreys: “If you go into a bar in NYC and Garland Jeffreys ain’t on the jukebox, turn around. You’re in the wrong bar.”—Village Voice

PS: At the Great American Music Hall show you’ll want to get there early to see Thee Commons. A very cool BURGER RECORDS psychedelic cumbia-punk trio from East LA.

THU APR 14 THE CREPE PLACE SANTA CRUZ CA USA Chuck Prophet & Mission Express with Garland Jeffreys. Tickets: $15 advance / $20 at door

FRI APR 15 GREAT AMERICAN MUSIC HALL SAN FRANCISCO CA USA Chuck Prophet & Mission Express with Garland Jeffreys. Tickets $19

SAT APR 16 HUMBOLDT BREWS ARCATA CA USA Chuck Prophet & Mission Express with Garland Jeffreys. Tickets $15

SUN APR 17 HOPMONK TAVERN SEBASTOPOL CA USA Chuck Prophet & Mission Express with Garland Jeffreys. Tickets $20. Doors at 6:00 PM. Show at 7:00

THU APR 21 HARLOW’S SACRAMENTO CA USA Chuck Prophet & Mission Express with Garland Jeffreys. Tickets: $18 advance / $20 Doors at 8:00 PM.

FRI APR 22 BOOTLEG THEATER - BAR STAGE LOS ANGELES CA USA Chuck Prophet & Mission Express with Garland Jeffreys. Tickets $13, $15

SAT APR 23 LOBERO THEATRE SANTA BARBARA CA USA Chuck Prophet & Mission Express with Garland Jeffreys. Tickets $39.