Totem Pole Brings Sacred Space to San Leandro Marina

By Victor Carvellas The evening was cool as the setting sun danced on the golden waters of the Bay. The earthy smell of burning sage billowed in the breeze. A small gathering had come on October 28th to honor the memory of the Lummi Nation’s departed chief, Bill James (Tsi’li’xw, d. 6/1/2020). Strapped to a flatbed trailer, thousands of miles beneath its wheels, the carved memorial, a totem pole, resplendent in bright primary colors and adorned with symbols and scenes from James’ life, lay before the crowd. The totem pole was the work of Master Carver Jewell Se-Sealth James (Praying Wolf) of the House of Tears Carvers. Since 2001, House of Tears has taken a totem pole on an annual journey across the country, visiting sacred sites, villages, and tribes. Jewell couldn’t attend as he has done in the past, but his brother Doug (Sit-ki-kadem) was there, totem pole in tow. This was the next to last leg of a journey that began in Washington State, swept across the country to Baltimore and Washington, D.C., then threaded its way back to the West Coast and the San Leandro Marina before stopping in Sacramento for the annual convention of the National Council of American Indians. As with other stops, Doug recounted the events of Chief James’ life and explained the pole’s carvings (The surname James belongs to both men as the Chief was a second cousin to Doug and Jewell). The evening was also an opportunity for those present to engage in a spirit walk, a time of contemplation, in recognition of the 2022 Sovereignty Run, also taking place in the Bay Area.

In 2002, Tribal Nations, leaders, and Indian Country advocates ran across the country from Washington State to Washington, DC to protest Supreme Court decisions restricting tribal jurisdictions and affecting tribal sovereignty. Commemorating the twentieth anniversary of that milestone, this year’s 1,785-mile relay race from Oklahoma to Sacramento draws public attention to more recent cases (in particular, Castro-Huerta v. Oklahoma. For details see https://www.ncai.org/news/articles/2022/09/13/ncai-president-fawn-sharp-to-lead-20th-anniversary-sovereignty-run-across-indian-country). The Run is conducted in partnership with Bright Path Strong, whose mission is to inspire Native Americans through the example of the superlative athlete, Jim Thorpe. Thorpe, whose Sac and Fox tribal name Wa-Tho-Huk translates to “Bright Path” (1887 – 1953), was stripped of his gold medals from the 1912 Olympics on the dubious application of rules regarding amateur status. He nonetheless went on to successfully play major league baseball, served as first president of the American Professional Football Association (which became the National Football League), and even acted in Hollywood movies. Chief James himself was a Master Weaver, but he was also a strong advocate for environmental issues. Not the least of his efforts included bringing back to her home, the Salish Sea, the orca known to the Lummi as Tokitae. Her story, which is ongoing, is carved onto the side of the pole. The Lummi tribe consider themselves, as Doug James says, “people of the sea,” and as such, they extend that familial bond to the creatures that live below it. Tokitae was four years old when she was captured in 1970 and taken to the Miami Seaquarium (where she has been renamed Lolita.) “We’ve been fighting to get her back ever since,” said James. For those Native Americans whose families experienced forced relocation, her situation is especially poignant.

Notable people in attendance included Miwok Tribal Elder Wounded Knee Del Campo, an activist with the American Indian Movement (AIM) since its founding; Tribal Chair for the Confederated Villages of Lisjan, Ohlone Tribal Elder Corinna Gould; Tribal Elder Ione Mad Plume; Cheyenne artist and poet Kris Longoria; San Leandro City Councilwoman Corina Lopez, and many others. Del Campo spoke to the gathering about the need to preserve the land, forests, and waters for future generations. He reminded everyone that such efforts to change the laws in favor of protecting these things “take time,” and that indigenous peoples need to come together to successfully carry out “what our ancestors want us to do, to protect that which is sacred.”

As a symbol of welcome, Gould presented James and his family with sacred pouches of cedar and tobacco, as well as necklaces representing the earth and sea. Longoria reflected in an interview on the importance of the gift of acceptance. Here family was “shipped to the Bay area” in the late 1800’s but when her Cheyenne family arrived, there was no visible Native population to greet and support them. When the pole came to the area last year, Longoria and her friend Gould uses the sacred space embodied in the pole to “do a prayer together in which she essentially welcomed my family into her territory...it was the first time that I felt I was really home.” The Great Old Broads for Wilderness (https://www.greatoldbroads.org/) sponsored the event, bringing sandwiches and other refreshments. Councilwoman Lopez is on their Board of directors, and members Carol Kuelper and Sheila Jacobs hosted.

Broadway West to go dark after 22 seasons

Broadway West Theater occupies the top floor of the historic Clark Building in Irvington at the corner of Fremont and Washington Boulevards. For 22 seasons, the venue provided some of the best live theater in the East Bay. After the June 9 closing performance of Broadway West Theatre Company will close its curtain for good.

Owners Paula Chenoweth and Mary Galde have been partners in the theater company since the beginning. The first season opened in January 1997 with ‘A Few Good Men.’ Paula had majored in theater at SF State and was running the non-profit North Valley Players out of Milpitas when she met Mary. After Mary’s son graduated high school, “I just missed the theater people,” she says. At age 40 she landed a role in a North Valley Players production. The two became friends, but Paula left to run a theater company without a board of directors calling the financial shots. After Paula found the Clark Building, Mary soon followed and the two became business partners

The pair have formed a strong bond navigating the complexities of entertaining. “There isn’t a day gone by,” says Paula, “that Mary and I haven’t discussed the theater.”

That closeness is apparent each time they finish each others’ sentences, or simultaneously express the same thought. Paula acts, directs and manages the finances; Mary also directs, paints signs, builds sets, designs the programs, writes press releases, and handles the marketing and social media.

“It’s very time consuming, says Paula. “We started this theater when we were 50 and now its 21-and-a-half years later; and that’s on top of us both having full time jobs—it’s a lot of time and no break.” “You don’t get a weekend,” echoes Mary.

“Our original plan,” says Paula, “was to have a permanent company of theater people who would act, direct, run the lights, and do everything; but, you have more people who want act more than anything else. We can audition actors. Finding the people to set up the lights and run the booth has been the challenge.” “We’ve had a lot of high school kids through here,” says Mary, but they do it for a couple of years then they move on.”

Running the business has been surprisingly drama-free. “The only hiccup we had,” recalls Paula, “was when we were doing ‘Born Yesterday,’ and right in the middle of rehearsal the City decided to retrofit the building; it was three weeks before the opening and the place was a catastrophe. You’d think a bomb went off. I remember walking in and the director was sitting in the middle of the floor, muttering ‘it’s ok, it’s ok, it’s ok.’”

Broadway West is unique, with a great reputation—why close it?

“Money,” says Paula. “Our only problem has been money and making sure we can pay the bills.” But two years ago, “we started to get behind,” says Mary.

“That’s why we are closing—at least the main reason,” Paula says. “Mary and I have had to subsidize the theater the last two years.When the rent was a thousand dollars lower it was tight but it was doable; at least we broke even.”

Royalties cost money, and of course everyone who gets hired has to be paid. There’s the director, the lighting designer, sound designer, set director, technicians, and pretty soon, “It’s about six to eight thousand dollars cost for each show,” says Paula

And what of the actors? “We give the actors, you know—it’s not much,” says Mary,"a little gas money.”

“The second reason,” says Paula, “is that we are tired. The wonderful part is when we’re here and the show is up and going, and the audience is enjoying it—that’s the great part, it’s the heartwarming part; but the bad part is when we’re getting ready and we can’t pay the bills and I’m getting phone calls from this person and that person; that’s too much stress.”

“In the early days,” recalls Mary, “I just loved working on sets. A couple of times there were birds chirping outside and I’d been here all night! Now by the time its six o’clock I’m tired.” “You just don’t have the same energy,” adds Paula.

The theater’s closing brought emotional outpouring. Most of the season ticket holders have been with Broadway West since the beginning, and when Mary recently greeted them with the news, some of them “started crying and hugging me, and just breaking down,” says Mary.

Would you do it again? “Oh yeah,” says Mary, “if I was fifty again, you better believe it.” “And won the lottery,” laughs Paula.

The current production of the prize-winning ‘All in the Timing,’ by David Ives runs through June 9.

All in the Timing

Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays

8 p.m.

Sunday, Jun 3

3 p.m.

Broadway West

4000 Bay St, Fremont

For more information: http://www.broadwaywest.org/ or (510) 683-9218

$20 – $27

Monarchs Get the Royal Treatment

A peaceful plot of land stretches south from the corner of West Estudillo Avenue along San Leandro Blvd, opposite BART, between the sidewalk and a massive mural depicting the migration of the Monarch Butterfly. The larger-than-life images invite their fluttering counterparts to take a rest below in the San Leandro Butterfly Garden.

In the fall and spring, migrating monarchs (Danaus plexippus) avail themselves of this beneficent gift, a respite they rightly deserve. Although scientists estimated the Western United States monarch population at a healthy 247,000 at the end of 2021, that number had dipped precipitously low to an estimated 2,000 only as far back as 2020. This astonishing and inexplicable rebound testifies to nature’s resilience, yet for all that, the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has observed a steady decline in monarchs since 2000 and is currently scheduled to list the species as endangered in 2024.

Butterfly Garden volunteers Douglas
Spaulding, Stefanie Pregel,
 and designer, Lary Huls.

Some people are trying to help. “About six years ago,” says retired landscape architect and designer of the Garden, Lary Huls, “a guy from the breakfast club I attend saw the unkempt plot while waiting for BART one day and asked me if there was something we could do. I drew up the design, and he found the money.” Huls had centered his landscape business on native plants and saw the opportunity to provide a habitat that would support not only migrating monarchs, but other important pollinators, including numerous other butterflies, moths, birds, and bees.

Monarchs cannot fly in temperatures below 55 degrees Fahrenheit, so every October as temperatures drop, they leave their homes in the Rockies of Canada and the U.S. to wend their way south on thermals and air currents. Western US populations travel to eucalyptus, pine, and cypress groves along the California coast from Mendocino south to San Diego, while Eastern US monarchs travel various routes through Texas into Central Mexico. Though the butterflies complete the southern journey in a single generation, the trip back in the spring requires three to four generations. In a miracle of nature, the knowledge of the way back is passed on from parent to caterpillar. The parents do not make the entire journey back; rather they lay eggs along the route. The resulting caterpillars rely entirely on chemical messages received at birth. Astonishingly, these instructions survive the pupation process in which caterpillars turn into mere drops of liquid in the chrysalis before emerging as adults.

Crucial, then, to the monarchs’ survival is the availability of safe breeding environments, a resource under pressure. Threats include changes in breeding habitat due to conversion of grasslands to agriculture, urban development, widespread use of herbicides, logging, drought, and changing seasonal cues due to climate change.

While the majority of migrating populations can be found stopping over elsewhere than the East Bay (such as Natural Bridges in Santa Cruz), the garden does draw visitors. In San Leandro, Huls planted native California species such as milkweed, sunflower, and coyote mint. The milkweed is crucial as the females lay their eggs upon them alone. When emerged, the caterpillars eat the milkweed, ingesting the plant toxins. Though harmless to the caterpillars, these chemicals impart to them a taste that hungry birds avoid. The selection of plants, for Huls, has another purpose, as well. “It’s a demonstration,” he says, “that water-saving and habitat-supporting gardens can be beautiful.” Having evolved in the drought-prone Mediterranean climate of Northern California, such natives not only need less water than many non-natives but have also evolved alongside many animal and insect species as part of their life support systems.

Such gardens may be the future of pollinator conservation. Dr. Doug Tallamy’s 2020 book Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in your Yard discusses the benefits of a network of conservation minded gardens with the health of local wildlife as its prime mission. An estimated 20 million acres could act as “corridors of habitat” that would collectively comprise what Tallamy calls the Homegrown National Park.

Though the butterfly problem garners broad support from the Fish and Wildlife Service and the US Department of Agriculture has a stake in the success of pollinators, given their extreme importance to the majority of our food crops, the efforts of private citizens and non-profit organizations are crucial. Citizen scientists are volunteering their time across the US to collect the data organized research requires. The Monarch Larvae Monitoring Project, for example, at the University of Minnesota monitors larval monarch populations and the milkweed they feed on. Volunteers can get involved at https://monarchjointventure.org/mlmp. You can also report your butterfly sightings at Journey North  https://journeynorth.org/sightings/.

The garden is open year-round, but if you’d like to help tend and keep it clean, volunteers are welcome on the first Saturday of every month.

San Leandro Butterfly Garden Monthly Work Day

West Estudillo and San Leandro Blvd (opposite BART)

First Saturday of every month (summer and fall)

10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

https://www.sanleandro.org/Calendar.aspx?EID=1281

Artist and Educator Oscar Barragan to Present MAIZ at Studio 11

Opening on September 17, Studio 11 in Union City hosts MAIZ, an art exhibit dedicated to the role of corn in the Americas. Curating the exhibit is 30-year-old artist, Oscar Barragan.

Barragan teaches art and Spanish at St. Clement Middle School in Hayward. “Art has always been in my blood,” says Barragan. “My teachers always told me to follow my passion,” which he did. While a student at James Logan, Barragan took Advanced Placement classes in art and painting. After graduating, he attended the California College of Fine Arts. He acknowledges the generosity of his community. “It was difficult, but they helped me a lot; if I hadn’t taken part in community events and participated in service organizations, [such as PUENTE, a program for first generation children of immigrants] I wouldn’t have been able to afford a private institution.”

Though the future of many art graduates isn’t guaranteed, Barragan was fortunate. “Within a month of graduating, I was lucky enough to get a job as a teacher; first at Our Lady of the Rosary, until they closed, and then here at St. Clement for the last seven years.”

Initially simply grateful to be earning a living, he soon realized he had more to give than just his art. As a mentor he could provide a platform upon which young artists could build.

“You can see, even at an early age, natural talent,” he says. But, art education for Barragan is more than developing talent through the introduction of skills and processes, “it’s deeper than that, it’s about problem solving and teaching young artists how to communicate with the world.”

Learning to work with our hands is still important. “Technology is a really helpful tool but using it a lot could discourage kids from using their own ingenuity to solve manual problems. What once seemed common sense for an older generation is being lost when we let technology do it for us; the techniques of art are dependent on dexterity and problem-solving.”

Then, there’s art as history. Barragan believes that with the right education, students will be inspired to connect what they are doing and feeling to artists past and present and their roles as translators of communal experience.

From his youth, Barragan related to the surrealists Salvador Dali and Juan De Chirico, known for their realistic depiction of unreal subjects. His own work displays a spectrum of content and technique, from finely detailed pen and ink representational work to wide swashes of muted color in an abstract expressionist mood. For Barragan, technique serves the message. “I started out being very crafted, it had to be very clean and precise, but it got to the point where I got tired of it. When I was at school, we got competitive with each other, and the message got lost many times because we were so into the craft and being perfectionists; since then, I’ve gone my own way. Today, mistakes can become the focal point. Getting dirty and messy has become my thing.”

National Hispanic Heritage Month begins September 15 and Barragan was chosen by Susana Peinado of Union City’s Youth and Family Services to come up with a theme for an installation. A recent trip to Oaxaca had impressed Barragan with that community’s veneration of and creativity with corn. For him, this was the unifying element linking the indigenous communities of the Americas: maize, the native grain, ancestor of today’s corn. Not only was its development by Mesoamericans a testament to their ingenuity and resourcefulness, but today corn is also the focus of important discussions, from the state of native lands to the controversies surrounding GMOs and the health effects of corn syrup in thousands of consumer products. “Corn is what connects everyone with roots on this side of the world,” says Barragan, “it’s flowing through our blood, our veins.”

What does the future hold?

“I see myself as still teaching, and I think it’s important we teach the all the arts. I’ll be an advocate for that because we need it, especially in lower income communities. I think it’s a unique and irreplaceable outlet for young students to express themselves.”

MAIZ Art Exhibit and Community Festival

Saturday, September 17, 2022

11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Exhibit runs through Mid-October

Studio 11

34626 11th Street

Union City

Street and paid parking.

Free entry

For more information: https://www.unioncity.org/589/Arts-Culture-Studio-11

Coyote Hills a treasure and teacher for 50 years

“I think our theme is basically a story of connection between wildlife and humans.” That’s from Dino Labiste, a naturalist at Coyote Hills Regional Park. Supervising Naturalist Sonja Gomez thinks about how the rich diversity of this land supported people for thousands of years, and even though it’s now a park, there is still a reciprocal relationship. “When we care for our parks,” says Gomes, “our parks care for us.”

The park is turning fifty this year and it’s a good time to reflect on the history, the mission, and the future of the 1300-acre wildlife oasis.

Visitors to the park today traverse an area inhabited by humans for more than 2000 years. For millennia the land was home to Tuibun Ohlone villages, supporting them with a diversity of wildlife and plants. With the arrival of the first non-natives in 1769, changes happened rapidly as farming, cattle ranching, and eventually salt harvesting changed the face of the land.

In 1883, the abundant waterfowl gave rise to a duck-hunting club on the marshes. The University of California at Berkeley took an Archaeological interest in 1935, and the first excavations began.  Impelled by cold war politics the Army established a Nike missile base in the hills in 1955 because of the area’s strategic location. Remnants of the outbuildings can still be seen. Following the base’s decommissioning, the Stanford Research Institute occupied the area and used the marshlands as facilities for sonar research. Cal State Hayward led archaeological investigations at the site in 1966.

In 1967 the East Bay Regional Park District and Alameda County Flood Control District purchased the property on Coyote Hills and adjacent marshlands from the descendants of George Washington Patterson (whose home can be seen at Ardenwood Regional Preserve). The park was dedicated on May 23, 1968.

In the 50 years since the park’s dedication, millions of people have walked the trails, watched wildlife, and enjoyed one of the most unspoiled habitats in the Bay Area. The plants and animal populations that people come to experience, however, have changed drastically as the population of the surrounding area has grown, a trend that has not abated since the Gold Rush.

One of the lessons naturalists at the park hope to teach is the impact of humans on the natural environment. One of the greatest pressures on the land is the problem of maintaining a balance between enjoyment and conservation. “There are so many people that come here, and that’s a wonderful thing,” Says Gomez. “but, obviously, the more people, the more impact. All the little things that people do add up.”

The little things can also add up on the positive side. For instance, creating natural gardens with native plants is a good way to support some of our wild neighbors. Every additional garden helps keep butterfly populations healthy and encourages wild populations to thrive. Most importantly, gardens attract pollinators such as bees, which are a vital link in the production of many food crops.

People can come and learn how to make a nature garden in their backyard (or balcony) at the upcoming Bird and Butterfly Festival taking place Sunday, June 3. There will also be special talks, nature crafts for the kids, and a celebration of the park’s 50th anniversary with special exhibits and cake.

Tule elk once roamed Coyote hills. Condors soared and the abundant bay was home to plentiful fish, and even sea otters. Those populations will likely never return, but the park is looking to the future and finding ways to provide a rich environment for the current wild residents, such as muskrats, grey foxes, and numerous water birds (272 species of birds have been recorded!). One example is the park’s installation of dozens of nest boxes designed to attract Tree Swallows: every spring the boxes are full of new chicks. The parks ability to expand on similar programs was recently augmented with a grant of 300 acres.

In 2014 the heirs of the Patterson family donated nearly 300 acres of land valued at $10M. The land was the largest remaining parcel of developable open space within Fremont. Earlier this year, East Bay Regional Parks District invited the public to give it’s input on the future of the site. “Some people want more trails,” says Labiste, “but others want to keep it a natural habitat and buffer between the developments on the west side of Paseo Padre.” The park district “wants to get community input so the land can be used effectively. “After all,” says Labiste, “a lot of that funding comes from tax dollars.”

A conceptual site plan for the expansion approved in February includes habitat restoration, urban agriculture, and public access improvements, such as relocating the park entrance closer to Paseo Padre Parkway to develop a more prominent entry point to the park.

Whatever the final result of the expansion, it is heartening to note that the emphasis is on enjoyment of the natural environment, a point of view that contrasts greatly with attitudes of 50 years ago. In her research of the park’s history, Gomez came across plans submitted by an outside developer back in the 1960s. “It had a golf course, a boat launch, a swimming lagoon, and all sorts of built amenities. Even in the dedication of the park, there was a mention—almost an apology—that the park is ‘virtually useless marshland’ whose value will rise as it gets developed.”

Fortunately, the public today appreciates the value of the natural habitat as a respite from our busy lives and an important piece of a healthy environment. It is still a place where natural wonders abound, full of life, right down to the smallest wonders. One of Labiste’s favorite moments as a park naturalist came during a tour of the Nectar Garden. “A butterfly emerged from a chrysalis right in front of a class of school kids. It was a miracle,” he says.

In addition to the Butterfly & Bird Festival on June 3, there will be a Memorial Day Celebration May 26 through May 28. “We’re giving a little history mini-series,” says Gomez. “We’re talking about salt harvesting on Saturday. Sunday is all about wildlife stewardship at the park over the years, with one of the district’s wildlife biologists, Dave “Doc Quack” Riensche, and on Monday Bev Ortiz, cultural services coordinator and founder of the Ohlone Gathering (itself celebrating 25 years) and a panel of Ohlone will talk about their involvement with park.”

Memorial Day Celebration

Saturday, May 26 through Monday May 28

1 p.m. – 4 p.m.

Butterfly & Bird Festival

Sunday, Jun 3

10:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Coyote Hills Regional Park

8000 Patterson Ranch Rd, Fremont

http://www.ebparks.org/parks/coyote_hills/

(510) 544-3220

Free. $5 parking

Family Fest celebrates 30 years of Music for Minors II

On Saturday, June 2 Music for Minors II (MFMII) invites you to a its Annual Family Music Festival taking place at Niles Town Plaza. Three stages featuring children’s performance groups will entertain you with singing, dancing, and an instrumental performance. The event is hosted by the acclaimed duo of RJ and Lori, and special guests are expected to delight young and old.

 Kids love to make music together and this exciting and interactive event is the perfect place to find out what MFMII is doing for our kids in the schools.

Founded by MFMII president Carol Zilli in 1988, Music for Minors II’s mission is to “nurture the love and literacy of music in children’s classrooms and lives and provide performance opportunities for them in the schools and community.”

MFMII trains musical “docents” and assigns one docent to a classroom where he or she gives one lesson per week throughout the school year. The program is oriented to TK though first grade, but opportunities exist for older kids as well. The half hour lesson per week teaches singing, rhythm and movement, and provides exposure to music instruments. Lesson plans—besides being purely fun—are adaptable to aid in reinforcing subjects currently under study.  In one class, the animal of the week was the llama. “I taught the class two songs with llamas,” says docent Nidhi Garg, “and the children just loved it.”

MFMII owes its staying power to founder Zilli’s sheer love of music and commitment to music education. In 1987 Zilli was playing piano for her son’s class at Hacienda School in Fremont when she discovered one of the students had been to Music For Minors (MFM) across the bay. Curious, Zilli investigated, eventually becoming a docent herself. When Zilli started bringing MFM to Niles Elementary, she received encouragement from MFM executive director Deanna Stock to start a similar program, which is today’s MFMII.

Zilli began with one class at Niles Elementary, but as parents wanted to get more involved, Carol trained docents herself. As the demand grew she arranged with Ohlone to feature the docent raining course, which she herself taught for 20 years. As the cost of tuition rose, Carol decided to offer training for free, and so took the curriculum and divided it into 22 two-and-a-half hour session. Today, responding to the needs of busy individuals, the course has been streamlined to eleven sessions.

Speaking to Zilli about the role of music in kids’ lives sparks the her enthusiasm. She is quick to point to research that indicates the study of music builds neuron bridges between the right and left halves of the brain thus integrating them. “the corpus callosum [vital for communication between the brain’s hemispheres] is bigger in individuals who study a musical instrument,” she says.

“I’ve emphasized the research recently because that’s where the culture is. We give [administrators] the science to bring them in, but then the heart of the music speaks for itself.” In other words, in many schools, the arts, especially music, have to show benefits to justify the time, even if it’s only 30 minutes a week. It’s not a given that the arts have intrinsic value on a par with STEM subjects. Zilli spends much of her time giving presentations that 2 demonstrate the cooperation, positive mental attitude, and self-expression children display when studying music. “Teachers tell us that socialization improves, that academics improve when we come to the classroom,” says Zilli.

MFMII provides exposure to youth-oriented entertainers like like Charlotte Diamond and Red Grammer. Zilli credits them with helping keep the organization going. Either through attracting children to their concerts and getting them turned on to music or helping raise funds through ticket sales, “we wouldn’t have been around this long without them,” says Zilli.

RJ and Lori are family friendly performing duo who also sit on the MFMII Board of Directors. For more than 30 years they have spread “Kids’ music with a GROOVE” all over the Bay Area. Their brand of kid-accessible music has earned them numerous awards, including recognition by the State of California and two Emmys for their work in children’s television. Speaking of her role as a performer and advocate of kid involvement with music, “it’s all about interaction and letting kids participate in the show,” she says. “When I talk about us [RJ and Lori], I am really talking about what MFMII is all about.”

Zilli courted RJ and Lori for two years to be on the Board. “We aren’t the kind of people who go around saying ‘I believe this’ or ‘I believe that,’” says Moitie. “We’ve always been wary of aligning ourselves with an organization; but Carol convinced us that we were a perfect fit. I am deeply honored that we get to help make decisions about bringing music to more than 5000 kids. It provides
a balance to the stressful technological lives they live.”

Volunteers like RJ and Lori and Nidhi Garg are the backbone of the organization. The quality of involvement and the quality of instruction has a special nature “when it is comes from the heart,” says Zilli.

Docent Nidhi Garg currently teaches two first grade glasses weekly, but is hoping for as many as seven next year. “Teaching music is the highlight of my day,” she says.

Watching Garg in the classroom is a treat. Her enthusiasm and patience are extraordinary and she clearly loves what she is doing; likewise, the children respond positively with their attention and their smiles. “I had no formal training, so I was apprehensive. Could I do that? But by the end of the training,” says Garg, I was ready! I couldn’t wait to get into a class room.”

“The transition from training to teach was very smooth.“ Says Garg. New docents simply observe their senior mentors for three sessions then have visits from them for a few until they are ready to fly solo.

There is plenty of material to teach. “We have so many songs.” There are six MFMII resource centers, one at James Leitch School where Nidhi teaches. They are stocked with binders full of songs, puppets, instruments, educational charts, and more—everything the teachers need, provided for free. Six thousand dollars from the School District and the Candle Lighters organization helped establish the first resource center at Niles Elementary in the 1990s.

Each resource center serves itself and neighboring schools where MFMII teaches, of which there are “36 or 37,” Says Zilli. “We have 99 docents serving 5000 kids a week.” MFMII provides its services for $10 per child per year. That not only gives a class a half-hour music lesson each week, but also provides for family music nights at the schools where parents and kids come and learn about the program, what it offers, and for the adults, to learn more about becoming a docent.

Even at $10 per child, or about $250 per classroom, (“A deal you can’t beat with a baton,” says Moitie) some schools are hard-pressed to find the funds. Still, “We’ve never turned down a request for our program because of money,” says Zilli.

If you or someone you know is interested in having MFMII at your school, or in teaching music to youngsters, visit http://musicforminors2.org/

If music in our schools is important to you, come out and show your support for MFMII on June 2. This free event will open your eyes to the gift that music is both to our children and the volunteers who teach it.

MFMII Family Music Festival

Saturday, June 2

2 p.m. — 5 p.m.

Niles Town Plaza, Fremont

For more information: http://musicforminors2.org/ or (510) 733-1189

Free

Grammy-winning drummer headlines Cal State Jazz Fest

This month, Cal State East Bay will present its annual Jazz Festival with special guest artist, three-time Grammy winning percussionist Terri Lyne Carrington. The festival features an evening concert with Carrington and the East Bay Jazz Orchestra Friday, April 13 and two stages on Saturday, April 14 where a variety of talented middle school, high school, and college jazz bands will perform for the public while being adjudicated (visit https://www.csueastbay.edu/class/departments/music/areas/jazz-studies/annual-jazz-festival/schedule.html for schedules). Carrington will also perform on Saturday at 12:15 p.m.

On the occasion of this exciting and important event, it is worth noting the festival format is a late development in the history of jazz.

This uniquely American music, largely the result of experimentation and sophisticated innovation by African American musicians, has spent much of its life in small clubs, bars, and other intimate settings. Not because this was where the musicians preferred to play, but because that’s where the jobs were, where jazz formed the soundtrack to drinking, dining, and dancing. The great jazz districts of the past, such as Fillmore Street in San Francisco, Central Avenue in Los Angeles, and Greenwich Village in New York City all attest to the fact. Concert settings, such as auditoriums, theaters, and concert houses weren’t as available to jazz musicians, most often because of the color of their skin.

One of the great breakthrough moments in jazz history, therefore, was the establishment of the Newport Jazz Festival, first held in Newport, Rhode Island in 1954. The early popularity of the event underlined jazz’s acceptance across racial boundaries. Even though the white socialite of environment of Newport offered a degree of resistance to the influx of the younger audience that jazz attracted, subsequent years saw the festival changing venues multiple times because annually increasing numbers of concertgoers put a strain on existing facilities.

Newport became the model for many famous subsequent festivals across the country. The Monterey Jazz festival debuted in October of 1958; the first Playboy Jazz Festival happened in 1959 (though the second had to wait until 1979) and in 1967, the famous Montreaux Jazz Festival arrived on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland. A survey of the top-drawing jazz festivals across the U.S. reveals their presence from Monterey, San Diego, and Long Beach to Detroit, Chicago, and New Orleans, to North Carolina, Connecticut, and New York.

The Cal State Jazz Festival is somewhat unique because the adjudicative aspect of the event focuses attention on jazz education, a topic important to headliner Carrington, an instructor and ensemble leader at the esteemed Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Carrington, the first female artist to win a Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, has been in the music business more than 40 years, first having made a name for herself as a whiz kid prodigy, who at age ten was the youngest musician in Boston to ever get a union card. Magazines featured her, and TV shows employed her. Icons in the jazz world have played with her, including Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Al Jarreau, Stan Getz, David Sanborn, Woody Shaw, Cassandra Wilson, and countless others.

In 2005, Carrington returned to her hometown where her alma mater conferred an honorary doctorate and appointed her a professor. She holds the position of Zildjian Chair in Performance in the Berklee Global Jazz Institute. She is also the Artistic Director for both the Beantown Jazz Festival and Berklee Summer Jazz Workshop, and Co-Artistic Director of The Carr Center of Detroit.

Reviewers have acclaimed all eight of Carrington’s albums. Her 2015 release, ‘The Mosaic Project: Love and Soul.’ featured an exclusive cast of female singers and musicians. Said James Reed of the Boston Globe, the album “is so good that the performances and the caliber of musicianship overshadow any distinctions based on gender or even genre. It doesn’t need to come with an ingenious backstory; it just needs to be heard.”

As an educator Carrington realizes the difficulty of teaching the unteachable essence of improvisation; however, she also says, “I think education creates a solid foundation for people that really want to learn the music, but it’s just a foundation. You have to do a lot more work to become a great player or a great writer or whatever you’re trying to do …Just because you [get the foundation], that doesn’t automatically put you in the jazz community. I tell my students that is a process of self-discovery. There’s a lot of work to do after the foundation is laid but it gives you a head start.”

As a female in the jazz world for four decades, Carrington has had time now to consider the relationship between women and jazz. “At this stage of my career,” says Carrington, “I find myself speaking more about gender and equity, issues we’ve faced with this music all along.

“I’ve had a great career, but that’s not good enough; its not about the exceptions, it’s not about being accepted into a boys club, it’s about changing the environment to be more welcoming to women. I take ownership of this music, it’s my music, and a lot of women don’t get to that point.”

Jazz at it stands today embodies a simultaneous acceptance of all the developments that have made it what it is. The blues, traditional jazz, bebop, fusion, free jazz, afro-cuban, and more all find their way into today’s recordings. “I think this is a really exceptional time,” says Carrington, “because so many people have had permission to merge indigenous music based on their cultural background, traditional music—if that’s where their heart is—as well as the things they grew up listening to, be it indy rock, or R&B. This kind of genre merging is very exciting.”

Concertgoers to the East Bay Jazz Festival are sure to encounter a variety of styles, but if anything is true about the music, in the words of Terri Lyne Carrington: “Once you get bitten by the jazz bug, you’re there forever.”

Cal State East Bay Jazz Festival

Friday, Apr 13

7:30 p.m.

University Theater

Saturday, Apr 14

8:15 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

University Theater (Stage A)

Studio Theater (Stage B)

Saturday, Apr 14

12:15 p.m. Guest artist performance

University Theater

Cal State East Bay

25800 Carlos Bee Blvd, Hayward

(510) 885-3000

http://csueastbaytickets.universitytickets.com/

$10 General admission