rainbow girls & Shawn Clark

Among the wonders of taking to the open road is the opportunity to step out of the mundane muggle world and connect with the magical folks who widen the eyes and inspire the soul. One must look deep into the forest for these people; they're buried on the underside of rocks or perched upon the highest of tree branches, and yet when they do emerge, smiles are bound to wash across every face lucky enough to be present. The two bands convening at the Honeymoon Café hail from different nooks of the California Coast, and yet they share the same desire to venture out across the land and meet the good friends they've simple yet to find.

While the Rainbow Girls bookend their travels in the town of Bodega on the north coast, there's no winding path they won't explore. As a band, they are fearless. They'll knock you out of your boots from atop a rock stage, drop your jaw with an intimate acoustic set, and then wink as they crack a joke and get you laughing and singing your way home. They take their work seriously, but never themselves. It's not surprising that when hearing a Rainbow Girls song on someone else's stereo, a common response is, "Oh, those are my friends!" The band doesn't just play shows, they create an occasion that they experience themselves, and when it's time for them to move on, they leave a place happier than they found it. They discover beauty wherever they go and the color they bring with them is inescapably contagious. Whatever instruments they're playing, whatever songs they've chosen, their forethought, energy, and execution combine for a display that will be remembered long after they wave farewell and head off to the next fortunate group of people they're bound to meet.

For the Shawn Clark Family Band, it may be said that they were born on the road. Their music stems from a deeply personal journey that has been spread out for all to share. Even when playing around their home on the Central Coast, their shows invite the audience to join them as they head out in their van and spin tales of where they've been and what adventures might lie ahead. They're not afraid of the bumps and bruises sure to accompany any worthwhile journey, instead they welcome the challenges they'll face with the notion that together they are stronger than any of their individual parts. Their songs build and soar before gently floating back home, and at the end of each one there's the sense that, 'yes, we put all we could into that one, we have no regrets.' To hear them is to root for them, to hope it all works out and that they'll keep plugging away with a growing family of friends cheering them at every stop. Their hunger to strike out into new territory hints at an odyssey only just begun, one that will take them far into the wild and yet will always deliver them back to a home that awaits them with warm and open arms.

The fearless Eleanor Roosevelt said, "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." Each of these bands lay their dreams out before their audiences to be heard and felt and danced around, and both are embarking upon high-arcing paths that will give hope to the most disheartened and downtrodden about what kind of road stretches out before us. They're the wizards we're all out there searching to find, and as they get ready to light up the Pismo night, what a great chance for us to make them our friends.