The Beat Goes On: The Michael Aragon Quartet

For 36 years our dear friend Michael Aragon has blessed us all with his enormous heart and pocketed grooves at the No Name Bar in Sausalito. And from jazz to Latin to funk to blues and far beyond, the Michael Aragon Quartet (Michael Aragon- drums/vox, Rob Roth- sax, Pierre Archain- bass, Casey Filson- keys/vox) has been the heartbeat of the No Name every Friday night for the past 15. At the end of every week, this musical brotherhood has soothed our minds and lifted our souls with their world-class musical conversation, and what a journey they've taken us on!

Sadly, though, the end of an era is rapidly approaching. November 29, 2019, will be Michael's last regular gig at the No Name Bar, and in fact, November 15th will be the last regular Friday night gig for his Quartet who has held court there for so long together. 

The musical legacy that Michael and the Quartet leave behind is staggering, and while certainly, the music will continue, Friday nights will never quite be the same. For those of us fortunate enough to have been around for it, we can count ourselves lucky, and for those who haven't been, well, it's a good thing there are stories to tell. (And ones we won't ever share, too. After all, it is the No Shame.)

To preserve something of Michael and the Quartet's particular magic, we'd like to come together to create a very short film, a mini-documentary, really, about Michael and his Quartet. Local videographers Bearfish Productions will be recording and editing some of the last remaining hours of music brought to the community by Michael and his quartet, with the goal of producing about a 5-minute video to memorialize the prodigious musical talent and giant generous spirit that they always bring to every performance.

We need your help to make this happen. Michael and the band deserve a full-length feature, of course, but film and post-production on this short video alone will cost about $2000. Any bit you can contribute towards making this happen would be greatly greatly appreciated. In the end, we'll all have a video to be able to savor and share long after the final gig is done.

So please, if you've ever enjoyed Michael's music, a good No Name Friday night, if you're a supporter of local live music, if you want to help pay tribute to a Sausalito institution, throw in what you can. And if by some miracle we exceed the goal amount, we can explore the possibility of a longer film! Wouldn't that be amazing! 

Thank you for all your support, and hope to see you down there on Friday night!