Review: Joe Craven

Subject: RE: Review: Joe Craven
From: open mike
Date: 06 Oct 12 - 05:58 PM

Joe is the M.C. of our annual Nut Festival near Chico, an event that celebrates food and music. He also performs at the festival and does a performance for kids at a local school each year.
http://joecraven.com/ http://joecraven.com/the-joe-craven-trio
He is also director of this music camp. http://rivertunes.net/

Subject: RE: Review: Joe Craven
From: Mark Ross
Date: 06 Oct 12 - 03:08 PM

It was, believe me.

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Review: Joe Craven
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 06 Oct 12 - 02:34 PM

(And, Mark, that must have been an *amazing* year at Kate Wolf!)

~ B in LB

Subject: RE: Review: Joe Craven
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 06 Oct 12 - 02:32 PM

We caught him at a Kate Wolf festival, too (not that same one, though). Wonderful fun.

We hope to get up to the Live Oak Festival (in Santa Barbara, closer to home) sometime, where he is usually in residence (as MC, if not in the lineup).

~ Becky in Long Beach

Subject: RE: Review: Joe Craven
From: Mark Ross
Date: 06 Oct 12 - 11:59 AM

I met Joe at the Kate Wolf Festival. He was digging in the garbage for #10 cans to make instruments. We got together to play some fiddle tunes, instead of listening to Emmy Lou Harris. He is an absolute treasure! During the Sunday dinner break we were playing in the dining area (more fiddle tunes, when all of a sudden there was a clarinet, and a trumpet, and a Sousaphone playing along, it was the guys from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band sitting in! I got up for a second to say hi to Richard Thompson, and when I sat back down they were playing in Bflat. Not my favorite key but I sat down and tried my best. Someone must have started filming, because it showed up on YouTube, and it looks like I actually know what I'm doing!

It seems to have disappeared now but it's a good representation of how Joe brings out the music in life.

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Review: Joe Craven
From: pdq
Date: 06 Oct 12 - 10:55 AM

Home town listed as Dixon, California. Just a bit west of Davis.

Probably born and raised in the southern US.

"...Joe began performing in rock bands on electric guitar and an amp the size of his mom's refrigerator during his high school years. At the University of South Carolina, Joe received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Museology and Aesthetics. Tired of playing America's most popular instrument (the guitar) Joe's mandolin was an impulse buy. Upon completing his degree in 1979, Joe moved West. He played mandolin in blues and rock bands, acoustic string bands, even casino lounge acts, while writing grants, mounting exhibits, teaching and cleaning toilets at The Nevada Museum of Art in Reno. He later managed an art gallery and, after that, as a visual artist, exhibited his own work from San Francisco to Santa Fe.

A few of his own paintings now adorn the walls of Joe's Northern California home, along with a riot of colorful Indonesian and Tibetan masks, kachinas, large-brimmed hats of all kinds, historical string and percussion instruments, bookcases filled with tomes on art, eclectic CDs, old cowboy boots, pictures of his family of six at various ages, and other family memorabilia. Joe's house is a virtual museum of personal, musical and multi-cultural artifacts and a visual testament to the diversity of his creative explorations.

As an educator, Joe's clinics, workshops and school presentations on music participation have captivated audiences around the country. He's worked with students from preschool to adult in a variety of settings. He completed his first artist in residency at California State University – Chico to rave reviews and has expanded his educational outreach to museums and music camps ranging from fiddle to percussion to song school. According to Joe, 'Music is imagination, expression, therapy and living in the creative spirit. It doesn't need labels as much as it needs opportunity. Through exploration, sincerity of application, AND practice you can make music on just about anything.' And he's proven his point by playing everything from dashboards to squeeze toys to his head. 'It's great to just pick up things like an empty water jug, garden tools or your pet and discover their inherant musical qualities, as well as your own," he says. 'It's not the thing, but the process of how you connect with it that makes great music.

Don't throw it away – redefine it as a musical tool – teach it to a child – leave it as a gift.'"

Subject: RE: Review: Joe Craven
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Oct 12 - 10:03 AM

I always thought Joe was a Sacramento boy, but I see no mention of Sacto on his Website. Do you know where he's from, Frank?

-Joe-

Subject: Review: Joe Craven
From: Stringsinger
Date: 06 Oct 12 - 08:52 AM

Joe Craven is an exceptional musical talent who plays many instruments well.
The Joe Craven Trio is highly musical and features the exceptional mandolin as well as fiddle playing. Joe uses music in an eclectic fashion, a mixing of styles that is
appropriate and listenable, folk, jazz, international, all done with a musical sheen.
You can YouTube Joe to see what I mean. He is also an extraordinary musical educator and was an important accompanist to David Grisman. Joe is a prolific
and highly skilled instrumentalist and he sings too. He is also an accomplished percussionist. Check him out.