"Whilst August Yet Wears Her Golden Crown

"Whilst August Yet Wears Her Golden Crown
    Ripening fields lush - bright with promise …” 

    -  Michelle L. Thieme, August's Crown 

"August rushes by …
Bursting on the scene,
Heat and haze of crimson sunsets.
Like a dream
Of moon and dark barely recalled,
A moment,
Shadows caught in a blink.
Like a quick kiss …”
-  Elizabeth Maua Taylor 

“I don't wanna say goodbye for the summer, knowing the love we'll miss
So let us make a pledge to meet in September, and seal it with a kiss …”

(Sealed with a Kiss, Bryan Hyland)

Dave is in Canada until next week visiting family and friends leaving me to write this month’s newsletter, I’ll do my best. July was a great month for us, hope yours was, too. We had music, radio, poetry, art, and clothing all on the calendar.

I was invited to participate in the “Light & Shadow” art show at the Occidental Center for the Arts,  running through Sept. 2. The next show opens on Fri. Sept. 6, 6-8 PM, “Earth Wind & Fire.” The cover painting for our new CD, “Stone & Fire,” will be in that show, we will be performing in the concert room during the reception. Please come by for friends, food, wine, art, and music.

We did an interview with Rosemary Chalmers on KSCO AM 1080 Radio, in Santa Cruz to promote our Don Quixote’s show with Carlos Reyes, all of which was wonderful. Carlos was dazzling. We’ll be playing Monterey Bay Idol on Raising the Standards, a Saturday show on KSCO, a three song set and interview totaling 15-20 minutes. It will be broadcast August 24th at 4:15, live in-studio. Listen in and be sure to vote for us!

We saw the wonderful James Hurley, at Mighty Fine Guitars, in Lafayette. Our friend and poet, Marv Heimstra, was at Coffee Catz in Sebastopol accompanied by John Roy Zat, on fiddle, with inventive sound interpretations of the poems.

We have lots of performances coming up this month. With Dave out of town I am doing a rare solo performance at the First St Café in Benicia, Sat. Aug. 3; we’re the featured act at High St Station; we’ll be featured at the Frank Bette Center with poetry and music; have another fun trip to the Volcano Union Inn; plus more radio. Geez, I’m ready for a nap!

Last but not least, Teresa Tudury invited me to put my original clothing designs in her shop, Such Fine Things, in Occidental. So now all of my stuff is out in the world again. Visit our website to see and hear more. 

Go out and create something good, have a wonderful August, and we’ll see you in September!

(Sealed with a kiss.) Chappell

The Women of Jazz and Blues Part II

The Women of Jazz and Blues Part II

The courage of the black lady singers to stand up and be counted in a white man’s world contributed to the ultimate end of segregation and helped inspire the liberation of all women. Not just from the prejudices of a white man’s world—the blues genre was dominated by black males who had to get used to the emergence of powerful women in the music. 

Blues song writer, Ida Cox, expressed in her song Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues the new independence of women from their men, especially those who treated them bad. 

“I've got a disposition and a way of my own.
When my man starts kicking I let him find another home.
I get full of good liquor, walk the streets all night,

Go home and put my man out if he don't act right.
Wild women don't worry, wild women don't have the blues.”

When Pamela Polland created the Melba Rounds show in the 70's, she was partly riding the wave of women’s liberation pioneered by the blues women who were an inspiration for the movement. She also featured popular songs of the twenties, like Don’t Blame Me by blues singer Ethel Waters. Ethel, a versatile performer, was also the highest paid performer on Broadway in the 30's, starred in movies, one of which, “Cabin in the Sky (1943),” gets shown occasionally on late night TV. Ethel is one of a group of many singers who traveled the raunchy side of the street singing the blues like her famous 1928 record Handy Man. Pamela also covered this one. “Sometimes he's up long before dawn, Busy trimming the rough edges off my lawn; Oooh, you can't get away from it! He's such a handy man!”

These were known as “race records,” not sold to white audiences.

From Ethel Waters, Pamela’s Melba Rounds show learned what became a theme of the Harlem Renaissance: I’ve Got Harlem on My Mind. It became one of the show’s signature songs. Written about Josephine Baker pining for home while she lived the life of a successful cabaret star in Paris, it is an example of the crosscurrents of culture already happening in the music and theater business. The song was written by the famous Jewish hit song writer Irving Berlin.

Later in life, Ethel crossed back over to join the gospel singers on the “good side of the street” singing and praising the Lord. When Chappell was a little girl, her minister father took the family to the Four Square Gospel Church in Los Angeles to hear Ethel Waters perform at a revival. In the middle of her famous gospel hit, His Eyes are on the Sparrow, the then elderly and very large Ethel collapsed behind the podium and was carried out. Chappell never forgot it.

 

As music fans know already, Billie Holiday was the most well-known of the black female singers from pre-rock and roll days. Not often thought of as a blues singer, it was her interpretations of standards that captured the hearts of listeners, such as Trav’lin’ Light, which went to number one for Billie on the Harlem Hit Parade.  Chappell and I still love to perform this one in our live show. Billie co-wrote one of her big standard hits, Good Morning Heartache, with Arthur Herzog, Jr. Pamela Polland and I performed Duke Ellington’s In My Solitude inspired by Billie’s brooding and sensitive rendition. 

Pamela’s Melba Rounds Show often brought down the house, which was usually her regular club, The Palms Café in San Francisco, (see film of the Palms show). She created a fresh interpretation of I Cover the Waterfront that inspired me to come up with an unique piano arrangement. This song had been a “hit single,” a ’78 release for Billie in 1944, became a hit for Pamela, and has appeared in Chappell and Dave’s repertoire alongside Dave’s tribute Billie’s Blues. This original Chappell & Dave tune tells about Billie’s life moving from the streets to the stage.

When Billie joined Artie Shaw’s orchestra in 1938, she was the first black woman to sing with a white orchestra. When she bravely undertook the song “Strange Fruit,” it provided further fuel to her cult of fame. Few singers are willing to interpret this lyric describing the lynching of a black man in the American South. Like the “wild” blues women before her, Billie Holiday was a pioneer and a trail blazer. This was a reason their music had a resurgence in the 70's. Local Bay Area favorite, Alice Stuart (see picture of her 1972 Fantasy Records release below), is experiencing a current revival, bringing new fans to her blues originals. Visit www.reverbnation.com/aliceandtheformerlys. 

The women blues and jazz singers have left us a rich treasure trove of music to inspire musicians and singers of all eras to come. By studying styles that moved music fans in the past, we learn the power of the well placed word and melody. I matured musically by blending blues with other popular styles to create the language I think most adequately expressed my life experience. From this launching pad, the music propelled me into forward motion and growth as a musician. You too can bring the wisdom of the past to bear on the present and expand the genre of Americana. So, take some time to explore and discover the “jazzy side of Americana.”

(Illustrations of Billie Holiday and Ethel Waters are © Chappell Holt)

July Hums with a Louder Concert …

July Hums with a Louder Concert …

 

"The linden, in the fervors of July,
Hums with a louder concert. When the wind
Sweeps the broad forest in its summer prime,
As when some master-hand exulting sweeps
The keys of some great organ …"
-  William Cullen Bryant, Among the Trees 

 

“Sandy the fireworks are hailin' over Little Eden tonight, forcin' a light into all those stoned-out faces left stranded on this Fourth of July. Down in town the circuit's full with switchblade lovers so fast so shiny so sharp, and the wizards play down on Pinball Way on the boardwalk way past dark …”(4th of July, Asbury Park [Sandy] by Bruce Springsteen)

 

Our concert in the Redwoods at Occidental Center for the Arts with Gary Stockdale was a success. Though not a full house, it went so well that our hearts were filled with good vibes all day. The afternoon started with a great visit to Teresa Tudury’s vintage clothes shop, Such Fine Things, with Gary arriving a little later. We trucked over to OCA afterwards for a sound check and shared a good time singing together on stage, playing and enjoying each other's best songs. It was such a beautiful eve-of-summer day, twelve of us, including our beautiful daughter Kelsey and her boyfriend Todd, adjourned to the Union Hotel patio for dinner, wine, and conversation, the best Father's Day I can remember!

 

Gary went on to do a featured performer spot at the High Street Station in Alameda on Thursday, June 20, so we joined up with him and did a couple of tunes for the open mic portion after his set. We visited and heard Deborah Crooks perform, who is one of the hosts for this open mike series. We first met Deborah at FAR-West last October in Irvine. Here’s her Facebook site. The High Street Station features the music staged nicely in a lovely room with a grand piano. Another upright piano sits in the corner. Go check out their place. Many good musicians play there; you won’t be disappointed. Chappell & Dave will have their own feature spot at this Alameda club on Thursday August 8th.

We’re enthusiastically anticipating our upcoming show at Don Quixote’s International

Music Hall in Felton, CA., on Sunday July 21st. Carlos Reyes, "Multi-instrumentalist String Wizard" is appearing in a rare solo concert plus Chappell & Dave Holt, featuring "The Jazzy Side of Americana." Don Quixote’s Address is 6275 Hwy. 9, Felton, Phone 831-335-2800. Tickets are available in advance at http://www.donquixotesmusic.info/#Carlos_Reyes (7pm $12 adv./$15 door).

 

When BART went out on strike, Chappell worked at home for the week. She redesigned our Reverbnation website, added new music photos and Chappell paintings to her gallery page. We'll soon have two new songs posted. Please come visit the website at http://chappellanddaveholt.com/ and tell us what you think. We also invite those of you who haven’t done so yet to “Like” our Facebook band site at https://www.facebook.com/ChappellandDaveHolt 

Happy Summer and Fourth of July!

Women of the Blues, Pt. 1

Women of the Blues, Pt. 1

I started out as a rock musician basing my style on American Blues, specifically the Country Blues of the American South. I conjured the blues in my life, invoked their gods, called upon their demons by singing the words, invoking that blues condition of mind. I have been down to the crossroads. I got the key to the highway. I would’ve gone down that big road all by myself.

The blues entered me, passed through me and become something else. When I wrote a blues song it became a unique statement. I did not merely duplicate what was conjured and rehearsed in the early stages of learning, though I closely followed in the steps of the past masters. Eventually, I found new direction in myself, different from the one charted by the traditional language of the blues. I developed my own style of performing and songwriting.

 

I was allowed to audit my girlfriend’s classes at Sonoma State University (Rohnert Park, CA) from 1970 – 1973 so I received a great education while she was going there. Philip Elwood, jazz columnist for the Oakland Tribune, was teaching a History of Jazz course that I audited. Her assignments introduced me to wonderful new books, all of them previously unknown to me, and I read them all right along with her—Ishi in Two Worlds, Black Elk Speaks, Blues People, Urban Blues, and others. These communities, formerly excluded from our experience, worlds of marginalized, non-white cultures, were liberated for entry into our imaginations, for us to learn about and enjoy. It was a gas, a moment of cultural transformation to recall forever. We still see the permanent effects of these changes today.

Many rock and pop women singers of those days explored their interest in the blues and jazz traditions of the black community. They followed the lead of elders and scholars like Maria Muldaur, Bonnie Raitt, Janis Joplin and several others. Pamela Polland, who already had experience performing with blues scholar Ry Cooder when they were both kids starting out in Los Angeles, shared her expertise with me. With my help as backup pianist (pictured above), she created a blues act, “Melba Rounds,” that featured the songs of Ethel Waters, Lil Greene, Bessie Smith, Billy Holiday and of course Barbecue Bess, Bessie Jackson (“talkin’ ‘bout my barbecue.”) Pamela also got help from Sonoma State Professor Phil Elwood who taught the jazz history class I’d sat in on a few years before. Elwood let her explore and tape record from his extensive collection to get material.

One of the first songs Pamela found among Professor Phil’s records was “Why Don’t You Do Right?” by Lil Green, with Big Bill Broonzy on guitar. Pamela fell in love with the song and it became a popular one in her repertoire. Although we learned it from Lil Green, Peggy Lee had the biggest hit with her version. Peggy had also learned it from Lil Green’s recording. In a 1984 interview she said "I was and am a fan of Lil Green, a great old blues singer, and Lil recorded it. I used to play that record over and over in my dressing room, which was next door to Benny's (Goodman). Finally he said … 'Would you like me to have an arrangement made of it?' I said, 'I'd love that,' and he did." “Why Don’t You Do Right?” became a hit for her and the Benny Goodman orchestra in 1942 and sold over a million copies.

 

Bessie Smith provided many crowd pleasers for Pamela’s show. One was Bessie’s typically rough and tough “Send Me to the ‘Lectric Chair,” where she sings, “I wanna take a journey to the devil down below. I done killed my man. I wanna reap just what I sow.” Dinah Washington included it on her tribute album to Bessie.

 

 Chappell has written a fine tribute to these singers with her song “Bad Girls Blues,” soon to be released on our CD Stone and Fire. In one verse, she sings about Sippie Wallace, singer-songwriter of the tune “Women Be Wise,” that was popularized by Bonnie

Raitt. “Sippie warned us not to tell our secrets, Lest she come and steal away your man.” (Photo is from Bonnie Raitt and Sippie Wallace’s 1970's tour backed up by fellow FAR-West musician, Freebo).

Our use of the American music traditions of jazz and the blues, as well as folk and country, have earned the descriptor, “the jazzy side of Americana,” for Chappell & Dave Holt’s music. We enjoy the privilege of sharing the jazz and blues of our national folk music with our audiences. 

More next week …

All illustrations owned and copywritten by Chappell Holt.

"And what is so rare as a day in June? …

"And what is so rare as a day in June? …

Then, if ever, come perfect days; Then Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune, And over it softly her warm ear lays." - James Russell Lowell

“Honey moon, keep a-shinin' in June/Your silvery beams will bring love's dreams/We'll be cuddlin' soon” … By the Light of the Silvery Moon. (1909)

We had a great time at the Volcano Union Inn on May 26^th, a cozy hotel with a garden patio that serves great food. We made new friends with the visitors and the locals, one of whom shared a ghost story about the old boarding house that became the Inn. Our friends from Modesto, Ben and Theresa, also drove up to see us play. We had a fine time over crème brule and wine after the show. One new friend we met in the town of Volcano was John the jukebox repairman who is about to open a "new" antique store in a building quite near the other hotel in town, the St George. When we come back to the Volcano Union Inn on August 11, be sure to reserve a room at one of these two charming hotels in town and come and hear us. 

 

There is a lot to see in the area. You can visit Indian Grinding Rock State Park (photo is Dave

at the Round House) and Black Chasm Cavern, both very close by.  

Chappell and Dave are proud to share the stage with Gary Stockdale on Sunday, June 16 at Occidental Center for the Arts. He is a songwriter who has invested years in mastering his craft, and has reaped some rewards such as an Emmy for TV work with Penn & Teller in L.A. Please enjoy him performing his song, "Keep Letting Go."

Dave has a couple of featured poet readings coming up. These events are free! In Berkeley, on Monday June 3, he will be at Priya Indian Cuisine, on 2172 San Pablo Avenue, just south of University.. This venue is hosted by Jan Dederick. We will gather at 7 pm to schmooz and eat. His featured reading begins at 7:40 and will also feature Bob Loomis accompanying him on Native American Flute. 

On Tuesday June 25, 7 pm, at Book Passage on 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., in Corte Madera

415-927-0960 or visit their website. Dave will be reading with 5 other poets. Each will have a limited time to read/perform. You will enjoy this bookstore's beautiful environment for literary performances.

Currently we are in the mixing stage of a couple of the completed tracks from our anticipated CD release, Stone and Fire. These tunes will receive airplay on KPIG, along with an interview, in conjunction with our upcoming performance at Don Quixote’s, in Felton, CA, on July 21.. We’ll open for violinist, Carlos Reyes. Don’t miss this one!  Carlos is a virtuoso performer whose violin solos always excite the crowd. You can also look forward to hearing the tracks on Stone and Fire that he generously recorded with us.

Coming up Friday July 5 is our afternoon performance, 4 – 6 pm, at Armando’s Happy Hour and a Half in downtown Martinez. If you’ve never been, come check out the best music room in C.C. County!

An Unsung Heroine of our Musical Life: Marion, Queen of the Record Bar

An Unsung Heroine of our Musical Life: Marion, Queen of the Record Bar

My favorite local record shop, the biggest one in my town, was Lofquist’s Record Bar. It was an independent, not a chain store. You’d go downstairs into the basement of the TV and Appliance store where the manager Marion helped people buy their records for over 20 years. There were several tiny listening booths with windows where you would close the door and sample play the album (vinyl LP 33 1/3 RPMs—revolutions per minute), or maybe a 45 RPM, that you were considering purchasing.

The last record I remember playing in this way was “After Bathing at Baxter’s” by the Jefferson Airplane. The very proper Marion, who’d known me for years and had played Gerry and the Pacemakers records for us, seemed troubled by the change. I was choosing this San Francisco album of psychedelic rock, not Bobby Vee, Neil Sedaka, or The Sound of Music soundtrack.

This store was also the place where local rock and roll bands would visit to autograph their albums, 8 X 10 glossies, and meet the fans. I don’t think this happens anymore! One band we met was the Toronto group, the Paupers, who later morphed into a band Americans might remember: Lighthouse. Here is an interview with Marion I found on Oakville’s history site. She was 98!  

“Marion Nicoll, 98 years old, proved to be a fountain of information, observations and opinions, only partly formed by her daily reading of the Globe & Mail. She has a lifetime of memories filed away and one of her fondest is of Lofquist's Record Bar in downtown Oakville. … From 1952 until 1974, she managed the music department at Lofquist's Television, Radio and Appliances store. Her customers came in all sizes, ages and levels of notoriety from a bona fide Princess, to a writer of hymns, plus a pair of world champion skaters.

“But it is the teenagers from the local high school who were her near constant companions. They came to Lofquist's on a regular basis, … to peruse the CHUM Top 50 Chart posted in the front window and to sample the music in the tiny listening booths.

“According to OTHS alumnus, Sandra Haig, now Deeks, "up to three kids could crowd into a booth" if they were careful. Deeks, a nurse and Burlington resident, is still a big fan of Nicoll, whom she visits at the Oakville Seniors' Residence in Bronte. "She never got upset with us or bothered about things," Deeks said.

“For her part Nicoll, who never married, always enjoyed the young people; the ones who worked in the store part-time and the ones who bought the records. ‘It seems to me they were all exceptional,’ she recalled, and to hear her talk you would think they were all brilliant, honest and perfectly behaved. Well, she said, maybe it was a more innocent time. It was a good time to be in the record business.

"It was the heyday of records," she recalled. "We certainly did well with Elvis records in the '50s and The Beatles in the '60s. You couldn't ignore them," she laughed. "They were our bread and butter. They brought in a lot of money."
 

“Of course, the classics never went out of style, she added. Chopin has always been her personal favourite.” (2007)

“Hail, Bounteous May,”

“Hail, Bounteous May,”

… that dost inspire
Mirth, and youth, and warm desire!
Woods and groves are of thy dressing;
Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing.
Thus we salute thee with our early song,
And welcome thee, and wish thee long." (John Milton, Song on a May Morning, 1660) 
 

“I've got sunshine on a cloudy day. When it's cold outside I've got the month of May.” (My Girl by Smoky Robinson & Ronald White, 1966)

The month of April was a burst of new growth for Chappell and Dave Holt. I’m sure this spring season must have brought change, good changes we hope, and growth in your lives also.

Chappell finished the cover art for our CD Stone & Fire! This sample

shown here is without the title graphics added. Special guest, bassist Karl Hartmann, joined us in the studio and gave great performances on our tracks Indian Maiden, Bad Girls Blues, Stone and Fire, and The Cats Are Out. He added both stand-up and electric bass tracks. It’s a rocking good day when you can complete four bass tracks. Karl will also be adding cello parts to the mellower tunes.
 

 
Dave was one of several judges who served at the 2013 Alameda Student Poetry Contest, held at the Alameda Multicultural Center on April 16. In his role, Dave was also invited to perform one of his poems, “It’s About the Joy That is Missing.”

The kids in Alameda are writing some great poetry and the judges of the high school entries in our group had to work hard in making the right selections. Elementary and middle school children also contributed poems and received awards. 

On April 27, we played at the Performing Songwriter Showcase held at The Woodshed at Keith Holland Guitars. This is a unique new teaching and performance space in Los Gatos, California, hosted by Bev Barnett and Greg Newlon whose goal is, “building community through music.” Please visit their site at www.Woodshed.org and get involved if you can.

The internet radio site, Indie Showcase, is a good place to discover new music. Visit the Mom Hen’s Corner show at www.indieshowcase.net on 6pm, Wednesday evenings. Jeanette Lundgren is the DJ and she presents a nice mix of down home folk, pop, and Americana, including us representing the “jazzy side of Americana!” 

Coming up Sunday, May 26, 4 - 6 PM, we will be up in the Sierra foothills to play at the Volcano Union Inn, 21375 Consolation Street, in Volcano, CA 95689, (209) 296-7711. We’ve heard on the grapevine that it’s a great spot for a weekend getaway. Come join us for dinner and music.

 

Please be sure and save the date, June 16, Father's Day, for our show with Gary Stockdale at the

Occidental Center for the Arts, The show Hollywood Meets San Francisco … and Heads Up-Country happens that Sunday afternoon, 4-6:00 PM. It will be a good day to visit the redwoods and enjoy two dads and a mom in an afternoon of Singer/Songwriters Par Excellence. We’d love to see you!