Russell Butler Synthesist, Designer, Technician

What are you up to these days? Designing exhibits at the Children's Creativity Museum , working on my next Black Jeans album, preparing to play SXSW in March, helping my friends in Gold Wave get into modular synthesis, and building my own synthesizer (eventually).

SF is... diverse, beautiful, and occasionally unaware of how special it is.

Who's your favorite quintessential local character? Ben who runs  Tundra Dubs . He's a hard-working, dedicated, and enthusiastic fixture of the Bay's electronic music scene. Plus he's super nice and a good friend. 

Where would you have your last meal on earth? I would probably order everything off of the menu at Starbelly (tripling an order of sardines). 

What local merchant have you been meaning to check out?   Rocker Guitars  in SOMA. It seems so mysterious to me and I think I saw a guy walking away from there with a Roland Juno 106, so maybe they have some buried synth gems. 

Why do you love your neighborhood? I haven't lived in the Mission for that long, but its interesting to live in the neighborhood that everyone decides to get crazy in, while many still live here to raise families and go about their business. Whether it's bars being slammed on the weekends, the characters at 16th and 24th Street BART, or the gnarly and dedicated artists, it's lively, multi-faceted, and diverse, which always makes for a good neighborhood in my book.