Quick recap

I didn't do anything in January, music-wise — I went to a couple book talks, hosted a professional event, watched playoff football, and read a bunch of books.

What's next for me?

February is shaping up to be full of travel and possibly an event or two, but no shows planned. March is looking promising, though…

Other shows going on

What I'm not going to, but might if I had unlimited energy... bold shows are ones that I am planning on or otherwise heavily recommend...

February

Superbowl weekend is comin' in hot with a weekend stacked with big names. Not looking forward to the chaos that downtown will become around then, despite the actual game being played in Santa Clara! Streets are already closed…

• Thursday, February 5 — Fall Out Boy at Regency Ballroom
• Friday, February 6 — Calvin Harris, Diplo, Sonny Fodera, Kaleena Zanders, and Tyson O'Brien at Pier 80 Warehouse
• Friday, Febraury 6 — Tiësto, T-Pain (DJ set), Disco Lines, DJ Diesel (Shaq himself) at Cow Palace Arena for Shaq's Fun House
• Saturday, February 7— Dom Dolla in downtown San Jose
• Saturday, February 7 — T-Pain and Sean Paul at Pier 80 Warehouse (day party)
• Like 20 dates in February I'm not listing them all I'm sorry — Sam Smith at the Castro
• Friday, February 13 — Atmosphere at the Fox Theater
• Saturday, February 14 — bbno$ at the Warfield
• Wednesday, February 18 — Dry Cleaning at the Fillmore
• Wednesday, February 18 — Cat Power at the Fox Theater
• Thursday, February 19th – Sunday, March 1st 2026 — Noise Pop Festival, featuring:
  • Thursday, February 19 & Friday, February 20 — The Pains of Being Pure at Heart at Rickshaw Stop
  • Friday, February 20 — Marie Davidson at Public Works
  • Monday, February 23 — Stephen Malkmus at GAMH
  • Wednesday, February 25 — Hot Flash Heat Wave at Bottom of the Hill
  • Thursday, February 26 — The Fiery Furnaces at the Chapel
  • Thursday, February 26 — Pinback and Bayonne at the UC Theatre
  • Friday, February 27 — Clipping. at the UC Theatre
  • Friday, February 27 & Saturday, February 28 — Tortoise at Great American Music Hall
  • Sunday, March 1 — Rogue Wave at Swedish American Hall (2 shows, 1 album each)
• Friday, February 20 — Romare (DJ set) at Monarch
• Friday, February 20 — Swimming Paul at 1015 Folsom
• Friday, February 20 — Steve Aoki at Billy G
• Saturday, February 21 — Darude (day party) at Audio
• Sunday, February 22 — Simon Doty at Hotel Via rooftop (day party)
• Tuesday, February 24 — Artemas at the Fox Theater
• Thursday, February 26 — Christian Löffler at the Regency Ballroom
• Friday, February 27 — Chris Stussy, DJ Tennis b2b DJ Seinfeld, and Skiis at Shed A at Pier 48 for Club Darc
• Friday, February 27 — The Blessed Madonna b2b Mike Servito at Public Works
• Saturday, February 28 — VNSSA at Public Works
• Saturday, February 28 — Joseph at August Hall
• Saturday, February 28 — Mindchatter at the Regency Ballroom

March

• Sunday, March 1 — An Evening With Sun Ra Arkestra at the Chapel
• Thursday, March 5 — Franc Moody at the Regency Ballroom
• Friday, March 6 — DRAMA at the Fox Theater
• Friday, March 6 — bad tuner at Audio
• Friday, March 6 — Gogol Bordello with Boris at The Warfield
• Saturday, March 7 — Peggy Gou, Armand Van Helden, Silva Bumpa, and Vertigo at Shed A at Pier 48 for Club Darc
• Tuesday, March 10 — Aimee Mann with Jonathan Coulton at the Fillmore
• Thursday, March 12 — Miguel at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
• Thursday, March 12 — Whitney at the Fillmore
• Friday, March 13 — Mau P, Ben Sterling, Miguelle & Tons, and Clearcast at Shed A at Pier 48 for Club Darc
• Saturday, March 14 — Michael Bibi, The Martinez Brothers, Neil Frances (DJ set), Luch, and Brown Angel at Shed A at Pier 48 for Club Darc
• Saturday, March 14 — 1tbsp at Regency Ballroom
• Saturday, March 14 — Club Angel at Club Six
  • Brutal to have this on the same night as 1tbsp. I've wanted to see Club Angel for ages!
• Sunday, March 15 — Colony House at GAMH
• Wednesday, March 18 — Amber Mark at the Castro
• Thursday, March 26 — Perfume Genius at the Castro
• Friday, March 27 — REVELATION: The Knocks (Live) x Dragonette x Aquaria at The Midway
• Saturday, March 28 — Tycho at the Castro
• Saturday, March 28 — Voxtrot at the Independent
• Tuesday, March 31 — HEALTH x CARPENTER BRUT at the Warfield

April

• Wednesday, April 1 — The Early November & Hellogoodbye at August Hall
• Saturday, April 4 — Machinedrum and Alix Perez at Public Works
• Saturday, April 4 — Badger at Club Six
• Tuesday, April 7 — FKA Twigs at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
• Saturday, April 11 — Black Coffee at Treasure Island GAA Field
• Thursday, April 16 & Friday, April 17 — The Format at the Castro
• Saturday, April 18 — Snakehips at Public Works
• Thursday, April 23 — Skizzy Mars at the Independent
• Saturday, April 25 — Yung Bae at the Midway terrace (day party)

Beyond…

• Friday, May 1 — Charlie Puth at Billy G
• Monday, May 4 — Snail Mail at the Warfield
• Tuesday, May 5 — Chet Faker at the Warfield
• Tuesday, May 5 — Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman at the Masonic
• Wednesday, May 6 & Thursday, May 7 & Friday, May 8 — KETTAMA at Regency Ballroom
  • Quite a comeup from playing the 1015 basement a few years ago as a double headliner. The Fred again.. coattails effect?
• Monday, May 11 — The New Pornographers with Will Sheff from Okkervil River at the Castro
• Thursday, May 14 — MIKA at the Castro
• Friday, May 15 — Florence and the Machine at Chase Center
• Monday, May 18 & Tuesday, May 19 — Lucy Dacus at the Castro
• Wednesday, May 20 — Dry Cleaning at August Hall
• Thursday, May 21 — Avalon Emerson & the Charm at Rickshaw Stop
  • Gutted that I'm out of town for this one. Her new stuff is different, but excellent.
• Wednesday, May 27 — Yellowcard, New Found Glory, and Plain White T's at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
• Friday, June 5 — Human League and Soft Cell at the Warfield
• Friday, June 26 — Khalid and Lauv at the Greek Theatre
  • Running it back after their Golden Gate Park set in late 2025…
• Friday, July 17 — Bob Moses (and Cannons) at the Greek Theatre
• Friday, July 17, Saturday, July 18 & Sunday, July 19 — Iggy Pop, Bikini Kill, The Dead Milkmen, Pavement, Vivian Girls, Wednesday, and more for Mosswood Meltdown festival & pre-party
• Thursday, July 23 — The Fray and Dashboard Confessional at the Greek Theatre
• Tuesday, September 1 — Screeching Weasel at August Hall
• Thursday, November 12 — Ólafur Arnalds at the Castro Theatre

Other SF events

If book talks, history walks, music-making classes, or public lectures are more your speed, here's what's going on this month and beyond… Mission Local highlights some art scenes for the month.

• Monday, February 2 — George Saunders with Vendela Vida - Vigil: A Nove at Calvary Presbyterian San Francisco
• Monday, February 2 — Music Match Up Quiz Night: Love Me/Leave Me Edition at Wine Down SF
• Tuesday, February 3 – Thursday, February 5 — TAKKUUK at Gray Area
• Tuesday, February 3 — Mr. Nobody Against Putin – Oscar® Nominated at the Roxie
• Tuesday, February 3 — The Bay Agenda: California Gubernatorial Debate Watch Party at KALW Events Space
• Tuesday, February 3 — Curiosity Guild presents Bright Ideas at Public Works
  • The successor of Odd Salon launches!
• Tuesday, February 3 — Ralph Remington / Launch Party for “Penetrating Whiteness” at City Lights
• Thursday, Februay 5 — The Body Digital: Vanessa Chang in conversation with Leia Chang at Gray Area
• Thursday, February 5 — Building Universes at SFMoMA and MoAD
• Friday, February 6 — Bring The Ruckus - The Residents and Wu-Tang Clan at the Roxie Theater
• Friday, February 6 & Saturday, February 7 — Compton's Cafeteria Riot at the Tenderloin Museum
• Saturday, February 7 — History of the Bay: Street Art and Graffiti at SFMoMA
• Sunday, February 8 — Dead End Market Fest at the Lab

  Since 2023, Dead End Vintage has been building bridges across the subterranean archipelago of art worlders and outlanders. Underground scavengers of stuff and sound implode together one time only for Dead End Market Fest where prized past and sound futures can be yours today! The market is open from 12pm – 6pm, with live performances by Bed Bug Guru, Balloon Time, Cruel Work, Jean Carla Rodea and more at 8pm.

• Tuesday, February 10 — Supporting Indigenous Languages in North America Through Type
  with Kevin King online for Letterform Archive
• Tuesday, February 10 – Tuesday, March 3 — Spring 2026 Block Printing in Layers: Printing in Color with Multiple Blocks at Haight Street Art Center (workshop)
• Wednesday, February 11 — Curators Walk – The Reimagined City: San Francisco 2000-2025 at the Center for Architecture + Design
• Wednesday, February 11 — The Priest, the Imperialist, and the Sculptor: Public Talk at 518 Valencia for Shaping SF
• Thursday, February 12 — After Dark: Sexplorations at the Exploratorium
• Thursday, February 12 — Sights & Sounds After Dark: The Love Factor at KALW Events Space
• Thursday, February 12 — Photobook Speed Date with Josh Aronson at SFMoMA
• Thursday, February 12 — Beloved By the Bay: A Romance Panel at the Mechanics' Institute
• Friday, February 13 & Saturday, February 14 — Compton's Cafeteria Riot at the Tenderloin Museum
• Friday, February 13 — Depths of Wikipedia Live at August Hall
• Saturday, February 14 — Make a Zine for Your Valentine at the Letterform Archive
• Sunday, February 15 — MAKE! with SCRAP: Alejandro Cartagena Transportation Drawings at SFMoMA
• Wednesday, February 18 — Gioia Woods / City Lights : Lawrence Ferlinghetti and the Biography of a Bookstore at City Lights
• Thursday, February 19 — Diasporic Frequencies: What the Archive Holds, What Sound Carries at the Goethe Institut San Francisco
• Thursday, February 19 — After Dark: New Moon, New Year at the Exploratorium
• Friday, February 20 & Saturday, February 21 — Compton's Cafeteria Riot at the Tenderloin Museum
• Saturday, February 21 — Daniel Rachel / This Ain’t Rock‘n’ Roll: Pop Music, the Swastika, and the Third Reich at City Lights
• Sunday, February 22 — Print Generations at SFMoMA
• Monday, February 23 — Litquake and Berkeleyside Literary Pub Trivia: 2026 Double Feature at Gilman Brewing Company
• Monday, February 23–April 27 — Handmade Datasets: Strategies for working creatively with small data and Artificial Intelligence online through Gray Area

  A 10 week online course, this beginner-friendly intensive course demystifies the process of training Artificial Intelligence systems with machine learning by working with small/human-scale, personally assembled datasets. Students will learn practical techniques for training text, image, and audio models with limited data including data augmentation, transfer learning, and LoRA fine-tuning for images, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) for text, and working with RAVE for audio synthesis.

• Wednesday, February 25 — Memory Keeping from Indigenous Perspectives, a Public Talk at 518 Valencia for Shaping SF
• Wednesday, February 25 — Introduction to Letterpress at the SF Center for the Book
• Thursday, February 26 — After Dark: Unplug and Play at the Exploratorium
• Friday, February 27 — Trouble Maker: The Fierce Unruly Life of Jessica Mitford with author Carla Kaplan at the Mechanics' Institute
• Friday, February 27 & Saturday, February 28 — Compton's Cafeteria Riot at the Tenderloin Museum

March

• Wednesday, March 4 — Michael Pollan in conversation at Sydney Goldstein Theater for City Arts and Lectures
• Thursday, March 5 — Chronically Online: A PowerPoint Party with Close All Tabs at the Commons at KQED
• Tuesday, March 10 — Cindy Cohn / Launch Party for “Privacy’s Defender” at City Lights
• Wednesday, March 11 — City of Redwood, a Public Talk at 518 Valencia for Shaping SF
• Thursday, March 12 — After Dark: Crafty and Calculating at the Exploratorium
• Saturday, March 14 — Letterform Live! at the Pearl
• Tuesday, March 17 – Tuesday, April 7 — Spring 2026 Screen Printing Basics at Haight Street Art Center (workshop)
• Thursday, March 26 — DJ Grampaphone Presents Battle of the Saxes! A Gramophone Concert at the Mechanics' Institute
• Thursday, March 26 — After Dark: Unplug and Play at the Exploratorium
• Thursday, March 26–Sunday, March 28 — Algorithmic Art Assembly v3.0: Talks, Workshops, & Performances at Gray Area
• Tuesday, March 31 — Judith A. Peraino and Tom McEnaney / Punk Archives for the Present at City Lights

Music lately

You can always follow me on bandcamp to see what I've bought lately…

Harry Styles' new single Aperture is excellent and to me has Dan Snaith energy.

Some other poppier faves of late:

• Mercury - I Don’t Know You Like I Used To
• Jelani Aryeh - I'm in Love
• Devon Again - cherry cola
• Wallows - Do Not Wait

Also still obsessed with Lola Young's track d£aler!

I have been contemplating ways to improve my indie/pop music discovery pipelines, perhaps by listening to some college radio stations more frequently but I think soliciting recommendations from friends might be the better pathway.

Other notes

I finally finished my yearly wrap-up music post — combining my Spotify Wrapped criticisms and my favorites of the year post: My 2025 in music: A review. If you want to know what my favorite albums, EPs, and songs of the year were, check it out!

Also for awhile I thought I listened to 200,000+ minutes of music last year, which was understandably a math error. Another flaw in using data to evaluate your listening habits is that sometimes it is wrong and/or misleading 🙃