Francis House Raises Funds for 40th Anniversary of Sacramento's Poverty Center

Francis House Dedicates 2011 Concert Fundraiser To Leader; Brings "Joyous Music" from Singer/Songwriter Ukulele Star Victoria Vox

2011-02-08T10:12:03Z

(Sacramento, CA) The sudden recent passing of the Francis House Executive Director and longtime homeless advocate Greg Bunker on December 28, 2010 has put a poignant and resolute exclamation point on the sustaining efforts of the forty year old poverty resource & counseling center. Francis House, holds a number of fundraising events yearly. The upcoming March 18 concert with singer/songwriter and ukulele star Victoria Vox & The Boulder Acoustic Society is the fifth show in their benefit concert series, but the first with a new title inspired by Bunker: "Give Them Hope.”

“Greg had just shared his new manta with us—“Give Them Hope”—captured in the ornament gift he first handed out to all of us at our holiday party” says Forrest Reed, Program Director of Francis House, “It is remarkable to realize just how many lives Greg touched and how huge a difference he had over his many years working to end poverty.” The center assists 30,000 local citizens every year. Bunker had been Executive Director for 21 years. “He was so excited about bringing Victoria Vox to Sacramento in this concert. His spirit and legacy lives on within us” says Reed.

Francis House Presents

Friday, March 18, 2011
“Give Them Hope” Benefit Concert
In Memory of Greg Bunker
with
Victoria Vox & The Boulder Acoustic Society
The Guild Theater
2828 35th St.Sacramento, CA 95817

Doors: 6 PM
Showtime: 7 PM

Tickets: Golden Circle: $50(includes post –concert reception)/Main floor; $30/Balcony: $20
Tickets available now on line at www.inticketing.com, and at The Beat (17th & J Sts.) and at Francis House (1422 C Street).

www.francishouse.info
916-443-2646
1422 C Street Sacramento, CA 95814

Victoria Vox, a rising young singer/songwriter of shimmering folk pop, is using her ukulele as a delicate front color in her musical palette. Vox's silky vocal lines, both haunting and hopeful, might remind a listener of singer Feist or Natalie Merchant. A Green Bay native now living in Baltimore, Vox has been a professional musician for eight years, and is known for her refreshingly modern and rhythmic ukulele technique. She began appearing in clubs as a ukulele musician four years after receiving a degree in songwriting from the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. For this benefit concert, she will be joined by her Colorado musical colleagues, The Boulder Acoustic Society. They were her backing band on her 2010 album, Exact Change, and contribute a blend of traditional roots and blues to Vox's ultimately pop-rock sensibility. The album has a distinct worldly flair as tunes with French and Flamenco influences also feature accordion, upright bass, and banjo.

"This is one fun, funky album. Vox's songs are catchy and clever, backed by hook-laden melodies... the album's a jewel... indie recording at its best." - Michael Dregni, Vintage Guitar Magazine (Sept. 2010)

Even before the official release date of her debut ukulele album in 2006 -- Victoria Vox and Her Jumping Flea released on her own label, OBUS Music -- Vox was offered an endorsement deal with KoAloha Ukuleles (Honolulu, HI). The disc was featured on NPR’s “To The Best of Our Knowledge” and its songs were picked up for licensing in television and independent films. Vox has been awarded runner-up for “My Darlin’ Beau” (Jumping Flea) and First Place for “C’est Noyé” (Chameleon) in the International Acoustic Music Awards. She has been included in Relix Magazine’s list of artists to watch and won a WAMA (Washington D.C. Area Music Award) in 2009 for Folk-Contemporary Vocalist. Also, Vox appeared on the Jay Leno Show in December 2009 to demonstrate her perfected mouth trumpet!

Her new 2010 album, Exact Change, is truly a fan favorite. In September 2009, she was unsure how a new album would be possible. She humbly decided to ask her fans via the Internet for help to meet the $4,000 goal she set out to raise, knowing it still wouldn’t be enough. Their response was overwhelmingly enthusiastic, passing her goal on the first day, and ultimately contributing more than $21,000 towards production costs for the new album.Vox averages 125+ live performances each year, playing at a mixed bag of venues across the United States, Europe, and Canada.

www.victoriavox.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sacramento News 10 honoring Greg Bunker:
http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=114527&provider=email

Sacramento Bee: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/12/29/3287193/greg-bunker-francis-house-leader.html.

Cincinnati Post: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/AB/20110107/NEWS0104/101080315

From one of Greg Bunker’s favorite books Be Still and Know:

"When St. Francis asked the almond tree to tell him about God, immediately the tree was covered with beautiful flowers.
It was winter.
There were no leaves, flowers or fruits, but he saw the flowers."
- -Thich Nhat Hanh

.“BLUES ON THE GREEN 2” Concert Stars Chicago and Texas Blues Legends

2010-09-23T20:26:51Z

A double shot of the deepest Chicago and Texas blues--from the some of the biggest living legends of the genre are arriving in town this Sunday to play an afternoon all ages concert in Sacramento.“BLUES ON THE GREEN 2” stars The Blues Broads and the Nick Gravenites Band. Honored emcee is blues radio legend and harp man, Mick Martin.

Sunday, Sept. 26 The Green @ Capital Public Radio/ southernmost corner of Sac State University

7055 Folsom Ave./Sacramento Doors: 1 PM Showtime: 2 PM

With a wall of soul sound that could tumble Jericho, four powerful women singers stand at the front of the stage and make believers of every audience member. Rocking, scolding, testifying and torching, the Blues Broads are legendary singers Tracy Nelson (Mother Earth), Annie Sampson (Stoneground), Dorothy Morrison (Edwin Hawkins Singers) and Angela Strehli. Each one of them have had successful careers and led their own bands for decades. Nelson wrote her classic “Down So Low” which has been covered by Linda Ronstadt, Etta James, Maria Muldaur and Cyndi Lauper. Nelson, along with Janis Joplin and Lydia Pense have forever been noted as the three greatest voices that were discovered in San Francisco during the 1960s.

National Public Radio recently ran a “Weekend Edition” feature piece on Nelson on July 31, and she is set to release her 25th album in 2011. Morrison is the Grammy-winning lead singer of “O, Happy Day,” the only traditional gospel song ever to cross over and become a bone fide pop hit. Sampson starred in the long –running production of “Hair” and has recorded with Elvin Bishop, Taj Mahal, Buddy Miles, Maria Muldaur, Eddie Money and Country Joe MacDonald. The “Queen of Texas Blues,” Strehli worked with Stevie Ray Vaughan and every other Austin and Chicago blues player of note through her decades of guiding work with Antone’s –both the famous club and the record label. Now, as a vocal team with an all-star Bay Area backing band, including Nancy Wright on sax, these four women are having some of the most fun of their lives.

According to author and pop music critic Joel Selvin, Nick Gravenites is "the original San Francisco connection for the Chicago crowd." He was born in Chicago, but not in 1941, as the first lines of his classic blues manifesto, “Born in Chicago,” punch out in the legendary Paul Butterfield Blues Band’s signature song. The original white blues man of the rock era, he was hanging out in south side blues clubs in 1957. Singer and songwriter of other classics such as “East West” (with Michael Bloomfield), “You’re Killing My Love’ (Otis Rush), “Groovin’ is Easy” (Electric Flag), “Work Me Lord” and “Buried Alive in the Blues” (Janis Joplin). He sang lead in Bloomfield’s ill-fated super band, Electric Flag, an American Music Band, which made it much-hyped debut at the 1967 Monterey International Pop Festival.

His Columbia Records debut of 1969, My Labors, exhibits a batch of his best songs (“Killing My Love,” “Holy Moly,” and “Gypsy Good Time”) and some of Bloomfield’s most lyrical playing. With Bloomfield, he produced Otis Rush’s “Mourning in the Morning” in Muscle Shoals in 1968, James Cotton, and assembled Janis Joplin’s solo debut, The Kozmic Blues Band. He produced the debut Quicksilver Messenger Service album and Brewer and Shipley’s “One Toke Over the Line.” He replaced Joplin for a short stint in Big Brother and the Holding Company. Has recorded seven solo albums including, Animal Mind and Live in Athens with Quicksilver guitar god John Cipollina. Gravenites is as deep and as personal a blues songwriter and performer as there is, shouting the blues with the best of them. When Gravenites steps on stage with his band, all the gravitas and legacy of the great Chicago blues masters step on stage with him.

For details about the show and ticket information, visit the Swell Productions website at www.swell-productions.com.

Blankets and low back chairs only. No outside food or drink-there will be quality beer/wine and soul food catered by The Drooling Dog BBQ from Auburn, California.

FAQ at www.swell-productions.com and http://www.capradio.org/events/2010/09/26/blues-on-the-green-2

~~ Mindy Giles is co-owner of Sacramento's Swell Productions and is the co-promoter of this event.