Friends! Please check out this intensely worthwhile project, co-founded by Rancher Ray — we’re hoping to organize a house show/benefit concert somewhere in CA to help them reach their goal — and we have to act fast, because their campaign concludes in less than 48 hours.
Any ideas? Bring ’em on — and thanks in advance.
We were *hoping* that the taller Rancher’s laryngitis was on the mend — but, it has persisted beyond all reason and we were forced to postpone the March shows in Sacramento and Los Osos. The good news is, while the old man’s voice is still sounding a little scuffed up, the shows *are* being rescheduled for May — details soon to follow. Thanks for your good wishes, your patience, and your recipes for weird things to gargle with for medicinal purposes. We will be back in touch SOON with info about how to catch up with us in SLO County — and Sacramento, CA. ¡Gracias!
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Yeah — we’re re-grouping after the taller Rancher’s extended bout with laryngitis; heading north this week for a:
HOUSE SHOW IN SACRAMENTO, this THURS., Feb. 19, 7:00 PM (contact us for details) (See “UPDATE 4/19” above)
And then, returning to our LIVE RECORDING project, we’re going to be
— FRI., MARCH 6, 8:00 PM, PAINTED SKY STUDIOS (See “UPDATE 4/19” above)
2177 Old Creamery Road, Harmony CA. info: 805-927-8330; or: http://www.paintedskystudios.com/
— SUN., MARCH 29, 3:00 PM, ST. BENEDICT’S CHURCH (benefit for “OUTSIDE NOW”) (See “UPDATE 4/19” above)
2220 Snowy Egret Lane, Los Osos. $15 suggested donation. Tickets/Reservations: http://www.outsidenow.org/events.html
For now, here’s a reminder of what we’re about when we do manage to make it to the show:
Friends, it’s been a while since we’ve posted. Life, as you know, is that which happens while you’re making other plans.
Meanwhile: the big World keeps on turning, Music continues to call to us, and we’ve decided to try to build a bridge between those two Large Realities — by making a live record.
Yup: we plan to document our stage show, hi-fi style, and create a lasting record (in the original meaning of the word) of What We Do. After three and a half years and more than a hundred performances, we figured it was time.
Session Number One is THIS WEEK: Sunday, Dec. 7, 7:00 PM, at our very own Red Shack in Cambria CA. Seating will be *very* limited (it’s a tiny place) — please email for directions and to confirm your seat (click on “Contact R4P”). There will be a hat, and you’ll be free to put money in it if you want ($15 suggested donation), but our main purpose here is to rope in a small but mighty audience for the righteous mojo needed to propel the kind of performance we want to capture. Come on out and help us on our way — here at our first show for R4P LIVE — 2015!
Next date: Friday, Jan. 9, 2015, 8:00 PM — Painted Sky Studio, Harmony CA.
Further details on that show — as well as Show #3 (tba) — coming soon after the Holidays. ¡Gracias! — hope to see you on the Ranch…
We’re back in San Luis Obispo –*tonight* — to benefit Transitions Mental Health Association; & joining local singer-songwriter Jody Belsher in support of her new Documentary Film “The Other Side of Cannabis” raising awareness of the troubling aspects of the national trend towards legal/social acceptance of marijuana usage.
Show starts, 7:00 PM. $10 in advance, $15 at the door.
Ladies and gentlemen: we’re playing next week in SLO for the last time until next Fall. We have a new song to share, “That Bloody Sun,” about the plight of undocumented trans-border migrants in the American southwest — and we’re sharing the bill with Colorado singer/songwriter Gabrielle Louise: http://www.gabriellelouise.com/
As somebody once said, “A splendid time is guaranteed for all.”
$15 suggested donation. Reservations: 805 547-0278
The Steynberg Gallery, 1531 Monterey St., San Luis Obispo CA.
Live at Kulak’s Woodshed, Oct. 4 last year: something to hum under your breath while observing flags flying at half-mast on every UC campus this week:
“Can we lay down our pride and look at what we have done
to turn a child of light into a son of a gun?”
Hey Friends —
You might notice that we’re sort of cleaning out the space here at the online annex of the metaphorical Ranch. The music is still available, here:
http://ranchersforpeace.bandcamp.com/
And if you’re trying to find out or can’t remember what we look like, the videos are here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ArvinBarstow
What we’re doing is, we’re pulling in our horns and taking time out to think.
It’s been two full years and more since we first went public with this version of Ranchers for Peace. Rancher Ray was just 15; Charles was younger too, but it was harder to tell. Since then we’ve played over a hundred shows, released two EPs and a couple memorable one-offs (including “Walkin’ Around Black,” which got national attention via Sing Out! magazine), and met more wonderful people than we have space to mention. It’s been a blast, an education, and a humbling, gratifying experience. Our sincerest thanks to all who’ve helped us on our way.
Our commitment to this music has never been stronger, nor has our conviction that there’s a place for this kind of thing in the continuing conversation we *have* to be having — all of us — about our collective responsibilities for the creation of a future we might actually not mind inhabiting. Meanwhile, the rich are getting unbelievably richer, the fracking of North America is only picking up speed, and it’s been formally established by several courts that Corporations are people, and that people in this country have a right to shoot anybody that scares them — as long as the person doing the shooting is white.
So, it’s not like we’re running out of things to sing about.
What we are running out of is ideas for how to extend our reach — widen our circle, amplify our voices. We love being “locals” here on the Central Coast of California — what we need to figure out is how to be local in about 37 more places, from sea to shining sea, and over the water to the UK, and beyond. A project like ours needs to grow or it will die. We don’t mind preaching to the choir — as long as it’s big enough.
We’re asking for your help with this: you Friends of the Ranch are a diverse and intelligent lot, with a wide range of skills and experience. We hope to tap into this Collective Mind to shake loose some new ideas and new connections. We wonder which of you has friends in this Time Zone (or any other) who might be interested in hosting us for a House Show — or connections at this or that radio station, online hoedown, March on Wall Street, etc. You get the idea: we want your ideas…
Let’s discuss: right here.
And thank you in advance for any and all energy you care to commit to this question: how shall the Ranch proceed? What’s to be the future of doing what we can to make giving a damn cool again? Comments, friends?
¡Gracias!
Ranchers for Peace 