Miss Jo's San Francisco

SINCE JEFF GAVE UP PRACTICING LAW to play piano professionally again, Miss Jo’s learned a lot as her husband’s chief roadie, publicist and webmaster.

She’s also putting her skills as an Old Media newspaper and magazine writer to new uses, along with her love of graphic design, photography and coloring.

Thank goodness for the digital age and a MacBook laptop, from which Miss Jo sends fan emails; updates Jeff’s website; edits photos she snaps at gigs; designs gig posters, postcards and CD covers; writes press releases; edits video; produces demo DVDs; posts to You Tube, My Space and Reverbnation; Tweets; and records and edits musical recordings for sale.

Jeff’s played all over the Bay Area, from private homes to nightclubs, as a solo act in cafes, at weddings, as an accompanist and in bands.

One evening, he entertained a congress of international anesthesiologists at a dinner atop the St. Francis Hotel on Union Square with incredible views of the City. For a bit, he had a regular Tuesday night gig in a bar below a bail bondsman, across from the Hall of Justice and police headquarters. It was a lot of fun helping to put on a show with a different vocalist each week.

Making a go of it in music anywhere is rough and the Bay Area is no different. The pay generally is low. There are also too few venues like clubs, cafes and restaurants that have live music of any kind– surprising for a city of San Francisco’s profile— not to mention that good music brings in business, which Miss Jo has seen over and over. There’s nothing like walking into one of Jeff’s gigs and seeing people swinging to the music. Real soul food.

You have to love to play in order to make music your living, Miss Jo also has concluded. To make ends meet, Jeff teaches piano and the two Js watch their pennies.

Tonight, Jeff’s playing with SF blues band Bohemian Knuckleboogie at Rasselas Jazz Club on Fillmore Street, where there’s a handful of clubs and the famed Fillmore Auditorium. In the 1940s-1950s, the neighborhood from Geary Blvd. south was called the Harlem of the West because of all of the jazz and blues venues and their marquee acts. Today, City planners are trying to reclaim those days, part of a larger story that goes back decades.

Bohemian Knuckleboogie was named by band leader Mike Pitre, who’s from the swamplands of Port Arthur, Texas, and 1992 University Houston grad and plays a mean trumpet. The band also plays tomorrow night down the street at Sheba Lounge.

Usually, Miss Jo catches the last set.

But first tonight, she has to watch “Dancing With the Stars.”

And don’t forget to tip the band !

Photo by Miss Jo, of Jeff on keys @ Sheba Lounge in San Francisco’s Fillmore District; posters by Miss Jo; video and photos by Miss Jo, music by Bohemian Knuckleboogie, with Jeff Orchard on keys.