The Crux is a band from Santa Rosa, California. Their sound has been described as "Doc-Watson-by-way-of-Joe-Strummer," [1] and "pirate cabaret." [2]
The Crux is a band from Santa Rosa, California. Their sound has been described as "Doc-Watson-by-way-of-Joe-Strummer," [1] and "pirate cabaret." [2]
Josh Windmiller and Tim Dixon met while working together in their hometown of Santa Rosa, California. The duo soon began writing songs together, sharing a common vision of "a traveling vaudevillian troupe of music, theater and circus performance." [1]
In 2008 the band opened for The Devil Makes Three at the Phoenix Theater in Petaluma, California. [3]
Many of The Crux's first performances were at a property in Santa Rosa called The Boogie Room & Gardens. "The Boogie Room" was DIY venue and home, hosting live music, theater, and workshops. The Crux supported the Boogie Room with many of their projects. [1] [4]
Josh and Tim founded a production company called Bite the Hand Productions to organize The Crux's events. Bite the Hand was also the producer of a monthly zine called The Pharmakon, [5] as well as the "Insect Carnival" festivals at the Boogie Room in 2007 and 2008. The Crux headlined both festivals, and showcased the "Crux Tent Revival," a torchlit gospel set, both years. [4]
The first year of The Crux and the Boogie Rom & Gardens is documented in the film Pharmakon (2009). [6] '
Bite the Hand Productions stopped publishing The Pharmakon zine in January, 2009. [7] Also, The Boogie Room announced that it was going to close in April of the same year. [8]
The Crux finished recording their first album in time to present their CD release party as one of the final shows at the Boogie Room. The album, "Now, Ferment," was recorded at Tim and Josh's home with Ross Harris (who has worked with Emily Jane White on her album Ode to Sentience). Pete Bernhard from the Devil Makes Three performed at the release party. [1]
In the winter of 2009, Tim Dixon left the band. Josh decided to continue performing and recording with The Crux. The roster at this time was Josh Windmiller, Dominic Ziegler, Zoe Kessler, Adam LaBelle, Justin Walters, Rachel Bean, Jack Sawatzky, and Kalei Yamanoha. [9] This lineup performed at the Whole Earth Music Festival and Maker Faire, and opened for acts such as Dark Dark Dark, [10] Jason Webley, [11] and Sean Hayes. [12]
In the winter of 2011, Dominic Ziegler suffered a series of strokes. He died in January, 2012. [13] The Crux's 2012 album, Be Merry, is dedicated to Ziegler and his family. [14]
Most members of The Crux left the band after the release of Be Merry, leaving only Josh and Kalei as active members. They added Travis Hendrix (clarinet, harmonica), Ben Weiner (percussion), Annie Cilley (fiddle, saxophone), and Josh Jackson (upright bass, cornet). All of these musicians are known from their work in the Church Marching Band. [15]
The new arrangement immediately began working on a collaborative musical play with North Bay performing artists The Imaginists Theatre Collective and Layla Musselwhite. The result, a play titled "The Ratcatcher," is a modern adaptation of the Pied Piper legend. [2] [16] [17] The songs from the play were recorded with Windmiller and Cilley singing on all of the principle vocal parts. [18]
2013 also saw The Crux bring a new version of The Crux Tent Revival to Petaluma's annual Rivertown Revival Festival. [19] [20]
Sebastopol is a city in Sonoma County, in California with a recorded population of 7,521, per the 2020 U.S. Census.
Petaluma is a city in Sonoma County, California, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its population was 59,776 according to the 2020 census.
Santa Rosa is a city and the county seat of Sonoma County, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area in California. Its estimated 2019 population was 178,127. It is the largest city in California's Wine Country and Redwood Coast. It is the fifth most populous city in the Bay Area after San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, and Fremont; and the 25th most populous city in California.
Mesa/Boogie is an American company in Petaluma, California, that manufactures amplifiers and other accessories for guitars and basses. It has been in operation since 1969.
Tsunami Bomb is an American punk rock band from Petaluma, California. They were formed in 1998 by bassist Dominic Davi, with keyboardist/vocalist Oobliette Sparks and later joined by drummer Gabe Lindeman. With vocalist Emily Whitehurst aka "Agent M" they would become a staple of Warped Tour and toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan, going through a number of lineup changes until they disbanded in 2005 after releasing two full length albums and a number of EP's. In 2015 the band reformed with new vocalist Kate Jacobi and later guitarist Andy Pohl and has remained active since, touring and appearing on a variety of festivals.
Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) is a public community college in Santa Rosa, California with an additional campus in Petaluma and centers in surrounding Sonoma County. Santa Rosa Junior College was modeled as a feeder school for the University of California system. SRJC is operated by the Sonoma County Community College District.
Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) is a rail line and bicycle-pedestrian pathway project in Sonoma and Marin counties of the U.S. state of California. When completed, the entire system will serve a 70-mile (110 km) corridor between Cloverdale in northern Sonoma County and Larkspur Landing in Marin County. In 2022, the system had a ridership of 474,500, or about 2,200 per weekday as of the fourth quarter of 2022.
The Phoenix Theater is an all-ages nightclub located in Petaluma, California. The club has been in existence since 1905 and has changed in both structure and purpose, mostly due to severe damage caused by several fires.
The Velvet Teen is an American independent rock trio from Sonoma County, California.
Silver Tree is a television and film writer, producer and director, from Petaluma, California.
Maria Carrillo High School is a public high school in Santa Rosa, California, United States. It is managed by the Santa Rosa City Schools district. It opened in 1996 and is in Santa Rosa's Rincon Valley neighborhood.
Polar Bears are an indie rock band from Santa Rosa, California, USA, who currently play in and around the North Bay music scene. They have toured nationally with longtime friends The Velvet Teen and have done numerous West Coast tours since their inception in 2001. In March 2004, they released an EP, Shorts Are for Warm, on the Petaluma-based record label, Pandacide. In early 2007, Polar Bears self-released a full-length album, The Future King. Currently, this album is only available directly from the band at their live shows and from The Last Record Store in Santa Rosa. Polar Bears are notable in the Sonoma County music scene for being one of the biggest drawing and intensely furious live bands in the area. Their following has steadily grown, being featured in publications such as the North Bay Bohemian and Metroactive.com. Bands that Polar Bears have shared the stage with include Victims Family, Cursive, Nomeansno, The Casket Lottery and Aloha (band).
Taylor Mountain is a summit at the northern extreme of the Sonoma Mountains in California. The mountain lies in the Laguna de Santa Rosa drainage basin; its east flank drains to Matanzas Creek, a northwestward flowing stream running the length of Bennett Valley, and its west flank drains to Five Creek. The mountain is named after California Gold Rush pioneer John Shackleford Taylor, who settled on the mountain slopes in 1853 to raise dairy cows and plant a vineyard.
Santiago is an American indie/punk band from Santa Rosa, California, United States, that formed in 2002 and has released three full-length albums. Though generally more sophisticated musically, the band claims a staunch punk rock aesthetic to their approach.
The Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, and previously known as the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts from March 2005 to March 2016) is a performance venue located just north of Santa Rosa, California, near U.S. 101. The facility is owned and operated by the Luther Burbank Memorial Foundation, a non-profit arts organization established in 1979.
The North Bay Bohemian is a weekly newspaper published in the North Bay subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area, in California, United States. The newspaper is distributed in Sonoma and Napa counties.
Skitzo is a thrash metal band from Santa Rosa, California, United States. The band was formed in 1981 in Healdsburg, California, when Lance Ozanix and several other people joined and called their band Venom. The name was later changed to Skitzo, after discovering that there is already a band with the same name.
The Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians is a federally recognized tribe of Pomo people, an indigenous people of California. It has a reservation near Geyserville, California, in Sonoma County, where it operates the River Rock Casino Resort.
Graton Resort & Casino is an Indian casino and hotel outside Rohnert Park, California, that opened on November 5, 2013. It is owned and operated by the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria. The casino has 3,000 slot machines, 144 table games, and a poker room. In November 2016 it opened an adjacent hotel with 200 rooms.
Chinaka Hodge is an American poet, educator, playwright and screenwriter. She has received national recognition for her publications, especially her artistic work on gentrification.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)