Sonny Smith Sees All Knows All

Sonny Smith (Sonny & The Sunsets) has written a monologue, an hour-long story, called Sees All Knows All. A tale of love, sex, drugs, spaceships, romance, hallucinations, bitter tears and champagne, it’s story set in a fast-disappearing San Francisco—a bohemian quarter-life crisis in six parts, told by a man who never had anything to gamble with but his life. As Smith put it, “sort of a Spalding Gray type o’ thing if Spalding Gray had a band and wasn’t himself but was me.” Smith premiered Sees All Knows All live with a band at The Lost Church in San Francisco. The run lasted five nights and each featured a different musical guest. It was very much a San Francisco thing—a nod, perhaps, to both Eggers and Ferlinghetti. Indeed, excerpts from this story have been published in San Francisco’s reknowned literature, arts and culture magazine, The Believer. Narrated by Smith, Sees All Knows All features a talented group of local musicians including Kelly Stoltz, Shayde Sartain (Fresh & Onlys), Rusty Miller, James Finch, German Carracosca, Jordi Llobet and Smith himself. The result is a Joe-Frank-meets-Michael-Hurley-meets-R.-Crumb production: a dry, witty, autobiographical look at the meaning(s) of life from an underdog with deep nostalgia for America’s lost folk culture and a strong sense of kinship with the marginalized. Perhaps you saw one of the live performances; or maybe you are familiar with Smith’s stories via the tiny comic books stashed in his early vinyl releases; but you have probably never heard him try to pronounce “Panaderia.” So, light a fire / joint, get comfortable and lose yourself in a man’s attempt to find himself—or at least exert a shred of control over his own destiny… Strictly limited edition of 300 copies pressed on blue-powder-splattered vinyl and packaged in deluxe old-style linen jackets with artwork by Chris Johanson, Shayde Sartin and Shannon Shaw.