Welcome to Bruce Zweig's website!

Music Notes

NEW: I recently had a professional transcription of Matteo Casserino's 'Silent Fountain' record created, and I have uploaded the mp3's as a .zip folder on the Matteo page.  These are a great way to get an introduction to the Italian mandolin tradition.

For the last year or so I've been doing a sort of residence with the blues band Johny Nitro and the Doorslammers at the the Saloon on Sundays from 9.45 PM -1.30 AM.   It's been really great.  Johnny is there every Friday and Sunday night, and he's one of the funniest musicians around.  His motto at the Saloon is "if you've had too many, have two more.!"  They should engrave this on the bar, IMHO.  Johnny also sagely advises us to "keep drinking triples till you're seeing double, feeling single, and getting in trouble."  Yes, yes, yes.  But 'unfortunately,' like many advisers, he does not always follow his own recommendations.  

I recently had the pleasure of doing a live recording with Johnny and the band, and the CD should be out in July of 2009. 

I must agree with Johnny when he says that "This band really is the most fun you can have with your pants on!"

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Also,  I lead an acoustic mandolin ensemble at the Caffe Trieste Berkeley California on the 3d and 4th Monday of each month, and I play in a duet with Roger Linn on the first Monday of each month.  So, I'm pretty much there each Monday except the 2d Monday, from 7-9 PM.

Finally, I play with James Faifua and the Jukes the first Saturday each month at the Saloon, from 4-8 PM.  We're also at Lou's Pier 47 once or twice each month.

I used to play sax with the band Chicago Blues Power, and they always have a great show every Sunday at the Saloon from 4-8 PM (see below for parking options).

Here's some more detail about these activities. 

Caffè Trieste Berkeley

I'm at the Caffe Trieste Berkeley most Mondays (except the second one of the month) from 7-9 PM.  Dates are above, or you can look on their calendar .

Roger Linn  (on mandolin) and I (we call ourselves Trovatore) play Italian music at the Caffé Trieste in Berkeley on the first Monday evening of each month from 7-9 PM.    We are fortunate to have Kimarie Torre, an opera singer with a beautiful voice (and many other reasons to sing her praises)  join us.

I also host a  mandolin ensemble (3-5 players) on the 3d, 4th and the occasional 5th Monday of every month at the Caffe Trieste in Befkeley. The mandolin players come from a variety of mandolin orchestras in the Bay Area.  Matt Vuksinich, Iona Ali, and  Bob Rizetto, all play in both the Aurora Mandolin Orchestra and the Silver Strings and Mattinata di Matteo (MDM plays at the Caffe Trieste in North Beach on many Saturday mornings -- please see my memorial site for Matteo below).  Ilene Issaks plays in the San Francisco Mandolin Orchestra.  Michael Zisman, who plays with Cafe Americain at the Trieste SF on Wed evenings has been sitting in lately.

The Caffè Trieste Berkeley is located at the corner of Dwight and San Pablo in Berkeley (take the Ashby exit from I-80 and make a left on San Pablo Ave.). We play traditional Italian tunes we learned at the Caffè Trieste in North Beach (which happens to be right across the street from the Saloon). The folks who set up the Caffé Trieste in Berkeley managed to do a wonderful job of recreating the character of the original Caffé Trieste in North Beach (thanks to Papa Gianni for that!), and our music seems to fit the setting perfectly.   www.caffetriesteberkeley.com

Matteo Casserino Memorial Site

I have recently encoded some tapes for my friend BJ Papa, who passed at the end of August, 2008.  You can check it out here.

I was a close friend of mandolinist Matteo Casserino for the last several years of his life.  I have digitized a collection of his old tapes here . 

Brief Bio: I grew up in Silver Spring, Md, and then went to college in the Boston area and and grad school on the west coast. I wrote Mastertype in 1981, which was an early educational software success on the Apple II (and several other platforms afterwards), since it taught typing on a personal computer in a uniquely fun manner.

I think MasterType was the first program to succeed at being an entertainment, educational, and commercial success all at once. There were other great successes later on during that era (my favorites are listed here). I don't think there have been as many really fun educational titles since then (the Sim series being an exception), though many notable efforts continue.

Currently, I reside in San Francisco, CA.

I still do a lot of programming. My latest project is described at Doublekeys.com. It's a handy utility that I hope eventually helps some people (myself included) avoid repetitive stress injuries.

I've also done a lot of digital audio (secure mp3 downloads and handheld interactive museum guides) lately. I program in C++ for Windows using MFC and the Standard Template Library, for those familiar with such things. I also did a lot of Mac programming in the late 80's and early 90's.

I have an interest in the history and philosophy of mathematics and physics, including quantum physics of late. For some reason, I'm fascinated when scientific theories profoundly change our perception of reality, and it happens in a lot in quantum physics and relativity. Of course, reality is only different in these theories because their domain is either subatomically small (quantum mechanics) or intergalactically large (most of relativity), but it is different enough that it could easily affect what your definition of "is" is.

I've found a really interesting site on the history of mathematics at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. The chronology is terrific! It's worth checking out if you share this interest. I also hang out at an interesting online physics forum.

Music Stuff and Calendar

My most fun gig is at the Saloon, San Francisco's oldest bar. I play keyboards there with a band called the Jukes on the first Saturday of every month from 4 PM till 8 PM.  Lately, I've been playing with Johnny Nitro and the Doorslammers on Sunday nights from 9.45-1.30 PM (okay, it's a little late if you have to go to work on Monday, but it's worth it). 

The Jukes features the noted blues singer/harmonica player James Faifua. James is a big fan and protegé of blues legend Marion" Little Walter" Jacobs (1930-1968) .

 The Saloon has music every night, but Saturday afternoons and Sunday afternoons and evenings are very comfortable times to feed your inner dive bar.

The Saloon is located at 1232 Grant Ave (near the corner Columbus Avenue) in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood (415 989 7666).

The Saloon is a fun bar, and was recently featured in the motion pictures Twisted and Just Like Heaven. Johnny Nitro's song Trouble ("I've got trouble with my girlfriend, and that trouble is my wife') is featured in the former filem, and Ron Hacker performs in the latter during the fight scene with the half-ghost Reese Witherspoon.  It may not be the most elegant of venues, but it has great acoustics and an incredibly authentic blues bar feel. A lot of my friends like going there during the 4-8 PM sets on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, though the later shows on those days are also great if you're comfortable in crowds. Johnny Nitro and Ron Hacker are two of my favorite bands who play there, and I spent a few years playing with the band Blues Power (on sax) on Sundays from 4-8 (they're great if you like the sound of a horn section, harmonica, and searing blues guitar). Also, Lisa Kindred's gig on the first Friday of every month from 4-8 PM is always is always a perfect way to start the weekend.

I used to play piano with the group Mattinata de Matteo at Caffe Trieste in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood on Saturday mornings, but I stopped doing that in May of 2004 due to a wrist problem. I played there just about every Saturday for the 5 or 6 years starting in 1998, and it was really fun, especially in the beginning when it was just Matteo and myself. I was really fortunate to get a chance to play with a musician like Matteo; there are few experiences that can compare to playing with someone of that caliber. Matteo passed away in November, 2001, and I still miss the sound of his mandolin.

Under the leadership of accordionist Sheri Mignano, the Saturday morning band now has 2-4 mandolins, guitar and an accordion on a regular basis. Check it out some Saturday morning, there's great music and coffee.

When Matteo retired, I enlisted Roger Linn (of Linn Drum fame) to learn the songs on mandolin and sent him a couple of mp3's every week for about a year. Roger and I, along with vocalist Kimarie Torre, hav a group called Trovatore, which can be viewed at our website. We're happy to provide entertainment for a good cause; if your residence resembles an Italian Villa you should definitely hire us for your next party.

As mentioned above, Roger and I play at the Caffé Trieste Berkeley on the first Monday of every month.  I lead a mandolin ensemble described above on the 3d, 4th and occasional 5th Mondays.

Parking in North Beach

If you come to the Saloon, the easiest way to park is to use one of the lots on Vallejo Street between Powell and Stockton. Just take Broadway from either Van Ness or the Embarcadero (Bay Bridge), and then turn North on Powell (that’s a left if you’re coming from Van Ness, and a right if coming from the Embarcadero). Go 1 block down Powell to Vallejo and turn right, and there will be two parking structures, one on either side of the street.