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Most years my wife spends a good bit of the summer at a family cottage in Maine. I don’t usually go for as long, a choice that while right for me is never easy.
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Celebrate the Spring Equinox with songs reflecting on darkness and singing into the light brought to you by Havilah Rand, Mark Ippolito and myself. We’ll be playing in a songwriters in the round format in the intimate confines of the Couth Buzzard, 8310, Greenwood Ave. North in Seattle. 7-9pm
The Couth is an intimate listening space featuring great homemade food and a wide array of adult and other beverages. Come build community over hand-made music.
Here’s more about the players:
Havilah’s musical journey spans five full length albums and two decades weaving its way through the jazz halls of New York City, the alternative rock venues of post grunge Seattle and countless coffeeshops and theaters across the United States And Europe. Havilah’s style fuses jazz, blues and Americana to form a style that is pure emotion founded on groove-infused melodies. Lyrically poignant, Havilah’s songs cut to the heart while her lush vocal styling lingers in the ear long after the show has ended. Havilah is also the creator of Holistic ArtVentures and The LifeSong Program which use songwriting as a tool for bolstering empathy, creativity, collaboration and confidence. Havilah has written songs with hundreds of children and elders and has even been nominated for the Esme Barrera Music in Education and Activism Award. Visit www.havilahmusic.com to learn more about Havilah.
Mark writes about his latest project New Moon: “There’s a place deep inside each of us that eloquently reflects on our individual unique lived experience. The songs on “New Moon” try to give voice to those experiences in service to shining a light on the common bonds we share. These songs were given birth among the fellowship of a circle of songwriters who graciously accepted me as one of their own. As you listen to each song for the first time, I invite you to become an extension of our circle and listen for moments of truth and light. I hope you too find them as worthy.” Find out more at https://www.markippolito.com
Mike says: “Some of my most profound aural memories: The chugging rhythms and careening voices of Motown blasting from my father’s Dynakit stereo; singing along with Broadway’s whip-cracking wordplay; the morning sun shining like a red rubber ball through the three-inch speaker of my sister’s transistor radio; a box of rain and a cinnamon girl crackling from my first hi-fi. My songs don’t really sound like any of these, but the way I think about writing songs is certainly influenced by them. My tunes explore life’s many journeys: birth, death, aging, finding love in the depths of the sea and loosing it in life’s debris. I fingerpick and strum, sing, hum, grunt and occasionally howl like a dog. I hope my lyrics tickle your mind and your heart.” More at https://mikebuchmanmusic.com
Recorded live at C&P Coffee Company, Oct 27, 2024. (by John Prine)
More on these soon, but I’ve got a lineup of shows to tell you about for the fall of ’24!
Saturday Sept. 7, PorchFest Edmonds
My good buddy Charles Trafford and I will be holding down the fort at our friend Will’s house at 423 2nd Ave. N. Time TBD. Come enjoy music being played from dozens of houses and businesses in the lovely village of Edmonds. This was an idyllic afternoon last year and promises to be even better this year.

Saturday Oct. 23, C&P Coffee, West Seattle 7-9pm
Join me and the delightful singer-songwriter Lynette Hensley for an evening of original music, tasty covers, and, if I’m super lucky, some collaborative harmonies. Lynette usually plays with her uber-talented husband Larry Baumgartner and/or Hounds at Bay, so this will be a rare treat to hear her solo in the intimate confines of West Seattle’s premiere home for acoustic music. Oh yeah, I’ll be there playing as well!

Friday Nov 15, Couth Buzzard Books, Greenwood, 7-9pm
The Couth is back and better than ever. I am over the moon to share this bill with a long-time friend and the fellow who gave me my first guitar, Paul Haas. Paul is a singer-songwriter who tries to write with humor, anger, joy, and dread. Now and then he may succeed.

Dialed the lyrics to this one up sitting 800 feet above the valley floor in the Heart Lake region of the Adirondacks this spring. Hope you enjoy it!
Cooking at the Couth
I’m thrilled to be joining the lovely and talented Deb Seymour and Mark Ippolito for a songwriters in the round show in the lovely confines of the Couth Buzzard.
Saturday February 10, 7:30-9:30. The Couth is at 8310 Greenwood Ave. North, Seattle. Here’s the Facebook event.

Songs of Bill Davie celebrates one of
our region’s best songwriters and
supports people living with MS

One of my favorite area songwriters has lost the ability to perform his music due to MS. His music is too good to let it just slip away.
I met Bill Davie in 1988 or so as co-workers for a progressive political fundraising organization. While I’d known plenty of musicians at earlier times in my life, Bill was the first friend I had who wrote really good songs and performed them around town. It was decades before I picked up a guitar, but he’s been an inspiration all this time.
In recent years I’ve had the pleasure to play a few shows with Bill. Last summer when I asked him if he was interested in doing another, he told me he could no longer play his beloved guitar, but that “You should learn all my songs and play them.”
Talk about a lightbulb moment.
Of course, I’m no where near skilled or capable enough to learn all of Bill’s songs. He’s a facile picker with a distinct percussive style. His voice is sweet and sassy, and he scats like nobody’s business. But I do know a LOT of local performers who would be thrilled to learn one or two of his songs and carry the music forward. And I’m a pretty good organizer.
So, I approached Bill about producing a show of his friends and musical compatriots playing his songs. My mission was two-fold: 1) Raise some money for the MS Society in Bill’s honor, and 2) Keep this amazing body of music alive.
Bill approved the idea and helped me brainstorm a list of players and sort out some of the logistics. The result is this amazing collection of local and nationally-known performers who will be participating in Songs of Bill Davie:
All the info you need is in the image above, of you can go to https://tinyurl.com/BillDavie or follow this QR code to our event website. I hope to hell you’ll join us March 10. It’s going to be a song- and life-affirming show like you don’t see very often. Thanks.
