Bay Station Love the Bay 2019: Episode Two featuring Yours Truly, Michele

Bay Station welcomes chanteuse and drummer Yours Truly, Michele aka Michele Kappel to the sailboat Espresso, for an afternoon conversation and concert on the Oakland Estuary of San Francisco Bay.

J.C. Hyke's Songwriter Serenade: Live Music Showcase in Arcadia

 I love the The Songwriter Serenade in Arcadia! And I'm happy to play another round, Tuesday, June 5, with yet another great group of artists curated by JC Hyke.  If you're in the greater LA area next week, come on out!

Bay Station Loves the Bay: Music & Sailing Adventure

Wow, what a ride the past weekend has been. Bay Station completed its mission on Memorial Day, sailing from Richmond to Alameda after a music-filled few days with some of our favorite friends in music. Below is just a sampling of some of the tiny boat concerts staged on Espresso. Check out the Bay Station Facebook page for full videos! Thanks to all those who participated!

A post shared by Bay Station (@baystationband) on May 29, 2018 at 7:10am PDT

A post shared by Bay Station (@baystationband) on May 28, 2018 at 10:13pm PDT

A post shared by Bay Station (@baystationband) on May 28, 2018 at 8:12am PDT

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Hot Water Tour 2017: Soak in the Sounds of Sultry Americana withAireene Espiritu, Deborah Crooks and "Yours Truly, Michele"

Poster design by "Nemo"

Excited about the "Hot Water Sessions" I'm doing with Aireene Espiritu and Yours Truly, Michele in May! Join us in some great venues in Niles, San Francisco, Suisun City and/or Alameda:

Wednesday, May 17th @

Hot Water Sessions 2017 Kick-Off Party at

The Mudpuddle Shop

37433 Niles Boulevard

NILES, CA

7-10pm

Donations welcomed. Limited seating, RSVP https://www.facebook.com/events/1860826930831504/

Thursday, May 18th

Hot Water Sessions @

The Lost Church

65 Capp St

SAN FRANCISCO, CA 

7:30-10:30pm

$10 advance/ $15 day of show. A #FolkFightsBack Benefit event! Advance tickets recommended: http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1459109

Friday, May 19th 

Hot Water Sessions @

Barkissimo: A Floating Oasis

600 Solano St.

SUISUN CITY, CA

7-10pm

$20  RSVP to boatysattva @gmail.com

Barkissimo is located in the heart of downtown Suisun City, across the grand plaza from Main Street. Bring a home made dish to share with the community.

Saturday, May 20th 

Hot Water Sessions @

Hopmonk Tavern

224 Vintage Way

NOVATO, CA

1-4pm

Donations welcomed. In the beer garden.

Sunday, May 21st 

Hot Water Sessions @

A Private House Concert 

ALAMEDA, CA

6-9pm

$20. Limited seating,  RSVP to baystationband@gmail.com

More about the artists: 

Aireene Espiritu 

http://www.aireeneespiritu.com/

"Folk singer-songwriter Aireene Espiritu works in the elemental substance of vernacular American music with an uncanny ease. Whether blues, hillbilly, soul, folk or R&B...[she] demonstrates masterly command of each."- Jonny Whiteside, Los Angeles Times

Deborah Crooks

http://deborahcrooks.com/

"California songwriter Deborah Crooks’ is simply too original to be a singer who will be known as someone who sings like…like no one. She changes gears seamlessly and in regards to Lucinda [Williams], Deborah may have a wider pallet of styles than even Lucinda." - John Apice, No Depression 

Yours Truly, Michele http://michelekappelstone.com/

"She’s a celebration. No matter your mood, you’ll walk away with a smile. It’s cheaper than therapy." Tony DuShane, San Francisco Chronicle

With a sound infused with 60s pop, shadowy torch songs, and touched by by Americana Roots-Rock, it is truly Michele Kappel’s own brand of music.

March 15, 2017: Original Songwriter Showcase at The Octopus Literary Salon, featuring Bob Hillman, Maggie Forti & Peter Whitehead

I'm hosting another run of songwriter shows at The Oakland Octopus Literary Salon this year, kicking off what will be a quarterly event, Wednesday, March 15, 2017 at 7pm.  March features three great artists: Bob Hillman, Peter Whitehead and Maggie Forti. Don't miss it! The entry ($5-10 suggested) is a steal, plus the Octopus is cozy, has delicious and nutritious food and drink. 

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SONGWRITERS SHOWCASE

March 15, 2017 7pm

Octopus Literary Salon

2101 Webster Street
Oakland, CA 94501

all ages, $5-10 suggested

[NBC] Peter Whitehead: Anything You Want to Do Is Going to Work Eventually from Oresti Tsonopoulos on Vimeo.

Songwriters in the Round at The Octopus Salon Dec. 21 w/Alex Walsh, Briget Boyle, Steve Waters & Deborah Crooks

Now, more than ever, I'm feeling its that much more important to gather to listen and to share. If we artists are doing our job right, our work will tap into, reflect and express all that it means to be human. Hopefully we'll build a bit more connection and understanding between all, and transcend some of our differences. Toward that lofty goal, I'm hosting another round of songwriters at the Octopus Literary Salon in Oakland this month. I'll hope you'll join me, along with Alex Walsh, Briget Boyle and Steve Waters, for an evening of song sharing. 

Wednesday, December 21, 2016, 7pm

Songwriters in the Round at The Octopus Literary Salon
2101 Webster Street
Oakland, CA The Octopus is close to 19th St BART. $5-10 suggested, all ages. 

Thursday June 9: A Night of Americana at The Ivy Room

This week's fun: Thursday, June 9 at the Ivy Room in Albany, Bay Station shares a with Kate Burkart and Nate Jones & The Sloe Sippers, it's going to be a fine night. Three bands, $7, good vibes; hope to see you there!

Thursday, June 9th, 2016

Bay Station (full band) at The Ivy Room

with Nate Jones & The Slow Sippers, Kate Burkart Band

858 San Pablo Ave
Albany, CA 94706
510-524-9299
 Show starts at 8pm;  Price: $7. Bay Station plays at 10:30

 

San Francisco International Arts Festival: Peter Whitehead's Mini Music Marathon

One of my favorite SF artists, musician/composer/songwriter Peter Whitehead is doing something really cool as part of the San Francisco International Arts Festival which wraps up this weekend, a mini music marathon! For eight hours, Peter will hold down Gallery 308, now filled with his instruments, and improvise with invited collaborators all afternoon and early evening. 

Musical Mini Marathon with Peter Whitehead

EIGHT HOUR MUSICAL MINI MARATHON  JUNE 4 12 NOON - 8PM

FORT MASON BUILDING A GALLERY 308             TICKETS www.sfiaf.org $20 in advance, $25 at door. One ticket good all day,  re-admission allowed.

 Whitehead will remain on the stage throughout the performance with guests joining him every hour for half hour collaborations.

GUEST SCHEDULE:  

12.30 -1.00  David Samas - Instrument builder,collector - various unusual items & voice

 1.30 - 2.00  Bart Hopkin -  Renowned instrument builder and author - unique invented instruments

 2.30 - 3.00  Daryl Henline - Composer, choir master - Voice, various instruments 

 3.00 - 3.30  David Molina - Multi instrumentalist, composer, builder

  

 3.30 - 4.00  Patti Trimble -  Bay Area Poet and writer.

  

 4.30 - 5.00  Sudhu Tewari - Redesigned electronics, springs, looping, effects, noise.

  

 5.30 - 6.00  Norman Rutherford - Viola da Gamba, bass clarinet, sonar and other instruments

  

 6.30 - 7.00  Sarah Shelton Mann - Legendary SF Choreographer, teacher, performer, writer -     readings, dowsing

  

 7.30 - 8.00  Stephen Kent - Didgeridoo virtuoso, multi instrumentalist and radio host.  

San Francisco Arts Festival: "HERE"

Several friends are featured in the San Francisco International Arts Festival taking place today through June 5. This weekend CALI & Co and Matt El bring there HERE show to Cowell Theater.

CALI & CO dance/
Matt EL
with guest collaborators
Kyoungil Ong and
Sooyeon Lyuh (USA, Korea)

HERE

Friday May 20, 7:00pm
Saturday May 21, 9:30pm
Sunday May 22, 2:30pm
Duration: 80 minutes (both companies)

Shared bill with Dana Lawton Dances

Cowell Theater
Tickets: General Admission
$20 in advance, $25 at door

HERE captures the rapture of existence through a new piece de resistance by CALI & CO dance/Matt EL music with guest collaborators Kyoungil Ong/Ong Dance Company and Sooyeon Lyuh. HERE is a rare, creative amalgamation of identity and culture through traditional Korean dance and music with American modern dance and rock music. Coursing shadow and light through its structure, HERE seeks to highlight the beauty and soften the pain of existence. 

Bay Station "Go Out and Make Some" National Tour

Bay Station is celebrating the release of Go Out and Make Some with a full band show at Amnesia in San Francisco, on March 24, before setting out across the US performing as an acoustic duo. 

BAY STATION 2016 SPRING TOUR

March 24 San Francisco, CA Amnesia
March 25 Los Angeles, CA MUSE on 8th
March 26 Phoenix, AZ Fiddler's Dream Coffeehouse
March 27 Bisbee, AZ Bisbee Grand Hotel Bed & Breakfast
March 29 San Antonio, TX Fralo’s
March 30 San Antonio, TX Sanchos
March 31 Austin, TX The Driskilll
April 1 Dallas, TX Opening Bell Coffee
April 2 Flora, MS The County Seat
April 3 Atlanta, GA Red Light Cafe
April 6 Knoxville, TN Preservation Pub
April 7 Nashville, TN Two Old Hippies
April 8 St. Louis, MO Stone Spiral (early)
April 8 St. Louis, MO Evangeline's Bistro & Music House (late)
April 9 Lawrence, KS Gaslight Gardens
April 11 Taos, NM Adobe Bar
April 12 Santa Fe, NM The Cowgirl BBQ
April 13 Flagstaff, AZ Cultured
April 16 Joshua Tree, CA Joshua Tree Saloon Bar & Grill

Go Out and Make Some is a true melting pot of Americana, blues, jazz and rock and roll, with songs about love, lust, sandy beaches, dusty roads, wandering holy men, wolf birds and more.

 

More information new dates being added at http://baystationband.com/ 

Bird Songs II: "I Like Birds" "Broken Wings Heal" and "Proud Penguin"

More selections from the world of contemporary bird-referencing songs. 

"I Like Birds" by The Eels
This punchy number caught my ear more than a decade ago when a friend turned me on to The Eels. No birder pretension here, just simple bird appreciation:

"I can't look at the rocket launch
The trophy wives of the astronauts
And I won't listen to their words
'Cause I like birds

I don't care for walking downtown
Crazy auto-car gonna mow me down
Look at all the people like cows in a herd
Well, I like birds

If you're small and on a search
I've got a feeder for you to perch on"

"Razor Wire" by Carolyn Aiken
There are bird references all over Aiken's latest recording, Broken Wings Heal, and the title track itself is a confident ode to healing. But "Razor Wire" is the heartbreaking gut punch of the album, a song I first heard live at The Freight a last summer:
"behind razor wire
sings a song bird
her heart beats strong
her spirit flies free
undaunted and sublime
she sings to the sun and the wind and the trees
she remembers in her dreams
Outside her confines
she knows what it’s like
flying tandem with her kind
free to dive and climb and be
and she…dreams
of the time she will fly
and readies her wings
calming her mind
knowing that all that stands between her and the sky
is time."

 
"Proud Penguin" by Jamie Purnell
Purnell is a Bay Area songwriter I met at FAR-West. He performed this song live the other night at the KC  Turner Presents Shhhongwriters Open Mic at Doc's Lab. A shorty and powerful ditty about flying, swimming, being only who you can be and self acceptance, I couldn't help but love it. 
"hey there seagull, it's fun to swim in the sea/I may not be able to fly, but I'm happy to be me."

Know of a fairly-recent (post-2000) "bird song" I should hear? Please email me! 

Songwriters in the Round at Oakland's The Octopus Literary Salon, January 20, 2016

A new series at this heart-of-Oakland center for the arts! Every other month, featuring Bay Area and touring artists playing their music in the round. January's lineup is great!:

Melissa Phillips (with James DePrato)
www.melissaphillipsmusic.com/
Michael McNevin
www.michaelmcnevin.com/
Paul Griffiths
www.paulgriffithsmusic.com
host Deborah Crooks
www.deborahcrooks.com

The Octopus is a literary salon,* re-interpreted in the 21st Century to engage and entertain readers, writers, musicians, artists of all ages in Uptown Oakland, California. The Octopus Literary Salon includes a most excellent café with delicious food, beer & wine, a small-scale specialty used and new bookstore (we sell used records too!), and a space for public readings and discussions as well as other literary spontaneity and, of course music performance.

Bird Songs: "All Over Ohio", "Birds Fly South" & "Scarecrow"

photo by Don McCullough

As I'm one of those lifelong bird people (I considered a bird-related career path in college, studying natural history and working to release peregrine falcons for the Predatory Bird Research Group) I notice the actual and metaphorical birds wherever I am, and birds tend to show up routinely in my own writing. But even music lovers who are the most disinclined to ornithology know many bird-related songs: The Beatles "Blackbird," Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds" and Skynyrd's "Freebird" (like it or not) are pretty much of the modern-day canon. At a concert last summer, I was struck again at how often birds appear in lyrics, even among songwriters that aren't really "birders." The past few months I've started "collecting" contemporary (post-2000) bird-referencing songs, and will be sharing my favorites here. Know of a fairly-recent "bird song" I should hear? Please email me. 
In the meantime, here's a sampling of some of my recent favorites: 
 
"All Over Ohio" by Over the Rhine
I swoon over the sensibilities of Over the Rhine in general, who call an Ohio farm home between their own musical peregrinations,  and whose lyrics bespeak their deep connection to place. They know their land deeply, as well as the creatures who share it. "All Over Ohio," sung in duet, is a long, lovely tour both of place and the birdly need to come and go: 

"And the starlings they were flying
Earlier today
Doing their maneuvers
Clouds of feathers on display
Makes me wanna kneel in prayer but
I’ve forgotten what to say
I’ll just name all the birds in Ohio
...

All I wanna be is a thousand black birds*
Bursting from a tree into the blue
Love – let it be not just a feeling
But the broken beauty
Of what we choose to do"

*Listen to an actual blackbird call HERE.
 

"Birds Fly South" by The Mastersons  
The Mastersons, an Austin-based duo, also evoke bird migration in the title track of their 2012 release, a song about their own need to move, the pull of the heart, the mystery and reasons  of why humans and animals pick up and go when they do. 
Birds fly south, before the cold
all night, I'm going to drive
New York's getting me down
run out of reason to hang around
that's why birds fly south, 
when it all comes down 
All night, I'm going to drive
Will you be, right by my side?


"Scarecrow" by Michael McNevin 
This is one of my all-time favorite songs for a lot of reasons: not only it it a great evocation of the behavior of gulls* (the species of sea bird I've projected upon this song), its a beautiful love song, period. I believe its won some awards, and I've a CD containing the song, but it's hard to find online to easily share.  Fortunately, for these purposes, there's this video (Track McNevin down at one of his shows or hit him up at Muddpuddle Music if you want your own copy.) I heard him sing it the first time I saw him perform and became an insta-fan. 
She's a sea bird I'm a scarecrow
She came to rest upon my elbow
She flys fast I watch the corn grow
Will she come back, well damned if I know
Damned if I know
 ...
She's a sea bird I'm a scarecrow
Will I turn to driftwood in the shallows?
Damned if I know, damned if I know

*Listen to an actual California gull call HERE.

 
(McNevin's also got a song called "Early Bird" worth giving a listen)

On the path, less so on the blog

"I am circling around God, around the ancient tower, / and I have been circling for a thousand years, / and I still don't know if I am a falcon, or a storm, / or a great song." — "The Seeker," a poem by Rilke in his Book of Hours (translated by Robert Bly)

Thank you for reading Bird in the Tree! Though I continue to write, I'm going on a bit of a blogging hiatus. Writing is much on my mind, in my hand and in song, though blogging (as I've been doing it) hasn't felt like the most accurate expression for me at the moment. While I play with other forms, you can find more of what I'm up to that's ready for eyes and ears at my Music Site HERE and on Soundcloud HERE. I'm also a contributor to No Depression which you can find HERE. And finally I'm a big fan of Instagram.  Stay in touch!

Patterns, tracks and a lone #pelican amid the gulls and geese. #Alameda #beach #sfbay

A photo posted by Deborah Crooks (@deborahrcrooks) on Dec 4, 2015 at 12:09pm PST

Desert Postcard: A week in the Mojave

Moonlight Mesa under the sun.

A visit to Radio Free Joshua Tree

Another sunrise

Joshua Tree is beginning to feel like a home away from home. Sunrise, sunset, ravens, rabbits, writing, singing, playing and strolling the desert mesas and trails is good for the soul. I'm so grateful for this piece of land and sky. 
As most areas of beauty in these times, there's careful balance to be struck between conservation and recreation. You can find out more about the hard-won, and always in need of protection, California Desert Conservation Area via The Center for Biological Diversity.

'Something Special' EP Release August 29 at Awaken Cafe

EP Release Party: Saturday, August 29th, 2015 in Oakland, with Deborah Crooks, Yours Truly, Michele, and Loretta Lynch 

Awaken Cafe

"Something Special" EP Release - 8pm

1429 Broadway (@ 15th Street)

Oakland, CA 94612

Price: $7 adv/$10 dos

I'm so looking forward to playing with the band in celebration of my Something Special  EP. Please join me, Saturday, August 29,  as I showcase songs from the EP on a bill with two of my favorite bands Loretta Lynch and Yours Truly, Michele.

Loretta Lynch: 8pm With dreamy three-part harmonies, raucous, surf-tinged guitar and more than a bit of tongue in cheek, the East Bay Area’s own alt-country outfit Loretta Lynch’s stirring songs reach the shady grove in all of us. A little tear in your beer, a little knife in the back – think "O Brother Where Art Thou" meets the Andrews Sisters’ disreputable cousins at a warehouse hoedown. It’s Americana Noir.

Yours Truly, Michele: 9pm Michele Kappel-Stone began singing onstage as a teenager, when she donned a head-to-toe white leotard and crooned “Sex in Wetsuits” as part of the multi-media avant theater company Impossible Industrial Action. The Baltimore native’s latest venture, Yours Truly, Michele, may best capture the heady mix of influences and experiences she can bring to any party simply by showing up.  With a sound infused with 60s pop and soul and infected by Americana Roots-Rock, YTM can evoke Debbie Harry, Erin McKeown, and Patsy Cline.

Deborah Crook: 10pm Deborah recorded Something Special earlier this year at Lost Monkey Studio in Hayward with Mike Stevens on drums, Kwame Copeland on guitars and Andrew Gibson on bass. The songs on the EP cover such topics as seeking transcendence in the myth of Bigfoot; recovering from a breakup in a 50s era LA Travelodge, and keeping the faith while being lost. Come take a listen!

Hear “India Street: on Soundcloud:

Read.Eat.Listen: Water & Weather

Some mornings are worth everything. Such was the case today, when after dropping Kwame at the airport, I stopped for a walk by "the birds" on the way home. That's what we've come to call the Elsie B Roemer Sanctuary on the west side of the east side of the island. The sun wasn't quite up, and everything was blue and pink, the only other folks on the trail were far and few between. The Sanctuary, however, was going off, a riot of Pelicans souring, Canada Geese honking, terns twittering and oyster catchers hueeping past. Alameda is a good place to be if you're not-so-secretly a bird geek.

I make a determination every week or so to get out to "the birds"  daily, but as I don't live in easy walking distance anymore, I often forget. The world is a wonder if you pause a moment to take it in. I'm reminding myself this as much as anyone else, who often forgets that all that I love is close by. Times like this morning are usually when I make the determination anew.

In the wake of the latest spate of climate change news  — thank you Obama for the Clean Power Plan — I've been reading up on sea level rise in California again. Many people have been trying to alert the masses to this eventuality for a few years now, and now word is really out. It's hard to imagine what this will mean for the place I call home. On a flood map, our little patch of island, is still that, an island, but the shore will be much closer. Then it will be easier to get out to "the birds"... if the birds are still having any of it...

Read: "Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life" by William Finnegan. I've only surfed (or tried to) a couple of times— alas, even growing up in Santa Cruz County I never lost my fear of the cold, changeable ocean. That said, I love the ocean, its coast and have always loved surf culture...and I LOVE this book, and have barely been able to put it down this week. I get the feeling Finnegan, a longtime writer for The New Yorker who has had a life-long push-pull affair with surfing, could rewrite a phone book so it was engaging, but this really is a notable memoir. Anyone whose spent time on the California coast or in Hawaii will appreciate the insider's view Finnegan depicts so well, from the people, to the waters to the tortures and rewards of loving something deeply. 

Eat: Japanese Sweet Potato. A humble vegetable that gives. I can and do eat them straight up. This is a recipe that splits the difference: Roasted Japanese Sweet Potatoes

Listen: We saw Ray Wylie Hubbard at The Freight last week, my first time seeing this Texas musician. Been there, seen it all, looked-under-every-rock, not-afraid-to-say-anything gritty goodness.

Read.Eat.Listen: Big Pictures

Another benefit to road-trips/tours is the capsule that the car becomes, be it for listening to music closely, having long conversations or reading. Last week's run up and down the 5, to Washington State and back for shows and family visits contained all of that. The passenger gets to be reader, sometimes to oneself, sometimes aloud, and much of my time on this trip was consumed with news and long-form essays on big picture issues. On the way North, it was climate change, on the way down I scared the bejesus out of us, reading aloud from the New Yorker article about the Cascadia Fault, while driving through the very landscape which would be irrevocably altered by a mega-earthquake. By the last day, we were in outer space, marvelling over the NASA reports about Pluto. I'm not sure why I'm seeking solace in geologic and space time, time where I'm small, a speck of animated dust just holding on like a bee in a hive, working for the honey. Part of it might be the sheer wow-factor: all this big science reminds me of how wondrous the facts, including our little lives, are. And part of it, I think, is that as much as I find the thought of huge earthquakes and tsunamis terrifying, I'm always glad to know the earth knows how to take care of itself even as we humans so often fail it.

Read: "The Earthquake That Will Devastate Seattle" by Kathryn Schulz, in The New Yorker. 
"When the End of Human Civilization Is Your Day Job"by John H Richardson, Esquire
A view of the worlds around us With the fly-by of Pluto, we now can visualize all of the planets in our solar system. Here's a two-minute tour of the sun and the nine planets. Posted by Los Angeles Times on Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Eat: Healthy eats at Harlow PDX

Portland was the food winner on this trip, and how nice we were staying walking distance from gluten-free veggie Harlow. Just read their menu and get the idea.

Listen: Kwame's brother Kwab Copeland is another fine musician writing and playing "raw, rustic verse set to rollicking badland bomp" (Chris Estey) out of Seattle. He, aka The Demon Rind, just released a winner in "Love Is Perfect":

Read.Eat.Listen: Tides & Vistas

In addition to mornings, views are one of my favorite things about life. Sometimes, I think I live for the long view: the broad expanse of sea and sky from a high mountaintop, the sweeping view of the East Bay from the 980 when you come off the Bay Bridge, the seemingly endless terrain of desert in the Mojave. There's no question, no answer, just that. A couple of weeks ago, we were up on Mt. Tam to play the Father's Day brunch and everything suddenly made sense again.
Of course a high wouldn't be a high without a low. The tides of peaks and valleys, dark and light go in and out, and I followed up that weekend with a few days holed away, looking back, while scanning a genealogy book my great-aunt put together. My aunt had chronicled six generations on my father's side, before passing away in 1998, and the book has languished on various relatives shelves til getting to my hands a couple of years ago. I don't know what finally clicked, but I finally turned toward it, and began the process of archiving her materials. I was struck, as I went through each page, by how much detail she had amassed pre-Internet,  and how much of the story of my family is a tide running back and forth between fighting wars and going back to the land to farm/ranch/homestead, inching East to Wests, with stops in the South and in the Rockies, and finally to California, over a couple of centuries. There are also many gaps and question marks about particular characters in this narrative – where did the great-grandfather get to between St. Louis and Oakland? Who was my aunt's first husband? Questions, questions. Suddenly I'm back in the fog.
Read:  And so All The Wild That Remains: Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner, and the American West by David Gessner feels like a friend this week, detailing the lives of two authors/activist I read avidly while in college, while traveling much of the terrain I knew well when I lived in Boulder, asking questions about motive and character, our relationship to land and our seemingly inevitable exploitation of its resources.  
Eat: Mint and summer just go together and throwing a bunch of fresh mint into a salad can be especially satisfying: "Kale/Tomato/Feta/Mint Salad"
Listen:Veruca Salt is back at it after a long break from recording.

Read.Eat.Listen: Shed

I'm thinking of the word 'shed' as in shedding skins. Like a snake, or a cat or dog in summer. We drove down to Joshua Tree again, to spend a week in a homesteader cabin seeing what arose. Or at least that's my main goal, to get quiet, shed my usual business of late, as much chatter as possible, and see what remains, or comes up. Two nights in, I'm feeling a bit lighter, aided and abetted by the impossibility of sleeping in around here. The sun rises at 5:33 and comes streaming through all parts of this updated cabin surrounded by BLM land and other historic homesteader tracts. Somewhere, beyond that flue sky, there's a full moon, June's Strawberry moon (in Saggitarious I'm told), but for the moment it's all about desert birdsong: a symphony of doves, quail, finches and the occasional whir of a passing hummingbird and 'churr' of a cactus wren. 

READ: A fun little book to read here, regarding local history, is "Jackrabbit Homestead: Tracing the Small Tract Act in the Southern California Landscape, 1938-2008" by Kim Stringfellow. The Small Tract Act was designed to "dispose of 'useless' federal lands from the public lands," allowing citizens "to lease up to 5 acres of desert for recreational purposes or for home or business." Fast-forward to now and you have a variety of interests - from artists to climbers, military families to outlaws, year-round residents to tourists - utilizing these tracts.

EAT: The UN recommends a vegan diet to combat climate change. Can you do it? I have at times, been vegan, but have wavered in the past few years. A turn toward a deeper shade of green maybe in order. www.epicuriousvegan.com

LISTEN: We loaded up the CD player with the work of several fine Bay Area musicians we know and appreciate, and whiled away the hours listening. None of these Cds are brand new, but all stand to give for some years. 

Gayle Lynn and the Hired Hands: Just Came Around 

Michael McNevin: 2010 Song Sampler

Jim Bruno: The Patron Saint of Lost Causes.