My awesome midtown Sacramento adventure

I had the ultimate Midtown Sacramento experience yesterday, complete with a threat to my bicycle and and fun musical interlude, and even newspaper coverage! It was so amazing, getting snapped and interviewed by the local rag, the Sacramento Bee, who caught my friend Eoin and I jamming on the roof of his neighbor's house. It's right next door to Casa De Chaos!  My old stomping grounds. She asked us a bunch of questions and Eoin tried to make it sound like we were part of the Casa De Chaos Community Project. I guess she realized that was bullshit. But it was hilarious.
We were tuning up to try to play Stolichnya by the Moss Brothers in this photo.  I had so much fun today, I wrote a song about it.
My apologies to Magpie Catering for not being mentioned. You were definitely the yummy part of the day.

Julie the Bruce -  "Stop! My Bike!"



Get up early, slam caffeine

Day old bear claw from yesterday

It takes forever to get on your bike

out the door and into the light


Now you're cruising

the alley at 10th street

lock your bike up to a pole

and this guys who's really old

is driving over your front tire

who doesn't see you trying to unlock your bike

while you're frantically yelling what the f**k

he starts to back into your bike again

like you aren't there yelling

Stop! My bike!


but your bike's ok

it's a sunny day

and you ride away

to adventure!


Traffic's everywhere

sports car don't care

so I'm cruising down alleyways

riding bumps like they are waves

and a friend waves from overhead

on 21St Street


he's on the roof playing an accordion

he's there with his neighbors in the sun

drinking beer we played on an

out of tune guitar and accordion


a photographer came from the paper

took our names and

asked lots of questions

Took shots of us with her long long lens

while we played guitar and accordion

and basked in the sun


yeah I cut my finger while I was strumming

and you broke a string and we sang Dead Milkmen

and we all ate corn dogs

and screamed at strangers!

It's a sunny day

so let's scream and sing

and ride away and be amazing!!


yeah your bike's OK

it's a sunny day

as you ride away to adventure

And we'll scream and sing as we ride

away

away to adventure!

The Secretions invite Ex-cretion Julie the Bruce onstage at 924 Gilman t...

I co-wrote "Freaks Like Us" with The Secretions years ago, inspired by my small-town upbringing and getting a full beer thrown at me by some hicks on their way to citrus heights out of midtown. It was really great to get to play with them at Gilman even if they did screw up the last verse. I had a lot of fun dancing at the show and getting excited about all the acts that were playing!
924 Gilman
1/29/11
Punk Rock Joel's Birthday Party!
Lyrics
Freaks Like Us
When I'm walking down the street
Somebody always calls me a freak
Is it cos of the way I dress is it cos of my hair
I don't know why that fear is there

You think I'm a freak?
Well, at least when I look in the mirror
I'm not afraid of what I see
Cos what I'm trying to see is me

the secretions at 924 gilman song casa de chaos at joel's birthday 2011

My old band sings about my old home! They're still having punk rock shows there, in the basement! If music is good karma, like my friend Nick says, that place is full of it!

Jason Webley performs a Solstice Song

Tumbleweed Time Machine, the Midget Caravan

Another inspirational pair and song!

Shamalamacord, Duke Elington's East St Luis Toodle-Oo

A great set was performed by one inspirational accordion teacher and his award winning shamisen pal. I think they are linked in the brain.

Richie Larwence, Luna's First Accordion Shindig

Jason Webley - Dance While the Sky Crashes Down

Jason Webley performs Icarus

A zine I made a submission to got reviewed at blackguard finally!

http://blackguard23.livejournal.com/63441.html
My friend Kim does a zine called "Toil" about....work! I wrote and illustrated a story in it. Word!

A tip to keep your accordion in shape. January was a very exciting month for accordions!

Here's your care tip for accordions:  Worried about the cost of maintenance? I played an accordion 500 hours in the last year, and you can definitely tell. I play hard too! I try to look at it like what it really is- pretty inexpensive to take care of if you think about it ahead of time. Just put aside a dollar for every hour you play, so you'll have enough when the time comes to take it into the shop!

So much fun stuff has happened in the last month that I am still overwhelmed and excited about it. There was a great basement show at Casa De Chaos with Thee Hobo Gobbelins, The Secretions (who filmed a video about Casa that night which was SO fun and then I sang with them like back in the day when we used to practice down there) and Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children Macnuggits. Oh, Jason Webley played on my birthday at the Fungarden.  And then I hosted a show at Luna's Cafe with Yeti (Jetty Swart) and Shamalamacord which was magical (and Esteban Villa, the legendary co-founder of The Royal Chicano Air Force made a portrait of me which will be my profile pic now), and then went to the city and saw The Hobo Gobbelins at 924 Gilman with The Secretions and Pansy Division at Punk Rock Joel's Birthday party. Also I  got to sing "Freaks Like Us" with them again. Such amazing shows! If you get a chance to see any of these performers, don't miss them!

If you want to see some video from these shows check out my husband's Youtube site www.youtube.com/valletiberti or mine at www.youtube.com/juliethebruce