Monday, February 3, 2014

Music News You Can Use - February 2014

Hello and Happy February -- hope 2014 is off to a good start for you.   January was a 
nice break after the holidays.  I had a couple of nice gigs early in the month -- Ruth McGowan's and the Kensington Market -- and then I just laid around.  Well not really;  I don't know how to do that. Among other things, I've been going through videos made at the end of 2013. In case you don't spend all your time on Facebook and missed these, you can find them on my Youtube page, here.

I have been listening to a lot of blues lately -- looking for some blues notes to put on my fiddle. Here are few masters for your enjoyment:  here, here and here.   So much inspiration, so little time!!

Saw a great show last week at the Freight & Salvage, by another one of the masters of our time, David Grisman, with his jazz sextet. All of them are from Mars, clearly not mere mortals -- amazing chops individually and lovely ensemble playing.   Here are a couple of videos from two earlier shows to give you a taste:  here and here  - Wow !!

What a fabulous theater for acoustic music the Freight is!  If you live in the SF Bay Area, and even if you don't, I hope you are already aware of what a jewel the Freight is.   I am proud to serve on the Freight board; though it has been quite a busy job lately, with Steve Baker, the long time director, retiring and the search for his replacement starting up. 

Speaking of boards, I am also involved with the Folk Alliance Region West (FAR-West) Region; and we are already working on preparations for their annual conference in October.  It is in Oakland this year.   (Geez, I retired to play music full time, and this is what I get myself into?!!)  Folk Alliance is such a great community, and if you are a folkish musician of any sort you should check it out (here).   There are several shows open to the public at the conference, and they usually have an amazing line-up of talent you won't find anywhere else.  I'll be reminding you as we get closer to the event.

And speaking of events, I have two gigs to tell you about.  I'll be playing with the Don't Look Back String Band at Cafe Leila, in Berkeley on February 8th. DLB is always a lot of fun. 

Further out, I am VERY excited to be opening a show at Studio 55 in San Rafael for two fabulous singer songwriters:  Dulcie Taylor and Steve Key. I met Dulcie and Steve through FARWest, and they are both fine writers and performers. The show will be on April 26th -- Please save the date.  Here is the show info.

A bit of what I've been up to -- how about you?  Send me some news I can use.
 
all the best,
John
Roy Zat
Croizat
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