Between sweltering on the East Coast last week and enjoying some fog-free days in the garden back in California, I’ve been appreciating summertime’s pure and simple attributes this week: shirt sleeves, dining and performing al fresco, and riding a bike as much as possible. The beach is calling….
Read: California Coastal Access Guide, by The California Coastal Commission. Sure, I grew up in a place that routinely told the ‘valley’s to go home’ aka ‘stay away from our beach.’ But to know the beach is to love the beach…and to want to save the beach.
Eat: Tomato & Romaine Salad (from Whole Foods recipes)
Listen: Patty Griffin’s “Heavenly Day”
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.
