Sunset Show-stopper

By Kevin Davis

Folksinger and Inner Sunset District resident Brittany Safranek, a Czechoslovakian beauty voted "best smile" in her high school yearbook says she's "growing up" in San Francisco.

Before moving to the City, Safranek, 24, spent her first 18 years in Bariboo, Wisconsin - population 10,000. Her dad, a civil engineer, bought her a guitar just four years ago.

"He bought me a used one because he was afraid I would get sick of it," she says.

Influenced by writers from Charlotte Bronte to Lou Reed, Sylvia Plath to Emily Dickinson, Safranek says, "I saw singer/songwriters like Shawn Colvin and I said, 'I want to do that.'"

While she earned a bachelor's degree in English Literature at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, her guitar teacher, heavy metal-loving Michael Felling, insisted students play in front of a crowd as part of their lessons. She played "Leaving Las Vegas" by Sheryl Crow at an open mic night at the student union.

"Madison has a big music scene with lots of coffee houses to try out music. I built up confidence singing cover songs," she said.

Then, one day she and a friend dared each other to play an original composition.

"The friend backed out, but I didn't. I got a good response from people."

Reflecting on her roots and the development of her craft Safranek says, "I've been writing poetry for a long time. In the beginning I tried to put a melody to poems I'd written in high school. The songs that I consider my best I just come up with in a few minutes. I took creative writing classes and a song is just a really short story."

Then, with the help of her aunt Terri, also a musician, her uncle John, a recording engineer, and her two brothers, Josh and Justin, playing accompaniment, she recorded two CD's. Her first CD release party, covered by the school newspaper, The Madison Badger, was held at a local Steep-N-Brew.

"Now I feel more comfortable with my voice. I sit down with my poetry book and start strumming," she says.

"When I'm performing I think about what I was feeling when I wrote the song. I hope the audience interprets it the same way, that they're picking up on that same feeling. That's how I know I've written a good song, when they can relate to it."

Safranek lays out an ambitious blueprint for success. "Its important for me to achieve my goals, to accomplish everything I set out to do. It depends on how much you want it. If I keep working as hard as I am now, I can get there. My mom always knew I wanted to perform. I was very talkative as a child and I took ballet and jazz dance for 13 years. I also dreamt of writing short stories, but there's this other part of me that loves entertaining. Performing is always two things in one, the only career where I can entertain and make up stories too."

Safranek explained the inspiration behind some of her lyrics. One song, "Hollywood Grin," about a friend who just wanted to be famous, goes "Things are such a drag/ When no one knows who you are."

She says of the song "Good Cowboy, '"In college I was the only girl hanging out with this group of blues singers who had been playing together for 10 years. They thought it was unfair that I was up there on stage playing with not much experience. I wanted to get out of that group and into one that accepted me for who I was and who didn't want to compete with me." That sentiment inspired lines like, "Now I've got a big, big guitar. Kinda look bizarre."

Her song "Blue Lit Water" about Bariboo goes, "She grew up in a town/ That only made her younger."

"It's a town frozen in time, or at least a little bit behind in everything from fashion to movies. I was sheltered growing up there. Most of my friends lived on farms. For fun we'd go out to parks and swim in lakes," she says.

"I never want to feel sorry for myself so if I'm down and feel I can't go further I take one big step."

Safranek stresses that her indomitable spirit and can-do attitude has played in her career and she won't let the player-haters and nay-sayers intimidate her or rain on the "Brittany parade" as she pursues her singular vision.

"My album reiterates in different ways that I'm not giving up. I'm going to smile even though out in the real world not everyone is going to support or agree with me. That's what my dad always taught me to do. I'm like him in that way. Some people tried to discourage me. They had an opinion about when I should be releasing an album, like I should earn it first. I wrote songs to help me get through that time. I hope I don't ever get callous."

Safranek describes how the Sunset accommodates her art and provides an ideal environment for productive creativity. "Sometimes I still think I'm in Wisconsin because it's so peaceful and quiet. I spend a lot of time writing at home alone. Artists don't have to live next door to me. I can be involved in a community of female singer-songwriters in DivaBands (a cooperative that promotes, showcases and books engagements for female artists)."

"The DivaBands co-op formed six months before I moved here. It's helped my career and inspired me because each week I watch female artists do their stuff. People here appreciate original art."

Midwest music critics say Safranek's style is informed by Paul Simon, Natalie Merchant and Alanis Morisette while describing her guitar-playing skill, lyrics and delivery as variously "uncompromised, personal, haunting, weathered, lonely, hopeful, delicate and hypnotic." Her recent engagements have included the Hotel Utah, the SFSU Student Union, open mic night at Rock-N-Java and the Canvas Cafe on Ninth Avenue.

Like most struggling artists, Safranek has a day job. She works the phones as an administrative assistant for biology professors at UCSF.

"I like working around students. Maybe its because I don't want to grow up," she admits.

Safranek's CD's are available at Amoeba Records on Haight Street or at her website, www.earbuzz.com/brittanysafranek, or when she headlines the Sept. 8 SF Jam on the Green at McLaren Park. Her third CD, composed of San Francisco-themed songs, is currently in production.