Dear Friends,
Happy new year. It turns out that in these first days of 2012 I have lots to share.
First, please save the date for the much-awaited album release for my forthcoming second album, THE FUTURE LIMITED:
Sunday March 4 at 8pm
Jascha — The Future Limited CD release show
with local favorites Ramon and Jessica
and presenting The Glasses
All acts to feature breathtaking visual accompaniment!
Viracocha, 998 Valencia St (at 21st) in SF
Admission with include a copy of The Future Limited. Details to come.
Second, I wanted to invite you to a very special house concert later this month:
Thursday January 19 at 7:30pm
House Concert at Meredith’s
Special guests Aaron Kierbel and Daniel Fabricant
Featuring original tunes and Brazilian pop songs.
Wine and refreshments provided.
$10 suggested donation, $15 including a CD
None turned away for lack of funds.
RSVP for address (near 19th and Noe in SF)
Last but certainly not least, I’ll be playing a set tomorrow night at a lovely show in the Mission:
Sat Jan 7
with Emily Jane White and My Second Surprise
Viracocha, 998 Valencia St (at 21st) in SF
Doors at 8pm, show starts at 9pm, my set at 10pm
RSVP here.
PLUS…VIDEOS
I’ve been uploading lots of videos lately. Might have something to do with the forward-facing camera and old-time film apps on my new phone. For those who would like an early taste of The Afterneath, my third album, here’s a song about a teenage ping-pong champion who returned to dominate the senior circuit in his 90s: The Tennis Table.
And for those who like the Brazilian pop, here’s an exquisite song by Caetano Veloso, brilliantly shot and edited by Sean Udin: Oracao ao Tempo.
If you’d like to subscribe to my YouTube channel, you can click here.
Stay tuned for exciting official music videos for “Limited”, “Copter”, “I Need You Tiny”, and especially for “The Future” from the new album.
yours,
Jascha
TUES NOV 15
Jascha
with Juliet Strong and The Innocent
at Kimo’s Penthouse Lounge
1351 Polk Street (at Pine Street)
8pm sharp. $6. RSVP here
FRI NOV 18
Magnificent House Concert
(with some extremely special guests)
*plus mini-cupcakes*
Jascha’s House
San Francisco
(RSVP for details)
FRI DEC 2
A Winter House Concert in New York
with Julia Barry
at Megan’s in Brooklyn
(RSVP for details)
SUN DEC 18
SeaweedSway Showcase
Jascha (all-new songs from The Afterneath project)
with Foxtails Brigade and Ash Reiter
The Make-Out Room
3225 22nd St (btwn Mission and Valencia)
San Francisco
7pm, $8
My first contact with the pioneering comics artist Winsor McCay was via a giant book of his early work that arrived when I was sorting through piles at The New York Review of Books. I spent a good amount of time under my desk with the whole thing laid out. That was certainly the biggest book I’ve ever held, and it made a deep impression on me.
When I set out to make a video for my song “Some Hungry Guy,” on my first album A Cure for Sleep, the visual world of Little Nemo came to mind. The song is about how strange it can be to survive in a hostile world. The lavish panels of Little Nemo depict a young boy navigating a series of wonders and catastrophes in his dreams. It was a perfect fit.
Director Benjamin Ahr Harrison really came through beyond my wildest expectations. He is not trained as an animator, but using a little digital magic, he was able to lend depth and motion to McCay’s sumptuous century-old panels, which are now in the public domain since their copyright expired. Because McCay was also a pioneer of “animated drawing”— what we now call animation — it felt right to set some his finest drawings in motion.
By blending these old-timey illustrations with cutting-edge tools, my hope is that the video gives you a sort of nostalgia for the future. My next album, The Future Limited, which ventures into science fiction and synth pop territory, will continue along these lines.
THURS July 14 at 6pm
JASCHA HOFFMAN
at Rockwood Music Hall
(joined by Leo Sidran on drums)
196 Allen St (btwn Houston and Stanton)
6pm (sharp), free.
RSVP!
Friends,
Tonight is the beginning of my West Coast tour with Spiff Wiegand. We’ll be playing at houses, cafes, pubs, and a Memorial Library in the wilderness. We’ve also added a show at a lovely cafe just feet from my home in SF. I hope you’ll be able to spread the word to locals, and perhaps join for a show yourself.
yours,
Jascha
Spiff Wiegand and Jascha Hoffman: West Coast Tour
Fri 4/22 — SF — House concert w/ Backlit, Ladies of the House
Sat 4/23 — Big Sur — Henry Miller Memorial Library w/ Zack Salaz
Fri 4/29 — Los Angeles — House concert at Shane’s **
Sat 4/30 — Los Angeles — House concert at Brian’s **
Mon 5/2 — SF — Reception for Geoff Dyer at JCCSF, 8pm.
Fri 5/6 — SF — Duboce Park Cafe, 7:30pm.
Sat 5/7 — Santa Rosa — Toad in the Hole w/ Amber Lee, 9pm.
Weds 5/11 — SF — Cafe Revolution w/ Greta Gertler, 8pm
…and…
Thurs 5/19 — NYC — Rockwood Music Hall, 7pm.
** Please contact us for address and details.
Spiff Wiegand is best known for his one-man-band concerts. Juggling up to seven instruments simultaneously without loops or technological trickery, he creates complete textures that are as unexpectedly musical as they are visually impressive. He has been compared to artists like Hank Williams, The Mountain Goats, Buddy Holly, Hot Hot Heat, Devo, and They Might Be Giants. Spiff is also part of The Whistling Wolves, New York City’s premier American roots band.
Jascha Hoffman is a journalist and songwriter in San Francisco. His debut album A Cure for Sleep has been praised for its “deceptively simple, deeply weird pop songs” that earn him comparisons to Sufjan Stevens, Magnetic Fields and “Leonard Cohen without the attitude.” Jascha has played keys and percussion with many groups including the Brooklyn indie-folk band Girls in Trouble. He performs regularly at intimate venues such as the Rockwood Music Hall in Manhattan. His next recording, due in late 2011, is The Future Limited.
I’ve devised a little Google Calendar to make it easy to keep up with my schedule. Feel free to check out the upcoming dates and subscribe here:
And then read on to learn what’s coming this spring in California, New York and Texas — and to an Internet near you.
Jascha
MARCH
I’ll be covering South by Southwest for Nature — and also playing a show or two there.
Weds March 18, 2011
Jascha plays SXSW
Thai Fresh, 909 West Mary St
Austin, Texas
3pm-4pm CST
And I’ve brought a gentle percussion kit along, so please pass the word on to any friends who might need a last minute pickup drummer this week in Austin (these things happen — see my ad on Craigslist).
Then I’ll be flying to New York City where I’ll play a low-key duo show at the Rockwood with my good friend Spiff:
Weds March 23, 2011
Jascha at the Rockwood
196 Allen St (at Houston)
New York City
free (one drink min)
6pm *sharp*!
http://www.rockwoodmusichall.com/
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=198568426839849
and will be putting the finishing touches on The Future Limited in the home studio of Leo Sidran.
APRIL
In April I am delighted to be welcoming Brooklyn’s premiere biblical indie art pop band, Girls in Trouble, to play a San Francisco show:
Weds April 13, 2011
Girls in Trouble and Jascha Hoffman
Viracocha, 998 Valencia St (at 21st St)
San Francisco
8pm, $5-10 (suggested donation)
And may be backing them up at the Subterranean Arthouse in Berkeley on Friday April 15.
Then in late April I’m excited to welcome Spiff Wiegand to our two-man tour of San Francisco. Dates in the Bay Area and beyond are still being set, so sign up to the Google Calendar for updates. And we are still seeking house concert venues in Santa Cruz/Monterey, Santa Barbara, the North Bay, and elsewhere. So send on leads if you have them!
MAY
In May I’ll be playing a little show at the Jewish Community Center to welcome the amazing novelist and critic Geoff Dyer to town. (His book of jazz portraits, But Beautiful, has astounded me.)
Mon May 2
Jascha vs. Jascha
Live in the atrium of the JCCSF after a lecture by Geoff Dyer
Talk at 7pm, mini-concert at 8:15pm
http://www.jccsf.org/arts-ideas/lectures/arts-entertainment/geoff-dyer/
And after a super secret recording project with Spiff, in May I’m excited to return to the Rockwood Music Hall for a warm spring show:
Thurs May 19
Jascha at the Rockwood
Rockwood Music Hall, 196 Allen St (NYC)
7pm *sharp*.
free!
In June I’ll be spending a writing retreat week at the Tofte Lake Center in Michigan, then traveling to Morocco with the part-time televangelist officerfishdumplings!
VIDEO
And here is a belated update on some video projects I’ve been working on:
* Earlier this year, an instrumental version of my song Mirror was used on Nate Houghteling’s web series White Collar Brawler.
And John Pavlus used an instrumental version of my song Drunk in an instructional video that involves lots of cats. (John and I will be collaborating on a science-fiction based video for my forthcoming project!)
I’ve written a theme song for Benjamin Harrison and upcoming web series The Maximalist starring Tobin Ludwig. (Ben directed the brilliant video for Drunk, and is putting the finishing touches on a lovely video for Some Hungry Guy based on the art of Winsor McKay.)
INTERVIEWS
And for the science buffs among you, I’ll share a couple of recent triumphs from my alter ego, the science journalist Jascha Hoffman. The first is an interview with Swiss chemist Roman Kaiser, who captures the scents of endangered flowers and reproduces them in the lab. The second is an obituary for James Elliot, an innovative astronomer who used light from distant stars to study the atmospheres of planets throughout the solar system.
Whew — that’s all folks! As always, I love hearing from you.
until next time,
Jascha
Here are some spring dates in SF, Austin and NYC for your calendar.
Stay tuned for news of the California house concert tour!
MARCH
Weds March 18, 2011
Jascha plays SXSW!
Thai Fresh, 909 West Mary St
Austin, Texas
3pm-4pm CST
Weds March 23, 2011
Jascha at the Rockwood
196 Allen St (at Houston)
New York City
free (one drink min)
6pm *sharp*!
APRIL
Weds, April 13
Girls in Trouble and Jascha Hoffman
Viracocha
998 Valencia (at 21st St)
San Francisco
8pm, $5-10 (with no tax!)
MAY
Mon May 2
Jascha vs. Jascha
Live in the atrium of the JCCSF after a lecture by Geoff Dyer
Talk at 7pm, mini-concert at 8:15pm
http://www.jccsf.org/arts-ideas/lectures/arts-entertainment/geoff-dyer/
Thurs May 19
Jascha at the Rockwood
(duo show with Spiff Wiegand!)
Rockwood Music Hall, 196 Allen St (NYC)
7pm sharp.
free!
Later this spring, I’ll be mounting my first ever tour. It will be a
house concert tour of California. My buddy Spiff Wiegand, who has a
killer one-man-band act, will be coming out to join me in forays up
and down the coast.
It is an exciting and overwhelming endeavor that we wouldn’t even
consider undertaking without a little help from our friends. We are
now actively seeking warm houses and small venues, as well as local
musicians and bands, who might want to help host a duo concert on the
following dates:
April 24 – 30: Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Big Sur/Carmel, Santa Cruz/Monterey, San Francisco, Berkeley/Oakland
May 3-10: Petaluma/Sebastopol, Davis/Sacramento, Mt Shasta, Siskiyou River,
Manzanita, Ashland, Portland
—and we’re open to other places.
If you know anyone who might want to host a concert, or perhaps just a
likeminded musician who might have some ideas for us, please do let me
know. And feel free to pass on the links below.
Jascha: jaschavsjascha.com
Spiff: spiffwiegand.com
Video: youtube.com/watch?v=Jsv5oncwKME
