Another great week of live in the Bay Area. Here are some suggestion for this week..

Monday April 30th

Club Deluxe 1511 Haight St, San Francisco 9:30 PM-12:30 AM Showtime. Mike Olmos Presents The Sessions Mike is a such a great trumpet player. He leads his all star Sessions for a great night of jazz.. N/C

Mr.Tipples 39 Fell St, San Francisco 7:00 PM-10:00 PM Showtime Le Hot Jazz.. The spirit of Django is alive and well in San Francisco. This is a great ensemble. Highly recommended!! N/C

Amnesia Bar 853 Valencia St, San Francisco 9:00 PM-11:00 PM High Country has earned its place as the West Coast’s premier traditional bluegrass band. I used to see this band practically every week at Paiul Saloon back in the late 70’s. This is a great bluegrass band in the tradition of Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs and the Stanley Brothers. Highly recommended!!!! N/C

Bottom Of The Hill 1233 17th St, San Francisco 9:00 PM Showtime The Lawrence Arms the legendary Chicago based ska punk rock band will be rocking the house come Monday and Tuesday. Red City Radio emo pop punk rockers from Oklahoma City and Sincere Engineer another Chicago based punk rock revivalist band open the show. Highly recommended!!! $20 Cover Charge

If you live around Santa Cruz check out

Kuumbwa Jazz 320 Cedar St # 2, Santa Cruz 7:00 PM & 9:00 PM Showtimes Terrance Blanchard brings his Grammy-nominated E-Collective, performing music of hope and healing from their forthcoming album Live, a collection of live recordings made in Minneapolis, Cleveland, and Dallas – three cities scarred by the violence and tension between law enforcement and their African-American populations Highly recommended!!! $28 Cover Charge

Tuesday May 1st

Bottom Of The Hill 1233 17th St, San Francisco 9:00 PM Showtime The Lawrence Arms the legendary Chicago based ska punk rock band will be rocking the house come Monday and Tuesday. Red City Radio emo pop punk rockers from Oklahoma City and Sincere Engineer another Chicago based punk rock revivalist band and Noble Bodies a real fine post punk band out of Provo, Utah open the show. Highly recommended!!! $20 Cover Charge

Mr.Tipples 39 Fell St, San Francisco 7:00 PM-10:00 PM Showtime Jason Gillenwater Trio Bop Jazz is another up and coming jazz ensemble.Jason is a fine tenor player performing mostly new and avant jazz. Highly recommended N/C

Pier 23 Pier 23 The Embarcadero, San Francisco 5:00 PM-8:00 PM Ned Boynton is a great jazz guitarist. He will be performing with friends for a wonderful late afternoon of jazz standards. Highly reocmmended checking him out. N/C

Wednesday May 2nd

Biscuits and Blues 401 Mason St, San Francisco 7:30 PM & 9:30 PM Bay City Blues featuring Chris Cain is a weekly showcase of world class Blues music and superb instrumental talent. This event is a celebration of the Blues in all its forms and an adventure into the depth of a national genre. Hosted by the nationally recognized Chris Cain & his All-Star cast of Musicians, every week they invite a new special guest to accompany them on stage and present new, upcoming, & old talent from the blues world! Bay City Blues is our tribute and exploration into the Blues genre, it is a special event in which we all get to help, share, & “Preserve the Blues.” Highly recommended!! $20 Cover Charge

Cats Corner 2174 Market St, San Francisco 9:30 PM-Midnight Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers is internationally recognized as The Queen Of Classic Jazz & Blues in the authentic style of the 1940’s and 1950’s as the band pays tribute to the swingin’ Kansas City tradition, featuring the music of Count Basie, Jimmy Rushing, Joe Williams, Helen Humes, Lester Young, Jay McShann, Walter Brown, Jimmy Witherspoon, Myra Taylor & Big Joe Turner! Highly recommended!! $10 Cover Charge

Tupelo 1337 Grant Ave, San Francisco 9:00 PM-1:00 AM Showtime a great night of funk, jazz and r&b with The Love Gangsters. Great arrangements of standards and orignals. I really love this band. Highly recommended!! N/C

Bottom Of The Hill 1233 17th St, San Francisco 9:00 PM Showtime Chicago based pop punk band Smoking Popes have created a unique kind of music that some call “lounge punk”. Punk rockers Day Dream and Bad Cop/Bad Cop are opening sets for a really good show. Highly recommended!! $20 Cover Charge

Hemlock Tavern 1131 Polk St, San Francisco 8:30 PM-11:55PM Wax Statues a surf guitar inspired melo psychedellic band headline a fun night of music along with Pete RG featuring former Pearl Jam’s Dave Krusen and early U2 inspired Oceanography .. Some really cool music. $8 Cover Charge

Yoshis 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland 8:00 PM Showtime Tribu follows in the Latin Jazz traditions of Cal Tjader, Mongo Santamaria and Machito, Tribu( tribe in Spanish), brings the next continuum. With Afro-Caribbean mixed with American Jazz flavor, this music brings the feel of Latin Jazz into the 21st century. $23 Cover Charge

The UC Theatre 2036 University Ave, Berkeley 8:00 PM Showtime Duda Tassa and the Kuwaitis are one of the most prominent singer-songwriters and guitarists, and a dominant figure on the Israeli rock scene, Dudu’s latest project is a tribute to his grandfather and great-uncle. Known as the Al-Kuwaiti Brothers, they were highly popular composer/musicians in Baghdad during the first half of the XXth Century. Dudu interprets their songs in Arabic and Hebrew and integrates new sounds into his rock band line-up, to create a new style, best described as Iraq’n Roll. Open the show is Yemen Blues with Ravid Kahalani whose original music mixes of Yemen and West Africa influences with contemporary grooves from funk to mambo and the deep soul of old chants and Gili Yalo’s whose music combines Ethiopian roots with soul, funk, psychedelic and jazz music. Highly recommended!!!! &25-$62.50 Cover Charge

Thursday May 3rd

The Boom Boom Room 1601 Fillmore St, San Francisco 9:00 Showtime Help celebrate the “Godfather of Soul”’s birthday with special guest The Funky Godfather a world-class 9-piece showband fronted by the talented and dynamic Cubby Ingram. This great band sets the stage on fire (and packs the dance floor) with James Brown’s greatest hits. Should be a fun night.. $7 Cover Charge

The Fillmore 1805 Geary Blvd, San Francisco 8:00 PM & 11:00 PM Showtimes Eric B & Rakim architects of some the funkiest, smoothest, slick-talkingest records of rap’s Golden Era, and widely regarded as among the most influential and groundbreaking of hip-hop groups, are currently on their first tour since the duo parted ways in 1992. Yo-Yo the American hip hop recording artist, actress and entrepreneur and protégé of gangsta rap is opening the show. Highly recommended!!! $45 Cover Charge

Neck Of The Woods 406 Clement St, San Francisco 8:30 Showtime Johnny and the Holy Mackerels are a unique rock n’ roll trio from SF, musically somewhere between Bowie, QOTSA, and the Beach Boys. Consisting of just a heavy guitar, drums and beautiful vocal harmonies. Singer/songwriter Maya Hall and my favorite San Francisco old school garage and punk band The Royal Pains round out a great night of music. $10 Cover Charge

The Freight & Salvage 2020 Addison St, Berkeley 8:00 PM Showtime Meshell Ndegeocello has traveled quite the musical road with a blend of funk, soul, and jazz. She’s recorded with the likes of former boss Madonna as well as John Mellencamp and Herbie Hancock, cut a Nina Simone tribute album, but always followed her own muse. She hasn’t toured in a while and this should be a great show. $65 Cover Charge

If you live near Santa Cruz you may want to check out

Moes Alley 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz 9:00 PM Showtime Hot Buttered Rum is of my favorite bluegrass/roots bands’ They are a great live band. String Cheese Incident’s keyboard master Kyle Hollingsworth opens the show. Highly recommended!!!! $25 Cover Charge

Friday May 4th

Club Deluxe 1511 Haight St, San Francisco 6:00 PM-9:00 PM Showtime The Buena Vista Jazz Band follows the instrumentation of guitarist Eddie Condon’s classic bands of the 1950s: Bass, Drums, Piano, Rhythm Guitar, Cornet, Trombone and Clarinet. This is a great ensemble playing the classic songs of New Orleans jazz, along with selections from America’s blues and Tin Pan Alley traditions. Highly recommended!! N/C

Club Deluxe 1511 Haight St, San Francisco 10:00 PM Showtime Lavay Smith & Her 8 Piece Little Band Lavay is the reigning Queen Of Classic Jazz & Blues in the authentic style of the 1940’s and 1950’s. She will be performing with her 8 piece little band. Lavay is one of my favorite singers. Highly recommended!! N/C

Biscuits and Blues 401 Mason St, San Francisco 7:00 PM & 10:00 PM The “King of the Chitlin Circuit” the legendary Bobby Rush is in town. The 82-year-old legendary R&B, Soul, Funk, and Blues artist , 2017 Grammy award winner and Blues Hall of Famer is the greatest bluesman currently performing. Highly recommended!!! $50 Cover Charge

Elbo Room 647 Valencia St, San Francisco 9:30 Showtime Mala Grena will be performing its original blend of psychedelic cumbia, rap and hiphop. This is areally great ensmble and should have the Elbo Room rocking.. Highly recommended!! $8 cover Charge

Tupelo 1337 Grant Ave, San Francisco 9:00 PM-1:00 AM Showtime Jinx Jones is one of the great guitar virtuosos of the Bay Area. I love the way he seems to move seamlessly from rockabilly to jazz to twang and back again, sometimes in the same song. Highly recommended.. N/C

Hotel Utah 500 4th St, San Francisco 9:00 PM Showtime Three really good bands on tap for tonight. The Seattle based band Old Coast melds a spirited and diverse mix of whiskey drinking desert songs with driving indie rhythms and hard working, old time harmonies, to create a unique brand of Pacific Northwest Americana…Opening up for Old Coast is Kamerin an Oakland-based folk-pop singer songwriter who combines acoustic arrangements with electronic loops and synthesizer beats to create lush vocal harmonies and catchy beats and the Americana inspired The Tremelo Saints. Should be a really good show.. $10 Cover Charge

The Freight & Salvage 2020 Addison St, Berkeley 8:00 PM Showtime Meshell Ndegeocello has traveled quite the musical road with a blend of funk, soul, and jazz. She’s recorded with the likes of former boss Madonna as well as John Mellencamp and Herbie Hancock, cut a Nina Simone tribute album, but always followed her own muse. She hasn’t toured in a while and this should be a great show. $65 Cover Charge

Saturday May 5th

Bottom Of The Hill 1233 17th St, San Francisco 9:00 PM Showtime The Sam Chase & The Untraditional was one of the surprise moments at last year’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. Sam has great stage presence and the music is fresh with great arrangements. I really love this ensemble. Country folk rockers Dragland and alt-country Dan Too round out what promises to be a great night of music at the “Hill”.. $15 Cover Charge

The Boom Boom Room 1601 Fillmore St, San Francisco 9:30 PM Showtime Lagos Roots is a 17-piece afrobeat ensemble that brings it back to the root: straight to 1970’s West Africa. Lagos Roots is steeped in unfiltered, deeply-grooved and intense Nigerian Afrobeat – horn-blasted tribal funk rhythms that keep you moving (and sweating) to the music of the Kalakuta Republic. Highly recommended!!! $12 Cover Charge

Biscuits and Blues 401 Mason St, San Francisco 7:00 PM & 10:00 PM The “King of the Chitlin Circuit” the legendary Bobby Rush is in town. The 82-year-old legendary R&B, Soul, Funk, and Blues artist , 2017 Grammy award winner and Blues Hall of Famer is the greatest bluesman currently performing. Highly recommended!!! $50 Cover Charge

Club Deluxe 1511 Haight St, San Francisco 2:30 PM-5:30 PM Showtime Banda Sin Nombre is an outstanding five-piece street band performing folk music from around the world. Mixing rich vocal harmonies with acoustic instruments including guitar, fiddle, charango, cajon, and bass, the band’s inspirations range from Peruvian Chicha to Catalan Rumba and Appalachian old time to Cumbia. This is one of the best live performance bands in the Bay Areas!! N/C

Club Deluxe 1511 Haight St, San Francisco 6:00 PM-9:00 PM Showtime > Howell Devine is my favorite Bay Area blues band. They will have the house rockin at the Deluxe. N/C

Club Deluxe 1511 Haight St, San Francisco 9:30 PM-12:30 AM Showtime. The Americano Social Club plays music for “la dolce vita”: a mix of romantic and eclectic melodies from all over the world including pop, jazz, folk, classical, rock, opera, the music of Brazil and Europe’s cafés as well as some great original pieces. This is a great ensemble. Highly recommended!!!! N/C

The Warfield Theatre 982 Market St, San Francisco 8:00 PM Showtime Melvin Seals and JGB brings an intuitive, expressive style, soul, spontaneity and remarkable chops to the table. With acoustic and electric ingredients and unique combinations of Dave Hebert’s guitar and vocals, Pete Lavezzoli’s hearty drums and, of course, a heapin’ helpin’ of the wizard’s magic on Hammond B-3 Organ and keyboards. Adding his rock-gospel-soul-rhythm and blues touch with his funky style of playing, it’s no wonder Jerry nicknamed him “Master of the Universe”. Highly recommended!!!!! $35-$50 Cover Charge..

Red Poppy Art House 2698 Folsom St, San Francisco 7:30 PM Showtime Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers is one of the top swingin’ jazz and blues bands in the world. Tonights performance “Taboo Jazz from the ‘20s & Beyond”, is classic jazz and blues songs ranging from the 1920s, ‘30s, ‘40s, and ‘50s, all about getting low and getting high. Highly recommended!!! $25 Cover Charge.

Riptide 3639 Taraval St, San Francisco 9:30-12:30 Showtime Les Chalet & The Sunblock Boys will have you digging out your chili boots and have you doing the 2-step playing honky-tonk classics from country royalty like Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn, Buck Owens, Johnny Cash, and Hank Williams, as well as honky-tonk spins on songs from the likes of Beck, ELO, Ween and the Velvet Underground. Highly recommended!!!! N/C

If you live near Santa Cruz you may want to check out

Moes Alley 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz 9:00 PM Showtime Sambada is dubbed the West Coast’s hottest Brazilian Samba band. Based in the rich musical traditions of Brazil, SambaDá also references salsa and cumbia, and blends them playfully with funk and reggae beats. Brazilian natives Papiba Godinho and Dandha da Hora bring profound knowledge and respect for Brazilian music, and together with the entire band, they present a unique musical sound with a universal appeal. Highly recommended!!! $20 Cover Charge

Sunday May 6th

Amnesia Bar 853 Valencia St, San Francisco 8:30 PM-10:30 PM Showtime.. The Hot Baked Goods are a band of young jazz musicians playing hot tunes of the 30’s. Most of the band members started as swing dancers, and became so infatuated with the music that they decided to make some themselves. I saw them at the Amnesia and this band really swings. N/C

Biscuits and Blues 401 Mason St, San Francisco 7:00 PM & 9:00 PM Legendary guitar virtuoso Harvey Mandel, aka “The Snake,” truly one of the most distinctive and innovative musicians, continues to perform throughout the world, captivating audiences with his inventive style of electric guitar playing. A pioneer of modern electric blues from Chicago, Mandel developed and mastered sustained and controlled feedback, displaying both extroversion and musical virtuosity. He has performed with many blues legends including Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, Albert King, and Buddy Guy. Highly recommended!!! $22 Cover Charge

The Lucky Horseshoe Bar 453 Cortland Ave, San Francisco 4:00 PM-7:00 PM Showtime Bernal Hillbillies A great three hours of bluegrass music at a really great venue reminiscent of the jams at the Old Paul Saloon many years ago. N/C

The Freight & Salvage 2020 Addison St, Berkeley 1:00 PM Showtime The San Francisco Folk Music Club is leading a Pete Seeger Sing-Along in celebration of the Freight & Salvage’s 50th year. N/C

The Freight & Salvage 2020 Addison St, Berkeley 7:00 PM Showtime.. Mary Lou’s Apartment is an all-women compact-yet-mighty big band, set to debut at the Freight in a night of glorious music and great company that you don’t want to miss. The ensemble features the music of African American musical geniuses Mary Lou Williams and Melba Liston in an atmosphere of kindness, joy and political action. Highly recommended!! $20 Cover Charge

Savanna Jazz Club 1189 Laurel St, San Carlos 6:00 PM-9:00 PM Showtime.. The San Francisco Bay Jazz Band led by veteran jazz clarinetist Jeff Sanford, is one of the fixtures of the Bay Area music scene. An exciting 18 piece band with vocalists performing the works of Nestico, Basie, Ellington and Glenn Miller. Highly recommended!! N/C

Video Pick Of The Week..

Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me Trailer In 2011, music legend Glen Campbell set out on an unprecedented tour across America. They thought it would last 5 weeks instead it went for 151 spectacular sold out shows over a triumphant year and a half across America. What made this tour extraordinary was that Glen had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. He was told to hang up his guitar and prepare for the inevitable. Instead, Glen and his wife went public with his diagnosis and announced that he and his family would set out on a “Goodbye Tour.” The film documents this amazing journey as he and his family attempt to navigate the wildly unpredictable nature of Glen’s progressing disease using love, laughter and music as their medicine of choice. Special appearances include Bruce Springsteen, The Edge, Paul McCartney, Blake Shelton, Sheryl Crow, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, Taylor Swift, Steve Martin, Chad Smith and Bill Clinton among many others.