Singer/Songwriter Michael Gaither

I dread it. I keep quiet, and I always feel a tinge of guilt, but I still dread it. We’re driving along, totally minding our own business, and then we see a loose dog, obviously not street smart, haphazardly sniffing his or her way through an unfamiliar neighborhood. I secretly hope my wife won’t see the critter. But she does. And I oblige, since I’m also worried about the dog even though we’re late – we’re always late – for wherever we’re heading, and stopping to find this pup’s home certainly isn’t to help.

But it beats returning later and seeing that same animal flattened on the pavement – hey, it’s happened. So you see a stray and want to help. What do you do? Pretty simple:

1. See if the dog will come to you. If it runs, don’t chase it. That can make things worse. There’s not a lot you can do at that point.
2. If the dog has a collar, look for a phone number. Call the owner.
3. If the dog does NOT have a collar, this means whoever “owned” him or her didn’t deserve to have a dog anyway. One option is to take it to the local shelter (something we’ve never done.) You can also contact your local vet. If the dog is
   

One of the the things I dig most about this web site is the “Songs and Stories” podcast, which – for five years as of next month – has given me a chance to chat with LOTS of other songwriters and artists about what they do. It’s given me an ongoing chance to learn from others, make more than a few friends, and hopefully help promote a bit of what they do along the way.

I went through last year’s web stats over the weekend to find out what and who was listened to the most. Surprisingly, some of the most popular episodes date back before 2011, while some were posted late in the year and featured artists or bands who tour nationally and/or have a big following. Here’s the top ten, including links to the episodes themselves.

Techy note: I’m including how many times each interview was “hit” (accessed) for the year. Though I can’t measure complete downloads (in other words, was the whole thing listened to or just a portion of it?), the numbers most definitely indicate what was most popular.)

#10 – Episode 108: Catching Up with Colin Gilmore (745 hits)

#9 – Episode 78: Playing Local Benefits (with a live set from KSCO 1080 AM) (779 hits)

#8 – Episode 106: Greg Kitchel: Live from Baja (897 hits)

#7 – Episode 109: Annie Moscow on “Phoenix” (1025 hits)

#6 – Episode 112: The Coffis Brothers (1293 hits)

#5 – Episode 110: Paul Kamm and Eleanore MacDonald (2389 hits)

#4 – Episode 111: The Band of Heathens (2753 hits)

#3 – Episode 68: The John Cowan Interview (2868 hits)

#2 – Episode 19: Colin Gilmore (2920 hits)

And the number one episode of “Songs and Stories” from 2011 features a kitchen-table chat with Santa Cruz’ own Sharon Allen:

#1 – Episode 89: Sharon Allen “Along the Way” (Part One) (3139 hits!!!)

More interviews are on the way in 2012. Check back here in about a week – or subscribe in iTunes using the button below – to listen to an interview with Great American Taxi, recorded last month at KPIG studios. As always, many thanks for listening.

Did you make any New Year’s resolutions yet? Better yet, did you cut to the chase and break any already? I never make resolutions on January 1st. Instead, I use semantics and take the coward’s way out. I make “goals”. You might not make your goals, but you’ll never break ‘em.

With that in mind, here’s a list of “goals” for the 2012.

1. Finish the new CD, “Starlight Drive-In Saturday Night”. This one’s kind of a given, since we’ve started the project and have it planned out. Still, it’s been a ton of work (in the most best of ways) and will be way cool to see it completed. We’re shooting for an early March release.
2. Be more tolerant with folks who don’t agree with me on any of the typical sensitive subjects. You know: “politics, religion, guilty-pleasure bands. (Seriously, what’s wrong with Styx?)
3. Be LESS tolerant and more vocal with folks who don’t agree with me on any of the same subjects. When I say “I’m pretty much middle of the road”, and then someone says “me too”, then proceeds to rant from the extreme right or left…well, don’t assume my quietness is politeness. I’m just waiting for you to take a breath so I can get a word in edgewise.
4. Be more patient. See items #2 and #3.
5. Reduce clutter. I cheated. We’ve already started and did the attic today. This item is more of a life quest than a simple goal. But I’m optimistic.
6. Pick up a new multi-year calendar. Seems easy, but I’m having a heck of a time finding a new Mayan calendar that goes past 2012. Did I miss a memo?

Happy new year, everyone.

It’s been a great year for music out at the Corralitos Cultural Center. We’ve had local songwriters, touring musicians, and more than a couple of fine bands in our midst. To wrap up 2011, acknowledge what a fine little musical resource we’ve discovered out in the burg of Corralitos, and to help raise a little money to help keep the lights on, we’re doing one last show for the year.

We’re dubbing this “Dayan Kai’s End of the Year Jam”. It’s a fundraiser for the building. We’ll have appetizers and music kicking off at 7 p.m. Music will include Dayan Kai and Steve Uccello, Nancy Cassidy, Russell Brutsche, and the Three Time Loser Band.

(Blatant self-promotion: I’ll be playing, too. Dayan’s producing my new record, and we finished the rhythm tracks last week. He and Steve will be backing me up on a little live preview of what we’ve finished so far.)

Plans are to run the evening at a New Year’s Eve-friendly time of 7-11 p.m., giving everyone a chance to get home before the bars let out. It’s been a great year. Hope you can help us celebrate it with music, food, and friends. The Corralitos Cultural Center is at 127 Hames Road in Watsonville.

Suggested donation on this one is $20. Email me directly to reserve your seats.

Click to hear episode #113 (time = 27:12, size = 37.4 mb)

There’s just enough time to get in one more podcast for 2011, so we might as well learn about my “latest new favorite” band. The Brothers Comatose are a bluegrass outfit out of San Francisco, CA. And while they’re all accomplished musicians, they’re one of the most FUN bands I’ve seen in a long time.

The two-year-old quintet is made up of brothers Ben (guitar, vocals) and Alex Morrison (banjo, vocals) Gio Benedetti (standup bass, vocals), Ryan Avellone, (mandolin), and Philip Brezina (fiddle). They formed out of music parties in the Morrison’s living room. And in just these two short years, they’ve quickly moved from playing “dive bars and street corners” in their native San Francisco to main stage sets at The Strawberry Music Festival, High Sierra, and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.

This is one of those podcasts that took awhile to line up. Ben and I literally traded emails for about a year and a half as we tried to line up a time to chat. Last fall, we were both at the American River Music Festival. The Brothers played a late night dance party in the lodge at our camp and followed it with a main stage set on Sunday afternoon.

In this episode, you’ll hear a few audience comments about the Saturday set, a couple of clips from the Brothers’ debut release, “Songs from the Stoop,” and a semi-impromptu interview with Ben and Alex (along with a parking lot cameo from Santa Cruz songwriter Keith Greeninger.) The Brothers Comatose are currently working on their second record and are planning a spring release. Learn more at brotherscomatose.com.

My silly little post about our foster pigeon earlier this week received a lot of response. Here’s a quick update.

I know lots of folks who’ve had pet birds. Most of them just toss a coin and call the critter “he” or “she”. Unless you’re keeping something that obviously shows off the fact that it’s a male, like a peacock, it’s tough to determine the sex…especially with some smaller birds.

There is one fool-proof method: Wait until it lays an egg. Unless you have some weird freak of nature, you can be pretty sure at that point that it’s a girl”. Beaker’s been acting odd lately. Making more cooing noises than usual, not wanting to fly around the house nearly as often as she (yup, she) usually does. She’s also been hunkering down on her little nest. We had a feeling:

This explains why Beaker’s been cooing so loudly. It’s because for the past week she’s been trying to pass an object as big as her head. Also makes sense why she’s been suddenly territorial about her cage: She’s guarding her dead egg. Every time I change her seeds and water, I feel like Tippi Hendren on holiday in Bodega Bay.

Nice thing is that we can stop competing over whether we call the bird “Pierre” or “Beaker”. “Pierre” does not work as a girl’s name. Beaker it is.

Something about the phrase “pet pigeon” just seems wrong on so many levels. We prefer this new phrase we’ve coined: “white trash parrot”.

My wife Cyn and I have been doing the “foster and find homes” thing for animals (mostly dogs and cats) for years now. Sometimes, however, we only get the process half right: Our dogs “Arlo” and “Hedge” were rescues who never left. And I swear that “Mr Giles,” our rescue bunny who’s been with us for like a thousand years, will eventually outlive anyone reading this.

A few months back, we came into possession of two local orphan pigeons. I still say they’re just “rats with feathers”, but I have to admit the helpless little things were kinda cute. My wife got to work boiling down chicken mash, and we both helped with the regular hand feedings of “Ren and Stimpy” (their placeholder names.)

One of the “squabs” – yes, they’re technically called that even if you don’t eat them – didn’t make it. Cyn checked with local feed stores and was told that there are like twenty different things that might have have went wrong, none of them our fault. The bird was just a fragile little baby animal. This is likely also why pigeons breed like, ahem, rats.

Beaker

So we’re down to one big, fat, healthy bird. Cyn calls him “Pierre” (if you say “Pierre Pigeon” with a bad French accent, she swears it’s funny.) Me, I just call him “Beaker”. (Me being a diehard Muppet fan, and because “Beaker” just seemed to fit.) We’d like to release him into the wild, but we’re not sure if he’s too used to humans or not.

I checked with a local wildlife rescue organization. They said, “Well, as long as he’s not too tame, you can let him go.” I said, “Uhm…if I open his cage door, he follows us around the house and flies onto my head. He’s *sorta* tame.”

So I think he’s ours. And I’ve been told they can live to be twenty years old. Swell.

Note: Beaker’s on my shoulder as I write this. He approves this post.

If you haven’t been out to one of our shows at the Corralitos Cultural Center lately, let’s say the place is looking pretty decent. We have the house PA working. (No more dragging a van full of my own gear). Comfy chairs are back. (Gone are the plastic wobbly ones.) And yesterday, I oh-so-slowly crawled up onto the roof of the place, CAREFULLY leaned over the peak of the roof, and replaced the outside lights. No more stumbling around in the dark. Unless wine is involved, but these are alcohol-free shows, so that should not be a concern.

This Sunday, December 4th, is our last show of the year at the Corralitos Cultural Center, and we’ve got something really special lined up: Houston Jones. Let me say that again: Houston Jones is playing in Corralitos!

For the uninitiated, the bay area-based Houston Jones is a five-piece “High-Octane Americana” band that mixes elements of blues, bluegrass, jazz, gospel, and swing (they can pretty much do anything) into a mix of original material backed by great vocals and wonderful harmonies. They have a ridiculously huge list of accolades, awards, and a well-deserved list of press quotes. For a better idea listen to my interview with the guys back in episode #82 of my “Songs and Stories” podcast.

It’s a genuine thrill to have a band of this caliber descend on Corralitos. December 4th is also a special night for few of the attendees. We’ll be celebrating that, too, but you’ll have to show up for details.

Reservations recommended: We’re determined to make room for anyone who wants to come, but reservation requests have been trickling in for the past couple of weeks. If you’re planning on making this one, please do email me in advance.

Doors open at 5:30 pm. Show starts at 6:00 pm. Suggested donation (sliding scale) for this is $10-$20. The Corralitos Cultural Center is at 129 Hames Road in Watsonville.

I’ve been hosting our Corralitos Cultural Center Music Series for about a year and a half, and it’s been a good excuse to both show off some talented friends and give road-warrior musicians a gig to play along their route. This Friday, we do both of those in one fell swoop as we present Dana Hubbard, one of my favorite nomads. He and I met a few years ago at the American River Music Festival and became instant pals.

Dana’s a lifelong working musician. He fronted many blues bands throughout the ’80s. When the club and corporate scene faded, he took to the road in his RV and has been a solo performer ever since. A few of the accolades he’s rounded up include:

• 1st Place Winner – 2010 Ashland Blues Society’s Road to the IBC Solo/Duo Category
• 1st Place Winner – 2009 Telluride Blues & Brews Festival Acoustic Blues Competition
• 1st Place Winner – 2009 Indie International Songwriting Contest Folk/Acoustic
• 2nd Place Winner – 2009 Utah State Instrumental Championships Fingerstyle

Click for more Dana Hubbard photos

Dana’s originally from the Central Coast, and he’s Berkeley-based these days. Interesting thing is that although he’s from the area, he’s never done a show here, so Friday will also be a debut of sorts. If you’ve been to a show at the cultural center, you know the drill: An intimate little venue, great acoustics, and snacks at the ready courtesy of my wife Cyn.

Doors open at 7:00 pm. Show starts at 7:30 pm. Sliding scale (suggested donation) $10-$20. The Corralitos Cultural Center is at 129 Hames Road in Watsonville. Hope you can join us. It’s going to be a way fun evening. Shoot me an email if you’d like to reserve your seats in advance.

Note: Proceeds from these shows partially support the cultural center, too.