Donavon Frankenreiter - Wonder Ballroom, 3/31/2012

by Nicole Parisi-Smith, Surfrider volunteer

The Portland Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation had an outreach table at the Donavon Frankenreiter show at the Wonder Ballroom in Portland, OR on Saturday, March 31, 2012. Thanks to Donavon and Anna of Monqui Presents for inviting us to be there, and for setting things up for us! Thanks, too to Kenny of the Wonder Ballroom who helped us get set up, and for the floor lamp he brought out to us, so that fans could see our table in the dark!

We were set up next to merch, in the left back corner of the beautiful venue. Donavon came by before the doors opened, and gave us Donavon mustaches to wear during the show. (They were on sale at merch for $1, along with other great stuff.) It was so nice to meet him, and to be able to personally thank him for having Surfrider at the show.

Donavon hung out at merch during Matt Grundy's opening set, and then again at the end of the night. This meant that the merch area was a hub of activity! This was lucky for us - we got to talk with a lot of fans, some of whom were new to Surfrider and some were not. One fan signed up for a Surfrider membership, we added new people to the Chapter's monthly e-newsletter mailing list, and fans signed our Ban The Bag petition. It was a great night!

Special thanks to the volunteers - Andrew, Kevin, and Sunya! Thanks to Lara for the great photos!

Donavon Frankenreiter - 9:30 Club - 11/25/2008

by Chris Woods, DC Surfrider

Wow - this was an incredible night! Donavon allowed the members of DC Surfrider to come to the 9:30 Club early for sound check, and hung out with us before the doors opened to the public.


photo: me & Donavon

Then we had a great spot for the Surfrider table in the back of the venue, and were able to talk with a lot of Donavon's fans, who are psyched about the work that we are doing!


photo: Our DC Surfrider table

Many thanks to Donavon and his touring team!

Donavon Frankenreiter - The Independent - 2/21/2009

photo: Dan, Lotti, Brooke, Nicole with Gary Jules.

by Nicole Parisi-Smith, San Francisco Chapter

What a great show! A big thanks to everyone who facilitated a very smoothly run evening - the Independent's House Manager, Jason (coincidentally, a fellow Surfrider member), and the chapter's amazing on-site volunteers - Dan, Brooke, and Lotti.

We had a cocktail table in the far right corner, right next to Gabe and the merch booth. We distributed our brand new 2009 beach cleanup schedule postcard, National's "10 Ways" and "Rise Above Plastic" handouts, and the wallet-sized seafood and sushi guides.

The show sold out in advance of the show night. It was a full house, with a line of fans snaking down Divisadero Street, in place before the doors had even opened.

Lotti and I circulated through the crowd with these handouts, and talked with fans before the music started, and between breaks. I met 2 Surfrider Lifetime Members, a lot of people who were already familiar with Surfrider but weren't on our Chapter's email list, and a handful of people who were not familiar with the organization. Thanks to Dan and Brooke who took care of the t-shirt sales, Surfrider membership registrations, and fans who stopped by the table!


photo: Dan and Brooke at the Surfrider table.

We signed up a few new Surfrider members, and helped 1 or 2 fans renew their Surfrider memberships. Everyone who completed a membership form with us received a free Surfrider t-shirt, which turned out to be a great incentive to get people to register on the spot. We also sold a few t-shirts to fans who were already Surfrider members.

We also held a successful raffle. Fans who gave us their name, email address, and for the purposes of the raffle - their cell phone numbers - were entered into a drawing to win a Surfrider t-shirt, that night. The winner of the drawing was a great Surfrider member that I met while circulating throughout the audience with Surfrider handouts, named Cory. It was great to see such an enthusiastic Surfrider and Donavon fan win the raffle.

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photo: Surfrider volunteers, Gary Jules, and Corey.

After the show ended, since we were right next to merch, and since Gary Jules came by to say hello to us (creating a buzz around our table), we were able to reach a few more fans on their way out of the show. It was great! We tossed our Surfrider San Francisco branded Chico bags into the crowd that had gathered around our table, and received a very positive response from fans who appreciated the free reusable bags:)

The show itself was great. Gary Jules played an opening set to an enthusiastic audience, and later joined Donavon and his band on stage for 3 songs. The show ended with an acoustic performance of "Call Me Papa." At several points during the evening, Donavon held the mic out to the audience, to sing into. There was a lot of singing along, generally speaking, throughout the night. What a fun show!!



Thanks to Chapter members Damian and Zeina who came by the table, to say hello, while they were at show.

Additional thanks to Tony at the Independent, Tom at Partisan Arts, Allen at Another Planet Entertainment, Tito, Donavon, and Gary!

Special thanks to Surfrider San Francisco Chapter members Andrea, Adelina, Woody, Barbara, Sara, and Carolynn, and Washington, DC Chapter member Chris, who helped out in the days leading up to the show.

Upcoming San Francisco Chapter Shows

photo: Damian Sinnot, Emma Shlaes, Sara Dack, Nicole Parisi-Smith.

The San Francisco Chapter's Music Outreach Program Committee met on Wednesday, February 4th at Coffee to the People to talk about these upcoming shows, at which we will have a presence:

** Thursday, Feb 19 - Absynth Quintet - Starry Plough, Berkeley, CA.

Show is at 9pm, tickets are $8. Multiple bands on the bill - The John Howland Trio, The Cyndi Harvell Band and The Absynth Quintet. The Absynth Quintet is composed of Surfrider members from the Humboldt Chapter. They contacted us, and invited us to come table at the show. The Santa Cruz Chapter will be tabling at the band's Santa Cruz show.


** Saturday, Feb 21 - Donavon Frankenretier, with Gary Jules opening - The Independent, San Francisco, CA.

Doors are at 8:30pm, show is at 9pm, tickets are $20. The venue expects this show to sell out, but tix are still available on the Independent website.


** Wednesday, Feb 25 - Matt Costa - Slim's, San Francisco, CA. (Part of Noise Pop Festival.)

Doors are at 7pm, show is at 8pm, tickets are $20-22.
Multiple artists are performing at this show: Matt Costa, An Horse, Robert Francis, Two Sheds.

If you attend one of these shows, then please come by the Surfrider table to say hello!

Thanks to the staff at the Starry Plough, The Independent, Slim's, Noise Pop Festival, as well as management and agents for Absynth Quintet, Donavon Frankenreiter, and Matt Costa!

Donavon Frankenreiter - The Recher - 11/21/2006

Review by Nicole Parisi-Smith. Originally posted to the Surfrider Washington, DC Chapter message board on December 4, 2006 ---

Megan Kelley and I tabled at Donavon Frankenreiter's show at the Recher in Towson, MD on Nov 21st. It was a big success!!

It was a sold-out show, and it was a really fun crowd. We met a lot of great people, who had traveled to the Recher from all over the region, in order to see Donavon. A lot of fans already knew about Surfrider, and were familiar with the Save Trestles Campaign. We thanked fans who donated to the cause with Save Trestles gear - tshirts and trucker hats. We actually ran out of hats! My favorite moment of the night was watching a fan take the hat, and then immediately place it on his head. Since he was a bigger guy, I could see the hat, all night, bopping around the room:)

We collected fans' names and email addresses for the chapter email list, and signatures on the national Save Trestles Campaign petition.

Thanks to Julie and Galen for lending Megan and I a folding table, and for providing us with the tabling merchandise. Thanks to Darryl for lending us the Save Trestles Campaign materials. Thanks to Donavon's tour manager, Hugh, for allowing us to table, and for helping us set up that night! We really appreciated the support! Finally, thanks to the Recher staff, and Walther Productions, who were so helpful and accomodating.



photo: Nicole and Megan after the 9/7/2008 Jack Johnson show in Camden, NJ.