What a great week!

Sometimes there's really nothing to do up here in the Bay Area (compared to L.A.) - whine, whine - and then there are weeks like I just had.

Oct. 31 - Halloween at the Ivy Room for the return of the great mod R&B band The Loved Ones! All 4 original members got back together to do 2 shows after not playing but once in the last 7 or 8 years.

Nov. 1 - Went up to Sonoma to see western swing band Cari Lee and the Saddlelites at Vaquero, a great Western style steakhouse. There's nothing like a steak and some dancing on Saturday night!

Nov. 2 - Saw the return of the best 90s ska revival band of them all - Hepcat - after a 5 year absence! And the Loved Ones opened the show! I have not been to a show with as much dancing by the entire audience in ages.

Nov. 4 - The bay area Tiki Central gang almost all came out (with one exception whom we all know and love) to Trader Vic's to visit with Humuhumu and wish her well on her new life in the land of sunshine and tikis.

Nov. 5 - I went with Robin and some friends to Alfred's steakhouse in San Francisco. It's a great old steakhouse which used to be on Russian Hill but moved into the old Blue Fox restaurant recently. All their steaks are Choice, corn-fed and aged (you can look at them aging in the front room). They have a great selection of steaks. I had the Prince, a 20oz. Porterhouse. It was perfect! They also have the Alfred's cut bone-in New York, the Chicago, a bone-in Ribeye (which I tasted and thought was superb), 3 sizes of New York cuts, 3 sizes of Filet Mignon cuts, 3 sizes of Porterhouse (up to a 60 ouncer!), Chateubriand, pepper steak, and more! A steak lover's heaven.

We had an exceptional Ceasar salad, prepared tableside. All steaks come with 2 sides so are a great deal because most are $25 - $30 (except the largest cuts). They have great martinis and manhattans and 100 single malt scotches!

The jab's highest recommendation goes to Alfred's Steak House, 659 Merchant Street (between Kearney and Montgomery), San Francisco, 415-781-7058. It's my second favorite steakhouse in the bay area (Harris' is still #1).

We also checked out a new bar called "Easy 5" right near Alfred's. Tom Guido, the guy who used to put on all those great punk and garage shows at the Purple Onion (RIP), spins records there sometimes. It's nice to see a new bar open that isn't full of yuppies yet.

Nov. 6 - I saw the amazing Jimmy Smith and with his protege Joey Defrancesco at the Hammond B3 Summit at Bimbo's 365 Club last night. It was a great show but can't these bay area people put on something a little nicer than sweats when going out to a swanky place like Bimbo's? Is it that hard to look nice for a change?! I know it's all about "individualism" - this attitude since the 60s that it's somehow oppressive to have to wear makeup and comb your hair. Individualism my ass - it's selfishness and laziness to me. Sorry for ranting, but I miss the days when Royal Crown Revue would play Bimbo's and the show would sell out and every single person in the place was dressed "to the nines". It was just so pleasant to see all those swanky people in a classic swanky place.

Now I'm flat broke, hungover, and coming down with a cold, but it was all worth it!

On 2003-11-07 13:14, thejab wrote:
[snip]
Nov. 4 - The bay area Tiki Central gang almost all came out (with one exception whom we all know and love) to Trader Vic's to visit with Humuhumu and wish her well on her new life in the land of sunshine and tikis.

[/snip]

Time to bake the donuts...

Hot diggity! I saw Jimmy & Joey at Bimbo's in 1999. The show blew my mind. Talk about tearing the roof off of the place. The reason I didn't go again was that my memories were so good, I was afraid to chance a repeat. I'm a big Jimmy Smith fan, and Joey is just hot shit. Anyway, glad you saw 'em. The show I saw is captured for the ages on a wonderful CD called "Incredible!"

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004TYKH/qid=1068254224/sr=2-3/ref=sr_2_3/102-8683864-2671321

Joey asked last night if anyone had that live CD of '99 show and only one person raised their hand. He seemed surprised. I would like to get a hold of that CD.

Man Jab, you livin' the single life. When you get to be an old, family dog like the Bongster, you're sleeping by 9:30pm (but in the Pacific slashing A-frames at 5:30am!).

Jab, I'm green with envy! Jimmy Smith is the irrefutable KING of the Hammond B3. It's just icing on the cake to see him in a cool nite club type environment (as opposed to say...some kind of outdoor festival in the park). But it would still be worth showin' up at work monday with a "farmer's tan" to catch this master in action.

Jummy Smith is gettin' up there in years. He didn't play very long, he can be grumpy, and he probably played with a bit more fire in his younger days, but he still had an incredible amount of pure soul. Joey came out for one song to battle with the master. Sadly, they had to assist Jimmy off the stage, so see him while you can.

JT, share that story you told me about Jimmy Smith, OK?