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Taken from SFChronicle (Feb 20, 2020)
Music star Michael Franti's Wine Country connection runs deep
by Gregory Thomas
Michael Franti (left) and Sara Agah Franti (right) talk during an interview at their home on Monday, February 10, 2020 in San Francisco, Calif. Photo: Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle |
A few years ago, Michael Franti was in between songs onstage at BottleRock Napa Valley, the annual springtime music festival, when someone hollered out a question: "What's your favorite wine?"
For a guy who has lived in the Bay Area most of his life and rubs shoulders with some of Wine Country's elite tastemakers, this should have been a softball question. But Franti, a 53-year-old musician who lives in Hunters Point, doesn't have much of a taste for alcohol. He had to think fast.
"I'm thinking, (A) I don't drink wine. But (B) I didn't want to choose one 'cause I'd piss someone off," Franti recalled recently in his living room at home. His ad-libbed reply, "My favorite wine is Tequila," got the crowd laughing. It also sparked an idea for a song with that title, which Franti released in 2016 and has become a fan favorite.
Franti fronts Michael Franti & Spearhead, a funky, folkie reggae-rock group that has been releasing records since 1994. His political-minded lyrics and laid-back demeanor have made him a music festival mainstay.
He has lived in San Francisco for more than three decades, but you would be forgiven for thinking that he lives in Wine Country. He is closely associated with BottleRock, having played all but one of the annual events since they began in 2013. He has played benefits for wildfire victims there. His wife, Sara Agah Franti, was a headline speaker at the Women's March in Napa this year.
"A lot of people think we live up there," says Agah Franti, 35.
Franti, born in Oakland and raised in Davis, visited Wine Country as a boy on family road trips. But it wasn't until he and Agah Franti got together that he started visiting regularly as an adult. An early foray occurred after the 2014 earthquake that rocked downtown Napa; Franti played gigs to help raise funds for the relief efforts. He and Agah Franti discovered a strong community of small business owners and vintners whose fervent commitment to their crafts and each other have made Napa a world-class wine-and-dine destination.
"It's not the most glamorous reason that we're drawn to Napa, but it's the community and the people," Agah Franti says. "I always say, if there were an international airport, I'd love to move up there."
The two have fond memories of kayaking and picnicking on Lake Berryessa with their infant son, Taj. Franti digs the pizzas and atmosphere at Ca'Momi in Napa; Agah Franti goes for the green juices at the Oxbow Public Market and enjoys walking Taj along the riverfront.
More than that, they enjoy the locals they meet who carry on the region's winemaking and farming traditions and whose lifestyles reflect their values as craftspeople and artists. "I love when you open a bottle of wine you have to think about the history of what was happening in that place when that wine was made," Agah Franti says.
Franti sees BottleRock as a galvanizing force for the younger demographic that Napa wineries are desperate to reach. "There's this renaissance of young energy there," he says. "It's healthy for that community to have that youth energy."
Music is a fixture of their relationship. One wall of their living room is devoted to old concert posters advertising Franti's gigs at classic San Francisco venues. A pair of guitars rests in one corner; an electric piano is tucked into another, next to a turntable and some vinyl records.
The two will make a weekend out of their next trip to Wine Country when they visit in late May for this year's BottleRock festival. The thing they're most looking forward to? Franti didn't hesitate: seeing the Red Hot Chili Peppers perform.
"When I proposed to Sara, she was wearing a Red Hot Chili Peppers tank top," he said. "We have a family mantra: 'Be your best, serve the greater good, and rock out wherever you are.' Sara repping the shirt definitely hits the rock out part."
Catch Franti live
Franti is performing at BottleRock, which runs May 22 to 24 in Napa. Tickets are available at www.bottlerocknapavalley.com. He is also performing at the Vines and Vibes benefit dinner on May 21 at Meadwood Napa Valley. Proceeds go to the Do It for the Love Foundation, which helps people with severe illnesses, disabled children and wounded veterans. Tickets are available at www.doitforthelove.org.
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