HUSHconcerts creates unique experiences for live entertainment aficionados and provides top-notch production and promotion services for artists, producers, promoters, managers, agents, and brands. Founded in San Francisco in 1998 as Sunset Promotions/SunsetSF, this independent, boutique, entertainment think tank launched the nation’s leading silent disco production brand called ‘Silent Frisco’ in 2007. In 2015, SunsetSF and Silent Frisco merged and re-launched as HUSHconcerts to better serve its growing national client base. Among the properties managed by HUSHconcerts are some of the nation’s most innovative experiential events such as Sea of Dreams NYE(www.seaofdreamsnye.com), Ghost Ship Halloween (www.ghostshiphalloween.com), HUSHfest, and the SF Funk Festival. In addition to full-service concert promotion, HUSHconcerts provides concert and festival production, talent buying, marketing, and a variety of silent disco services. to its growing client base. HUSHconcerts is a thought-leader in the global conversation about how to preserve sustainable entertainment and culture in urban settings. With over 100,000 dedicated and responsive followers, and fans, HUSHconcerts has created a boutique community of educated entertainment connoisseurs who have come to expect excellence and creativity.

2001

SF Funk Festival: In 2001, inspired by Berkeley professor Dr Rickey Vincent’s definitive work in Funk, the Music, the People & the Rhythm if the One, Sunset Promotions launched the SF Funk Festival. With a broad mission aimed at growing the appreciation for the funk as America’s “third great art form” Funk Fest launched an extremely ambitious annual program of concerts, film screenings, and art shows that roll out every November in some form to this very day. The festival has energetically worked to help legendary artists find new audiences, and new artists to find educated ears. Among the leading figures presented by the SF Funk Fest were reunion shows of The Family Stone in 2000, and Fred Wesley & the JB’s in 2013 as well as intimate venue performances by George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic in 2001, Mandrill and the Headhunters in 2002, and Morris Day & the Time in 2012.

Among the next generation of funk family that SF Funk Fest and Sunset helped to uncover throughout the years were the first Bay Area performances by artists such as Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, Ledisi, The Budos Band, Lee Fields, Rebirth Brass Band, the Soul of John Black, Goapele, and Martin Luther. Early on, SF Funk recognized DJ’s and producers for their vital contributions to the advancement of funk culture and launched the annual “House Party : DJ Night” in 2000. Over the years the House Party has featured Grandmaster Flash, Z-Trip, Cut Chemist, DJ Spinna, Rich Medina, Peanut Butter Wolf, Q-Bert, Shortkut, Kraak & Smaak, Gigamesh, A.Skillz, DJ Greyboy and Motion Potion. The SF Funk continues today, sometimes with as many as 10 shows (as in 2011) or as few as one (as in 2013). In 2014, SF Funk featured the House Party and two big nights with the band most associated with Sunset through the years, Rebirth Brass Band.

2007 – FoggFest

In 2007, Sunset sought to capitalize on the success of SF Funk and North Beach Jazz by launching a fresh foray into the Bay Area summer festival scene, the Festival of the Golden Gate (or Foggfest). Taking place in August 0f 2006, FoggFest would feature a bevy of legendary performances by artists old and new including Dr John, Brian Setzer, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Leela James, The Donnas, Lyrics Born, Sean Hayes, and the final Bay Area appearance by the Godfather of Soul, James Brown. The event would live up to its name, suffering from two days of the thick, cold, Bay Area August weather, that only parted into rays of glorious sunshine when James Brown hit the stage. The few that had survived the cold were treated to one of the great late performances of Mr Brown’s illustrious career, culminating in 7 glorious encores. Weather-shy, Foggfest would not return as outside forces would begin to challenge not just this event, but the very idea of outdoor entertainment in urban settings.

Mojito Cafe

Sunset’s deep connection with North Beach led to the North Beach Jazz team taking over a tiny Spanish restaurant in 2006. Transforming this run down, but historic art space into a vibrant tribute to Havana’s legendary La Bodequita del Medio, Mojito opened its doors in 2006 just in time for that year’s North Beach Jazz Fest. Mojito would serve as an able headquarters for SunsetSF’s ongoing musical obsession for more than 5 years.

Hosting a remarkable 7 nights/week of live music, the venue would become famous for “Holy Sh*t” shows that had no business showing up on the marquee of a 75-capacity space. Among the legendary nights that graced Mojito’s incredible run was packed appearances by Rebelution, the Headhunters, Alice Russell, The Masters of Groove, Pucho & His Latin Soul Brothers, Rebirth Brass Band, and an unbelievable run of shows with a nascent Grupo Fantasma. With the demise of North Beach Jazz Fest in 2011, Sunset chose to move on and left the space in the capable hands of longtime Bay Area musician Teague Kernan who continues the space’s storied tradition under the guise of Tupelo to this day.

Secretly allied with sympathetic forces in the city bureaucracy, NBJF’s opponents used the clever tactic of trying to disrupt the event’s financial lifeblood, namely, its bar sales. Stating (incorrectly) that the festival was allowing unchecked beverage consumption in a public park, the opposition brought into focus many of the inconsistencies in City code that were already allowing many a great local artistic institution to flee or fold.

No shrinking violet, SunsetSF formed a powerful coalition of pro-entertainment forces around North Beach Jazz and garnered the powerful and decisive support of (then) Mayor Gavin Newsom to fight back. The battle raged for more than 4 years in the halls of various committee hearings, neighborhood meetings, newspaper clippings, and in the streets and parks of North Beach. In time, however, the forces of attrition, (and sadly not the truth) became the demise of NBJF. With every concession given to the special interests, North Beach Jazz became more expensive to produce, and with no additional revenue sources from a FREE festival, Sunset decided to put the event on hiatus after 2011.

Kowal immediately fell in love with the concept and realized that Silent Disco had the potential to solve many of the recent challenges that the North Beach Jazz experience had brought to light, not only for him, but for arts impresarios throughout the world. The basic demographic issues around growing urbanization, gentrification, and NIMBYism are not going to change, nor is there really a “RIGHT” answer or “CORRECT” side in the equation. Rather Silent Disco as a concept presented a potential middle ground where the arts could survive while the neighbors slept.

More important to the original mission than the festival activations were the “distress calls” that began to come in almost weekly. Around the country, promoters, producers, and patrons of the arts were facing the same challenges that North Beach Jazz had once faced. New York City’s legendary Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts wanted to extend its “Midsummer Night Swing” concerts in Damrosch Park just a few extra hours. Soon more than 1000 Silent Frisco headphones were on the scene, leading to this incredible display of a silent “Hustle”.

Austin Enchanted Forest, a beloved local art space with a history going back more than 30 years was the next to reach out, facing noise complaints from a single neighbor. Starting with SXSW 2010, Silent Frisco produced a series of concerts at the Forest that would enable this venerable art space to extend its incredible run for an additional 5 years. Along the way Silent Southby and Silent City Limits (during ACL Fest) demonstrated the magic that could be conjured from the perfect setting, this nascent production methodology, and people who knew how to use it. Silent Frisco curated lineups that spoke to music communities almost overlooked in the rapid growth of SXSW. They included some of the world’s most skilled DJ’s and producers like Nickodemus, DJ Kentaro, Rob Garza, Nick Thayer, Quantic, Paul Devro, Rhettmatic, Fort Knox Five, Thunderball plus live Emcees like Lyrics Born and Aceyelone. But just as importantly, Silent Frisco made sure to champion Austin’s amazing local DJ scene. The results were not only some of the best parties that Silent Frisco ever produced, but (according to many) some of the best parties ever produced during SXSW.

From the early days at Treasure Island Hangar 180 and Hangar 3, to the recent years at San Francisco’s massive Pier 70, Ghost Ship’s basic ethos remains unchanged: “The Art Comes First”. Unlike most large events, Ghost Ship does not begin by booking big name musical talent, hiring production vendors and then pasting “decor” around it. Instead, Ghost Ship begins with the vision and execution of more than 300 local artists, creators, and volunteers who work for weeks to create an entire universe of large-scale art from scratch. In fact, the majority of Ghost Ship’s art is built using the same wood and cardboard every year, turned into something incredible, then stored, and re-built into a different form. Add to this central art process the cream of the Burning Man arts community in the form of frequent contributors like Peter Hudson, Michael Christian, Marco Cochrane, the Unbreakables, and Kate Raudenbusch.

That isn’t to say that there isn’t music at Ghost Ship. On the contrary, every year, dozens of the finest local collectives participate and bring hundreds of DJs to the fray. But unlike most festivals, almost all of the talent is local, paid relatively equally, and expected to participate in the build as well. In 2013, Ghost Ship moved from Treasure Island to to San Francisco’s Pier 70 and in 2014, expanded to two huge nights. With the growth of the event, Ghost Ship also decided to extend its art curation ethos into the musical world as well, inviting two legendary musical figures to headline the event, hip hop pioneer DJ Afrika Bambaataa and rock-electronica pioneer James Lavelle of UNKLE. The 2014 event was Ghost Ship’s greatest success yet with thousands of ecstatic attendees enjoying the event’s biggest production. Ghost Ship Halloween has grown from humble beginnings into one of the clearest examples of the power of the West Coast arts community.

The lessons learned on the road would also lead to clear benefits in California. The concept of a HUSHfest, or a “festival without sound” would grow from humble beginnings on Ocean Beach into elaborate multi-stage affairs, sometimes gathering thousands of people. HUSHfest: Great Lawn 2014 would feature the likes of LTJ Bukem and Mark Farina on one channel and a live jazz band Jazz Mafia Silent Orchestra on the other. The Ocean Beach event grew into a biannual fixture on the summer concert calendar, in many ways the perfect revenge for the evil NIMBY’s who chased away North Beach Jazz.

HUSHconcerts: In 2015, recognizing that their baby had grown up far beyond its humble beginnings, John, Robbie, and  their incredible staff and family made the decision to merge SunsetSF and Silent Frisco and relaunch as a new brand: HUSHconcerts. HUSHconcerts will take everything that the team has learned from the past 18 years of triumph and tribulation, and share that wisdom, and love with its clients, partners, fans and friends. More than a production company, we are a nationwide family who strongly believe that the arts come first, and we are willing to devote our lives to ensuring that they do. We invite you to help us as we write the next exciting chapter in this unlikely and inspiring story.