Alameda singer-songwriter’s folk opera features Fruitvale Bridge falcons
Alameda singer-songwriter Deborah Crooks will present her folk opera, “Flight Lessons [1],” on Friday, November 10, at The Lost Church, 988 Columbus Ave., in San Francisco. The story is based on a pair of peregrine falcons—and some humans—living on the Fruitvale Railroad Bridge, next to the automobile bridge that connects Alameda and Oakland. Peregrine falcons, who mate for life, have nested on that bridge for more than a dozen years.
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In early 2020, just before the pandemic “lockdown,” Crooks started writing the story and the songs that tell it. A bird lover and Golden Gate Raptor Observatory [3] Hawkwatcher, Crooks had studied natural history and worked in the field helping with the recovery of peregrine falcons before she started writing the story of the Fruitvale Bridge falcons.
After debuting her songs in early 2023, Crooks continued to develop the folk opera, which “explores the nature of place, love, and change at the intersection of the urban and wild environment,” she explains. The cast has expanded to include songwriter Melissa Phillips Deprato, musician/actor Mick Shaffer, instrumentalist and songwriter Kwame Copeland, and percussionist Craig Miller. The November 10 performance at The Lost Church will be the third public presentation of the work.
In addition to her solo work, Crooks co-founded Alameda’s Bay Station Band [4] and its Love the Bay Music & Sailing series. She has released multiple recordings of original music, including her 2019 release The Department of the West, an 11-song love letter and reckoning with the people and places that shaped her which was described as “…what Americana music is all about: imaginative, cinematic, informative and entertaining.” She is also the publisher of the Bay Station Eagle, a zine about Alameda arts [5].
The show at The Lost Church this weekend will also feature The Welcome Matt [6] (aka Matt Langlois) with CALI&CO Dance [7]. Langlois is a longtime indie rock/pop singer-songwriter from San Francisco. His music is in the vein of Violent Femmes, Lou Reed, and Damon Albarn. He co-wrote “San Francisco” which was recorded by German electro pop singer CASCADA, topping the top forty charts in Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Austria, Bulgaria and Slovakia. His eighth album was released last May.
Cali has been active as a dance professional locally, nationally, and internationally for 25-years. A performer, educator and activist-artist, he has been called “one of the most ferocious, spell-binding dancers I’ve seen in this city (San Francisco)” by SF Chronicle dance reviewer Rachel Howard.
Show info:
Deborah Crooks’ “Flight Lessons” + The Welcome Matt w/CALI&CO Dance
When: Friday, November 10. Doors 7:30 p.m., show 8 p.m.
Where: The Lost Church, 988 Columbus Ave., San Francisco.
Tickets: $20 in advance [8] and at the door.