Songwriter View: December Departure
By Patty Castillo Davis
It is a highly exciting period of anticipation for the warmth of the holiday season and it is also the hour of reflection. The Modesto Music Scene has had a triumphant year full of new ventures and profound loss. Venues came and went, we saw the emergence of women artists as national show openers and we said farewell to a gentleman singer songwriter who will forever change the way we feel when we see a railroad crossing.
December 3 will usher in the season with the Celebration of Lights Parade and tree lighting followed by live music in the plaza with the same favorite artists from years past to continue throughout the month. Sunday, December 4 will be a special Breakfast at DEVA music event as Tim Allen and I play holiday music and pay homage to several of the artists in music lost this past year, bring the family for delicious food and drop off a new or gently used coat for the DEVA/Inter Faith Ministries Coat Drive.
Make the trip 45 minutes north and catch MAMA Best Singer Songwriter Winner Mondo Mariscal at Christmas Center in Manteca on December 1 and visit mondolivemusic.com for more info and music.
December is a time for shedding in preparation for dormancy and 2016 has been an almost expiatory year for the Music Industry. As if we had reveled in such gluttonous consumption of the best songs that life had to offer and now we have to pay in some way. Music transcends emotion and becomes a coping mechanism in troubled times, so how do we manage our feelings when our beloved artists die? Too many tributes were paid this year to more Icons of popular music than we ever should have had to visit. Load up your devices and have several thousand moments of no silence ‘cause we’re alone now and I’m singing this song- to The Hag, a brief, but Purple Reign and The Thin White Duke, sing Hallelujah and know that “You’re a shining star, no matter who you are.”
