For those among us who have thought, “Wow, I could really go for fresh oysters and experimental music in a renovated century-old Romanesque Revival church right now,” boy, do we have some good news.
Emma Thomas-Sand and Justin Esposito, the duo behind Oakland’s Lo-Fi Oyster Co., have precisely that planned this evening at St. Joseph’s Art Society at 1401 Howard St. in SoMa. The event will host Québécois band Flore Laurentienne, a seven-musician group featuring composer and keyboardist Mathieu David Gagnon on a Moog modular synthesizer accompanied by a string quartet, keyboardists, and percussionists. Esposito likens their music to “a rare warm winter’s day.”
Lo-Fi will be serving Fanny Bay oysters from British Columbia with a mignonette of local plum, cilantro, and shallot. Wine pairings will also be available.
Having hosted Lo-Fi events in spaces that range from vintage shops to grocery stores to concert venues, Esposito said they’re very excited to take over the awe-inspiring space at St. Joseph’s. The 22,000-square-foot renovated church is owned by interior designer Ken Fulk and serves as an event venue and gallery.
Esposito, who plays upright bass and works at SFJAZZ, and Thomas-Sand, who has a culinary background and works in nonprofits, have been running their experimental music and oyster service platform for three years. It began as an oyster shuck at Taps and Takeout in Oakland’s Montclair neighborhood and now features natural wine, experimental musicians playing everything from jazz and avant-pop to ambient and noise music, and oysters in regular events across the Bay Area.
Some past collaborators and hosts include Ramen Shop in Oakland, Bar Part Time, the Big West Wine Fest, SFJAZZ, Neck of the Woods, Vintage Berkeley, Dolores Deluxe, and Bar Gemini. Lo-Fi serves oysters from local catches such as Marin Miyagis from Marin Oyster Company and Pacific Cocktails from Baynes Sound oysters from British Columbia, chasing what’s fresh, what’s in season, and what tastes good.
“We kind of pride ourselves around not necessarily conforming to traditional music industry practices, where things are really reliant on bar sales, minimums for club rentals, etc.” said Esposito. “We're really trying to cut through that noise and have a more direct approach when presenting art and curating and showcasing music from the Bay and beyond.”
Last year, they hosted their first concert series, a seven-show run at venues around the bay that featured artists from Scotland to Japan to Los Angeles. They have a standing open call for experienced shuckers to assist with their events at all times, as it’s a unique skill to be knee-deep in oyster orders and still operate the blade with precision and grace.
Esposito says he considers the oyster and jazz to be culturally akin, tracing back to the early days of the Louisiana jazz scene. He and Thomas-Sand are inspired to create an experience around oysters that pulls them up from white tablecloth restaurants and positions them within the context of art and entertainment.
They also see the oyster as a perfect vehicle of narrative and sense of place.
“It's really about curating the environment around the oyster, because you could go to a hundred different restaurants in the Bay Area to have an oyster,” said Esposito. “But we think that being able to showcase how music, wine, and oysters merge, that creates a special experience.”
It’s worth noting that the pursuit of bivalvia and bougie isn’t cheap. Tickets to the event tonight are $40 (or free to Saint Joseph’s Arts Society members). One dozen oysters are $40 a person, and doors are at 7 p.m.
