Lauren RabainoOnce or twice a month, something magical happens in a drafty little building next to the South Bay Community Center in Los Osos. A community that has often been keenly divided on issues of growth, development and waste management puts aside its differences and enjoys eclectic old-time acoustic music at the Red Barn.
Now in its third year as a musical scene, the barn, at the Corner of Los Osos Valley Road and Palisades Drive, makes the perfect venue for bluegrass, blues, swing and Celtic roots. It is also among the few places where other traditional acoustic art forms such as the oral traditions of the Native American band Soldier Creek found an outlet in an intimate gathering on Nov. 1.
The concert series is the brain-child of local musician and owner of Zap Gardening, Jonas Richardson.
“A lot of what I like to do is traditional music, old time Irish; we’ve had Russian music out here before, just traditional American music, but that could really be anything,” Richardson said.
“We always have a potluck beforehand and it’s always a very intimate setting. It gets very crowded at times though.”
Richardson rents the barn from the county for every concert, paying the out of pocket expenses. He pays the bands with donations from attendees. If enough people show up, he will get his money back. All set-up and clean-up work is on a volunteer basis. The effort and time it takes Richardson and his family goes uncompensated.
“I just wanted to do something here with the community, so I just started it,” Richardson said. “The barn had been here. John Adam put it together a long time ago and it was moved here from Los Osos Valley Road. It’s just a little barn, that’s all it really is. It’s what you do with the place. I wanted to do it here because of the feel, it’s traditional just like the music is.”
The events are often held on Saturdays and the music usually starts at 7 p.m., preceded by a 6 p.m. potluck. The evening carries a suggested donation of $10 but more will not be refused.
The potluck dinners are unique in their lack of the usual Safeway Deli fare, not that those aren’t devoured by the end of the night. Garden salads and produce from backyard fruit trees make a healthy offering.
On the rainy night that Soldier Creek brought out their drums and traditional songs from tribes all over California and the United States, a smaller audience was in attendance, sitting in folding chairs near kerosene heaters.
“Stories are the most important part of our tradition,” Matthew Zepeda of Soldier Creek said.
In front of the 40 attendees, the Zepeda explained that “stories in Native Culture emphasis the interrelationships in the animal world, between people and animals. In the old stories all the animals talk to each other. This is one of the problems that society has. We’ve stopped talking to people in other cultures.”
Perhaps the lackluster turnout of the evening was perfect for the band’s brand of cultural exchange with haunting vocals and deep base drum that penetrated the thin walls into the damp night.
Those that braved the chill witnessed something unique and spine tingling as the group ended the performance with a last minute addition of the “bear song,” first calling up the animal’s mighty spirit in a visceral sense and then putting it to sleep finally trailing off into a whisper. It was a very fitting coupling of time and place in the Valley of the Bears.
It was great turnout, a very nice crowd. This kind of gathering brings family together, just gives people a chance to be together.”
While the turnout was smaller for this performance, if history is any indicator, the second performance at the Red Barn by folk diva Maria Muldar on Nov. 15 might be standing room only.
“It’s really been fabulous; really way beyond any of my expectations,” Richardson said.
“For two years solid it been packed. We’ve had fantastic world class musicians play here, from everywhere and a lot of them have been local.”