San Francisco In Song was produced in association with The San Francisco Museum and Historical Society. From hundreds of songs written about, for, or to commemorate events in San Francisco, we have selected 14 for the first volume of “San Francisco In Song.” The early songs in this collection were featured in vaudeville productions. Several morbid musical numbers appeared just after the 1906 Fire and Earthquake, focusing on the loss of dear ones and sweethearts, presumably crushed by collapsing buildings or swallowed by gaping cracks in the streets. Starting in 1911, dozens of optimistic, upbeat songs promoted the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition, including “Hello, Frisco” (celebrating the first transcontinental telephone call, on January 25, 1915, from New York City to San Francisco, with President Wilson listening in at The White House) and Irving Berlin’s “San Francisco Bound,” in which a steam locomotive thunders through a western night to reach the “sunny quarters” of that “happy, happy little snappy, snappy, little town where everybody is glad.” In later years, San Francisco songs turned to melancholy and sadness. The songs on this disk were not performed for the ears that originally heard them. For these songs to be enjoyed as much as when they first appeared, certain musical conventions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were adjusted to match the performers, much as has always been done, whilst remaining true to the songs as written. The keystone in this effort was the enormous musical ability and sophistication Mr. Steven Moon brought to the project, and the skill and beauty of the singers and musicians whose talents gave life to faded notes on crumbling pages.                                                                                                        -Richard S.E. Johns Secure transaction via Credit Card/PayPal $16.95 plus tax & shipping. A portion of the proceeds goes to support The San Francisco Museum.