(02-20-2016, 03:46 PM)Zem Wrote:
Not bad at all
>> but, Pro-Tip for Bay Area visitors
>>> someone needs to pull Haley aside and tell her <<
>>>
never say "San Fran"
unless you want the audience thinking you're doing a lame attempt of acting like you know us...or know the place etc
or worse... maybe you're from LA. (more on that in second)
"SF" is pretty Ok; better if you're in "The City" which is SF proper in the middle of the Bay Area.
You can't go too far wrong with
"San Francisco" but if you're performing in Oakland or "the east bay"
>>you're much safer with
"The Bay", or "The Bay Area",
>> or
"The San Francisco Bay Area" is long but sounds like a practically a grand compliment. (I bet most towns like hearing their name )
another way of
winning a Bay Area crowd over is:
"Great to be up here in
'Nor Cal'"
>> "Nor Cal" is an affectionate term we use, and it includes things we "own" like Lake Tahoe and Monterey Bay Carmel Mendocino etc.
(We feel far superior to So Cal, (winking smile)
its a cross town football rivalry type thing although LA people don't seem to like the game, or are above that sort of comradery of exchanging barbs)
>>
"its so great to get out of LA" is a cheap hit perhaps, but one that will work over and over and over again
>> people from SF would look favorably on people from Chicago or the North East -- ok to mention that fondly
--------
These are learned things. I'm sure there is an "inside scoop" for many cities
----
As for special song picks while visiting the region:
My opinion -- "dock of the bay" is a classic, but doesn't give people from the SF Bay that warm cozy "the performer is with us" feeling an outsider might think it would --
-- that would take an essay of speculation of reasons why.. I'll spare you !
I bet Santeria(oddly a So Cal group) would go over better at a gig here than "sitting on the dock of the bay" ---
Or a Janis Joplin or CCR song , or Huey Lewis, Bonnie Ray, chris Isaac or.. lots of bay area musicians. >> if you need to tip a hat at all (I'd say stick with what gets a crowd going anywhere)
That's why musicians learn the more they tour.. they learn the flavor of different places they visit and what gets them going.
