Victoria Theodore October Performances

"Listen! the wind is rising,
and the air is wild with leaves,
We have had our summer evenings,
now for October eves!"
– Humbert Wolfe

Hello Friends,

My favorite month has come and gone, along with my birthday (though the celebration continues!). October brings a few more performances with Stevie Wonder, a few local performances of my own and with my very talented friends. I'll be back at E-22 Café in Emeryville this Friday, and at Marcello's in Danville on Saturday.

Here are a few upcoming shows, but check my website for the latest information:

OCTOBER
Fri, Oct 2
6:30pm - 8:30pm
E-22 Café
Open mic! Come sing! Bring your instrument! Play a song or two with me!
1366 Powell Street Emeryville, CA 94608-2506 | 510.428.9334 | map

Sat, Oct 3
8:30pm - 11:30pm
Marcello's Restaurant & Piano Bar
Open mic! Come sing! Bring your instrument! Play a song or two with me!
515 San Ramon Valley Boulevard Danville, CA 94526 | 925.838.8144 | map

Sat, Oct 10
2pm - 5pm
Pappa Gianni and the North Beach Band at Caffe Trieste Piedmont
Open mic! Come sing! Bring your instrument! Play a song or two with me!
4045 Piedmont Avenue | Oakland, CA 94611 | 510.658.2744

Sat, Oct 10
9pm-12:30
Kymberly Jackson
Jazz / R&B
Oyster Reef Seafood Restaurant
1000 Embarcadero Oakland, CA 94606 | 510.836.2519

Fri, Oct 16
8pm
Music, She Wrote: music by women composers
Including performances and works by Victoria Theodore, Angela Wellman, India Cooke, Sandy Poindexter, Yehudit, Karen Horner and Branice McKenzie
The Jazz School
2087 Addison Street Berkeley, CA 94704 | 510.845.5373 | map

Sat, Oct 17
8:30pm - 11:30pm
Marcello's Restaurant & Piano Bar
Open mic! Come sing! Bring your instrument! Play a song or two with me!
515 San Ramon Valley Boulevard Danville, CA 94526 | 925.838.8144 | map

Thu, Oct 22
8pm
Stevie Wonder
A Wonder Autumn Night
MGM Grand Theater at Foxwoods Resort Casino
350 Trolley Line Boulevard Mashantucket, CT 06338-3777 | 1.800.FOXWOODS | map

Sat, Oct 23
8pm
Stevie Wonder
A Wonder Autumn Night
Turning Stone Event Center
5218 Patrick Road Verona, NY 13478 | 800.771.7711 | map

Mon, Oct 25
7:30pm
Stevie Wonder
A Wonder Autumn Night
Ted Constant Convocation Center (Hampton Roads)
4320 Hampton Blvd Norfolk, VA 23529 | 757.683.4444 | map

Fri, Oct 30
8pm
Stevie Wonder
A Wonder Autumn Night
Borgata Event Center
One Borgata Way Atlantic City, NJ 08401 | 609.317.1000 | map

Sat, Oct 31
8pm
Stevie Wonder
A Wonder Autumn Night
Borgata Event Center
One Borgata Way Atlantic City, NJ 08401 | 609.317.1000 | map

Happy birthday to me!

Another beautiful birthday has come and gone. I am so grateful for all of the love, kindness and blessings that my amazing family and friends sent my way. I am left with the fully ineffective, yet fitting word: WOW! I had the chance to celebrate my birthday (9/24), my mom’s birthday (9/27), and my nephew’s birthday (9/30) over the weekend. We all went to dinner with family members, watched Stevie Wonder’s DVD "Live at Last"(which I happen to be a part of), and had a great time enjoying each other’s company.

I’ve enjoyed a few excellent dinners, including dinner at Pican Restaurant and Burma Superstar. Both were excellent and I look forward to revisiting each! As usual, my birthday was on a warm, sunny day (thanks to Indian Summer!), and I actually took the day off! I went to see the movie “Julie and Julia”, which was the perfect set up for dinner at Chez Panisse. The food was superlative! I had Salmon Carpaccio with mustard and capers, Pasta e fagioli and a main course of Grilled duck breast with huckleberries and fried polenta. I don’t even like duck, but this was so well prepared that I ate every morsel. Desert was a cardamom pavlova with raspberry ice cream. Yummy! I so adore great food. I think I should get out and enjoy a fabulous meal at least every other week. Yes! As soon as I stop being a ridiculous workaholic and allow myself more free time. That’s coming soon, people! Just you watch! : >

Thank you for the birthday wishes, gifts and love! If you don’t already know, I love you all!!!

Gigs and friends

What a fun week of music! On Thursday and Friday nights, I performed with Kymberly Jackson, and her band, Urban Legends (Mark Daniels, guitar, Charleston Quinn, bass, Brian Braziel, drums). I had a great time playing with them! Kymberly chooses an energetic mix of jazz and R&B that keeps the crowd moving. On Saturday night, I performed my regular piano/singing gig at Marcello’s and tried out a couple of new songs that went over well with the patrons.

Today, I performed with Papa Gianni in Berkeley. Papa Gianni is a near nonagenarian who still sings and puts on a show! I get the chance to play everything from popular Italian love songs to classical arias to polkas to jazz standards. It’s definitely a fun gig, but not for the faint of heart: good luck with anyone providing a score or chord chart, and even if they do, it’s rarely in the right key! But, of course, I’m never one for backing down from a challenge.

After my gig, I went to a house music party thrown by Napata. She had apparently performed earlier, but missed her. The theme of her event was “Cadillac Records”. I caught the performances of Darlene Coleman and Alvon Johnson, in the roles of Etta James and Muddy Waters. Both were amazing! And I got to see my friends Jimmy McKinney, keys, Eddie, drums, and Rusty Allen, bass, backing everyone up.

Next, I went to Yoshi’s San Francisco (They’ve been seeing a lot of me this week!) to see Tony Lindsay perform with Myron Dove, John Burr, Darian Gray and Ken Harrill. They were great! Guitarist Chris Cain made a cameo appearance and playing a WICKED guitar solo on Tony’s song “Shoulda been there” from his self-titled CD “Tony Lindsay”. After the concert, I saw how many of my friends were in attendance. It’s always beautiful to see my super talented friends, especially since, as a performer, I so rarely get to attend concerts.


Photos of me with Janice Maxie-Reid, Myron Dove and Lisa Bautista.



Thanks to all of my friends for coming to my shows this week: Amy, Ken, Bruce, Rodney, Caroline, Lynette, Robert, Jeff and Sophie. I appreciate you all!

Yoshi's & Yoshi's

It’s a music week! Tuesday night I performed with Bay Area based artist, Hyim, and his Fat Foakland Band at Yoshi’s in San Francisco. It was Hyim’s CD release concert, and the house was packed! Hyim performed alone for the first half of the first set, and ended the set with his trio, Josh Lippi and Derek Taylor, and a bassoon cameo by Ajayi Jacksonon Hyim’s beautiful tune “You Are Forgiven”. After a short break, Hyim returned to the stage, and one by one, the rest of the extended band, Pablo Soto Campoamor, Nate Mercereau and I, walked to our respective instruments during the song “Interpretation of Kind”. Hyim is a pianist, so learning the piano parts involved a higher attention to detail than is the norm for popular music (where the keyboardist can take more liberties and play freely within the genre). For example, on “Interpretation of Kind”, the piano part is a repeating ostinato arpeggiating 4 chords in 1/16th notes. It doesn’t stop. Ever. (For those of you who are not trained musicians, it’s a song that I jokingly referred to as the “carpal tunnel song”, because by the end, without proper technique, you’d strain a muscle!) To make it through the song, I just had to breathe deeply and stay relaxed. Phew!

We played a series of songs from Hyim’s new CD, “Sex In The Morning”, including his first single “Elation”. We didn’t play “Sunny Day”, which is one of my favorite songs (of course, given my happy personality!). We did perform my favorite of his songs “Let Out A Little Peace”, and the crowd joined us in the refrain. It was a good show, and I had a great time!

Wednesday night, for my upcoming birthday, I was treated to dinner and a concert featuring Chick Corea, Stanley Clarkeand Lenny White. I’d seen Chick perform many years ago, when my dad took me to the old Yoshi’s on Claremont in Oakland, but hadn’t seen him since. So, I was excited. Chick is one of my piano heroes. I am utterly enamored of his exquisite technique, lush musicality and precise rhythmic sensibilities. He didn’t disappoint last night. Throughout the performance, I just sat shaking my head in awe. All of the musicians were stunning, and seemed to being having so much fun! At one point, Chick referred to Lenny as “our ebullient percussionist”. Actually, they were all ebullient, and generous in their musical feast. I, for one, was filled with the spirit!

Me & Chick Corea!



Me & Stanley Clarke!

The next few days involve more performances of my own. Please check my calendar for details and come to the show! : >

E-22 Café

I performed at E-22 Café again last night, and packed the house! I was so thrilled to see the faces of so many family members (Mom, Nina, Jeremiah, Naomi, Debra, Torri, Dwayne & Yvonne), friends (Raz, Brad, Linda, Kevin, Evan, Bill, Ai, Victoria and Kelvin, Ronald & wife) and super talented musicians (Bruce, Fuzzy, Amy, Jonathan and Sundra)! I performed for just over 2 hours, interspersed with performances from my cousin Torri (who I’ve been encouraging to sing in public for years! She’s got a great voice, but doesn’t do anything with it…), Bruce Dorsey, Fuzzy, Amy Levine & Jonathan Smothers (who’ll be performing at E-22 Café next Friday, September 18) and Sundra Manning. They’re all amazingly talented and inspire me to push to higher levels of musicality. I tried a couple of new songs last night, including one that I dedicated in remembrance of 9/11, entitled “Gratitude” by Nichole Nordeman. Thanks to Eric & Staff for their wonderful hospitality and GREAT food!

After my gig, a group of us headed over to Jack London Square to watch Sara and Lynette Williams at their gig. Sara was the lead singer, with Lynette on keys and background vocals, Mike Blankenship on keys, Donte McClinton on drums and Marcus Phillips on bass. WOOOOOH!!!! They were awesome! I’d never heard Lynette sing before, but something told me that she’d be good…and she is! I figure that if you have a sister who sings as well as Sara does, some of that must have rubbed off on Lynette. I loved their arrangements of contemporary Neo-Soul songs, and enjoyed a cameo performance by Michala Cheadle. I ended up going to bed FAR too late, but it was a good night!


Amy & Jonathan






Sundra & Bruce






Me & Bruce









Me & Fuzzy

9/11

I will never forget being awakened by a phone call from my sister 8 years ago. "Turn on the television", she said. It was just after 6am, and I couldn't imagine what had taken place to compel her to call so early. What appeared before my eyes was incomprehensible. I saw a replay of the collapse of the first World Trade Tower building and, not realizing that the collapse didn't happen immediately, my heart dropped and I doubled over in shock. Having lived in Manhattan for nearly 8 years, working as a computer consultant, I'd been to the World Trade Towers on many occasions, and was fully aware of the number of people housed therein. 30,000? 50,000 people? Gone? Is that possible? As I continued to watch, spellbound by the horror, I learned that I was watching a replay of the events, and that many of the people in the buildings were able (miraculously) to escape. But for those 3,000+ people who lost their lives, I say a prayer of remembrance. For those around the world, casualties of war, avarice, misunderstanding, hatred, I say a prayer of remembrance. For those who this very day suffer discrimination, captivity, poverty, lack of opportunity, I say a prayer of hope and love. On this day, September 11, 2009, in memory of and on behalf of those less fortunate, let us all choose love.

"Don't delay...send yours in right away" – Stevie Wonder.

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." -Anne Frank

Piano and Apples

It's been a few days since I've updated my blog. Last Saturday, I was able to attend my nephew's football game. Jeremiah is a Nose Tackle and looks so much bigger than the other kids on the team, it's almost unfair.


He's turning 9 at the end of this month, but he's weighed more than I do for nearly 2 years. His arms are already bigger than mine! Now, at my size, that doesn't mean much (lol), but he's my "baby"!! It's continually amazing to me how fast he's growing up.



On Sunday, we had a more subdued piano party. There were only 4 of us present, but it was fun to at long last gather with the intention of musical feasting. Amy hosted again, and Maya, Ruslan and I showed up, played but mostly talked. I love piano parties (summits, when they’re more intense), sharing ideas with people as passionate (or moreso) as myself about the art, gaining insight from their experiences and discoveries. Hopefully, we can get them going on a more regular basis.

After the piano party, a few of us went to hear Ruslan play with Eric Benet. What a great show! I’d never seen Eric sing live, and was completely blown away by his voice, energy, rapport and charm with the audience (and…er…he ain’t hard to look at!). He and the band sounded incredible. Unfortunately, the sound engineer had Ruslan’s keys far too low, and the track (background vocals, sound effects, etc) far too loud, but what little we could hear of Ruslan was hot!







On Monday, my Mother showed her country-girl side! My apple tree has been bearing delicious fruit, but I failed to trim it last season, so the apples had been appearing far up in the tree, inaccessible by bare hand even with a step-stool. Mom devised a bucket on a stick contraption, and started climbing and grabbing fruit! She retrieved about 20 good, and 10 passable apples from the upper regions of the tree. She was born and raised in rural Mississippi, and despite having lived in California since she was 16 years old, I suppose the country never leaves! Mom was also kind enough to turn the passable fruit into a yummy (meaning not too sweet) apple pie for me! She’s just the best : >

Last night my cousins Tony and Dawn invited me at the last minute to go see Patrice Rushen playing with Brian Bromberg at Yoshi's. Patrice is so awesome. She has such a wonderful sense of groove and bridges the gap between funk, R&B and jazz perfectly! Dawn and Tony were both thrilled to meet her.

Performing at Marcello's

What a great night at Marcello’s! I had friends and family attend my gig tonight! My mom, aunt Debra and “aunt” Pam (she’s known me my whole life, so she’s earned the title!), my friend Nancy (we studied with the same piano and voice teacher, Mrs. Scott – God bless her!, and now her daughter studies with me) and her friends, my student Michelle and Jeff, my friend Amy (who sat in on piano and sang), Jonathan (who sang with both me and Amy), Elizabeth and George and their friends, Michael and Evie, were all present for nearly the entire night! I was in good voice, and had a great time playing and singing a variety of songs. I surprised Michael and Evie with a rendition of “Ribbon in the sky” in honor of their 30th wedding anniversary, and “Isn’t she lovely” to my mom (and aunt). They both looked as though they were holding back tears while I sang. I actually felt myself getting a little choked up, thinking about how grateful I am for their love, and the love I’m consistently given from family, friends and strangers. It’s awe inspiring and breathtaking. Wow… Thanks for coming to the show everyone!!! xoxo

Victoria Theodore September Performances

"Ba dee yow, say do you remember,
Ba dee yow, dancing in September,
Ba dee yow, never was a cloudy day..."
– White, McKay & Willis

Hello Friends,

It's my favorite month, and my birthday is only weeks away! ; > We have only another month and a half of summer (at least in the Bay Area where we enjoy "Indian Summer"), and I've been enjoying myself, despite working nearly non-stop. I've received some amazing opportunities as a composer recently, and am focusing on how to reshape my schedule so that I have time to devote to being creative. And after months of working to rebuild my teaching business (thanks to the slow economy), I've reached capacity! I guess my promotion worked : >

I'm performing in a new venue in the East Bay, E-22 Café, and with Bay Area artist Hyim at Yoshi's SF this month. E-22 Café is a lovely spot in Emeryville, and easily accessible for all of you Oakland/Berkeley people! Hyim is an incredible artist who's been compared to Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon and Sting, is a California Music Award Nominee, multi-instrumentalist, singer and fantastic songwriter. His musical style combines a strong popular ethos, with latin beats and a jazz vibe. Don't miss this one!

And of course, I'll be performing at Marcello's in Danville, and The Broadway Grill in Burlingame, and with the always entertaining and talented Kymberly Jackson in Oakland (Q's Lounge and Oyster Reef).

Here are a few upcoming shows, but check my website for the latest information:

SEPTEMBER 2009
Fri, Sep 4
10:30am (PST)
Re-broadcast of my Radio Interview: Women (and Legends) Who Really Rock! with Carmen Milagro
"Women (and Legends) Who Really Rock! with Carmen Milagro" is a one-hour weekly LIVE Internet radio show, hosted by Carmen Milagro


Sat, Sep 5
8:30pm - 11:30pm
Marcello's Restaurant & Piano Bar
Open mic! Come sing! Bring your instrument! Play a song or two with me!
515 San Ramon Valley Boulevard Danville, CA 94526 | 925.838.8144 | map

Fri, Sep 11
6:30pm - 8:30pm
E-22 Café
Open mic! Come sing! Bring your instrument! Play a song or two with me!
1366 Powell Street Emeryville, CA 94608-2506 | 510.428.9334 | map

Sat, Sep 12
4:30pm - 7:30pm
The Broadway Grill
1400 Broadway Burlingame, CA 94010 | 650.343.9333 | map

Tue, Sep 15
8pm
Hyim at Yoshi’s San Francisco

music fusionisto
1330 Fillmore Street San Francisco, CA 94115 | 415.655.5600 | map
$11 advance (with CD) / $15 at the door

Thu, Sep 17
9pm-12:30
Kymberly Jackson
Jazz / R&B
Oyster Reef Seafood Restaurant
1000 Embarcadero Oakland, CA 94606 | 510.836.2519

Fri, Sep 18
8-11:30pm
Kymberly Jackson
Q's Lounge
Jazz / R&B
Everett & Jones Barbeque • 126 Broadway Oakland, CA 94607 | 510.663.2350

Sat, Sep 19
8:30pm - 11:30pm
Marcello's Restaurant & Piano Bar
Open mic! Come sing! Bring your instrument! Play a song or two with me!
515 San Ramon Valley Boulevard Danville, CA 94526 | 925.838.8144 | map

Sun, Sep 20
2pm - 5pm
Pappa Gianni and the North Beach Band at Caffe Trieste
Open mic! Come sing! Bring your instrument! Play a song or two with me!
2500 San Pablo Avenue Berkeley , CA 94702 | 510.548.5198 | map