• Skip to Content
  • Skip to Footer
Humanitix logo
The Back Room's banner

Hostinformation

Host icon
The Back Room
3981 followers
The Back Room's logo
Add your details to follow The Back Room and get alerts for new events.
 
 
 
  • Website
  • Facebook

When, as a young man in 1981, Sam Rudin moved from his native Philadelphia to the East Bay, he quickly fell in love with the Freight & Salvage, Berkeley’s quirky little 87-seat concert hall.

Filled with comfortable thrift store furniture and an informal ambience of appreciative attentiveness, the Freight was a perfect fit for performers of modest renown and acoustically-based music.

As a solo (albeit high-energy) pianist, Sam’s music fit the bill, and the Freight became Sam’s home base. In the absence of other Freight-like rooms, Sam turned his solo performer attention to the outdoor fair and festival circuit, and later started the jazz/blues band Hurricane Sam & the Hotshots.

Now, maybe it’s all the energy he put into becoming a master piano teacher,  or maybe the fair and festival circuit just doesn’t have the right ingredients to nurture a high-profile career. Whatever the reason, despite critical acclaim, four CD’s, and a whole bunch of happy audiences, years later Sam was still a performer of modest renown, and he missed that great little room.

As the Freight grew and expanded, ultimately arriving at the gorgeous 420 seat theater that it occupies today, Sam started to feel that maybe it was up to him to recreate that wonderful small space. No longer a young man, it would be his late-life adventure.

Eventually, he found the perfect spot: a beautiful space with brick walls and vaulted wood ceilings right by the Arts District in downtown Berkeley. As of April 2016, it is open for business, complete with the requisite thrift store furniture.

The space is actually the back room of a larger building, so of course it is called The Back Room, and the tag line on its logo says it all – “an intimate place for music.”

The site, at 1984 Bonita Ave., also functions as Sam’s teaching studio, so if you’re looking for “The Piano Lessons You’ve Always Wanted,” now you know where to find them.

POWERED BY Humanitix logo

Tickets for good, not greed! Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits to charities providing education, healthcare and basic necessities to humans across the globe

Events

Trillian Welch: I Dream a Highway - The Songs of Gillian Welch
Thu, Jul 10, 8pm - 10pm PDT 
Trillian Welch: I Dream a Highway - The Songs of Gillian Welch
The Back Room, Berkeley CA, United States
David Byrd & Sam Rudin
Fri, Jul 11, 8pm - 10pm PDT 
David Byrd & Sam Rudin
The Back Room, Berkeley CA, United States
Steinkoler Trio
Sat, Jul 12, 8pm - 10pm PDT 
Steinkoler Trio
The Back Room, Berkeley CA, United States
Blues & Jazz Singer's Jam Session with Sam Rudin & Pamela Rose
Sun, Jul 13, 3pm - 5pm PDT 
Blues & Jazz Singer's Jam Session with Sam Rudin & Pamela Rose
The Back Room, Berkeley CA, United States
Full Circle; Uttal & Uttal - Jai & Ezra in Concert
Sun, Jul 13, 7pm - 8:30pm PDT 
Full Circle; Uttal & Uttal - Jai & Ezra in Concert
The Back Room, Berkeley CA, United States
Mattias Thedens
Tue, Jul 15, 8pm - 9:30pm PDT 
Mattias Thedens
The Back Room, Berkeley CA, United States
Towse, Tomboy, Megan Claire
Wed, Jul 16, 7pm - 9pm PDT 
Towse, Tomboy, Megan Claire
The Back Room, Berkeley CA, United States
Silverman, Aks, Chow, Green, Turk
Thu, Jul 17, 8pm - 10pm PDT 
Silverman, Aks, Chow, Green, Turk
The Back Room, Berkeley CA, United States
Kanekoa
Fri, Jul 18, 8pm - 10pm PDT 
Kanekoa
The Back Room, Berkeley CA, United States
Lloyd Gregory and Carl Lockett: 2/3rds of The Guitar Trifecta
Sat, Jul 19, 8pm - 10pm PDT 
Lloyd Gregory and Carl Lockett: 2/3rds of The Guitar Trifecta
The Back Room, Berkeley CA, United States
Sam's Corner
Sun, Jul 20, 7pm - 9pm PDT 
Sam's Corner
The Back Room, Berkeley CA, United States
Yoav Konig Quartet with Flora Sullivan, Spencer Tantameng, Simon Aks
Wed, Jul 23, 7:30pm - 9:30pm PDT 
Yoav Konig Quartet with Flora Sullivan, Spencer Tantameng, Simon Aks
The Back Room, Berkeley CA, United States

Footer information

Find events

  • Search events

Host events

  • All features
  • Pricing
  • FAQs

Get in touch

  • Contact us
ACNC Registered Charity Logo

Humanitix logo
© Humanitix Limited 2025
Privacy policy Terms of use
  • Things to do
    • Search all events
  • Create an event
    • Ticketing platform features
    • Book a demo
    • Add a new event
    • Pricing
    • Popular topics
      • Free online event registration
      • Promote events for free
      • Features for modern event management
      • Selling event tickets online
      • Set up RSVPs for your event
      • List events online
  • Social impact
  • About us
    • About us
    • Blog
    • Careers
    • Our story
    • Partner charities and supporters
  • Help
    • FAQs
Humanitix logo