Kitten on the Keys's musician dad was born with crossed-eyes.

In this podcast, Kitten, a musician in her own right, traces her story back to her parents. Both were born and raised in southeastern Missouri. Her dad made his way out as a traveling musician when he was 14. Her mom took a job after college in Washington, DC.

Eventually, the two made their ways back to their shared hometown: East Prairie, MO. They got married and came to the Bay Area because her dad wanted to become a music teacher. Then they moved to Lafayette, where Kitten (née Suzanne) was born. She says her dad worked hard during the week and then gigged hard on the weekends. "He was always gone."

Thanks mostly to her mom, Kitten grew up singing in the Lutheran church. In her teen years, she went with the church on several trips to Mexico. She shares a pretty out-there story from those journeys south.

She was in a Christian dance troupe called "The Earthen Angels." But the group eventually got shut down because, with the A/C in the church cranked, their leotards were allegedly too revealing.

Kitten and her siblings all took music lessons, but she says she was never good at any instruments when she was young. In fact, she says, she's shocked that she's a musician today. Once she able to start choosing her own music (you gotta hear a great story about a switcheroo involving "Bohemian Rhapsody"), she enjoyed playing.

We end Part 1 with Kitten sharing stories of her earliest and fondest memories of visiting San Francisco, including taking classes at ACT and meeting all sort of punk kids and seeing some legendary bands.

Don't miss Part 2, which drops this Thursday wherever you get your podcasts.

We recorded this podcast at Royal Cuckoo Market in the Mission District in December 2021.

Photography by Michelle Kilfeather

In this episode, Matt picks up where he left off in Part 1. He talks about places in the US that his family traveled before Matt went to college in Santa Cruz. He shares what went into his decision to stay close to home for school. He graduated in five years and stayed one extra because he didn't want to leave.

Then he came back to what is essentially his hometown: San Francisco. His first place was at the top of Telegraph Hill and he loved living in North Beach. He worked in catering, and despite the recession that hit in 2008, never lost his job.

Matt still loves to travel, but like our host Jeff, he always loves coming home to San Francisco. He tells us about jobs he's had since his return to living here, including at the Edgewood Center for Children and Families. After Edgewood, Matt started working for Tonic Nightlife Group, which owns a few bars here in The City.

From here, we go on a sidetrack about what being from here means to Matt. He talks about his never-ending appreciation for all the sites and attractions in The City.

Hosting pub quizzes started for Matt at Tonic Bar in 2014. He shares that story for us. Matt wrote the San Francisco trivia we read and guests competed in at our first ever pub quiz. That was at "We're Still Here" back in September.

Pub quizzes went virtual when the pandemic began, and they remain online (and in person) today.

We end the podcast with Matt's response to our Season 4 theme: We're still here.

If you missed Part 1, please go back and listen to Matt talk about his ancestors and his early life.

We recorded this podcast at Soda Popinski's on Nob Hill in November 2021.

Photography by Michelle Kilfeather

One side of Matt Sterling's lineage is a big, Irish Catholic family.

In this podcast, the bartender and pub quiz host delves into his family's history in San Francisco. Three generations ago, great-grandparents came here from Ireland, established their roots, and had kids. Matt's maternal grandma was one of them.

She grew up in Ingleside and raised seven kids of her own, including Matt's mom. Matt says that on his mom's side, he's got 23 cousins and he knows them all pretty well. Through his mom and his aunts and uncles, Matt shares stories from the neighborhood back in the 1960s. He describes Thanksgiving dinners, first at his grandmother's house and then at his own home, where somewhere around 50 family guests showed up. ​ Matt's dad came to the US from the Philippines when he was 22. He got married and had three kids, but that marriage ended in divorce. Then Matt's parents met when they both worked for the SFPD. His dad was an officer and his mom worked a desk job. The couple had Matt and his sister for a total of five kids.

His dad worked many different beats around The City in the thirty-plus years he worked as a cop. As his family started to grow with the arrival of Matt and his sister, his dad found a larger home in Daly City. Matt tells us some of his earliest memories, including going to Catholic school in South San Francisco and later, Sacred Heart in SF. He ran cross country, which helped him get to know San Francisco really well.

Matt ends Part 1 talking about various excursions in The City that sealed the fate of his moving here for him. Check back Thursday for Part 2 and the continuation of Matt Sterling's life story.

We recorded this podcast at Soda Popinski's on Nob Hill in November 2021.

Photography by Michelle Kilfeather

In this podcast, Shizue picks up where she left off in Part 1. Her paternal grandmother, Shige, had just located her husband in Stockton. Shizue goes into more depth about her grandmother's life.

Her dad, Barry, grew up in Stockton and went to UC Berkeley. He was set to graduate in June 1942. But then Pearl Harbor was bombed in December 1941. The order to "relocate" Japanese-Americans to internment camps was issued in February 1942. Her mom's family had been in camp in Arizona.

At this point in the conversation, we springboard to a larger, broader talk about the dominant, northern European culture in this country and what it's like not to be part of it.

Shizue worked for many years at the J. Walter Thompson office in San Francisco. At first a fine arts student, she switched to commercial art at the Academy of Art here in The City and got the job in advertising. She describes a white, male-dominated work culture and how she navigated that.

We rewind to talk about Shizue's early life. Her parents met shortly after WWII, when Japanese-Americans who had been forced into internment camps were now free. Her dad joined the Army and so the family moved around. Shizue was born in Baltimore. Around the time she was 12, they moved back to California and eventually up from the Santa Clara Valley to San Francisco, where Shizue went to high school.

She describes being a shy, bookworm-ish kid who strove to fit into the "model minority" demographic. That ended when she was a teenager and had an existential crisis.

After her work in advertising, she ended up doing HIV prevention outreach to folks living in subsidized public housing. It was through this work that Shizue started to turn her attention toward people of color. She also started writing poetry.

We end the episode with Shizue's thoughts on our theme this this season: "We're still here."

Shizue's personal site is https://www.shizueseigel.com/. Her creative writing for people of color website is https://www.writenowsf.com/.

We recorded this podcast at Shizue's apartment in the Outer Richmond in November 2021.

Photography by Michelle Kilfeather

This podcast is almost totally about Shizue Seigel's ancestors.

In the episode, the poet and author digs deep into her family's history, which goes back to Japan just two generations ago. Sakuichi Tsutsumi and Umematsu Yokote Tsutsumi were from Kyushu, a large island in the south of Japan. Irene Yoshiko Tsutsumi Saiki, Shizue's mom, was born in Hawaii. Her family moved there to work on sugar plantations, but the conditions were brutal and they weren't able to save money thanks to the sugar companies' "company store" operations. Also, conditions in the cane fields were dangerous. The family went back to Japan.

Sakuichi moved to San Luis Obispo on the central coast of California. He and his cousins bought some land and used their knowledge of irrigation to help them grow produce. Thanks to an oil boom in the area, the town of San Luis was growing and its population needed vegetables. Now successful, it was time to send for his wife back in Japan.

Shizue shares the incredible story of finding the tiny mountain village and home where Sakuichi's family lived. It's one of those "you have to hear to believe" tales.

Shizue's mom, Irene, was born in 1920. Shizue shares many stories of her mother's family and the Japanese community in and around San Luis Obispo where she mostly grew up, notably before World War II.

Her dad's family moved from Hiroshima to Hawaii with his two older brothers. Life was tough there for them as well, and so it was decided that her grandfather, Yasaburo, would go ahead to California while her grandmother, Shige Matsuoka, took their children back to Japan. Shige waited for two years with no word back from the US. She left her two kids with in-laws and decided to come over to track her husband down. Her journey east is another amazing tale you just have to hear.

Check back tomorrow for Part 2 and the continuation of Shizue's life history.

We recorded this podcast in Shizue's Outer Richmond apartment in November 2021.

Photography by Michelle Kilfeather

In this episode, Andrew picks up where he left off in Part 1. He starts with the different bands and music projects he took part in during high school. He got a guitar and started writing solo songs when he was 16.

Andrew shares the story of how he got his stage name. (Surprise! Andrew St. James isn't his real name.) It involves being totally smitten with a woman way, way older than he was at the time.

After high school, he moved to Boston to go to Berklee School of Music. The twist—he got in on the wrong instrument. Turns out, he didn't dig college life too much. He had just released a record, Doldrums, and it got wide critical praise. He went to New York to play a show and was immediately awestruck by the city. It all led to Andrew quitting college and recording another album: The Shakes.

In 2014, The Killers' manager called him and had him do a residency in North Beach. But San Francisco had changed so much in his short absence that Andrew moved to LA, a town that had been luring him. It turned out to be a wild but pretty brief stay, as the pull of San Francisco and family brought him back.

Once he returned to The City, Andrew started playing with a friend and touring. He hooked up with a producer to start putting on shows at Amnesia, and with that, the Fast Times Presents series was born. For Andrew, the aim was to bring together San Francisco's many segregated music cliques. He's the first to admit the messiness of the music events. They eventually relocated to The Chapel to accommodate a bigger audience, but then the pandemic hit and Andrew took his show to the streets, literally.

Starting in September this year, Fast Times Presents events have moved to Make-Out Room. The next show is tonight (Nov. 18).

We end this podcast with Andrew reflecting on our Season 4 theme: We're still here.

We recorded this podcast at Hyde Street Studios in the Tenderloin in November 2021.

Photography by Michelle Kilfeather

Andrew St. James's birth mom was a tour caterer for the Rolling Stones.

In this episode, the musician traces his lineage back to his being adopted by a young San Francisco couple. Carol moved to San Francisco in 1971. She worked at the Gap and what used to be Live 105 and KMEL. Nathan was born in Brooklyn to Holocaust survivor parents. After his New York marriage fizzled, he hopped on a motorcycle and rode to San Francisco in 1978. Nathan and some friends opened the original Captain Video stores. The two met when Nathan went to buy radio advertising from Carol.

The couple lived in Glen Park when they adopted Andrew, then they all moved to the Sunset District, where Andrew was raised. Andrew shares early memories from both neighborhoods.

He sang in the San Francisco Boys Choir for a number of years before getting jaded at a young age. He decided to branch out more on his own, and so he bought an organ. He soon began playing rock music with friends roughly his age—12.

Andrew got into Urban High School, which he shares the background and philosophy of for us. Andrew says that by the time he entered high school, in the late-2000s, that philosophy had more or less gone by the wayside.

Check back Thursday for Part 2 and the continuation of Andrew's life story.

Shout out to Ashley Graham for connecting us with Andrew. ​ We recorded this podcast at Hyde Street Studios in the Tenderloin in November 2021.

Photography by Michelle Kilfeather

We start with the honeymoon, time away from The City. Jeff and Erin spent two weeks in northern New Mexico, bouncing around between Taos, Santa Fe, and the small town of Dixon (about halfway between Taos and Santa Fe), where old friends of Jeff have some land with a house, a casita, a tiny house, a large garden, and some chickens.

Then we back up to start chronicling Thursday, October 14, 2021. Jeff's wedding day started with some rather incredible news: Storied: San Francisco won Best Podcast in 48 Hills/SF Bay Guardian's Best of the Bay 2021!!!

The whole point of our recording us talking about the wedding is that we felt it needed to be memorialized. Yes, it was my wedding ... but I have no problem saying that it was fucking epic.

Please listen to the podcast for details of the day, but here, shout-outs are in order. As you'll see, many of the folks instrumental in making the day what it was have been on the podcast. Some will be soon. Here they are:

• Olivia Andreani: Wedding Director
• Belen: Olivia's Assistant
• Chloe Jackman (Part 1 / Part 2): Photographer
• Michaela: Photography Assistant
• Julie Dy: Makeup
• Gillian Fitzgerald (Part 1 / Part 2): Co-owner of Casements Bar
• Shawn: Co-owner of Casements Bar
• Aireene Espiritu (Part 1 / Part 2): Ceremony music
• Angela Tabora (Part 1 / Part 2): Officiant
• Alex: Owner of Gillibus
• Debbie and Paul: Owners of Royal Cuckoo
• Chris and Levay (Part 1 / Part 2): Amazing humans who are also musicians
• MJ's Brass Boppers: Second Line Brass Band
• Kevin Cline (Part 1 / Part 2) (and the amazing Front Porch/Rock Bar staff): Owner of Front Porch + Rock Bar
• Big Russ + CJ Flash: Dance Party DJs

It takes a village, y'all.

Check back next week for our first storyteller in almost two months: musician Andrew St. James!

We recorded this podcast at Shovels Cocktail and Whiskey Bar in the Tenderloin in November 2021.

Photo by Allison Tom

In this podcast, Yeva picks up where she left off in Part 1. She backs up from her time in Brazil to tell us about peace camps she went to as a kid, and how that took her to places like Tanzania. As the kids who went the camps got older, they started having reunions they dubbed "seminar camps." As a teen, Yeva went to one such reunion the French Alps. Years later, as a college student in Brazil, she was on staff as a seminar camp, coming full circle.

Back in Rhode Island, she went straight into medical school. Returned from her time abroad as a young adult, Yeva noted the material abundance found in US versus a place like Brazil. She says she almost quit med school because it was so intense, but she ended up sticking with it. Once her education really ramped up, things like writing for the newspaper and playing flute fell by the wayside.

Yeva explains that it was during her time in med school that HIV/AIDS started becoming known. But that wasn't necessarily what brought her west to San Francisco. She cites a spring break trip to The City while she was still in med school that sealed the deal for her—that, a brush with Armistead Maupin, and getting matched with a program at San Francisco General Hospital in family medicine serving underserved populations.

Just before her move here in 1990, she came out to help with Loma Prieta earthquake recovery efforts. She did her training, met a partner, had kids, and has worked a lot since her move. Yeva also discovered poetry and shares the story of how that happened.

We end this episode with Yeva's thoughts on San Francisco today as well as what could be in store for The City's future. And then she reads one of her poems: "Incantation for Black Lives to Remain in Focus After the Outrage Fades."

We recorded this podcast at Shakespeare Garden in Golden Gate Park in September 2021.

Photography by Michelle Kilfeather

Yeva Johnson was born in Detroit by necessity.

In this podcast, we welcome Yeva back to the show. We first met her back in 2018 at Working With Death, the show we did that year with Reimagine End of Life.

Her family moved from Michigan to Washington, DC, when Yeva was young. She often joined her siblings and parents at various marches in the capital city—for the ERA, peace marches, etc.

As a student, Yeva liked to read. She talks about going to DC museums and the Library of Congress ("They had every book—almost!") when she was young. Her parents moved her to a new school, and so she had to adjust to a new environment and make new friends.

Music has always been a big part of Yeva's life. She has been playing the piano since she was five and the flute since she was in fourth grade. When she was young, she went to several jazz festivals in the DC area with her mom. She kept playing flute throughout her time in school and in fact, she still plays today.

She went to Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where she immediately got into their medical program. In her third year of college, she spent time in Brazil, which we wrap this episode with.

Check back Thursday for Part 2 and the continuation of Yeva's life story, including her move to San Francisco.

We recorded this podcast in the Shakespeare Garden at Golden Gate Park in September 2021.

Photography by Michelle Kilfeather