I kicked off this fantastic summer singing backgrounds for Bay Area favorite and friend, the unique vocal stylist, Tim Hockenberry at the Days of Wine Lavender Festival at Matanzas Creek Winery. If ever you get a chance to check out this event, I highly recommend it. This event sells out fast. Annie Stocking and I had the privilege of tasting Lavender infused delicacies that were amazing. New favorite: Lavender Lemonade. 

My summer workshop series was a huge hit. I will be posting some choice nuggets of the camps on the website soon. One of the features was certainly Olivia singing "Crazy He Calls Me" in the Jazz Workshop - we took vocalists from the Studio Vocal Workshop and had them (with a little help from me and Annie) whip up some vocal pads to support Olivia's gorgeous track.  I will also have footage from the Jazz Showcase - courtesy of Heidi who came down with all her pro sound gear and created a professional dvd for us, as well as a jingle that the teens from the workshop created for the Icehouse. Gotta get that onto a radio station.

This summer gave me the opportunity to work with my student Rozzi, producing her 3 song demo. I was happy to get to work with Eric Levy and my husband Tal, who were my co-producers. We worked with amazing drummer Alan "MHz" Hertz who was a dream engineer! We are very proud of the product, and Rozzi sounds amazing. One of the tracks will be on a compilation album that will be on the market in early November! On that same compilation album, 3 other students of mine will have tracks as well. Devon, Chase of the Bob Hill Band, and Lara. I am so proud of all of them. This has been an amazing year. 

Fundraiser season is upon us. I am happy to be active in the community and able to use music as a vehicle to raise money for worthy and deserving causes. This last year I was able to be involved in events for organizations such as Bread & Roses, Wine Women & Song, Marin Abused Women's Center, Stop the Spray Live, and the Italian Street Painting Festival. Highlights included an uplifting performance at Center Point and the Stop The Spray Live fundraiser in Sausalito. This event featured some amazing community artists, including Tommy Castro and Maria Muldaur. Catch some clips from this event on youtube at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUYU81W90jA 

Summer closed with a CCR concert at my favorite venue, Mountain Winery. The venue has been updated and holds more concert goers... I felt it was more comfortable, and though it did lose a bit of it's charm, I didn't notice it once while Tal was ripping it up on stage along with those Hall of Famers and one of my all time favorite voices, Johnny Bulldog Tristao. We dragged Alicia for a night out in Saratoga, and met my student Caroline there with her nephew and two friends. Always a beautiful summer night out!

Back to school - and finally feeling like things are calming down, although Alicia and I will now be planning the Fall 2008 Showcase - looking into November. Stay Tuned!