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MIKAELA DAVIS @ Cafe Du Nord, San Francisco July 8, 2025 Review by Uncle John I notice in the sunset, as I drive into San Francisco, the buck dancer´s moon, nearly full. I´m going to see Mikaela Davis and Southern Star and Lily Seabird perform at the Café Du Nord. When I first arrive the energy is colorful, playful and intense. When I close my eyes it sounds like I´m at a Grateful Dead concert. The music is loud and tuned to perfection. There´s a telepathic communication between Mikaela and her band Southern Star, drummer Alex Coté, guitarist Cian McCarthy and his brother, bassist Shane McCarthy, and pedal steel, lap steel, and guitarist Kurt Johnson. The way she looks at them, and moves her hands, the way she sings, and the sounds she creates on the harp. I remain amazed.Her music is passionate, focused, relevant and mesmerizing, and she reminds me of the Grateful Dead. I´m having flashbacks. One day I wander into the Page Street Library here in the city and there´s Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. I know Mickey is nearly deaf and I approach him and shout into his good ear, “Is God in there?” and Mickey smiles and says, “I hope Heaven is not all harps and violins!” Her harp is definitely going to be there! Mickey playing in the band shows many creative Heavenly sounds a drummer can do. He shares with me, “Everytime the Grateful Dead go onstage, just before, Billy and I (Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann) take each other´s pulse so our heartbeats are in tune with each other.” Mikaela Davis is a classically trained harpist. She is a harp star, songwriter and vocalist. Her vocals remind me of Estrella Berosini. Estrella is one of the Ladies Of The Canyon on Joni Mitchell´s album. I met Estrella in San Francisco. She plays guitar and has the sweetest voice. She was Jerry Garcia´s vocal coach. Her vocal mentor is Judy Davis who was Frank Sinatra´s vocal trainer. -Review continues- Songs: “Cinderella” “Home In The Country” (with Lily Seabird) “Mizmoon” “Pure Divine Love”
Lily Seabird opens the show. This Indie Folk Songtress plays from her recent recording “Trash Mountain”. She joins Mikaela Davis and the band for their set on “Home In The Country” and “Rose Colored Glasses”. This is what the flashback looked like there
My favorite song of the night is Mizmoon. It seems to be an experimental tune. Mikaela says she wrote it on the piano and the harp transmutation is a little different. I close my eyes and I hear a piano. I open my eyes and she´s playing the harp. She plays sounds I never heard before, with a fiery intensity and earthy harmony. Pure Divine Love is here and it´s like an overflowing cup of kindness we call music. -Review continues tomorrow-
by Uncle John Adam Williams (Manager, Uncle John) and I are in Rochester, New York to see Bob Dylan and a girl named Marie. Marie´s parents are both deaf, but her and her siblings can all hear. Rochester is on the border of Lake Ontario, the third largest city in New York state, home of the Kodak camera, and the singing Chickadee, a distinctive looking bird who communicates by its call, and relays a specific message in its own language. It can sound the alarm to the flock, relay information, and recognizes an individual or a particular flock. Rochester is home to one of the largest deaf populations in the country. There are street signs alerting drivers to where deaf children play. The only technical college for the deaf in the country is at Rochester Institute of Technology, and this is where Dylan's show is tonight. Joining the five band members on stage is someone to sign the show for the deaf, a girl with headphones who interprets all of Dylan's lyrics tonight. The deaf people come to experience the vibrations of each song, and are treated to a passionate presentation of Dylan's lyrics live. The girl who is signing/interpreting Bob's lyrics speaks with deliberate hands, Dylan in her ears. She is like the chickadee, relaying information, communicating in a special language, identifying with each other, distinctive looking, and transcribing lyrical singing, which transforms into her acting out the message. We have the singer, the song and the interpretation tonight. Oh what a special night!
BILL WALTON & MICKEY HART In the crawl space behind the scoreboard @SF GIANTS Oracle Park. I remember Bill Walton as Father Time on New Year´s Eve.
Elliot Peck, Bill Walton & Jason Crosby
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