bitethehand.org

Herbs and Music!

Posted on May 31st, 2008 by The Captain.
Categories: Soundings, Music, Local Businesses and Non-Profits, Events, Workshops.

Today went so well that we had to sit down immediately and start writing.  A  big group turned out to enjoy music and to learn more about how to use herbs medicinally.  Our friend Kaitlin put on THREE workshops for the public explaining how to make salves, tinctures, and fire cider!  Hannah Rose, Travis Hendrix, Tyler Wagner, I Cut People, and Low Five all played music and proved that they were some of the best artists in our county.  We also planted a new herb garden for Community Market!   It was a great mixture of sounds, smells, and do-it-yourself energy…

This project was a joint effort between Bite the Hand Productions, Vuildings Building Themselves, and Santa Rosa’s Community Market.  For more information on Buildings Building Themselves, cleck here:  BBT Web Page   For more information on Community Market, click here:  Community Market Web Page

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Community Market Herb Day!!

Posted on May 27th, 2008 by The Captain.
Categories: Soundings, Music, Local Businesses and Non-Profits, Events.

Come to Santa Rosa’s Community Market this Saturday and enjoy great local music as we learn more about how to identify and use herbs! It is going to be a fantastic day! Here is the line-up:

• 11:00- Music by Hannah Rose
• 11:30- Salve Workshop
• 12:00- Music by Leila Anne
• 12:30- Tincture Workshop
• 1:00- Music by Travis Hendrix
• 1:30- Fire Cider Workshop
• 2:00- Herb Walk
• 2:30- Music

Call 326-5274 for details.

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What a Day!

Posted on April 7th, 2008 by The Captain.
Categories: Operation:Venue, Bite the Hand Society, The Underground Free Press, Soundings, Food Not Bombs, Local Businesses and Non-Profits, Music, Events.

Yesterday we had a great event at Bite the Hand Studios to bring attention to The Underground Free Press! It was great! We had three computers set up for people to explore what TUFP is up to, and we had lots of live music. The Semi-Evolved Simians, Bill Wild, Mark Growden, Batman Versus Predator, The Highlands, Hannah Simone, Hanna Manfredi, and Andrew Maurer and more performed! There was also drumming and jamming in the backyard and Food Not Bombs food for everyone!

This was Bite the Hand’s first official “sounding,” and event that pairs local artists wit local activists. Yesterday we were celebrating and exploring the amazing things that The Underground Free Press is doing to strengthen the music scene in Sonoma County. Together with groups like The Underground Free Press, Operation Venue, Lost Lamp, Buildings Building Themselves, and others, we are really beginning to transform out community into something very powerful. This is a really good thing, folks.

Be sure to check out The Underground Free Press here: www.theundergroundfreepress.com

When will our next Sounding event be? What musical acts will perform? What local activist group will be featured? Keep dropping by our website and keep picking up The Pharmakon tp stay informed…

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Community Music This Sunday!

Posted on April 3rd, 2008 by The Captain.
Categories: Operation:Venue, The Underground Free Press, Soundings, Tim Dixon's Art, Local Businesses and Non-Profits, Events.

This Sunday we will be enjoying a day of music and learning about “The Underground Free Press” and other ways to improve the musical scene in Sonoma County. The poster below shows the line-up. Take a look- it is going to be a GREAT show!

Come on by anytime! Bring a friend or two!

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What is a “Sounding”?

Posted on March 22nd, 2008 by The Captain.
Categories: Soundings, Music, Local Businesses and Non-Profits, Events.

A Sounding is an event that demonstrates a collaboration between artists and activists. Bite the Hand Productions facilitates the collaboration between an artist and an activist group and together they put on a special event. These events can take a variety of forms, but they all involve sharing art and ideas with the public and finding new ways to work together in our community.

Soundings are an important part of Bite the Hand Productions. Our mission is to use them to create a stronger scene and to help out artists and activists alike through public celebration. Keep checking out our website and picking up The Pharmakon so you can come to a Sounding in the future.

Our first official Sounding is going on all day on Sunday, the 6th of April! It will be in support of The Underground Free Press and will feature music by The Semi-Evolved Simians and many other great local artists. We will be meeting in the afternoon at Bite the Hand Studios (935 Spencer Street) and will be enjoying each others’ company and learning more about how we can work together to create a strong musical musical scene right here in Sonoma County! So come on down!

Call 326-5274 or e-mail us for more information.

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Bill

Posted on March 18th, 2008 by The Captain.
Categories: Operation:Venue, Soundings, Music, Events.

Bill is one of the greatest songwriters we have ever heard.  We had the fortunate experience of meeting him at a punk show at Doyle Park last year and we have been happy to invite him to many Bite the Hand  events ever since.  He usually plays around Petaluma, with or without his band, “Three Mile Island.”  His songs are  amazing and provocative and this man was made to perform on stage.  You need to see him to understand.

He also has a great relationship with Bite the Hand Productions. With Three Mile Island, Bill blew people’s minds at our Pharmakon Six Month Spectacular in November. He also was a surprise star at our Quilt Day last month.  Most recently, he opened for The Crux at Toad in the Hole. The repeating shows that The Crux are putting on in Railroad Square are a key part of our “Operation Venue” project, and we are really glad that Bill could help us get more local acts into legitimate venues in Santa Rosa.  It was a great night and we are glad that the public was able to meet Bill.

If you haven’t heard him, then you have to.  Artists like this are very important and our communities would do well to make room for singers like Bill and to listen to what he has to say.  His songs are very powerful things.

Catch Bill at 935 Spencer Street on April 6th! He will be playing at Bite the Hand Productions’ first official “Sounding.” The Semi-Evolved Simians and The Underground Free Press are teaming up to put the show on. The show will be going on during the day, but keep checking out this website for a more exact schedule…

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Pharmakon #10 is Out!

Posted on March 7th, 2008 by The Captain.
Categories: Soundings, Tim Dixon's Art, Events, The Pharmakon.

Our March issue of The Pharmakon (titled “Music”) is out on the streets. We’ll be dropping it off over the next couple days at all of our usual spots:

COLOR issues will be for sale at Copperfields in Sebastopol and Petaluma, and at Community Market in Santa Rosa.

FREE BLACK AND WHITE copies are at Community Market, Treehorn Books, Flying Goat Coffee, 1710 Coffee, The JC, Free Mind Media, The Last Record Store, Aquus Cafe, Coffee Catz, Hardcore Espresso, Sonoma State, North Light, and Zone Music.

This issue is loaded with events and features many interesting projects going on in Sonoma County. You’ll read about our first “Sounding Experiment” and The Underground Free Press, learn about two grassroots record labels, see how to make homemade instruments, hear about an upcoming hip-hop workshop, and much more! Buy one if at all possible, or you can always pick a black and white copy up for free! Enjoy!

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A Successful Event!

Posted on February 7th, 2008 by The Captain.
Categories: The Crux, Soundings, Music, Local Businesses and Non-Profits, Films, Events.

On January 31st, The Crux teamed up with Sonoma County Conservation Action’s Know Your Neighbor program to put on a great event at the Rialto Cinemas in Santa Rosa!  The Crux provided tunes, their banjo player (Joshua Stithem) served as emcee for the event, and we even auctioned off a year subscription to The Pharmakon!  Know Your Neighbor had candidates for Santa Rosa City Council make speeches, and showed the amazing film- Baraka!  We made a great team, and about 200 people attended!

This special event is a precursor to some projects that Bite the Hand Productions is preparing to unveil in Spring.  We call them SOUNDINGS and they consist of creative collaboration between local artists and activist groups.  This rendezvous between  The Crux and Know Your Neighbor was only the beginning!

So stay tuned…

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New Life in a New Year

Posted on January 4th, 2008 by The Captain.
Categories: Soundings, Immediate Theatre, Operation:Venue, The Crux, Events, Philosophy, Cheap Art, Workshops, The Pharmakon.

We are entering a new life in a new year. Bite the Hand Productions has a couple things to say during this time of rain, reflection, and journeys.

This is January and it is a time of change. All of our dreams and experiences past, all of our surroundings and thoughts alike are mushing together and transforming. At this magical time, we have these wishes:

May our land’s lack of venues and the pestilent boredom of our streets ferment into ectstatic insurrection and joyful presence in our homes.

May all of our personal and professional miscalculations and miscommunications serve to pollinate parts of our self and social awareness that we may have ignored in the past.

May those we love know our love and return it.

May we come together and rejoice in the acts that feed ourselves.

Already, we at Bite the Hand Productions can see the heap of history creating new life. We see great things in store in the upcoming year. In 2008, we can look forward to:

More issues than ever of The Pharmakon periodical coming every month all over Sonoma County!

Monthly improv and storytelling workshops as well as our “Feed Yourself” workshops with special guests!

Cheap Art craft days at Free Mind Media, where our community can meet and create art together to sell to the public!

New Bite the Hand events that we call “Soundings.” These are innovative collaborations between local artists and non-profit organizations. Look for our first one in March!

The first full-length album by The Crux will be coming out in 2008!

We are already plotting the Second Annual Insect Carnival for this August!

And so much more…

So, peace be with you on this New Year. A peace that pushes its roots deep into the pavement and touches the burning core of the Earth. A peace that is open to the winds of change and as stubborn as a mighty boulder. We wish you a good season of change and a greater awareness as the rain falls in waves. Let us be like the Roman god Janus, and look to the past and the future at the same time.

-Bite the Hand

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