January 2016

Well if I am going to get a January newsletter out, it is now or never.   I have been packing and moving out of my place in El Cerrito.  Ugh!!  One more trip to haul stuff and I am done, and I can focus on discovering the Sonoma County music scene from my perch in Graton.

I attended two songwriting workshops the first half of January, and I have a lot of music to tell you about. The first was the Listening Room International Songwriter Retreat, held in the Santa Cruz mountains.   Brett Perkins runs these retreats, no songwriting slouch himself; and he has a new partnership, Michaut/Perkins with some fine new songs.  Here is one. 

This was my second year at the retreat, and it was again excellent.  There were sixteen of us, about a third from Europe.  My writing partner on the second day was Lisen Elwin and we wrote two songs together.  I don't have recordings of them yet to share, but here is a video of Lisen with her Stockholm band -- rock on!!   Other folks I wrote with include Dennis Russell, Midyne Spear and

Nina Engstrom, and on Friday, I wrote with Mette Halling.  Mette's website has some nice pictures of the retreat to give you an idea of the group.  What a pleasure to share time and music with these talented folks !!   

After the retreat, Brett had arranged a mini-tour and I tagged along and played on a couple of the dates, Kiki Wow's show in Monterey and at Steve Key's Songwriters At Play in Paso Robles.  I had the pleasure of playing the song I co-wrote with Steve at the retreat last year.

The second gathering I attended, Wintersong, was quite different.  It was much larger, about sixty five folks, and had workshops on voice, writing, and creativity.  Penny Nichols runs the camp and teaches, and I got some great input on vocal technique from her.   And of course, I heard a lot of fine music.   I wish I could put up links to everyone, but here are a very few to tantalize:   Susan Reeves, Ed Tree, Tom Kimmel, Nina Jo Smith & Penny Nichols, Rachel Garlin, and Dale LaDuke.

Coming up in February, I am looking forward to playing in SF at the Bazaar Cafe on Friday the 6th with Valerie Jay and Michael Hanna.   Born Lucky (Michael and I) will be at the Kensington Farmers Market on Sunday the 21st.   At the end of the month, I will be at the Old Western Saloon in Pt. Reyes Station, opening for and then playing fiddle with Trevor McSpadden and his band.   Trevor is real deal country singer (watch) and a road veteran, and I am honored to be part of his show.   More into and dates on my website -- www.royzat.com -- of course.

Hope your 2016 is off to a great start too.   Always love to hear what you are up to.

John

Roy Zat

Croizat

Whatever

December 2015

Happy December, and Yuletide (and everything else) is a comin'.

Hope your Thanksgiving was tasty and heart warming.   I was in Washington DC with family and met the younger daughter of my Durham cousins.   She is a pro DJ and I went to hear her work at RedRocks, a 3 story downtown dance club and a very different scene than I usually circulate in.   She is into African and Latin and it was a treat hearing her put together the grooves.   Here is a video of her in action, a bit different than what I saw her spinning for the dance crowd, and what a wild child!!  (Start at 30 seconds to skip the slow intro, and if you skip around make sure you see 3:20 on.  Whee !! )

Closer to home and earlier in the month, I caught Darol Anger's show at Studio 55 Marin, a fine place to hear acoustic music.   It had been awhile since I had heard Darol live, and my first time hearing him play with Emy Phelps -- lovely!!   Darol's fiddle and octave mandolin was wonderful, and Tristan Clarridge on cello was a treat.  The interplay between all the instruments and the vocals was major league.  Unfortunately no videos of that show, but here and here are two to give you an idea.  Tristan plays with Crooked Still and with the Bee Eaters -- so check out those videos too.

Also saw two shows at the Monkey House in Berkeley, another favorite venue.   Moonshine Jelly is a "celtic, gypsy, bluegrass, folk" trio of uber talented folks including Lee White, Justine Lucas and Kent Kessinger.  They play in SF a lot and are well worth your time and ears.   Here is a sample and one more a bit different.   

The other show I saw at the Monkey House was Chappell and Dave Holt with Carlos Reyes  I've posted their videos before and you can check them out on YT.  Carlos is a virtuoso violinist and harpist but played mostly Paraguayan harp that evening.  Heaven!!  Okay, I can't resist, here's one more.

And what am I up to you ask?  These days mostly moving north to my old haunts in Sonoma County.   So beautiful up here !!    And if any of you West County folks are looking for a good place to be this Friday, the 4th, join Floyd Latimer and me at Ruth McGowan's in Cloverdale.   We play 7:30 to 10:30pm for your listening pleasure.

Hope you holidays are joyous.   Merry and Happy Ho Ho Ho to all.

John

Roy Zat

Croizat

Whatever

  

November 2015

November and recovery from the October FARWest conference has been going well.  It was four days of musical bliss and little sleep, and three weeks later I am still buzzing and have so much music to tell you about !!   

Things started on Wednesday, October 14th with a showcase at the Freight & Salvage, where over twenty-five FARWest attendees each presented a song.   So much talent and variety, ranging from traditional folk music like Bay Area SEA, to powerhouse vocalist Kristin Shey visiting from Germany.   Thursday night's concert featured artists nominated by five different California venues, including newcomer Jody Mulgrew and veterans Cascada De Flores.   The music at FARWest goes into the way wee hours, and later that evening I had the pleasure of hosting Jody and his fiddler friend, John Nowel, in my hotel showcase room.   And a whole bunch of others!!

So much wonderful music over the rest of that week and weekend, how do I choose what to share with you ?!   I'll try.   If you don't know him already, listen to Severin Brown.   A couple of official showcase winners for you:  Jalan Crossland and  Berkeley Hart.  And additional discoveries from my own showcase room:  Mark & Cindy Lemaire, Ynana Rose, and for something completely different, Grego Dana !!  

And if all that weren't enough, I won the grand raffle prize, a beautiful F style mandolin by M. David McClaskey.   Wow !!   Guess I'll be looking up Sharon Gilchrist for some lessons.

This weekend, I am playing a kids party on Saturday with Michael Hanna; and on Sunday, he and I will be joined by Dennis Calloway at the Kensington Market.   The Kensington Market is such a fun place to play with quality produce, tasty prepared foods, and lots of chairs to sit and picnic while we play our hearts out for you.

Saving the best for last, amazing fiddler Darol Anger is coming to town this weekend, in Berkeley on Saturday and San Rafael on Sunday.   Don't miss him !!  

That's the news.  Hope you have your crops in for the winter, and that your coming Thanksgiving gatherings are joyous.   I'll be heading to Washington DC for pumpkin pie with my grandson and his parents.   Yummm !!

John

Roy Zat

Croizat

Whatever

October 2015

October, the holidays just around the corner and my birthday!! I get my kicks at 66 this month.   Rites of passage: I had cataract surgery a couple of days ago, and I am a new member of the bionic tribe.  They took out the damaged lenses in my eyes and put in plastic ones; like having contact lenses inside your eyes.   It is wonderful to be seeing the world so clear and purdy without the fuss of eyeglasses or contact lenses.  Amazing times we live in.

Next week is the FARWest Conference at the Oakland Marriott hotel. Whee!! It has been a busy September wrapping up preparations and next week we are going to have some fun.   For attendees, there are workshops, radio interviews, showcases, and networking opportunities.  For the general public, there are evening concerts, starting with the Pre-Conference show at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley on Wednesday, and followed by the Venues' Choice Concert at the hotel on Thursday (where five venues spotlight artists they feel deserves broader recognition.   On Friday and Saturday at the hotel, the Official Showcases feature the winners (seven on each night) of the 2015 performing artist competitions.   The talent level is very high and the admission prices are so cheap -- y'all come, you will not be disappointed.   Check the links for more info, or email me.

I told you about the Strawberry Music festival in my last newsletter, and a week after all that fun, I had the pleasure of playing with JC & Laney at the Monkey House in Berkeley.   We had a small but appreciative audience and had a great time.  I confess I was hoping for a packed house because they are such fine performers.  I have been posting a lot of videos from that night, so maybe next time they come to town we can bring in a bigger audience for them.   (Ah, the life of the impresario.)   Here and here are a couple of videos from that night that are hot off the video editor.

Two weeks ago, I was at a cowboy poetry celebration at Emandal, a farm retreat down a long gravel road in Mendocino county.  Heard a wonderful western singer/storyteller, Dave Stamey.   Here and here are a couple of his songs, and there are many more on Youtube.   And if you haven't heard any cowboy poetry lately here is a fun one for you.

Played a tail gate party at Sacramento State last weekend (fun!!) and have winery and fundraiser events this weekend.  My next public show is at the Hopmonk in Sonoma, on October 25th.

Life is good here and hope the same for you.   What's up?

John

Roy Zat

Croizat

Whatever

 

Music News You Can Use - September 2015

It is September, and quite toasty in the SF Bay Area.   I am just back from the Strawberry Music Festival over the Labor Day weekend.   Since the old home was burned out in the fires of 2014, this festival was held just outside of the town of Tuolomne.   It was dry and dusty, and we missed the beautiful trees, but that didn't hold back the flood of fine music, in camp and on stage.  Dave Alvin and his band, and the Brothers Comatose put on great shows; and the T - Sisters were angelic.  New to me, were the Wood Brothers. All three of them are innovative and stand-out players; and with great songs and arrangements, they were dazzling !!     Their videos are good, but live they are something special.   Put them on your list of bands to see.

Playing into the wee hours at Strawberry, and then at Labor Day jams has gotten me limbered up for this coming weekend.   By now you have hopefully heard about the JC & Laney show this coming Friday at the Monkey House in Berkeley.   JC & Laney are from Arizona and don't get out here often -- I think this is their first time performing in the Bay Area.  I have posted a number of their videos in earlier newsletters, and  here is one more.  Michael Hanna and I have some new songs to share with you too. Please join us; you will be very well entertained.  As George Zimmer says, "I guarantee it!"

The following night, and further north in Cloverdale, I will be at Ruth McGowan's with Country Floyd Latimer.  We start playing at 8pm and go to 11.  Ruth's is a wonderful place, and it has been awhile since we played there.   If you are in the area, come on by.  Good beer, good food and a bunch of fun.   And more of my dates  are here.

That's a bit of my news and I hope to hear a bit of yours.  What's up?

Very best,

John

Roy Zat

Croizat

Whatever

Music News You Can Use - August 2015

School has started and August is almost gone -- how did all of that happen so fast?

My big excitement these days is the upcoming show I have with JC and Laney, a duo I met at the FARWest gathering several years ago.  They live in Mesa, Arizona and don't get out here very often.   I hope you can join us on September 11th at the Monkey House in Berkeley.   I promise you, they put on a great show and it will be quite an evening.   Some videos to tantalize you:  here, here and here.   I'll be opening with Michael Hanna.

And speaking of FARWest, preparations for the October conference in Oakland have been underway for quite awhile now.   This will be my fifth year attending and volunteering.    If you are a folky musician of any flavor and have never been, you should.   Three days of non-stop music of the highest order.  If you are fan, you can come to the evening shows which showcase the best of the best.   I'll tell you more about that next month.

That's the forward view, and now the review:  had a very fun show with Keith Alan Mitchell in Oakland a couple of weeks ago, and played a wedding and farmers' market this month also. But, I was sorry to miss Jimmy LaFave's Bay Area shows this last month.   Damn!!   Put him on your list -- a voice to run a chill up your spine and put a tear in your eye.   See what I mean.

Spending quite a bit of time up in Sonoma County these days, looking for a place to start a house concert series.   And won't that be fun !!

So that is a bit of my news, always like hearing what you have been up to.

very best,

John

Roy Zat

Croizat

Whatever

Music News You Can Use - July 2015

August is almost here -- I'd better get my July newsletter out !!

I had an amazing time at the Festival for the Eno in Durham, North Carolina over the July 4th weekend; and I have some fine music to share with you.  Top of the list is Mandolin Orange (click the play button on their website).   Oh my -- right up there with Gillian and David.  The other group that knocked me out was River Whyless.   Watch this and stay with it -- it takes off big time.   And there were lots of other great acts.  So much fine music in two days !!  Oh, I almost forgot to mention, there was also this guy.

I was staying in Durham with my newly discovered second cousin, Richard Harkrader, and his family.  We share a common great grandfather, and this was the first time we had met.   It was wonderful and a bit uncanny.  We look like brothers; definitely from the same part of the DNA pond.
 
I got back to California on July 10th, after almost 8 weeks on the East Coast.  It was an amazing trip: becoming a grandpa, meeting new family, hearing a lot of fine music, playing the Eno.   Life is pretty miraculous sometimes.

Since getting back, I have been playing parties and events pretty much every weekend -- like Teddy Bear Picnic day at the SF Zoo.  (The Berenstein Bears were even there!!)  Otherwise,  I've been working on preparations for the FARWest Folk Alliance conference in Oakland in October.   If you are a folk/roots/americana flavored musician, you want to be there.  Four days of shows, jams, workshops, networking -- like nothing on earth!!  I've been hooked on FARWest for five years now.

Mark your calendars:  I have two concert dates that I have to tell you about.  Coming up first, I am very excited to be playing with singer songwriter Keith Alan Mitchell, at the Octopus Literary Salon in Oakland on August 8th.  Check him out here.  Great songs and delivery !!

Then, on September 11th, I have a date at the Monkey House in Berkeley with JC & Laney, a powerhouse duo from Phoenix.  Listen here.  Bring your seatbelts; they will blow the roof off !!

Summer is definitely rolling and roaring along here.   I look forward to hearing what you are up to.

John
Roy Zat
Croizat
Whatever