Chris Planas, guitar,
Ben Luis, bass.
Matt Willlis, drums.

$20 cover charge; byob.
Students, $10.
For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733.
Just catching a tune while waiting for dinner? Drop $5 in the bucket for the musicians!

Guitarist and leader Chris Planas was a founding member of Hawaii’s world beat favorites Pagan Babies, a band that played Afro-pop, reggae, soca and Latin musics. Pagan Babies had 12-year residency at Anna Bannana’s with a regular mention in Fodor’s, produced well-reviewed cds and significant airplay for Chris’s tunes “Where’s the Party” and “Healing Rain.” The band performed in Papua New Guinea, Bangkok and California clubs such as Slim’s in SF and the Palomino Club in LA, and shared the stage with Black Uhuru, UB40 and Third World. Since then, Chris has been the bandleader for classic acts such as the Drifters, the Shirelles, Mitch Ryder, Mark Lindsay (of Paul Revere and the Raiders), and Al Wilson; has performed his own compositions at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, funded by the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts; and has offered lecture/demonstrations on American blues styles to Hawaii’s public libraries and public schools. Chris and his band Third Degree provided support to Delmark blues recording artists Dave Specter and Steve Freund on numerous visits to the Islands. An eponymous album released in 2000 led to regular airplay on local public radio and frequent television appearances. Since 2003, Chris has played with bands like the Lost Legends (featuring Freddie Roulette and Harvey Mandel), Sugar Pie DeSanto,  Jeff Narrell, pioneering African-American  poet and novelist Ishmael Reed with avant jazz saxophonist David Murray, Afro-Cuban band Oriente, and the Manilatown Jazz Ensemble.  

Bassist Ben Luis was a member of The Intruders, a forerunner of the Filipino teenage bands of the 1960s and Kamikaze, the first Asian jazz fusion band in San Francisco in the ’70s, and graduated from San Francisco State in 1977 with a BA in music. His groups have opened for Cal Tjader, Mongo Santamaria, Malo and Bette Midler; performed at the Great American Music Hall, Yoshi’s (Oakland and San Francisco), the Razz Room, Savannah Jazz and Hollywood’s Catalina Bar and Grill Jazz Club.  He has played with renowned Filipino musicians Flip Nunez, Rudy Tenio, George Maribus and Melecio Magdaluyo; famous international jazz artists Eddie Marshall, Babatunde Lea, and Armando Peraza; and backed his teen idols, the Temptations, on a tour stop in SF. 

Drummer Matt Willis, born in Detroit in the year of 1957, has made California and Hawaii his home since the late 1970’s. Extremely versatile in all musical styles with a dynamic groove and easygoing nature, he performs throughout northern California with an array of top musicians. Matt has had the pleasure of playing with artists including Dan Hicks, Maria Muldaur, Nick Gravenites, Tommy Castro Shauna Morrison… The list goes on and on, and includes Irma Thomas, The Drifters, The Coasters, The Shirelles as well as folks like Ray Obiedo, Austin Delone, Mitch Woods, Jeff Narell, the Rowan Brothers and Hawaiian musicians including Charo, Willy K, Loyal Garner, Melveen Leed and Henry Kaleialoha Allen.