Brent Miller Album Release Party at C4NM

Two Fridays ago I crawled down to the Tenderloin after work, had a falafel on the sidewalk on Market Street, and then arrived late for an album release concert and party by Brent Miller (above) at the Center for New Music on Taylor Street.

Many of San Francisco's arts non-profits are ossified and administration-heavy, with the fostering of art and artists a secondary concern, so it's always refreshing to step into the Center for New Music which is the ideal opposite.

The Center opened in 2012 on a wing and a prayer as an artists' collaborative, and it's been extraordinarily successful in its aims. Instead of being a curated space where there are gatekeepers, anyone can become a member for $100 and then put on a show where the performers receive !00% of the box office. In other words, you can even learn how to make money off of your art.

The two founders of the Center for New Music were two college buddies, Brent Miller and Adam Fong (above). Adam has moved on to the Packard Foundation in Silicon Valley and they are lucky to have him, while Brent continues on as the director of the Center.

The small space has put on hundreds of concerts over its last seven years, some of which are legendary, but that's not the point of the place. Its true value has been as a social space where musicians of all generations and levels of success can meet and collaborate.

Nomad Vigil, Brent Miller's "album," that major concept which has become anachronistic in our own short lives, can be found at this link.