Singer/Songwriter Michael Gaither

Click here to listen to Nancy Cassidy’s interview (time = 49:37)

When it comes to gathering podcast interviews from local songwriters, these things become like bubble gum trading cards: “Let’s see, I have a Keith Greeninger. A Sharon Allen. A Jay Howlett. But wait…I don’t have a Nancy Cassidy.”

Now I have a Nancy Cassidy. And in this interview, we get two hear about her TWO new CDs, “Song of Joy” and “Memphis”. Nancy’s a California native, and her ties with the land – she was raised on a dairy and spent many years as a river rafting guide – show in her music. Her KidSongs CDs have gone gold. Bruce Springsteen even recorded her song “Lizard Lips and Chicken Hips” for a Pediatric AIDS benefit CD, which sorta gives her more cred than almost anyone else who’s been on “Songs and Stories”. She’s also popular Americana songwriter. Nancy receives international airplay, though you’ve also likely heard her locally on KPIG radio.

She was working with songwriter/producer Keith Greeninger last year on “Memphis” when the illness of a close friend inspired her to write all the songs for “Song of Joy”. “Memphis” was put on hold, she finished the newer record, and then completed “Memphis” this Spring.

Nancy played a release show at our Corralitos Music Series last fall. It was full-band show featuring lots of local favorites who played on both records: Keith, Dayan Kai, Steve Uccello. Still, I wanted to hear more about this special CD. She and I got together around my kitchen table – as many of these podcasts go – a couple of months later to discuss both records, her songwriting process, and what it’s like to have one one record “play out” its newness as you’re waiting with another completed one in the wings.

Funny thing about getting older. You *know* it’s gonna happen. But every time one of your childhood heroes passes away, it takes you completely by surprise. I had that reaction when we lost Red Skelton (1997…and yes there’s a song in there). I welled up when film critic icon Roger Ebert left us just a matter of weeks ago. This morning I just stared in silence when I learned that Ray Harryhausen, the master of stop-motion animation, passed away at 92.

Everyone in my demographic – in other words, you’re at least as old as me – knows his work. He worked with tiny models and only one or two – if even that many – assistants. He posed, shot, and re-posed, and re-shot his models one frame of film at a time – standard film is 24 frames per second – bringing to life characters from Greek mythology, dinosaurs, even flying saucers – and all this decades before computers and CGI.

We fostered out”Angelina”, an adorable little pomeranian last week. Here’s a bit about her and a bit of a rant from me on why you should fix your pets.

Puppy season. It’s that time of year. Then again, if you regularly foster and find homes for wayward dogs, it’s *always* that time of year. Always too many dogs and not enough homes. Case in point: “Angelina”.

Hard to believe that just a few months ago, she was a stray in Turlock. When picked up by the Turlock shelter, her hair was so badly matted she had to be shaved. (She looked like a fuzzy black bear. Not exactly a fluffy pom, but quite cute.) Angelina was pickd up by Animal Friends Rescue Project of Pacific Grove.

I’m sharing a house concert with Steve Kritzer – one of my favorite musicians and now a frequent co-writer – on Saturday, April 20th in San Martin. Call 408-686-0374 for details. Here’s info on the show, as well as the audio from a recent appearance on KPIG Radio’s live music show “Please Stand By”. I was on the show to promote the house concert.

Click to hear the KPIG interview (time = 19:49)

I met songwriter Steve Kritzer several years back, either through Ginny Mitchell (at a winery gig I hosted) or the late Chuck McCabe. (I adore both Ginny and Chuck, but Chuck was a linchpin who seemingly connected everyone, so I’ll just say it was him.) Steve’s part of the BlahBlahWoofWoof artist collective, which means he’s good. It also means I get to occasionally rub elbows with some amazing talent. Read the rest of this entry »

On Saturday, April 6th, KPIG-favorite Antsy McClain brings The Trailer Park Troubadours *and* an entire PBS film crew to Watsonville’s Mello Center for a big concert and a whole lot of fun.

Hard to believe that just a little over ten years ago, Antsy McClain was “ready to call it quits”.

Antsy was out from Nashville for band rehearsals last weekend. We chatted over coffee, and he told the story about how their 1998 debut record “Doublewide and Dangerous” was just sitting, unreleased, in supplier warehouses. He was about done with it all. Then the late Laura Ellen Hopper called from KPIG Radio. She invited Antsy and the band to open for Robert Earl Keen at KPIG’s annual Humbug Hoedown. Laura Ellen also told him that songs like “It Ain’t Home ’til You Take the Wheels Off” and “Skinny Women Ain’t Hip” were popular on the station. Read the rest of this entry »

Click here to listen to episode #124 (time = 35:40)

There are two ways to setup this interview: 1) Why would a successful touring artist like Stevie Coyle, after spending decades on the road, suddenly say, “I’m done”? OR…2) “Why would it take a performing artist decades on the road to FINALLY say “I’m done?”

We’ll find out soon enough in this “Songs and Stories” field trip. In this return visit with the very funny and very talented fingerstyle guitar player Stevie Coyle – we first chatted back in Episode 14 – we learn about a recent epiphany he had on the return trip from an Oregon tour. Stevie has spent years as a traveling performer, first with the Royal Lichtenstein Circus, then with bay area favorites The Waybacks, and for the past six years as a solo performer. But he realized he was ready for a change. He’s now a friendly local merchant, running Mighty Fine Guitars in Lafayette, California. Read the rest of this entry »

A billion years ago, back in the stone ages, we used to read these things called “magazines”. They were printed on paper. You didn’t need a wifi hotspot to read ‘em. And you never had to make sure they had a full charge so you could finish an article.

Maverick Country is published in the UK. It’s online, but it’s also still very much a hardcopy magazine. They cover the gamut of all things country and Americana, from the big, big names, down to little indie folk like yours truly. Maverick Country generously reviewed my first CD, “Spotted Mule and Other Tales” back in 2006. They also had some very nice things to say about “Dogspeed” my second record. Read the rest of this entry »

A long time ago, in a high school not very far away – okay, it was Watsonville High – we all knew Scott Serrano could draw. And he could draw very well. Post-high school, Scott’s work developed into elaborate, and quite amazing, performance art, where the images he created were just a small piece of the work itself.

For example, his 1999-2000 work “Anatomical Demonstrations” was a dissection lecture and mixed-media exhibition (drawings and puppetry) that included a witty, self-mock-autopsy performed by Scott using tools that he created himself based on science circa the 1800s. “Anatomical Demonstrations” ran at the Exploratorium in San Francisco and at the Fringe Festival in Philadelphia PA. Scott’s exhibitions have been shown nationwide, and his accolades include a grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation and a “Six Week Artist Residency” award from the Exploratorium Museum. Read the rest of this entry »