Martuni’s
A Hidden Gem in San Francisco
By Lynn Timmons Edwards
According to Ben Prince, one of the resident pianists at Martuni’s at 4 Valencia Street in San Francisco, it is the only remaining seven-night-a-week open-mic piano bar left in California. On Sunday, September 18, my 60-something birthday, I found the club bursting with talent, energy, and people who spanned generations.
Unfortunately, Martuni’s does not have a website. It does have a Facebook page (www.facebook.com/martunissf/) which was not being monitored during the months leading up to my visit. I know, because I kept sending messages trying to find out who or what was playing on September 18 and received no response. Since my visit, I have noticed some postings after I begged our waitress to get someone on the staff to update the page.
We arrived around 7:40 pm to find a cabaret show in progress featuring two local favorites, Katy Stephan and The Countess Katya Smirnoff-Skyy (J. Conrad Frank). I would love to have known about it; they deserve a full review. What I did see was Stephan, clearly a triple threat, finishing her portion of the show. By triple threat, I mean she a great piano player, she sings with clarity and pathos with an understanding that lyric is queen, and she composes poignant songs that come from her own life as well as knock-your-socks-off funny parodies. Fans can follow her at www.katystephan.com. The little bit that I witnessed showed her range; she went from a song about about her pandemic isolation to one of her signature songs that was inspired by her divorce.
Next up was an icon of Martuni’s, drag chanteuse Smirnoff-Skyy (www.katyasmirnoff-Skyy.com). I say “icon” because her portrait hangs in the corner overseeing the festive performances she has done for many years as the “hostess of Martuni’s.” Being somewhat of a novice to live drag, I admit it took my ear a while to adjust to the constant falsetto. I grew to love her because of her sincerity and her ability to put it all out there, as she interacted with the audience and connected to every song by telling us about her personal perspective and her reason for having chosen it. She claimed to have been Eastern Europe’s most sought-after mezzo-soprano and the inventor of “popera.” She has been entertaining in San Francisco for 15 years and is the winner of the 2008 Best Drag Act and the 2019 Bestie for Cabaret Performer. She will appear at Feinstein’s at the Nikko December 16 and 17 with her Holiday Spectacular.
The open mic with Ben Price at the keyboard started around 8 pm. One gifted singer after another took their turn at the mic. Not all, but many of the singers were young gay men who chose songs from contemporary musicals and the pop genre. The voices ranged from Broadway tenors to the most unusual looking bass-baritone I have ever seen. But there was not a clunker in the bunch. Ben, with iPad in place, was always able to find the accompaniment when the singer hadn’t just thrust his tablet in front of him. I found him to be a joy to perform with. You cannot go wrong with “Over the Rainbow,” and later I introduced the “kids” to “Mama a Rainbow,” encouraging them to learn it and make their mothers swoon.
The iPad protocol makes me laugh as I remembered my old piano-bar days with my three-ring notebook in which I had printed the lyrics of over 200 songs. I recently took that dinosaur apart and recycled all the pages.
It turned out mine was not the only birthday party that night. A strong singer and terrific young gentleman named Jesse Cortez was celebrating his 39th birthday. He was in the cast of In the Heights which played at Berkeley Playhouse September 9–October 16, and many of his castmates were also there to support him. I checked his bio and learned that he was awarded Best Showtunes Cabaret at Martuni’s in 2013. He is a member of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, and he has a long list of musical theater credentials. (www.jessecortezmusic.com)
I learned also that the waiter who brought our first round of drinks is the 26-year owner of Martuni’s, Skip Ziobron. I was told his mantra is “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” Hence there’s no website, a lame Facebook page, and no press coverage—until now.
