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Joseph Schell

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Janelle Monáe's live show is such a scripted, immaculate production that the presence of anything unexpected, however slight, stands out. She enters the stage in the same black cloak, dresses underneath in the same black pants and white tuxedo shirt, and whips her hair up into the same vertical 'do for every set -- and it seems, every public appearance. But yesterday at the All Shook Down Festival in North Beach, one detail of her signature look went awry, and it colored her performance for the better.

Monáe emerged onstage as usual, in a black cloak with two other dancers, and shimmied with her back to the crowd for much of the first number, "Faster." But when she finally turned to face the thousands gathered on Green Street and ripped her hood back, Monáe flew into such ferocious dance moves that a sole black braid fell from her now-famous hairdo, and dangled there, bisecting the elegant oval of her face, through several songs.

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Joseph Schell

Bare Wires

​Any trio of morons can grow a mustaches, put on some tight pants, cut some bangs, pick up some instruments and call themselves a garage-rock band. But few hopefuls put out on the follow-through, which requires showing fans something they haven't seen before -- or something they have, but in a new and intriguing way. At yesterday's All Shook Down Fest, the Oakland-based Bare Wires proved they aren't just a trio of no talent, shaggy-haired morons. They proved they can rile a crowd, heat up a room, and fill it with good old fashioned rocking out.
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When we last left off, our friend Janelle Monae had just blown everyone's minds and then left us alone to process everything.

We now resume our story with Neon Indian. Alan Palomo and his band played for a crowd of loyal All Shook Down goers willing to withstand the chills for some chillwave electronic beats. (Sorry, but that was begging to be said.) Since it was the only act slotted for 7 p.m., people either gathered to watch, or, you know, hula hooped some more. Others found warmth by forming circles on the ground with friends to drink (some more) and picnic (on cupcakes no doubt).

Taylor Friedman

Neon Indian

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Sonny & the Sunsets provided musical warmth for a packed room back at Savoy Tivoli. The band poked fun at its awkward spot under an arrow sign pointing to the restrooms:

"Hi. We're The Restrooms and this is our debut album, Next Bar."

Sonny & The Sunsets

​The crowd swayed to and fro to the set, perhaps able to forget they were nowhere near the Southern California beaches that the songs evoked.

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A proper farewell as any, upon exiting the club an hour later, a man walked by wearing a black shirt emblazoned with the legend: "Fuck your blog."

With that, this blog can only reply, no, fuck your blog, and fare thee well. This blogger is calling it a night, but the All Shook Down Music Festival is still going until 2 a.m. Sure, waking up in the morning might be a bitch, but that's Mondays for you anyway. So make your Sunday night count while there's still time.

Taylor Friedman

Janelle Monae

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It's official. Janelle Monae is amazing. The wacky, crazy-cool dance moves; the even wackier black cape she drapes over herself; and her anything-but-wacky, unbelievable pipes. She comes from some other world that only she inhabits, where people with high-collared, ruffled blouses, funky yin-yang glasses and forward-thinking hair roam. Most likely this is the world she channels in her album The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III), where she is an android from the future.

San Francisco's unreliable sun came through for the rising star as if to give its blessing, then quickly ducked out of sight again literally seconds after she walked offstage.

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The crowd was right with Monae from the opening note of "Faster." It was quite a sight to see the seemingly limitless audience. Luckily, Monae is not the type of performer to get lost in a crowd.

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"Who's ready for the Tightrope?" she asked after a beautiful rendition of "Smile" by Charlie Chaplin that had the crowd hollering for each run.

Apparently one boy was very ready - jumping on stage to join Monae do her fancy footwork. It looked like Monae was about to grab his hand and welcome him to share the stage, but security swiftly responded and flanked Monae for the rest of the number. That's the tightrope for you - the balancing act of normalcy and celebrity.

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Because Monae transitions seamlessly from one song into another, it was hard to believe she had covered more than an hour's worth of material when black and white balloons launched over the crowd, signaling that the set was coming to a close.

We bet she jumped into a black and white jet back to the future. Unreal.

I've made my way slowly but surely -- navigating around the exponentially growing crowds filling the North Beach streets and random hula hoopers-- to Mojito again, where people are getting down to The Park. Just five minutes until Janelle Monae hits the big stage. We can't wait. But we've hardly been biding our time. Since the last update, I saw Odessa Chen, who I had the pleasure of interviewing last week, play at Savoy Tivoli. Of course there had to be cupcakes there, too. They're everywhere, just asking us to eat them. But I digress.

Taylor Friedman

Odessa Chen at Savoy Tivoli

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No end in sight!

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The petite and elegant Chen played "Deer Perspectives" from her CD Archives of the Natural World for a relaxed crowd. In our interview, Chen had told me that the song is based off the Key Deer, which are miniature deer only found in the Florida Keys.

Savoy Tivoli club is bringing out all walks of life

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The scene at Maggie McGarry's, where Mister Loveless is playing right now, was a complete 360. Here we found Dave, who was twirling his heart out, barely paying notice to the indie chicks pulling girls away from their boyfriends to join them where they had paved a dance floor for themselves.

Dave dancing

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We didn't want to interrupt Dave's blissful spinning, but we had to know what was going through his mind.

"I came to see The Jazz Mafia All Stars and am checking everything else out now. From jazz, to punk, to alt - I'm really impressed by the diversity here."

He said it!

Monae time! And just in time. Drunk girl down!

Taylor Friedman

The Jazz Mafia All Stars

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Greetings from the All Shook Down Music Festival! I come to you from Mojito on Grant Avenue, with the Rondo Brothers with the Foreign Globester serving as the perfect soundtrack as I live blog from the event. It's 2 p.m. If you're not here already, why the heck not?! The Jazz Mafia All Stars are on the main stage right now, and must have persuaded the skies to join our side today. Halfway through their set, the wind tunnel that is San Francisco gave way to perfect, warm, have-a-beer weather. The All Stars, joined by Joe Bagale on drums and vocals, know what's up:

"Hey, where are they selling beer?" the band asked, and the crowd cohesively pointed the way. "Cool. We don't drink, but we were just curious."

All Shook Down Tea! Brilliant.

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With all the bars fully swinging down here in North Beach, there will be no shortage of food, fun...and drinks, if the guys happen to change their minds. Something tells us they will.

Getting his dance on early in the day

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If it's humanly possibly to break away from the three cupcake providers within a three-foot radius of each other, yours truly will be checking in throughout the day to give you the latest. Seriously -- get down here so I don't single-handedly eat these all. And if sparing a lonely blogger from gluttony isn't incentive enough, get down here to see the scrumptious Janelle Monae. She goes on in just two hours.

Um....yum!

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​This is it. We promise. It. The last "we're having a festival and it's going to be awesome and you should come" post. The last one. For this year, anyway.

We couldn't resist one final opportunity to guide you, like a friendly Friday afternoon phone tree, through the preliminaries of this Sunday's All Shook Down Festival in North Beach -- aka your chance to see Janelle Monae, Neon Indian, and some 30-odd local bands (good ones!) on an outdoor stage and in intimate clubs in North Beach.

So imagine a sexy female robot voice:

Press one for the All Shook Down Festival schedule, which you should probably read before you imbibe too much beer or barbecue, start seeing double, and miss Ty Segall or Forrest Day or Santero.

Press two for the All Shook Down Festival website, where you can buy a wristband, V.I.P. pass, and find out more about the layout of things around Grant and Green, food vendors, and other important details.
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Shoka Shafiee

Odessa Chen

​Odessa Chen decided four years ago that she was done with romance -- at least until her next CD. For her current project, Archives of the Natural World, the singer-songwriter cast aside songs for an ex named Jeff (not to be confused with Mr. Jeff Buckley, to whom she's often compared) for a love affair with animals and nature.

Already two CDs deep (One Room Palace and The Ballad of Paper Ships), Chen's voice settles comfortably into a delicate, high range. Her dad, who moved from Shanghai to the United States as a young boy, taught her to appreciate classical music. Her North Carolina mama showed her the beauty of simplicity through country music. And her friends, the poets who kept her company during the long, winter days while growing up in Baltimore, were the catalyst for her poetic lyrics.

Leading up to a frenzy of performances this weekend, we talked to Chen about how high school depressed her, the best spot to hike in San Francisco, and whether she's actually an angry man. She plays tonight at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and at the Lab in the Mission on Saturday. And, of course, we hope you'll come see her at the All Shook Down Festival this Sunday. 

What material will you be performing this weekend?

Odessa Chen: I'm performing songs from my new record [Archives of the Natural World, due for release in late 2010 or early 2011], which is through the lens of endangered and extinct animals. It's really sad how our generation was robbed of knowing about some of these animals, because previous generations decided they weren't valuable.

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