Music lovers will get a free Valentine’s Day gift this year in downtown Hollister thanks to a few local musicians.
San Juan Bautista writer and musician, Bob Reid, will be performing with his musical partner, Judi Jaeger (hear Judi by clicking) of Portola Valley, at Mr. O’s Academy of the Arts 360 Sixth St. in Hollister at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 13.
The recently-formed duo is currently planning a tour to North Carolina and is booking concerts in homes and other venues around California.
They will be sharing the evening with Hollister musician Kaleb Askew, for an evening of original songs or arrangements of folk song standards. Askew is a popular local performer who is in the process of writing and recording his new album of original songs. This will be an opportunity for San Benito County residents to support locally produced music and help the Academy of the Arts to create a venue in Hollister for musical acts to perform in intimate listening environment.
The concert is in support of Mr. O’s Academy of the Arts and the effort to transform the venue into a popular attraction for a community concert series envisioned for this year. Admission is free and donations to Mr. O’s Academy, a 501c3 non-profit organization, will be accepted.
In the spirit of Valentines Day: “. . . and the love between the singer, who sings the song well and truly, and the audience, which has been waiting for the song and knows it when they hear it, is a true love.” – Malvina Reynolds
“We are in search of that love as we create our songs and share them with you; with rich harmonies and melodies and words that make you feel part of the story. We sing songs we care about, presented intimately. We play original songs and original interpretations of other people’s songs, accompanied on acoustic guitars and ukulele.”
Playing for friends in living rooms . . . and beyond!
About Judi Jaeger and Bob Reid
From her childhood north of Montreal to her teen years in Vancouver, Canada, Judi Jaeger grew up listening to her mother and brother playing guitar and her sister’s record collection. She heard Joan Baez, Leonard Cohen, Pete Seeger and Barbra Streisand. And from her father, she heard the songs of Joni Mitchell. Her brother taught her to play guitar at 15, which she played for five years and then it lay dormant while she pursued a career, working as a lawyer and mediator, and raising two children. Her musical re-birth began in response to the death of her mother when she wrote a song as an outlet for the loss. She has continued to write poignant, lyrically rich songs, delivered in her strong, captivating voice which has been described as “achingly beautiful”.
Reid is a fourth-generation Californian of African, French, Spanish and Native American descent. He grew up in a musical family. His mother was a singer, songwriter and guitarist and his father owned a record store through which he was exposed to rock and roll, rhythm and blues, gospel and jazz. Reid began playing guitar at 12, sang in bands in high school and became a member of the San Francisco Bay Area folk music scene.
He has been a California Arts Council Artist-in the Schools, performed at the United Nations in New York, in concert, at festivals and in schools across the United States. His original songs have been sung by Pete Seeger, Bill Harley, Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer and many others. Reid, the former content director of BenitoLink, was chosen by the Seeger family to perform at memorial concerts for both Pete and Toshi Seeger in New York.
Click here to listen to Judi and Bob perform the song: “A Moment in Time” written by Judi Jaeger.