Deborah Crooks: News/Journal

Everyone who was at the Bazaar Cafe gig save for Hobby Horse had been to the Summer of Love Festival, including moi, so the vibe was suitably friendly and mellow. Nothing like coming from an overcrowded venue to appreciate a listening room such as Bazaar all the more. Phil and Annie's guitar picking and dulcet harmonies are soothing and masterful - another thank you to them for inviting me onto the bill. Phil sat in on mandolin for part of my set which was augmented by Shawn Shaffer's harmonica, the only East Bay member of my accompaniests who made it. Bridge closures, Burning Man, crowded buses and packed BART trains didn't bode well for Leigh and Kwame. Nonetheless, those obstacles didn't prevent tens of thousands of people from packing Golden Gate Park for a blast from the past from Canned Heat, Taja Majal and Brother and the Holding Company earlier in the afternoon. Not wanting to miss out entirely on this happening, I'd pedaled to the park as well to meet Rebecaa and Athena by a rainbow painted school bus near the back of Speedway Meadow. We shared chocolate, apples and sunscreen with our neighbors on the green untill the hot sun and crowd got the better of us. I milled the expo area of drum circles, hemp ice cream and cannabis literature a bit w/Rebecca before running into John and other other Artsfest Salon friends. A pit-stop with some other pals amid the eucalyptus trees on the hill above stage during Jefferson Airplane's set completed the afternoon's peace, love and happiness experience (though none of us were alive for the original). Due to the Bazaar gig, I was a SoL short-timer ...I missed the finale and got to the Richmond in time for Hobby Horse's performance and to set up for what would be a sweet evening...

This week I'm back in the studio with Ben Bernstein and then off to the annual West Coast Songwriter's Conference in Los Altos. If you're going to the latter, drop me a line....

Thanks to Steven Andrew Kacsmar (http://www.stevenandrewkacsmar.com/) for mixing down some band recordings I did a few months ago. check out a bit of "Raising Cain" on the music page.....I drove down to Montalvo Arts Center yesterday with fellow West Coast songwriter Mike Richards to see two of my favorite artists, Jesse Sykes (http://www.jessesykes.com/) and her band The Sweet Hereafter followed by Buddy Miller ( http://www.buddyandjulie.com/). Montalvo is a lovely arts 'campus' and served as an intimate venue to catch these artists. I last saw Sykes at SXSW and here, we got to study her band set up and sound check as well as the actual show up close and personal. Her "Like, Love, Lust and the Open Halls of the Soul" has been holding court alongside L. Williams "West" and Ryan Adam's "Easy Tiger" in my cd player for the last month....Buddy Miller has been a favorite for a while. One of Emmylou Harris's stalwart sidemen, Miller is an impassioned singer songwriter in his own right with no attitude whatsoever-he's a great musician and a real person, yah!. I think this is the third or fourth time I've seen him live (one of the first on the eve of my first trip to India) and the first time I got to meet him personally and thank him for his (and his wife, Julie's) great, truthful songwriting. Pick up "Universal House of Prayer" when you can (note to my fellow songwriters-Buddy's one of Nashville's more respected musicians and he was selling his own cds post show)....on the Virgo front (Aquarians seems to require them like adequate vitamin C), three of my San Francisco pals celebrated bdays in the past three days. Shoutouts to musicians Abel and Jacqui and dancer Stefanie-live long and prosper dear talented friends.

I'm reading Michael Ondaatje's newest "Divisadero" (he's from Sri Lanka but yes, the book is named for SF's Divisadero St.) Ondaatje is brilliant in every way. And he takes his time. Readers had to wait another 7 years since his last book (such a span between his books is typical- I tend to reread his books). So reading Divis fairly hot off the press is making me as happy as just about anything can. It's story and commentary on life and art all the same time
From Divisadero:
"Everything is biography, Lucian Freud says. What we make, why it is made, how we draw a dog, who it is we are drawn to, why we cannot forget. Everything is collage, even genetics. There is the hidden presence of others in us, even those we have known briefly. We contain them for the rest of our lives, at every border that we cross." --Michael Ondaatje

In other news some songs I've recently recorded are getting mixed and I'm going into the studio again this week. I had a happy gig with Hobby Horse on Sunday and I'll be sharing a gig again with them at the Bazaar Cafe on September 2.

How great is Alejandro Escovedo? Talk about demonstrating the joy and mastery of music. His show at The Great American was beautiful in every way. ...http://www.alejandroescovedo.com/

I've started working with Ben Bernstein, http://benbernsteinmusic.com on some tunes. Check out "Cafe La Vie" on the music page....

Sadly, the beloved Revolution Cafe in the Mission where i'm scheduled to play 8/18 has been closed for music. Alas, they need a cabaret license. I've still got the show on the calendar in hopes the Revolution will be up and grooving again w/i two weeks but do check back. Meanwhile, come to the Hootenanny on Saturday @ Cafe International (see gigs). Kwame Copeland on bass; Leigh Kimmelman on drums for my set and a whole slew of other songwriters who want to stop wars.

I've been recording the past couple of months and will have some new tunes to listen to soon. yippee!........
in the meantime, listen to http://www.thefempire.com/listen on Tuesday. I'll be geting some airplay on the "unsigned #7" show....
the Sumer of Love Festival last weekend was a true flashback. Had a lot of fun backstage watching Quicksilver and Jefferson Starship up close and personal and was mega impressed.....

I'm mulling this today:
“So it's really not East or West, it's really part of the human experience that you are given certain conditioning and a certain character and that you have to live with that, and make the best you can of it. That is why we love the Hindu tradition, because of all these paradoxes we are confronted with —on the one hand this image of immobility and original knowledge and original uncontaminated being that we carry within ourselves, and on the other hand the deepest human desire: the desire for a narrative. And interesting narratives imply conflict. A narrative without conflict is boring —this is why I get very diffident about presentations of yoga or contemplative practices as 'conflict free.' When I hear about peace I get mad, because there is no such thing as peace, there is always war. It's either war with the other, or war within. If you are wise, it's war within.”
Francesco Clemente speaking with Eddie Stern in the new Namarupa.
https://www.namarupa.org

Living With War Today Hootenanny Night
protest and topical songs for the new millenium

an evening of artists featured on Neil Young's Living With War Today web site
Sat August 11
part of the SF Folk Music Club's monthly Hootenanny Night series
Cafe International 508 Haight/Fillmore in SF
7-10:30 415 552 7390

Free show but donations are nice

www.sfhootenanny.com for Downloadable poster
www.neilyoung.com/lwwtoday/
Featuring

Robert Temple www.roberttemplemusic.com/ Bhi Bhiman www.myspace.com/bhibhiman Phillip Flathead www.myspace.com/phillipflathead Annie and the Vets www.ambergrass.com/annie.htm Deborah Crooks www.deborahcrooks.com/home.html August Bullock www.myspace.com/augustbullock Jeff Zittrain www.myspace.com/jzittrain

July 27-29 @
The Monterey County Fairgrounds--same place as 1967!
More info at www.sfsummeroflove.com
I'm on the Musician's for Peace stage....8:30pm...check gigs page

Sign the Live Earth Pledge today by visiting:

http://algore.com/pledge
"put aside the pettiness and conflict of politics... to embrace a genuine moral and spiritual challenge." A. Gore

Get the very last issue of the cool East Bay literary publication
Kitchen Sink magazine (http://www.kitchensinkmag.com) published by Neighbor Lady Community Arts Project. I've a piece in it, "Them Apples."
The NLCAP is closely linked to Mama Buzz Cafe (http://www.mamabuzzcafe) as well, where you can pick up an issue prior to or on July 26, when I play there along with Madeline Roa. See you soon-until then, happy independence day, peace & love, Deborah

"You Are Home" written by myself and BZ Lewis, was selected out of over 600 submissions to be included on the 2007 Indie Music For Life compilation CD that will raise money for cancer research. Get yours soon! www.indiemusicforlife.org www.myspace.com/indiemusicforlife

Happy summer.
Yay.
In other good news...I've some tracks playing on my favorite online radio station
http://pandora.com/ add me to your station and listen up....

It's taken me a very long while to realize that most projects take TIME to complete-whatever complete really is. Of course my brain desires some shape to things to feel content, so I've always got more than one project going or on a back burner. While I've been in the big long process of songwriting and now starting to record again, I've got my hand in other projects--writing for both the magazine YogiTimes (www.yogitimes.com) and the arts event producer ArtSFest (www.artsfestsf.org) which are dedicated, when it comes down to it, showcasing a lot of the projects that are keeping this city cooking. I spent much of the weekend REALLY cooking, well baking. Post gig in San Jose (a very pleasant one at Santana Row along with Tiffany Petrossi & Band), I drove down to Santa Cruz with an old friend and spent Saturday picking berries on a farm very close to the place I was born. Big fat olalaberries. Yum. I made not one, but three pies, which satsified in the project completion department on many levels.
Fortified, I spent much of Monday finishing some pieces for the aformentioned YogiTimes and ArtSFest, then picked up my mail and found an issue of Quiet Feather magazine, a literary publication out of England, which contains a short essay about traveling to India a few years ago, "Approaching the Freeway." You can buy a copy here:www.thequietfeather.co.
Today's project is a cowrite and tomorrow I'm back in the studio to complete vocals on some tracks. Look for mp3 demos here soon!
In other news, some fun gigs are on the horizon: Mama Buzz with Madeline Roa in July, Revolution Cafe in August, and back in Austin, TX in September.

For about a year I've been cohosting the San Francisco of Songsalive!'s monthly songwriter showcase. The organization (www.Songsalive.org) is dedicated to providing a platform for independent songwriters of whom there are many fine ones that you may not know about. Our June showcase was a case in point. We had a fine night of music at Caffe Trieste Downtown by a diverse group including Vanessa Van Spall (preparing for her CD release party at 12 Galaxies), Kym Trippsmith ( fresh off the Harmony Festival and backed her by lead guitarist Lisa Gomez) and Lisa Gracciano (having driven up from Los Angeles with her family). I started out the evening with a few songs as much to check the levels as get the evening going. Harp player Shawn Shaffer had driven down from Richmond to give the songs some kick. Then Kym took the stage and simply rocked the place. Vanessa belted out some originals backed by her pianist before Lisa wowed us with her rich, bluesy, slide playing that had her family members dancing. Check all of these artists out. They're doing fine, realized original work. Steven Andrew Kacsmar rounded out the rich evening of music, joined again by Shawn Shaffer on harp and thus we closed the place down.

It was a very full weekend, starting Friday at Harmony Fest, a peace-love-and happiness event if there ever was one. After playing on the Goddess Stage, I checked out New Monsoon, Brian Wilson and a plethora of items dedicated to making life harmonious (I'm never sure how tie-dye really fits into it but suffice to say there are a lot of tie-dye believers). Thank you Kurt Huget for fine playing during my set. The whole weekend turned out to be "harmoniously" themed and and I was delighted to return to San Francisco to be a part of the entertainment at the Peace Wall unveiling at Koshland Park on Saturday. Kind of like Harmony Fest in action on the day-to-day plane, here's some background on the project:
Since 1999 churches, schools, and community based organizations in the Western Addition have been learning a peace empowerment process, and painting tiles of what PEACE means to each person.

Through the integration of the visual arts, volunteers have taught a program in two local elementary schools, Megan Furth Academy (formerly Sacred Heart Elementary) and John Muir Elementary, and over fifty community based organizations in the Western Addition, that focused on tolerance, understanding, and non-violence. Participants collectively learned ways to develop positive and proactive solutions to resolving conflicts and defusing anger. The project was developed and implemented by residents for residents—a true community endeavor.

As a result of this project, children, residents, and seniors designed over 1,800 tiles were placed on the retaining wall surrounding the Daniel Koshland Community Park on Page and Buchanan Streets in San Francisco. A community celebration followed on Saturday, June 9, 2007. The wall was dedicated to the families who have lost their children to violence in the Western Addition.
Go see it!

Saturday, June 9
Bands That Rock, El Rincon, 8pm, 16h & Harrison, San Francisco.

"Promoting Global Cooling"
I'm delighted to be a part of this event:
June 8 2007 2pm Goddess Stage
Harmony Festival
Sonoma County Fairgrounds
Santa Rosa, California
<http://www.harmonyfestival.com>http://www.harmonyfestival.com
World Class Music & Speakers on multiple stages
for 3 Days and 3 Nights of Entertainment

Harmony Day Shows
BRIAN WILSON & THE STEVE KIMOCK BAND- Friday
ERYKAH BADU & RICKIE LEE JONES & UMPHREY'S MCGEE & DENNIS KUCINICH, AMY GOODMAN
-Saturday
THE ROOTS, KINKY, ALO & ARIANA HUFFINGTON- Sunday

Harmony After Dark Late Night Shows in 3 Venues
moe., SOUND TRIBE SECTOR 9 9(Live PA Set), JAI UTTAL & SHEILA CHANDRA and much more!
- Friday night
TECHNO-TRIBAL DANCE / Shongle & Rabbit in the Moon plusMIKE STERN, VICTOR WOOTEN,
Dennis Chambers & STEVE KIMOCK and One At Last and much more!- Saturday Night
COMMON & SHEILA CHANDRA & WISDOM , Shimshai, Tina Malis and much more!- Sunday night

Also featuring

DEBORAH CROOKS 2PM on the Goddess Stage
<http://www.harmonyfestival.com/lineup/lineup.html and there's more:
The Waybacks - The New Orleans Social Club
ALO - New Monsoon - Hot Buttered Rum
Stanton Warriors - The New Mastersounds
Sol Horizon - Jai Uttal - Stellamara
Pam the Funkstress - Green Lemon
One At Last - Luna Angel - Ganga Giri
Goddess Alchemy Project - Sukhawat Ali Khan
Blue Turtle Seduction - Shimshai & Tina Malia
Vernon Bush - Jaya Lakshmi

PRE-SALE TICKETS: $32 per day / $32 Harmony After Dark late night shows. Weekend
packages from $80-$149
plus special limited MAGIC PASS VIP TICKETS $500
AT THE GATE : $37 per day / $37 Harmony After Dark late night

TICKETS ON SALE NOW AT: <http://www.harmonyfestival.com

I'm from a family of war veterans or people escaping wars. My dad in WWII, my great-great-great grandpa in the Civil War, my brother a reserve during the Persian Gulf business, my mom's family living through multiple bouts of violence in what was once Yugoslavia and now is Croatia. I try to stay clear of it all though I carry too many of these memories with me.
So I'm in Austin working on some new tunes. Shout-outs to Damon Alexander, Patrick Godbey and Melanie Martinez for lending work to "Believe" and "Turn It All Red", and getting ready to play some peace-related events in CA this summer (check out the calendar).
In the meantime, "Dream Me" is number #265 on Neil Young's "Living With War"
vote it up! It's my hope for finding some love amid the warmongering madness:
http://www.neilyoung.com/lwwtoday/lwwsongspage.html
And while you're voting, go to
http://www.myspace.com/ripstar_sf, add yourself as a friend and vote for "All This Love" on the comments page.
Thanks!
Wishing you a PEACEFUL DAY,
Deborah

June 9 @
El Rincon
2700 16th St. @ Harrison,
San Francisco, CA
I'm opening for Broken Ladder, French Thinkers, Full on Flyhead and Hippie Grenade. Should be quite a show.
Details:

www.myspace.com/ripstar_sf

Between, amid, after the Bay to Breakers shebang come take a load off at either
Caffe Trieste Downtown
OR
Bazaar Cafe
in San Francisco
and listen to a slew of songwriters sing their words and world view.
Good eats for every palatte at both....Calendar has exact details...

I was given some good words recently from bard/musician/healer Forest Sun. Among the pearls of wisdom I gleaned is this simple
bit of guidance:

"Truth is light. A lie is heavy"

Good to notice.......

I'm very excited to get some tracks down for 4 songs that will be part of the upcoming CD and off to Austin this week to work on some more. Yay.
Write me if you'd like to find out how to contribute to this project's release.
I look forward to seeing you soon....Deborah

Some cool upcoming dates just added:

June 8
Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa
http://harmonyfestival.com/
June 9,
El Rincon, San Francisco

Check the calendar for more info....

I'm doing a full-band show this Saturday in Cupertino, opening an early evening show including Tiffany Petrossi and Band.
In other news, I'm breaking ground on recording a long-overdue new CD, both here in SF and later in May on a return trip to Austin. Yippee. If you'd like to donate to this project, please write me at deborah@deborahcrooks.com

If you want to hear what a lot of San Francisco songswriters are up to, come to these events THIS WEEK
4/11 San Francisco SONGSALIVE! Showcase at Caffe Trieste Downtown
and hear Jean Mazzei, Jo D'Anna and Paz, hosted by moi.
4/13 Red Vic Sessions at Red Vic Hotel in the Haight District of SF.

I'm also playing 4/12 in BENICIA if you want to wine, dine and LISTEN
and
Sunday 4/15, Celebrate the end of your tax woes with an afternoon at Caffe Trieste Downtown again, my third Sunday, 3-5pm. Look forward to seeing you. Check the calendar for details.....