Wildplum

05/13/2023

The Jim Ocean Band has released a new video- it's quite good fun. check it out at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uALozHqurqg&pp=ygUOamltIG9jZWFuIGJhbmQ%3D

FrankenClime is a humorous wake-up call-to-action regarding the climate crisis.

and if you like to party- come party for the planet with the Jim Ocean Band on June 10th .https://jimoceanmusic.com/

"You can't deny it. It's Franken-Climate!" FrankenClime is a humorous wake-up call-to-action regarding the climate crisis.-------------FRANKENCLIMEby Jim and...

09/06/2022

The CD release of FrankenClime.
This is your chance to experience the album performed live at one of the Bay Area’s most unique venues- Strings Underground Music Showcase. Established in 1993 and run by volunteers, Strings is a rarity: a former laundromat converted into a venue for live music, with an excellent sound system, presenting a wide variety of music for nearly 30 years. https://jimoceanmusic.com/

Home page of Jim Ocean Music, from Guerneville. A stimulating, folk-rocking romp through science, politics, satire and spirit

08/28/2022

Recently published research (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2022, 56, 16, 11172–11179) found that levels of harmful chemicals in rainwater often exceed safety levels- everywhere. There is no place on earth where it is safe to drink rainwater. Rainwater is even polluting the soil. Think about that.

Well, FrankenClime, the new album by the Jim Ocean Band, has a song about it. It's called 'Singing In the Acid Rain'. There's also a song on the album about the dangers of nuclear power, 'Ghost Towns in Ukraine', one on sea level rise 'The First To Go Under', while 'Road To Gridlock' concerns the oil economy, and there's even one about a monster that is hell bent on shrink wrapping the earth, 'Plastilla'.
I think you get the idea- this is an album that leads you to think about climate change but also laugh a little and even dance while we try to change things.
Think Randy Newman or Tom Lehrer, but with a rock ’n roll beat.

You can stream the album on your favorite service, purchase downloads and CDs (remember them) on www.wildplum.com/job.

AND

You can catch them live on Saturday, September 17, 7:30 PM, at Strings in Emeryville. See https://jimoceanmusic.com/ for details.

07/23/2022

FrankenClime, the new album by the Jim Ocean Band.
check it out on Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/album/4SNB6WaRGEJxlDNAZTQ3jB) and at
https://www.wildplum.org/CDs/WP_05222.php

Enviro-Garageband-Rock-Satire
Concerned about climate change? Love to laugh and dance?

From enviro monsters hell bent on shrink wrapping the earth (‘Plastilla’) to the dangers of the oil economy (‘Road to Gridlock’) and the nuclear “solution” (‘Ghost Towns in Ukraine’); from the new abnormal to why we are doing this, Jim’s writing is always original, sometimes surprising, quirky, and/or irreverent, it’s music for people who like to think, feel, laugh and reflect- and dance.

they say we may be
the last to know the redwoods.
you and me,
we're under attack by enviro-monsters,
hell bent on shrink wrapping the earth,
flooding our streets with iceberg melt.
addicted to the oil freeway,
dreaming of a nuclear getaway,
and singing in a dirty shower.
ya, it's a new abnormal alright,
it's so bloody obvious.
and we're just bugs...
but we're doing it for love,
and the redwoods.

and while we're changing things
we can laugh and have some fun.
and that's what this album is about.

Jim has put together a new band to back him through a rocking set of environmentally conscious songs.
The earth needs a good garage band- and so do we.

08/07/2020

The full text of the Save Our Stages bill is now available athttps://www.congress.gov/116/bills/s4258/BILLS-116s4258is.pdf

The bill is still in committee but now has 19 cosponsors. Together with the original sponsor, that's 20 senators currently on record as supporting the bill.

07/25/2020

Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced the bipartisan Save Our Stages Act. We need you to contact your elected representatives through SaveOurStages.com asking them to support this bill.

The Save Our Stages Act provides Small Business Administration grants for independent venues, promoters, and festivals affected by COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. These grants offer at least six months of financial support to keep us afloat, pay employees, and preserve a critical economic sector and our ecosystem for communities across America.

To get the Save Our Stages Act and RESTART Act across the finish line, we absolutely need your help. Every one of your letters and calls to your local Senators and Representatives is what will keep us alive and get these acts passed. Without your help many will surely perish and close their doors forever.

“Our members told us months ago that if the shutdown lasted six months or longer and there wasn’t federal relief to hold them over, 90% of them would fold permanently,” said Dayna Frank, president of NIVA and CEO First Avenue Productions. “With no revenue and immense overhead, four months in, it’s already happening. The warning light is flashing red and our only hope is for legislation like Save Our Stages Act or RESTART Act to be passed before Congress goes on August recess. Otherwise, most businesses in this industry will collapse.”

Through SaveOurStages.com, more than 1 million emails have been sent letting all 538 members of Congress know that constituents want to keep independent venues, promoters, and festivals alive.

Please help us and continue to push.
Call, Email, Write, Shout!
Help us to get the Save Our Stages and RESTART Acts passed.

To contact your legislators and help go to::
www.SaveOurStages.com

Thank you so very much for your continued support!

   Time is running out to Save our StagesThe mission of the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) is to preserve and nurture the ecosystem of independent live music venues and promoters throughout the United States. This is our final push to Congress and there won’t be another opportunit...

07/25/2020

We NEED the and the passed in order to keep independent venues nationwide from closing permanently. Go to SaveOurStages.com to ...

03/10/2020

Q. B. Williams passed away last week. QB was the percussionist and co-founder of the Wildplum artist Palm Wine Boys. He was a long time fixture on the Bay Area music scene. Among his many musical activities: he wrote music for stage plays, film and radio, was a former music director of Vukani Mawethu choir, a member of the great world dance band Mud Hut, and taught percussion to young children in Oakland, CA.

I had the honor of working with QB on a number of projects over the last 20 years. He was a wonderful musician, had a great smile and a quick wit, and one of the very nicest, sweetest people I have ever met. I miss his smile, I miss his talent, I miss his spirit; I miss him.

A couple of Palm Wine Boys songs featuring QB on lead vocal, he also wrote the second song.

https://soundcloud.com/wildplum/laughing-spirits

https://soundcloud.com/wildplum/your-calm

01/23/2020

Some of you know Richard Linley as the leader of the Palm Wine Boys. Richard has a daughter who is also a very talented musician- and she will be playing two very special concerts in the Bay Area very soon.

Simone Slattery (Richard’s daughter) lives in Australia where she is a notable violinist and recording musician. She will be joined in these concerts by Toronto cellist Anthony Albrecht.

The concerts will take place at the Noe Valley Ministry (February 8th) and the Orinda Library Auditorium (February 9th); a very special performance in aid of Australia's endangered wildlife.
Devastating fires, unprecedented in scale, have brought many species to the brink of extinction. Where Song Began is an ode to Australia, in particular its incredible songbirds and the landscapes they inhabit.

50-minutes long, this work features live music on baroque instruments spanning 300 years (from Bach to Arvo Pärt), visual projections of birds and their landscapes, as well as an immersive natural soundscape. It tells the story of the evolution of songbirds, and how they shaped the world.

Where Song Began has been performed over 60 times across Australia, as well as in New York and London. It has been hailed in the press as “...a work of art; a transfixing soundscape that embraces cultures and ages, the composed and the improvised, the indigenous and the stylised and which highlights the utterly unique birdsongs of Australia.”

Please see www.wheresongbegan.com for more information.

Program:
Arvo Pärt - Fratres for solo violin, 1977
Sarah Hopkins - Reclaiming the Spirit, 1993
Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending, 1917
Chris Williams - bird, songs, seas, 2017
Ross Edwards - Ecstatic Dance No.2, 1990
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer - Cucu Sonata, 1664
J.S. Bach - Prelude from Cello Suite No.1, c.1720
David Lang - Anthochaera carunculata (Red Wattle Bird), New Commission, 2017
Ngarra Burra Ferra - Traditional Indigenous hymn