Apr 25 2023
One of the things we learn at Al Anon meetings is self-compassion. Strangely enough, we do this by listening to each other week after week, non-judgmentally, with a loving smile on our face and hugs after the meeting if we…
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Mar 27 2023
What does fear feel like to you?
During a conversation with my Al-Anon sponsor about leaving my life-long public teaching profession, she delicately but directly suggested that what I was really talking about was fear. I had called to sort…
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Jan 6 2023
While I have compiled and recorded two music albums, I have yet to put together or publish a poetry chapbook. Since it's only been a year and a half since my father died, it's not surprising that I've been starting…
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Dec 18 2022
I woke up in the early morning dark in a funky old $600 a month apartment above the old El Rey theater downtown. Aware of it being at least $200 more than I could afford, I couldn't resist the second…
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Jun 28 2022
There's going to be construction every day this whole summer vacation right outside my front door. The city is tearing up the street to replace water pipes; a necessity for long term viability. This was not good news for my…
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Jan 12 2022
In the second episode, meet guest/co-host Katie Phillip and learn how music and Al-Anon brought her and Karen together as they deconstruct Hafiz's poem, "I Know the Way You Can Get," uncovering the roots of our exasperated behavior.
SONGS IN…
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Jan 6 2022
Good friends push us in a good way. After talking to one of those good friends at a rough spot in the beginning of this new year, I decided to to publish the first episode from a podcast I started…
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Jan 5 2022
Sun sparkled on the water as I surveyed king tide waves at Bodega Head on my fiftieth birthday. I asked Higher Power what I should focus on this mile-marker of a year. A delightful series of images and ideas rolled…
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Jul 13 2021
I didn’t want to do it. I wanted to write about something else, to distance myself from a profession with which I’m locked in a terminal love-hate relationship. Surely, as I boldy devoted precious morning energy hours toward the creative…
Read moreLittle Words, the new full-length project from Chico’s Karen Joy Brown, is a satisfying collection that aptly displays the artist’s wide-ranging acoustic palette via voice, strumming guitar and songwriting. Starting off with a crisp and irresistible title track, followed by the equally infectious, mid-tempo “Made for TV,” the aural experience
Little Words, the new full-length project from Chico’s Karen Joy Brown, is a satisfying collection that aptly displays the artist’s wide-ranging acoustic palette via voice, strumming guitar and songwriting. Starting off with a crisp and irresistible title track, followed by the equally infectious, mid-tempo “Made for TV,” the aural experience widens as Brown’s voice, a throaty, sultry mix of pop, jazz and soul, harks back to such contemporary jazz vocalists as Linda Tillery and Cassandra Wilson. Elsewhere, the quick, scatty-jazz essence of “De Rien” is followed nicely by “I Know What Heaven Is,” an insightful ballad of perseverance that offers, “It’s the sand that makes the pearls.” Brown’s backing band, the Bona Fides (Chris Wenger on electric guitar and the CN&R’s Christine LaPado adding some fine upright bass passages) enhances the album along with David Silva, who contributes nimble acoustic lead licks plus a song of his own, “Deep Blue.” Brown is back in Chico after a stint in Spain, passionate, reflective and refueled, offering musical messages reflecting life’s lessons she’s learned so far. “Show that small town that you ain’t done yet,” she offers in the encouraging “Daisy,” closing the album with a tender, gospel-tinged “Scarlet Silence,” with its message to “stop and savor every echo in our mind.”
-Alan Sheckter, Chico News&Review, June 24th, 2010.
Fabulous Junkyard .... is an inspired and inspiring collection of eight sometimes poignant, sometimes lighthearted, original songs, and a lovely, reworked cover of The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby." Brown's singing voice is singularly heartfelt and soulful, delivering her original lyrics with moving emotional honesty.
Christine La Pado- Chico News&
Fabulous Junkyard .... is an inspired and inspiring collection of eight sometimes poignant, sometimes lighthearted, original songs, and a lovely, reworked cover of The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby." Brown's singing voice is singularly heartfelt and soulful, delivering her original lyrics with moving emotional honesty.
Christine La Pado- Chico News& Review
