Strawberry Cupcakes forever!

Strawberries truly herald arrival is in the Spring, that's why they're so juicy and full of delicious sweet flavor this time of the year compared to the rest of the year. The Summer Solstice was a couple of days ago and Strawberry is a popular seasonal cupcake flavor popping up at a lot of places.

Susiecakes' Strawberry Cupcake
photo by Nikki DeMartini

Susiecakes' founder,  Susan Sarich, implements her grandmothers' carefully recored recipes for the all American baked goodies offered at her simply-chic bakery locations and Strawberry Cupcakes is one of Susiecakes' Summer specials! The powder-pink frosting and red sprinkles gave the flavor away before I tasted it which is funny because Strawberries are a rich red color, not pink. Most things that are Strawberry flavor are pink though, like Starbursts for a non-cupcake example.







Everything is made fresh from scratch on a daily basis at Susiecakes: it's not something you only taste but you can smell the freshness too! Little waves of a fresh, plump Strawberry scent teased my taste buds with a delicate, fruity, mouth watering aroma.

Susiecakes' Strawberry Cupcake
photo by Nikki DeMartini

The classic white cake made from the finest, all natural, ingredients was fresh to the bite with the right amount of buttery, non-decadent moistness.
The cake's subtly sweet flavor is a refreshing combination with the lightly flavored strawberry frosting. Even being one of their filled cupcakes, this Summery treat just wouldn't be the same with a super moist, buttery, heavy cake and rich, uber creamy frosting because nothing should weigh you down this carefree time of year!
Susiecakes hits the mark and the spot with their succulent Strawberry Cupcake without being too much!

The Cakery's Strawberry Shortcake Cupcake
photo by Nikki DeMartini

Like any other flavor, there are many variations to standard Strawberry Cupcakes. For example the Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes offered at The Cakery in Burlingame. I was picking out cupcakes for  a baby's first Birthday and first cupcake: without knowing what flavors were which because there's no display tags for anything in the display cases, I figured the one with the strawberry on top was the safe bet. It looked like vanilla cake with vanilla frosting but when his mommy did a little taste test she called it lickity split. The cake was angel food cake, the frosting was whipped cream and hiding inside? Frosting made with fresh strawberries!

It's The Cakery's take on Strawberry Shortcake in cupcake form! The top and edges of the cupcake were golden and slightly toasted with a spongey texture inside, the way a good Angel Food Cake should be. The crisp white whipped cream "frosting" wasn't too sugary: it was super light, airy and so fresh it melted in my mouth. Standard Strawberry Shortcake is layers of angel food cake, whipped cream and slices of strawberries but  The Cakery does their Strawberry Shortcake cupcakes a little differently. Instead of whipped cream with strawberries between layers of Angel Food Cake they put a dollop of homemade strawberry frosting in the middle of the cupcake! The mixture makes the frosting pink and you can see the seeds in it! It's just as sweet as a ripe Strawberry, too!
The one year old baby and his Mommy loved it!

The Cakery's Strawberry Shortcake Cupcake
photo by Nikki DeMartini

Looking for other places to get Strawberry Cupcakes?
Cako offers a Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcake and Sprinkles has a standard Strawberry Cupcake. Cups and Cakes has a few different Strawberry options: the Lost in Paradise is banana cake topped with strawberry buttercream, Pretty Pretty Princess is strawberry cake topped with strawberry buttercream and their strawberries & champaign cupcake is strawberry cake with champaign frosting!

Here are some other cupcake flavors I think sound perfect to treat yourself to on a Summer day:
- lemon
-key lime
-coconut
- passion fruit 

Esme Patterson at Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco next week!

Esme  Patterson is bringing her new songs from We Were Wild out on the road this summer and she'll  be at Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco next week!

The 3rd full-length album from the Portland Oregon based artist dropped earlier this month and brings the soulful dream-pop singer outside of her folk comfort zone with gritty rock elements. Since her solo debut in 2012, Esme has embraced who exactly she really is with fuzzy guitar, rich percussion and impassioned delivery within her wry style. 

She's on tour in support of We Were Wild now through September and tickets to see her in SF next Monday with Frankie Lee and Dagmar are available here! Get your copy of the album here. 

Music video for Esme Patterson's "No River" off of We Were Wild 

Sunflower Bean opening for Cage the Elephant @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium 6/23/2016

If you haven't heard of Sunflower Bean yet, you will this Summer! The three (barely) twenty-somethings from NYC took their love of Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Led Zepplin and Bob Dylan and channeled that burning love into their kick-ass debut LP! Released earlier this year, Human Ceremony stands on it's own as a distinctive, modern, "classic" rock album. 

Nick Kivlen and Jacob Faber started playing small gigs together the Summer after they graduated High School in 2013. Things only got better when the 2 piece band became a 3 piece band with the addition of singer/bassist, Julia Cumming. 

They played at Bottom of the Hill last Spring but this Summer Sunflower Bean is going big! They're going on an exclusively West Coast tour with one of the most buzzed about bands around these days...Cage The Elephant! 

Click here to get your tickets to see Sunflower Bean with Cage The Elephant at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium next week on June 23rd!





Check out the cool video for the first single, "Wall Watcher" off of Human Ceremony  in the mean time!

Chelsea Wolfe at The Chapel 6/2/2016

Before hopping in the music fest circuit, ever mysterious, neo-folk, goth rocker Chelsea Wolfe played two shows at The Chapel in San Francisco's vivacious Mission District on June 1st and 2nd.

Chelsea Wolfe @ The Chapel June 2nd, 2016
photo by Nikki DeMartini

It's only been a few months since Chelsea Wolfe played at The Regency Ballroom but the shabby-chic venue, which was once a mortuary, couldn't have been a more fitting setting for her and her witchy ways. Fans lined the walls and flanked the balcony at Thursday night's sold-out show, murmuring lightly through out the opening set from duo, A Dead Forrest Index.








You probably wouldn't consider sleep paralysis a blessing in disguise but maybe you would if you were in Chelsea Wolfe's shoes. The 32 year old Sacramento native moved back home, away from the noisy streets of LA shortly after being diagnosed and the singer-songwriter was brought back to life.
Inspired by the silence that surrounded her in the woods and the sleep it offered, she wound up writing heavier, louder songs. Soon enough 2015's Abyss was born. Never far from darkness and metal, Chelsea Wolfe delves even deeper into those sounds on her 7th, most brooding album with looming guitar and ominous, sometimes androgynous vocals deeply rooted in booming, distorted industrial.

Chelsea Wolfe @ The Chapel June 2nd, 2016
photo by Nikki DeMartini

Like a breathe of fresh air, she graced the stage looking like a bohemian angel in an all white dress with flowing bell sleeves and a high, messy bun. Humming within realms of sweltering cymbals and electro-rock hooks, her soft yet stern voice carried an eerie tranquility which drifted up to the rafters and through the wooden structure of The Chapel. Powered by bold industrial beats and heavy instrumentals, newer tracks like "Carrion Flowers" and "Dragged Out" definitely sound more experimental than her older folk-metal fusion, especially live. She is as intriguing to watch as her music is to listen to, balancing between gentle and intimidating with a peaceful precision. Thursday night's set-list weighed more heavily on Abyss songs with a few pieces from Pain Is Beauty, Apokalypsis and The Grime and The Glow conjuring up a Chelsea Wolfe we use to know.
 All of her songs hauntingly romanticize all the feels and will leave you feeling all the feels.

Chelsea Wolfe will be at the Dark MoFo Festival June 17th, The Brutal Assault Festival August 10th, The Way Out Festival August 11th, The Rock Altitude Festival August 13th, Musica W Festival August 14th and FYF Fest in Los Angeles August 28th!

VERITE @ The Rickshaw Stop 5/31/2016

Reveling in all the praises surrounding her 3rd EP,  Living EP out on May 6th, Verite took her show on the road! The 12 show North American Tour found her at The Rickshaw Stop in SF on Tuesday, May 31st before her final show date at the Echo in LA on Thursday, June 2nd.

VERITE @ The Rickshaw Stop 5/31/2016
photo by Nikki DeMartini

The room grew hot and uncomfortable, not unlike the young crowd who seemed to be cemented to the floor, only inching closer to the stage with each long minute before show time. Stage hands meticulously fine-tuned drums and synths on either side of the stage before disappearing then reappearing just to do it all over again. Heavy sighs of impatience turned into an awakening applause as the tall, 26 year old, blonde, singer-songwriter took center stage. Her coy demeanor quickly dissipated after crooning the title track off her debut EP,  Echo: offering a soft thank you and a gracious recognition of her first show ever in San Francisco which she painted with defiant F-bombs. The Brooklyn based "DIY" songstress broadened the scope of her sound on Living by collaborating with some prominent producers like Tim Anderson who previously worked with BANKS and Stefan Graslund who has worked with Charlie XCX. The result is a more consciously soulful, mature, alt-pop daze.  "Constant Crush", the smashing single off her latest EP was the first new song she played that Tuesday night and fans were not only familiar with it but they were fired up to see it live!

For an artist who only has EPs out, she played a pretty hefty set consisting of all 5 songs off of Living as well as some off her first two EPs.

VERITE @ The Rickshaw Stop 5/31/2016
photo by Nikki DeMartini

There's a striking strength in her vulnerability heard in her songs;  acknowledgement of a tinge of dull pain that never completely fades away, as anyone who's ever been heartbroken, led on our plagued by miss trust knows far too well. But, a midst the pulls of heartstrings, Verite's pop spin on that dark-indie gives us a sense that she's lighthearted about unfavorable circumstances. And she takes her music seriously, as witnessed on the Popscene stage as she guided from one mic to another and hopped on a synthesizer from time to time with a notable enthusiasm and focus. Though her brash potty mouth banter off-set her prestigious stage presence, it was the most fun-loving and real way to get to know the Verite behind the music.

VERITE @ The Rickshaw Stop 5/31/2016
photo by Nikki DeMartini

The contrast of her grainy, lo-tempo "bedroom" vocals with energizing guitar and layers of pop synth notes are a masterful dark-indie-pop blend. It all came together and sounded solid at the local club known for hosting breaking bands. After landing sets at SXSW, Lollapalooza and Firefly last year following her very first headlining tour, it will be interesting to see what Verite's next step is. One thing os for sure, this is one rising star you want to keep an eye on!

Press here to listen to Living on Spotify!


set list 5/31/2016

1. Echo 
2. Constant Crush 
3. Sentiment 
4. Colors
5. Underdressed
6. Rest 
7. Gesture 
8. Wasteland
9. Sober 
10. Strange Enough 
11. Living 
12. Weekend 

Bottlerock Napa 2016

This year Bottlerock Napa Valley fell on Memorial Day weekend, giving attendees a day to recover  after the 3 days of festivities!

The 4th annual music, food and wine festival in Wine Country was completely sold-out for the first time in it's short history, hitting capacity at the Napa Expo of 40,000 people! With heavy hitters Gordon Ramsy with Cheech and Chong, Cold War Kids, Lenny Kravitz and Stevie Wonder on opening day alone, it's not surprising that tickets sold-out in advance.

Diego's Umbrella @ Bottlerock Napa Valley 2016
photo by Marc Fong 

Crowds grew thicker as concert goers hopped between the four stages of music and the Williams Sonoma Culinary stage with ease on Saturday. Finding cover from the afternoon sun under the festival's only shaded stage to enjoy Bay Area gypsy-rockers Diego Umbrella's captivating set was the first highlight that day. 

Later as temperatures nearly reached the hundreds, The Joy Formidable were all smiles as they delivered an engaging, up-beat performance to a sizable gathering in the blaring heat at the Midway Stage. 

The Joy Formidable @ Bottlerock Napa Valley 2016
photo by Marc Fong 

A little later, across the way on the Lagunita's stage, outspoken Standford University Alumni K-Flay was feeling the good vibes and she kept them flowing during her wit-charged, indie infused, hip-hop set. 

K-Flay @ Bottlerock Napa Valley 2016
photo by Marc Fong 

Golden hues at sunset accentuated the easy breezy atmosphere during Atlas Genius's charismatic, keyboard soaked set which featured favorites from both of their albums. 

Atlas Genius @ Bottlerock Napa Valley 2016
photo by Marc Fong 

Florence And The Machine @ Bottlerock Napa Valley 2016
photo by Marc Fong 

Florence And The Machine reigned the day with vigor on the main stage Saturday night.  With an eye catching, glittery back drop, in a flowing fluorescent yellow frock, the red headed siren single handedly demanded attention as she charged the length of the stage barefoot, passionately belting her emotionally driven rock ballads. She was a force to be seen and heard and a powerful way to end day two. 

Florence And The Machine @ Bottlerock Napa Valley 2016
photo by Marc Fong 





Quintessential indie rock band, WATERS and the colorful, effervescent Misterwives who toured together last year, played sets a couple hours apart on the main stage to get things going on Sunday.  In a lavender bikini top, see-threw leotard adorned with metallic stars and a pair of cut-offs covered in fun, neon-colored puff balls, Misterwives lead singer Mandy Lee, had the most festival appropriate outfit of the weekend!

WATERS @ Bottlerock Napa Valley 2016
photo by Marc Fong 

Misterwives  @ Bottlerock Napa Valley 2016
photo by Marc Fong 

Rodrigo Y Gabirela spellbound the crowd as fans continued to flock to the Midway Stage to catch their high octane, rejuvinating, duel acoustic guitar set. 

Rodrigo Y Gabirela @ Bottlerock Napa Valley 2016
photo by Marc Fong 

The Lumineers @ Bottlerock Napa Valley 2016
photo by Marc Fong 

The soothing, up-beat melodies of The Lumineers' indie-folk on the main stage was great sound for the Summer Music Fest setting. They played hits like, "Hey Ho" at the top of their set,  pleasing their audience from the get go. 

Deap Vally @ Bottlerock Napa Valley 2016
photo by Nikki DeMartini

The bluesy, hard-rockin' girl power duo Deap Vally turned things up at The Lagunitas stage! It was great to see Lindsey and Julie back in full force performing together again following the birth of the bad-ass drummer's first born! She's one rockin' mom! 

Red Hot Chili Peppers drew huge cheers when they hit the main stage around 8:00 Sunday night to close out the third and final day of the 3-day fest.  People went wild at the first sound of "Can't Stop" and they even treated fans to a live performance of the title track off their up-coming 11th studio album, The Getaway. While most of the set consisted of hits off Californication the funk-rock group did play the golden oldie, "Under the Bridge". 

Red Hot Chili Peppers @ Bottlerock Napa Valley 2016
photo by Marc Fong 

Red Hot Chili Peppers @ Bottlerock Napa Valley 2016
photo by Marc Fong 

Keidis' voice is ageless and sounded impeccable over the massive outdoor sound system while Flea of course was quirky and entertaining. Easily one of the most anticipated acts of Bottlerock Napa Valley 2016, the Chili Peppers met expectations with a whole hearted, fun loving performance full of their signature positive energy. 

Red Hot Chili Peppers @ Bottlerock Napa Valley 2016
photo by Marc Fong

Bottlerock Napa Valley 2016
photo by Marc Fong

There was over 75 bands on 4 different stages at Bottlerock Napa Valley 2016 making it an awesome way to head into summer over the un-official summer kick-off weekend! With it's diverse line-up, easy mobility around the grounds and minimal set over-laps, it proved to be a true contender as one of the next Summer Music Fest musts!