ICE CUBE: Tin Angel turns 20

POSTED: Wednesday, November 14, 2012, 2:30 PM

Filed Under: Music

“That’s probably why in the whole time that we’ve been here we’ve had only two sound people, three managers, two owners and me booking the room for 20 years — that’s stability,” says Goldfarb. “That’s family.”

A veteran of the booking biz for 43 years, Goldfarb had done scads of shows at venues such as the Academy of Music (50 shows including several of all time personal faves with Tom Waits, Chic and Nina Simone), the Trocadero and the Empire Rock Club before coming to the Tin Angel before its opening. “When I walked upstairs to that little fucking narrow room and got asked if money could be made doing original music, I figured yeah, if we did everything right.” Goldfarb knew that he had to find an intimate niche to suit the small space.

“The singer-songwriter revolution of the ’90s. David Gray, Jeff Buckley, Brandi Carlisle, Ray Lamontagne... that was and is us.” Goldfarb says it has been tough to maintain the strength of the Tin Angel’s initial decade what with the erection of the New Hope Winery and World Café Live. “It’s hard to go up against millionaire realtors. We can’t get the state to build out a gorgeous venue. We’re the little guys.” Goldfarb makes one truly great analogy between himself and the Oakland A’s. “We’re the Money Ball. And we soldier on.”

What Goldfarb has is personal integrity, the love of artists who know him well and dig his vibe and that of the Tin Angel. “I’ve befriended guys like Citizen Cope, Raul Malo, people who are way bigger than the room. They dig it, man. They dig the Angel. I remember asking Gil Scott Heron that question the last time we had him here — why play the Angel when you could fill a much bigger space. He told me that he trusted me, a quality that he thought rare in this business and that he personally valued. That’s great. That’s why I do this. I have a love for it. And I’m a pro guy — I’m not paying a guy $4,000 when they’re a $500 act. We know what we’re doing here.”

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