Crosscurrents

It’s not surprising to find female singers today who “do it all.”  They write and sing their own music, play an instrument, and maybe even dance. And in a growing number of cases they also run businesses. But this wasn’t the norm back in 1957, when singer Barbara Dane released her first album.

“First” is a word that comes up a lot with Dane.

Northern California and Southwest Louisiana might seem like they’re worlds apart. But they’re actually intimately linked––by food, by language, and by music.

Cajun and Creole people left Louisiana for California in the 1940s, and later in the 1960s--looking for work and opportunity in shipyards and on military bases. Many of those jobs have disappeared, but the sounds of the squeezebox have helped keep the community together. In fact, California is now home to one of the biggest Zydeco music and dance scenes outside of Louisiana.

The music you’re hearing now is by folk, blues and jazz pioneer Barbara Dane. The Oakland resident has been performing since the 1950s and was a clear voice in the Peace & Justice and Civil Rights movements of that time.

Dane is planning a concert for her 85th birthday on Mother’s Day (05.13) at the Freight & Salvage Coffee House in Berkeley. Music begins at 8pm.

 Learning to bike in urban areas, understanding democracy through Jazz, a traditional approach to knives and knife-sharpening, SF comedian Will Durst on the Republican vice-presidential nomination, and local musicians Makru.

Dr. Wes Watkins, IV has built his whole life’s work around the idea that there’s no better example of democracy than a Jazz ensemble. Dr. Watkins is the founder of the Bay Area-based Jazz & Democracy Project. He devised a curriculum that teaches schoolchildren lessons in jazz alongside American history and the democratic process.