North Dakota governor Doug Burgum is used to being counted out — and he brought that underdog energy to a meet and greet to Washington, DC, just in time to celebrate his surprising qualification for the Presidential Republican primary debate stage.

At the swanky Capitol Hill Club he made his case. He was surrounded by his state’s congressional delegation along with Senator Susan Collins, former senator Norm Coleman and a room of curious onlookers, many of whom told Cockburn they first learned of his campaign when he launched a clever scheme to mail out $20 gift cards in exchange for a $1 donation—a way to reach the 40,000 donor threshold to make the stage.

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Mischief, mayhem and Washington gossip from The Spectator’s intrepid beat reporter.

“You shouldn’t be allowed to be president of the United States if you haven’t actually worked a business,” said software billionaire Burgum. “I worked as a chimney sweep to pay my way through college.”

Unsurprisingly, much of his pitch revolves around energy independence, given the importance the industry has to his state. “This isn’t rocket science, I want some common sense,” he said. “We can’t even provide low-cost, clean, reliable energy to our own country,” he lamented. He also addressed another issue he focuses on in Bismarck: “indiscriminate” addiction.

Fentanyl and alcohol don’t ask if victims are Republicans or Democrats, he noted. His wife, First Lady Kathryn Burgum, has frequently spoken about her triumph over addiction, and said her husband’s campaign is a great vehicle to take that message nationwide. 

This “local but big” approach is what he’s trying to do in his latest mission. Politics is a team sport, he said, lavishing praise on Senators Kevin Cramer and John Hoeven and Congressman Kelly Armstrong for endorsing him (Burgum noted he is the only Republican with his entire delegation’s endorsements) and his team of “Sodbusters,” for helping him clear the threshold of 40,000 donors to debate.

The crowd at the Capitol Hill Club (The Spectator)

Armstrong is “all-in on Governor Burgum and the best first lady in the country,” he said. “The buzz is real,” he assured everyone. While most people Cockburn spoke with wouldn’t have bet their farms on Burgum, Armstrong has seen Burgum go from an anonymous businessman to governor. 

That ascent to the governor’s mansion was no sure thing — and his wife drew parallels between that and his current quest for the White House. 

Burgum’s assessment of that race was “there’s only five months until the primary, our opponent has 100 percent name recognition, his family has been in politics practically since statehood, and he’s been the sitting attorney general for fifteen years, and there’s one more thing; he’s ahead by sixty points in the polls.” Five months later, Burgum won the primary by double digits. 

In a previous life, Armstrong was the head of North Dakota’s Republican Party, and he’d watched Burgum “turn an entire room full of people into Doug supporters inside of twenty-five minutes.” Burgum’s tenure as governor shows people that “you don’t have to be crazy to be conservative,” Armstrong said. Now, the governor needs to do that on a nationwide scale.

While Burgum is no stranger to winning in upsets, there’s only one way he comes to DC in elected office, and that’s to move into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. He told the audience he will “never run for Senate because I’m an operating guy.” 

Before Burgum shifted to questions, Cramer praised his remarks — “wouldn’t he be good on the debate stage?” he asked. Giving out $20 Biden Relief Cards is how Burgum made the cut for Milwaukee, and now his primary rivals like Miami mayor Francis Suarez are, in essence, copying his tactics. The governor is OK with that. “The greatest form of flattery is imitation,” he told Cockburn after his photo line. 

When pressed about how he rocks the best hair in the presidential field, Burgum deflected, instead choosing to praise the hairdos of the Ruthless podcast hosts that he spoke with earlier that day (“the group I was with today, on Ruthless, that whole group has got good hair”), and actually handed out oppo on himself — saying that his earlier hairdos are worth further scrutiny.

“I think if you really want to do an exposé on this, you’ve just got to go back about twenty-five years and then you’ll see real flow.” Challenge accepted:

While Burgum made the debate stage in no small part due to his pledge to hand out $1 million, Cockburn couldn’t help but note that this generosity did not extend to the DC donor class — disappointingly, the food was free but the booze was a cash bar. 

The cash bar at the Capitol Hill Club (The Spectator)

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Club Dv8 Band.

Admission to the concerts is free and takes place from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m

– The City of Atascadero is gearing up for the next upcoming concert as part of the 2023 Saturdays in the Park summer concert series. The next band to perform on Saturday, July 1 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. is 80’s dance/rock group Club Dv8 Band at the Atascadero Lake Park Bandstand.

The Club Dv8 Band turned their idea into reality while drummer Jim Moran vacationed in New York in 2017. He brought this idea to guitarist Scott Grocott, who played in local cover bands, and the plan began to unfold. Scott added a guitar synth to his gear and they met lead singer David Vail who was a perfect fit. The band soon added a fellow bassist, Bob Erwin, and from there another lead guitarist, Keith Powers, who was even in an ’80s band in the ’80s. Shortly after Bob moved on, they met their permanent bassist, Paul Choboter, who also contributed great backup vocals to the group.

The Club Dv8 Band’s name comes from a dance club from the 80’s in San Francisco, “Club Dv8”. After a few variants, DV8D and DV8, the band realized the name should be Club Dv8, with the mission to make their band a dance party every time and everywhere they perform. The band’s set consists of energetic 80’s music.

Food and drinks can be purchased at Paradise Shaved Ice and Bear City Social.

concert cast:

• July 1: Club Dv8 (80s dance/rock)
• July 8: The Rockin’ Bs Band (country, rock and dance music)
• July 22: Riff Tide (Surf Rock, Funk & Soul)
• July 29: Way Out West (Country & Rock)
• August 5: Unfinished with the Beatles (Beatles Tribute)
• August 12: Painted Red Music (classic rock)
• August 26: The Cinders Blues Band (Blues)

The concerts are free to the public and everyone is asked to bring a blanket and a low-backed chair, as well as the whole family to enjoy the warm summer evenings at the Atascadero.

For more information, visit www.VisitAtascadero.com/events or call (805) 470-3360.

​

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About the author: news staff

The news staff of Paso Robles Daily News wrote or edited this story using local contributors and press releases. The news team can be reached at info@pasoroblesdailynews.com.

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Club Ebony, a famous Indianola, Miss. blues venue that was part of the Chitlin circuit — a loose network of black-owned clubs and venues in segregated American cities — has hosted hundreds of memorable moments. Bobby Rush, the 89-year-old blues singer, recalled one of his favorites in a recent interview: a scene from BB King’s 2014 homecoming concert.

As King weaved through a lengthy version of Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine,” he noticed that Rush had nodded off. “‘Ladies and gentlemen,'” he began, according to Rush. “‘I have my best friend in the house. i play this music And he’s lying over there sleeping on top of me.’”

The audience giggled, and Rush joined King on stage with his harmonica to cap off his friend’s last performance, ending a tradition of annual concerts that began in 1980. King died a year later.

Club Ebony was more than King’s home club. Upon opening in 1948, it provided Indianola’s black community with a gathering place for dining, dancing, and socializing, and provided generations of blues, rock ‘n’ roll, and soul artists with the enthusiastic crowd they needed to make a living.

King purchased the venue from its third and longest-serving owner, Mary Shepard, in 2008 and donated it to the BB King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center. But after his death, it slowly deteriorated due to the effects of time and disuse. The bill of keeping the 6,400-square-foot club in a city of 9,000 people open four nights a week proved too high in the midst of the vast delta.

“The traditional format wasn’t financially viable — times had changed,” said Malika Polk-Lee, the museum’s executive director. The organization turned Club Ebony into an events venue, but when the tourism industry began to reopen after the pandemic-related closures in 2021, museum staff found that the condition of the timber-frame building was poor.

“We found that there was structural damage. The roof and walls deteriorated and water got inside,” she said. “The senior year was tough on the building.”

The museum had no choice but to keep the club closed while it sought support for its rescue, which it secured through public and private funds, including a grant from regional National Endowment for the Arts-affiliated organization South Arts and a City of Indianola, received city tax. Its dormant period ends Thursday, when the venue is scheduled to reopen its historic doors after spending $800,000 on repairs.

Before mainstream America first saw Ike and Tina Turner when they brought the 1960 rave-up “A Fool in Love” to “American Bandstand,” and before Ray Charles’ four Grammys that same year with “Georgia on My Mind.” won — and long before King stunned a crowd of white hippies and sealed his mainstream success at San Francisco’s Fillmore West in 1967 — they were all regulars at Club Ebony.

Indianola entrepreneur Johnny Jones opened it in 1948 when the post-war economy was in full swing. New industries like the Ludlow Textile Mill had brought money to the city, and workers plonked much of their wages in the jukerooms on Church Street, the city’s notorious home of gambling and vice.

But Club Ebony offered a different experience. Jones’ new club was large and designed to house the big bands of the 1940s, including the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra and the Count Basie Orchestra. Revelers in khakis and pinstriped suits could buy bonded whiskey and bootleg corn whiskey, and men and women danced to jump blues and mingled on the ballroom floor.

“There wasn’t much socializing in the houses,” said Sue Evans, who was married to King from 1958 to 1966 and lived in the back of the club after her mother, Ruby Edwards, bought it in 1958. The houses were small, she remarked: “Families were big, so nobody was going to anyone’s house at that time to sit down and be entertained.” The club became a social outlet.”

Venues on the national chitlin circuit have included glittering palaces in major cities like Indianapolis and Houston, and lavish juke restaurants in smaller towns. If a club was not available, promoters rented halls; Some shows took place in private homes. Live performances lasting just one night bolstered the music scene’s ecosystem, while clubs, recording studios and record labels sprung up to capitalize on and fuel the celebrations.

The cycle arose from the need for self-sufficiency. Black musicians, promoters and audiences needed places where they were welcome and could be themselves. Even the musicians in King’s band would travel around with cookware and canned goods if they couldn’t find a restaurant that could serve them.

Although some black musicians, as Rush said, “crossed over” to white audiences and had “crossed out” black clubs, artists could make a living in those venues when they weren’t welcome elsewhere. The closure and decay of Club Ebony posed a bigger problem, Evans says: the loss of the black common spaces that once held it together.

“There isn’t a club left in the Delta that could offer music like this,” she said. “So to speak, a large part of our culture goes south; it is no longer there. And this is a continuation of that culture.”

As of December 2021, the museum has raised and invested nearly $1 million in electrical, plumbing, kitchen appliances, furniture, and painting to help bring the club up to date with modern regulations and compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act. Some elements, such as the sheet metal ceiling panels, are original.

The exterior sports a new pea green livery, color-matched to the historic record at least since it was acquired by Shepard. On a warm afternoon in early May, a team installed information boards inside to give visitors the background story of the club. Museum staff compared their work to old photographs to ensure historical accuracy.

In the 15 years since the museum acquired Club Ebony, music tourism has given Delta towns like Indianola hope for a future, based in part on an interest in their past. In front of the club is a historic marker for the Mississippi Blues Trail, a network established in 2006 of more than 200 sites important to the development of music and its culture.

“It’s important that Black-run clubs are supported,” said Dr. William Ferris, a blues historian and author who spent summers touring the Delta in the 1960s. “Just as black people own their land and farms, it gives business people and families the independence and stability that is very important, and music is a way to achieve that.”

For today’s young black blues musicians, like 24-year-old Christone “Kingfish” Ingram of Clarksdale, Miss., who is widely credited as the heir to the King’s Delta blues crown, historic venues like Club Ebony are still places to celebrate be able to relax away from the pressure of top-class performances at festivals and theatres.

Like King before him, Ingram occasionally frequents his hometown clubs, such as Red’s Lounge in Clarksdale, where he plays three or four sets, often finishing in the wee hours of the morning. Club Ebony, where he performed at the beginning of his career, will certainly be back on his schedule.

“Every time I’ve been there, I’ve always hung out with the OGs of the blues, guys like Mr. Rush and Kenny Neal, and absorbed some history,” Ingram said. “It takes me back to when I started and I feel like it keeps me humble.”

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If you walked past the Gold Club on a lonely Friday night in downtown San Francisco, you probably wouldn’t look back.

Aside from the royal blue lighting and cursive gold shield, the nondescript gentleman’s club could easily get lost in SOMA’s dark, unlit landscape. After all, management says, it’s the kind of place people go to become invisible. But against the odds, my boyfriend and I end up right there on a cold February night.

We’re not just here for the live entertainment though – we’re here for the club’s legendary fried chicken. For years, the storied $5 buffet lunch catered to San Francisco’s working-class and white-collar elite crowds and quickly became a word-of-mouth phenomenon. I wasn’t expecting to break nearly 10 years of vegetarianism at a three and a half star Yelp strip club this winter, but I suppose God just works in mysterious ways.

When we arrive around 8:30pm, a young security guard with plastic earphones escorts us inside, much like a host at a Sunday brunch. After we pay for the $25 covers, he seats us at a candlelit table overlooking the stage, where a tall, lithe woman in 6-inch Pleasers pole dances to R&B.

In many ways I feel like I’m in a casino or maybe even on a cruise ship, except there are naked women everywhere. Some sneak across the stage like panthers; others spread their limbs like petals to the sun. To our left, a performer slides down the pole with ethereal grace while another is showered with cash.

Scenes from the Gold Club in downtown San Francisco.

Images via Yelp

The “legendary” fried chicken at the Gold Club on Howard Street in downtown San Francisco. The buffet has been suspended during the Covid pandemic but is expected to return.

Images via Yelp

Scenes from the Gold Club in downtown San Francisco.

Images via Yelp

(Images via Yelp)
(Images via Yelp)

After we’ve ordered a bucket of fried chicken, a medium-rare burger, and two mixed drinks, I sit onstage and hand a few bills to a woman in a scarlet bikini. “What’s your name?” she asks, revealing a mouth full of green braces. I tell her and let her know that I’m actually a reporter and would like to interview her for a story – but only if she’s interested, of course. She gives me a confused look and quickly collects the dollar bills.

She is not.

A few minutes later, the waiter reappears with the long-awaited bucket of chicken and a vodka soda. Aromatic vapor emanates from the paper wrapper; it smells amazing. I carefully peel it apart, rip out a wing and bite into it.

A lot was going through my head at that moment—but all I could really say was, “Holy s—t.”

Somehow it’s even better than I imagined: the meat is so juicy and tender that it elegantly separates from the bone; Meanwhile, its golden outer layer is thick, crunchy, and hearty. This is hands down the best fried chicken I’ve ever eaten.

My southern friend’s medium-rare burger doesn’t matter, either. It’s rich and simmers in fat – the chef went light on the sauce, but he believes it was a deliberate effort, as the meat speaks for itself. The dish “sang”, as he likes to say.

It’s still unclear exactly how Gold Club chef Chris Hui learned to make chicken so dangerous.

He says he got the job by accident in 2015, and though he’s worked in restaurants since high school and attended California Culinary Academy, he didn’t expect to work at a strip club — and neither did he expect to to run a hugely successful fried chicken buffet that sometimes brought in 300 patrons.

“It was like a madhouse here,” he tells me on the phone. “It was exciting and crazy, but it was definitely crazy.”

A plate of fried chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, and a martini at the Gold Club in San Francisco on February 28, 2023.

Magali Gauthier/Special for SFGATE

Chef Chris Hui cooks garlic green beans at the Gold Club on February 28, 2023 in San Francisco.

Magali Gauthier/Special for SFGATE

Chef Chris Hui serves mashed potatoes at the Gold Club on February 28, 2023 in San Francisco.

Magali Gauthier/Special for SFGATE

(Magali Gauthier/Special for SFGATE)
(Magali Gauthier/Special for SFGATE)

Tragically, the buffet was shut down after the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, but according to Hui, the club plans to revive it one day. He is also well aware of his enduring cult status.

“I know everyone’s always talking about fried chicken,” he says, politely adding that it’s not his “favorite dish.” “I’ve been watching this thing for years.” What’s really underrated — and hasn’t changed, he says — is the $15.95 prime rib special.

Though Hui doesn’t work on the floor, he’s also seen many high-profile athletes over the past decade, including controversial boxing champion Floyd Mayweather and “professional sports players who are very local.” He won’t reveal who, but says they visit him regularly.

“I talk like that, you know, maybe once or a couple of times a month on a rotating basis, almost,” he says.

And honestly, if I could make it rain like Rick Ross, I probably would too — there’s something really pleasant and confusing about eating at a strip club.

More than once our romantic dinner was interrupted by the booming “Clack! click! Clack!” interrupted. of a stripper banging her stilettos against the stage while doing the spread eagle. I watched a woman to my right build a house out of dollar bills before throwing it on a girl’s ass and decorating the stage with money. And when an EDM remix of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” crescendoed shortly after, an ardent viewer actually rose from her seat and screamed the chorus with her fist. I felt like I was overdosing on Benadryl.

By 10pm the place was packed with petrified couples, fintech brothers and voyeuristic loners. In between, I watched as stoic security guards literally mopped up mountains of stray dollar bills, convincing me their jobs were way cooler than mine. The atmosphere is casual, erotic and fun.

The “legendary” fried chicken at the Gold Club on Howard Street in downtown San Francisco. The buffet has been suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic but is expected to return.

Image via Yelp

Make no mistake though, this place is not for suckers: the chicken may be $20, but whatever entertainment you spend is between you and God. I tried to buy my friend a dance later that night but to my dismay I only had about $30 left so we split it 50/50. There must be some German word for that feeling, I thought, along with the complex range of emotions that follow when the card is turned down twice at the club.

The manager, probably feeling sorry for me, kindly offered a lap dance and drinks on the house. A few minutes later we were approached by a tiny, cheerful blonde from San Jose. I like her: she is spirited, listens to rap and has a small tattoo in the form of a crown on her chest. She says some girls commute all the way from Sacramento to perform at the Gold Club and it’s her favorite place to work.

As she dances for me in the corner, I ask her what her biggest annoyance is. “Whenever guys try to grab my pussy!” she says without missing a beat. “Wow, that sucks!” I scream. She looks at me while angrily shaking her butt and gesturing as if to say, “I know, right?”

Cars drive past the Gold Club in San Francisco on February 28, 2023.

Magali Gauthier/Special for SFGATE

I gave her my last wad of cash and walked back to our table, silently praying I had enough money on my Clipper card to get me home. She told us to come back sometime and in my heart of hearts I felt it was sincere – but whether that’s true or not doesn’t matter. As we thanked the staff and left, the doors closed behind us and we were back out on the quiet city streets.

Maybe what is gold stays.

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SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today, SHŌ Group (formerly JSSK Group) emerged from stealth mode to reveal the highly anticipated projects the group has been developing since announcing the signing of their first lease in September 2019.

AN EXPERIENTIAL HOSPITALITY PLATFORM

SHŌ Group is an experiential hospitality platform that builds communities through the creation of one-of-a-kind guest experiences across fine dining, nightlife, and retail food concepts. The team is led by food and technology entrepreneur Josh Sigel, and SHŌ’s namesake celebrated chef of Silicon Valley’s elite and award-winning chef, Shotaro (“Sho”) Kamio. Kamio’s solo venture, Iyasare, which opened on Fourth Street in Berkeley in 2013, has been his most recognized and highly acclaimed project to date. Investors in SHŌ Group include Salesforce, Erica and Jeff Lawson (CEO of Twilio), Craig Ramsey (Founder of Vlocity), Dan Springer (CEO of DocuSign), and Drew Houston (CEO of DropBox). SHŌ Group has also partnered with Carlo Serafini and Ed Lambert from Bay Area-based Bridge Bank for its banking needs.

ICONIC LOCATION

The group’s first restaurant project, SHŌ, will introduce a culinary entertainment and nightlife experience never before seen in the Bay Area. SHŌ will be perched atop San Francisco’s newest landmark in the heart of the city, the Transbay Joint Powers Authority’s Salesforce Transit Center. The restaurant is located on the Center’s roof, a 5.4-acre public urban oasis in the sky called Salesforce Park. To honor and elevate the restaurant’s world-class location, SHŌ Group has partnered with the San Francisco studio of lauded international design firm AvroKO, who are behind some of the world’s most iconic restaurants; as well as AvroKO’s award-winning sister studio, Brand Bureau, who created the SHŌ brand.

EXPERIENTIAL CUISINE

The culinary experience will be as unique and exciting as the space itself. Chef Sho will offer a Japanese culinary tradition never before introduced in the US: Irori dining, a rustic farmhouse cuisine, which SHŌ plans to center around a 40-square foot fireplace using only charcoal and kindling to produce the fire for cooking fresh, local ingredients . The rooftop Sky Lounge will feature a modern Japanese sushi bar, tapas, and small dishes. At the helm of SHŌ’s sushi offering will be Bay Area sushi master and Michelin Star Chef, Masaki Sasaki.

“SHŌ will be the culmination of my culinary creativity inspired by seasonality, simplicity, and surprise. It is a privilege to introduce Irori cooking to the US in a once-in-a-lifetime location,” said Kamio. “Cooking by fire the way Japanese farmers and common folk did for centuries yields umami-laden dishes that delight, drive conversation, and restore the sense of community that once abided by the fireplace.”

In addition to their restaurant concept, SHŌ Group has also announced SHŌ Market, a Japanese food market that will be located on the ground level of the Salesforce Transit Center. Guests of the market will choose from a selection of freshly made bento boxes featuring the same quality ingredients as SHŌ. Additionally, SHŌ Market will offer grab-and-go fresh salads, street-food inspired dishes, prepackaged treats, curated sakes, and a selection of beautiful handcrafted home goods.

GLOBAL NFT

SHŌ Group will soon be launching an exclusive NFT-based membership club providing its members access to immersive experiences and specialized services across the SHŌ Group platform initially centered around its flagship restaurant, SHŌ. Offered as an NFT, the SHŌ Club membership becomes an asset to members. It is publicly verifiable on the blockchain and can later be sold or transferred on the secondary market. Utilizing NFTs supports the group’s mission to create communities that inspire people to discover, grow, support, and connect, providing members with exponential value for many years to come.

SHŌ Club will have three membership tiers, all of which will grant access to a members-only menu and private lounge located on the rooftop level of the restaurant. A dedicated SHŌ Club concierge will be accessible to all members 24-hours a day, 7-days a week, offering priority reservations, a courtesy car for pick up and drop off, and to ensure that every SHŌ experience moment is effortless and memorable. The mid-tier membership will provide additional benefits, including uniquely curated Omakase dinners featuring celebrity guests, mastermind groups, and educational programming. The highest level of membership will grant ownership-like benefits and include a once-in-a-lifetime highly curated trip to Japan that will provide unprecedented access to unique experiences and locations not available to the public. All initial SHŌ Club members will be known as founding members and will hold the only lifetime global access membership. Founding members will have access to all future SHŌ Group venues and experiences.

“SHŌ Group aims to defy expectations and shift perspectives through meaningful moments and interactions that rewrite the rules of hospitality,” said Josh Sigel, CEO of SHŌ Group. “We could not be more excited to bring a world-class culinary and much-needed nightlife experience to the Bay Area along with SHŌ Club, one of the first global NFT-based experiential hospitality clubs. San Francisco is just the beginning.”

For more information on the SHŌ Group or on obtaining a SHŌ Club membership, visit https://shogroup.com, or follow us on Twitter at @shoclubsf.

ABOUT SHŌ GROUP

SHŌ Group is a global experiential hospitality platform that builds communities through the creation of one-of-a-kind guest experiences across fine dining, nightlife, and retail food concepts. In 2023, the group’s first set of experiences will debut in San Francisco, including SHŌ, its namesake Japanese Restaurant set atop San Francisco’s iconic landmark, Salesforce Park, SHŌ Market, a Japanese food retail concept, and SHŌ Club, an exclusive NFT-based membership club providing its members access to unique experiences and services across the SHŌ Group platform initially centered around its restaurant, SHŌ.

SHŌ

TJPA’s Salesforce Park: 425 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94105

Website: shogroup.com | Twitter: @SHOClubSF | Instagram: @SHOClubSF

The post SHŌ Group Launches Restaurant on San Francisco’s Salesforce Park and World NFT-based Membership Membership appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

AN EXPERIENTIAL HOSPITALITY PLATFORM
SHŌ Group is an experiential hospitality platform that builds communities through the creation of one-of-a-kind guest experiences across fine dining, nightlife, and retail food concepts. The team is led by food and technology entrepreneurs Josh Sigel, and SHŌ’s namesake celebrated chef of Silicon Valley’s elite and award-winning chef, Shotaro (“Sho”) Kamio. Kamio’s solo venture, Iyasare, which opened on Fourth Street in Berkeley in 2013, has been his most recognized and highly acclaimed project to date. Investors in SHŌ Group include Salesforce, Erica and Jeff Lawson (CEO of Twilio), Craig Ramsey (Founder of Vlocity), Dan Springer (CEO of DocuSign), and Drew Houston (CEO of DropBox). SHŌ Group has also partnered with Carlo Serafini other Ed Lambert from Bay Area-based Bridge Bank for its banking needs.

ICONIC LOCATION
The group’s first restaurant project, SHŌ, will introduce a culinary entertainment and nightlife experience never before seen in the Bay Area. SHŌ will be perched atop San Francisco’s newest landmark in the heart of the city, the Transbay Joint Powers Authority’s Salesforce Transit Center. The restaurant is located on the Center’s roof, a 5.4-acre public urban oasis in the sky called Salesforce Park. To honor and elevate the restaurant’s world-class location, SHŌ Group has partnered with the san francisco studio of lauded international design firm AvroKO, who are behind some of the world’s most iconic restaurants; as well as AvroKO’s award-winning sister studio, Brand Bureau, who created the SHŌ brand.

EXPERIENTIAL CUISINE
The culinary experience will be as unique and exciting as the space itself. Chef Sho will offer a Japanese culinary tradition never before introduced in the US: Irori dining, a rustic farmhouse cuisine, which SHŌ plans to center around a 40-square foot fireplace using only charcoal and kindling to produce the fire for cooking fresh, local ingredients . The rooftop Sky Lounge will feature a modern Japanese sushi bar, tapas, and small dishes. At the helm of SHŌ’s sushi offering will be Bay Area sushi master and Michelin Star Chef, Masaki Sasaki.

“SHŌ will be the culmination of my culinary creativity inspired by seasonality, simplicity, and surprise. It is a privilege to introduce Irori cooking to the US in a once-in-a-lifetime location,” said Kamio. “Cooking by fire the way Japanese farmers and common folk did for centuries yields umami-laden dishes that delight, drive conversation, and restore the sense of community that once abided by the fireplace.”

In addition to their restaurant concept, SHŌ Group has also announced SHŌ Market, a Japanese food market that will be located on the ground level of the Salesforce Transit Center. Guests of the market will choose from a selection of freshly made bento boxes featuring the same quality ingredients as SHŌ. Additionally, SHŌ Market will offer grab-and-go fresh salads, street-food inspired dishes, prepackaged treats, curated sakes, and a selection of beautiful handcrafted home goods.

GLOBAL NFT
SHŌ Group will soon be launching an exclusive NFT-based membership club providing its members access to immersive experiences and specialized services across the SHŌ Group platform initially centered around its flagship restaurant, SHŌ. Offered as an NFT, the SHŌ Club membership becomes an asset to members. It is publicly verifiable on the blockchain and can later be sold or transferred on the secondary market. Utilizing NFTs supports the group’s mission to create communities that inspire people to discover, grow, support, and connect, providing members with exponential value for many years to come.

SHŌ Club will have three membership tiers, all of which will grant access to a members-only menu and private lounge located on the rooftop level of the restaurant. A dedicated SHŌ Club concierge will be accessible to all members 24-hours a day, 7-days a week, offering priority reservations, a courtesy car for pick up and drop off, and to ensure that every SHŌ experience moment is effortless and memorable. The mid-tier membership will provide additional benefits, including uniquely curated Omakase dinners featuring celebrity guests, mastermind groups, and educational programming. The highest level of membership will grant ownership-like benefits and include a once-in-a-lifetime highly curated trip to Japan that will provide unprecedented access to unique experiences and locations not available to the public. All initial SHŌ Club members will be known as founding members and will hold the only lifetime global access membership. Founding members will have access to all future SHŌ Group venues and experiences.

“SHŌ Group aims to defy expectations and shift perspectives through meaningful moments and interactions that rewrite the rules of hospitality,” said Josh Sigel, CEO of SHŌ Group. “We could not be more excited to bring a world-class culinary and much-needed nightlife experience to the Bay Area along with SHŌ Club, one of the first global NFT-based experiential hospitality clubs. san francisco is just the beginning.”

For more information on the SHŌ Group or on obtaining a SHŌ Club membership, visit https://shogroup.com, or follow us on Twitter at @shoclubsf.

ABOUT SHŌ GROUP
SHŌ Group is a global experiential hospitality platform that builds communities through the creation of one-of-a-kind guest experiences across fine dining, nightlife, and retail food concepts. In 2023, the group’s first set of experiences will debut in san franciscoincluding SHŌ, its namesake Japanese Restaurant set atop San Francisco’s iconic landmark, Salesforce Park, SHŌ Market, a Japanese food retail concept, and SHŌ Club, an exclusive NFT-based membership club providing its members access to unique experiences and services across the SHO Group platform initially centered around its restaurant, SHŌ.

TJPA’s Salesforce Park: 425 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94105
Website: shogroup.com | Twitter: @SHOClubSF | Instagram: @SHOClubSF

SOURCE SHŌ Group

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Jenny Scheinman points out that the famed Gypsy Jazz Band has a distinct regional flavor. In her words, “The Hot Club of San Francisco is a key aspect of San Francisco culture… It is an expression of San Francisco’s bohemian whimsy and its strong cultural ties to France. Like the Coit Tower or the clown on Pier 39, it’s a cultural icon.”

At the 30th anniversary in 2019. The HCSF, formed by the guitarist Paul Mehling, has seen a number of personnel changes over the years, particularly in the violin chair, due to the influx of regular members and replacements. Despite these changes, the band has remained true to its sound, which is influenced by, but does not mimic, the legendary Quintette du Hot Club de France, which featured Belgian guitarist Django Reinhardt and French violinist Stéphane Grappelli. The band is rooted in French Manouche Roma swing and Gypsy jazz.

The HCSF has released 15 albums to date, including a Christmas CD and the 2016 release John, Paul, George & Django, which included violinist Evan Price, formerly of the Turtle Island Quartet, on a compilation of Gypsy-flavored Beatles tracks.

First heard on their 1993 self-titled debut, which is being released this autumn for the group’s 30th anniversary as a reissue of the original album. “Sweet Chorus” and “Improvisation No. 2” by Reinhardt and Grappelli appear only on that seminal record, which features violinist Ray Landsberg. Original compositions and jazz classics by Jimmy Rowles, Benny Goodman, and James P. Johnson are also included. Maria Muldaur and Dan Hicks, two of Americana music’s best-known vocalists, perform as special guests.

Violinists like Scheinman and Price, as well as others like Jeremy Cohen, Andy Stein, Johnny Frigo, Paul Shelasky and Hanna Mignano and Tracy Silverman have been in and out of the band throughout the years.

When Dan Hicks and the Acoustic Warriors disbanded, HCSF was born as a spin-off. As Mehling remembers, “We’d start with a Django piece, with rhythm and solo guitars, bass and violin, all acoustic.” “It was swishy, ​​cool, fascinating, and a lot of fun. As a result of Dan’s encouragement, I created a couple of original songs and a few arrangements.” Brian Godchaux was the violinist in question at the time. Soon after, Mehling and Godchaux made the decision to form their own Django band. After Godchaux’s departure, a clarinet was used in place of the violin, bringing a deeper, jazzier sound. But when violinist Julian Smedley joined the band, everything changed. Mehling describes his voice as “pure Grappelli.” In response, the clarinetist said,

“Well, that man has the tone you’re looking for, so I suppose I’m out.”

While it was always prepared to take a chance with newcomers, the violinist’s chair is always the most visible. As a young musician, Scheinman says, “I had an emotive, raw tone and very little of the distinctive Stéphane Grappelli vocabulary.” It’s true that there have been more flashy and historically informed fiddlers in the past. As for vocalists, “Steven Strauss (who also played bass) and Silvia Herald (who also played rhythm guitar) are two of my all-time favorites. They’re both fantastic, and they always made us flourish.”

When it comes to keeping the HCSF alive, Cohen thinks of Mehling’s vision and ability to bring in the best musicians has been a major factor. “Gypsy jazz is alive and thriving because of Paul’s steadfast commitment to the genre, as well as his passion toward moving the heritage forward by creating, organizing, and releasing new material,” Cohen explains. Success in the music industry demands nothing less than a champion, and Paul has championed HCSF despite all of the seismic developments in the music industry over all these years with an iron desire to persevere and prosper.”

Price points out that the Hot Club of San Francisco’s sound combines heart, intelligence, and guts in equal measure, in addition to the band’s high degree of musicianship and the innately appealing elements of its music. According to him: “We have never lost sight of our duty as entertainers.” Each performance is a meticulously planned, a balanced banquet of pleasure, melancholy, comedy, predictability, and surprise. We want to please both our viewers and ourselves with our work. That applies to both live and recorded performances.

Media Contact
Company name: Strings Magazine | The Hot Club Of San Francisco
Contact person: Media Relations
E-mail: send email
Country: United States
site: stringsmagazine.com

The post Turning up the warmth because the Sizzling Membership of San Francisco Turns 30 appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Note: GJEL Accident Attorneys regularly sponsors coverage on Streetsblog San Francisco and Streetsblog California. Unless noted in the story, GJEL Accident Attorneys is not consulted for the content or editorial direction of the sponsored content.

Kyle Grochmal, advocate and Streetsblog contributor, lives in the Mission and travels regularly to Alameda by bike and AC Transit bus, which he catches from the Salesforce Transit Center. His late evening bike rides home from the Center should be relatively stress-free, thanks to the protected bike lane on Howard. Unfortunately, that’s not the case, at least on the 500 block of Howard, as he explained on Twitter:

.@templenightclub opened a parklet then turned a protected lane into priority parking for a nightclub. This is insanity. It endangers our vulnerable street users – such a service worker in front of me – and encourages drunk driving. Fix this @sfmta_muni @SF311. cc @MattHaneySF pic.twitter.com/zNaIMNthZg

— Kyle Grochmal (@KCGrock) April 2, 2022

The bike lane has to wrap around the parklet and is unprotected on this block, except for some plastic safe-hit posts. However, as noted in the tweet, it’s often blocked by scofflaw parkers. The worst problems are “Friday and Saturday, biking back on Howard,” he told Streetsblog. “A number of times there are cars in the bike lane. It happens regularly.”

“The safe-hit posts are spaced so far apart that it’s quite easy to pull cars into it,” he said.

“Thanks for bringing this to our attention,” wrote Pearce Cleaveland, marketing director for Temple, in an email to Streetsblog. He stressed that he agrees it’s not safe for people to park there. “We’ve immediately addressed this with all of our employees, both daytime and nighttime (who are expressly told not to park there), as well as any vendors visiting our building regularly.”

Irene Hernandez, who was working at the Mirus Gallery in the same building as the Temple on Tuesday afternoon, said “no employee parks here. We all take BART or pay for parking.” That conforms to Grochmal’s observations. And the lane was empty when Streetsblog observed it in the afternoon, when only employees are present at the venues.

The lane on Tuesday afternoon. Photo: Streetsblog/Rudick

Meanwhile, on the Temple Night Club web site there are no instructions from the club and bar about how to take transit to the Salesforce Transit Center-adjacent venue.

A shot of alcoholic beverages from the club’s website.

However, the website does encourage people to park on Howard.

Streetsblog reached out to Supervisor Matt Haney’s office. An official with his office said the Supervisor is aware of the issue and is consulting with SFMTA. Streetsblog also contacted SFMTA by email for more information and will update this post.

“We will also be reaching out to SFMTA and our local law enforcement reps, who we work closely with, to ask for some additional enforcement,” wrote Cleaveland. “Additionally, we are having some notices printed for our security to place on any vehicles who we DO discover might be blocking these lanes.”

In Streetsblog’s view, this is yet again a testament to the failure of SFMTA’s default quick-treatment demarcation of bike lanes, the plastic safe-hit post. The whole point of parking-protected bike lanes is the row of parked cars is supposed to keep cyclists physically safe from collision with moving automobiles. But if a parklet or anything else forces the bike lane to be right next to moving traffic, then there needs to be something that can actually stop a scofflaw motorist from parking on it. It also should be robust enough to directly and physically stop an errant motorist from running down a cyclist–that means SFMTA needs to install a Jersey Barrier or a similar barrier.

Grochmal was also frustrated by the lack of parking enforcement by SFMTA and the police. “It’s ridiculous that we don’t get enforcement at night,” he said. The Twitter thread is also pretty damning of SF 311, which had this to say:

So Grochmal tags 311 with photos of the violations and all the necessary details they need to tow the cars, but they tell him to call?

Meanwhile, Grochmal is especially concerned about essential workers who are forced to bike and scoot way out into traffic thanks to the combination of the parklet and the cars blocking a truly sub-par section of bike lane. “It’s these late-night service workers who have to scoot or bike and don’t have other options. Transit is reduced at night. And it’s during a time when they are most likely to encounter drunk drivers,” he said.

“Trust that we find this very concerning as well, and will continue to address with vendors, guests (where applicable) and employees,” wrote Cleaveland. “Safety of our employees, guests and whole community is of the utmost importance to Temple.”

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Another elite private club will set foot in San Francisco in 2023, this time in one of the city’s most iconic buildings.

Core, a members-only club with locations in New York City and Milan, will occupy three floors of the Transamerica Pyramid, first reported by the San Francisco Business Times.

Sources told the Business Times that the 45,000-square-foot space will include “work suites, a restaurant, gym, outdoor spaces and a personalized skincare program called Dangene Institute.”

But access will not come cheap. The initial membership fee was listed as $50,000 in 2016, with annual contributions of $17,000, according to then-Entrepreneur.com.

Membership is limited to “an international community of minds, mavericks and leaders,” according to the club’s website.

The organization declined SFGATE’s request for comment.

Another exclusive San Francisco club, The Battery, announced its expansion into Oakland earlier this year, paying between $10 million and $12 million for the historic former Bellevue Club on Lake Merritt. The San Francisco location at 717 Battery St. functions as both a club and a hotel, and fees are $2,700 per year.

The Bohemian Club, an exclusive men’s club at 624 Taylor St., reportedly cost $30,000 to join and $600 a month in 2016. When another private club in San Francisco, Wingtip, opened in 2012, it reportedly cost $2,500 and $200 a month to join.

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NS. GEORGE – Several fire engines and ladder trucks lined a quiet residential street south of St. George Golf Club early Wednesday morning after a resident called 911 and reported smoke coming from the roof area.

Firefighters working in the garage area search for fire extinguishers after a building fire reported on South Bloomington Hills Drive, St. George, Utah, September 29, 2021 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

Several locomotives arrived at the residence on South Bloomington Hills Drive just before 6:30 a.m. and confirmed the smoke was coming from the roof.

St. George Fire Chief Robert Stoker said the fire appeared to have started in the attic above a laundry room right next to the garage and then spread to a series of trusses just above the garage. The family was able to safely evacuate the house and waited outside for the fire department to arrive.

Firefighters broke through the ceiling where they found active flames that had completely burned several eaves. They extinguished the fire shortly after their arrival and began overhauling the area looking for burning embers, including pulling material from the burned area to extinguish any smoldering areas and prevent reignition that could cause a secondary fire.

Stoker went on to tell St. George News that there was recent work being done in the attic that housed the HVAC system, an area that appeared to be the starting point for the fire that continued to smolder for some time before it spreading to other supporting strands.

“It looked like some air conditioning had been done in the attic,” said Stoker.

Although the fire was reported at 6:30 a.m., fire investigators have reason to believe that the fire did indeed start much earlier based on the significant damage to a number of the trusses that burned through, a process that is likely to be sizable Amount of time would have taken time.

Fortunately, Stoker said, the homeowner noticed scorching discoloration on several walls inside the house and then smelled smoke when the power went out 911.

It was lucky the homeowner noticed the signs and checked outside, he said, as the roof can hold the fire, lowering heat and smoke to the lower floors while keeping the active flames confined to the attic where they last for longer Time can burn time before you break through the inside of the structure.

In addition to the structural damage caused by the burned-out roof trusses, the house also suffered some smoke damage as well as the damage caused by the fire fighters penetrating the burning flames in the attic.

Stoker said residents will stay with their family members until repairs can be made. The houses on both sides of the affected apartment were also evacuated as a precaution; however, the adjacent houses remained undamaged and no injuries were reported.

The St. George Fire Department, St. George Police Department, Gold Cross Ambulance and Dominion Energy responded to the scene. This report is based on statements from the police, emergency services or other emergency services and may not contain the full scope of the results.

Photo gallery

Battalion of fire engines reacts to a building fire on South Bloomington Hills Drive, St. George, Utah, September 29, 2021 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

Road closes as fire services respond to a building fire on South Bloomington Hills Drive, St. George, Utah, September 29, 2021 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

Firefighters working in the garage area looking for a building fire reported on South Bloomington Hills Drive, St. George, Utah, September 29, 2021 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

Firefighters and engines respond to a building fire reported on South Bloomington Hills Drive, St. George, Utah, September 29, 2021 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

Firefighters respond to the scene of a building fire reported on South Bloomington Hills Drive, St. George, Utah, September 29, 2021 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

Firefighters respond to the scene of a building fire reported on South Bloomington Hills Drive, St. George, Utah, September 29, 2021 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

Firefighters respond to the scene of a building fire reported on South Bloomington Hills Drive, St. George, Utah, September 29, 2021 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2021, all rights reserved.

Cody Blowers grew up in South San Francisco, California. A 2013 graduate of Colorado Technical University, Cody earned her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice with a minor in paralegal studies. In the course of her studies, she discovered that writing is her real passion and is committed to credible, integrated reporting. Cody joined St. George News in 2015, and when she’s not busy chasing the news, she can usually be chased after her young granddaughter, Kali.

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