Posts Tagged ‘communtiy’
Arann Harris
All I want to do is make my own music.
Something new but familiar, songs that feel as if you have known them
all your life but at the same time shake up the listener and make them feel.
Music that tastes and feels like it came from Petaluma.
I like the term Roots music, grounded in the past but
growing in our own direction.
Tradition country folk music is were we come from but this band,
our music is in the mist of a changing landscape, from dairies
to hatcheries to wineries.
My hope is to capture this feeling of change,
evolving land and evolving sounds.
Not to much country and not to much city.
Michael “BUG” Deakin
Petaluma has such a significant and accessible geographical location in the bay area, with an excellent combination of urban and ag, and an intriguing blend of the arts, sustainable intent and community outreach!
Michael “Bug” Deakin, a British Columbia native, built his first home out of reclaimed materials in 1970, and that was just the beginning. Along the way he has planted trees, designed, built and remodeled custom homes, boats, movie sets, rock walls, gardens, parade floats, tree forts, dog houses, ship models, furniture and a splendiferous array of art forms from repurposed materials.
As a member of Ivy Deakin’s story telling family of 10 children, everything was re-used and recycled, especially all the great stories. Bug takes to heart the story and origin of the buildings, people and materials that make their way in and out of the Petaluma yard. With relentless focus on sustainable enthusiasm and talking story, Heritage Salvage has become a center of creativity and sustainability.
As he waltzed his way through years of planetary wanders and events of wonder, he learned from many teachers and was affected by design without limits. From an Amazon Tree house to a Japanese Teahouse, a Balinese Birdhouse, a Driftwood Palace and the pleasing decay of a Western Barn, every nuance notched its niche.
Bug’s passion is the art and reward of re-purposing, re-using, and recycling as a part of a sustainable way of life. Teaching others to see the beauty in what is here, sharing treasures and stories of the past, and sharing the joy of turning old, sometimes falling down, structures into beautiful new things fuels each day.
Just as in the Deakin family, there is always enough to share, and Heritage Salvage goes out of it’s way to help those that need it and those that help others.
Michael Bug has a sprawling enthusiastic family in British Columbia, including a fabulous Daughter Suzy and two grandsons in Salmo!
Ashley Karnes
I have always said that the best towns are those that you get stuck in, and Petaluma is the best of the crop (I have lived in 5 countries and been round the world two and half times, visiting over 15 countries). I came for a month…four years ago. My man and I found storage for our newly purchased school bus, Bertha, in the downtown area. We were planning to just pack our things up and leave for Canada in four weeks, but engine trouble followed and then complications with elements of the rebuild. So I got a job at Dempseys and started to refurbish her into a mobile home while we waited for the engine to be running. My living situation has been alternative while in Petaluma, to say the least!
Pet is one of the few American towns I’ve been in that has such a quant character and such an obvious, rounded history – from the immigrant wars to the invention of the incubator, American Graffiti film and all the great Victorian architecture. It’s also one of the few towns I have felt has a real sense of community, a diverse one at that. Everything I need is within cycling distance and I bump into folk i know all the time….I love bumping into the street kids along the river, all the parents at the dog park and all the folk propping up my favourite dive bars near closing. A friend is never far away.
I have had a bunch of visitors from England – who have all loved the place – I got married, found my fabulous little dog Pippi, learned alot about wood, patience and hustling for work.
I’m going to miss everything very very much.
Maria do Céu’s
Maria was born on the island of San Miguel in the Azores, which is part of Portugal. She moved to the U.S. with her family when she was 8 years old, and grew up in Benicia. After high school, Maria entered an apprenticeship in auto repair and worked as a mechanic for 15 years before opening her own shop in Oakland. She moved to Petaluma in 1995, opening Out West Garage, and the rest, as they say, is her story.