Carl and Beatrice present “(Show Me Your) Thunderegg,” a super-sweet special ditty commemorating Thunderegg’s last San Francisco appearance before the East Coast jaunt and July tour of Germany. Live at the Main Street Theater, Saturday, May 11, 2013.

“Ten Sleeves,” recorded to four-track cassette in the Sutter Street kitchen on May 2, 2013. Ken Matsuda, violin.

These are the fine gentlemen who comprise Thunderegg’s San Francisco chapter. Left to right: James Sundquist, Reese Douglas, Will, Alex Jimenez. The full band debuts Thursday, April 25, at the Lost Church on Capp Street; ensuing gigs include the beer garden at Hopmonk Novato on May 10 and Main Street Theater on May 11. After that, this lineup will have a bit of a hiatus as Will heads east, then to Germany—and these guys continue making their own excellent music in California. It’s been a pleasure making a racket with them.

The Volkswagen Caravelle van has been rented. This summer, Will, Jake, and Ken Moon will take on Germany. More on this later, of course, but here’s what we’ve got going on so far.

Fri., July 5 – The Station, Püttlingen
Sat., July 6 – Down by the River Festival, Berlin
Sun., July 7 – Die Fabrik, Berlin
Weds., July 10 – Klienicum house concert, Ampfing
Thurs., July 11 – House concert, Karlsruhe
Fri., July 12 – Kassette, Düsseldorf
Sat., July 13 – Hasenschaukel, Hamburg

Last November (while I was recording “A Fix Exists”), super-talented music photographer Emily Sevin dropped by the four-track studio in my kitchen to take a few pictures; now one of them, plus many other striking shots of even more attractive fellow Bay Area musicians, is on display at Bazaar Cafe. It was a real honor to be up on that wall with so many talented people. Thanks, Emily.

Previously a digital download only, Not What I Meant is now available as a real CD. Find copies at live shows or on our Bandcamp page.

I was out of town for a little while, playing a show in Austin, among other places, but now I’m back. In your kitchen. Making jam for you.

Here’s further, permanent (so long as the Internet doesn’t collapse) evidence of February’s Thunderegg Songwriter’s Residency at Bazaar Cafe: For the final installment, Australian Billy Shears and non-Australian Thunderegg laid down a song apiece live to four-track cassette. Track 1: guitar. Track 2: vocals, which were amusing to watch for their being recorded a cappella. Track 3: audience participation—in Billy’s case, a roomful of shaken plastic eggs with jellybeans inside them; in Thunderegg’s, knives on plates run through a reverse echo. I mean, how can you go wrong.

Will playing “Lucky So-and-So” at the Thunderegg February Songwriter’s Residency at Bazaar Cafe, Tuesday, February 12. Big thanks to Stephen Porter for shooting video for us—we’re indebted to him for capturing some beautiful moments for posterity. Cases in point:

Laura Meyer performing her song “The Ocean” on Feb. 19.

Here’s Pieces on Feb. 5.

And Garden Party that same evening:

Tuesday, Feb. 5: Pieces and Garden Party
Tuesday, Feb. 12: John Elliott and Thunderegg (full set)
Tuesday, Feb. 19: Laura Meyer and Ben Brown
Tuesday, Feb. 26: Billy Shears and special Four-Track Frenzy, featuring live four-track recordings of a song each from Billy and Thunderegg.

Letta Mbulu, “Jigijela (Don’t Throw Stones),” from Letta (Chisa/Motown, 1970)

The jam of the day comes from Zulu vocal star Letta Mbulu. This whole album is great—it definitely is honey for Western ears, but I prefer its laid-back R&B groove to David Axelrod’s sometimes amazing, sometimes overbearing studio orchestrations on Mbulu’s previous record, Free Soul. And anyway, it’s fellow South African Hugh Masekela handling the production, and a lot of the YouTube comments here are about warm memories of South African childhoods—so I guess, happily, the consensus is that in this case, the cultural crossover worked.

Calvin Cooke, “What Happens to People” (1969), from Local Customs: Downriver Revival (Numero Group, 2009).

I’ve been slowly building a collection of compilations from the unparalleled-in-excellence Numero Group, and right now I think this one, which collects recordings from Double U Sound in Ecorse, Michigan (“seven miles downriver from Detroit”), is my favorite. Between 1967 and 1973 Felton Williams’s studio recorded all kinds of music, from R&B and gospel to rock and instrumentals, but across the different styles there’s a brilliant vision of musicianship, soul, and unpredictability—like the sitar in this arrangement of Calvin Cooke’s beautiful gospel tune above. Also, the two-LP set comes with a DVD that includes hundreds more songs, which is right in Thunderegg’s wheelhouse. I love it when there’s so much music you don’t know where to start, so you just have to start anywhere.