Earthquakes past and present

The view of Dry Creek Valley from Sbragia Winery

As timing would have it, we had a gig in wine country on Sunday. It was in Sonoma County rather than Napa, but like most people living in the Bay Area, we'd felt the earthquake in the wee hours of the morning. Like most California natives, the feel of an earthquake is familiar. The first hints of movement, the approaching tremors and then the peak of the shake. Kind of like thunder in the earth. This one felt long and steady (I think I woke up after the sharpest of the jolts), not enough to get out of bed but enough for us to know it wasn't an inconsequential tremor. It felt to me that we were at or very near the center of something moderate...or somewhere not too far away, some peoples lives were changing considerably...which they were. My best wishes are going out to those in  Napa who are reeling from the 6.1 quake's aftermath, and whose nerves are likely rattling from the 80+ aftershocks.

While I don't think of moving from California when an earthquake reminds me how fragile things really are, something primal in the survival department does get rattled. The earth moving is an awesome event, period. And I have instant recall of the two other largish and large earthquakes I've been in (5.9 in 1979 and 7.1 in 1989, both while I was living in Santa Cruz), down to what I did (ducking and covering under a dining room table and doorway respectively), and who I was with, and also that knowing that 'this one' is a 'big one.'
I had the brief  thought on Sunday that maybe we shouldn't go the gig in Geyserville because of the quake. There were bridges to cross, after all, and we'd be heading closer to the epicenter than we were here in Alameda. Then I realized how silly that was—that while we could control how close we were to a fault line, there are infinite risks inherent to living anywhere, but it's the living, as risky a proposition as that can be, that's the point. And so we made the drive, and enjoyed playing atop a beautiful hill with a bucolic view of Dry Creek Valley.

Tonight in Cloverdale: Wine & Music

TONIGHT! Chickapalooza! A Benefit Concert for VH1 Save the Music Foundation

Amber Snider & Silo's Music Club present: Chickapalooza! A Benefit Concert for VH1 Save the Music foundation.

Featured Performers & Show Times:
Kristen Van Dyke 7-7:45pm
Katie Knipp 8-8:45pm
Deborah Crooks Trio 9-9:45pm
Amber Snider Trio 10-10:45pm

Doors 6p. $20 Gen Adm, $25 Reserved Seating ($14 Club Member Reserved) - Ticket price includes one raffle ticket. Additional raffle tickets can be purchased for $5 each. Several raffles will be held throughout the night after each artist's set for a chance to win their CDs / Merchandise and wine donated by Silos. Tickets available at www.silosnapa.com or at Door - 530 Main St, Napa, CA 94559

About the charity: A 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring music programs in America’s public schools, and raising awareness about the importance of music as part of each child’s complete education

The benefits of music education are astounding, and studies have consistently exposed the tremendously positive effect music education has on a child’s academic performance, sense of community, self-expression and self-esteem. But as schools across the nation increasingly face budget cuts and pressures, music is often one of the first subject areas to be cut. At VH1 Save The Music Foundation, we develop strategic partnerships with school districts to build sustainable instrumental music programs by providing grants of brand-new musical instruments to public elementary and middle schools. Our goal? To give every child in this country access to a musical instrument. Your help matters!

Tickets available at www.silosnapa.com or

Rehearsal!

Playing out & abouts: SF, Oakland, Walnut Creek

One of the best parts of performing is the variety of venues and people you meet. It's been a busy few weeks of shows about the Bay Area (including one coming up today, see below), we played radio stations and restaurants, brewpubs and cafes, art schools and a drawing room of a mansion. I love this kind of schedule, which is like being a bird flying about from rooftop to tree limb: your perspective, and your experience, is ever changing. The restless traveler feeds on this this: plus it makes coming up that much more

Scenes from the Bread & Roses Volunteer Appreciate Party

welcome, even if you haven't left town...which I'll do soon enough. But for now, I'm getting the set together for

Singing to wine lovers at KC Turner's Acoustic Bistro Series

an early evening at Pyramid Alehouse in Walnut Creek. If you're in the greater East Bay, come on out to Pyramid's beer garden. We're playing 6-9. Check the calendar for more....

The first of my summer dates at Pyramid Alehouse's Unfiltered Music Series dates is 5/26/13

Zinfandel Fest 2013: Food, Wine & Friends

When a friend invites you to a wine and food pairing party featuring more than 50 Zinfandel wines, well, you don't really say no. Thursday night was the Epicuria Food & Wine pairing at The Concourse in San Francisco, an all-out celebration of the many takes on bottling Zinfandel and the food it best compliments. A long-time fan of Pinot, I've come to enjoy Zinfandel more in the past couple of years (perhaps it's my Croatian roots showing? I learned Zinfandel grapes are genetically identical to a Croatian red grape, Crljenak Kaštelanski).

  Admittedly, it wasn't the best place to be a vegetarian and I missed out on many aspects of the pairing. However, my no-meat policy did help me moderate at an event where it was very easy to have too much of a good thing. With restaurants such as San Francisco's Sauce and Local Mission Eatery serving up, respectively, Beef Short Rib sliders and Confit Guinea Hen (paired with wines by Brazin and Les Sabores ) the event was a lesson in the merits of moderation as much as the perils of excess. Even if I did pass on many a well-constructed morsel (Duck Confit Crepe with Organic Watercress, Comte, and Dried Cherry Powder by Twenty Five Lusk anyone?) I was able to compare and contrast many of the Zin's and enjoy quite a few delicious bites. Savoy Events offered an intriguing Indian 'Dhokla with Butternut Squash and Smoked Tomato Chutney (paired with wine by Harney Lane ) and I could have parked it at il Davide Restaurant's station and made a full meal out of their Black Truffle Porcine filled Agnolotti, White Truffle Fondue (paired with Starry Night wine). OMG. I also got a kick out of running into the hometown Alameda wine and food contingent amid the sea of SF and Napa foodies: R&B Cellars paired their wines with Soleil's African Cuisine, for this event a Coconut Fish and Bean Stew, which saw many a taster going back for more. Yum. I'll toast to that.

Points in between: Pit stop in Los Alamos

It's really not a big deal to get from SF to LA. You've got multiple flights and highways to choose from and you can get there in minimal amount of time. But like going anywhere, the getting there can be where the real riches are found. Last week we pointed the car down the 101, chosen because it splits the difference between the speed and monotony of the 5 and the beauty and leisure of the 1.  Per usual, we filled up the hours in the car, reading aloud and listening to the blues station, but we hadn't planned anything along the route, other than fueling the car and ourselves as needed. So a bit of foodie providence found us stopping in Los Alamos, a little town located in Santa Barbara County, aka smack in the middle of wine country. As well as hosting the only surviving depot of the Pacific Coast Railway — Los Alamos was a stagecoach stop in 1876 but got its PCR depot in 1882 — it also contains several notable eateries.

After sussing out the slightly sleepy main street, we somewhat naively wandered into Bell Street Farm with our guitar cases in hand (having been burned hard once, the guitars always come in)  because a) it was open at 4pm and b) it had a sign that said picnic supplies.
"Yay the musicians arrived," a man in a cowboy had exclaimed as we walked in which is always the right thing to say to two people with guitar cases whether they are planning on playing or not. The man in the hat was owner Jamie Gluck, who opened Bell St slightly over a year ago in a former bank, after vacationing in Los Alamos for years. He handed us menus full of farm-to-table goodness (salads, soups, fresh baked bread, pulled chicken and port, cheese plates...you get the idea), insisted I try the wine he was pouring, and greeted everyone who walked in with equal cheer. We felt like we'd found the party.  While talking to Gluck and the other diners, we happily dined on a couple of exceedingly well-constructed sandwiches. We also met local wine-maker Angela Osborne of Grace Wine Company, who found her way from New Zealand to Los Alamos on a search for the best Grenache. A satisfying pit stop on all counts. If we weren't on the road and playing elsewhere that night, we would have stayed and tried more of the wine.

Nonetheless, before we left, Osborne told us where to find her wine in the East Bay. So last night, with cause to celebrate, we found our way to The Punchdown Wine Bar in downtown Oakland for a glass of her "Tribute to Grace" Grenache. Full of fruity, smokey goodness, it provided a fine toast. Here's to grace!

Autumn Lights Festival at the Gardens Lake Merritt

A special evening in the Gardens at Lake Merritt in Oakland next Saturday, Oct. 13.

The Gardens grounds will be filled with lanterns, carved and lit gourds and illuminated sculptures, all created by local Bay Area artists.  And there will be live music by a number of acts (including myself), as well as wine and delicacies from some of the East Bay's best food trucks.

Proceeds will benefit the Gardens at Lake Merritt, and its stewardship and educational programs.

Tickets available online at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/277296

viva la difference

San Francisco isn't Nashville, however if theSF Songsalive showcases are any indication, SF boasts an amazingly diverse songwriting community. How nice to walk five minutes from home and find Steven Andrew Kacsmar and his social justice folk rock, Katie Garibaldi's increasingly polished pop/rock/songwriting, Loren Davidson's hilariously infectious odes to Key West, & J. Thomas's gospel soul. I held up my soul-searching angst-driven end of the bargain (thanks Steven for harmonies) to open the evening. Vanessa Van Spall stopped by to say hi as well amid a recording session (We're sharing a show in January in San Luis Obispo and I'm looking to book a gig on the way back up in Santa Cruz). Afterward, I met Rod at Hotel Biron to debrief-I'd accepted a pass to the Elliot/Dave Eggers conversation, prior to recalling my Songsalive! commitment. Sounds like some laughs were had but I found equal amusement at Biron hearing Rod's suggestions for in your face yoga t-shirts. A half glass of the Portrait of a Mutt Zin was enough.
Back to the Nashville West that's going on in the city, Tuesday night's City Session at Club Waziema was equally warm and diverse. I walked down to see Yoon Ki sit in with Lester Raw (Pine Box Boys)on violin (great stuff), but also caught the last of the duo High Diving Horses. Guitar and toy piano, fun.