San Francisco Fusion Exchange 2012

Biggest and best year yet! I'm on such a high from the adrenaline of being at a 400+ people event! It was so great to see so many friends, to have amazing dancing, to hear great music all weekend, and to be in San Francisco once again. I love that city.
With a well-organized team of people running this event, it seems they had everything covered from a professional sound-guy all weekend to a pre-event city-wide scavenger hunt for those who came early.  This event just keeps getting better every year.
There were almost always 3 rooms of dancing in the evening, and a DJ during the lunch hour during the day for those who attended workshops. In short, there was always music playing to dance to, and always someone to dance with. The many who I've talked to returned home sore, exhilarated, and satisfied.
This year, I stayed on staff as the main music coordinator. It was a lot of work, but it was so much fun! I got to meet and work with a lot of DJs, I learned how to push passed my own level of comfort and become more professional, and I got to watch the magic unfold as the DJs and bands we chose filled each room with their fantastic music. Way to go music team for making this event so amazing!

And now I will lists my sets for you -
Friday main room 10-11pm band break blues set
Ray Charles - It Makes No Different Now
Moreland and Arbuckle - Variations on Juke
Watermelon Slim & The Workers- Hard Times
Otis Spann - One More Mile to Go
Tuba Skinny - Frosty Morning
Janiva Magness - That's What Love Will Make You Do
Muddy Waters - I Love the Life I Live
Ernestine Anderson - Please send me Someone to Love
Blue Harlem - Drown in My Own Tears
Charles Brown - I Lost Everything
James Cotton Blues Band - Soul Survivor
Susan Tedeschi - It Hurt So Bad
Luther Allison - Little Red Rooster
Bettye Lavette - Joy
Mikel Lander & Meridith Moore - Heaven
Taj Mahal - Cakewalk

Sunday room 3 10-11 Jazz-blues set
The Solomon Douglas Swingtet - The Mooche
Diana Krall - Stop This World
Joe Liggins and his Honeydrippers - Pink Champagne
Count Basie and Joe Willians - Hallelujah I Love Her So
Sidney Bechet - Blues In The Air
Tuba Skinny - Nobody's Blues But Mine
Gene Harris - Down Home Blues
Gordon Webster - Gee Baby Ain't I Good to You
Dream a Little Dream of Me - Bar Scott
My Blue Heaven - Norah Jones
Mikel Lnder & Merideith Moore - Ramblin' Man
Jimmy Forrest - Flight 3-D
Maria Muldaur - Empty Bed Blues
Nina Simone - Since I Fell For You
GRP All-Star Big Band - Stormy Monday Blues

My 3rd set during Saturday late night was shared with A'lan. It was a great set, but it was only an hour long and was spit between the 2 of us. I only ended up play 6 songs, which I am not posting unless someone absolutely requests that I do.

It truly was a great event. I learned a lot helping organize it, I learned a lot during it, and I am continuing to learn as we prepare for what lies ahead next year!


For those interested in how we took care of the kiddos. This trip was particularly challenging, with a newborn and a 2-yr-old. We decided to leave Evelyn home with some friends, but needed to take Kaylee since she is still nursing. Having Kaylee at the event was really fun, but it hindered actually being able to dance a lot. Someone always needed to be holding her since she's bit colic-y and hates the car seat. We were fortunately able to solicit a little help during the weekend (thanks, Carly and Carrie :), but it wasn't he easiest task keeping her happy all the time. She's used to her swing, and her bumbo chair for comfortable sitting, both of which were left at home. We had arranged housing with a close friend, so we were at least taken care of on that front. And we had a rental car for safe and warm transportation. There was no way I was going to add trying to take the BART everywhere to my complications, especially since the neighborhood was rumored to be unsafe.
This is the first trip that we did almost have to call it quits early for our kids though. We got a 4am call after Friday's dance from the people taking care of Evelyn. Her minor stuffy nose had turned to a sever cough overnight. She was coughing so hard she couldn't breath and our friends were afraid for her life. They decided they were no longer comfortable caring for her in the condition she was in and they asked us to catch the next flight home. In a panic, Michael and I pulled all resources, including our pediatric 24-hr nurse, Michael's cousin who is a nurse at Children's, and friends who might be up for caring for a sick 2-yr-old. Fortunately, Anna, our housemate, was on her way home from her Alaska trip and was happy to bring Evelyn home and take care of her. Having Evelyn sleeping in her own bed with some instructions on ways to treat her cold and help her be comfortable, in addition to having family on call, saved our weekend for us. Thank you SO much Anna, Alan, and Dave, for coming in last minute and caring for her when we could not. Coming home early would have been difficult, expensive, and would have turned months of planning into a complete failure of a trip. Of course, if she really would have been in distress enough to need emergency care, we would have been there. We had the travel agent on the phone and all we had to do was say yes and we would have been on the Saturday morning flight home. We were happy it was simply a cold. A BAD cold, but a cold non-the-less.The lesson we learned from this seems so obvious now that I can't believe we didn't think of it before hand. Always leave the pediatrician's information with care givers, and a signed note that gives them permission to take her in for care.

Where have I been?!

The last 2 events I attended very sadly did not get blogs written on them. I will now do a quick summary followed my excuses for missing it:

PBEx - coolest event ever! What an experience! This event was seriously unlike any blues event I've been to. Live blues all day and into the evening, a cruise ship experience with live and DJ'd music, and late night dances to follow it all up. I wish I would have been less pregnant so I could have enjoyed it a bit more. I can't wait for next year's!

ECBF 2011, the last one! It was a great event, but it seemed to me that this event hit it's prime a few years back. The best part about this event, for me, was the Friday night trapeze venue. What a place! And of course, I always love Brother Yusef :) I didn't get to experience a lot of the event myself because I had a brand new baby, and the recovery from the delivery took its sweet time.
This year, I did the housing for the event and actually really enjoyed it!

So, if you didn't get this news earlier, I had a baby on September 24th, so I've been unavailable for dancing and events since about mid-July, when my body stopped allowing it. With my first pregnancy, I continued to get out at night a lot. That's because I could sleep during the day. With this last pregnancy, I had a toddler to care for during the day and thus, needed to take things a little more easy.
The good news is, I have 2 beautiful girls, and I won't be getting pregnant again any time soon. Even better news, my babies love to dance! HOORAY!