Hootenanny Night is located at the Cafe International at 508 Haight St (at Fillmore) in the heart of the bustling lower Haight in San Francisco. Shows last from 7-10:30 pm or so. The shows are totally free and open to all ages. We do ask for donations to help offset the cost of promotion and whatnot. And we share with the bands also, so be sure to be generous when the bucket comes around. To find out what's happening on a given night, click the SCHEDULE button above.
The Music
We love folk and acoustic music of all kinds, from bluegrass, old-time, classic country, shanty songs, Americana, Celtic, world, blues, and singer/songwriter originals. The Bay Area is a hothouse of an infinite variety of acoustic artists, old and young, professional and amateur. We love to introduce people to hot new acoustic performers. To learn about our past performers, click on the HOOTENANNY PERFORMERS button above.
Alll Volunteer Effort
You may notice that the way things work at our music show is a little different from other shows. Hootenanny Night is an all-volunteer labor of love. From the musicians to the promoters to the sound guy to me, we all work for free. Make sure to show your love to our kind performers by visiting their web sites and supporting their music.
Our HQ is the Cafe Internation at 508 Haight St (at Fillmore) in the lower Haight district in San Francisco. The Café International is an old-time wood floor coffeehouse with a unique, funky charm. The Café serves hearty Middle Eastern food and tasty cafe fare as well as wine and beer, so come and make a night of it. We owe an enormous debt of love and gratitude to Zahra for hosting our music show since the year 2001. Drop in some time and tell her how much you appreciate the Cafe International and all it does for the SF folk music scene and the community in general.
Parking
Parking in the neighborhood stinks, like parking in any other SF neighborhood. Your best bet is to show up early. Since the shows start at 7, plan to arrive an hour early. This increases your chances of grabbing a good spot exponentially.
The not so hidden agenda of Hootenanny Night is to introduce new people to the San Francisco Folk Music Club. If you are not already a member of the SFFMC, send us $10 and you'll get a year's membership and 6 issues of the newsletter of the SF folk music scene, folknik. The folknik is a great way to learn about the Bay Area folk scene. Click here for info about joining SFFMC.
Hootenanny Night is just one of the many Bay Area music events sponsored or supported by the San Francisco Folk Music Club. Since the late 1940s, the SFFMC has been spreading the gospel of better living through folk music and dance.
Here are some other SFFMC activities and events:
Jams at Faith's
Every other Friday. 8:00pm on.
885 Clayton St. (Carl and Parnassus) in San Francisco
415-661-2217
Harmony
Harmony is a five day music and dance camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains between Christmas and New Years. Each year more than 300 people from all over the world celebrate their collective love for acoustic music in work shops, nightly dances, concerts and jamming day and night, all in a beautiful mountain setting.
Two days and nights of music and dance workshops, jams, and evening performances at the Roosevelt Middle School in the Richmond District in SF. For more than 25 years, the Free Folk Festival has provided music lovers of all ages the opportunity to experience and participate in many, many wonderful music and dance styles.
www.sffolkfest.org (While you're there, be sure to click on the video link for a great little clip from the 2000 FFF).
Music Campouts
Three weekends a year--Memorial, July 4th, and Labor Day-- the SFFMC sponsors music campouts in the Bay Area, featuring lots of singing around the campfire, evening concerts, and other outdoor activities for the whole family.
To find out about the campouts, become a member of the SF Folk Music Club (see listing below) or send your email address to equalrice@yahoo.com, and we'll send you regular updates about club activities.
Harmony List
This email list hooks you up to the whole wide world of Bay Area folk music and dance activities. Find out about house concerts, country dances, and and sundry related (or at least usually related) matters. Email harmony@sffmc.org to get on the list.
The folknik newsletter and calendar.
The folknik, the bi-monthly newsletter of the San Francisco Folk Music Club, is the best way to stay up on SFFMC events, including Hootenanny Night, as well as the wide variety of related music and dance activities in No. California. Become a member of the SF Folk Club and receive 6 issues of the Folknik for just $10.00.:
Hootenanny Night HQ is the Cafe International, 508 Haight St at Fillmore in the thriving, bustling, terminally hip and trendy (till we arrive, anyway) Lower Haight District in San Francisco.
Mass transit is the most pleasing option for the usual Earth friendly reasons and because the parking is STINKO.
We are most easily accessed by MUNI buses 6, 7, or 71 on Market St. (if you are coming from downtown BART stations) or the 22 Fillmore.
We're including a map link and driving directions because, let's not kid ourselves, most of us get around via our 4-wheeled friends.
We've tried a few different formats over the years. Lately we've been featuring 4 or 5 different acts a show. Sometimes we might throw someone on for a couple of songs (especially solo acts), but usually an act plays for 30 minutes. We occaisionally host all jam shows. Check the schedule page or get on our email list to get monthly updates. And let me know if you are interested in hosting a folk music jam some given month. If you have an idea for a future jam or show, we'd love to hear it. Just make sure to give us plenty of notice because we book way in advance. There is no open mic. Except for jams, to play you have to be invited and to be invited we need to hear what you sound like.
There is a sound system with a half dozen mics, and by most accounts, the sound is pretty darn good considering the space we have to work with. If you are a performer with special sound needs, be sure to let me know in advance. I'll send any queries on to our sound engineers.
Compensation
Hootenanny Night is a not for profit venture sponsored by the San Francisco Folk Music Club. We pass the hat or sometiimes ask for contributions at the door. We usually share donations with the bands. The amount we raise, of course, varies from show to show depending on the turn out. Because there are so many bands on the bill, it only amounts to a couple of dollars per band. The rest we use to pay for promotion (posters and ads) and sound system costs. These costs are not covered by the Cafe Intl and are considerable. The show has been in the red since the beginning. Some bands forego their cuts, which is always appreciated. But if you want your cut of the donations, make sure you have a representative stay to after the hat is passed, usually around the end of the show. We don't like to have to hunt bands down later. By te way, you can sell CDs or anything else you like. And all performers receive a discount on all drink and food.
![[ Yahoo! Maps ]](http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/mp/gr/mplogo.gif){kind=small}