I always say “playing’s the easy part”. Hauling the gear, booking, and promoting. That’s the real work. It’s always worth it in the end, of course. (Or *usually*, depending on the gig…heh heh). Looking for gigs is often a fair amount of work, too. But sometimes. Sometimes. The gig’s find YOU. And those are usually the best ones.
Earlier this year, I was approached about playing at the Corralitos Cultural Center. It’s literally an art gallery with a stage, out in the country, and only minutes from home. After a quick chat with the center’s director, I realized they wanted to do a real music series. And at the same time, I was thinking about starting to put on shows. It seemed a natural progression in light of running open mics, doing podcasts, and playing at my own shows. This also seemed like one more way to help give other artists a new place to play.
We started back in May with Alisa Fineman and Kimball Hurd (here’s a clip). In June we did a night with storyteller Erica Lann-Clark, backed by me, my pal Aaron Bagchee on guitar, and Dayan Kai doing percussion. (And here’s a clip from that night, too.) Since then, we’ve been fortunate to have Jay Howlett, Nancy Cassidy, Jennings and Keller, and Cindy Kalmenson all take their place on the cultural center’s stage.
The cultural center is participating in Santa Cruz Open Studios for the first time, so we’re dubbing this weekend’s show a “Closing Concert for Open Studios”. Beginning at 6:00 pm on Sunday evening, it’ll be an in-the-round with me, Sherry Austin, and Steve Kritzer. Sherry’s been an inspiration for years, and she just released “Love Still Remains”, a tribute to songwriter Kate Wolf. Steve is just a dynamite musician and songwriter, and I’m pleased (and humbled) to say that we’ve started writing a bit together. You’ll hear tunes from Sherry’s new record, at least one co-write from Steve and me, and a bunch of stuff from all of our other CDs.
We all have a rough idea of what we’ll play and how we’ll contribute to each other’s songs. The rest we’ll just leave to whim. That’s half the fun of these things. Hope you can join us for this one.
The Corralitos Cultural Center is at 129 Hames Road in Watsonville. Doors open at 5:30 pm. Suggested donation/sliding scale: $10-20. Reserve your seats by sending me an email or by calling (831) 254-2669.