a brief history of time

Someday i'll add funny pics and stories from backintheday.

Until then, a never-complete list of past projects.

Dandara Odara
Brazilian singer and performer of axé, samba, forró; I played sax in her backing band, which had their own page here. Later on Catia took over as vocalist. Carnaval SF, Carnaval Austin appearances. The scene is associated with BrasArte in Berkeley, the unofficial center of Brazilian culture in the Bay Area.

Bodacious
Swampy roots, rock, Americana, country, funk, alligators. Sax, backing vocals

Luv Bomb
Classic soul with emphasis on Stax. Sax + horn arrangements

The Slippery Slope
Loungey, jazzy, trippy, downtempo soul. Music that is hard to define.  Sax, flute

Redwood Wires
A blend of Smiths + Morphine + Roxy Music. Original indie rock. Recorded EP#2 in Nov 2013.  Sax, keys, vibraphone

Chick Jagger - Rolling Stones Tribute in SF

Millville Plains -  Edgy Alt-Rock Americana original band from SF, with select covers (Neil Young, The Band, Sublime) founded by a couple guys from Lake Co. We recorded a bunch of live tracks at Cheers Pacifica which came out so good they were released on a record "Live with the MVPs." This same record also has a couple of tracks with sax player and blues sideman Jimmie Sancious on it.  Fans of early Springsteen may recognize Jimmie as the brother of Dave Sancious, original keys player for the E Street Band.

Yung Mars & The BaySix - I was looking to get out of rock for a while and play "other stuff" that was original music. One day I came across a CL ad for hip-hop horns. That sounded just fine. I was kinda terrifed though. I almost didn't go to the first meeting. I actually drove all the way there, got to the front door, chickened out, drove all the way home. Sitting in my driveway i came to an epiphany: Who The Hell Am I if I am not goin to Try New Things ?? Drove all the way back, and finally went into the meeting (an hour late, but in hip-hop turns out this is not even noticed). This was a really cool project that pushed the boundaries of original soul-hip-hop. I wrote many of the horn lines and tried to recruit/retain a horn section. We did light touring to L.A. and played several cool shows at Poleng Lounge (now closed) and other places.  At the 2-yr mark, as often happens, things fell apart;  MC Yung Mars went on to form another group with different players, Billy the bassist went on to form the Mug Push collective with different players. They're both active in SF (2014) Before it ended, Billy had given me listening CDs with a view to the horn section sound they were shooting for; one of these was a Fania All-Stars compilation that I played endlessly, and this inspired me to get into salsa and latin jazz, which I happily have been playing ever since.

Lick -  the early incarnation of Sticky Fingers, an attempt at an all-female Stones Tribute. Things didn't work out, but the remnants of that group went on to form the wildly-successful CoverGrrrlz classic rock cover band, a multi-107.7-Bone-award winner and local festival band.

Groovy Judy - When I met Judy, I had just become a sax player. I was not a good sax player, at all. Pretty much sucked. Still, trial by fire is the best teacher. I am grateful to Judy for basically allowing me to pay my dues in her band, and allowing me to become a better sax player through it. I also enjoyed being able to sing and occasionally play keyboard, although i was a much better keyboard player at the time. There is a keyboard "mission creep" that affects sax players that double on keys, but i had a blast anyhow. Judy is a great booker; we did tons and tons and tons of bars, festivals, marathons, corporate events, TV shows, you-name-it. I was pregnant when I started with her band, and again a year later; I can safely say I spent as much time playing pregnant for Judy as in the non-pregnant state. When I wasn't playing pregnant, I was in the bathroom during band breaks pumpin' dat breastmilk :-|  Their schedule caught up with me after #2 came along and I went on hiatus from Judy after.  Judy's still around doin' her thing, especially in peninsula woods and the east bay festival circuit.

Kaif - In 2000 a bunch of Indian and Pakistani guys at Stanford were looking for guest players for their indo-rock/folk project. They played a mix of Junoon, Vital Signs etc. plus a few originals. I got involved because I love Paki rock, and owned a sitar that I didn't play very well and needed a tolerant audience for ;-) I did a single show at Stanford with them and also played clarinet on a couple of songs. This was a really fun project, but made me realize i needed serious P.A. for the sitar to make it work in a rock setting, and regardless i really sucked at it. All of those guys have graduated and moved on, some are working in high-tech in the valley and for very well-known companies, if you know what I mean... in the valley, i guess the lure of music can never beat the cache of a standfordalumni.org email address.

The Squeegees with Tom Torriglia - Now, this is my cautionary tale. The one where you miss your gig and get fired :-(  I was on a mission to be a rock-star polka clarinet player. This was the perfect band for it. And it was also the most $$ I ever made playing clarinet, to this day. There's only one thing wrong with it: you are not supposed to book a gig on your own wedding anniversary. (Why didn't someone tell me that there is no such thing as an "excused absence" in this world??) I'm anyhow grateful to Tom for giving me the chance to play Clarinet Polka in front of appreciative audiences. Tom, just so you know, I have not missed another gig. Not in 10 years. Not ever.

The Super Sunday Bunch - impromptu name for a one-off blues recording project, named only for the happy coincidence the session took place on super bowl sunday. I sing and play clarinet throughout the 4-song EP, to Robert Johnson and other blues classicss. The CD was panned by Blues Revue (now defunct), who also got the name of my "band" wrong, but hey, it was not bad for my first try at a studio recording with a buncha hired guns.  Spike Connor (Simply Jazz, Swingin' Havoc, Overcurve, Blues Wizards) co-produced the CD and helped me find the right players, including the guitarist for this session - Futoshi Morioka (Greggs Eggs, Second Hand Smoke, Cast of Clowns) who proved to be a formidable guitar-slinger, and he only cost me a hundered bucks for the day. Bet he costs a lot more than that now !!