Here’s link to a recent interview with the always delightful Anthony Bonet on his show Sex14s on KALX. Anthony and I go way back to the days when he was doing sound at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco. He has his ear to the ground and has a vast knowledge of music and comedy, check him out. I believe KALX was the very first radio station to ever interview me, ever grateful that they are still around and bringing it.
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I’ve been having a blast visiting with my very favorite local radio DJs in support of my CD release next Wed., Feb. 17th at the Freight & Salvage. Here’s a taste thus far of my interviews.
KPFA: Larry Kelp: Sing Out! w/David James
KPFA: Stephen Kent Music of the World
KALX: Anthony Bonet Sex14s—-link coming soon!
Ah, my favorite weather, cool and sunny.
The reviews are coming in for my new release, For the Grace of Any Man, and they are great! Thank you Jesse Hamlin (SF Chron): “you sound great,” RAR Jungle creator of the power ukulele at Leleukeleles said “some of the best music I’ve heard in a long time.” and Jean Huffman (my mom) “WHO is that trumpet player?!”
The stunning CD artwork created by designer Alexander Bailey (DJ of Nerd Nite SF king of Radio Khartoum) is worth the price of the release. People as far away as Israel, Hawaii, and Amsterdam have ordered theirs, I’m selling out of copies quickly, get yours while they last!
It’s finally here folks, my new CD, For the Grace of Any Man (with choir!) and a CD release party, Wednesday, February 17th at the Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse.
We’ll have the usual amazing musicians onboard, Chris Grady on trumpet is smokin’ on For the Grace, my stalwart funk machine Jan Jackson on drums, the inimitable David James on guitar and vocals (who also just released a new CD ‘Billionaire Blues’ check it!), virtuouso Vicky Grossi on bass (did I tell you she’s working with members of The Who?!), and the ever inspiring Diana Mangano will be singing.
Special guests on the CD and at the release party Skate Stone and Daria ‘Shank’ Johnson will bring their incredible talents to our group.
Peace & love in 2016 and always
Hey everyone,
Beautiful summer day, happy summer! happy pride weekend! So grateful to be living in such a gorgeous place.
This week I lost one of my biggest fans/neighbor/friend/artist/color specialist biz owner David Van Dommelen. He must have attended hundreds of my concerts and thousands of the Bay Area’s most cutting edge events, a friend of ROVA Sax Quartet and many other Bay Area musicians. Thank you David for your years of support and camaraderie, you will be greatly missed here in our little town, wait….I just thought I saw you whizzing by on your bike……
This summer, the wonderful William Farley film I composed for, Plastic Man, The Artful Life of Jerry Ross Barrish, will be playing as part of the Jewish Film Festival! Don’t miss this intriguing documentary, you’ll be inspired folks!
Saturday, July 25, 4:30
The Castro Theatre
429 Castro Street, SF
Tuesday, July 28, 6:30 pm
Cine Arts, Palo Alto Square
3000 El Camino Real Bldg, #6
Sunday, August 2, 4:10 pm
California Theatre
2113 Kittredge Street, Berkeley
Get your TICKETS in advance!
Thinking ahead…
On November 14th Will Bernard and I will be performing a duo concert at SF Jazz this fall, git yer tickets way in advance for that, Will’s a Berkeley born n’ raised so it’s bound to sell out now that he’s hit the big time in New Yawk!
Peace on this historic day for gay marriage rights!
Love,
Beth
Dear Lovely Ones,
Being a full time musician is a grace, it’s lovely to do what you love for a living. People often ask me ‘why do you play in so many bands?’ I’ve pondered this often and run the gamut of reasons but the one that shines through is my desire to play music in as many situations as possible, I love the challenge that each musical endeavor presents.
Whether it’s playing in my first ever Sondheim musical at the Drew School (Into the Woods, what a lovely score, thanks for hiring me James Garrison!), to scoring a film (don’t miss Plastic Man this summer!), to performing a live original score to Bee Film by Cathy Lee Crane, to recording The Beth Custer Ensemble‘s upcoming release in Jeff Cressman‘s cozy studio (almost done!), to teaching private music lessons, to performing with my ensembles, I have a lot of work to do every day and it’s fascinatingly challenging. Anyway… I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do, so there you have it.
One of my very favorite ensembles to play with is Trance Mission. After years of being somewhat dormant as a group we’ll be blossoming out big time this month on June 12th at Cousin Jack’s Mariposa Evenings music festival, on June 13th Russian Center in SF, and at Chapel of Chimes Garden of Memory on June 21st. Come out and hear our new material that we recently recorded and are priming to release soon (hopefully in the fall) and chestnuts from our four seminal releases. Big congrats to Sir Stephen Kent for being honored by Berkeley City Council as Artist of the Month, well done!
You too can commission a composer as the Bernal Hill Players so generously did with me thanks to a grant from SFFCM. I created Four Hidden Stairways of San Francisco for them and the premiere is at the Presidio Officer’s Club on June 19, 6pm and it’s free!
All the Very Best,
Beth
Trailer: I Wanted To Be a Man With a Gun
Reel
