Far West Fest is Coming Up! July 21, 2012

Discounted advance purchase tickets are on sale now for the 7th annual Far West Fest, happening July 21st at Love Field in Point Reyes. Three stages of great, original acts will feature the Grammy-award winning, French/African Sisters Les Nubians with their big band. Also funk, brass heavy-weights: Orgone! Vinyl, Spark and Whisper, Bo Carper (New Monsoon), MC RadioActive (Spearhead) and many more...including me! (On the OysterBed Stage at 11) Voted "The Best Music Festival in Marin" the Far West Fest offers oysters! and plenty more quality farm-to-table local food, beer and wine tasting, arts and crafts vending, and  The Kidz Zone. It all benefits worthy causes: Community Radio, youth programs and open space. Discounted advance tickets are available now http://farwestfest.org/

Voted Best Music Festival in Marin County. See you July 21st!

Good Times for the Greater Good!

July 21^st

11am-7:30pm

Love Field, Point Reyes, CA

Tickets On Sale for Far West Fest

The 7th Annual Far West Fest is going to be another great day in Point Reyes. I'll be playing on the acoustic stage amid a slew of other musicians, artisans and purveyors of yummy food in one of the best areas in the world.
Tickets to Far West Fest go on sale June 8, 2012 at noon. Get yours ASAP.

SXSW: Class acts

We went in more for the tried and true — Chuck Prophet, Peter Case, Alabama Shakes, Barbara Lynn & Alejandro Escovedo & His Orchestra — rather than the shiny and new acts in listening department yesterday. Chuck Prophet is completely on, rocking the Ginger Man Pub's crowded back patio with songs from his new CD "Temple Beautiful" before going on to play about a half dozen more gigs around Austin. I knew a couple of Case's tunes  but went more on the recommendation of friends and was reminded upon entering the packed club that he was in The Plimsouls. You know "A million miles away...." The sheer density of music happening on 6th street gets a little too oppressive for my tastes and once again, we found our way back to Austin's South Congress District. Austin's eminence grise,  and one of my favorite musicians,  Alejandro Escovedo would be performing with his orchestra to close out the evening at SX San Jose and he had two amazing 'openers.' Alabama Shakes are a newish band with old souls and major pipes. And while they are just debuting their first CD in April, but they've been riding high on the success of a single "Hold On" and it was another crowded if satisfying listening experience. But the next act, unexpected to me, was the real highlight of the day. R&B pioneer Barbara Lynn has been playing music longer than I've been alive. She's had her tunes covered by The Rolling Stones, toured with B.B. King, and is one of the best female lead guitarists I've ever seen play. Finally, Alejandro came out to his overjoyed hometown crowd, performing a hard-driving set which included a couple slower songs including a gorgeous new song "San Antonio Rain," co-written with... Chuck Prophet! And how can you not love a guy whose encore is "Rock the Casbah"? It was a great day of music. Some scenes from Austin, March 16, 2012:

Texas music royalty:the amazing Barbara Lynn tears it up

Chuck Prophet &The Mission Express play to a packed patio

SXSW: The games begin

Well, the games have been going on all week for those who attend the Interactive, Film and Music portions of SXSW. But having arrived in Austin late, late Wednesday on the Local Music Vibe/Chuck Prophet van express, my experience of the annual festival waking up with coffee and The Punch Brothers at KUT Live at the Four Seasons. This was a kind of no-fail choice: I knew how great The Punch Brothers were having had my mind blown by their musical alacrity a couple of years ago at The Living Room in New York. Five very accomplished guys on bass, mandolin, fiddle, guitar and banjo who draw heavily on their bluegrass roots but owe as much to jazz. They're playing all over Austin in the next couple days so catch them if you can.
Fortified, we wandered down 6th St. to meet up with some friends, acclimate to the rapidly filling streets and high level of beer consumption and see what we'd happen upon...which included a Canadian Guitar Showdown with a spot by Telecaster titan Bill Kirchen, a tired Trampled by Turtles contemplating their next show by sitting on their gear outside the Tap Room, and Band of Skulls at Cedar St. We took refuge from the throngs among friends at LoungeFly SF's Showcase before heading to South Congress.

Home to Jo's Coffee, The Continental Club, Guerra's Tacos, Hotel San Jose and Yard Dog Art Gallery, the South Congress District  is my favorite place in the city. And they host their own unofficial SX San Jose event with live bands, drinks and general bonhomie.  We enjoyed the scene there before lining up for the Kelly Wilson and Bruce Robison show at the Continental Club's Gallery Annex. A little listening room upstairs from the main club, the Gallery small, cozy, and filled with keen listeners and avid fans of the married pair of songwriters. I've long heard of how great Willis is and just recently caught the fact that she was collaborating with her equally accomplished partner. Rootsy, warm and excellent at their craft— she's got one of those great sweet country voices— the duo and their band presented a spirited set of originals about love and heartbreak that made me believe in the power of playing music all over again.

Local Music Vibe: Hitting the Road to Austin

There's been great energy generating in the Alameda Local Music Vibe Meet-Up I started hosting earlier this month at High St. Station.  In just two meetings, two projects with serious legs have sprung up: a new songwriter showcase in Alameda kicking off in April and what's going to be a cross-country adventure in March.  The latter development I couldn't have predicted as it involves me hitting the road to Austin with Local Music Vibe founder Shelley Champine...in Chuck Prophet's van. If anyone out there doesn't know, Chuck Prophet is perhaps San Francisco's preeminent rockin' songwriter. Chuck's touring Europe leading up to his appearance(s) at SXSW so he reached out to the San Francisco Bay Area music community and Local Music Vibe stepped in. Shelley and I are going to be blogging about the trip at Local Music Vibe and searching out local music scenes along the route. If you've any tips for us about musicians or venues in the Southwest, we want to hear about 'em. Stay tuned for more here or at Facebook or follow me and LMV on Twitter: twitter.com/deborahcrooks and twitter.com/LocalMusicVibe.

India: Always Something to Celebrate

I missed Diwali, the 'festival of lights' and most important Indian festival, by a week or so. A cause of major celebration, Diwali is celebrated with great enthusiasm by residents. But I missed the earthshaking firecrackers and complete chaos of lights and lamps and exploding bottle rockets that fill the streets each evening this year. Still, it seems there's always cause for a celebration, at least in Mysore. Sunday, there was a small festival whose honorary deity or event I never quite grasped, that saw the town's rickshaw drivers dressing up their vehicles in flowers, palm fronds and banana leaves, and locals setting up shrines and stages in front of banks and down side streets. It meant a cancelled afternoon outing due to a dearth of rickshaw drivers and a hard night's rest as a combination of live acts and tracks blared late into the night. Likewise, some folks evidently kept some of those Diwali firecrackers for such an occasion. All well and good for the local residents but a little distracting for foreign yoga students who had a 4:30 a.m. led class. Thank god for strong chai.

Lilith Local Talent: Please Vote!

Lilith Fair, the pioneering women-led music festival that Sara Mclachlan founded in the 1990s, is back! And they're giving locals a chance to take a turn on the Lilith Stage at each stop. Of course I'd love to play and I can't do it without your vote. I appreciate if you my chances by voting at Ourstage between now and May 21. Here's how:
1. Sign up at http://Ourstage.com with a Fan account
2. Go to http://www.ourstage.com/profile/deborahcrooks/and CLICK THE "FAN" TAB
3. Click the Green Tab that says "MAKE THIS MY FAVORITE ARTIST"
4. Click the "JUDGE" TAB on Top
5. On the right select "LILITH FAIR CONTEST"
6. Choose "LILITH FAIR : San Francisco/Los Angeles/San Diego
7. Listen to at least 15 seconds of each song. Choose your favorite. Continue until you reach "FALLING - DEBORAH CROOKS" Choose it as your favorite "BY FAR" and put it at the TOP of the list.

Many thanks!

finding the green

Green business, green design and sustainability are buzz words these days. SF is even hosting The Green Festival this weekend to showcase all the ways you can lesson your carbon footprint, go organic and eat healthy for the planet, etc. I was planning to go to the Green Festival—Deepak Chopra is talking and a lot of the YogiTimes crew will be in attendance—and then I saw the news. All the talk in the world can't make the oil spill in the Bay any better...major bummer. I felt the way I did in my environmental studies classes at UCSC back in the day--where to start when things are so dire?
I was overwhelmed looking at the photos of oiled birds this a.m. but I know, with concerted effort, progress can be made. I live in a now-hip neighborhood that was a pile of rubble after the 1989 earthquake; in college, I spent summers helping the Predatory Bird Research group with falcon releases, eventually helping get peregrines off the endangered species list (there's another reason this blog is called Bird in the Tree). So this weekend, pre-show and maybe instead of the Green Festival, I'm looking into what help the Bay clean up crew needs- maybe I can help de-oil a scoter or two.
"I've seen people try to change/and I know it isn't easy" sings Norah Jones on a recent release...a line I know and understand very well. But just because change ain't easy don't mean it ain't possible!
Above and beyond ER triage for Bay cleanup, I hope those who use cars to question their transportation options today, and everyday forward. Oil barrels are moving toward the $100 mark, Gore won the Peace Prize for his pretty darn alarming environmental doc, and a lot of the sky is falling-so what else does it take to wake up?
Bike. Walk. Use Biodiesel. Take the bus. Carpool. And check out these organizations.
Save the Bay
Marine Mammal Center
San Francisco Bike Coalition
and
Ecotality
Baykeeper

Talking Music

Noise Pop and City Arts Lectures Talking Music event "Remembering Nick Drake" turned into a fascinating discourse on the up and down life of artists, changes in the music industry, how good work survives and the tragedy—and mystery—of suicide. Nick's sister Gabrielle and producer Joe Boyd along with one of the local creme-de-la-creme of singer songwriters Jolie Holland discussed Nick's artistic mastery 30 years after the songwriter died from an overdose of antidepressants (A box set of Drake's work is being re-released along with a DVD "A Skin Too Few" hence the stateside appearance of his gracious sister Gabrielle and Boyd). Still in his 20s, Island Records had released three records of his elegant guitar-based poetic songs to little notice. The music; however, withstood the test of time and took off when "Pink Moon" appeared in a Volkswagon commercial several years ago. But Drake received little notice when he was alive. The support of both his label and loving family couldn't help Drake stomach the public's indifference or the realities of touring as an unknown. Other revelations of the evening included hearing about the beauty of Drake's mother's poetry and songwriting (both of his parents were musicians and his dad recorded the family signing from an early age) and the large influence it had on his life and work.

On the way home, Dave and I stopped at my favorite neighborhood bar Absinthe to continue the conversation over drinks. Having gone there post gig with a guitar on my back, I now know the host, Brad Smith, not only makes everyone welcome he's also a very fine banjo player. Brad was in the house so our talk inevitably turned to the line-up at this weekend's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass fest and other memorable shows. We're all looking forward to Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, two of this generations most sensitive, excellent and humble songwriter/musicians. Hardly Strictly is full of the sort of musician who leave it to their chops to do the talking. Buddy Miller with Boz Scaggs, and the increasingly iconic Emmylou Harris are also must-see and hears.