 |
| Setting for the Port Townsend Writing Conference at Fort Worden |
 |
| Crabbing at Port Hadlock |
 |
| Fort Flagler between the thunderstorms |
I have a mixed relationship with the Northwest: love its beauty and cool people and wildlife, don’t love its weather. A family event took me to Seattle and Port Townsend this weekend. It was, all told, lovely. The weather was alternately sunny and bright and rainy with thunderstorms. The sky was full of bald eagles, barn swallows, gulls and terns. Crabbing, Frisbee, picnicking went on between the rain drops. I also had the good fortune to sneak away for an afternoon class at the Port Townsend Writer’s Conference to immerse myself in the Music of Poetry taught by New Mexico poet Wayne Lee. It is always a treat to be surrounded by group bent on craft and art, be it words, music or both. Nice. Inspiring. Hard to come back. Monday is full of catch-up so I’m letting the pictures do most of the talking.
Deborah Crooks (www.DeborahCrooks.com) is a writer, performing songwriter and recording artist based in San Francisco whose lyric driven and soul-wise music has drawn comparison to Lucinda Williams, Chrissie Hynde and Natalie Merchant.
Singing about faith, love and loss, her lyrics are honed by a lifetime of writing and world travel while her music draws on folk, rock, Americana and the blues. She released her first EP “5 Acres” in 2003 produced by Roberta Donnay, which caught the attention of Rocker Girl Magazine, selecting it for the RockerGirl Discoveries Cd. In 2007, she teamed up with local producer Ben Bernstein to complete “Turn It All Red” Ep, followed by 2008’s “Adding Water to the Ashes” CD, and a second full-length CD “2010. She’s currently working on a third CD to be released in 2013.
Deborah’s many performance credits include an appearance at the 2006 Millennium Music Conference, the RockerGirl Magazine Music Convention, IndieGrrl, at several of the Annual Invasion of the GoGirls at SXSW in Austin, TX, the Harmony Festival and 2009’s California Music Fest, MacWorld 2010, Far West Fest and many other venues and events. She toured the Northwest as part “Indie Abundance Music, Money & Mindfulness” (2009) with two other Bay Area artists, and followed up with “The Great Idea Tour of the Southwest in March 2010 with Jean Mazzei.
