Page 66 - Sonoma County Gazette Janaury 2019

Everybody’sDrummer
Music Jams
R and B Music Jam every Thursday night. Bluegrass Jam every 2nd and 4th Monday. Both at 7 p at the Sebastopol Grange unless it is otherwise booked. Call Peter, 829-9052, to confirm location. Sebastopol Grange, 6000 Sebastopol Ave, Hwy 12, Sebastopol, sebastopolgrange.org/ Music Jams
thru Jan 19 ~ Join the Healdsburg Freedom Jazz Choir - Three rehearsals leading up to a concert at the Raven Performing Arts Theater on March 1, 2019, Healdsburg, healdsburgjazzfestival.org/freedom- jazz-choir-2019/
thru Jan 9 ~ Creative Sonoma Presents Next Level Songwriting Contest 2019 - Entry Deadline: Wednesday, January 9, 2019, 4pm PST , creativesonoma.org/ songwriting-contest/
Jan 14 ~ John McCutcheon in Concert - Often called the finest folk troubadour of our timeMcCutcheons music conveys the message that our global family can make the world a better place by working together. During performances, John McCutcheon switches skillfully from banjo, to guitar, jaw harp, fiddle, auto harp, and piano. 7:30p. $25. Sebastiani Theatre, 476 1sr St East, Sonoma INFO: & Tickets: sebastianitheatre.com
Feb 3 ~ The Easy Winners: Ragtime Duo - Performing ragtime era music on mandolin, guitar and vocals. Free, 4p- 6p, Redwood Cafe, 8240 Old Redwood Hwy, Cotati, 707-795-7868
-Highly revered, avant-garde rock band born out of the weird streets of Philadelphia. $14 advance, $16 @door, 8:30p Mystic Theatre, 23 Petaluma Blvd. North, Petaluma, mystictheatre. tunestub.com
Jan 11 ~ Dirty Cello Bluegrass CD Release - The globe-trotting band has a brand new album featuring their high- energy take on bluegrass. $10 , 8:30p Redwood Cafe, 8240 Old Redwood Hwy, Cotati, 707-795-7868
Jan 11 ~ Shwayze - Shwayze has an MTV reality show, seven full-length albums, and countless tours under his belt. $18 advance, $23 @door, 8:30p Mystic Theatre, 23 Petaluma Blvd. North, Petaluma, mystictheatre.tunestub.com
Jan 12, 13, 14 ~ Tiers of Heaven with Santa Rosa Symphony - Mozart’s orchestral masterpiece, Symphony No. 40 in G minor and Mahler’s luminous Symphony No. 4. Tickets start at $24, Sat & Mon evening performances 7:30p, Sun 3p, Green Music Center, 1801 E Cotati Ave,, Rohnert Park, 707-546-8742, srsymphony.org
Jan 12 ~ Blues Night afeaturing Cooking House Band, The Blue Lights - Featuring an all-star lineup of local musicians - the best in local live performance to Cloverdale. $5, 7:30p - 9:30p, Cloverdale Arts Alliance, 204 N Cloverdale Blvd, Cloverdale, cloverdaleartsalliance.org
Jan 12 ~ Django Shredders - “The Life and Times of Django Reinhardt,” performed by Alex Ciavarelli and Rudy Marquez. Free, 12p - 1p, Sebastopol Regional Library, 7140 Bodega Ave., Sebastopol, 707-823-7691, sonomacounty.libcal.com
Jan 12 ~ Foreverland - The Electrifying Tribute To Michael Jackson - Larger- than-life tribute to the one and only Michael Jackson. Featuring four dynamic vocalists. $21, 9:30p Mystic Theatre, 23 Petaluma Blvd. North, Petaluma, mystictheatre.tunestub.com
Jan 12 ~ WInterlude - featuring Coastal Winds and Coastal Brass - Two local chamber music groups will perform an afternoon BENEFIT concert for OCA! $20 advance / $25 @door, 3:00pOccidental Center for the Arts, 3850 Doris Murphy Ct, Occidental, 707- 874-9392 occidentalcenterforthearts.org
Imagine this. You’re a drummer in a band, attending San Rafael High School in 1968, getting much of your musical education at Winterland and the Fillmore “It was the
Photo by Kathleen McCallum
Naftalin connects you with Mike Bloomfield, leading to five or six gigs together. You perform at the Monterey Jazz Festival with Tucker, Roy Brown, Pee Wee Crayton, and Irma Thomas, in 1982.
and join forces with him and a superb guitarist, Ron Thompson, at the iconic Fairfax venue, the Sleeping Lady, for performances with John Lee Hooker, Percy Mayfield, and others at a Monday night blues jam.
As the years go passing by, you clock ten years with Elvin Bishop, six with Charlie Musselwhite, and 15 with Norton Buffalo, including touring Europe, Japan, and Canada with them, Hooker, Collins, and Buddy Guy.
Jan 13 ~ Volti, Path of Miracles Concert
“I’ve met a lot of my heroes,” Silva says.
- Path of Miracles is an hour-long tour de force for 17 unaccompanied singers. $25, 4p Gualala Arts Center, 46501 Old State Gwy 1, Gualala, gualalaarts.org
Not bad for a Salinas farmboy who had several bands there before his family moved to Marin in 1968. “Drums kinda chose me,” says Silva. He liked to beat on old lard cans in his yard. “It was something inside, a feeling I got, almost uncontrollable. I stuck with it.”
Jan 15 ~ Organ Club with Joan Schefer- One of our most amazing concert artists, Joan Schefer, will be playing songs from the 60’s. $8, 1p Hotel La Rose, 308 Wilson St, Santa Rosa, 707- 546-1678
Jan 17 ~ Corb Lund with Branson Anderson and The Easy Leaves Duo - “One of the best contemporary country songwriters”, Popmatters. $15 advance, $18 @door, 8p Mystic Theatre, 23 Petaluma Blvd. North, Petaluma, mystictheatre.tunestub.com
Jan 17 ~ The David Luning Band - Singer/ songwriter David Luning and his band - “gritty, joyful, soulful Americana.” $15 Member, $20 Non-Members, 7:30p - 9:30p, Cloverdale Arts Alliance, 204 N Cloverdale Blvd, Cloverdale, cloverdaleartsalliance.org
MUSIC cont’d on page 67
Silva’s focus is on Chicago-style blues, but his versatility includes country, rock ‘n’ roll, and jazz fusion.
Priced out of Marin in 1974, he moved to Sonoma County, continuing to
play also in San Francisco, Marin, and the East Bay, with the bands of Volker Strifler, Nick Gravenites, Lydia Pense, Annie Sampson, and Gary Vogensen, to name a few. He averages three to four gigs a week during spring and summer. “I’m a workhorse. You don’t get tired. It elevates you.”
Jan 10 ~ Man Man with Locus Pocus
Delving deeper, Silva talks about life in the back of the stage. “That’s part of the job,” he says. “People notice me by my beat.” He discusses the importance of forming a strong bond with the bass player as “a psychic thing where you almost hear each other’s thoughts. You have to mesh, be one.”
Oh, did I mention, his Grammy nomination with Thompson, plus three Bammies and three NorBay awards?
One thing Silva does lament is the lack of Sonoma County music venues. “It’s a sad state of affairs. There are no venues to play anymore.”
“But, I’ve had a good run. People know I put out. I do my homework. I care.”
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height of hippiedom which I was totally part of,” says Gary Silva, as we sit in my kitchen fondling our coffee cups.
At a BBQ in Marin a
few years later, you meet Chicago blues guitarist Luther Tucker, who played with Muddy Waters and Little Walter. Tucker needs a drummer and a place to live. He moves into your house, and along with
you, another housemate
on bass, pianist Stu Blank, and saxman Ben Perkoff, the Luther Tucker Band is formed.
Your connection to Tucker leads to playing behind Big Mama Thornton, Albert Collins, and Otis Rush, when they come to town. “Word got out that I could play,” Silva says.
Around 1978, you meet keyboardist Mark Naftalin