The La Honda Voice

January 2012 Edition of the La Honda Voice

Here it is:

Download TheLaHondaVoiceJanuary2012

The Face of Local Music - Lisa Short Chupity

by craig eddy

The fourteen year old cat gave me the once over making sure I was acceptable to have on the property. I had trekked up the half mile long dirt driveway to what might be called the Holler.  Hidden outside the town of La Honda in a hidden magical homestead I found this months subject of The Face Of Local Music, Lisa Chupity. Lisa and Hubby Peter moved to the area about twenty eight years ago and live off the power grid in a quiet little paradise. Lisa has been captivated with music since she was six years old and first started playing the piano. At ten she started singing and at 11 picked up the guitar. At twelve she started playing reed instruments and stuck with clarinet until around thirty years old.  Her main thing has been and continues to be the fingerstyle guitar. Lisa chooses guitar because you aren't stuck playing one note at a time like the reeds. Lisa loves playing in alternate tunings. That always makes it a challenge to watch her and try to figure out what the heck she is playing. She has played mostly as a soloist over the years. One exception was her best alltime gig playing to a sold out crowd with friend Rebecca Jaqua in France playing Americana, old time, and Bluegrass. Lisa really loves Jazz the most.  Her main early influences were Joni Mitchell and Henry Mancinni. She studied under players like Pierre Bensusan, Lawrence Juber, Bill Culter and Bay Area resident Steve Coyle. Lisa started writing songs in 2004 and has a CD collection of great tunes entitled Grow Your Own, and she does, her own music, her own vegetables, her own power.  Lisa is dealing with health issues that will keep her from gigging for now but she intends to focus more on writing songs in the future. You can look up Lisa on CD Baby, ReverbNation, and Itunes. Here's hoping we hear a lot more great music from up the Holler.

The Face of Local Music - Todd Novak

How do you fit a books worth of material into a small article? Todd Novak this month's Face of Local Music interview could easily be several pages long. Todd was born in Pennsylvania and lived his early years in Ohio. He started playing guitar at 11 years old and started playing professionaly at 12 years old. He picked up the electric guitar his brother's friend would leave at their house and learned to play right handed since that was all he had to play. He would have probably learned left handed if he had access to a lefty. Todd has toured all over the country with different bands. Todd was with an Ohio based band Ronald Koal and the Trillionaires that toured opening for the likes of Billy Idol, The Blasters, Berlin and Joan Jett. In the early 80's he was with a Countryish band called Ricky Barnes and the Hootowls where he did a lot of background singing building his vocal abilities. The Hootowls opened for Richard Thompson and Buckwheat Zydeco among others. When asked who his favorite musicians are he says he likes anyone that has created something unique and new. Django Reinhardt, Chuck Berry, Keith Richards are some of his favorites. Todd has always been a fast learner and plays so many different styles that he has made lots of friends in the music biz. Todd moved to La Honda about two years ago with his wife Jasmine. They picked La Honda mostly due to the beauty of the area. I asked Todd to think back and tell me his most memorable musical moment.  He said that without a doubt it was the moment that Pete Seeger called him and asked if he wanted to come over and jam. Todd's current band is the Cowlicks and can be seen once a month at the San Gregorio General Store and also at the Gourmet Haus Staudt in Redwood City. Todd's latest recording project Raspberry Moonshine is a mix of styles, and believe it or not includes Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys amoung other great players. He is especially excited about this project because it just might be the last recording Ralph Stanley does and Clinch Mountain Boy Steve Sparkman is quiting the band to persue a career in law enforcement. You can get your copy of Raspberry Moonshine at the La Honda market. You can find him at toddnovakmusic.com, thecowlicks.com. as well as The Cowlicks Facebook page