'The Eleven' at the Presidio Yacht Club

The Presidio Yacht Club is a killer little venue – near the base of the Golden Gate Bridge.  No one seems to know about this place, as it’s the bar/clubhouse of a yacht club. 

The interior (and any club members still around after 8 p.m.) is frozen in the year Anthem of the Sun. When I last went there, it was like Frank Sinatra meeting an Acid Test.  But we all got along swimmingly!  A very private location (not much around but sailboats, gulls, bluffs and water), with a full bar and a high ceiling enabling lots of windows with a great view of the bridge and city. When you step outside, in the fog and the dark, you feel like you are at the edge of the world.   You can’t get much closer to the water than this, or you’ll need a wetsuit! 

*Special note* If you go past the museum and, instead of turning left along the beach, you keep driving straight towards the Golden Gate Bridge as far as humanly possible (like I did the last time I went), at some point you will come to a dirt road with an extremely well-lit “PRIVATE” sign that I think Homeland Security uses to access the base of the Golden Gate Bridge.  Think of it as a magic road. If you take it you won’t stop until you reach Guantanamo Bay.  So turn your car around slowwwwly with your hands in the air.  Just kidding.  About the slowly part.  

The gig:  Got there when the Dedicated Maniacs were getting towards the end of their set.  They finished up with some NRPS gems, including “Panama Red”.   Nice. Mark Corsolini (Front Street, Cryptical) drums with them.

The Maniacs ended at 10 p.m.  The Eleven came on at 11pm (coincidence?).  This is after about 30 minutes of various Eleven members “warming up."  You know, that “Oh, what cool sounds my guitar can create!  My amp makes pretty lights, too.  Dance to the music lights, dance!”  Oh, wait. That is what I was thinking they were thinking.  And I think I like their thinking!

Someone accidentally spilled a beer on my leg. 

The Eleven featured two drummers (nice!) and a "Donna" (Paige) at this gig (double nice, although I know many of you aren’t in my camp on having a "Donna" at any show).  They got two songs out before one of “Jerry’s” (Clint Bajakian) guitar strings broke.  Whoops!  End of quote/unquote  'set 1!'

Suffice to say, ‘set 2’ was rockin!!!   Lot’s of energy, and they really started to jam and stretch the songs out, which is my favorite part.  End of ‘set 2.'

Set break consisted of refreshments and hanging with the “Bobby” (Nick Sandoval) and the “Mickey” (Paul Scannell) of the band.  We talked about a lot of old Dead stuff – Viola Lee (the 20 minute jamming version I LOVE from Rio Nido on the Russian River, Sept. 3rd, 1967).  We talked about all the songs most tribute bands do, and “Bobby” mentioned that no one ever does "Golden Road," and I thought that would be cool if they did it.  We’ll see.  I spilled “Mickey’s” coke.  Coca Cola. This wasn’t the real Mickey of old. 

The band went back inside for their last set – strangely enough, we didn’t seem too concerned.  Hmmm.  Time does seem to stand still sometimes, doesn’t it?

Around 12:50 a.m. ‘set 3’ kicks off with some killer jamming.  By 1:20 a.m., I am fading fast.   I duck out around 1:30 a.m., and the band is still going strong.   I finally fall asleep around 3 a.m., still buzzing off the show.  Very, very nice way to spend half the night! 

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