San Francisco randoms

I've been in do mode more than reflect mode, till I got sick this week. Nothing like laying flat on your back with a fever for a day to remember (or hallucinate?) a variety of thoughts and occurrences that have been taking/taken place in the life. While I wasn't the only one I knew who got sick this week, I think I hadn't been writing enough, here, there, or anywhere, and getting sick was forcing me to do some processing. Not all of that needs to be shared in this forum, but here are a couple of gems worth sharing from recent events:
While it's easy to get on one too many emails, I can't overestimate getting on the list of a handful of local clubs. A Yoshi's special alert, offering a free show, got me to the San Francisco club on a Tuesday night for what turned out to be one of the best nights of music I enjoyed all month, the Cd release party for local saxophone player Joshi Marshall and his project. Smokin! I hope that's the last time I 'get' to see him for free as he's worth a heap more (which can be said for a lot of people I know playing in San Francisco).
I have a special fondness for KPIG radio, the offspring of KFAT, the country, roots and outlaw friendly station I grew up on in podunk (at-the-time) Corralitos, CA, where I first heard the likes of Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson. KPIG a yearly "Fat Fry" a weekend of music in Aptos which I missed a couple weeks back, but they've been running many ticket giveaways, which is more incentive to listening to some good rootsy programming and live sessions.
One thing that gets people out reliably in this town (more so than live music, truth be told), is coffee. Two new-to-me high-snob appeal espresso bars in the tradition of fave Blue Bottle proved their reputations correct this week: Cento Coffee deep in the heart of SoMa where I spent a few days last week, was a near mirror twin of the Blue Bottle kiosk, save for the name change on a few items (their version of the trademark BB "Gibraltar" — a half-sized latte served in a short glass — is called a "Cento" & ever-so-slightly larger). Like the Hayes kiosk, Cento is dog and local friendly, and lends itself well for chatting with your fellow caffeine aficionados.
On the opposite side of town, a couple blocks from the beach, where I was headed with two friends visiting from Brazil, is another find
"What brings you to Trouble?" barista asked Brazilians, who were ordering some, short, not-too-sweet mocha's before the Ocean Beach stint.
"Her," they say, pointing to me.
We'd just returned from a visit to Amma so I took that potentially guilty moment with a grain of salt. And Trouble Coffee is pretty nice: surfer cool, makes killer coffee, and will sell you a coconut if you like! The perfect place to take friends you made in India. Which is good to remember when you're sick, perfection and its random moments, that is. It made for rallying, and thus happy shows went on (there's another post coming about how much I've been enjoying playing with my SF band), and it's time to pack for another week in New York.