Alameda House Concert with Bay Station, Nate Jones Sloe Sippers, Joan Wilson Rueter & Yours Truly, Michele

Spring forward this Sunday March 11 for this fun house concert/mini-local-music fest featuring Alameda Island acts:
* Bay Station
* Nate Jones & The Sloe Sippers
* Yours Truly, Michele
* Joan Wilson Rueter

March 11, 2018 in Alameda
4-7pm $10 tickets in advance via TICKETLEAP
$15-20 at door
RSVP to baystationband @ gmail for more information

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.

Off-the-Grid Entertainment: Alejandro Escovedo's SF house concert and All Terrain Theater's Women in Solodarity showcase

It wasn't that big of a surprise to see last week's East Bay Express feature a story about  'Living Room Stages' on its front page. The rise in private, alternative performance spaces is a phenomena we're well acquainted with and greatly applaud, both as performers and audience members. Some of my favorite shows this year have been at non-traditional spaces (Treebones, Self & Soul Center, The Monkey House) and two of the three performances I saw this past weekend were in alternative spaces. Friday night was all about an Alejandro Escovedo (!)  house concert in SF, while Sunday afternoon was occupied with All Terrain Theater's annual showcase 'Women in Solodarity,' likewise in a private Berkeley space.
The audio experience in each was pristine and the audience well-mannered and intimate — folks mingled pre-show and during intermission and listened attentively during the show. In other words, the experience was completely about connecting to the artist and the work and the community.
I felt extremely privileged to get to see and hear Escovedo with about 75 other avid listeners at the KC Turner presented show. KC is a tireless house-concert producer (and music presenter in general) and the Escovedo show was a real coup. In a revelatory hour-and-a-half of music, Escovedo sang a selection of his songs representing the breadth of his career, from 5 Hearts Breaking to Chelsea Hotel to San Antonio Rain to Sabor a Mi.  In between, he discussed the genesis for each song as well as his early days in punk rock, his family's move from Texas to California, his evolution as songwriter, and touring, going on the road "with $50, a roasted chicken and a bag of weed." The audience, needless to say, hung on every word.
Escovedo himself is new to the small, solo house show experience but said he enjoyed the relative ease (no band and extensive gear to worry about) and planned on doing more.  Lucky us!

While I've seen plenty of musical house concerts, I'd yet to see a professional play in a private residence until Sunday. A friend, playwright Elizabeth Flanigan, had a short in this year's All Terrain Theater's showcase, the theme of which was "Digital Love."  All Terrain "specializes in presenting theater in non-traditional spaces, including a baby store, residences, laundromats, a record store, and traditional theaters" and Sunday's juxtaposition of venue setting and theater subject was noteworthy in itself. The show's venue was a converted downstairs in a private Central Berkeley home, while the showcase's theme called for seven different solo shorts depicting scenes about our often conflicted relationship with technology and the Internet. The playwrights covered a lot of online terrain: a woman addicted to her iPhone, another mulling the knowledge of Google, troubling aspects of surveillance, the damage done by drones and the convenience and pitfalls of online dating. Well-written and well-acted, I left both wanting to unplug that much more often and go to more theater.

Little Bird Spring Tour: NorCal & So Oregon

We're hitting the road for a 3-show run in Nor Cal & So Oregon. Have friends along our route? Please send them our way!

Thursday, April 17th, 2014
NAKED LOUNGE
8:30pm
1500 Q St Sacramento CA 95811 USA with Calling Tempo and High Alive

Friday, April 18th, 2014
SELF & SOUL CENTER
Self & Soul House Concert - 7:30pm
9820A Wagner Creek Road Talent OR 97540
Price: $13 adv/15-20 door An acoustic house concert at this special Oregon venue."Self & Soul Center is a 25-acre biodynamic nature preserve and garden on year-round Wagner Creek. This land, infused with beauty and creative collaboration, is a healing container for personal and group renewal."
http://www.selfsoulcenter.org/special-events/
Call for more info: 541-708-0178

Saturday, April 19th, 2014
REDWOOD CURTAIN BREWING COMPANY
550 S G St. Arcata Ca 95521

Read.Eat.Listen: Staying Open Amidst Shutdowns

I have been so disheartened and disappointed by the current government shutdown. Really. I've been flat-out fighting the blues all week, getting on with things...but sheesh.  Apparently, I had my head in the sand when this happened in the 90s, but this time, as a mature adult who votes with care;  with a close family member who is a government employee; and as a volunteer with an organization that does its work in a National Recreation Area, the ramifications of the shutdown hit home immediately. But the unjustness of it all would still be hard to take even if I wasn't personally affected. I'm simply sick that our democracy and our votes are being screwed with by a small population of oppressive bigots who care about no one but themselves.  What to do?
Write letters. Speak up. Sing out, I say.
MoveOn: Democracy in Action
Read: Studying up on the implications of this government debacle :
Our Democracy Is At Stake
Shutdown: The Hysterical Style of American Politics
A Population Betrayed 
Looking to the greats:
Gandhi: Pioneer of Nonviolent Social Change
Eat: This week felt like fall with leaves turning and falling, the goldfinches doubling up at the feeder and a notable chill in the air. I've been craving warm things, comfort food like soup and toast.  Check out this chef conceived version of Avocado Toast via Tasting Table.  Yum.
Listen: Fortunately, too, I live in the festival loving San Francisco Bay Area. San Franciscans like to party no matter what, and lo,  Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is going off all this weekend! An unusually high number of great acts are in town and its possible to double-down on musical inspiration.  KC Turner seized the opportunity to present yet another great house concert with an act that is touring with Steve Earle (who can take us all to school on how to speak out against injustice), The Mastersons. They're thorny-yet-poppy, folky-but-rocking, not all light but heart-driven, and really great musicians with beautiful voices. Check them out. 

Artist Interview: Talking with Songwriter Sara Lovell

I was recently introduced to fellow East Bay-by-way-of-Southern-California songwriter Sara Lovell through the 27 Powers writing community. A songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer with a wide-ranging musical palette, Lovell moved to Berkeley from Los Angeles several years ago with three critically praised full-length CDs of multi-layered modern rock and folk/pop songs to her credit, and a desire to become a parent. As her son begins his fourth year and she shifts more of her focus back to music making, Sara discussed her influences, balancing writing life with motherhood and getting back to recording and performing

Q You've taken a little break — are you finding your writing changing post-LA and post-parenthood? Have you found Wild Writing practice influencing your material in new or different ways? 
SL I wouldn’t quite say, “post-parenting” yet. My son is still three and I hear this job goes on for quite some time. The biggest challenge at the moment is going from having more open-ended time before my son Gabe came, to now having to fit the writing into shorter, more scheduled blocks of time. And as a former night owl, I now aspire to meet the muse at 2pm instead of 2am. Wild Writing was the perfect practice at just the right time since it was the first opportunity I had where I gave myself extended time each week, just for me, to feel whatever was there and express it in words, in a safe, honoring group of women. And to be so moved and inspired by the other writer’s experiences and words...to be reminded and grateful for this wild, precious life.

Q Who do you count as your main influences and who are you listening to now? 
SL I grew up listening to lots of different music thanks to my parents and older brother and sister.  I heard a lot of classical, some jazz and bossa nova, Ella Fitzgerald and Harry Belafonte to name a few. Then came the Beatles, Motown, Stevie Wonder and the singer/songwriters—Joni, Carole King, James Taylor...When I started composing on the piano I was aware some musician’s music felt so kindred to me, like hearing a Todd Rundgren song for the first time when I was 12 and saying, “Hey I just played those same exact chords yesterday!” And hearing the last movement of Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite in a college classroom that made me weep, (and still does to this day). Lately, I’ve been listening to Anais Mitchell, who has such heart and honest lyric writing.  I also got Michael Franti’s new album and like dancing to it with my boy!

Q How do you approach songwriting: do you wait for the muse or do you show up daily with intent to finish (or get a good start on) a song? 
SL As a young person I was inspired every day just by virtue of learning how to play the songs I loved, and playing them for hours. Then I started writing lyrics and singing my own songs, and again spent hours on end. As I got a bit older, I did wait for the muse with my songwriting, and seemed to be more interested in developing musical ideas and arranging. And now that I have less time, I want to be more economical with it, while at the same time wanting to dig deeper with my lyric writing. So I am aiming to start a new routine of writing daily, with a couple of days each week for longer blocks of writing time. As I’ve been getting back into it again, the more I do, the more I want to do, and so it’s building momentum.

Q What can listeners expect in the next year? Where will you be playing? Will you be releasing new recordings? 
SL Well I’m so looking forward to performing with you and Monica Pasqual at Laurie Wagner’s house concert on Saturday Sept. 7th! And I’ll just see where it leads from there. I am working on several new songs and have some ideas for possible new recordings. My son came up with a great title for a song so I’m sure there’s a kids record in the not-too-distant future. And I’ve got this idea for a record of Lullabies for grown-ups. We could all use a little soothing from time to time, right?
 Sara Lovell next performs at A Magical Garden Concert @ 27 Powers in Alameda, CA September 7, 2013 7pm. For tickets and information to A Magical Garden Concert in Alameda, go to http://www.27powers.org/; for more information about Sara, visit http://www.saralovell.com/

September Music News: In the Garden, On the Radio and Beyond...

So much good stuff happening these days! We had a great time playing in August, including the show at Viracocha (left) and on KALX Saturday. Lots coming up...

Including this coming Saturday, you can find me live and in person at a very cool house concert in Alameda:

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2013
Monica Pasqual House Concert with Deborah Crooks & Sara Lovell - 7pm
27 Powers Court
Alameda CA 94501

I've been dipping into Laurie Wagner's 27 Powers creative writing community since I moved to Alameda several years ago, so I'm delighted to play there. Icing on an already good cake is performing in support of 6-time IMA & 6-time Emmy winner  Monica Pasqual, from the band, Blame Sally, whose music has been featured on soundtracks for PBS, The History Channel and National Geographic Television. Berkeley-based songwriter (and fellow Wild Writer) Sara Lovell will also be sharing her songs. It's going to be an incredible concert under the stars at a gem of a setting! Advanced tickets recommended. Please join us! $20, kids are free - wine and snacks on the house.

BUY TICKETS http://www.27powers.org/

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2013
Hopmonk Tavern
5pm-8pm
224 Vintage Way  Novato  CA  94945
Price: No Cover

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18TH, 2013
50 Mason Social Club 8pm
50 Mason  San Francisco  CA  94501
With Aireene Espiritu, and special guests

After more than a year of work, the new CD "Little Bird" featuring 11 of my songs, arranged and produced by the amazing Art Khu, is complete. I picked up the master earlier this week and the CD will be released officially November 5. Nonetheless, (other) little birds tell me there's a good chance you'll be able to pick up advance copies at some shows before that date. :D. Here's a preview of some of the tracks (if you've missed them )on Soundcloud:

Artist Interview: Songwriter Monica Pasqual Refills Her Pen

 There's no question about how formidable Oakland songwriter/composer/band member and teacher Monica Pasqual's musical chops are. As a solo artist, collaborator and member of the well-loved band Blame Sally, Monica has earned five Independent Music Awards and six Emmy Awards. What's just as impressive is her dedication as an artist to keeping her work fresh. Barely off the road with Blame Sally, Pasqual dove headfirst into teaching songwriting while rebooting her solo performance schedule and finding new ways to access her muse. Monica kindly answered some questions about her process.

Q You've been on the road much of the past few years with a band—how are you feeling as you turn to your solo work more fully again?

MP Yeah, I've been living the so-called dream with Blame Sally for the last few years and it's been really amazing playing for people all over the US and Europe — I wouldn't trade it for anything.  But I have to say that right now I'm super excited about just being at home for a while and getting the opportunity to re-connect with myself as a writer and composer.  Blame Sally has been playing together for 13 years and while I feel like we remain really creative together, I think all of us feel like there are sides of us that have been neglected, both personally and artistically.  For myself, I can't just jump into writing when I get home after a long tour.  It takes me weeks sometimes to just feel normal again, and for years now by the time that happened it was already time to hit the road again.

So believe me, I am relishing the relative peace and quiet that I've been getting for the last few months.  And sure enough, the songs are starting to come, too.  

Q Tell us about your writing process: Do you keep a writing schedule or wait for inspiration to strike? Do you write on tour or do you 'save it up' for when you're home? 

MP I don't write on tour.  I find it really difficult to switch quickly back and forth between the extroversion required for performing and the introversion required for writing.  Those are two really different sides of me and they don't seem to coexist that easily.  I used to be the kind of writer who waits for inspiration, and that has worked for me pretty well.  But of late I've been exploring ways to provoke inspiration and it's been really exciting.  I started teaching songwriting workshops and found that if I practice what I preach the songs will come.  But even so, I wouldn't call myself incredibly methodical and disciplined about my writing.  I am not a particularly routine-driven person.  

What's going on for me right now, though, is that I'm trying to break out of some of my preconceptions and superstitions around writing.  I've had a tendency to be a little precious about it, to say, "I can only write under these conditions." So I'm all about trying new things around writing.  I'm even going to try some co-writing this week, which is something I've kind of avoided in the past. 

Q How did your songwriter's workshops evolve? 

MP Originally, to be honest, I was just trying to figure out something that I could do while I wasn't touring.  A lot of people had suggested that I teach songwriting or piano.  I had tried teaching songwriting in the past and I really didn't like it. But recently I've been invited to do short workshops at festivals or before certain concerts, and I ended up really enjoying myself.  I think the success of what I am doing now is based on the fact that I'm "teaching"  (if you can call it that) what I want to learn.  So really, I'm not interested in teaching the craft of songwriting (though I am totally happy to touch on that with people and it does come up in our classes), I'm interested in originality, in finding the uniqueness and truth that we carry inside ourselves.  I feel like because songs are so ubiquitous in our lives, people get certain rules driven home almost subconsciously, and when they start writing songs they often write with way less originality than they do if they are writing prose or even just talking.  Of course, it's tricky to write in verse and meters and also try to be original, but it's possible.  I'm also interested in how we access inspiration.  We've all gone through periods where we just feel dry and it's scary and discouraging.  So in my workshop we try to write around songwriting.  Take the pressure off and just write anything — not songs, just pen on paper flowing.  It's amazing how quickly you start longing to write.  It's like exercise — at first it's just a horrid ordeal, but eventually, you want to get up and do it because you know it makes you feel good. Only with these classes I think a better analogy might be that you start getting your workout while dancing at a party, or playing softball with a bunch of friends.  It's sort of a painless entry into the habit of writing and thinking creatively.

Q What do the next 6 months look like? (Will you be doing a new solo recording? Other projects, producing, teaching, etc)

 MP Good question.  I am just right now starting to look at that.  What I know for sure is that 1. I'm writing songs, 2. I'm teaching workshops, 3. I have quite a few smallish concerts booked.  

As far as recording, [I'm] pretty sure that I'll be doing that soon, too.  Between Blame Sally and my solo stuff I think I've put out 14 albums in the last 17 years, I don't foresee that trend changing.  Somehow I always find the time and the money to get back in the studio.  

Monica Pascqual next performs at 27 Powers in Alameda, CA September 7, 2013 7pm. For tickets and information to A Magical Garden Concert in Alameda, go to http://www.27powers.org/; For more about Monica go to http://monicapasqual.com