Friday Happy Hour | July 10

Kick off the weekend with free live music in Golden Gate Park! Bring your favorite drinks, tasty snacks, and enjoy this all-ages show by Free Press Music

About The Band

“Christie Aida & the Free Press is a Filipina American-led San Francisco (District 5) based music collective with roots in soul, jazz, blues and improvisation. Vocalist/songwriter Christie Aida and her diverse group of artists conjure a deep and dynamic repertoire that constellates sounds from around the globe. Singing in Spanish, Tagalog, English and French, Aida deftly interweaves her wide-ranging influences to create a delightful and surprising mix of classics, deep cuts, and original numbers. Those originals often are informed by her sensitivity and advocacy for community organizing, social justice, and housing as a human right. As such, the stories, struggles, and everyday life experiences of Tenderloin and SOMA residents, in particular Filipinos and other communities of color, crop up in FPM’s music. For example, the narrative of the Tenderloin Museum’s physical home, the Cadillac Hotel, is the subject of a song “Reality House.” The song celebrates the residents and the history of the Cadillac, including one resident who practices harm reduction by using Narcan regularly to help others in crisis.” The experiences of a formerly homeless Filipino friend are also the subject of the song, “Teody” where instrumentals converge around a percussive heartbeat driven by both batá and drums. Another original, “Near Avalon” is based on the countercultural influence of the former Avalon Ballroom on San Francisco. Jazz and Blues deep cuts include songs by NOLA soul superstar Irma Thomas. Other deep cuts include Filipina singers such as Pilita Corrales and Sugar Pie de Santo.