It's late afternoon when a friend and I park in front of the flophouses and a homeless outreach center and walk down the small inlet that is Natoma Street. The alley is redolent with the smell of urine as we head toward SF Soundworks, a newly opened recording studio. My buddy is anxious to meet the members of Death Angel, the late-'80s thrash metal icons tracking their first album in 14 years. But I'm itching to shake hands with the studio's owner, Tony Espinoza, who earned himself a comfy nest egg back in the days of wine and IPOses, and who now wants to build a thriving independent music scene around his new audio playground. It seems this member of the same dot-community that drove bands out of their rehearsal spaces a few years ago is now trying, in his words, to "bring the music back to San Francisco." This... More >>>