Quick recap

Portola was so much fun. I hadn't really engaged in rave culture before now (sprouts? candy? huh) but now I'm feeling like when I ignored Blink-182 because they were too popular when I was a kid — everyone is doing it because it is FUN and SO NICE and makes the vibes EXCELLENT. Top 3 sets were Daphni, Marlon Hoffstadt, and VTSS. I thought the warehouse was too big for Overmono's energy (at least at the start) and left early (classic me!) so didn't catch Four Tet.

NOTION and Club Angel at Gold Bar Distillery were also fun, although the NOTION set felt very much like a set I had been to before, which I wasn't expecting. Brent sent me this Instagram reel about "selecta" vs "producer" DJ styles and I think it explained a lot about why I felt that way.

What's next for me?

• We Are Scientists at Rickshaw Stop in late October
• O'Flynn in late November

I might rally for Bonobo or others, but most of my October is consumed by friends visiting and various Litquake events!

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...

October

• Friday, October 2 — Madeon at Bill Graham
• Friday, October 2 — Mind Against at Public Works
• Friday, October 2 – Sunday, October 3 — Parameter x SQUISH weekender at the Loom, featuring SHERELLE, Skee Mask, Djrum, and many many more.
• Friday, October 2 — Hamdi at Regency Ballroom
• Friday, October 2 – Sunday, October 4 — Hardly Strictly Bluegrass at Golden Gate Park, featuring My Morning Jacket, Rilo Kiley, and many many many more
• Saturday, October 3 — Hamdi at Audio
• Sunday, October 4 — Octo Octa at the Castro Theatre
• Tuesday, October 6 & Wednesday, October 7 — Jungle at the Greek Theatre
• Friday, October 9 — Melé at Halcyon
• Friday, October 9 — Baauer at Audio
• Saturday, October 10 — Tinlicker at the Midway
• Saturday, October 10 — Polo & Pan at the Midway (afternoon block party)
• Saturday, October 10 — Taking Back Sunday, Thrice, and Saves the Day at Frost Amphitheater
• Saturday, October 10 — Give Until Gone presents: Clearcast b2b SHAKING at Public Works
• Thursday, October 15 — Oppidan at 1015 Folsom
  • For 10/15, get it
• Friday, October 16 — Sara Bareilles at the Theater at Bill Graham
• Friday, October 16 — Dom Dolla with DJ Seinfeld b2b HAAi, Skiis b2b Clearcast at Cow Palace
  • The openers upgraded this to a bold recommendation.
• Friday, October 16 — Carl Craig and Moodymann at Public Works
• Saturday, October 17 — T-Pain, Ari Lennox & more at Golden Gate Park
• Monday, October 19 & Tuesday, October 20 — Geese at Fox Theater
• Wednesday, October 21 — Matt Pond and Anya Marina at Wyldflowr Arts (Oakland)
• Thursday, October 22 — X Club. at 1015 Folsom
• Friday, October 23 — Petit Biscuit at The Foundry
• Friday, October 23 & Saturday, October 24 — K. Flay at Bottom of the Hill
• Saturday, October 24 — Sofi Tukker at Cow Palace
• Saturday, October 24 — Everclear and American Hi-Fi at the Independent
• Saturday, October 24 — SiDEPIECE (day party) at Gold Bar Distillery
• Wednesday, October 28 — We Are Scientists at Rickshaw Stop
• Thursday, October 29 — Patrick Wolf at the Independent
• Thursday, October 29 — swedm® (Varg2TM & jamesjamesjames) at the Great Northern
• Friday, October 30 — Parra for Cuva at August Hall
• Friday, October 30 — Avalon Emerson at the Great Northern for squish
• Friday, October 30 — Monolink, The Blaze, and Mindchatter at Shed A at Pier 48 for Club Darc
• Saturday, October 31 — Leon Vynehall and more for squish Halloween at the Great Northern
• Saturday, October 31 — Christian Löffler at Public Works
• Saturday, October 31 — Eric Prydz at Shed A at Pier 48 for Club Darc

November

• Sunday, November 1 — Eric Prydz and DJ Heartstring at California State Capitol Building (Sacramento)
  • Yeah I know it's not SF, but also it's DJ Heartstring and they're great okay.
• Thursday, November 5 — Moby at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
• Friday, November 6 — Main Phase at 1015 Folsom
• Sunday, November 8 — Nia Archives at the Regency Ballroom
• Sunday, November 8 — Eelke Kleijn (live) at ERIA Sausalito
• Wednesday, November 11 — Brand New at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium (20 years of The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me)
• Thursday, November 12 — Ólafur Arnalds at the Castro Theatre
• Friday, November 13 — Maceo Plex at the Great Northern
• Friday, November 13 — Eli & Fur at 1015 Folsom
• Friday, November 13 — Sammy Virji with Sam Gellaitry at Cow Palace
• Saturday, November 14 — squish's 100th party with Aurora Halal b2b Laurel Halo, Binh, and re:ni at Monument SF
• Saturday, November 14 — Nora En Pure (day party) at Audio
• Saturday, November 14 — Bonobo at Fox Theater
• Sunday, November 15 – Saturday, November 21 — The Mountain Goats at the Fillmore (6 show residency)
• Wednesday, November 18 — Icona Pop at the Independent
• Wednesday, November 18 — Hamilton Leithauser & Rostam at the Castro Theatre
• Monday, November 23 — Pedro the Lion at Bottom of the Hill
• Friday, November 27 — O'Flynn at The Independent (in the round)
  • see you there??
• Friday, November 27 — Amtrac at the Regency Ballroom

Beyond…

• Friday, December 4 — Guy J at Public Works
• Friday, December 11 — Dusky at Audio
• Wednesday, December 30 — Justice (DJ set) at Shed A at Pier 48 for Club Darc
• Thursday, December 31 — Jamie xx, Honey Dijon, and 3kelves at Shed A at Pier 48 for Club Darc
• Thursday, December 31 — Above & Beyond at 1015 Folsom
• Sunday, January 3, 2027 — Rufus Du Sol (DJ set) at Pier 80 Warehouse
• Friday, January 15 — MPH at Regency Ballroom
• Saturday, February 6, 2027 — Romare (Live & DJ set) at the Independent
• Saturday, February 20, 2027 — La Roux at Castro Theatre
• Thursday, February 25, 2027 — Sylvan Esso at Fox Theater
• Sunday, April 4, 2027 — Hans Zimmer at Chase Center
• Wednesday, April 21, 2027 — Carly Rae Jepsen at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
• Sunday, May 9, 2027 — Too Many Zooz at the Independent

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…

• Thursday, October 1 – Saturday, October 31 — Walktober: Self-Guided Art Tours with Big Art Loop (four weekly walks)
• Friday, October 2 — Algorithmic Art Assembly presents Kit Clayton at Gray Area
• Friday, October 2 — Walktober: Past, Present, and Future Along the Bay from Bayfront Park
• Saturday, October 3 — Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair at Humanist Hall (Oakland)
• Saturday, October 3 — Ashima at the Roxie Theater
• Sunday, October 4 — Small Press Book Fair at Yerba Buena Gardens
• Sunday, October 4 — The Last First: Winter K2 at New People Cinema
• Sunday, October 4 — Weird Web October Kickoff at bubblesort studios

week two

• Monday, October 5 – November 12 — Beyond Big Tech: Building Alternative Futures for Personal Data and Infrastructure, online and at Gray Area
• Monday, October 5 & Wednesday, October 7 — Breadboarding Modular Synthesizers at Gray Area
• Tuesday, October 6 — Annalee Newitz at Green Apple Books on the Park for Annalee Newitz's latest book, A Wall is Also a Road
• Tuesday, October 6 — Walktober: Karen's Birthday Walk: Top of the Town from Upper Noe Recreation Center
• Tuesday, October 6 — Panel: Speak Yourself: Building Community Through K-Pop at SF Public Library Main Branch
• Tuesday, October 6 — Curiosity Guild: Grave Mistake at Public Works
• Wednesday, October 7 — Romance Book Trivia at Love Potion Library
• Wednesday, October 7 — Conversation: On Archiving Punk at Goethe-Institut San Francisco
• Wednesday, October 7 — Command Line Music: Auwen Workshop at tiat
• Thursday, October 8 — Translator to Translator: Translating Diaspora at KALW Studio Events and Gallery
• Friday, October 9 — CRANE watch party with live choir at Zaccho Dance Theatre
• Friday, October 9 — Hernan Diaz with Ed Yong at BATS Improv Theater (Fort Mason Landmark Building B)
• Friday, October 9 — Voting Matters: California Voter Guide Live with CalMatters at KALW Studio Events and Gallery
• Friday, October 9 – Saturday, October 10 — Unseen Visions: A New Age Music and Culture Symposium at Gray Area
• Saturday, October 10 — Poetry World Series: Litquake Edition at Make Out Room for Litquake
• Saturday, October 10 — Walktober: Muni History Walk from Farley's Coffeehouse
• Saturday, October 10 — Walktober: Nature Delights on the Crosstown and Double Cross Trails from Duboce Park
• Saturday, October 10 — on being Chinese and online with viola he at tiat
• Saturday, October 10 — Congressional Candidate Debate at Bookshop West Portal
• Sunday, October 11 — Walktober: The Eastern Wedge Walk from the Ferry Building

week three

• Tuesday, October 13 — Scaling Your Practice: Manufacturing in China for Artists at tiat
• Wednesday, October 14 — Reimagining Local News: From the Ground Up with Tiny News Collective at KALW Studio Events and Gallery
• Wednesday, October 14 — Command Line Music: Auwen Workshop at tiat
• Wednesday, October 14 — AI and the Future of Academic Labor at 518 Valencia for Shaping SF
• Thursday, October 15 — Walktober: Waterfront Walkabout on the Embarcadero
• Thursday, October 15 — (Un)Writing Place with Lin Hierse and Jon Cho-Polizzi at Goethe-Institut San Francisco
• Thursday, October 15 — A 22nd-Century Conservation Ethos for California at KALW Studio Events and Gallery for Litquake
• Friday, October 16 — Irregular Feedback: Writers on Music at Make Out Room for Litquake
• Friday, October 16 & Saturday, October 17 — CRANE at Hunter's Point Shipyard
  • "the historic gantry crane at Hunters Point Shipyard, the towering landmark of San Francisco's southeastern waterfront, comes to life in CRANE, a large scale work of public art combining illumination, original music and live performance."
• Saturday, October 17 — Walktober: Golden Gate Park Roundabout from McLaren Lodge
• Saturday, October 17 — Walktober: Straight up the City from Mission Hills Park
• Sunday, October 18 — Walktober: Scaling the Heights: Telegraph Hill to Russian Hill from Levi's Plaza

week four

• Tuesday, October 20 — Living in the Shadow of Silicon Valley at SFPL Main Library for Litquake with Mission Local
• Wednesday, October 21 — Command Line Music: Auwen Workshop at tiat
• Thursday, October 22 — B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin at Goethe-Institut San Francisco
• Saturday, October 24 — Walktober: Truly Terrific: Tiled to Tiled Stairway Walk from Lincoln Park Steps
• Sunday, October 25 — Walktober: From the Blue Water Tower to Yosemite Creek—A Watershed Ramble from McLaren Park Redwood Picnic Area

are there five weeks in october I guess so

• Tuesday, October 27–Thursday, October 29 — The Art of Tinkering Workshop at the Exploratorium
• Tuesday, October 27 — Tom Frank at City Lights to discuss his new book ”THE CREATIVITY CON: How Innovation Became America’s Biggest Racket”
• Tuesday, October 27 — Walktober: All About San Francisco's Stairways: No Walking Required! at Bird & Beckett Books & Records
• Tuesdays, October 27 – November 17 — Fall 2026 Reduction Block Printing at the Haight Street Art Center
• Thursdays, October 29 – November 19 — Fall 2026 Screen Printing Basics at the Haight Street Art Center
• Saturday, October 31 — Walktober: Glen Park Gravel from the Glen Park BART plaza
• Saturday, October 31 — Walktober: Beach to Brewery: Far West to Far East from Judah/La Playa

Beyond…

• Monday, November 2 — Studio Works #6/7: On Distribution at tiat
• Wednesday, November 4 — Millennial Punk: Episodes 1 & 2 + Conversation at Goethe-Institut San Francisco
• Thursday, November 5 — Millennial Punk: Episodes 3 & 4 at Goethe-Institut San Francisco
• Wednesday, December 2 — San Francisco: Capital of the Nerd Reich? with Gil Durán and Joe Eskenazi at 518 Valencia for Shaping SF
• Thursday, December 3 — Decoder at Goethe-Institut San Francisco
• Saturday, December 5 — PWHL San Jose vs. Minnesota Frost at SAP Center
  • Season opener!
• Thursday, December 10 — Wild Heart at Goethe-Institut San Francisco

Music lately

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

This email is too long already but my main music on repeat is still Marlon Hoffstadt's Das ist Daddy album, this UPPER90 set from Polyamor @ Schrotty (please someone book him for SF), and I'm about to close my eyes and buy an enormous Bandcamp Friday cart, with some anticipated albums:

• Jersey's album Nothing's Fake
• Tom VR's album Don't Know How Fast I'm Moving Until I Hit Something
• Melé's album Alive on Arrival
• Daphni's Butterfly (expanded edition)
• DJ Heartstring's debut, Sentimental Ultra

Waiting anxiously for jg's latest album to release, and good to see Cloudcore back at it again.