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

Monday June 18th

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

The UC Theatre 2036 University Ave, Berkeley 8:00 PM Showtime..Buckethead is a virtuoso guitarist and multi instrumentalist who performs within many genres of music. He has released over 300 studio recordings, way more than anyone else in the history of music. He released 178 “pikes” in the 2014-2015 period alone. He has also performed on over 50 more albums by other artists. His music spans such diverse areas as progressive metal, funk, blues, jazz, bluegrass, and avant-garde music. When performing in his theatrical persona, Buckethead used to wear a KFC bucket on his head, emblazoned with an orange bumper sticker that reads “FUNERAL” in capital black block letters, and an expressionless plain white costume mask. More recently, he has switched to a plain white bucket no longer bearing the KFC logo. He also incorporates nun chucks, robot dancing, and toy trading into his stage performances. Buckethead’s persona represents a character that was “raised by chickens” and has made it his “mission in life to alert the world to the ongoing chicken holocaust in fast-food joints around the globe.” Highly recommended!!! $32.50 Cover Charge

Tuesday June 19th

Verdi Club 2424 Mariposa St, San Francisco 9:00 PM Showtime.. Mitch Woods & His Rocket 88’shave been the torchbearers of a great American blues musical heritage for over three decades. Taking their inspiration from the great jump & boogie outfits and swingin’ little big bands of the 1940’s and 50’s, and adding a healthy dose of New Orleans rhythm and blues, pile-drivin’ piano, and some of Woods’ own contemporary playful lyrics, they breathe fresh life into the music that gave birth to rock’n’roll. Don’t miss this National Blues Hall of Fame inductee and his wonderful band! $15 Cover Charge

Bar Fluxus 18 Harlan Pl, San Francisco 9:00 PM-1:30 AM Showtime.. Vibrason. I saw this band recently. They are another great band out of the Bay Area. Very reminiscent of some of the Cal Tjader bands. $10 Cover Charge

Wednesday June 20th

Biscuits and Blues 401 Mason St, San Francisco 7:30 PM & 9:30 PM Showtimes.. 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

Club Deluxe 1511 Haight St, San Francisco 6:00 PM-9:00 PM Showtime.. Lulu & The Rent Party.. One of my favorite bay Area bands. They play an eclectic selection of jazz, latin, and pop tunes. They are really fun. Highly recommended!! N/C

Bottom Of The Hill 1233 17th St, San Francisco 9:00 PM Showtime. Headlining tonight’s show is Marisa Kay & The Lunar Angels, a folk rock/alt-country band hailing from San Francisco. Led by front woman Marissa Kay, the band combines the classic folk, rock and country she grew up on as a child with the unique experience of living as an openly transgender woman. The folk rock alt-country band JWB and piano-pop singer/songwriter Little Spiral opens the show. $10 Cover Charge

Thursday June 21st

Black Cat Supper Club 400 Eddy St, San Francisco 6:30 PM-9:00 AM Showtime.. Jazz vocalist Danielle Wertz will be performing with her trio. Danielle is a great young jazz vocalist whose phrasing is reminiscent Anita O’Day and Ella.. Highly recommended!! $22 Cover Charge.

Hemlock Tavern 1131 Polk St, San Francisco 8:30 PM-11:00PM Showtime Singer/songwriter Amy Rigby has made a life out of writing and singing about life. She first surfaced during the early 1980s as a member of the New York City-based cow-punk outfit The Last Roundup, later earning cult success with the postmodern girl group The Shams. Her solo debut Diary of a Mod Housewife is widely acclaimed for its vivid portraits of life as a thirty something single mother and its smart assimilation of pop, country, and folk sounds. Folk rock singer songwriter/poet Tino Drima opens the show. Highly recommended!!! $12 Cover Charge

Mr.Tipples 39 Fell St, San Francisco 8:30 PM Showtime.. The Ben Misterka Collectivity Trio is such a fun band. I love Ben’s energy and the way he blends different genres drawing on influences from jazz/funk, gospel, and psychedelic soul. He is also along with Collectivity are great musicians. Highly recommended!! N/C

The Greek Theatre 2001 Gayley Rd, Berkeley 7:30 PM Showtime. Robert Plant & The Sensational Space Shifters have been getting rave reviews playing 100 minute sets of Led Zeppelin standards and other rock classics from the pen of Dylan, Lennon and McCarthy and Clapton. This is Robert Plant at his best. Highly recommended!!! $59.50/$69.50/$89.50/$159.50 Cover Charge Range..

Sweetwater Music Hall 19 Corte Madera Ave, Mill Valley 8:00 PM Showtime Della Mae is one of my favorite America bands literally blurring the lines between bluegrass, folk, soul, and old-time traditions. The Nashville based string band has established a reputation as a charismatic live act comprised of some of the finest players in bluegrass, Americana and beyond. The band members are Celia Woodsmith on guitar & vocals, Kimber Ludiker on fiddle & vocals, Jenni Lyn Gardner on mandolin & vocals, Courtney Hartman on guitar, banjo & vocals and Zoe Guiguen on bass & vocals. Highly recommended!!! $24 Cover Charge

Friday June 22nd

Sierra Nevada World Music Festival starts today and runs through Sunday at the Mendocino Fairgrounds in Boonville, California. The festival is a weekend filled with the sweet sounds of roots reggae and world music.. Headliners include Steel Pulse, The Mighty Diamonds andBeres Hammond. $70-$350 Cover Charge

Black Cat Supper Club 400 Eddy St, San Francisco 6:30 PM-9:00 AM Showtime.. Jazz vocalist Danielle Wertz will be performing with her trio. Danielle is a great young jazz vocalist whose phrasing is reminiscent Anita O’Day and Ella.. Highly recommended!! $22 Cover Charge.

Biscuits and Blues 401 Mason St, San Francisco 7:00 PM & 10:00 PM Showtimes. Tony Lindsay & The Soul Soldiers featuring powerhouse vocalists Fred Ross, Nicolas Bearde and Will Russ will be performing the hits from Marvin Gaye, Bill Withers, Lou Rawls, Sam Cooke and Donny Hathaway. This powerhouse soul band also features Allen Leong on keyboards, Davd Shul on guitar David Jones on bass and Deszon Claiborne on drums. Highly recommended!! $30 Cover Charge.

Boom Boom Room 1601 Fillmore St, San Francisco 9:30 Showtime.. The Humidors have developed a sound that pulls from a melting pot of old-school and modern influences, yet is always rooted in a commitment to ego-less playing that embraces the ensemble approach to funk. This band has shared the stage with a whose who of funk masters such as Dumpstaphunk, The New Mastersounds, The Meters’ Leo Nocentelli, Shuggie Otis, and the late, great Bernie Worrell. Opening the night is jazz organ master Will Blades & His Starting Five with Joe Cohen (Saxophone- Jazz Mafia), Mike Olmos (Trumpet- New Mastersounds), Joe Bagale (Drums – Atta Kid) and Kai Lyons (Guitar). Highly recommended!! $12 Cover Charge

Brick & Mortar Music Hall 1710 Mission St, San Francisco 9:00 PM Showtime San Francisco Air Guitar Championship is the place to witness some of California’s best air guitarists battle it out to find which of them will represent San Francisco in the US Air Guitar Championship! Part rock show. Part comedy act. Part spectacle. US Air Guitar allows ordinary people to become Rock Stars! Up to 20 competitors give us their best air guitar performances, being judged on technical merit, stage presence, and airness, to crown one winner. The winner will then advance to the US Air Guitar National Championships in New York City! Should be a lot of fun…$15 Cover Charge

The Fox Theatre 1807 Telegraph Ave, Oakland 8:00 PM Showtime..Trampled By Turtles is another great Americana bluegrass/folk-rock band. I got to see them a few years ago and there is so much joy and ecstasy in the live performances. Highly recommended!! $29.50 Cover Charge

Saturday June 23rd

Sierra Nevada World Music Festival continues today and tomorrow at the Mendocino Fairgrounds in Boonville, California. The festival is a weekend filled with the sweet sounds of roots reggae and world music.. Headliners include Steel Pulse, The Mighty Diamonds andBeres Hammond. $70-$350 Cover Charge

Biscuits and Blues 401 Mason St, San Francisco 7:00 PM & 9:30 PM Showtimes. Commander Cody helped invent a whole new style of music during the early 1970 ’ s, a period regarded as the height of rock innovation. Commander and His Lost Planet Airmen were one of the original groups to fuse divergent strains of American roots music — stripped – down basic rock and roll, rhythm and blues, jazz, bop, country, western swing, and rockabilly — and create an innovative, yet familiar and convincing sound. I highly recommend seeing this great innovator of American music. $24 Cover Charge.

Yerba Buena Gardens 750 Howard St, San Francisco 12:00 PM-2:15 PM Showtime Circus Bella is a full-force, non-stop kaleidoscope of thrilling feats of balance and strength, elegant demonstrations of grace and poise, and outrageous humor with slapstick antics. Circus Bella showcases static trapeze, rope walking, a 9-person juggling act, contortion, hula hoop, original clowning, and more. The music is originally composed and directed by the highly-acclaimed Rob Reich and draws from French Waltz, New Orleans Jazz, Klezmer, and American Circus March. Highly recommended!!!! N/C

Red Poppy Art House 2698 Folsom St, San Francisco 7:30 PM-10:00 PM Showtime.. NYC-based pianist Calli O’Doherty brings her quartet to the Red Poppy for the first time, joined by two Bay Area natives. Her upcoming performance includes original jazz compositions and arrangements from O’Doherty’s debut album, Padme, as well as new material being prepared for her next record. O’Doherty has received awards for her piano performance and compositions from DownBeat Magazine, as well as an ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer Award. Highly recommended!! $10 Cover Charge

The San Jose Fountain Blues & Brew Festival 4:35 PM-5:50 PM Plaza de Cesar Chavez located at 1 Paseo De San Antonio, San Jose. Roy Rogers & The Delta Rhythm Kings have developed a distinctive style of becoming one of the most instantly recognizable blues ensembles.

The San Jose Fountain Blues & Brew Festival 6:20PM-7:50 PM Plaza de Cesar Chavez located at 1 Paseo De San Antonio, San Jose. For over 30 years, The Fabulous Thunderbirds have been the quintessential American band. The group’s distinctive and powerful sound, influenced by a diversity of musical styles, manifested itself into a unique musical hybrid via such barnburners as “Tuff Enuff” and “Wrap It Up”. Co-founder Kim Wilson, the sole original member, still spearheads the group as it evolves into its newest incarnation.

The Freight & Salvage 2020 Addison St, Berkeley 8:00 PM Showtime.. In an era when female singer-songwriters are ever more ubiquitous, Shawn Colvin stands out as a singular and enduring talent. Her songs are slow-release works of craft and catharsis that become treasured, lifetime companions for their listeners. As a storyteller, Colvin is both keen and warm-hearted, leavening even the toughest tales with tenderness, empathy, and a searing sense of humor. I highly recommend seeing her!!! $54 Cover Charge

Sunday June 24th

Sierra Nevada World Music Festival continues today at the Mendocino Fairgrounds in Boonville, California. The festival is a weekend filled with the sweet sounds of roots reggae and world music.. Headliners include Steel Pulse, The Mighty Diamonds andBeres Hammond. $70-$350 Cover Charge

Biscuits and Blues 401 Mason St, San Francisco 7:00 PM & 9:00 PM Showtimes.. Danielle Nicole is one the upcoming and blues and soul music forces. Her distinctive and inventive bass work resulted in her becoming the first woman to win the Blues Foundation’s 2014 Blues Music Award for Best Instrumentalist, Bass. Highly recommended!! $22 Cover Charge

Cafe Claude 7 Claude Lane, San Francisco 7:00 PM-10:00 PM Showtime. Nick Rossi Trio.. Nick is a great jazz guitarist. He plays standards, swing, and bebop as well as anyone in the Bay Area. Highly recommended!! N/C

Stern Grove Festival 19th Avenue & Sloat Blvd. 2:00 PM Showtime Ziggy Marley the GRAMMY® and EMMY® Award-winning singer, songwriter, producer, humanitarian, and visionary headlines the afternoon. Opening the show is Brazilian rap, reggae, and raga singer Flavio Coelho. Highly recommended!!N/C

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

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 7:00 PM Showtime.. In an era when female singer-songwriters are ever more ubiquitous, Shawn Colvin stands out as a singular and enduring talent. Her songs are slow-release works of craft and catharsis that become treasured, lifetime companions for their listeners. As a storyteller, Colvin is both keen and warm-hearted, leavening even the toughest tales with tenderness, empathy, and a searing sense of humor. I highly recommend seeing her!!! $54 Cover Charge

Video Pick Of The Week.

Louie Bluie

String band leader Howard Armstrong (Louie Bluie) is the joyful, emotive, strutting subject of this tribute by fellow musician and cellist Terry Zwigoff. Filmed at the 1985 Friscofest, Louie’s unique Afro-American string band shares the stage with Cab Calloway and with Les Blank and Alan Governar in an entertaining number about the ups and downs of nicotine in Cigarette Blues. Enjoyable for all audiences, Louie Bluie is 60 minutes of happy musical catharsis.