In Search of California Music Festivals
B. R. Cohn Winery
Found a site for Music Festivals:
Music Gifts, Maggie and Mark O'Connor, California Music Festivals
California Music Festivals, B. R. Cohn Winery, Guitar Purses
American Flag Purses (Bags); guitar themed gifts
Suzy Chaffee chapstick ad
Sugar Bowl, Lake Tahoe
Since starting the music purses and gig bags company, I am in search of places to sell gifts for music lovers whenever I travel - whether it is a Violin Purse or a Guitar Purse vendor. So this is basically a vacation report - as I have been out of town (Knoxville, TN), and not keeping up with my regular blog posts. It can't be overlooked however, that just before leaving town, I got an email to pick up 2 complimentary pit tickets to the Mark O'Connor Appalachian Christmas show at the Clayton Arts Center. Talk about Music Gifts...! Though my brother, Paul Brody, is a creative force and Klezmer-Jazz Composer/Musician/Writer residing in Berlin, Germany, I have never had the excitement of being in the pit of such an astounding show. As my husband has been working long hours, and it was the night before leaving town for our Xmas vacation to Grandma's, I brought a friend. Dawn Huff, a very popular person about town (and pediatrician), and I saw many people we knew there. People were surprised that I knew her (as they didn't know we were there together), but she quickly corrected them that she knows me as opposed to I know her. That was a statement about how delightful it was to have these front seats. And this is how I got this photograph from Dawn's cell phone.
We flew to San Francisco, and met up with my daughter, currently living in Pasadena. Since our son was still taking college finals, and Jenna is finally over 21, we spent 2 whole days touring wineries in Napa and Sonoma Counties. In search of the California Music Festivals, we ended up at B. R. Cohn Winery, owned by a Doobie Brothers' Band Manager, Bruce Cohn. They looked at guitar purse and agreed that they may indeed be a great gifts for music lovers to sell during their music festival season.
After picking up Dalton at the Oakland airport, we had our annual Dim Sum meal in San Leandro with my brother Tom and his family at the Oriental Tea House Restaurant. After we finished our Dim Sum, we braved Tahoe Ski conditions. The cheapest hotel in the area we wanted to be in (without staying in "Motel 8" type places on our family vacation) was Cedar House Sport Hotel in Truckee. This was an interesting place that happened to be new and featured in the January Sunset Magazine, likely for its modern cabin appearance and environmentally conscience construction. Overall an awesome place with wonderful food too, but still has some problems to "iron out".
We had 2 not so crowded sunny days with just barely enough snow at Squaw Valley and Sugar Bowl. Next we headed to Grandma Chaffee's house, where Duane's sister and her children and grandchildren reside. So it is an all in one visit, including the newest baby, Jaren. We had a wonderful Xmas visit with Val's great Xmas dinner with all the family, our annual crab feed and movie outing (Xmas golf outing for Duane and Dalton). In all the years we have been visiting, this was the first time to visit the zoo in Eureka, which was small but quite nice. For Xmas, I gave each of my children 2 homemade gifts. I sewed Jenna an amazing skirt, which is too small, so I will give away to a cousin and remake. I sewed Dalton Purdue Pants for PJ's or whatever. Then I really surprised them: for Jenna, I painted a picture of her cat beside a pile of books from a photo she took just before she moved. This is the first painting I have ever given as a gift, as I am just taking lessons at the O'Connor Center in Knoxville, where I bring my Mother for "Old Folks' " activities. Jenna just couldn't stop laughing at the surprise. And Dalton wasn't surprised at all about his 2nd homemade gift, as someone had alerted him. I was a little nervous that he would be offended instead of liking it. But to my surprise, he liked it so much that he sung the song by memory along with the You Tube I created in his honor.
This blog has gotten way too long. I will continue next time with our drive to Pasadena, and time in southern California. But first----In case you don't know about the Violettes 2nd Annual Youth Composition and Songwriting Competition (Registration due by Feb. 1, 2015 and submission due by Feb. 14, 2015). Any questions, don't hesitate to Contact us . Here is the song I wrote myself for my son (One of my Music gifts to my own kids), but enlisted my brother to put to music, as you are allowed to work with a partner for your competition entry.
Signing Off for now - California Music Festivals Find Guitar Purses HERE ####################################################################################################