The Bill Graham Memorial Foundation will blast into the new year with an exciting concert event to celebrateBill’s Birthday Bash, an evening of great music, rare musical collaborations, a killer silent auction upstairs in the Poster Room with signed posters, rare collectibles, baseball tickets, concert tickets, dinners, memorabilia, and signed guitars. Headlining the show will be multi-platinum iconoclasts CAKE, recently honored by Billboard as one of the top ten greenest bands. Joining CAKE will be the inimitable virtuosic DAN HICKS AND THE NEW HICKSVILLE EXPRESS with The Rail Ridin’ Rowdies in a rare and entertaining mix of voices and musicians gathered just for this occasion. Opening the evening will be genre-blending indie rock group, FISHBEAR while DJ Harry D will maintain the flow by spinning in between sets. This annual fundraiser is guaranteed to be one of the New Year’s hottest concert events and tickets won’t last long.
The show takes place at The Fillmore (1805 Geary Blvd at Fillmore) on Saturday, January 9th at 8pm. Doors open at 7. Tickets are $45 and go on sale at 10am December 13th and available for purchase at Advance tickets available with NO SERVICE CHARGE on Sunday December 13, 10:00am to 4:00pm at the Fillmore box office ONLY. Tickets by phone call (877) 598-6659
“The Bill Graham Memorial Foundation is excited to have this diverse lineup for Bill’s Birthday Bash this year,” said Bill Graham Memorial Foundation President, Bob Barsotti. “These bands represent all the things Bill loved and believed in – innovation, spirit, responsibility and above all, great music. This show will help the Foundation continue the work Bill started, championing the underdog and supporting the arts.”
CAKE – Multi-platinum iconoclasts CAKE are currently in the midst of recording their sixth studio album and sharing the results with their listeners first, via a series of six free ringtones. Each ringtone is based on a song from the group’s upcoming album and is only released to CAKE listeners who are members of the band’s mailing list. Every six weeks, a new ringtone from a recently recorded CAKE song will be sent out to all of the group’s mailing list members up until the new album launch in late 2010. To sign up and download the new music, visit:
This new project is being written, rehearsed and recorded entirely with solar power. The group, recently honored as one of the top 10 “greenest” bands on the planet in a special issue of Billboard, teamed with Borrego Solar to convert their entire Sacramento recording studio into solar power. This cutting edge group documented their break away from the city’s energy grid, as illustrated by this video of CAKE’s solar conversion: www.cakemusic.com/solar.html The group’s decision to record their forthcoming album entirely with solar power was made for both artistic and environmental reasons.
DAN HICKS began as a drummer in the seminal 60’s San Francisco rock band The Charlatans, and then continued on with his unique and legendary Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks. Dan is widely acknowledged as one of the defining figures in American roots music. Having earned a reputation as a true original with his signature eclecticism and humor, Hicks continues to carve his way through a number of genres from proto-psychedelia to western swing and jazz, from tin pan alley to country blues — all the while cultivating his own unique sound.
2009 brought the release of Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks’ tenth studio CD. Produced by Grammy-winner Chris Goldsmith (Blind Boys of Alabama), the CD features all new Dan Hicks original songs, plus special guests David Grisman and Charlie Musselwhite. It is yet another classic addition to the unique body of work of this great American songwriter. To quote Daily Variety, “Dan Hicks is at the top of his game … unlike many pop artists today, a new studio album from Dan Hicks is like a new painting from Picasso… STAY TUNED!” www.danhicks.net
FISHBEAR is a group of musicians who met at an arts magnet school in Santa Rosa, California and found a way to blend their many musical styles to create a unique and exuberant sound incorporating elements of ska, indie, classic rock, klezmer, jazz, and more. The group is part of a growing number of bands that meld genres in creative ways… like Beirut, Gogol Bordello, and Vampire Weekend, which are taking what was once thought of as ‘world’ music and making it into something new and exciting.
About THE BILL GRAHAM MEMORIAL FOUNDATION
The Bill Graham Memorial Foundation was formed in November of 1991 following the death of legendary rock impresario, Bill Graham. The goal of the Foundation is to continue Bill’s good work in assisting those whose needs are oftentimes not noticed or served by larger philanthropic organizations. Currently, the Foundation awards grants primarily in the areas of music, the arts, and education, while also supporting social work, environmental protection, and spiritual and compassionate projects in the community.
