Album Release: I Wanna Work For You!

Today, my third full-length album goes on sale in digital format. This is an album about the search for work, for purpose, for justice, for love, for anything real in an artificial world. The 10 original tunes on I Wanna Work for You ruminate on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and naked grabs for power, misguided love affairs and tired marriages, stratospheric self-actualization and gender-bending blues.

Oakland native Sam Bevan was my associate producer, and boy did he evolve my sound! Gary Mankin is my magic musical mensch -- er, engineer of SEVEN (count 'em) years! Pianist Jonathan Alford, percussionist Carlos Caro, drummer and percussionist Colin Douglas, Cuban singer Felix Samuel, trombonist Mara Fox and trumpeter Steffen Kuehn rounded out the band. For more detail on the talented band, read their bios and see their lovely photos here!

Amazingly, there were 90 backers on Kickstarter who made this project possible. Raj Kumar, thank you for your help videotaping and efforts to make the Kickstarter campaign a success! Robert Remy, meeting you at my three-night run at Jazz at Pearls three years ago turned out quite fortuitous! Shout out to photographer Melissa Agocs, too.

There are many other people to thank, of course, including my family and kids, who always say my songs rock.

Now what are you waiting for? Listen to I Wanna Work For You!

Or, here:

Oakland Feather River Camp Early Bird Registration ends 10/31!

Early Bird Family Camp Special:
September 15 - October 31, 2011

Imagine thousands of brilliant stars in the night sky, the calming sounds of rushing water, sunny blue-sky days, children's laughter, or the stillness of a quiet morning. This is the essence of Oakland Feather River Camp.

Campers have returned year after year to this tranquil sanctuary that encourages community and connection. An amazing love of the land and lifelong friendships are a common thread of this summer camp experience.

The camp has a long and colorful history. It was founded by the City of Oakland in 1924 and for many years campers arrived on the famous Zephyr train, being dropped off right in camp. Though the train no longer stops at Feather River, the call of the rails continues as the train whistles on its way through camp.

Oakland Feather River Camp, located near Quincy, CA, nestled along Spanish Creek, is now operated by Camps in Common, a small non-profit corporation formed in 2003 to support the City of Oakland in keeping the camp alive and vital for the urban Oakland community.


Make your plans early; Register now and save BIG!
EARLY BIRD OFFERS:

Offer # 1*:
Register and pay 75% of your total stay and receive a 20% discount.

Offer # 2*:
Register and pay 50% of your total stay and receive a 10% discount.

* These offers cannot be combined with any other discounts or specials.

Oakland Feather River Camp imposes no minimum stay. However, we invite you to stay longer by reducing the rates for 5 nights or more.

Youth Music Contest 10/28 at Boys & Girls Club, Oakland

Oakland Councilmember Libby Schaaf and High Street Boys & Girls Club presents...

within a mic music contest
Who? Aspiring teen artists ages 13-17 who want to produce music in our new recording studio at the Boys and Girls Club of Oakland! 

What? Contestants will develop their own songs to perform live. Judges will determine the winners who will receive special prizes that include $700 CASH, STUDIO TIME AND IPODS. 

Sponsored by Councilmember Libby Schaaf!

Workshops: Oct 19-20, 2011 

Rehearsal: Oct 26, 2011 

Contest date: Oct 28, 2011 

Where? The Boys & Girls Club, 3300 High Street, Oakland

COME JOIN US!!

Sign up at the Boys & Girls Club 3300 High Street or email withinamic@gmail.com. Like us on Facebook @ Within a Mic Music Competition!

40 Reasons Why I Want You In My Band

1. You play my music, your music, anyone's music with artistry, verve and grace
2. I feel like I have so much to work with on stage, as if a whole palette of uninvented colors were available to me, when you're playing
3. Your phrasing is beautiful
4. You understand musicality
5. You can play with dynamics
6. You are totally reliable
7. You are making shit happen in your own life and career
8. You understand there are no small parts, only small actors
9. You know how to shut up in rehearsal
10. You avoid correcting others unless you can do it constructively
11. Through you I learn about other cool music, composers, musicians and gigs
12. I feel energized after playing with you
13. You make me laugh
14. You laugh at my jokes
15. You aren't afraid to flirt
16. Your rhythm is impeccable
17. You're determined -- when you mess up, you keep on going
18. You shed your parts before the gig
19. You're creative
20. You're silly
21. You're beautiful on the inside
22. You're beautiful on the outside
23. You are interesting to talk to
24. Your eyes are clear and alert and you are observant
25. You listen
26. You understand that making music is collaborative
27. Your reasons for gigging are simple: You can't not gig
28. You don't complain a lot
29. You're available
30. You're humble
31. You'll help other musicians out on the premise that a rising tide lifts all boats
32. You like to gossip but you aren't mean and bitter
33. You aren't passive aggressive
34. Without even trying we always color coordinate on stage
35. You are the wind beneath my wings :-)
36. I can learn from you
37. We can learn from each other
38. You are wise
39. You're not obsequious or trying too hard; you know yourself
40. Life is too short to waste a moment that could be spent making music!

40 Reasons Why I Don't Want You in My Band

1. You talk a good game but your chops suck
2. You said you could get us lots of gigs but you can't
3. You're a sex addict
4. You're a coke head
5. Your addiction to pot interferes with your addiction to music (aka you don't hide your pot usage from me)
6. You drink too damn much
7. Your ego has manifested itself as an ugly little second head sprouting from your shoulder, and I don't want to hear another word out of its nasty little mouth
8. You are more concerned with technicalities than with musicality
9. You gave a malevolent glare onstage and proceeded to totally fuck up your part intentionally, despite your wealth of talent and ability
10. You have too many girlfriends
11. You're an amateur
12. You always fall apart when onstage
13. You want me to walk three paces behind you
14. You always speed up
15. Your friends are scary
16. Your solos last too long
17. You talk to me like you're my husband
18. You talk to me like I'm your wife
19. You kissed me, unbidden, when I was ill and had just thrown up
20. You don't know how to rehearse
21. You don't know how to count off
22. Your illiteracy interferes with everyone's life
23. You always need a ride
24. You yelled at me once
25. You are cynical and mediocre
26. Talking to you depletes me
27. Performing with you depletes me
28. You're a jealous person who doesn't realize there's enough to go around
29. You have no grace
30. You should be with someone your own speed -- or slower, so that you can feel superior
31. You want to get rich quick or be discovered
32. You are a theorist, not a pragmatist
33. You don't understand the word "consistency"
34. You don't have enough musical vocabulary to make a coherent request in rehearsal
35. You didn't tell me you didn't want me to be myself onstage, yet no one else in the band is doing anything to indicate they aren't autistic, and now you are upset that no one complimented you after the gig
36. You're always missing a crucial piece of equipment on the gig
37. You have become deaf
38. Where is your artistry?
39. You're sexist
40. You're litigious

A Campfire Tale to Start October: The Old Marin Hitchhiker

It’s October, my favorite month! Here’s a scary story I told a dozen kids back in May when we did a school camping trip in Yosemite. It’s true, except for the parts that aren’t... 

We were driving home from an afternoon gig in Tiburon, the toniest suburb in Marin County across the Golden Gate from San Francisco and a quick ferry ride from Angel Island. My 10-year-old son had come with me to help me load equipment in and out and sell CDs during the gig. It was about 5 pm as we headed West on the road out of Tiburon, sweaty, tired, and with a few hundred bucks in our pockets. We had passed the last of the stores and hotels when we saw the old man standing with his arm oustretched, thumb up. His hair was white and fluffy, like Einstein’s, he wore a long black trench coat over dark clothing, and he held a black briefcase. It’s funny how you process someone’s look, the setting and the situation, and then make a decision that you don’t expect from yourself. I passed him, just barely, before deciding to stop. My son gave me a good-natured look of surprise.

He slowly approached. I pushed the button to lower the passenger-side window, and leaned over my son: “Where are you headed?” “San Rafael,” he said. “We’re going to Oakland… We can give you a ride there, it’s on the way,” I said. He opened the back door and climbed in. I started driving. “If you’re taking the Richmond Bridge, I can tell you exactly where to drop me. You won’t go out of your way,” the man said. “Great. So, why are you hitchiking?” I asked. “Well, on a Sunday the busses don’t come often, so sometimes I’ll try my luck getting a ride,” he said. “I don’t have a car.”

He fell silent and so did we. We wound along the road approaching the highway, and after a few minutes we were heading North on 101. I saw a sign for San Quentin State Prison to our right. “There’s San Quentin, California’s oldest, scariest prison,” I told my son. “Hope you never go there,” I joked. We could see the Spanish-style building jutting out into the Bay.

He’d been quiet in the back seat, so I’d nearly forgotten about him. “I went to San Quentin,” the old man piped up. “I used to be a delivery man. I made deliveries to San Quentin. The funny thing is, I always carried a very long knife to open packages with,” he said.

When you’re giving a hitchhiker a ride, knife is a word you don’t really want to have come up in casual conversation, and a slight current of awareness travelled through me. “Really? When was this?” I asked. “Oh, in the 1950s. I’d go in there with my deliveries, and they never checked me. And I would forget that I was going in there with a big long knife for opening boxes. But it was never a problem, the fact that I had that long knife,” he said. “I didn’t have that job for more than a few years,” he said. The car was silent again as we contemplated the prison, known for housing hundreds of condemned men on death row until all appeals ran out and they went to the gas chamber, or, nowadays, to lethal injection. We also contemplated the fact that he’d used the word knife three times.

Another few minutes passed until the old man directed us to an exit. We decelerated off the freeway. “Drop me here,” he said. He thanked us and got out. As we pulled back on the onramp he began shuffling toward downtown San Rafael.

“That was kind of weird when he started talking about the knife, wasn’t it?” I laughed. “Don’t worry, Mommy,” my son replied. “I could take that old man, easy.” We both cracked up. “Well, I would never pick up anyone if I thought it wasn’t safe,” I said. The fact that he was white-haired and frail had definitely played into my decision. We enjoyed the rest of the ride home, unloaded my heavy gear back into the house and forgot all about the hitchhiker.

A few months later, I was about to turn off the TV when the first few minutes of the late-night news came on. A mug shot of a white-haired, black-suited man flickered briefly on the screen. “A murderer who escaped San Quentin and eluded capture for nearly 60 years has been apprehended in Marin County,” the anchor read. “He had stabbed his wife with a long knife, but later escaped San Quentin by way of a delivery van. The man apparently has lived most of his life unobtrusively in the area.” The mug shot appeared again on the screen. My mouth fell open. Could it be... was it the hitchiker? I hadn't looked that carefully at his face. In my mind's eye, he resembled John Thaw, the late actor who played Inspector Morse on the BBC -- only with fluffier hair. We'll never know...

But the experience didn't prevent me from picking up some Spaniards who were hitchhiking in Yosemite. My son was with me that time too. When they got out, my son let out a whoosh of air. "Mommy, those guys stank!" "Really?" I replied. "Yes! You're lucky you can't smell. Let's not pick up any more hitchhikers. Remember the guy with the long knife?"

Do I Get the Job? Less than 24 hours left in the Kickstarter campaign!

We are so close!

This is the last chance you'll get to pledge and get rewards! Can you help us make the goal of 100 backers? 

Via the update videos on Kickstarter, you can now see/hear SIX of the songs on the upcoming album: I Wanna Work For You, Catastrofe de Amor, Let's Not Ruin This Affair, I Think of You, When the Night Is Cool and All the Boys Are Sleeping and I Didn't Drill That Deep!

UPCOMING GIGS THIS WEEK!

Tonight I'll sing for the second time with the amazing 19-piece Pacific Mambo Orchestra at Cafe Cocomo in San Francisco. Led by Steffen Kuehn and Christian Tumalan, this horn extravaganza is irresistible on the dance floor! I'll also join them Saturday, May 7, singing lead alongside the incredible sonero Braulio Barrera and the timbalero/sonero Omar Ledezma Jr.

On Wednesday at 7 pm, the quirky professor Rudy Ramirez is spearheading a night of edu-tainment at College of San Mateo. I'm bringing my crack band! Sam Bevan/bass, Jonathan Alford/piano, Mara Fox/trombone, Felix Samuel/vocals, Carlos Caro/percussion, Colin Douglas/drumset! Pura musica latina! In the set list? A timba original, a Celia Cruz classic, a bolero, a salsamba original... $5, all ages! Lots of fun surprises!

Then on Sunday it's a special Mother's Day show with a lineup of salsa bands and Marina Lavalle at Ashkenaz in Berkeley. 5 pm!

Thanks for your support!

Siempre cantando,

Alexa

Lets Not Ruin This Affair, Catastrofe de Amor, When the Night Is Cool

I Wanna Work For You

Original tune, new arrangement: I Think of You live by Alexa