Read.Eat.Listen: Ode to Trees

I've been thinking about trees and firewood all week. Not because of Tiger Woods (though he of course entered the consciousness), or because fellow songwriter Grace Woods had her Cd release this week (a fine showing at GAMH) but because a windstorm came through and blew down some maple tree branches from the trees in front of the house. All week, a tree crew has been trimming the over-full branches, filling the sidewalk and front yard with red and gold leaves before sending it all through a wood chipper. Before the tree workers went through it all, several strangers actually knocked on the door to see if they could collect some of the pretty branches and leaves. The limbs are fab for ornamentation but alas, not burnable, which is too bad as it's been cold. I learned the importance of making a fire early from my dad, and before that, the even larger importance of making sure there was enough firewood to last one through the winter. Which trees to cut, and when, figured into his thinking year-round. The best, longest burning wood was reserved for the holidays (madrone was special, oak & eucalyptus fairly pedestrian). Wood, and thus, trees (& vice-versa) were important to my dad, whether they were the ones he cut for firewood, or those he planted for fruit and ornamentation. Trees meant something to him, a person who wasn't so into things. Since then, I've met builders and luthiers who think about wood in a similarly reverential way (albeit their method of lighting/igniting wood is different). So anyhow, a very nostalgic ode to wood:
Read: A Natural History of American Trees
Eat: *only if you're on the road: The Nut Tree Restaurant, Vacaville * It's not what it was, but a classic California road trip experience
Listen: "The Duck's Theme" from Peter & The Wolf. Another classic, here narrated by David Bowie.

Friday Festivities

I will be doing a Hayes Valley/Monterey one-two on Friday, December 4. Early @6 the Hayes Valley Block Party & later @10 at Jose's Underground Lounge in Monterey. Both should be super fun.

Hayes Valley Block Party- 6-9pm (I play @6)
Patricia's Green, Hayes & Octavia St.
San Francisco, CA 94102

Jose's Underground Lounge--doors 9/show 10pm
638 Wave St
Monterey, CA 93940
(831)655-4419

Read.Eat.Listen: Ode to Community

A sense of connection, and sense of community is never clearly illuminated as it is over the holidays. So I've been thinking a lot about community, what it is, what it can be, ideals and failings, and how and whether we determine our community by our family or origin or our families of choice. I've unwittingly spent most of my lifetime gravitating toward communities that starkly demonstrate connectivity, whether in college (environmental studies), years as a competitive cyclist (wins are determined by the strength or weakness the pack), yoga practice (union), music (union or discord, in stereo!), and social media (illustrations of our connectivity). Some tips and demos of Community in the Read.Eat.Listen vein:
Read: "Community: The Structure of Belonging" by Peter Block
Eat: Community tables at restaurants (in SF: Nopa, Dosa, Suppenkuche)
Listen: Bobby McFerrin Voicestra

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm not 'going home' or taking a plane anywhere for Thanksgiving. With siblings scattered about if not necessarily far and wide, the day is about friends and local community this year...and as always, pie. I'm making both pumpkin and apple this year for a brunch gathering before I hit two other events. Nonetheless, when someone asked me 'what made my pumpkin pie special?', I didn't have a great comeback (other than using spelt flour rather than white for the crust; turbinado sugar rather than refined for the filling). Frankly, I've always thought you couldn't go wrong with either provided your ingredients were solid: if the apples are killer you really don't need that much embellishment past cinnamon and perhaps a clove or two. But either way, I did a little research into alternative recipes and found some new potentials for both. How far I'll stray from my usual approach in the next 14 hours are open to debate, but with a little more planning (& shopping time), I'll be trying these recipes out:

Raw Pumpkin Pie by Wendy Rudell, from Raw Transformation
Gluten Free Pie Crust, from Whole Foods
Spiced Apple & Pear Pie (from the Food Network)

(and check out NPR's Thanksgiving Song Mix while you're in the kitchen)

Sending love & appreciation to my friends & my family. I am very grateful for the wonderful people in my life.

Grace Woods: On the busines of creating

Equal parts jazz singer and pop stylist, vocalist/musician Grace Woods has found a way to keep the passion of creation going while maintaining a quality that can be all too rare in an artist: realism. About to debut a new CD at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall and pick up her MBA, the California native, whose been compared to Fiona Apple and Regina Spektor, discussed business as community and what fans can expect at the show on December 3.

DC How did you begin performing? When did you say, 'OK, I'm going to really do this'?

GW It started building when I graduated college. I had made a lot of safe decisions in my life and switched focuses numerous times. I'd gone from wanting a degree in acting to wanting to be an Olympian water polo player to wanting to be a teacher. The common thread through the years was songwriting and performance. I did it regardless of time, future or money. In the quarter-life crisis I experienced after graduating college I asked myself what I would want to spend all my hours doing if I was not worried about security. The answer was undoubtedly music, the best channel for me to be loving and of service to myself and others.

DC You grew up in the Bay Area, moved a way and came back — Can you say how living here may (or may not) influence your sound? Who do you count as influences or mentors?

GW My sound is extremely Northern California in my mind. As fantastic as Southern California is, a lot of my songs have the sentiment of fighting many aspects of Southern California culture. The Bay Area seems to value originality and embrace an edgier side. My musical mentors are far removed—Stevie Nicks, Pat Benatar, Annie Lennox, Jewel's early years, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, Fleetwood Mac, Anna Netrebko.... the list goes on. It was only after touring for a while that I was told I sounded like the following people, so I have since become aware and began to appreciate them: Ben Folds Five, Regina Spektor, and Fiona Apple. I also love Tegan and Sara's rawness, the energy of Mates of State and the dynamic of Muse.

DC You’ve been balancing your music out with earning a business degree! How do you see these complimenting one another?

GW They have always been fused in my mind. I think music and business are both art forms. I think those who disagree simply haven't engaged in or ever enjoyed business. I see business as a way to create community, to show people a good time and talk to them about what they are looking for in life. Business is the reason big artists are able to keep making music. Many don't want to admit this, but the separation of business from passion is merely the cutting off of one's self from doing that passion for a living. I see no conflict between them; just a partnering. That said, I've spent a lot more time songwriting at the piano than in my textbooks lately.

DC You've a new Cd coming? How has this process compared with your other recording projects?

GW This CD, which is a 6-song project called "A Good Day in Red Paper," is a transitional piece. It closes the door on a period of my life when I was pulled in multiple directions. It starts to move away from the Broadway elements of the previous project, but it keeps Hemingway's ideas about "writing heard and clear about what hurts." Despite bittersweet lyrics, the rhythms and chords are pretty upbeat throughout. It's a nice way to round off 3.5 years with the trio.

DC Do you have any surprises planned for the show @ GAMH? What can we expect?

GW Lets see. I doubt that people are expecting to hear as many brand new songs as we are going to play. I've been writing so much and gigging so little that there is so much new stuff to put out there on top of the CD's highlights! Alex Karweit will be guesting throughout our set and Dogman Joe will also be making an appearance.

First pink, then green?

I did a wee bit of tabling on Sunday for Code Pink, the women-led grassroots peace & social justice movement, who were among the many exhibitors at the Green Festival. The Green Festival was a hall of good intentions. People sharing, selling and talking about raw food chocolate, organic cotton, co-housing, and green building materials crowded the Expo Center to its gills. It was groovy, it was inspiring, and it had its contradictions. Consumerism is consumerism, green or no, which isn't saying the Green Festival wasn't environmentally friendly, but true sustainability is a much deeper issue than wearing hemp.
A relatively slim corridor of Community Action exhibitors addressed many of these stickier aspects of humans attempting to live sustainably. Code Pink could be found in this area of the expo hall, and deep issues are what Code Pink, is about: stopping wars, respecting human rights, moving toward peace for all. What a tireless crew of women speaking out and finding creative ways to work toward a peaceable world! Perhaps a Pink Festival is needed? In the meantime, the CP site is a great resource.

Read.Eat.Listen: ode to small

My friend (& violin player) Yoon-Ki and her husband Koji just welcomed a new little baby. Shin'iji came in the world much earlier than expected and was less than 5lbs when he was born. I visited him & his mom at the preemie ward a few days before he was released to go home. All these little babies wearing beanies in 'iso-lets'! So small! So precious! Not that Shiniji or his nursery mates were 'minimal' in any way, but meeting him got me back to thinking how something small can contain so much, that less is often more, the word minimalism, and how spareness allows much more space than complexity or high drama can. Enough said about my half formed thoughts & where this may be going on a personal level. Here's my Read.Eat.Listen ode to minimal:

Read: Bashō, a Japanese master of haiku, was introduced to me at Naropa many years ago. A sample:

Husking rice,
a child squints up
to view the moon.

Eat: Poco Dulce chocolate tiles. Perfect sweets. Dark dark chocolate. One is enough.(Chocolate is a food group in my book)

Listen: After being obsessed with words & lyrics my whole life, I've been listening to composers more than lyricists this week. John Adams is a leading composer in minimalism. His piece "Transmigration of Souls" about 9/11, won the Pulitzer. It doesn't really feel minimal, but is noteworthy for how one can use 'plain language' to express a vast universe of feeling.