Jim Brunberg

“Love Express”

Greetings, friends and neighbors! We have a two-night acoustic extravaganza in the works for ya’ on June 11 and 12 at the venerable Black Bart Playhouse in Murphys. Both nights are fundraisers for the Wilderness Institute for Leadership Development, or “WILD”. We have three longtime favorites on the bill—Patrice Pike, Megan Slankard, and Jim Brunberg (from Box Set)—along with a couple of Brushwood first-timers you’re going to love in Garett Brennan and D.W. Brandt. One of the many cool dimensions of this event is that all five artists are committed activists, and four of the five are members of One Percent for the Planet. It’s going to be a special couple of nights with two completely different shows. More on WILD, the event, and the artists in a second, but here are the nuts and bolts...

What: Two-night acoustic fundraiser for WILD featuring Patrice Pike (with guitarist Matthew Johnson), Jim Brunberg*, Megan Slankard, Garett Brennan, and D.W. Brandt*. (*Note that Patrice, Garett, and Megan will play both nights [different sets], while D.W. Brandt will play only on Wednesday the 11th and Jim Brunberg will play only on Thursday the 12th.) And beware, there’s a surprise or two in store!

When: 7:00 p.m. start both June 11 and 12, 2008. Doors will open at 6:30.

Where: The Black Bart Playhouse, 580 S. Algiers in Murphys

Tickets: General admission seating. Tickets for each show are $18 in advance, $21 at the door. Advance tickets are available in Murphys at Sustenance Books, in Arnold at Two Rivers, the Harbinger Gallery, and the Sierra Nevada Adventure Company, and in Sonora at Mountain Books. Tickets also available online through High Sierra Tickets. 

Lodging: We always suggest the Murphys Suites. For reservations, call 877/728-2121, or click here.

Questions? Contact Pride at pride@harbingerproject.com, preferably with WILD in the subject line.

As mentioned above, these shows are fundraisers for the Wilderness Institute for Leadership Development, or “WILD”. There are a number of amazing people involved with this project, perhaps most notably George Wendt, the longtime owner of OARS. The purpose of WILD is to inspire and help prepare the next generation of environmental stewards. The group will accomplish this by offering a range of week-long courses for both college and high school students featuring amazing teachers in dramatic natural settings. There are two pilot trips on tap for this summer. I (Pride Wright) am thrilled to be involved in helping to organize the college trip, which will feature author, architect, and green building authority Nathaniel Corum from Architecture for Humanity as well as eco-poet and permaculture guru Trathen Heckman, the executive director for both Daily Acts and Green Sangha. Our week will be spent on the Colorado River in Utah’s spectacular Cataract Canyon. Our dear friend Megan Slankard is going to take a break from the recording studio to play music for us on the river! We’re also thrilled to have Calaveras County indie filmmaker Josh Steck and his crew along to chronicle what promises to be a truly inspiring week on many levels. Click here for details.

Our original “fundraiser plan” was to prevail upon Bay Area singer/songwriter Megan Slankard to play an acoustic show at the Bart. Then a couple of serendipitous things happened, and Megan enthusiastically agreed to share the night. Then a couple MORE fortuitous things happened and we suddenly had a two-day mini-festival on our hands. Turns out our old friend Jim Brunberg from Box Set is going to be in the Bay Area that week, and he agreed to come play a set on Thursday. We’ve had a lot of great nights with Jim and Box Set both at the Bart and outdoors at the Stevenot Winery, not to mention several scintillating performances at the High Sierra Music Festival back when that was still happening in Bear Valley. Box Set toured nationally throughout the ’90s, sharing the stage with artists as diverse as Willie Nelson, Greg Brown, and Hot Tuna, among many others. Jim lives in Portland now, and he hasn’t played here in the county since 2002. Since his days in San Francisco with Box Set, he’s picked up a degree in environmental law. He’s also taken a condemned church in what was at the time a downtrodden section of Portland and turned it into Mississippi Studios, a performance space slash music school slash recording studio. In a few short years, Mississippi Studios has become a Portland institution as well as an anchor for the impressive redevelopment that has taken place on Mississippi Avenue. A true exercise in community-building through music.

Who was the first artist to play the new Mississippi Studios back in 2003? Our own Patrice Pike! And as luck would have it, Patrice and her band are out from Austin and touring on the West Coast in June, and we’re delighted to have her coming up to play a set each night. She’ll be accompanied by her stellar guitarist Matthew Johnson. For those of you not acquainted with Patrice, she’s best known for her turbo-charged pipes, although she’s first and foremost a tremendous (award-winning) songwriter. Pike fronted the seminal Austin jam band Sister 7 throughout the ’90s, charting a couple of Billboard hits and touring with the likes of Widespread Panic, the Dave Matthews Band, Blues Traveler, and many others. Last year was a memorable one for Patrice, as she walked away from the prestigious Austin Music Awards with honors for Musician of the Year, Best Rock Artist, Song of the Year, and Female Vocalist of the Year. On the same night, she became one of the youngest members of the Texas Music Hall of Fame, inducted alongside the legendary Lucinda Williams. A longtime activist (with the scars to prove it!), she is the co-founder of the Grace Foundation, an organization that provides scholarships and other assistance to homeless teens in Austin. An avid snowboarder and surfer, she also completed her first half-marathon a few weeks back. Girl’s livin’ large. She’s back in the studio, in the early stages of her next recording project.  

I’ve had the privilege of connecting with a bunch of conscious artists through my involvement with a soon-to-be-released compilation for One Percent for the Planet. One of those is another Portland singer/songwriter named Garett Brennan. Garett was the first artist signed on to Clif Bar’s Green Notes program, which now features such environmentally aware artists as Brett Dennen, the John Butler Trio, Martin Sexton, and Guster.  Garett’s music feels a bit like a granola-ish Tom Waits. His first album—Little Cottonwood—was recorded entirely in a cabin high above Alta, Utah with a producer from Windham Hill. Love the entire vibe of this album! Turns out he’s become a good friend of Jim Brunberg’s. In fact, he’s recording his upcoming CD at Jim’s Mississippi Studios. Great backcountry skier, too.

Another One Percent artist, Davitt “D.W.” Brandt, is also going to be playing in Northern California that week and we’ve persuaded him to swing by and play a set on Wednesday. Davitt fronted a Southern California band called Bixby, and is getting ready to release his first solo effort. I’ve heard the roughs, and I love it. Extremely eclectic. He swings from songs reminiscent (to me) of Jason Mraz all the way to vintage ’50s rock ‘n roll. He and Megan have shared the stage down south. I’m really looking forward to seeing him live for the first time.

Which reminds me, I almost forgot to say a word about Megan! At the tender age of 24, she’s already toured North America and Europe extensively. Her second CD, Freaky Little Story, has sold almost 20,000 copies, an exceedingly impressive number for an indie release. She’s busy in the studio putting the finishing touches on a tremendous new CD, which should be out in August. (Check out a new tune under her photo at right!) She’s a visionary rhythm guitar player with an astounding repertoire of alternative tunings. Her vocal style is sometimes compared to Alanis Morissette, although in my view, Morissette isn’t even in Megan’s zip code as a vocalist. Her songcraft, she feels, has taken a major step forward with the new CD. She’s bringin’ it with conviction!

So there you have it! Two nights of acoustic bliss at the Bart on June 11 and 12. For those of you not acquainted with the Black Bart Playhouse, it’s a tiny theater in the Sierra foothills town of Murphys. Seats about 150. Acoustic’s are great, and every seat is outstanding. As always, we’ll have Richard Sholer and his spectacular sound system in the house. Richard does sound at the Strawberry Music Festival, and he’s as good as it gets. These are two shows you do NOT want to miss, and all for a good cause! Want to reiterate that while Patrice, Garett, and Megan will be playing both nights, they will be playing very different sets. And FYI, if you can’t make both shows, a little birdie told me that Patrice’s amazing band will follow her acoustic set and close the night with an unannounced set on WEDNESDAY ONLY. Oops, I think I just announced it.

We sincerely hope you can join us! Click here for online ticketing.

  

    

Patrice Pike

”Temple”

Megan Slankard

“Token of the Wreckage”

D.W. Brandt “Fantasy”

Do it for Noah!

Garett Brennan

“Ode to Portland”