Prophet and mythic SF

photo by Charlie Homo

For his last album, Chuck Prophet headed south of the border and holed up in a Mexico City studio circa 1972. This time around, for his 12th studio album, he stayed put in San Francisco and the result — “Temple Beautiful” — turned out to be a love letter to the city where he made his name.

“It was fun to promote a record that wasn’t really about me,” he says. “You know, the singer-songwriter went here, he went there. He broke up with his girlfriend, here’s the song. And my coffee’s getting cold, here’s the song.”

Instead it’s inhabited by San Francisco characters, from Harvey Milk and Willie Mays to more mythic wanderers like “Red Man,” a Mission district regular who painted his face red, and the 1800s self-proclaimed imperialist Emperor Norton. The album takes its name from the long-shuttered Geary Boulevard bar known as Temple Beautiful, where a 15-year-old Prophet snuck in to see punk shows. Halloween in the Castro also makes an appearance.

Over the years, Prophet has layered his easy-going poetic drawl over straight-ahead rock and alt-twang, starting out with the band Green on Red and then going solo to write songs that have been recorded by everyone from Heart and Solomon Burke to Alejandro Escovedo and Kelly Willis.
Before he drops in for a pre-New Year’s eve blowout Saturday night at the HopMonk Tavern in Sebastopol, Prophet took a rehearsal break to chat about a random hotel concert in Santa Rosa, fact checkers and the sad state of journalism:

Q: What’s your daily ritual like these days?
A: I wake up and try to hit about 2-3 emails, then I get tired of that and check the surf report. And then I start worrying about all the songs I have and can’t finish. And basically I just start worrying.

Q: And if the surf report’s good?
A: Then that’s what I do. I get out there at least a few times a week.

Q: Any Sonoma County memories over the years?
A: As a result of the KRSH (radio station) and all the support up there, the shows have gotten a lot better over the years. We did play a strange gig once in a hotel, in the rec room, like the kind of room where you might have a wedding or a seminar where somebody points with things. I feel like it was in Santa Rosa — a post-war, single-level hotel with a diner attached to it, just off the highway.

Q: Was there one San Francisco story or anecdote that popped out first and started the ball rolling for “Temple Beautiful?”
A: Well, I just know that one day I stood back and squinted and that was the theme that just kind of emerged. For me, that’s what I needed to get excited.

Q: Did you hear from locals who told you that’s not the way it happened, or fact-checkers who said you got it wrong?
A: Yeah, people took a lot of pleasure in telling me the facts I got wrong, especially journalists. And I took a lot of pleasure in telling them, I’m not a journalist. I feel sorry for you guys.

Q: Myth always wins over reality?
A: You better believe it.

Bay Area freelancer John Beck writes about entertainment for The Press Democrat. You can reach him at 280-8014, john@sideshowvideo.com and follow on Twitter @becksay.

IN CONCERT
Who: Chuck Prophet
When: 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 29
Where: Hopmonk Tavern, 230 Petaluma Ave., Sebastopol.
Tickets: $15-$18, 21-plus
Information: hopmonk.com/sebastopol