This week: Too Short’s ‘Blow the Whistle’ at 20, local Black figures through history, cheap eats in the Sunset, the library’s small business resources, and Sports Basement comedy club; plus: walking the Bay Bridge, descending the Hawk Hill stairs, and exploring Black history through music.

Behind the racks

San Francisco’s Comedy “Run” Club has turned a tucked-away corner of Sports Basement Presidio into a monthly hotspot for laughs. Every second Saturday, the space transforms into an intimate speakeasy with touring comedians, free pizza, drinks, and a crowd with the penchant for the unique.

Every attendee earns perks like a Sports Basement discount and honorary membership in the non-running “run” club. The secret door can be found behind the running shoes. — Justina Vanessa/Instagram

Blow the whistle

Twenty years on, Too Short’s “Blow the Whistle” still turns Oakland streets, block parties, and clubs into instant dance floors. Recorded in Atlanta and Miami with Lil Jon, the track never cracked the Hot 100 but cemented itself as a Bay Area anthem, its hyphy energy spreading through local culture and sports arenas alike.

The original video shoot at Mingles Martini & Champagne Lounge near Jack London Square captured the city’s intensity, from street-side chaos to crowded dance floors, and introduced viewers to figures like the Turf Feinz, who later appeared in Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 Super Bowl performance. Two decades later, the song’s claps, whistles, and warnings remain woven into the city’s soundtrack, from local nights out to national stages. — KQED

Currents of the Black Pacific

At the Museum of Sonoma County, the exhibition, Take Me to the Water: Histories of the Black Pacific, curated by Caroline Collins, widens the lens on Black history, tracing lives shaped by ocean crossings, wartime shipyards, and coastal labor. The exhibit moves from the story of Diego, an African guide who landed on California’s coast with Sir Francis Drake in 1579, to Black whalers, fishermen, and World War II workers who helped build communities from Richmond to Santa Rosa.

Photographs, maritime tools, and a video interview with Pearl Harbor survivor Jesse Love anchor the show in lived experience, while recent programming has brought Sonoma County writers into conversation with that legacy. The exhibition runs March 22, Wednesdays through Sundays, in Santa Rosa. — The Press Democrat

Fourth floor futures

Up on the fourth floor of the San Francisco Public Library’s Main branch, there’s a corner devoted to people planning out their livelihoods. The library’s Small Business Center offers one-on-one guidance, databases, and workshops that walk would-be founders through permits, city codes, marketing plans, and the maze of local regulations that can stall a good idea before it leaves the notebook.

Some familiar neighborhood names — from Green Apple Books to Gravel & Gold — have tapped into the center’s support along the way. For anyone quietly plotting a career pivot, the help is free, public, and waiting upstairs at the Main Library. — Taylesofthecity/Instagram

Basslines of memory

Inside the Victorian rooms of San Francisco’s Community Music Center, composer and bassist Marcus Shelby creates suites that move through Black history as deliberately as a walking bass line. His projects have traced the 1944 Port Chicago explosion, Harriet Tubman’s journeys, the Negro Baseball Leagues, and meditations on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., blending blues and swing with archival research and lived testimony.

Shelby, who once studied engineering before committing fully to music, now leads big bands, serves as artistic director of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, and mentors young musicians in the Mission. For him, composition is both scholarship and inheritance — a way to pass history forward, one low note at a time. — NBC Bay Area

Sunset bites

A tiny counter on Taraval Street is quietly feeding the Sunset. Little Aloha serves a handful of Hawaii-inspired dishes, from spam musubi to loco moco, priced so students and families can grab a hot lunch without emptying their wallets.

The co-owners, all San Franciscans, bring flavors discovered on trips to Maui and Oahu, balancing authenticity with simplicity in a compact menu. The $6 weekday special has made the spot a steady stop for high school crowds, with pineapple sausage leading the charge. — SFGate

Tower walk

The Bay Bridge pedestrian path runs for two miles, fully separated from traffic and lined with benches. The towers are massive, and cars move quickly below, making it very loud — great for stress-screaming or singing loudly off-key.

From the path, walkers can see expansive views of the Bay and the remnants of the old bridge. The walkway is high above the water but considered safe, offering a clear, elevated perspective of the city and surrounding waterways. — Baywiddit/Instagram

Stairway to the bay

Once you’ve finished the Bay Bridge walk, head to the Hawk Hill stairs that descend toward the Pacific Ocean, offering panoramic views of the Golden Gate, San Francisco, and the Marin Headlands along the way. The path is spacious, with plenty of benches, and separate from any traffic, though the roar of cars above is constant.

The towers rise high around you, and you can spot remnants of the old bridge as you descend. Visitors can walk the stairs, linger on the landings, or hike the surrounding trails, making it a clear spot for sunset views. — Wandering Creator, Meghana/Instagram

Image: Sonoma County Museum

Previously: Field Notes: BART Poetry, Revolutionary Black Panther Art, and from Rural Alaska to the Super Bowl

Local musician Rudy Colombini has been developing Music City SF, a live music hub and incubator on Bush Street, for the past 20 years. The 29,000-square-foot space is now in default, and Colombini hopes to raise funds via a reality show filmed at the venue.

According to Music City’s website, Colombini, who grew up in North Beach, first purchased the existing hotel in Lower Nob Hill in 1988 and opened a basement rehearsal studio called Plug n Play in 2005. As KTVU reports, in 2008, Colombini began planning the all-in-one live music and entertainment complex with the aim of supporting and amplifying local and touring artists while bolstering the city's music scene. He officially rebranded the hotel and rehearsal space as Music City SF in 2017.

His plans for further renovation and construction were disrupted by the lockdown, and in December 2021, Colombini received a $10 million loan to finish the project.  He also invested his own money from his work as a real estate developer.

As SF Business Times reports, he finished the project last year but defaulted on his debts. Colombini isn’t giving up yet, though. He’s still holding out hope that an investor will help secure Music City’s future in San Francisco due to the city’s deep rock and roll roots.

“We’re bringing the underground back — live, loud and global,” he told Modern Luxury. “Music City is designed to be a permanent home base for the next wave of talent. By offering paid-performance opportunities and access to an international audience through streaming, we create sustainability for artists.”

“And we’re doubling down on the grassroots: supporting open mics, experimental shows and local collectives,” he continued. “We want to be the spark that reignites that gritty, genre-bending, soul-stirring energy that made SF legendary.”

Colimbini told SF Business Times he’s been talking to some prominent Hollywood names about producing a competition reality show at Music City — fortunately the place is well equipped for that. SF Business Times says the venue has the capability of broadcasting from 26 different internal stations, allowing all of the rehearsal studios and small stages to be filmed.

“It could change the flow of San Francisco music to have as many as a dozen reality TV shows coming out of 29,000 square feet here we have all audiovisually recorded," Colombini told SF Business Times. “A reality TV show contract would be ‘monumental,’" he said.

SF Business Times reports that next month Music City will be hosting its fourth annual Songwriters Festival.

Image:

Fat Tuesday is next week with a free all-ages Mardi Gras festival in the Fillmore and performances by Mission Delirium and New Orleans' Rebirth Brass Band in the Mission. SFist takes a closer look at a few local brass bands that have influenced the scene through the years.

Fillmore Street will be the main place to be on Fat Tuesday with the district’s 18th annual Mardi Gras celebration, featuring a New Orleans-style processional led by the David Hardiman Line Band, followed by a free community blues concert with the popular Curtis Family Notes and Niecy Living Single.

David Hardiman's history in the Bay Area music scene spans decades. Hardiman played with the Golden Gate Park Band for 20 years starting in the mid-'70s, partially in an effort to provide some much-needed Black representation to the band. Around the same time, Hardiman also founded his ongoing project, the San Francisco All-Star Big Band, which features musicians who played with Count Basie and Duke Ellington, among other legends.

Yesterday, SFist noted that the Brass Liberation Orchestra (BLO) showed up to last Saturday's protest at the Tesla showroom, where they added some extra oomph to chants such as, "People over profit, stop the coup!" and generally elevated the camaraderie of the event.

BLO has been serving as a political protest band since the early 2000s starting with anti-Iraq War protests, followed by the Occupy movement and later the Muslim ban protests at SFO.

SFist filmed video of BLO at one of the SFO protests back in 2017 where they considerably boosted morale:

Members of the BLO also perform with the group Mission Delirium (among many others), who are performing at Curio in the Mission on Tuesday night. The Rebirth Brass Band will be performing at the Chapel later in the evening.

The 2017 airport protest wasn’t the only time this author randomly caught some impromptu brass band action.

In October of 2023, on a dark, dark night at Warm Water Cove in the Dogpatch, several people holding instruments briefly emerged from the shadows before receding back into the dark and launching into a stellar performance, prompting us to dance to what felt like imaginary musicians:

The very first time SFist caught a brass band performance on video was at Cellspace in 2001 when Extra Action Marching Band took over the space and had us in awe. Members of Extra Action can reportedly be found performing with Brass Liberation Orchestra and Mission Delirium these days:

Image: David Hardiman's website

BART is getting the word out to local musicians on how to sign up for the annual Bach in the Subways, a global celebration of the composer's birthday, which takes place March 21–31.

Bach in the Subways was created in New York City in 2010 by musician Dale Henderson and has grown to include performances in more than 150 cities across 40 countries.

Here's where to get the permit for performing inside the BART station. All performances will take place in non-paid areas of BART. Event organizers also welcome performances on the street and in other public spaces, since not every city has a subway.

Additionally, Bach in the Subways organizers ask that participants not solicit tips or accept any money since it's meant to be a "shared gift of musical joy," which is definitely something the world collectively needs right now.

There's nothing like hearing classical music reverberate through a subway station.

Oakland’s musical legacy suffered a major blow recently after thieves stole about 40 commemorative plaques from the city’s 7th Street Walk of Fame, once dubbed “the Harlem of the West Coast.” According to KRON4, the stolen plaques, featuring legends like B.B. King and Aretha Franklin, were likely taken for their metal value, with each costing $1,120 to replace—bringing the total to $150,000.

Ronnie Stewart, director of the West Coast Blues Society, called the incident a devastating act against the community’s cultural history. Stewart has been rallying community support online, and in a small win, one plaque belonging to Fillmore Slim was recovered after a friend of the artist spotted and bought it back.

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to restore the Walk of Fame, seeking donations to replace the plaques and reclaim the legacy of 7th Street.

Image: Our Oakland/Localwiki

Comedian and actor turned playwright Steve Martin also plays banjo on the side, because as he and Stephen Colbert recently discussed, he's a polymath and apparently never sleeps. He's got a new album out with his band The Steep Canyon Rangers, with whom he just did the NPR Tiny Desk Concert you can see above. He's also got a new Broadway play called Meteor Shower in which comedian Amy Schumer will be making her Broadway debut, which opens November 1 and also stars Keegan-Michael Key. And his Broadway musical, Bright Star, which he co-wrote with Edie Brickell, is coming to SF for a limited engagement at The Curran starting November 28.

Given that this is also Hardly Strictly Bluegrass week, and Martin and his band have made appearances there before, it's only appropriate that we all take a listen to Martin's mean banjo skills once more.

Seriously, though, we should all be so productive and talented at age 72.

As we learned right after he was fatally shot in the Tenderloin two weeks ago, local character, artist, DJ, and nightlife personality Bubbles was planning to leave San Francisco for good to move to Berlin within a month or so. Now, today, via DJ Buckner Williams, we learn of a recording Bubbles made in July, shortly after coming back from his most recent trip to Berlin. The one-hour-and-twenty-minute recording, which is primarily Bubbles speaking extemporaneously over electronic tracks being laid down by Williams, is a sort of goodbye letter to San Francisco, where Bubbles had lived for over 20 years — made all the more poignant now.

Meanwhile, another local DJ, Jim Hopkins of the San Francisco Disco Preservation Society, is seeking recordings of Bubbles's own DJ sets.

As Williams explains on Soundcloud:

Bubbles came over to my studio one early Monday morning right after returning from his Berlin trip because he had some stuff to get off his chest and wanted my help. He had made up his mind about leaving San Francisco to live in Berlin but before he could leave us, he needed to reminisce a little. So over the course of the next hour and a half, with [him] on the microphone and myself weaving a mix of original music stems and released tunes, we recorded. Here is the result of that Monday morning's off-the-cuff love letter of leaving from Bubbs. I miss ya, double bubble, you f**ker.

The spoken word starts around the 3:45 mark, and it includes the sound of Bubbles doing whip-its, and talking about how much he loves Berlin. "Berlin in the summertime... it's f***in crazy!... Berlin is like no other place. I never felt like I belonged anywhere, ever," Bubbles says. "Well, maybe San Francisco in 1994. I thought I belonged there then, that time, that place... it's lost its soul."

"Berlin is very special. It's the mecca for everybody who doesn't belong anywhere else," Bubbles says. "Yeah, the clubs, they remind me of the time I spent at Burning Man, but it's the real-life sh*t!... Berlin is the best place I've been in my whole life. I can't even believe how magical it is."

Related: New Details In Death Of Bubbles May Point To Hate Crime, Police Still Deny Hate Was Motive

Fans of old vinyl records will not hiss at this news: The Internet Archive and the Archive of Contemporary Music are attempting to preserve and digitize every single remaining 78-rpm vinyl album, and they're putting each of these recordings online, for free. Via Laughing Squid, we learn that something called the Great 78 Project is collecting old 78 records by the hundreds of thousands, digitizing them, and posting them so you can stream them.

For free.

For those of you who are not enrolled in AARP, 78s or “78 rpm records” were records made from the 1920s and 30s that played according to the first standardized speed of phonographs, which was 78 revolutions per minute. (Record speeds were not standardized until 1925.)

These 78s, of course, eventually gave way to the 33 ⅓ long-play LP in the 1930s, and the 45 rpm ‘single track’ record that became popular in the 40s. As the decades marched on, those vinyl records endured among collectors while the mass market turned its tastes to 8-track cartridges, then cassette tapes, then compact discs, and now the digital format into which these old treasures are being converted.

“We aim to bring to light the decisions by music collectors over the decades and a digital reference collection of underrepresented artists and genres,” the Great 78 Project says on their website. “The digitization will make this less commonly available music accessible to researchers in a format where it can be manipulated and studied without harming the physical artifacts.”

Yes, the ‘vinyl hiss’ remains intact, and that’s on purpose. “We have preserved the often very prominent surface noise and imperfections and included files generated by different sizes and shapes of stylus to facilitate different kinds of analysis,” the website notes.

This is not an aspirational project — the Great 78 Project already has about 200,000 78s listed and available online. Their Twitter feed posts another new one pretty every 10-15 minutes.

If you have old 78s you’d like to donate, the Great 78 Project will accept your old 78 records and digitize them to post online. But reading their FAQs, it does not appear they will ship those old records back to you. But the old records won’t be taking up space for you anymore, and the whole world will be able to enjoy your collection online.

Every single 78 in existence sounds like a pretty impossible goal. But with nearly a quarter million already archived and an estimated three million in existence, they are on their way to the hitting the ten percent mark.

Related: The 9 Best Record Stores In The Bay Area

Catch what the New York Times calls "the ultimate environmental piece" and what a New Yorker reviewer calls "one of the most rapturous experiences of my listening life" (!) when John Luther Adams' jazz performance Inuksuit comes to the Sutro Baths.

RichmondSFBlog brings news that Adams' massive performance piece will begin in San Francisco's favorite ruins at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Featuring up to 99 percussionists, the outdoor performance will, according to the event's website, "create a harmonious marriage of music and geography that allows the audience to create their own experience as they move within the vast performance area."

So basically, attendees are encouraged to roam around the baths during the performance, experiencing the music from different vantage points. Pretty cool, right? Previously performed on a tundra in Alaska, Saturday's event is presented by SFJazz and directed by Sō Percussion founder Doug Perkins.

Related: Video Shows Some Hitchcock-Level Seagull Action At Sutro Baths

Over last weekend, the SF Symphony ended its 2016-17 season with some fireworks: a dazzling performance of Berlioz's Romeo and Juliet. Like his Requiem, Romeo and Juliet is an odd bird, a choral symphony loosely following the path of Beethoven's ninth in bringing in a choral component, and even more loosely following the text of the Shakespeare play. It's the end of the season, but the performances will live on, as they were recorded for later release on the SFS Media label.

Written for a large orchestra and chorus, Romeo and Juliet features three singers, none of whom assumes the roles of the piece's namesakes. Berlioz explained thus: Many composers have written sung love duets for this pair, so why should he? His is a symphony first, and it's incumbent on the orchestra to capture the emotions in music. And it does so brightly, you almost don't need the program to follow what's going on.

Tenor Nicholas Phan thus gets to sing about Queen Mab, hardly the first character who comes to mind when you think of R&J. He did an outstanding job, bringing levity and humor combined with surprisingly perfect French diction. Sasha Cooke gets a slightly meatier part, where she gets to feature her sweet tone and to break the fourth wall and sing about Shakespeare's poetry.

It's bass Luca Pisaroni who scores the biggest part as Friar Lawrence, and in a deep voice, midwifes a ceasefire between the Capulets and the Montagues. He changed his tone to shift to the colors of the text, here upset when relating the mess of the lovers' death, there booming when speaking the voice of God, and majestuous in the final reconciliation. The chorus sang very cleanly, almost too perfectly and delicately when I expected a more ribald colors in a scene of revelers returning from a party.

Yet, the orchestra tells most of the story and with Berlioz's vivid textures and evocative melodies, there is no need for words. The heart of the piece is a melancholy love scene in a delicate and tender adagio. The long, lyrical and winding melody aches of desire, delaying its resolution for as long as it can. Combined with lush orchestral swells, you hear Wagner-before-Wagner (who admitted being impressed, and clearly was inspired, by the work).

Inventiveness drives the orchestration throughout: the party at the Capulets is scored for pizzicato cellos and tambourine, in a joyous dance, interfered with ominous trombones. The orchestra scherzo for Queen Mab features in a sweet barcarole that at some point includes two harps and bells, with the same eerie colors as the contemporary Midsummer Night Dream of Mendelssohn. The scoring is so brilliantly modern that the end of Juliet's funeral cortege, a heartbreaking lament sung by the chorus, ends on the flute repeating the same note over and again, bringing — of all people — Philip Glass (!) to mind.

MTT conducted with a clear attention to the details of the score, but with a sweep that kept the ninety-some minutes piece moving along and never once did he let our attention wane, from the vivacious viola opening to its last chapter, when the whole orchestra joins force in an exhilarating final burst. It's hard to imagine a more perfect symbol of togetherness and reconciliation than such large scale orchestral harmony.

The SF Opera concluded its season as well, inviting 23,000 to attend Don Giovanni at AT&T Park on Friday night. The chilly evening didn't seem to dampen the enthusiasm. Ildebrando D'Arcangelo was a swaggy Don, Erin Wall a strong Donna Anna, and Stanislas de Barbeyrac made us want for more in the smaller part of Don Ottavio. The set was however rather drab, with large frames hanging from the rafters, to inform us Giovanni is a self-absorbed narcissist. Luckily, we couldn't see much of it as it was shot and broadcast on the AT&T screen in mostly close-ups. SF Symphony and SF Opera both kick of their next season after Labor Day.

by Nicole Gluckstern

Though the biggest (to date) Burger Boogaloo did not go off without a single hitch (there security fence issues, and inadequate trash receptacles), we had a great time taking in the spectacle of tiny Mosswood Park teeming with rock-and-roll aficionados, from the six-year-old girl who threw headliner Iggy Pop a pair of devil horns, to the various white-haired attendees old enough to remember when Iggy was just a young upstart from Detroit with a penchant for peanut butter.

With Burger Boogaloo's cofounder’s father, Chuck Ribak, sharing MC duties with the incomparable John Waters, the tone of the day was set: dad jokes, innuendo, gentle trash-talk, and all-in enthusiasm, for the little music festival that could, and does.

Other highlights of Saturday’s show were heartfelt sets on the smaller “Gone Shrimpn” stage — especially NYC’s rocker babes Baby Shakes, and the incomparably weird and wonderful Nobunny, whose masked exhibitionism is eclipsed only by his manic musical energy — a fantastic garage-guitar set from Sacramento’s Losin’ Streak, a decent nostalgia trip from Redd Kross, and a high-octane appearance by Nagasaki’s Guitar Wolf, who arrived onstage in Godzilla masks, spent time surfing the crowd, and pulled a (possibly unsuspecting) member of the audience onstage to play guitar while lead performer Seiji menaced the sky with the microphone stand and brought the crowd to writhing appreciation.

OC Weekly also just declared Burger Boogaloo "a DIY festival for the ages."

In short, it was the perfect way to kick off the 4th of July weekend, and hopefully you didn't miss out. But there's always next year...

Previously: Do The Burger Boogaloo: Iggy Pop Headlines And John Waters Hosts This Scrappy Oakland Punk Fest

A Tenderloin-area ukulele player was the victim of a violent mugging Sunday, when he was beaten and robbed of his instrument.

The crime, police say, occurred at 6:30 a.m. Sunday near the intersection of Polk and O'Farrell Streets.

According to the San Francisco Police Department, a 25-year-old man approached the 27-year-old victim, and "made small talk with [the victim] about the ukulele."

Suddenly, a second suspect, also in his mid-20s, appeared. This second man attacked the musician with a hammer, police say, and hit him "causing injury."

The first man then robbed the stunned victim, stealing his phone, backpack, cash, and his ukulele. The duo then fled on foot in an unknown direction, according to the SFPD.

The victim was transported to an area hospital for treatment of injuries characterized by the SFPD as "minor." The suspects remain at large, police say, and no arrests have been made in the case.

Related: $35K Violin Used To Record 'Star Wars' Soundtrack Stolen In SF

Will promoter and old-school hippie Boots Hughston ever catch a break? The 68-year-old has been trying to get the city and County of San Francisco to let him produce a free concert in Golden Gate Park to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Summer of Love and he keeps getting...the boot.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle's Sam Whiting, there was HIGH DRAMA at Thursday's Recreation and Parks Commission meeting where the commish decided once again to turn down Hughston's permit request for his concert.

The commission took umbrage with the fact that Hughston apparently has no plans for security, safety, or crowd control. The hippies took umbrage with the commish being so uptight, man. Behold, the best (and most San Francisco-esque) quotes from the meeting —or at least the ones that made Whiting's piece:

• "If you name five things about our city going back to the beginning, one of them would be the Summer of Love — and these people are original Summer of Lovers." — Hughston’s volunteer counsel Angela Alioto, who gave her speech in English and Italian for reasons only she knows.
• "I'm not going to tell you who we have lined up for our event because you people will just pick it apart." — Kurt "Crowbar" Kangas
• "God forbid that somebody would get hurt." — Commissioner Tom Harrison
• "Sobbing." — Ann Cohen, the widow of Allen Cohen, the founder the city's first underground newspaper, the Oracle.
• "I have no problem with the Summer of Love or the people who run it." — Commissioner Larry Mazzola Jr.
• "Everybody is invited!" Parks and Recreation Director Phil Ginsberg who totally got his concert approved, although it's not a concert. It's a light show, so NBD.

Should Hughston let his dream die or will love find a way? He's only got a few months left before his Summer of Permit Denial is officially over.

Related: Oh Snap. The City Will Throw Its Own 'Summer Of Love' Concert After Rejecting Everyone Else's

Well this is some sad news for fans of live music and children.

Neil Young's annual Bridge School Benefit Concert has reportedly been sent out to pasture. The 30-year-old, always star-heavy acoustic concert usually took place every October at the Shoreline Amphitheater. It was also mentioned ad nauseam on KFOG, and fussed over by legions of Bay Area Baby Boomers.

The Bridge School was founded by Young and ex-wife Pegi to provide special education for students with severe speech and physical impairments. It's world-renowned for its use of augmentative and alternative communication, and technology. The Youngs' own son Ben, now an adult, is quadriplegic with cerebral palsy, and they started the school in 1986 to help him and students like him.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, benefit founder Neil and Pegi won't do the concert this year and don't plan to do it again. In an online post made public yesterday, Young announced:

"Although I will continue in fundraising efforts, for personal reasons beginning this year I will no longer be hosting the Bridge School concert. I wish everyone the best as the school heads into the future. My heart is with each and every child we have had the honor to serve and those we will continue to serve, and your parents, siblings, and extended families."

Pegi Young hinted to the Chronicle that the concerts couldn't go on forever, saying, "We know we can't do this forever. We are mere mortals. We really need to look at ways the school can continue to go on after the concerts."

The concert's end might be due in part to Neil Young's mystery illness that forced him to pull out of an April 7 appearance inducting Pearl Jam into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The undisclosed illness was described to Pitchfork as "nothing major," so who knows. It's none of our business. We wish Neil Young the best. He seems nice.

The Bridge School Benefit has been host to some incredible performances over the years, from the likes of David Bowie, Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, Green Day, The Dixie Chicks, Brian Wilson, Pearl Jam, and Metallica, as well as semi-regular reunions of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (the last in 2013). The musicians would often do covers or team up for duets. Attendees could count on extraordinary once-in-a-lifetime performances at this annual event. Also, and this can't be said enough, KFOG lived and breathed the Bridge School Benefit.

Who knows? Maybe someone will take the helm and keep the concert going. It seems like a good project for Eddie Vedder.

Related: Video: The Dixie Chicks Cover Lana Del Rey's 'Video Games' At The Bridge School Benefit

The classic rock reunion festival known as “Oldchella” will not be taking place this summer, but neither Styx nor the Stones will be taking the summer of 2017 off. (The Stones, however, will only be touring Europe.) We already told you about the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk free concerts lined up to let you rock out with your Gen X cred and AARP discounts on full display. But we didn’t know about a ton of new arena rock shows that have been announced since then, and it turns out that Roger Waters, Chicago, and the Doobie Brothers are all playing the Bay Area tonight. For people like me who are so old they think Radiohead is “new music”, we’ve put together this list of the Bay Area’s best classic rock concerts and reunion tours coming this summer.

Roger Waters - June 7 and 10
Former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters’ new album Is This The Life We Really Want? Is set to be his first solo album to debut at No. 1. But remind me again, what is an “album”?
Wednesday, June 7 at 8 p.m. at SAP Center in San Jose
Saturday, June 10 at 8 p.m. at Oracle Arena in Oakland

Chicago and the Doobie Brothers - June 7
The Doobie Brothers fire up as the warmup act for a Chicago iteration that will be without Peter Cetera.
Wednesday, June 7 at 7:15 p.m. at Concord Pavilion

Poison and Tesla - June 13
The hair-raising sounds of Poison will be teased by opening act Tesla.
Tuesday, June 13 at 8 p.m. at Oracle Arena

Boston and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - June 14
Don’t look back on the late 70s and early 80s, relive them with this nostalgia show at the Shoreline.
Wednesday, June 14 at 7:30 p.m. at Shoreline Amphitheatre

Eddie Money - June 16
Considering Eddie Money’s history of taking the stage completely wasted, this free show promises to be worth every penny.
Friday, June 16 at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

King Crimson - June 16 and 17
You’ll see red because the Saturday show is sold out, but there are still tickets available to see King Crimson on Friday.
Friday, June 16 at 8 p.m. at Fox Theater in Oakland

Styx and REO Speedwagon - June 23
The opening-opening act for Styx and REO Speedwagon is former Eagles guitarist Don Felder, whom enough people should confuse for Don Henley to sell a few extra tickets.
Friday, June 23 at 7 p.m. at Concord Pavilion

Queen + Adam Lambert - June 29
American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert will try to fill the estimable Adidas shoes of Freddie Mercury on a Queen reunion tour.
Thursday, June 29 at 8 p.m. at SAP Center

Great White -June 30
This Great White should be straight fire! (Too soon?)
Friday, June 30 at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

Ann Wilson of Heart - June 30
Unlike the fabulous San Mateo County Fair concert series, the Marin County Fair still makes you pay $50 for a concert seat in addition to your $20 fair admission. If that strikes you as a good deal, Ann Wilson is playing this Friday night show.
Friday, June 30 at 7:30 p.m. at the Marin County Fair

Image: EMI Records

Iron Maiden - July 5
Hallowed be Iron Maiden, who are touring with Swedish metal band Ghost.
Wednesday, July 5 at 7:30 p.m. at Oracle Arena

Quiet Riot - July 7
I am just now learning that Quiet Riot frontman Kevin DuBrow has passed away (this happened ten years ago!) But the boys will still get wild, wild, wild with his latest replacement James Durbin from American Idol.
Friday, July 7 at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

Blue Oyster Cult - July 14
Easy, guys. I put my pants on just like the rest of you — one leg at a time. Except, once my pants are on, I make gold records. Alright, here we go. "Fear... Don't Fear the Reaper" — take one. Roll it. Really explore the room.
Friday, July 14 at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

Daryl Hall & John Oates - July 15
I’m pretty sure Hall & Oates the only band on this list still performing with its original lineup. Tears for Fears are opening!
Tuesday, July 15 at 7 p.m. at SAP Center

Eric Burdon & The Animals - July 21
British Invasion act The Animals do have Eric Burdon with them on this particular iteration, as evidenced by the title.
Friday, July 21 at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

Los Lobos- July 28
Both of their two hits are likely to be played at both of these free Friday night shows in Santa Cruz.
Friday, July 28 at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

Y&T - August 4
Wait, Y&T hail from Oakland? Apparently so, but these shows are in Santa Cruz.
Friday, August 4 at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

Pablo Cruise - August 11
Pablo Cruise plays Santa Cruz in a pair of free boardwalk shows.
Friday, August 11 at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

Steve Miller Band, Peter Frampton, and Night Ranger - August 12
Despite his magnificent Geico commercial, Peter Frampton is not headlining this retro-rock triple threat.
Saturday, August 12 at 6:30 p.m. at Shoreline Amphitheater

The Who - August 13
As has been the case for a number of years, Outside Lands will feature their "legacy" headliner on Sunday this year, and it's The Who. As of 2017, The Who consists of Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend along with a sextet of backup musicians that includes longtime band member, and Townshend's younger brother, Simon Townshend.
Sunday, August 13 at approximately 8 p.m., Outside Lands, Golden Gate Park

Gin Blossoms - August 18
On the ten-year anniversary of their original breakup, the Gin Blossoms are back with two of the original Blossoms still intact.
Friday, August 18 at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

Toto and Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo
To clarify, Toto is the headliner and Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo are playing together as the opening act.
Monday, August 21 at 8:15 p.m. at Wente Vineyards in Livermore

Foreigner, Cheap Trick and Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience
This is the Bone Bash XVII, baby! The Led Zeppelin reunion did not happen, but perhaps you will settle for John Bonham’s kid with four other little-known studio musicians.
Saturday, September 2 at 7 p.m. at Shoreline Amphitheatre

Guns N’ Roses
You think five months is a long time to wait to see Guns N’ Roses reunite? Wait til you see how long it takes Axl to get his ass on stage!
Tuesday, November 21 at 8 p.m. at Oracle Arena

Related: Outside Lands Single-Day Tickets On Sale Thursday, Daily Lineups Announced