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The Spiceislander

5.0 (1 review)
Closed • 9:00 am - 12:00 AM (Next day)

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11 years ago

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Trio Mariachi Tepatitlan - Trio Mariachi Tepatitlan Disney style!

Trio Mariachi Tepatitlan

(17 reviews)

Telegraph Ave

I do not recommend the musicians hired for my friend's private event this past Saturday…read more Prior to booking, I reviewed feedback from others and noticed a recurring concern regarding poor communication. Unfortunately, that was exactly the experience we encountered. After receiving payment, the musicians left the venue without any communication or explanation. The venue has a strict noise ordinance, which required additional coordination, setup adjustments, and effort in order to proceed with the performance. Despite being aware of these circumstances and after having already been paid, they chose to leave rather than communicate or work through the situation. Their lack of professionalism and communication created unnecessary stress and disappointment for my friend on what was supposed to be a special and memorable day. Clear communication, especially when unexpected challenges arise, is essential when providing services for important events. Based on this experience, I cannot recommend their services. I truly hope they listen to everyone's feedback and do better, no one deserves to be ghosted during any special event, and we do not wish to hinder people who love to work and love what they do. Please do better !! My friends and I support local businesses.

My friend got married on June 6, 2026, and unfortunately this mariachi completely let her down on…read moreone of the most important days of her life. They were hired to provide live music and arrived at the venue, but couldn't use their speakers because the venue wouldn't allow them and instead offered alternative equipment. Everyone agreed to the change, and they were paid in cash at the moment. Shortly afterward, they left without performing and stopped responding to calls and messages. Although my friend eventually received a refund, the stress, confusion, and last-minute disappointment they caused on her wedding day were completely unacceptable and completely ruined what should have been one of the happiest days of her life. No bride should have to deal with this kind of experience, especially on such a special occasion. We are extremely disappointed with the lack of professionalism and communication and would not recommend this vendor to anyone.

Musicians In the Making - 2020 Musical STEM Camp

Musicians In the Making

(29 reviews)

$$

My daughter started with Musicians in the Making since she was 3 years old. Back then, she enrolled…read morein their music program with the elderly that was held in a senior center. My daughter had so much fun learning about music and that motivated her to try learning piano. She started with Ms. Nathasya and when she left, we were lucky to have Ms. Candice as her teacher. My daughter loves Ms. Candice. She loves going to her class. Her teaching approach is student-centered learning. She lets my daughter choose between songs or choose songs that are going to be learned based on her interest or something that would spark her interest. She also prepares teacher-made materials for activities and games to help my daughter understand concepts in music / piano better. Also, Ms. Candice is proficient in terms of managing my daughter's mood or behavior during class. She knows what to say and how to encourage my daughter in playing the piano or in focusing on the task at hand. Our children's extra curricular activities can be an additional cost to our monthly expenses, but what makes our money worth more here is the additional activities prepared monthly by MITM. Whether it's a zoom class with an expert or musician, performance class, picnic, field trip, or recital, all of these activities further my daughter's learning, appreciation, and love for music. So yes, we totally recommend MITM. Inquire for a trial class. :)

Our daughter started piano lessons with Ms. Choi when she was just beginning, and she's been with…read moreher for more than half her life. That kind of consistency matters -- week after week, year after year, she showed up with patience, encouragement, and genuine care. Our daughter grew not just as a pianist, but in confidence, discipline, and a real love for music. We're so grateful for the steady, kind presence she's been in our child's life, and for all she's meant to our family. If you're looking for a piano teacher who truly invests in her students, we can't recommend her enough.

Smash City - Photo Credit: Jodee Debes Photography

Smash City

(5 reviews)

The absolute BEST! Our friends and family still talk about how incredible our band was... it was…read morethe highlight of our wedding! The dance floor was packed the entire night. If you're thinking about hiring Smash City, just do it. You won't regret it!

WOW. Paul and his crew are total rockstars!!! My husband and I actually found Paul during a…read morestressful time: our original wedding band canceled on us 2 weeks before our wedding. Paul was the first person I called and just talking to him made me feel better. He is a kind and genuine person, and he accommodated us every step of the way. Even though he only had two weeks to prepare, Paul and his team absolutely killed it at our wedding! I've lost count of the number of guests who came up to us and told us that Smash City Band was the best live band they have ever seen. One of our groomsmen is a professional musician, and he could not stop raving about how phenomenal each member of Smash City was. He said this multiple times during the wedding night and then called us the next day to reiterate that point. Paul and his band not only saved our wedding, but they were also the reason why our wedding was so much fun and the best night ever for us and all of our guests. They were easily the highlight of our wedding, and they made us thankful that our original band canceled on us! I cannot recommend and praise Paul and Smash City enough!!!! Please hire them so I can crash your event and enjoy their performance again (haha jk about crashing your event! But I'm serious about you hiring them...)

Devin Farney - At Abbey Road studios in London (2025)

Devin Farney

(28 reviews)

$$

Quick summary: extremely knowledgable, flexible, tailored to my specific needs, reasonable and…read moreaffordable pricing... a music teacher who really cares I feel super fortunate to have found Devin as my piano teacher. I was classically trained growing up but in recent years have been craving to learn jazz piano, especially wanting to improvise. It felt like a far-off dream, but through my few lessons with Devin I have been pleasantly surprised at my own ability, which he has helped me unlock. He truly is so knowledgable and delivers that knowledge skillfully -- as in, he doesn't overload you with irrelevant information, and only relays what is relevant to the current subject we are working on. Devine is encouraging but does not give empty praise -- he is very transparent with his feedback and this feels very effective. He keeps me super engaged -- there is a great balance of theory and explanation / allowing me to apply the theory through playing and answering questions on the spot. There have been moments, especially at the beginning, when I felt intimidated and nervous to improvise on the spot (as this is something I'd never really done before). Devin was understanding of these emotions and created a safe space for me to go out of my comfort zone. These moments of being challenged are super invaluable to me and his method of doing so really suits me. The lessons are paced well for me and feel very tailored to my needs. Devin always prioritizes my questions for each lesson, and based on those, creates a lesson plan on the spot to address them all. I really enjoy the fact that I can ask super specific questions and we can go on tangents about music theory and history. Speaking of music history, I also appreciate that Devin is so acknowledging of the fact that we are playing in the realm of Western music, which is only a small fraction of all the musical cultures that exist. As a person of color, this foundation of thinking is really important to me. I searched for a long time to find an in-person teacher because that was what I was used to, and I believed it would work best for me. However, I realized that the online lessons work perfectly well and I can't see any downsides of them. I think this is partially because I have enough background in technique, so I don't need him to be adjusting my hands / seeing my fingering and all the other physical stuff associated with piano. This being said, perhaps if you are a complete beginner, try to start with in-person lessons with Devin to make sure you have all the basic techniques locked in as this will affect your playing later on. I am used to more structure and rigidity -- my classical lessons always centered around learning a piece and playing it during lessons, with very clear homework. So it took some time to get used to the more flexible and free-form nature of learning jazz piano (and perhaps it is also his particular teaching style). I think it has been an excellent practice for me in self-discipline. However, if you benefit a lot from extreme structure, you can always ask Devin to provide that. I am personally enjoying the challenge of improvisation as my homework! Devin has offered me many tools and frameworks for thinking about piano and improvisation, all of which have made piano feel way more approachable and inviting than it used to. I also marvel at his ability to be so enthusiastic, engaged and creative for each and every lesson. I've had many music teachers in my life and he is one of the best!

Devin is an amazing music teacher. He's easy to work with, very knowledgeable and professional. It…read morehas been a great pleasure to study piano with him since September 2020. I've had many musical breakthroughs since then. Devin is a patient musical guide. His technicality and training helped me to achieve my dream of singing popular songs with full piano accompaniment. I have a deep appreciation for music and my prior music teachers were rigid in their approach, which didn't enable me to grow musically. Devin's flexible, caring approach helped me to immediately tap into my abilities at the keyboard. It has helped immensely that Devin offers remote lessons via Zoom, which make it highly convenient for students living further away. I look forward to more musical breakthroughs with Devin as my guide. Highly recommended!

Mariachi Viajero - Mariachi Viajero

Mariachi Viajero

(22 reviews)

Downtown

Can't speak highly enough of this mariachi group: they played for my wedding over the last weekend…read moreand *everyone* loved them! They really brought the right festive energy and live music, even better than I could have imagined. They also agreed to play for us as we went "down the aisle" with a song we chose, and despite being entirely indoors, the music was just the right volume to celebrate without stopping conversations during social times. I'm thrilled to have had them as part of our special day and hope that this review gets them the attention they deserve for other events. Thank you all! ¡Muchas gracias a todos ustedes!

For my husband's birthday I hired Maricahi Viajero. From the start when we started to communicate…read moreby phone they were very professional. They had me a sign a contract and took the deposit money in person which not a lot of Mariachi's do. Some I have found out they want you to Zelle the deposit, I honestly don't feel comfortable to Zelle money to someone I don't even know. It's not a $25 deposit we are talking about. So when they said the meeting would be in person I was all for it. The day of the party came and they called me ahead of time to let me know they were running a few minutes behind. To me this was surprising because they were only 5 minutes late and that wasn't a problem. But I loved how they communicated every step of the way. Equally important was the performance. My husband enjoyed their music. The guests had nothing but good phrases to say about their music. Ppl were dancing and singing. I highly recommend Mariachi Viajero. Next time I need a Mariachi I know whom I will call.

Hella Fitzgerald

Hella Fitzgerald

(37 reviews)

$$

East Oakland

A musician's dream!…read more Per the recommendation of our wedding planner, we worked with Hella Fitzgerald for our wedding in Big Sur, CA in August 2023. One of the best decisions we made for our wedding. I am a musician myself and had a lot of specifications for what I wanted throughout our ceremony, first dance, and dancing portions of the evening. And I mean a LOT of specifications! Music is something I am very particular about. Lilan worked closely with me on everything from which 2nd singer to hire to match the feel we wanted (the band works with various singers) to learning new songs that we had requested to adjusting songs to specific BPMs!!! She never seemed to lose her patience with me and would text me randomly with ideas or singer leads. One time she even texted me a couple vocal riffs she sang into her phone to see what I would prefer. We wanted a fun, sexy, big band feel and a talented group of musicians who could perform soul, Latin, swing, R&B, and everything in between. That is exactly what we got. We never left the dance floor. Thank you HF!

Hella Fitzgerald was a huge hit at our son's Bar Mitzvah. We wanted live music as opposed to a DJ…read moreand we couldn't have been happier with their performance! Every musician in the band was outstanding. They accommodated all of our requests, including an extra long hora. :) All of our guests loved them and it was so refreshing to have 'real' music at our daytime event. Their price was extremely reasonable to boot! We highly recommend Hella Fitzgerald - they were fantastic!

Mariachi Trio

Mariachi Trio

(103 reviews)

Alum Rock/East Foothills

We hired Mariachi Trío Estrellas de Oro for my friend's wedding, and they were absolutely amazing…read morefrom start to finish! Rigo was my main contact, and he was so friendly, caring, and incredibly easy to communicate with. Our venue had very poor cell service, which made coordinating a surprise performance a bit tricky--but Rigo went above and beyond. He even called ahead of time to make sure he had the exact location and understood where he needed to be so everything would go smoothly. Despite the challenges, they showed up right on time, patiently waited for the perfect moment, and completely made the bride's day. It was such a special surprise, and they executed it flawlessly. On top of that, they played an extra song so the couple could have a first dance moment--which wasn't even planned--and it ended up being one of the most memorable parts of the night. We will absolutely be hiring Rigo and the group again in the future. Highly, highly recommend!

I had such an amazing experience with Mariachi Trio Estrellas De Oro! I hired them for a surprise…read morebirthday party at a restaurant patio in Mill Valley and it was better than I could have imagined. I arrived only moments before the guest of honor and the band was ready to go--they started playing right after the big "surprise" and it made it so special! Rigo was super easy to work with, and all of the setup coordination was between Rigo and the restaurant directly. Very talented group of guys, the party was an absolute hit. Thank you Rigo and Mariachi Trio Estrellas De Oro!

The Spiceislander - musicians - Updated October 2026

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