June has been relatively quiet, but July has plenty in store, including a couple of fun and star-studded events, including Val playing solo at a benefit for the East Bay Humane Society at the Starry Plough on Sunday afternoon, July 11th, and the ladies of Loretta Lynch singing a few tunes at the Farewell to Jimmy Sweetwater event at the Great American Music Hall on Thursday, July 22nd.   Sandwiched in between, El Mirage will pop out of hiding to play at the Rite Spot.  Hooray for July!  Click on the calendar page for all the details.  Hope to see you soon!

Speaking of Joe Rut, Loretta Lynch is looking forward to playing a show with him and our pal Danny Allen and his High Diving Horses on May 22nd at the Starry Plough - it's going to be a great night of music and we hope you'll join us!

Could it be that Spring has finally sprung?  It sure feels that way to me.  I'm feeling like there's lots to look forward to in April, like Loretta Lynch at the Starry Plough on April 1st, and heading back to the Great American Music Hall to sing harmony w/ Joe Rut at his CD release on April 30th... and planting my garden... and getting out of town on no less than two vacations!  I'm not sure how I'll find time for anything else, but somehow I'm going to find a way, because I am working on a new-ish project that has me kind of excited!

I hope you'll join me for A Song A Day in April, wherein I sift through and dust off old songs, new songs, and demos that have never seen the light of day (and perhaps, a few that never were *meant* to see the light of day!). 

I'll mostly be posting previously unreleased demos, most of them largely unedited, many recorded moments after I wrote them, or even AS I was writing them, thanks to my participation in the Immersion Composition Society.

In some of my previous years of living, I've begun each year by writing one song each day for as long as I could manage to keep it going. But at this particular point in my life, I'm doing a lot of looking back. 

April is the month of my birth, and possibly it’s purely coincidental that I'm turning 41 this month and so, perhaps, you could call this a part of my mid-life crisis, who knows? I've been feeling pretty creatively blocked over the last couple of years, and this project began in part because I was revisiting some of my orphaned songs in an attempt to get myself unstuck. In the process I realized that maybe I wasn’t stuck after all – maybe I was just working on finding my way. 

Anyway, I discovered a few gems – and a few turds too – but mostly just had a great time revisiting the orphans! Some of them I may never want to revisit again, others may find their way into my live performances. For now, I'm just having fun digging through the old stuff, taking stock and working on finding a place from which to spring forward. I'm hoping that perhaps there are a few people out there who might appreciate this process and want to listen in. 

Not sure where we're going to end up, but am looking forward to the journey, and would be delighted to have you riding shotgun with me.

There's a lot of harmony in store for the next couple of months.

First up, Loretta Lynch will play an hour-long set starting around 7 pm this Friday, March 5th for the First Friday Art Murmur at the Actual Cafe in Oakland.  It's an all ages, free show and they serve yummy food, great coffee and beer & wine.   What more could we ask?  Only to see your smiling faces!

Next up, Loretta Lynch is excited to share the stage with Yard Sale and Joe Rut for a very special early show at the Starry Plough on Thursday April 1st as part of our pals Dana and Amy's wedding celebration!  Yes, it's a wedding reception but all are welcome to come on out and enjoy the music, and we hope you will!  Loretta Lynch will kick off the evening's festivities promptly at 8 pm, followed by Joe Rut and then Yard Sale.

Last, but certainly not least, I'll be singing some harmony w/ Joe Rut at his CD release show at the Great American Music Hall on Friday, April 30th.  This is gonna be a blast, and you won't want to miss it so please mark your calendars.  Details coming soon!

Hope you're all staying warm and dry and happy and healthy, and hope to see you soon!

Not a ton of news to report here, but there are a few very worthy shows coming up.  First up, I'll be singing with Joe Rut at a benefit for Haiti on Saturday Feb. 20th.   Check the calendar page for all the details.   The event itself starts at 2 pm, and we'll be taking the stage around 10 pm.  Come early, stay all night, and help raise money for the Haiti relief effort.

Next up, Loretta Lynch is excited to share the stage with Yard Sale and Joe Rut for a very special early show at the Starry Plough on Thursday April 1st as part of our pals Dana and Amy's wedding celebration!  Yes, it's a wedding reception but all are welcome to come on out and enjoy the music, and we hope you will!  More details coming about that one soon.  Loretta Lynch will kick off the evening's festivities promptly at 8 pm.

Hope you're all staying warm and dry and happy and healthy, and hope to see you soon!

It sure  has been awhile.   The winter months so far have found me  in the studio with Loretta Lynch working on a new album, and  planting the seeds for new songs for both LL and El Mirage.  That, and doing a whole lot of hunkering down and hibernating, which feels just perfect for these rainy, stormy days and nights!

Loretta Lynch will be venturing out on Friday, January 29th to play an early evening set at the Makeout Room with our pals Misisipi Rider, and we'd love to see you there!  The show is from 7:30- 9:30 pm. Get there right on time, both to enjoy the fine sounds of Misisipi Rider and to enjoy your cocktails at happy hour price up until 8 pm.  LL will be up around 8:30 pm, so for those of you who  need your beauty sleep, you can be home and in bed by 10 pm!

We hope to see you there!

Lots of fun musical events coming up, some of which won't even require you to leave your home, but of course, it's always a treat to see your lovely faces!

First up, Loretta Lynch will help you come down from your Thanksgiving hangover this Sunday November 29th at the Makeout Room.   We'll be opening for the talented Chris Jones, who's celebrating the release of his brand new album Interstellar Lounge Music".  Following Chris, we'll all be treated to the 60's girl group sound of The Bang.   You know the drill - come early and stay late!  Loretta Lynch is on at 8 pm.

Next up, John Shiurba and I will be playing a short acoustic mini-El Mirage set at the upcoming art event "Oakland Under 100" on Friday, December 4th at the Temescal Arts Center. 

Oakland Under $100 is a show featuring affordable art made by local artists, and it will be a pleasure to be in such fine, fine company. 

Featuring Local Artists
Emily Coker • mixed media
Rachel Coker • jewelery
Casey Fay • painting
Ross Kennedy • sculpture
Cassie Leone • painting
Daniel McChesney-Young • photography
Anne Pinkowski • sculpture
Roxy Rogalski • photography
Paul Solis • drawing
Heidi Struble • photography
Mike Woolson • photography

Featuring Musicians
Hugh Fox • Val Esway • Chris Larson

And then, there will be two chances in December to enjoy Loretta Lynch over the airwaves, and we're quite excited for both.

On Sunday December 13th at 3 pm, we'll be playing live at the KPFA Crafts & Music Fair at the Concourse Exhibition Center in San Francisco.  This event is the largest weekend holiday craft fair of its kind in Northern California, and we're honored to be featured.  Besides a variety of fine musical guests, there will be hundreds of artists displaying and selling their work. If you can't make it out to the show, be sure to visit  KPFA.org to listen online, or tune your good old fashioned radio to 94.1 fm.

And then on Saturday December 19th, wake up and have coffee w/ Loretta Lynch!  We'll be performing live on the nationally broadcasted West Coast Live - "San Francisco's Live Radio Show to the World".  The show airs from 10 a.m. to noon, and we're thrilled to be one of the featured entertainers that day.  More details will be coming about this one, so stay tuned!

In other news, thanks to everyone who supported me in the Arizona Breast Cancer 3-Day.  I'm happy to report that I walked 50 miles over the course of 3 days, and that the event as a whole raised a whopping 4.2 million towards breast cancer research and treatment.   I couldn't have done it without your support and encouragement!  It was such an incredible experience that I've already signed up to do it again next year!

Thanks, as always, for your kind support.  Hope to see you at an upcoming show, and here's wishing everyone a happy and healthy holiday season.

Cheers!

Loretta Lynch is excited to be debuting a couple of songs at this show that we've never performed before, and as always, there is a wide variety music on the bill, so come early and stay late. Check out the calendar page for all the gory details!

In other news, Loretta Lynch had a false start w/ recording a month or two ago, but we're getting back in the saddle and heading over to Wally Sound, for real this time, a little later this month.

Things are relatively quiet in the land of El Mirage for now -  doing a bit of hibernating for the winter and planting the seeds for new material for the new year, which will surely be here in the blink of an eye.

For now, stay warm & enjoy that torrential rain.

Hope this finds you well and enjoying these last long, luxurious days of summer.

El Mirage will be playing this Sunday, Sept. 13th at 2 pm sharp at the 8th annual Webster Street Jam. We'll be just one of 18 local bands scheduled to play continuously from two stages. There will also be local Alameda-based food vendors and artisans selling their wares. R&B Cellars wine (made in Alameda) and Drake's Beer (hand-crafted in their San Leandro microbrewery) will be on sale at several beverage booths. The music is free and all ages are welcome, so bring the family and come enjoy a great day of music & sunshine!

Next up, on Saturday Sept. 19th, your long lost pals of Loretta Lynch will be coming out of hiding to play some songs at the Hotel Utah, along w/ Yard Sale and The Hollyhocks. Join us for a night of sweet, sweet harmonies and probably some wicked, wicked tales. We love the Hotel Utah, and we love both Yard Sale and the Hollyhocks, and we'd love to see you there!

On another note entirely, I've been spending a lot of time walking lately!  I'm training for the Breast Cancer 3-Day walk that I'll be traveling to Arizona to partake in, come November.  I'll be doing my best to walk 20 miles per day, 3 days in a row, to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research.  And on the fundraising end of things, I'm currently holding a bake sale!  For a limited time only, if you care to make a donation and can donate $20 or more, your thank you gift will be a bag of my delicious cranberry-orange-coconut granola.  You can donate by clicking here, and I thank you in advance!

Until next time, thank you, as always, for all your kind support!

Hi all,

Thanks to everyone who came to the Bottom of the Hill recently, what a great show!If you missed it, there's still another chance to catch some El Mirage music before the summer is over.

We'll be playing a show w/ the lovely Vanessa Lowe this coming Saturday, August 8th at 33 Revolutions Cafe in El Cerrito.

Vanessa and I will be alternating sets from 7:30 to 9:30.  I'll be joined by John Shiurba on the bass and Berge Thomasian on guitar.

This is an all ages show, and it's free!  But do feel free to feed the tip jar. 33 Revolutions is at 10086 San Pablo Ave, El Cerrito.  Hope to see you there!