Chat Room: Music
From Green Day to the Grateful Dead to Sly Stone to Santana, the Bay Area has birthed countless musical legends.
We’re talking about E-40, Creedence Clear Water Revival, Primus, Too Short, Faith No More, and Jefferson Airplane. Metallica, Digital Underground, and the Dead Kennedys. Tony! Toni! Toné!
Did someone say Janis Joplin? Let’s not forget Kreayshawn, Kehlani, and so many more.
On Feb. 26, luminaries from the Bay Area’s influential music scene will gather at Swedish American Hall for Chat Room: Music, presented by Gazetteer SF.
We’ll discuss the past, present, and future of music in this great metropolis, and also enjoy a few stripped-down performances by up-and-coming Bay Area artists.
We’re putting on Chat Room: Music as part of SF Music Week, in partnership with Noise Pop, SF Live, the San Francisco Office of Economic Development, and KEXP.
Tickets include free-flow beer and wine from 5:30-8:30 p.m. This event is 21+.
All Chat Room events are free for Gazetteer SF paid subscribers but space is limited. Subscribers may write to lc@gazetteer.co to receive your free ticket code. Non-subscribers may purchase tickets here for $20 + fees.
CHAT ROOM: MUSIC
Feb. 26, 2025
Doors 5:30 p.m., show 6-9 p.m.
Swedish American Hall at 2174 Market St.
Performances by Astu and Cindy
Chat 1: From Analog to AI: The Evolution of Music and Technology in the Bay (30 minutes)
Over the past quarter century, we’ve witnessed a profound transformation in the relationship between music and technology in the Bay Area. Our tech industry has played a pivotal role in shaping how music is created, distributed, and consumed across the world — we’re talking about Napster, iTunes, YouTube, and Pandora. Industry vet Ted Kartzman speaks with AudioShake CEO Jessica Powell and seasoned Granderson Des Rochers music tech lawyer Liz Moody about the intersection and evolution of music and technology in the Bay Area.
Chat 2: Supporting Local Music We Love: A Conversation on Advocacy (30 minutes)
From AI-generated music, musicians’ mental health, and federal arts funding, industry folks and music fans alike are feeling an increasing sense of urgency to protect artists and local music scenes.
Christen McFarland, the executive director of San Francisco’s Recording Academy chapter, and Hyde Street Studios audio engineer and longtime music activist Scott McDowell will be in conversation with Gazetteer SF culture reporter Joshua Bote to talk about music advocacy, policy, and how to support music in your life.
Chat 3: In Defense of Our Nightlife (30 minutes)
The Bay Area’s nightlife is under siege from high rents, lack of investment, and challenging business conditions. But we must defend it! KEXP DJ Gabriel Lopez leads a discussion with KQED journalist Nastia Voynovskaya and DJ Juanny about the challenges and promises facing the nightlife and dance music scene in the Bay.
Mistress of Ceremonies: Jillian Gnarling
jillian gnarling is a bay area born and raised full-time female impersonator and part-time talking head. she is known for her hot jokes, honest takes, and will be your fearless guide through Chat Room: Music!
DJ: Tigerchild
PERFORMERS
Cindy
Cindy is a key part of the San Francisco/Bay Area dream pop, fogpop, lo-fi scene. Led by Karina Gill, the band is Will Smith of Now, Staizsh Rodrigues of Children Maybe Later and Oli Lipton of Now and Violent Change. The songs are hazy and nostalgic pop-craft with lyrical backbone.
ASTU
If Frank Ocean and Sade had a baby, ASTU would be it. Part retro soul, part nineties R&B pastiche, part New Wave-inspired synth-pop, ASTU’s music refuses to pledge allegiance to a single vibe. The vocalist, songwriter and producer has the ability to find an easy, irresistible groove and turn it into an unhurried banger. A Black, queer and gender expansive artist, ASTU left life as a minister and found themself in R&B, expressing their sexuality, identity and life experience in their music.
ASTU’s expansive body of work spans music, film, and theater - composing for Disney and Pixar, giving voice to ‘Miss Motors’ on the multi Emmy-winning series “Go! Go! Cory Carson”, and bringing powerful narratives to life as a director and playwright. In June 2024, they made their theater debut as the writer, director and producer of Sanctuary, an afro-fantasy musical reimagining church through Black trans and queer ever-evolving myth and folklore. From silky, slow jams to 80's inspired R&B anthems, ASTU keeps us wanting more.
Variance Magazine describes their sound as "...kin to some of Solange’s recent material with the whispering confidence of Kelela..." while Himmat Media raves, "...their unapologetic queerness..transcends the conventional, offering a safe haven where listeners are free to explore their own identities."
SPEAKERS
Jessica Powell
Jessica Powell is the CEO and co-founder of AudioShake, a sound-splitting AI technology that makes audio more editable, accessible, and useful, powering new creative use and monetization across the entertainment, tech, and speech industries. Powell spent over a decade at Google, where she sat on the company's management team. She is also an award-winning author whose work has been published in the New York Times, TIME, WIRED, and elsewhere.
Gabriel Lopez
Gabriel Lopez is a music journalist, radio DJ, and dues paying member of the IWW. He hosts the Bay Area local music show Vinelands on KEXP 92.7FM Saturdays from 6-9pm, and the online radio shows Garment & Fool’s Cavern on Lower Grand Radio and Hyde FM respectively. When not digging through the releases of Mexican ambient labels or 80’s private presses he is getting lost in the woods, losing to prodigies (he swears they are) on chess.com, and droning on about his favorite bugs at the club. Photo by Gabriel Saravia.
Ted Kartzman
Ted Kartzman believes in the power of music, and has been inspired since childhood by how music shapes our culture. Ted has spent the past 25 years immersed in the independent music industry, applying technology and to help level the playing field for independent artists, labels, distributors, festivals and brands.
In 1999, Ted co-founded startup JamBase.com and moved to San Francisco where the promise of the world wide web was alive and golden, with the goal of supporting like minded bands and getting free concert tickets! Through a tour date engine and music news portal, he built a 1000+ client marketing company, a business that is still alive today.
As legal digital music was becoming real, he moved into digital music licensing, partnering in 2001 with Listen.com to launch a white label of pioneering music subscription service Rhapsody. Ted worked on the first streaming subscription deals for live music, then directly for Real Networks after Rhapsody was acquired, overseeing global independent label licensing. In 2008, Ted went to work at San Francisco based IODA to manage clients as VP of Client Services, then was hired by Google, working first at Android and then on the team that launched Google Music and then Google Play, licensing over 100 million tracks in the process.
In 2015, Ted moved to YouTube, managing relationships with the largest independent music distributors, maintaining his commitment to independent voices.
Today, Ted coaches arts and technology startups and founders on how to grow and develop their business, how to manage partnerships and build culture, helping independent businesses grow with integrity.
Elizabeth Moody
Elizabeth Moody, partner and chair of the New Media Group at Granderson Des Roches, is a pioneer in the digital media world. Moody has been spearheading digital music and video initiatives since the post-Napster era, both as outside counsel, and as a business executive in-house at companies like YouTube and Pandora. Today, Moody remains positioned at the intersection of technology and music rights and continues to advise her technology and rightsholder clients toward new and innovative business models and licensing deals.
Moody is at the forefront of the developing opportunities that AI presents to the music and entertainment industries. She counsels nearly a dozen generative voice and audio AI companies, including some prominent services that have already launched to the public and some that are forthcoming. She also advises certain rights holders on their approach to AI companies and advises the non-profit Fairly Trained, which certifies AI companies who are training the data sets with fairly acquired, licensed or owned data, and Audioshake, an AI-based stem separation tool in use by record labels, movie studios, and entertainment companies today to ease production and marketing. She is particularly interested in developing technologies which permit attribution of AI generated output and works closely with Sureel AI, which provides systems for protection, control, monetization and attribution of AI content, as well as Copyright Delta, providing data connections and processes to rights holders and AI tech platforms.
Nastia Voynovskaya
Nastia Voynovskaya is a reporter and editor at KQED Arts & Culture. She's been covering the arts in the Bay Area for over a decade, with a focus on music, queer culture, labor issues and grassroots organizing. She co-created KQED's Bay Area hip-hop history project, That's My Word, and has won two Society of Professional Journalists awards and two San Francisco Press Club awards. When she's not interviewing artists, you can find her DJing somewhere in Oakland or surfing the Pacific Ocean.
DJ Juanny
DJ Juanny draws inspiration from the sounds of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and the UK, often blending them with samples from films, TV, and pop culture.
His journey into music began in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, where he worked at a revered clothing and sneaker shop which served as a hotspot for notable Bay Area DJs who played sets and sold mixtapes, sparking Juanny's obsession with DJing. He started throwing parties, spinning tracks sourced from the more obscure corners of Soundcloud.
After a stint living in Miami, Juanny became passionate about bringing the emerging club sounds of his adopted home back to the Bay Area. This led to the creation of the party series and netlabel, AMOR DIGITAL. Soon after, JUANNY dove into music production, self-releasing a string of EPs before releasing “SUCHITOTO” via the seminal Mexico City label, N.A.A.F.I & “MIATA” through Oakland label NO BIAS.
Outside of the Bay Area, he has played in Miami, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Milwaukee & NYC. He’s DJ'd at Outside Lands, Boiler Room SF and has opened for artists like Ms. Nina, La Goony Chonga & MJ Nebreda.
Joshua Bote
Joshua Bote is a reporter focusing on the nexus of culture, trends, and digital phenomena within San Francisco.
Previously, he covered technology for The San Francisco Standard and SFGate. He’s also served as a trending news reporter at USA Today, and as a music writer at NPR. His work has been published in places like New York Magazine, Billboard, and Paste.
Christen McFarland
Christen McFarland is the Executive Director of the San Francisco Chapter of the Recording Academy, the leading music organization representing music professionals and recognizing excellence in the recording arts and sciences. Christen serves Academy members of all disciplines and genres from the Bay Area to Boulder, celebrating music creators through music advocacy, next-gen mentorship, and the GRAMMY Awards® to help cultivate the well-being of the music community.
Christen has spent 30 years building professional and creative development programs and events that educate, activate, and celebrate success in the field of music. Prior to joining the Academy staff, Christen was Director of Marketing and Events at Guitar Player, Bass Player, Electronic Musician, Mix, and Remix magazines, where she oversaw audience marketing, media, and live events for music creators and gear makers worldwide.
Scott McDowell
Scott McDowell is a music producer who's passionate about making great records with great musicians. He strives to create albums that sound timeless while still feeling fresh and modern. Scott has been working out of Wally’s HydeOut for over eighteen years, producing countless records for bay area bands from indie folk to hard rock to chill wave. He’s spent significant time making records with artist like Feist, The Head and the Heart, Ye, Sean Hayes, and The California Honeydrops.