14 • October 2016 • UPBEAT TIMES, INC.
BIG FALL GUIDE
Musical Notes in Sonoma County Upbeat Times Exclusive Interveiw: Jon Gonzales
by Shekeyna Black •
Shekeyna@AMiracleProductionAMP.com
SONOMA COUNTY, CA. ~ Local singer/songwriter and ukulele enthusiast, Jon Gonza- les has been playing the instru- ment since 2008 when he received his fi rst ukulele as a birthday giſt from his fam- ily. Previously, he played guitar for 15 years, he re- calls about his fi rst ukulele, “Once I learned a few chords, I just be- came totally into it and passion- ate. It was easier for me to write songs on the ukulele. I was able to transfer what I knew from guitar to the ukulele.” Gonzales now owns 10 ukuleles. “T ere is quite the ukulele interest in Sonoma County,” Gonzales explains, “My uke partner-in-
crime, Carissa Green, and I are hosting the inaugural North Bay Ukulele Festival at Arlene Francis Center in Santa Rosa on Saturday, Oc- tober 22 from 4-9pm.” Admis- sion is free and all ages are welcome to the ukulele fes- tival. Additionally, Gonzales is the founder and host of the Songwrit- ers-in-the-Round series presented at
Hopmonk in Sebastopol every third Wednesday of the month. Each showcase features two fe- male artists and two male art- ists in the spirit of gender equi- ty. All four musicians together create a blend of various genres. T e musicians “sit on stage side-by-side,” Gonzales says of
the showcase format, each tak- ing turns playing a song of their choice. T en at the end, they all play a song to- gether, typically some- thing everyone knows so that the audience can participate as a sing- along. Life-long educator,
Gonzales is currently teaching in the Santa Rosa School District and he features many ukuleles
in his class-
room. He has been known to play uku- lele for his students. He teaches his students to “break down a song with its content and fi gurative language.” He encourages students to analyze songs for liter- ary value and lyrical content. He instructs students to look at a song like a poem.
fantasy,” was the prolifi c, giſt ed, German author Michael Andreas Helmuth Ende. Although he nev- er limited himself to writing only children’s fi c- tion, he was incredibly
successful in that
genre.
Overall, his fi ction is con- sidered a mas- terful, surreal mixture of reality and fantasy. Mi- chael Ende’s father was the surrealist painter, Ed- gar Ende. He and his fi rst wife, Ingeborg Hoff mann
were pacifi sts and activists who campaigned for human rights and peace. T ey lived near Rome in the Casa Liocorno, or House of
14 • October 2016 • UPBEAT TIMES, INC.
Personally, his musical infl u- ences
include Willie Nelson,
name a few of Gonzales’ inspi- rations.
To fi nd him online simply type in, Jon Gonzales Ukulele for Humans, which takes
es y you to the
website. Look for his band, Jon Gonzales & Family, for their upcoming shows in early 2017. Gonza- les will be perform- ing solo on October 19th at Heart Space Music Healing Cen- ter in Petaluma for their ongoing music- centric event called Heart Beats, A Mu- sical Exploration. Gonzales remarks with a gentle smile, “Everybody is a part of music. It’s never
Meryl Haggard, Bob Dylan, Bruce Cockburn and U2 to
the Unicorn. Ende’s many books are trans-
lated into more than 37 languages and the most popular are available in English on Amazon. His second wife was Mariko Sato who trans- lated some of his books into Japa- nese and taught him much about Japanese culture,
particularly Kabuki and Noh T e- atre. For those
who love
classical music, let’s celebrate George Crumb’s October 24th birthday when he will be 87! It was a sheer delight to meet George in
too late to learn to any instru- ment or music.”
Upbeat October and Halloween Sightings ... continued from page 5
Boulder, CO many years ago, when his hauntingly beautiful, lyrical work, “Ancient Voices of Children” was performed at Macky Audito- rium. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his “Echoes of Time and the River.” Crumb’s music is fi lled with wonderful surprises, unusual timbres, and remarkable explorations of sounds. One of his best loved works includes the real, recorded sounds of whales unlike any other musical work. Seems Halloween time is a sea- son fi lled with apparitions.
If it
were possible, I would like to re- spond to the pleadings of a lot of little ghosts and goblins calling, “Trick or Treat,” by handing out, instead of candies, Streich’s Or- chard big, black, wildly sweet and marvelous Bing Cherries, like no other, from the Upper Hood River Valley, near Mt. Hood, Oregon. But, I’m told they’re sold out now and we need to await next season.
Happy Halloween to one and all! ~ Ellie
We talk a lot about hope, helping, and teamwork. Our whole message is that we are more powerful together. Victoria Osteen
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32