Candace Forest

…and isn’t that what it’s all about for me right in this moment. It’s 11 days and counting now until we Load-In to the legendary Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California to begin recording the music for Lua Hadar’s exciting and far-reaching new Bridges Project. I am co-producing this project with Lua and we’ve been working on it for a long time. The upcoming sessions at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley on February 18 and 19 are just the beginning of a much larger 3-year plan that will encompass many areas of music and the performing arts as well as arts education. The long and short of it is that we are, as we have been our whole lives, using our music to build bridges and make peace. Now, that’s a life worth living.

As of today, we have 30 plus people in our fabulous crew that begins with our top flight totally amazing band, TWIST lead by the ever brilliant Dr. Jason Martineau. “Dr. J” has created some fantastic arrangements for Lua and the band using some exotic instrumentation that includes Japanese Koto, cello, jazz accordion and maybe even a sopranino! Add to that a remarkable line-up of hand drums belonging to global percussionist, Ian Dogole who’ll be mixing it up with Brazilian kit drummer, Celso Alberti. On reeds we welcome Larry de la Cruz who we met through our terrific bassist, Dan Feiszli. It’s with particular joy I prepare to perform one of my own tunes on this project that will feature Dan Feiszli on electric bass and Lua and I in a little vocal dance. I wrote Come Back To California for our dear friend and colleague, bassist Albin Suffys who lives in Lille, France. Lua and I premiered the piece with Albin when we were over there awhile back. This will be its first performance here at home and I couldn’t be happier. (Well, I suppose if it could be done as a quartet with Dan AND Albin that might make me even happier but, happy is good and I’m happy!)

Our Video Crew is headed up by Lawrence “Larry” Jordan who has directed projects with Tony Bennett, Mariah Carey, Sting and Eddie Izzard to name but a few. We are both happy and honored to be working with Larry. He’s being ably assisted by our Technical Director, Cael Hazard; Lighting Designer, Alan Steinheimer; and Technical Coordinator, Hamilton Everts. This will be a 5-camera shoot and lots of talented folks are involved.

On the Audio side of things we are privileged and jazzed to have one of Fantasy Studios most experienced engineers, Jesse Nichols at the big board in Studio A. Jesse will record the whole 2 days of music which will be the soundtrack for the video and of course, the material for the new CD, Like A Bridge. Since we are going for a “LIVE” recording here, an exhilarating prospect, we need a great audio engineer whose task it is to make sure the band can hear each other and the audience can hear the band!  Lucky for us, our dear friend and colleague Craig Griffeath has stepped up to the plate. Craig-o toured doing live sound with The Edlos in a myriad of places, including Las Vegas with Ray Charles! So, we’re very happy campers being well looked after in all things audio, video and musical by these great pros. How cool is that?

Oh, there’s so much more to say about the crew and the studio and the music and of course, about Lua, who has heroically been working on every aspect of this production and learning a zillion new notes, but I have to get back to work. Today’s the day I have to sort out how to feed everyone because I’m entirely convinced that World Peace can be achieved much quicker if you feed the people doing the hard work! Here we go….over that Bridge to the future…more later…

I have recently become a Teaching Artist (TA) for the San Francisco Opera Company. At present my fellow TA and soul sister,  Lua Hadar and I are assisting children in grades K – 6 create their own mini-operas. This work has reminded me of my own introduction to Opera which did not come by way of direct experience creating opera, but rather by watching opera greats on the Ed Sullivan Show and more cleverly, by the marvelous Bugs Bunny cartoon, What’s Opera, Doc?

I can’t help but marvel at the turn of events that has me collaborating with all these youngsters making operas! While all five of the mini operas have their own intrigue, I have to admit that the one that I wake up singing is the one I’m doing with the Kindergarteners. The working title is Don’t Be Afraid, You’re Stronger Than You Think! Not surprisingly,  it turns out that the things that scare these five-year-old children are in large part, some of the same things that scare us grown-ups – nightmares and dreams, creepy things wearing wings and being all alone in the dark. Their mini opera explores the concept of facing and overcoming one’s fears by digging deep to find one’s inner strength. The music being created is really quite lovely and triumphant. I can’t help but think that these particular children will have a unique advantage as they face their fears growing up. Whenever they feel afraid, I surmise that they will hear their own tune in their heads reminding them that they are stronger than they think. So, that’s opera, doc!

If you have any interest at all in the music and politics of the 60′s, you must see the stunning documentary film, Phil Ochs-There But For Fortune. Having come of age as a folksinger in the 60′s, watching it was an intense emotional experience for me. I didn’t know Phil personally but like most of my musical contemporaries, I sang his songs and heard stories about him from one of my long ago friends, Jim Glover who is interviewed in the film. While I was caught up in the tumult of the 60′s, Phil and his friends were creating it. This film masterfully captures that process through the use of both interviews and some stunning archival footage that I had not seen before. I was struck by how familiar Phil’s voice is to my ear and how broodingly handsome he was. Jake Gyllenhaal (not Sean Penn) should play him if they ever make a feature film.

The 60′s generation thought we could change the world. In fact, we stirred it up so much that three of our heroes had to be taken out in hopes of quelling the great winds that were blowing. At times when I am mulling over the current sorry state of our nation, I let my mind run a scenario of Robert Kennedy actually making it to White House. Among the many other things I imagine he might have done would be to invite Phil to commemorate the anniversary of the murder of his beloved brother by singing Crucifixion at the grave site in Arlington. It would have been a fitting tribute to Jack and an appropriate task for Phil.

I began saving money to buy my own guitar and by the time I graduated from high school, I had enough to go to Pfabes Music (pronounced Fabeez) to see if they had a 12-string guitar for sale. I knew that’s what I wanted, not just because Bob Gibson played one but  because by then, I had heard Tom Shipley play his on a pretty regular basis and I loved the sound. Edsel Pfabe knew us of course, because Gayle had once worked there and also his sons took piano lessons from our teacher, Ferne Pearcie. I remember looking up on the wall at a long line of guitars. I told him I wanted a 12-string and he handed me a brand new Gibson that was huge and beautiful. I fell in love instantly and bought it for $250. Gayle had not intended to buy a guitar but Edsel handed her an antique Martin D-28 which I think she bought for $175! It’s probably worth many thousands now and sadly she gave it away a long time ago to one of her undeserving boyfriends!

So, there we were, The Mordush Sisters walking into La Cave for the Hootenanny with these two amazing instruments. The boys backstage just couldn’t believe it and of course, they all wanted to play them. It was a wonderful night, and for me marked the beginning of my life as a career “Folksinger.” About a month later in mid-July, Stan Cain called me around 5 in the evening on a Wednesday. I guess the person they had booked to open for Tom Shipley that night couldn’t make it. I didn’t drive or have a car so Stan said he would come out to Painesville and pick me up. The pay would be $8 and I would do 2 sets. I remember the look on my dad’s face when I told him. He did not approve of any of this business but I was of legal age at last, and I guess by this time he knew that there wasn’t any use trying to stop me. It was my first paying gig and I was beyond excited. I put together my set lists, taped them to my guitar and off I went.   To be continued

The atmosphere has been ripe with lucid dreams for me lately. This morning was a crystal clear encounter with a dearly remembered musical colleague, Bob Gibson, one of the great folksingers of the 60′s and the person who’s work actually inspired me to “become” a folksinger. When I first set foot in La Cave, the late great Cleveland Coffeehouse that became my musical home base, it was Bob Gibson and his 12-string guitar that I heard on my way down the steps. He was sharing a bill with Josh White on a Sunday afternoon and I took a Greyhound bus to get there from my hometown of Painesville, 30 miles east. The club was located at the corner of 105th St. and Euclid Avenue, at the time considered the most dangerous corner in the entire city! My parents were out of town that day and I decided to sneak out on this adventure because I knew about Josh White and wanted to hear him live. I was 17 at the time. Bob Gibson was not familiar to me, but I fell in love with his voice and his big beautiful 12-string guitar in an instant. His signature song was Foghorn, something he had been inspired to write because he lived in Chicago where there is plenty of fog. That song hit me with a force that moved me to borrow a guitar from a friend and  learn to play (that guitar was a $17 plywood box from Sears, loaned to me by my friend David Kay, thank you David!) As soon as I had learned the 3 songs required to appear at a La Cave Hootenanny, I was onstage with my sister Gayle singing harmony. We were The Mordush Sisters and I’m sure were quite an amusement to the other participants who included Tom Shipley, Gusti & Don Hervey and soon after, Buzz Linhart among others.  To be continued……………

I was treated to a musical feast recently (February 27, 2011) when my favorite cellist, Emil Miland played a recital that included the world premiere of David Conte’s new cello Sonata, written especially for Emil and performed beautifully with pianist, Miles Graber. The program, part of the Faculty Artist Series at the SF Conservatory, also included David’s Aria and Fugue (2008), Rachmaninoff’s Sonata in G Minor for cello and piano along with two lovely short pieces, Modere (1915) by Nadia Boulanger, David’s former teacher; and Talisman (2006) by Joseph Gregorio, David’s former student.

The music in this program brilliantly illustrated the lifelong attachments that can be created when teaching and the learning exist in an atmosphere of mutual love and respect. I never set out to be a teacher. In fact, I did everything I could think of to avoid becoming one. Looking back from here, that seems comical and very ironic since I have spent much of my adult life teaching, coaching and sharing my love of music with more students than I can count! Nothing makes me happier than basking in the accomplishments of my students, whether or not they are professional musicians. I have been very blessed. I’m sure Nadia Boulanger must have been in the hall on Sunday feeling quite the same! Such a great day for new music!

Yesterday I had a visit from Vanessa Marshall Parvin and her 4 year old daughter, Molly. Vanessa, who now makes her home in New Jersey and performs with a group called the Marquee Five in Manhattan, was the first child I auditioned for the Singing Rainbow Youth Ensemble. At the time in the mid-90′s, she was just a few years older than Molly is now. Her prodigious talent and beautiful voice were very evident then and have matured perfectly with the passage of time. Vanessa was the student every teacher dreams of encountering; that rare combination of great natural talent, sharp intellect and terrific personality combined with a healthy ambition and remarkable determination. Vanessa stayed with the Singing Rainbow until she was in high school and along with the other amazing kids in that group, entertained and educated large audiences to the wonders of nature and the animals, performing the songs that Nancy Schimmel and I wrote for them. I’m happy to say that all the Singing Rainbow alumni have, not surprisingly, gone on to highly productive and interesting lives and many of them have little ones like Molly coming up singing. Yesterday, Molly blessed me with a lovely rendition of Singing In The Rain. It never sounded so good!