Gabe Meline
berf du KQED unih vrenk “Village Idiot”
- An inspiring show last night from Rabiah Kabir, a fresh new voice in Bay Area jazz.
- Talked with folks involved in the flood of rap shows at Yoshi's, once known for traditional jazz, and deliberately changing with the times. Yes, they have received complaints! But not many. (Gotta say, as someone who's seen Scarface / Quik / Spice 1 and others at Yoshi's — it really works.)
- They’re still doing this
- Pretty stacked lineup announced at Mosswood. As you'll read, I miss the J.J. Fad / L'Trimm / Egyptian Lover element this year, but this plus the Pavement "pre-party"? It's still pretty nuts.
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- A Sunday read for you about a cult scandal in my city.
- Was at the Santa Rosa Symphony rehearsal today and, after the Mendelssohn and Haydn, Caroline Shaw’s ‘Entr’acte’ drove 30–40 attendees out of the hall 😂
- Reposted by Gabe MelineMayor Jacob Frey: “To ICE, get the fuck out of Minneapolis.”
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- This is the way
- Meanwhile I am starting 2026 by watching a VHS tape I found in October. It was in a box of junk beneath a bridge in Olympia where a me and this girl got drunk on Mad Dog and made out one night, many moons ago. What was the universe trying to tell me by sending me this movie?! Guess I’ll find out.
- Watched ‘After the Thin Man’ last night for NYE and noticed the San Francisco Chronicle… with front-page stories about Culver City, the Mayan Theater and Cheviot Hills—all in Los Angeles.
- I'm a lifelong newspaper fan, but probably never would have thought to examine the details of Hollywood front-pages if Peter hadn't done it in such detail. Niche obsessions are contagious! Which is cool.
- Just some stuff I liked
- Power went out so I’m having tomato soup and reading ‘Hamlet’🎄Merry Christmas🎄
- “I will sing in San Francisco. I will sing for nothing in that city ... If necessary, I will sing in the streets.” On Luisa Tetrazzini’s free Christmas Eve concert at Lotta’s Fountain in 1910:
- “Everyone wanted to go home.” On Miles Davis’ Christmas Eve recording session, 1954: tomreney.com/miles-davis-...
- OK, officially anti-“lore” now
- backstory ≠ lore [cc: everybody]
- A 2026 calendar, each month with a different Kent Porter car-driving-into-storefront photo: would pay good money for this
- Catch me, @ogpenn.bsky.social and @theluketsai.bsky.social on Forum this morning, from 9–10am. (Wish I could say we'll have dogs in the studio!) 88.5 FM / kqed.org
- Hell yeah to this double feature coming to the Grand Lake for Noir City in January
- After watching ‘Rififi,’ the guy who’d been sitting behind me held the theater door open for me as we left, and only then did I see that he was Tom Waits
- On KQED radio right now: The best Bay Area music from 2025! With @nastiaaa.bsky.social and @ogpenn.bsky.social, plus Jamel Griot and Arts & Crafts playing live in the studio:
- Wrote about turning 50.
- Lots of fun on the radio this morning discussing Bob Dylan's famous 1965 press conference at KQED — which took place 60 years ago this week. Hear me on Morning Edition, talking with Brian Watt (@radiobwatt.bsky.social): omny.fm/shows/kqed-s...
- The big roundup of shows from 2025 that helped me feel free from encroaching fascism, with one-sentence reviews of each:
- Reposted by Gabe MelineThis is a crazy back and forth between a Spotify exec & an artist whose music is up on the platform. We're able to pay more b/c we pay less 👎 In "Confessions of the Pricing Man: How Price Effects Everything", pricing consultant Hermann Simon explains why that thinking is flawed
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- Francis Albert Sinatra at work onstage, circa 1967.
- Watch Waymo try to spin this into an uplifting story
- Get with it America
- Back at it again
- ‘The Monkey King’ is such a stunning, gorgeous work of art. I can’t say enough good things about this world premiere that, truly, feels destined to travel the world. At @sfopera.bsky.social through Nov. 30.
- Aaaaand now there's exactly *one* seat left for the rest of the run. Pro tip: keep checking online, other seats may open up. ULTRA PRO TIP: Standing-room tickets are only $10, and sold my favorite way — in person, cash only — at the box office starting at 10am the day of each performance. ✌️
- You mean to tell me that E-40, Gaye Lebaron and Twinkie Clark all have the same birthday?
- RIP Todd Snider, who briefly lived in Santa Rosa and went to the JC. He once bounced a check at the Last Record Store. His songs were so good we eventually forgave him.
- The 'OAKLAND IS PROUD' mural has been repainted in the same spot as the original (below), along E. 12th Street in East Oakland. @ogpenn.bsky.social with the story:
- “It was the mid-’80s," says artist Del Phresh. "The city was full of crime and corruption, and poverty and prostitution and drugs. And it had a negative reputation. So I thought, ‘I want to show the Bay Area — hell, the world — that regardless of that, we are proud of our city. We love Oakland.”
- Some movies and film festivals at the Castro next year.
- 💯
- NEW YORK CITY YOU NICE-ASS PLACE YOU
- Hard to sum up the impact of this performance. Whether you're a diehard Wagnerite or casual operagoer, don't miss it.
- A champ. RIP.
- BURN IN HELL DODGERS
- Here is the story of an ill-advised quest I took up last month: visiting the filming location of the juke joint in ‘Sinners,’ among huge swampland, giant insects and menacing Louisiana heat.
- DAN DAN DAN DAN DAN DAN DAN
