Earthwise ‘Nooner’ to Feature French Traditional Music Here

(Palo Alto, April 1, 2011) — Earthwise Productions is producing a special free music event Saturday, April 2, 2011 at Lytton Plaza in Palo Alto (200 University Avenue, at Emerson, across from The Stanford Theatre).

The event features a free concert by The Magnolia Sisters, a group of four musicians from Lafayette, Louisiana who play Cajun dance music featuring fiddles and guitars. The Magnolia Sisters are “busking” which means they are playing in public on an impromptu and ad hoc basis, direct for the people. They will play from noon to 1 p.m., thereabouts. (Later that evening they play a 9 p.m. show at Ashkenaz in Berkeley, $12 admission).

The event is part of the ongoing effort by Mark Weiss and Earthwise Productions to use the arts to impact the political and cultural life of Palo Alto. The busking concert also supports the efforts of local musicians who have a jam session on Wednesday afternoons (as part of the Downtown Farmers Market) and Friday evenings, at Lytton Plaza. Earthwise has also announced an initiative called International Congress of Buskers of Palo Alto (ICO-BOPA, pronounced “EYE-ko BOW-pa”) through which it hopes to attract more street music and buskers to the streets of Palo Alto, and to create interest in Palo Alto’s civic “music in the parks” series and other public arts projects.

Weiss was also on the founding committee of Palo Alto’s Fete De La Musique event, in June, 2009, which brought more than 40 musical acts to the streets of Palo Alto, including professional musicians. Earthwise has produced more than 200 concerts in Palo Alto, most at Cubberley Center, since 1994, including shows with Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Dar Williams, Bill Frisell and The Asylum Street Spankers.

The Magnolia Sisters record for Arhoolie Records (of El Cerrito, CA) and were nominated for a 2010 Grammy Award, and previously for Rounder Records. They feature Ann Savoy, Anya Burgess, Jane Vidrine and Lisa Trahan. They play a variety of French music representing the traditional styles of Southwest Louisiana.

I was so channeling Lafayette and Eunice that this looked good.

The Magnolia Sisters invite dancers to two-step and waltz at their Palo Alto performance. Musicians are invited to bring their instruments for a jam session led by Sue Webb, marketing director of the Wednesday Farmers Market, from 1 to 3 Saturday, directly following the Magnolia Sisters.

For more info, contact Mark Weiss, of Earthwise Productions, at (650) 305-XXXX.

edit to add, October 31: I caught up by phone tonight with Ann Savoy, who was doing the dishes in Lafayette, LA. I was prompted by the back-announce of the KFOG dj about a band from Ann’s town, Glassnote recording artists The Givers. I am meaning to send a note to the station saying how bout more from Lafayette, ie trying to get them to at least spike Magnolia Sisters in specialty play, especially since the label Arhoolie is Bay Area. Ann and I get along well on the phone and we hope to do some stuff together.