Meridians
Meridians' open-form ballads are alternately driving and hypnotic, exploring the overtones, dissonances, and consonances created by voice and guitar.

There are echoes of British folk, minimalism and the more cinematic strains of krautrock as the two combine intricate electric and 12-string guitar melodies over pulsing loops of flute, violin, found objects and oscillators. (bio)

Rob Cantrell
Rob Cantrell tours the world making people laugh, most recently at the Bonnaroo music festival, SXSW music/arts festival and the “HIGH TIMES” Magazine’s “Cannabis Cup” in Amsterdam. Cantrell has performed on several TV networks, shows including Comedy Central’s Tough Crowd, CBS’s Late Late Show and as a “Top 10 Finalist” on the first season of NBC’s Last Comic Standing (2003). Rob was born in Washington DC and grew up in Virginia. He first started performing stand-up in coffee shops in San Francisco, CA after college. Cantrell is now based in Brooklyn, NY.

"Absolutely Hilarious" - Brooklyn Vegan

"Immense Comedic Talent. Go see Rob!" - SF Guardian

"Rob Cantrell rocks." - Deli Magazine

John Hoogasian
John Hoogasian is the best-kept comedy secret weapon. A wit honed to a razor's edge through years of sacrifice propels Johnnie's creative flow. Immediately accessible and fresh, Hoggie's style is both pioneering and classic. He tailors his sets to the harmonics of his audience. His fearless on-stage adventures challenge the audience to be with him in the moments. He will engage anyone, anywhere with his own unique hand-to-hand banter. In a world fraught with real and imagined danger, he creates an escape route that invites kindred spirits along. His pathos has resonance across all of humanity. (bio)

Caitlin Gill
Is she awesome or just awkward? YES.

Jonas Reinhardt
"On his second album for Kranky, synthesist Jonas Reinhardt expands the language of his kosmische, minimalist pursuits (as brilliantly set out on his eponymous analogue opus) to incorporate broader, band-like dynamics that call upon a greater array of instruments, lending a propulsive, full-blooded krautrock feel to certain pieces. The album sounds consumately polished without ever coming across as over-produced, and gets off to a great start, quite literally wearing its influences on its sleeve: opening track 'Mumma Deed Family Clone' is a two minute hunk of primal electronic warmth (that presumably doffs a cap to the titular Gordon) leading into the very motorik and actually very poppy grooves of 'Atomic Bom Living'. Title track 'Power Of Audition' marks another strong entry into Reinhardt's full band tracks, but undoubtedly it's the vintage synth designs that really win out on this record." - Boomkat

Magic Touch (w/Damon Palermo)
"The danceable solo project of lauded local drummer Damon Palermo, also of Mi Ami and Jonas Reinhardt. As Magic Touch, Palermo further explores his love of beats, using a variety of drums machines and synths." - SF Bay Guardian

Three Leafs

Green & Wood

Hazzard's Cure

Hélène Renaut

Carletta Sue Kay

Porchlight Open Door
Porchlight Open Door is a small stage open mic event launched by Porchlight in September 2009. Storytellers add their names to a sign-up sheet and then have five minutes to spiel on the monthly theme. Come early, and sign up to tell a 5-minute story on the month's theme. The evening's top storyteller, as chosen by a random audience member, receives $50 in cold, hard, United States greenbacks. Spend it at the bar, or on a bag of the Hemlock's award-winning hot nuts.

Storytelling has never been this potentially lucrative or fun!!!

Punk Rock Sideshow

Hank IV
"In what has become an all too familiar scenario in our current challenging economic era, with rising health care costs, that so often even basic medical insurance doesn't cover, yet another indie musician has fallen seriously ill and cannot cope with the resulting mounting medical bills. In this instance it is Letha Rodman-Melchior - the partner (both marriage and musical) of Dan Melchior who was diagnosed with cancer and, over the past year, has been both fighting the cancer and struggling to pay for needed treatment and a series of operations. As her husband Dan noted back in November, "Her insurance is running out on Dec 1st... She has already had to have hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of treatment, and it is only due to the kindness of the music community and other friends that we have been able to keep going." More help is desperately needed. Already there have been benefit concerts held around the country set up to do just this. And this week in San Francisco there is one scheduled for Wednesday (Feb 29th) at the Hemlock on Polk Street with sets from Hank IV, Bill Orcutt, and Musk featuring members of Killer's Kiss and Tractor Sex Fatality.

Many in the indie rock community are already familiar with the North Carolina based Letha and her husband Dan Melchior. Dan is recognized as one of best songwriters in his field; having released records for such labels as Siltbreeze, In the Red, Hangman, S.S., and Daggerman. Many know him from playing with his bands the Broke Review and Das Menace, as well as Billy Childish and Holly Golightly. Meanwhile Letha, who contributes to a lot of Dan's record jacket art/design, is a member of Tretetam and Das Menace, as well as been a former member of Ruby Fall. Since she got diagnosed with cancer she has been unable to work, with Dan becoming her caretaker as well as assuming all cost of living expenses through his indie music income. Bottom line is that these good folks need help." - Billy Jam article on Letha Rodman-Melchior on the Amoeba Records blog.

Full article contents can be found here, highly recommended!
http://www.amoeba.com/blog/2012/02/jamoeblog/benefit-for-letha-rodman-melchior-cancer-fund-with-hank-iv-musk-bill-orcutt-hemlock-in-sf-weds-feb-29th.html

Bill Orcutt
"Many influences behind Bill Orcutt's acoustic guitar music are easy to guess-- the raw blues of Lightnin' Hopkins and Fred McDowell, the abstract improvisations of Derek Bailey and Cecil Taylor, Orcutt's own attacking bent in 1990s noise outfit Harry Pussy. His wiry plucks and messy note clusters come in exhilarating fits and starts, so fast and impetuous that his guitar strings seem hard-wired to his firing neurons. His obsessive repetition is less about creating studied mantras than capturing the primal power of involuntary impulse.

That goal is reflected in the title of his second acoustic album, How the Thing Sings. It implies that Orcutt would rather document his muse than control it, letting the flow of his spilling ideas be the thing that sings. This approach gives his music a distinct immediacy, something like a waterfall of consciousness rather than a stream. And its rapid, irregular heartbeat creates an urgency that commands attention. You may not love all the moves Orcutt makes, but together they quicken your pulse and pressurize the atmosphere, much as a good horror film makes even calm moments seem one second away from shock. Such tension allows Orcutt to venture into all kinds of territory without hitting lulls. Often he'll veer from plaintive strums to lone plucks, then into torrents so hyperactive they sound overdubbed, even though How the Thing Sings was recorded in single takes with a single room mic." - Pitchfork