These days it’s common to hear people complain about the high cost of concert tickets as a reason for not going out to see live music. While it’s true that huge arena shows are extremely pricey, there are a ton of free and cheap weekly shows at San Francisco’s small nightlife venues. Many of these shows are criminally under-attended relative to the talent of the performers. Last week I went to 4 such shows in a 24 hour period, all on Haight or Divisadero.

I checked out the new Mellow Nights series at The Mellow, Top Chefs Potluck and MuZiek at Madrone Art Bar, and a random show at the recently reopened DeLuxe. All of these venues are within walking distance of each other, and the total cover charge for all 4 combined was only $5. Read the full writeup below.

While stopping by the Mellow, I also checked out the new Mural at Haight and Masonic. The painting, by Amos Goldbaum, is called “Poppies in a Jar.” He posted a timelapse video of him painting the mural on his Instagram.

Beloved Inner Richmond businesses continue to expand to other areas of the city. Last week I wrote about Blue Danube’s new location near the Presidio. We also noticed that Pasta Supply Co will soon open in Cole Valley. On Friday we went to the new Cinderella Bakery location in the Mission on opening day.

In the area of local politics, I’ve continued to monitor the CA-11 race between Connie Chan and Scott Wiener. Last week I was critical of Weiner for the ConnieChan.ai chatbot. This week I reflected on a comment from Connie Chan about the Geary / 19th Subway. In an interview with Mission Local, she mentioned that it was a top priority infrastructure project for her.

I didn’t mention it in my article on previous Geary Rail projects, but she didn’t even show up on time for the final report presentation when I attended the SFCTA meeting in June, and only came in right at the end to record her vote without even commenting. So when she says the Geary / 19th Subway is a priority, I don’t exactly believe her.