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 Black Book - Summer 1999 All the Buzz You can call Wide Hive a record label, recording studio, live music venue, record store, cafe, or dance space; just don't call it a club. This San Francisco experimental space, which opened June 5th, is the brainchild of Gregory Howe, a music lover looking to re-acquaint residents with the way their city once grooved. Howe bought an old American Trust Bank space on the outer edges of the city's trendy Mission District in October of 1998 and is turning it into a place where every aspect of music production, consumption, and enjoyment can occur. He plans to invite seminal '70s Oakland funk mavens to play live for an audience while he records their performances on CDs using top-of-the-line sound and recording equipment. As the concert is going on, a group of designers will create graphics for the CD covers. Stick around for a drink after the performance is over, and you'll be able to leave with a recording of the improv show you just enjoyed and the graphic design it simultaneously inspired. Wide Hive is open to all kinds of music, and the Wide Hive label is already working with Black Jass Records greats like Calvin Keys, Ahmad Jamal, and John Handy. Chester Thompson, former organ player for Santana, and Ron E. Beck, previously with Tower of Power, have also collaborated with Howe on a Wide Hive debut album called Dissent. Wide Hive is an ambitious project, but Howe has already invested in a quality infrastructure that he hopes will attract under-recognized talent in Oakland and other surrounding areas. "It's like that baseball movie [Field of Dreams]," says Howe, standing on the floorboards of his future production booth while shining a flashlight down on the first floor. "If I build it, they will come." --by Jennifer Maerz For interviews, photos, or more information about Wide Hive artists, please contact: press@widehive.com - (415) 282-9433.  © 2004 WIDE HIVE RECORDS PO BOX 460067 SAN FRANCISCO CA 94146 |