Passion Fruit cupcake from Kara's Cupcakes

If you didn't already know, this week is Valentine's week and today is February 14th AKA Valentine's Day. 

Kara's Cupcakes on Scott Street in SF 

photo by Nikki DeMartini

Pink and red packaged candy for the "Hallmark holiday" has lined store shelves for weeks now, as it does every new year. It's not surprising that cupcake places cash in on this with Valentine's Day themed cupcakes and Kara's Cupcakes in SF is one of those places. 

Kara's Cupcakes not only has cupcakes that are Valentine's Day ready, they also have heart shaped cookies and candies. As tempting as all of the sweets at Kara's were, I stuck with what I went there to get, a Valentine's Day cupcake. 

The store on Scott Street had just opened and the display cases were filled with all of the flavors. I had no idea what flavor I wanted, all I knew was that it had to had a heart on it. I'm a sucker for flourless chocolate cake but chocolate is everywhere on V-Day. The Raspberry sounded good and appropriate with it's pink and white frosting. The s'mores cupcake sounded good too even though the only thing tying it to Valentines Day was the pink heart that sat on it's toasted marshmallow topping. That and the fact you can say things like, love s'more. 

Really though, who was I  kidding?  All of Kara's cupcakes sounded and looked good. Plus, the place smelled like freshly baked cupcakes which didn't make it any easier to choose one. 

Kara's Cupcakes on Scott Street in SF 

photo by Nikki DeMartini

Valentine's Day is all about love, right? What about passion? 

Someone's passion is their love. 

You passionately kiss your lover. 

You share a hot, passionate night with someone. 

You get a Passion Fruit cupcake from Kara's Cupcakes for Valentine's Day. 

They packed my pick in a cute, custom Kara's Cupcakes, single cupcake box and at just under $4.00 it was the perfect little Valentine treat to treat myself to. 

It's been a while since I've had a Kara's cupcake. I'm not sure when they started calling themselves the San Francisco sweet, but I love it and was tickled when I saw it on the inside of the box when I went to eat my Passion Fruit cupcake. 

Passion Fruit cupcake from Kara's Cupcakes 

photo by Nikki DeMartini

I love frosting so I had a little lick of that first. It was so creamy and smooth and sweet, it's unmistakably a buttercream frosting.  The frosting didn't taste like Passion Fruit or any fruit for that matter so I took a bite of cupcake. The cake was just moist enough with the right amount of buttery goodness and together the cake and frosting were a comforting vanilla. The filling that's listed on the tag in the store must be the Passion Fruit, I thought, so my next bite was a big one. 

Passion Fruit cupcake from Kara's Cupcakes 

photo by Nikki DeMartini

Low and behold, in the center of it is the flavor that gives this cupcake it's name.
It's a  touch of a tart, sweet, custard like filling. The combination of simple vanilla and exotic passion fruit is a good example of how opposites attract, each flavor accentuated the other perfectly. The only other cake combination that might work with a passion fruit filling that I can think of is lemon, maybe. 

More reasons to love Kara's Cupcakes: they use local, sustainable and organic producers (whenever possible) and their cupcakes are baked in small batches daily. These are all qualities that you can taste! For example the red fondant heart on my Passion Fruit cupcake was so soft it practically melted in my mouth and it had a hint of sweetness!

Whatever you find yourself doing today, I hope you do it with fulfilling passion. 

Love yourself, love each other and spread that love. 

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Passion Fruit Cupcake from Kara's Cupcakes 

photo by Nikki DeMartini

Shakey Graves @ The Independent 1/27/2020

The Independent Marquee 1/27/2020 

photo by Nikki DeMartini

In 2018 Shakey Graves released Can't Wake Up, the 4th installment of the Shakey Graves catalogue. In 2019 Shakey Graves announced an acoustic Winter tour and come 2020 Shakey Graves embarked on that tour, starting with two shows at The Independent in San Francisco.
As the January 26th and 27th show dates approached, a third show at the intimate music venue was added by overwhelming popular demand on January 28th. 

This unique tour booked specific rooms for evenings of experimental arrangements of familiar music to create an environment free to explore the best, strangest and possibly the first versions of each song. Ticket holders to these shows may not have realized they'd be experiencing the inner workings of an unborn album and what that means but fans at The Independent in SF were eager to find out. 

Shakey Graves @ The Independent 1/27/2020 

photo by Nikki DeMartini

Monday night, January 27th was the second show of the three night residency at The Independent and like the show the night before and the one the following night, it was an evening with Shakey Graves. That means there was no opener, no supporting act, making what would be an already intimate show at the 500 capacity venue even more intimate. Doors opened at 7:30 and the show was scheduled to start at 8:00. 

Shakey Graves @ The Independent 1/27/2020 

photo by Nikki DeMartini

The stage was set to look like someone's living room: two sets of blinds hung down in the back, a fuzzy screened TV was positioned stage right and an end table with a retro desk lamp (the kind with the green glass shade) sat between microphones, chairs and an array of back-lined string instruments. It gave a cozy, welcoming feeling and alluded more so to the fact that we were in for an intimate evening with Shakey Graves.




A little more than half an hour after the scheduled 8:00 start time, Alejandro Rose-Garcia and friends hit the stage as fans who were packed like sardines started to become antsy. His three friends sat in a  at a small, round coffee table in a dark corner off to the side while cheers filled the room as Mr. Shakey Graves situated himself in a seat front and center. He greeted us with an ear to ear smile, and introduced himself. He thanked everyone for being there on what is an exciting tour for him, playing shows in a way he's always wanted to but never had the chance until now. Almost instantaneously connecting with his fans in SF in a way I haven't really experienced at a concert before, and I go to a lot of concerts. He made me feel welcomed and comfortable as I'm sure the people who surrounded me did too. It made me that much more excited about the show I was already excited about and that was all before he started playing.

Shakey Graves @ The Independent 1/27/2020 

photo by Nikki DeMartini

He opened the show with "Daisy Chains", a song off of his 2014 live album, West of Calgary. A song he wrote after he had his heart broken by a girl he was in love with, as one does, he told us as he laughed and strummed his guitar. It's a song about a guy who goes off to war and doesn't come back cause he dies, Garcia playfully explained. The song was melodic and slow and obviously not an uplifting one. What would have been an odd start to any other show worked that night as The Independent was emerged in Shakey Graves. The next song he played was a cover of "Kiss the Girl" (from The Little Mermaid) which he asked for the crowd's participation during and got through out. As silly as it may sound, I got goosebumps, standing there watching this guy sitting on stage singing a song from a movie I grew up loving and delightfully singing along with him and everyone else.

Shakey Graves @ The Independent 1/27/2019 

photo by Nikki DeMartini

Up until the third song it was just Garcia playing guitar and singing then his three friends sitting at the coffee table off to the side started doing percussion on their knees while they sipped wine. By the fourth song one of them moved stage left on percussion/keys/synths/xylophone. By the fifth song the other two joined them on guitar and standing bass.

Shakey Graves @ The Independent 1/27/2020 

photo by Nikki DeMartini

Garcia went on, humorously introducing most of the songs before playing them along with introducing his friends who were on stage playing with him. I really enjoyed how light he kept the air with his banter, especially because his music and their contents are so deep and heavy. For instance when he joked about being on too many drugs when he wrote "Aibohphobia" (a song about the phobia of Palindromes) or when he talked about making new music with his friends and not really knowing what direction it would lead him.  Or when he told us about how he was forced to learn and play "Paradise" by John Prine song when he was young and how he appreciates that trauma now.
It was all very personable and it was all really awesome to be a part of.
  His friends didn't accompany the whole show, they'd go back and forth from their seats alongside him and their coffee table in the corner. Garcia switched from guitar to guitar to banjo to a suitcase instrument he fashioned himself (one he calls big red).





At one point, maybe about half way through the show Shakey Graves excused himself from the stage so they could get recording equipment ready to record the next few songs live and after less than ten minutes they returned. The next few songs they played were recorded which might end up on  a future Shakey Graves album someday.

Shakey Graves @ The Independent 1/27/2020 

photo by Nikki DeMartini

As the two hour mark neared, he played one of his most well known singles to date, "Dearly Departed". And, the show went on. As I walked away from The Independent that night I knew in my heart of hearts I had just been to one of the best shows of the year and it was only January 27th.

Shakey Graves @ The Independent 1/27/2020

photo by Nikki DeMartini

Shakey Graves is still on his special acoustic Winter tour but most of those shows are already sold-out. He'll continue to tour after that with The Lumineers and Jade Bird starting in May.

set list 1/27/2020 

1. Daisy Chains
2. Kiss the Girl 
3. If Not For You 
4. Unlucky Skin 
5. Only Son 
6. House of Winston 
7. Chinatown 
8. Business Lunch 
9. One in a Million 
10. Once in a While 
11. Aibohphobia 
12. Laughing All The Way To The Bank
13. Not Everything Grows 
14. Look Alive 
15. Not Wife 
16. Pay the Road 
17. Real Love (John Lennon cover) 
18. Dearly Departed 
19. Paradise (John Prine cover) 
20. Roll the Bones

encore 
21. Hard Wired 
22. Late July 

The Buttertones with Reverend Horton Heat @ The Ritz San Jose 1/23/2020

L.A. rockers, The Buttertones, played in San Jose at The Ritz in support of  Revered Horton Heat on Thursday January 23rd. Along with the headliners and the show's two openers, The Paladins and Deke Dickerson, The Buttertones complimented the predominantly rockabilly bill that night. 

The Buttertones @ The Ritz San Jose 1/23/2020 

photo by Marc Fong 

The Buttertones @ The Ritz San Jose 1/23/2020

photo by Marc Fong 

Their mix of garage rock and rockabilly/surf rock isn't a unique one but they make it their own. At times a bit dark, both figuratively and literally, the show was stunning in the downtown South Bay venue that holds just over 500 people. 

The Buttertones @ The Ritz San Jose 1/23/2020 

photo by Marc Fong 

The Buttertones @ The Ritz San Jose 1/23/2020 

photo by Marc Fong 

The last show of their 30 stop tour with Reverend Horton Heat is at The House of Blues in Dallas Texas on February 21st. After that The Buttertones are set to release their next LP sometime this Spring! For more info on their upcoming shows click here. 

The Buttertones 1/23/2020

photo by Marc Fong 

review by Marc Fong

edited by Nikki DeMartini