This has been an extremely busy year, full of gigs and teaching. I spend a lot of time on the road, but am doing so closer to home (played as far east as St. Louis, but didn't get back to France this year) in the Bay Area. When one's life is filled with so much music and such amazing people, from the youngest to the oldest, it keeps one's heart so warm and a smile glowing. I feel extremely fortunate to be able to do what I do for a living and to be able to work with such wonderful musicians, educators, audiences, and students.
Happy, safe, and heartwarming holidays to all.
Jerry and I just finished a fun photo shoot, the results of which are on my photo page,
http://betsystern.com/photos.html. We're just about to start recording again and I will post our music as soon as possible.
Kitsch 'N Sync plays music for all generations and we have particular appeal to baby boomers celebrating all sorts of events. We play a lot of private events for birthdays and other celebrations, bringing back lots of good memories for people and getting them up and dancing. From Johnny Cash to Jim Croce to Bread to the Beatles to Tennessee Ernie Ford to all sorts of other gems, we have a great time playing this music and people always sing along.
Jerry is an absolutely killer harmonica player -- and he's so humble! He grew up playing with Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee and has played with other musicians of that stature throughout his career. Last night he told about a gig he did where Nina Simone walked into the club, right up on stage, took the mic, and started [...]
I've just updated my calendar here, which is quickly filling up with more private and public events, including more programs at public libraries. I just played one at my home library in Berkeley, which was a lot of fun. They are closing two branches for renovation, and what a closing celebration it was!
When my kids were little the libraries sponsored a Summer Reading Program, which continues to this day and for which I will be giving special programs locally and in St. Louis to match this year's theme of world culture.
In addition to the gigs I list on my calendar here, I teach 21 classes a week to very young kids (from age 3 months to 5 years) in five international preschools to introduce the kids to world culture and literacy through music. We have so much fun and I see some absolutely amazing musicianship in tiny, tiny kids. It's very exciting to see this generation starting to play all sorts of music from such a young age.
I also work with Alzheimer's patients, [...]
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We're into our rainy season here now (which, in this part of California, isn't bad...so I'm not complaining), a good time to be in the studio when I'm not gigging. I'm recording my second kids' CD and having a lot of fun with it, gigging with Jerry in Kitsch 'N Sync, with Kevin in the Smith/Stern Duo, planning a CD with Pierre for Betsy & the Frenchman, and doing between 40 and 50 live events a month. I have come to believe in naps whenever possible! Most of all, I'm having so much fun sharing all this with such wonderful people, musicians and audiences alike.