Jim Allio Takes "Second Chance" to Club Sapphire

Ever wonder what it might be like to write, record and release a couple of records and yet never have set foot on a nightclub stage to sing your material, or even sing into a microphone while performing live? Maybe not, but that was the case with me, Jim Allio, the writer of this blog and the singer-songwriter responsible for two CDs, "Better Late Than Never" (2007) and this year's "Second Chance." I'd been asked to perform several times in the past couple of months, and last Saturday, I bit the bullet and did a two-song set at Club Sapphire in San Francisco. What was it like? I'll tell you all about it, but for those who don't know, here's a brief history:

1 - My friend, Martin, is moving and sells me his 4-track tape recorder for $100, showing me how I can use it to create up to four vocal tracks. I start playing with it, doubling my voice or singing one man harmony duets with myself. When I play them back, I think, "Huh...I used to sing better than that."

2 - I take a Voice class at Laney College with Professor Lucy Kinchen. She teaches vocal technique and encourages students to perform one of the five songs she has her class learn each semester. Terrified, but wanting to get the full experience, I do "Moon River" at the end of the semester and am shocked when I get a great response. I continue taking the class.

3 - I start running into folks who have taken the class with me, and who ask me to sing background on their records, or do duets or trios with them, or even adlib with their jazz band. I begin to feel encouraged, although I notice every time I get up to sing, it's a crap shoot whether I will let the fear overwhelm me. Each semester I sing for the class and in Laney open mikes.

4 - I begin hanging out with a local Oakland hiphop hopeful, Skarlo Paine. We drive around town playing new beats and tracks he is creating for his first record. For some reason, I'm not shy around him, and I riff off the cuff lyrics or just vocalese as we drive. It's fun.

5 - Paine learns I have a whole book of poems or lyrics lying around and looks at some of them, then asks me to consider writing a lyric for one of this tracks and then sing it. This becomes the song, "Help Me," which he includes on his 2005 record, "Distorted Melodies," and, surprisingly, it becomes the best received tune on the record.

6 - Paine next suggests I do my own record, with him producing, creating beats and tracks, and collaborating with me on the melodies. I'm not scared. I'm excited. We record off and on for a year and a half and in February 2007, "Better Late Than Never" is released and receives a good review in the East Bay Express.

7 - I continue taking Voice with Ms. Kinchen and perform several of the songs from my CD for the class and at Laney College open mikes. Stage fright is real but I keep getting up.

8 - I start work on my second CD, this time producing and arranging it as well as writing the lyrics and melodies. It becomes "Second Chance" and is released in February 2009. Friends begin helping me make videos of songs from the record to put on YouTube and that process begins making cracks in the wall of my stage fright. I also realize that people are genuinely digging some of the songs and that bolsters my confidence as well.

9 - Through a series of flukes and coincidences that, in hindsight, were obviously meant to be, I meet the rap star, Deadlee, and spend several nights hanging out with him and talking about everything under the sun, with a big emphasis on music and performing. He advises me to perform anywhere I can and to take an acting class. He has a heavy personal impact on me and my confidence inexplicably grows even more. Later he tells me he loves my CD and plans to write a review on it, and that sincere encouragement pushes me to the next level.

10 - Friends begin introducing me to other musicians and performers as Jim Allio, the recording artist, and I don't shy away. I begin to be asked to perform. At first I demur, but then I remember what Deadlee recommended, and I recognize that these doors are opening so I can walk through them, and I accept my first gig.

So here I am, at Club Sapphire on Sacramento Street, at a video shoot and birthday party for a Burmese pop star, Zadanya, a friend of my homie, writer-activist Randy Wong. I bring tracks for five songs with the vocals wiped and it is decided I will sing a couple of them between band sets. I'm nervous but not unreasonably so. This isn't ghetto Laney. This is a big party, 200 guests, all dressed up, and the only folks I know are Randy, Zadanya and another singer, Buschie. I realize with a start that I've never sung live with a microphone but decide to cross that bridge when they hand the mic to me.

Soon I'm sitting on stage waiting for them to cue my first song, "Wonderful Life." I get up and just start singing. I'm surprised that I'm not all that nervous now. The mic is no problem. I look around at the crowd. Shit. Most of them ain't payin' me NO mind, dog! This doesn't piss me off. It has the opposite effect. It relaxes me. I let go and just blow. I know the set is being filmed and I even play to the camera a bit. Buschie steps onstage and hands me a rose. I'm so surprised it doesn't dawn on me to kiss her on the cheek so I just say thanks, don't miss a beat and keep singing.

My second number is my most ambitious, "Little Boy Lost," a six minute ballad that changes tempo several times and requires me to go within and sing from my soul. I discover I'm able to go there, and I notice peripherally some folks appreciating what I am doing. Zadanya approaches the stage twice thinking the song is over and I tell him, "Not yet, almost" and keep going. It feels wonderful. I reach the end of the song and hold the last note a little longer than I do on the record. The crowd applauds warmly and I'm done.

I feel great. Later I see the videos and I'm okay with them. I learn that the chewing on hard candy has to go, but overall for my first time I am happy. I know I can do this and now my next challenge is to find other places to sing and do it on the regular. And I will.

The past few months I've been writing lyrics like crazy. My notebook is already half full and is my most constant companion. Some melodies are coming and I've started a few tracks. Record #3 is beginning to shape itself, but it won't be out until 2011. Until then, I will continue singing my songs in public and honing my performance skills. Now I know I can do this!

Videos of my live performances can be found on YouTube. Just search for "Jim Allio" and you'll see them.

Dorian Wood Burns Down the House at HomoAGoGo

I attended two days of the four day long Homo A Go Go festival, relocated this year from Olympia, Washington to San Francisco and saw a number of excellent LGBT acts, including Tim'm West with Dunce Apprentice and Sam Sax, and Jeremy Kloff. I'm inspired to submit my own music to the festival for possible inclusion next time. But the hands down highlight of the acts I caught was the incredible Dorian Wood from Southern California and his band, comprised of four (!) accordions, a drummer and a guitarist. Together they made some of the most joyful and spiritual noise I've been privileged to experience in a very long time. I take Voice from a teacher named Lucy Kinchen at Laney College in Oakland. Every semester the class learns and performs a Negro spiritual, and the process is reliably uplifting and illuminating. Dorian Wood brought the same spirit to the SOMarts stage this past Sunday.

I first encountered Wood when he sang the chilling hook on Deadlee's brilliant "Vengeance," then didn't recognize the same voice doing the beautiful hook on Salvimex's evocative "Tributo A Mi Tierra." Finally, watching a youtube video of Wood, Deadlee and Johnny Turok touring pyramids in Mexico, the light bulb went on as I watched him walk and sing with the most beautiful voice imaginable, that this was the real deal, a vocalist par excellence. I began exploring youtube videomaterial on him - and there is a treasure trove of clips worth seeking out - and there I found not only a serious singer-songwriter but an absolutely insane performance artist who might come out on stage with a veil over a pillowcase over his face, or dressed up as an animal, or sporting a porkpie hat and macho swagger. Intrigued, and learning he would be performing locally at HomoAGoGo, I downloaded his recent EP, "Black Pig Suite," and discovered a true original, fiercely reconciling cabaret, rock, pop, blues and spirituals in one musically challenging and invigorating package.

So I came to HomoAGoGo this past Sunday with eagerness and high hopes for an inspiring live show. I was not disappointed. From the rousing opener, "Pigfeed Blues" from the aforementioned EP, to the crowd-pleasing "The Real" with its succinctly relatable refrain, "no one breaks my heart and lives," and "The Mutual," Wood brought uncommon focus and commitment to his lyrics. And then there is his voice - a true force of nature, he goes from a whisper to a growl to a torrent of emotion to a howl and took me with him every note of the way. He may be the finest new singer - and he probably will hate being considered "new" - I've run into in years. As a singer, I appreciate what he does and I can't help but be a little envious of his instrument and what he is able to do with it.

The too-short set culminated in an extended version of "Well Well Well" from his heart-rending "Bolka" project, which I just bought yesterday after his show and am already hooked on. Wood began by asking the audience if they had been to church that morning and started singing the name Jesus over and over, finding new emotion and nuance each time, before launching into a fearless take on the song that was more church than any of us had likely been in many a day. He walked to the very lip of the stage and roared, growled, howled and just went all the fuck off like a man possessed in a riveting performane that had jaws dropping and folks cheering simultaneously.

Tough, sexy and spiritual, with songs that are challenging, deep and rewarding and hell yes that voice, Dorian Wood is indeed one of the finest singers I've ever heard. I look forward to other - longer - live shows by him and his next musical project. It will no doubt be worth seeking out.

The Land of Golden Dreams: Burmese Fundraiser

It's strange how sometimes you can do something for one reason, and something entirely unexpected comes out of it. This past Sunday, I attended the aptly-named "The Land of Golden Dreams," a fundraiser for the San Francisco Bay Area Burmese (aka Myanmar) Community Center, as well as a US 2010 Census Promotion. There is no community center yet, hence the fundraiser, and the census promotion is to get Burmese listed as a separate entity on the 2010 US Census. That way they can have a more accurate count of how many Burmese are in the US. At this point, they are lumped in with Chinese, totally incorrect. I was there at the invitation of my friend, activist-writer Randy Wong, and expected a relaxing hour or so eating Burmese food and maybe listening to some music. The fact that buying food tickets was a way of supporting both worthy goals was icing on the kasaba, as they say.

The first thing I noticed when I parked my car on the hill above Capuchino High School in San Bruno where the event was held was a loud and hot sounding rock band. "Cool!" I thought. "Rock music!" Then I realized they weren't singing in English. Even cooler! Once on the festival grounds, I saw there were tents over all the food tables, hundreds of folks milling about, and that rock band playing at the entrance to the school auditorium. I called Randy on his celly and he joined me, showing me around, introducing me to many people. It seemed he knew everyone. I think he did! Interestingly, he told everyone we met that I was a recording artist and songwriter. He suggested I sing with the band, but at first I thought he was just joking.

By now I was famished. Randy insisted I try a few of his favorites: steamed yellow tofu with cilantro and peanut sauce (tasty! and it's tofu! revelation!); what I thought was fried fish but turned out to be fried squash; and faluda, a strawberry custard swimming in ice cream - scrumptious. I made a donation to the fundraiser and bought some food tickets which I presented at a dessert table. $5 netted me two big baggies full of Burmese sweet treats!

We went into the auditorium and looked at some wonderful photographs taken in Burma as well as some beautiful paintings. I was introduced to Valerie, Miss Asia 2004, among many other titles, stunning...As we stopped at tables supporting the census change and highlighting issues in Burma today, I got a quick education in Burmese history. I learned that the yellow handkerchief pictured above portrays one of their most revered heroes - and political martyrs -General Aung San and his cabinet, who were all assassinated in a meeting by mercenaries hired by a British colony, leading to the violence, oppression and suffering that continues unabated in Burma to this day.

The next day the unjust sentencing of General San's daughter, Suu Kyi, was globally condemned. Cutting her sentence in half is not enough. Just like North Korea, Mynamar doesn't give a fuck what the world thinks.

As I was preparing to leave, Randy introduced me to Tomas, who he said was a Burmese pop star. Tomas suggested I sing with the band, if not today, then in a couple of weeks. Turns out Tomas is a well known singer who goes by the name of ZaYanDa, and Randy wangled an invite for me to his video shoot/birthday party next Saturday evening, where I will sing something from my CD, "Second Chance" (live debut of the material) and likely sing with the band, as well as appear in the video.

It's amazing sometimes how you can attend a function just to hang out with a friend and end up having a totally different experience than what you expected. Warm and wonderful people, great music and excellent eats - this was indeed the Land of Golden Dreams!

Dwele: Sketches of the Man at Yoshi's Oakland

The first time I saw Detroit neo-soul r&b crooner Dwele perform was several years ago at Space 550, a huge club in San Francisco's warehouse district usually reserved for gay circuit parties. He opened for Slum Village, the legendary and now-defunct D-Town rap high priests, in what was essentially a glorified track date, and didn't take the stage until after 1 AM. As soon as he stepped out, though, the wait and the late hour faded and Dwele served notice that he had arrived. Slum Village brought him back to sing the hook on their classic "Tainted" - so irresistible it launched his career - and Dwele was well on his way.

Discovered by the late great producer J. Dilla, Dwele (full Swahili name Andwele, meaning "God has brought me") has seen his career grow by leaps and bounds from singing hooks to opening track dates in the middle of the night to playing prestige gigs like the Yoshi's Oakland engagement I was privileged to attend last night. Drawing from all three of his well-received albums, "Subject," "Some Kinda..." and the current "Sketches of a Man" - quiet storm and urban contemporary format linchpins - Dwele showed up at Yoshi's with a horn section, two superb backup vocalists, drums, guitars and a ridiculous keyboardist, and replicated the phat full swoony sound of his records. Disarmingly easy going with a personal style to match his smooth vocals, Dwele had the sell-out crowd in the palm of his hand from start to finish.

Specializing in slyly observed tales of romance and money in the urban milieu, Dwele opened with the atypical but jammin' "Body Rock" from "Sketches," and launched into a seamless progression of songs that played like a high concept album come to life. The crowd went nuts for his evocative "Old Lovas" and witty "I'm Cheatin'" (he's cheating on his girl with his girl, she's like two women in one) with their sophisticated but singalong-able choruses, and had us with him all the way on the straightforward and steady rockin "Flapjacks" complete with adroitly placed male audience participation. By the time he left the stage to dance with various women, the audience was in a frenzy and he played us perfectly. My only quibble is that I wish he had sung the hook to "Flashing Lights," the off-the-chain Kanye West collabo that hasn't left my iPod in close to two years.

Too soon the show was over and my tablemates and I looked at each other and laughed. He fully inhabited the old show biz adage to leave them wanting more - and we do! If you have a chance to catch Dwele's show, he will be at Yoshi's for the next two nights. If he's performing anywhere near you, do yourself a favor and check him out. You won't regret it.