🌁 Thee Parkside, Wisp, Beer Week, And Sweet Glory

In today’s news:

The last time I was a was in April of 2022, almost 4 years ago. It was for Drug Church, a post-hardcore band with a mosh pit crowd. I left that night thinking, “I should really come here more often.” It’s one of those venues that I kept meaning to go back to, but now there aren’t many chances left. 

I returned on Sunday for “Punks for Pups,” a four-band showcase for only $10. The lineup was The Vaxxines, Pinfall, Fast Friends, and Switch Crooks. The event was for Muttville Senior Dog Rescue, an organization that takes in the older dogs that other shelters often pass over. 

I wondered if the crowd would be a bit sad with the venue closing. But to my surprise, they seemed genuinely cheerful. Rather than mourn Thee Parkside while it’s still here, the community decided to celebrate it. People were smiling and hugging. A few serious photographers moved through the room with professional cameras to document the event.

Fast Friends, the first band I watched, had an anti-fascist message and repeatedly said “Fuck Trump” throughout the set. Pinfall was a bit more humorous and didn’t take themselves too seriously. Their set was filled with dad jokes and comments like “This next song is about my ex-wife.” Both bands took a moment to shout out Thee Parkside and acknowledge that there aren’t many shows left. 

Thee Parkside has been a part of San Francisco's live music scene for decades. It's the kind of venue that doesn't make lists or get written up in travel guides. It’s a venue that exists for the niche of people that simply appreciate a dive bar with cheap beer, tots, and punk rock. It’s a place where thousands of bands who will never be famous have played to crowds of maybe a hundred people.

Unfortunately the land it sits on is considered too valuable these days, while small gatherings and human connections are not. This is why the sentence “This Will Be Condos You Can’t Afford” is now spray-painted on the patio wall. Just like the last concert I saw at Bottom of the Hill, I took some extra time to walk around, look at things a bit more closely, and try to capture a permanent memory of the place. I will be attending Hot Flash Heat Wave at Bottom of the Hill tonight as part of Noise Pop, and I will continue to enjoy these small venues while they are still around.  

On Sunday night, I stood in a line of Gen Z kids by the marquee of the Great American Music Hall. We were waiting to see Wisp, performing as part of this year's Noise Pop Festival. Once inside, I walked upstairs to take in the venue’s ornate ceilings, the columns, the balconies, and the chandelier hanging over the floor below. It's one of the most elaborate interiors of any music venue in the city.

Wisp is Natalie Lu, born in 2004 in the Outer Sunset, only a few miles from where we were all standing. In 2023, she released a shoegaze track called "Your Face," that went viral on TikTok and now boasts nearly 200 million streams on Spotify. The song's opening breath was directly inspired by Chino Moreno on Deftones' "Be Quiet and Drive." Shoegaze is experiencing a resurgence among a new generation, and Wisp is one of the artists leading it.

She started releasing music in 2023, and by 2024 she was already on the Outside Lands lineup. By 2025, she was performing at Coachella. She describes her music as alt rock with lush, dreamy guitars and ethereal, floaty vocals.

When she took the stage, the room went dark and filled with smoke as beams of light cut through the fog. Flanked by her drummer, she stood center stage on guitar and vocals. The sound was a distorted wall of fuzz, with melodic vocals blending into the guitar. The riffs were reminiscent of something off of Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream, Whirr, or My Bloody Valentine.

The crowd was mostly still, heads nodding along with the music. A few songs into the set, she told the room it was good to be home. She shared that this was the last night of her current tour and that she would be taking a break to work on her new album. The crowd cheered. It was a beautiful evening: a kid from the Sunset closing her tour in San Francisco, saying goodnight before disappearing to create whatever comes next.

As a casual beer drinker wanting to choose one great beer week event to celebrate, I consulted the SF Beer Week guide to narrow down the field. For February 21, three things stood out: The Richmond Republic, Russian River Brewing Company, and Doggy Social. My choice was made. The mere promise of adorable dogs is enough to get me out of the house. I’d visited the Russian River Brewing Company’s Windsor location on a road trip a few years ago and remembered the excellent beers. Lastly, the Richmond Republic is a fun neighborhood bar we affectionately call “Rock ‘n’ Roll Breakfast” because the rock music is always blasting while you eat your eggs benedict.

True to form, our beer flights were served up to the heavy metal classic “Balls to the Wall” by Accept. We glimpsed a couple of cute pups in the parklet outside and set to testing our palates with the staff’s handy tasting guide. Cheers to a successful Beer Week!

There’s still a chance to try some Russian River brews at Foghorn Divisadero on Feb 26 and Foghorn Balboa on Feb 28.

Our beers from top to bottom left to right were:

The Inner Sunset continues to affirm its standing as a go-to destination for those of us living on the other side of the park and beyond. Lately, the area has been abuzz with excitement for the newly opened Tadaima. I’m excited to check this out as a matcha lover.

Last Sunday, however, I was headed to try Sweet Glory, a dessert cafe on 9th Avenue. The cafe boasts a huge variety of mille crêpe cakes with pandan, matcha, taro, mango, coconut flavors, and more. They also have Basque cheesecakes and whole cakes are available for pre-order. It’s a peaceful spot on the weekends due to a no-laptop policy. The interior is spacious and it even has a cute outdoor patio. I tried the Pistachio Basque Burnt Cheesecake with an iced latte. The cake was light, not overly sweet, and had a rich, creamy pistachio flavor. I can’t wait to return to try another flavor!