Come All Ye

...who support the SF Aids Foundation! I am playing this event tomorrow, February 19th. Put together by my new friend Will Cline, who I met through the Mumlers, and who subsequently invited me to do a segment on KZSU radio last Fall. An eclectic assortment of bands, and I will have piano accompaniment by the talented Marc Capelle - maybe a few other surprise guests as well...click here to see the fb event.

Bolinas beach bounty

Back to the city, traffic and concrete sidewalks, but still the smell of the sea in my ear and a sweet little bounty from the beach:

The weather was magnificent:

And I came home to this, paperwhites in bloom:

It could be spring?

Van Dyke Parks

...is a genius and I was so fortunate to see and hear him last night at the Swedish American Hall. He even did a song from Jump! -and so much more, he played for an hour and a half. Well worth the $25 I found in my skirt pocket that morning - in fact, quite invaluable.

One favorite phrase from his clever banter in between songs- "we don't need more information, we need more understanding". I couldn't put it better myself, and it was like that all night. I can't say more, you have to have been there.

La Question

Here's a recent read: a memoir by Françoise Hardy, Le Désespoir des singes et autres bagatelles.

Because there was so much information I was curious about, I devoured it in a few days. She's very honest and endearing in her writing. Self critical as well, and I realized she's had pretty low self esteem all her life. A strange thing when you think of the level of adulation she can be subjected to...

I always loved her 6os, girl-group style recordings - the ballads, the rock'n roll songs, the self penned country-esque French numbers - I learned she was buying import 45s whenever she could when she was a teenager, and got really into the popular american singers of the time, such as Brenda Lee (who I've also been listening to lately...). But as I was reading and got to the late 60s, early 70s, I was reminded of an album I used to have, La Question (1971). I remembered I really liked it- and was reading about its music being all written by a mysterious brazilian character, a woman named Tuca who didn't live long and seemed to be a force of nature...Anyway- I got online and (yes, used the internet) got it again, and it's as enchanting as I remembered it. Françoise herself said it was her favorite, even though it only had a succès d'estime. The orchestration is light and very tasteful, the writing brilliantly delicate. Some songs feature only one guitar and some strings alongside the clear vocals, or only vocals and guitar, like Même Sous la Pluie.

Here is a video of the title track, made back then:

I also really like the opening track, Viens, and the dreamy Doigts. This is all I could find on YouTube but I recommend the whole opus, which boasts other tiny masterpieces like Rêve, Chanson d'O, and Mer.

If you want more information - and plenty of visuals - about her, do visit the Françoise Hardy Virtual Museum, "Voilà!"

February

I feel like there are great things in store for 2010, and here is how they start:

The first show I am playing will be this Saturday, in a great acoustic room in the Mission, the Blue Six Gallery. On the bill are The Love Dimension, Trevor Healy and Alana Sveta - only good music! it's also all ages and dog friendly.

Later this month I am playing the 4th annual Scatterbrain Jamboree, a 2 day eclectic affair at the Parkside, benefiting the Aids Foundation. I will have a band! some kind of band anyway !!...also all ages.

Then I'll be going North East of here for a few days with the lovely Ayla Nereo, of Beatbeat Whisper. We'll be in Nevada City, Davis and Sacramento.

And in honor of the month, I uploaded a new song on the myspace player, February's Daughter. It was written by Donovan Quinn (of Skygreen Leopards fame). A real haunting winter song...enjoy.

Like I said, I feel very good about 2010. I have more plans than are needed and plenty of ideas...I am also writing some new music, some of which you'll get to hear on Saturday. So stay tuned...