Fans joined hands, heard from victims' loved ones, and swayed to emotionally resonant music at the Fox Theater last night in a powerful fundraiser concert presented by Another Planet Entertainment and Noise Pop with the goal of uniting Oaklanders in the wake of the devastating Ghost Ship fire that killed 36 people. Among those lost in the blaze that suddenly erupted during a concert held in the live-work warehouse space were musicians, music lovers, and artists, and they were honored last night by 16 performers, all of them but one from the Bay Area.

Cash Askew, to name one example, was a 22-year-old musician and member of the duo Them Are Us Too, and she perished at Ghost Ship two Fridays ago. Her bandmate Kennedy Ashlyn and her girlfriend Anya Taylor played a moving, downcast rendition of the song "Sweetness" by Jimmy Eat World dedicated to Askew. "We love you, Cash," said Taylor.

Askew was also remembered by Careletta Sue Kay, who performed onstage with Askew's stepfather, Sunny Haire. Haire, like Askew was, is transgender: A guitarist, he would take his step-daughter to The Lexington Club, where he worked as a manager when she was just a child, the Washington Post recalls.

Other covers by artists from the evening included versions of the late Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" by the mens' a cappella singing group Conspiracy Of Beards and Rogue Wave's performance of "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye." Another cover, Fantastic Negrito's heartfelt take on "In The Pines," was particularly difficult to forget.

With ticket sales, the Oakland United Concert was expected to raise $300,000 for the Gray Area Foundation and their Arts Oakland Fire Relief Fund, the Mercury News reported. Where that amount will go, as Gray Area's Josette Melchor told the audience, hasn't yet been determined. Her organization, which itself grew out of a live-work space for artists and has expanded to a historic Mission District movie theater, will work with Oakland and the Red Cross to allocate the money raised, she assured the audience.

Melchor was one of many speakers including journalists like Sam Lefebvre of The East Bay Express and Pitchfork, who spoke of the need to protect spaces for artists. Artists, too, waxed elegiac and political. Boots Riley of the Coup said "The only way we know how to pay homage is to play with the joy and the ferociousness with which these people lived their lives."

On a lighter note, Thao Nguyen of San Francisco said that her decade in the city gave her authority to declare that "Oakland is way cooler." Rap group Hieroglyphics, amid a spirited performance, reminded the audience of the solemnity of the benefit: "We lost people in the Ghost Ship, too, so remember all this good feeling is to help people that are suffering," one member said, asking that Oakland United, the cause of the evening, become "a philosophy."

Related: Nine Events Supporting Ghost Ship Fire Victims And Their Families

Serious FOMO trigger warning: If you weren't at the Chapel last night for Conan Mockasin's sold-out show, you missed not only that weirdo doing his crazy thing, but also surprise appearances by fellow hipsters Mac DeMarco and James Blake. Those two guests were in town for Treasure Island Music Festival: There, DeMarco was the consummate crowd pleaser, his habitual cigarette glued to his lips, but Blake was unable to perform due to weather. To make ammends, he performed a show at the Fox Theater in Oakland last night, an event announced day-of and offered for free to aggrieved Treasure Island ticket holders. Blake, it seems, knows how to get across the Bay, and had no trouble appearing twice last night.

Incidentally, a friend of mine was kind enough to text me after Blake's Fox performance, which I missed. "It was amazing," they wrote. "I can't even lie you missed out / He just tore my heart apart / Into a million little pieces." Cool good glad I missed it because my heart can't handle that. Instead, here's Blake, DeMarco, and Mockasin from last night at the Chapel.

Previously: James Blake Performs Tonight At the Fox In Free Make-Up Show For Treasure Island Ticket Holders

While Van Morrison, age 70, is already on the books to play at Davies Symphony Hall on October 17th, SFJAZZ has announced it will be offering a more intimate experience with the "Belfast Cowboy" on October 18th and 19th, at 7:30 p.m. in the 700-person Miner auditorium.

Tickets to the evenings' shows are available to SFJAZZ members on May 27th and everyone else on June 3rd. The price is steep for an act they're billing as a "living legend": $250 for all GA tickets.

While accepting knighthood recently from the Prince of Wales, Morrison reportedly said. "Playing a small club — that’s really what I do... The bigger places you have to do for financial survival reasons, let me put it that way, but the bigger places enable me to play small clubs occasionally.” This might be an example of that in action, you know, if you don't think about the price.

Morrison knows his way around San Francisco and the Bay Area. He moved to Marin County in the early '70s, recording much of the 1972 album St. Dominic’s Preview at Wally Heider Studios and Pacific High Studios in the city proper. Maybe he'll treat audiences to a bit of that album's title track, a reference to the church of the same name at Bush and Steiner. Or perhaps he could go play a few songs there for free?

Related: The 20 Best Songs About Places In San Francisco

Comedian Dave Chappelle's typically bi-annual "surprise shows" are a little like that surprise party in the office on your birthday. Maybe it's gonna be on Thursday, maybe it's gonna be on Friday, but you can most likely count on some cake.

This time there's a slight twist.

After the Chronicle reported that Chappelle's show would be this coming Saturday, the 16th, at the Masonic — a larger venue than in years past, those tickets went up on sale today on LiveNation. At $60 a head, they sold out in a heartbeat.

But now a second set has been added for 10 p.m., and there are tickets left. So what are you still doing here? Go get 'em!

Update: Welp, they're gone now. But there are tickets on Stub Hub (of course) for both shows starting at $78.

When Treasure Island Music Festival —  in some ways the lower-key counterpart to Outside Lands — herds artists from The National to DeadMau5 to the Bay Area for October 17 and 18, some of those acts (and some others) are playing night shows all over town to round things out.

The festival folks have just released this incomplete list of those performances, so here's just the official ones that have been announced so far.

Thursday, October 15

Nightlife Live: Hundred Waters + Tops
California Academy of Sciences | 6:00 p.m. (doors)

Friday, October 16

Atlas Sound
Swedish American Hall | 9:00 p.m. (doors)

Autechre + Cygnus + Rob Hall
Mezzanine | 8:30 p.m. (doors)

Jessica Pratt
Swedish American Hall | 8:30 p.m. (doors)

Albert Hammond Jr. + Day Wave
The Independent | 9:00 p.m. (doors)

Saturday, October 17

Kero Kero Bonito + Vinyl Williams + Professional Fans DJs
Swedish American Hall | 9:00 p.m. (doors)

Yacht
The Independent | 10:00 p.m. (doors)

Previously: Treasure Island Music Festival Announces 2015 Lineup

While San Francisco's music scene isn't what it once was, it's still a thriving scene for good music, so you should check out a show at one of the city's fine venues. Here are a few of our favorite places with choice acoustics (give or take) and stellar line-ups.

The Independent
With an upgraded sound system installed a few years back and a constantly evolving, genre-hopping lineup the Independent maintains a small room feel in a medium-sized venue. Acts range from big-name national acts to '90s reunion tours to Dave Chapelle's surprise standup shows. And the drinks won't break your bank either. — Andrew Dalton
628 Divisadero (at Hayes)

Bimbo's 365
With red velvet-lined walls, art deco styling, and a live mermaid swimming in the lobby, Bimbo's is a venue from an entirely different era. You'll half expect to see Frank Sinatra nursing a whiskey around a bistro table in the back, but you're far more likely to catch a Noise Pop headliner or a burlesque revue. — Andrew Dalton
1025 Columbus (at Taylor)

(Photo: The Chapel's Facebook page)

The Chapel
Valencia Street's newest music venue has a lot of soul for a newcomer. The beautifully revived church-like 1914 building is the official West Coast home of New Orleans' legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band, so naturally the music lineup leans towards the soulful and folky side. The rest is rounded out with local acts graduating from Mission District dive bars and national touring acts that play to the Valencia Street sensibilities. — Andrew Dalton
777 Valencia Street (at 19th Street)

Brandi Carlile at The Fillmore. (Photo: The Inadvertent Gardener)

The Fillmore
The Grateful Dead. James Brown. Jefferson Airplane. Prince. The Cure. The Smashing Pumpkins. Sleater-Kinney. Radiohead. They have all graced this stage along with hundreds upon hundreds of other performers great and unknown. (Historical sidebar: This was a primarily African American music venue in the 50s and 60s after briefly being a roller rink, and was only really the bohemian, rock-and-roll venue we think of it as between 1965 and 1968, and then again when Bill Graham took it over again starting in 1994. Not to be confused with The Fillmore West, which was Graham's venue through the 70s at Market and Van Ness.) It remains an awesome space with great bones, chandeliers, and a palpable energy, especially at sold-out shows, that can't be denied. Performers always seem stoked and honored to be on that stage, and they want to give it their all. And then there are the commemorative posters, which a lot of people collect, and can be quite cool, handed out as you leave at most sold-out shows -- this might be the only venue in the country that does that. We like the upstairs bar, the high walls lined with old posters that we could stare at for hours. But that coat check line: ugh. — Jay Barmann
1805 Geary (at Fillmore)

(Photo: audium.org)

Audium
One of the treasures of contemporary music has been sitting quietly in a custom-designed building on Bush Street since 1975, and if you don't know about it you really should. It's a "theatre of sound-sculptured space" conceived and designed by 84-year-old electronic music composer Stan Schaff, who built the place with a NEA grant in the early '70s. He's been doing weekly performances of his music there since 1975, every Friday and Saturday evening, in which the audience sits in complete darkness and hears one of his pieces "performed" via 169 individual speakers arrayed in a specially sculpted space. It's cool, and kind of romantic as a date idea, and way 70s in every way — even though Schaff actually premiered a new piece, Audium 9, in 2008. He won't be around forever, so check this thing out while you can. — Jay Barmann
1616 Bush (at Franklin)

The stage at Richskaw Stop. (Photo: bokeh burger)

Rickshaw Stop
Hitting that sweet spot between legitimate music venue and cozy drinking hole is the Rickshaw Stop, which sports a bar, stage and open space downstairs, with an upstairs mezzanine that's home to competitive couch (and rickshaw) seating. Sit upstairs to canoodle with your date at a mellow indie show, or do your thing downstairs for something more upbeat. Rickshaw also hosts special nights like Cockblock, Nerd Nite and the Moth StorySLAM. — Rose Garrett
155 Fell (between at Franklin)

Club Deluxe jumps, jives. (Photo: Charles Wagner)

Club Deluxe
It's a perfect marriage of jazz, booze, and pizza at Club Deluxe, the hidden-in-plain-sight venue on Haight Street. With a tight full bar on one side and a small dining/music room on the other, the club achieves that coveted speakeasy vibe (without trying too hard). Leather booths and diner stools complement the vibe, and a rotating roster of blues, jazz and folk musicians grace the stage for an up-close and personal night out. — Rose Garrett
1511 Haight (at Ashbury)

Davies Symphony Hall dazzles. (Photo: Dave Pacheco)

Davies Symphony Hall
That piano-looking building on Grove and Van Ness, Davies Symphony Hall contains one of the world's most noteworthy and lauded symphonies (led by Michael Tilson Thomas). It also boats such stellar talent as Audra McDonald and Burt Bacharach, but also more popular acts like Janelle Monáe and Rufus Wainwright. (Aside: Will you please, at the very least, wear a nice pair of pants, dress shoes, and a button-up shirt, for fuck's sake, when going to the symphony. It's bad enough we see tank tops and shorts at the Orpheum and Golden Gate Theater.) — Brock Keeling
201 Van Ness (at Grove)

SXO at Bottom of the Hill. (Photo: BotH's Facebook)

Bottom of the Hill
Basically, it's the place where your friend's band always plays and even though you go to all of their shows, he'll be pissed if you miss even one, so you totally know the routine by now. Open since 1991, this Potrero Hill institution has managed to avoid tech boom-related shuttering by featuring artists (mainly local) seven nights a week. They've also got a kitchen in case you're hungry, and a back patio for smoking whatever you want. — Brock Keeling
1233 17th Street (at Missouri)

(Photo: Christopher L./Yelp)

Feinstein's at The Nikko
Gone are the days of the old Redwood Room, Josie's Cabaret & Juice, and the Empire Plush Room, back when you could hear a chanteuse croon tunes from the American Songbook. But you can still catch a some choice cabaret at Feinstein's at The Nikko. Billed as "an elegant, yet intimate, 140 seat nightclub," this place hosts a sundry of assorted Broadway and local talent, like Sutton Foster, Connie Champagne, Cheyenne Jackson, Christine Ebersole, Veronica Klaus, and more. — Brock Keeling
222 Mason (at O'Farrell)

Honorable Mentions:

Great American Music Hall
The Saloon
DNA Lounge
Slim's
Yoshii's

Jumpy Academy Award-winning comedian Robin Williams will make two rare (?) appearance at the 142 Throckmorton Theatre in Mill Valley next week, and tickets go on sale at 1 p.m. today. What he bills "Still Working on Material," Williams will appear on Monday and Wednesday, Oct. 29 and 31, at the theater.

Tickets will be limited to two per person. They will run you $50 each and are available online at www.142throckmortontheatre.com. They will be available for pick-up at the theater box office, beginning at 3 p.m. on the day of the show.

[via Marin IJ]

by Veronica de la Mora

Memorial Day approaches! And with that, we have a healthy stew of shows waiting in the wings just before summer strikes. Morrissey, the Cult, Questlove, and Kurt Vile are just a few shows you shouldn't miss.

Thursday, May 24

I Break Horses, Silver Swans at Popscene

Show of the week: Dream electro pop shoegaze fans unite. Fresh off their tour with M83, swedish duo I Break Horses are back to treat us with more of their lush sounds. San Francisco's Silver Swans are opening. Time to get your mope on. Behold:

Saturday, May 26

Morrissey at the Bob Hope Theatre

Did you catch that Morrissey pinata at last month's Club Leisure? (If you missed it, you will get another chance soon at Popscene when Andy Rourke DJs in June.) Moz will make his way back to the Bay Area this weekend by way of... Stockton. The setlist from the recent San Diego show had a few Smiths tunes. You can bet Saturday's show will boast some as well.

Sunday, May 27

The Cult at the Fillmore

The Cult are touring to promote their new record, Choice of Weapon. We'd like Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy to know that She Sells Sanctuary was our morning wake up song for years! Try it...set the ipod, set the alarm, sleep, wake up to She Sells Sanctuary and you can't help but feel good!

Monday, May 28

DJ Questlove at the Independent

Questlove is warming up before his band the Roots take over the Regency Ballroom on Monday night. (Fun fact: Questlove DJ'd last week's Saturday Night Live season finale after-party.)

Wednesday, May 30

Kurt Vile and the Violators at the Fillmore

Having come up the Philadelphia indie scene with his band the War On Drugs, Kurt Vile now mesmerizes audiences all by himself. He'll be performing with his backing band the Violators. But make no mistake, he and his acoustic guitar cast a potent spell on their own. Kurt opened for aficionado Thurston Moore last summer. This time it's his turn to shine.

Tycho at the Independent

We are stoked that Tycho is coming to the Independent. A master of the sound of swoooosh and creating the perfect soundtrack to relaxing in your favorite chair, Tycho has been our background music for months. Alas, next week's show is sold out, but give Craigslist a try.

Let's welcome Veronica de la Mora to SFist, as she shares her concert-going wisdom with us on a regular basis. Veronica attends several shows per week, so keep up to date with the week's best shows happening throughout the Bay Area!

A little bit about us... We grew up in South Central Los Angeles and moved to the Bay Area in the early 90s. We love music and going to concerts. The most fun we have is turning people on to a band they haven't listened to before and going to shows with them.

We're still reeling from some amazing shows the past couple of weeks: Chilly Gonzalez at the Hotel Utah, Bear In Heaven at the Independent, Garbage at the El Rey (in Los Angeles), PULP at Radio City Music Hall, The Horrors at Bimbo's 365 Club, PULP at the Warfield, Refused at the Warfield. Our mini-Coachella tour ended with seeing M83 at the Fillmore this past Monday. We sacrificed seeing Madness at the Warfield and the Buzzcocks at the Uptown to see PULP play at their last stop before Coachella last week. We need to clone ourselves so that we can attend more shows...someone is working on that, right?

Let's see some shows!

Thursday, April 26th

Happy baby Friday! Start the weekend with a dance party at the Rickshaw Stop, as Popscene presents the Knocks (a NY based producer/DJ duo). Their popular songs are "Magic" and "All We Got" but we're really loving this cover they did of M83's "Midnight City" (you aren't sick of this song yet — just check it out already).

Friday, April 27th

When is the cloning machine going to be ready? We want to be at all of these:

Maná comes to Oakland with their sold out Drama y Luz tour. We're a huge Latin pop fan and have never seen these guys. After spying a few setlists online, we see that they have been opening some of their shows with our favorite song of theirs.

The Skatalites at the Uptown featuring a rare performance by legendary vocalist Norma Fraser. Get your Rock Steady on!

Opeth, Mastodon, Ghost at The Fox Theater in Oakland. Ok, so this isn't really our pick. Our mister happens to dig this stuff and we're willing to go along and check things out that we're not super familiar with. That being said, we're curious about seeing a performance by Mastodon. We didn't know we had an inner-metalhead.

Coldplay, Metronomy, The Pierces at HP Pavilion. Coldplay is Coldplay. They'll put on a great show. Everyone will sing along to "Yellow" and go home happy. Metronomy has had a few stops at smaller venues in the bay area so it's great to see them sharing the bill.

San Francisco darlings, Loquat, showcase their new record, We Could Be Arsonists, at the Independent. Loquat played SXSW this year and lead singer Kylee Swenson Gordon got to perform "Just Like Honey" alongside Jesus and Mary Chain.

Saturday, April 28th

DJ Shadow, another Bay Area alumnus (ok, Davis), shows off his skills for us at the Regency.

Monday, April 30th

Tennis at the Independent. Heavily influenced by Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, this husband and wife duo caught my ears when I watched some footage of them from SXSW. We highly recommend listening to their music before reading about their story (you'll thank us later). This event is sold out but maybe you know someone that knows someone.

Tuesday, May 1st

Yo La Tengo at SFMOMA. This one's also sold out but maybe you can get in touch with that person who knows someone again.

Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Sam Green presents the world premiere of his "live documentary" on Buckminster Fuller. This is a live collaboration with Yo La Tengo as Green discusses/narrates projects Fuller proposed for the Bay Area, including a gargantuan floating tetrahedral city in the middle of the Bay, and explores his utopian vision of radical change through a "design revolution."

Wednesday, May 2nd

Ty Segall and White Fence at the Independent with Shannon and the Clams and The Mallard. The 60s seem to be a theme this week. The duo of Ty Segall and White Fence as well as Shannon and the Clams! You can't go to this show and not have fun.

Lastly, we have to mention this awesome event happening at MOCA (yep, it's not a concert, and it's not in San Francisco). Mike D of the Beastie Boys curates Transmission LA at MOCA thru May 6th. A 17 day festival that features art, concerts, and more. There are some ticketed portions to the event so do a little planning. Definitely worth the drive to Los Angeles.

Oh fun. Conan O'Brien is touring and he's bringing his Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour to San Francisco. Described as "a night of music, comedy, hugging, and the occasional awkward silence," the former (and rightful) Tonight Show host will appear at the Nob Hill Masonic Center on April 22.

There are a number of packages, including a $695 Meet & Greet option. But main tickets for the show are $39.50-$59.50-$79.50 . They just went on sale and they're sure to go fast, so get them now.

O'Brien, if you remember, was supposed to appear in San Francisco in January, but canceled due to Jay Leno being a pompous ass. After promising the O'Brien The Tonight Show, which he hosted for a scant few months, Leno took part in rescinding the offer.

More info about the tour is available here.

Update: Show is now sold-out. Stay tuned for possible 2nd show.

-- Perverts. [ASD]

-- San Francisco to go solar. [Curbed]

-- SUV rampage remembered. [SFGate]

-- Bernal Heights robbers? Oh noes! [The Snitch]

-- The McKesson Corporation sued. Also, SFBG's got the love for the Examiner? [SFBG]

-- The handitards over at Best Buy apologize for sending Scott Beale an inane cease & desist missive. Classic stuff, folks. [Laughing Squid]

-- Blueprint -- it's not a good thing. (Eh.) [ValleyWag]

-- Aimee Mann's Second Annual Christmas Show: Paul F. Tompkins, Sean Hayes, Chuck Prophet, and Morgan Murphy join the delightfully blond songstress for a night of holiday warm fuzzies. Because X-Mas is coming and there's no way around it, come catch this wonderful singer/songwriter during the, um, recording-a-holiday-album period of her career. Show starts at 8 p.m. at Bimbo's 365; $35.50.

-- Margot at the Wedding: Fantastic movie. Just great. And whatever. It totally had an ending -- and a fitting one at that. Many critics claim otherwise, but it was a satisfying touch at the end. And we recommend seeing the late-late showing without the crowd. Whether he's being funny or not, Embarcadero audiences won't stop laughing when Jack Black appears on the screen. Annoying. Shows tonight at 6:40p, 7:45, and 10:10 at the Embarcadero Center Cinema; $7.50-10.

-- The Windy City Gentleman, Snakeleg Sideshow, and Sassy: Guess what kind of rock these bands play? If you said "indie with Bossa nova, garage, and pop notes," then you're a winner. Another winner? Sassy. Because who wouldn't want to be named after one of the greatest publications of all time? (Well, except most every single guy we know.) The music starts at 9 p.m. at the Elbo Room; $5.