Syracuse Ska Forum

Hello Everybody! Derek from RazSum here. In 3 hours I board a plane for the west coast. In a promoting frenzy I will be staying near San Francisco for 4 days, armed with a batch of demos for "The Great Distraction," and a smile. I'm going out to meet new people, check out the venues, and spread some razlove overall.

I dont know how many of you have been to California, but I haven't. I'm very stoked to see the sights and post updates and eventually pictures for everyone to enjoy. I'll be checking out some shows in the next couple days, and passing out demos and whatnot...but I leave you all with a question. I'm sure i'll have some time to hang out and do some sightseeing, but along the way I should probably do some fun crazy stuff. What would you do for fun in San Francisco?

Check out the board tomorrow night for Derek's California Adventure Part II.

It's worth mentioning that Brandi is hosting Derek just outside San Francisco, where she now lives. And how this continues her hosting of ska bands for many years now. Many of you remember her skanking at shows for the last 4+ years.

This is an early promotional push for the upcoming national RazSum tour next summer where we anticipate spending at least a week in Cali. Brandy is our first Cali street team member.

As a 4th generation Californian (my great-great-grandfather came out in a covered wagon around 1885), I'd humbly suggest you at least ride a cable car, visit Chinatown and Fisherman's Wharf and the Presidio (which has a good view of the Golden Gate Bridge). Gawking at Alcatraz from across the bay is interesting. I'd imagine the actual boat trip and tour would take up a lot of time. OH! Try some real San Francisco sourdough bread. Strong as hell, but I really miss it.

I've never been to 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley and friends tell me it's a big dump, but it's essentially the West Coast equivalent of CBGBs, so it'd be cool to visit for the great history there (incl as the home of OpIvy). And you'll be next door in Oakland anyway.

Have fun!

go to rasputins and aomeba records on telegraph ave in berkley the whole street is cool near the college.

What a loonng day. I'm finally chilling and writing to you all from a hotel room in Concord, CA. i rode a lot of planes today, and spent a lot of time in airports, but it was fun anyways. I had a lot of time on the plane to think about what i'm going to do in San Francisco to make the best of this weekend. I figure that if I can just get a couple people really into the band and what we're doing, then the trip will be worth it.

But anyways, it is thanksgiving, so i had to have thanksgiving dinner right? I got to the hotel after 12 hours of logged travel time and realized how hungry I was. Vinnie is out here with me cuz he's trying out for a drum corp on saturday, so vin and i decided to take a walk and try to find anyplace that might be open. Fortunately we found this place called JJ Norths. It is a grand buffet. It is crazy. We were so hungry that we immediately ponied up the cash for "all we could eat" thanksgiving glory. We tried to cover our table with empty dinner plates, but the waitress came and took them all at once before we could get the whole table...so...yeah she pretty much ruined thanksgiving.

Tomorrow morning I leave bright and early for San Francisco to meet with Brandy...I hope everyone's as excited as I am for the CD Release. The Verbs'll be playing again, and i'm really glad to have Public access and The Naked Citizens back for this one. They're all great guys. I also look forward to meeting and playing with Rex Banner for the first time. They seem like they know what they're doing. Should be a great show.

I'm ready to hit the mean streets of Sisco tomorrow to spread the word and eat awesome sourdough bread and look at Alcatraz. Black Friday, mmmmm....what a great day to be in Cali.

Glad you made it out okay. I was hoping you'd stay with Vinnie tonight in Concord.

Meant to warn you, don't ever call it "Frisco" as the locals really REALLY hate that nickname. I even remember them catching some escaped criminals, because when they were asked where they were from they said Frisco, so they knew they were lying. SF has a lot of nicknames, but its just The City to most people. The Bay Area is The City, the East Bay and the South Bay.

BTW, if you see anyone on a Vespa scooter with lots of patches and/or buttons on their jacket, recruit them to our cause. They'll be highly sympathetic. And if you're anywhere remotely cool outside the tourist areas, you're very likely to see them, especially in SF and Berkeley. But I'll warn you, they're a wacky, hard-drinking group.

Funny your first day in SF will be Black Friday. Mine was too. I dropped in on Macy's, just because I'd never seen one before (they historically didn't bother with SoCal). Have fun tomorrow!!