Deborah Crooks & 35 other Musicians @ National Music Day Pop-up Parklet's for a Cause in SF

Friday, June 21, 2013 is National Music Day. In addition to a special performance at The Monkey House in Berkeley that evening, I'm participating in Pop-Up Parklet's for a Cause, 12p - 12:30pm, playing at the parklet in front of Brainwash Cafe,1122 Folsom Street, in San Francisco. More than 35 artists will be performing in Parklets all over the city, a musical happening to raise funds for local charities including Bread & Roses, City Youth Now, Woman, Inc, LYRIC and 5 Gyres.  I hope to raise $100 (suggested donation is only $5) for these organizations that help so many of those in need. Please come on down to Brainwash, grab lunch or a coffee and spare $5 for a good cause. 

If you can't make it down to SOMA at noon, you can donate online at Hear it Local.

Deborah Crooks @ Pop-Up Parklets for a Cause

 Friday, June 21, 2013

12:00 pm to 12:30 pm

Hosted By: Matt Lombardi

Parklet @ Brainwash - SOMA

1122 Folsom Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

Also, the person who posts the most "liked" photo or video clip from the festival to www.facebook.com/Popups4causes will win a free concert in his or her San Francisco-based home or office this summer.

Next Up: Songwriter Serenade in Arcadia

I'm pleased to return to this sweet songwriter's showcase in Southern California run by J.C. Hyke. If you're in or around LA do come down for a night of accomplished songwriters in a friendly atmosphere.
"The Songwriter Serenade is a weekly show held every Tuesday night at Matt Denny's Ale House Restaurant & Bar.  It starts at 7PM and goes to 9:30.  Performers play their original songs for the audience on a lovely patio with a warm, inviting atmosphere.  There are all styles and genres of music, with 4 or 5 different songwriters each week.  The music is on a patio which is covered and has plenty of heaters for a warm, cozy evening.  It is located at 145 E. Huntington Dr. in Arcadia, CA 91006. There is parking around the back. "

Local Music Vibe Happy Hour Meet-up in Alameda, Wednesday, May 16

A spin-off of the Local Music Vibe Tuesday Coffee Meet-ups,  this special pre open-mic Local Music Vibe Happy Hour mixer is a great opportunity to connect with the local music community. Feel free to stop by and introduce yourself anytime during the hour and stay for the live music.
Local Music Vibe Meet-ups are informal, weekly gatherings are for anyone in the local music community to discuss topics of interest. There's no official agenda - people are encouraged to share ideas and opinions that will benefit the community at large. Interesting business opportunities are welcome as long as they don't dominate the discussion. 

Wednesday, May 16th, 2012 at High Street Station: Local Music Vibe Happy Hour Mixer followed by Open Mic - 6-7pm Open Mic 7:15-9:30pm, 1303 High St, Alameda California 94501, 415 3557888

No charge! An Engaging, real-world social networking event.

High St Happenings: Meet-ups & Showcases

I've been heartened by the synergy of the Local Music Vibe Meet-ups in Alameda which are generating plenty of the way of music tips and collaborative efforts. Once again, it's inspiring to see what a small group of creative people can generate by simply getting together and talking to one another. An event directly related to the Meet-up, an original open mic and songwriter showcase at our coffee meet-up host High Street Station Cafe kicks off tonight. If you're in the East Bay, come on down to these events, to run the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month, and share your songs. 7pm sign-up!

HIGH STREET STATION CAFE

1303 HIGH STREET

ALAMEDA CA 94501

SXSW Wrap-up: Local Music Community in Action

If you've been reading here this week, you know that the Local Music Vibe Road Trip to Austin in Chuck Prophet's van was a success. LMV founder Shelley Champine, San Francisco photog/videographer Matthew Washburn and myself shepherded Chuck's van and associated music gear across four states with a minimum of fuss (one low tire, one jammed back door & lot of smooshed insects on the windshield but nothing major), and as much fun as one can have driving long hours across vast swatches of often desolate looking country. We ate local Mexican food and pie whenever possible, caught some live music in Tucson, while blogging, photographing, videoing and Tweeting about it all when we weren't at the wheel. There was even a little yoga and on-the-fly songwriting along the way (see video below). We got into Austin Wednesday after midnight, unpacked the van, disbanded our road-trip trio and waved Shelley off to deliver the vehicle and her support to Chuck and his band where he had a successful run of shows. Meanwhile, Matthew and I met up with our respective friends and we all soaked up as much music as possible.  Let's her it for Local Music communities working together to get things done!

Road trip continued: LMV AZ x NM X TX

It was a long day in the saddle, but after blowing through New Mexico, we made it to Austin, late late on Wednesday night/Thursday a.m.  Once upon a time people didn't have iPhones, XM or Pandora Radio, on their travels but we don't know they did it. Time to listen to some live music!

Road Scenes: Local Music Vibe goes to Tucson

Wind farm

Highway landscape

The requisite piece of pie @Desert Center

Rachel Yamagata @Congress Club

Not far from Indio

Dinner in Tuscon

On the road: SF x LA

Filling station: Love's

“There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars.”
― Jack Kerouac, On the Road: The Original Scroll 

Love's Travel Store. The necessary evil of road trips circa 2012. We filled up the tank somewhere on I5 just as this tanker filled Love's tanks. Whoa. Fuel. There's a lot of it getting burnt up in these parts, somewhere between SF and LA, day 1 of the Local Music Vibe trip to Austin. Poet Karen Hildebrand alerted me to the fact that March 12 is even Jack Keroac's birthday, a befitting time to take in some tarmac.
Things have certainly changed since Jack's time (he published On the Road in 1951). There are 1 million more public road miles and the US population has more than doubled so the West feels less wild and wooly than ever.  But the meaning of going on the road — that potential finding of something that you wouldn't have found if you didn't leave or having some sort of epiphany— really hasn't changed.  And so I always get excited about setting out ...even if it means a lot of hours of car time. Even if the first leg is all familiar ground!
 I'm not sure what Jack drove, and riding in a Econoline has a whole different flavor than, say, a Cadillac. There are more logistics given the van is full of music gear and our day's journey was to end on the outskirts of LA proper. So we didn't go cruising the Sunset Strip or other Hollywood musician haunts. Nor did the timing work for a stop at Kulak's Woodshed, my vote for coolest open mic in LA.  Nonetheless, and most importantly, we made it to our destination safely.

Hitting the 'road to Texas

I'm hitting the road to Austin, Texas, today with Local Music Vibe. Follow us as we cross half the country in Chuck Prophet's van on our way to the music celebration that is SXSW. Check for updates here and on Twitter.
@LocalMusicVibe
@DeborahCrooks

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.