I am moving -leaving Oakland and Berkeley after 28 years and going with my partner Marc to western Sonoma County, Ca, where we can dwell peacefully amongst the redwood trees. But I will be in Berkeley every week to rehearse with Andrea and Lisa, because Rebecca Riots is back in action. I look forward to a life intertwining the natural world, regular spiritual practice, service, and MUSIC.

Andrea and Lisa are my best friends and I am looking forward to hanging out with my buddies in rehearsal, on the road and at shows. I'm one of those confident-on-stage-introverted-off-stage type performers but I think that I am less shy now and I'm looking forward to all the incredible people I meet along the journey.

Since the birth of her son Ariel Zeiler Abarbanel, on October 25, 2002 Lisa has been keeping pretty busy with motherly duties. Even still, she somehow finds time to teach guitar, produce albums and even smash a few balls on the tennis court. 

While Rebecca Riots has been on hiatus, Lisa has performed in a variety of other musical projects and configurations. Most recently, Lisa has been learning and accompanying traditional and Contemporary music from the Jewish tradition at Kehilla Community synagogue in Berkeley.

Well, my news is that I am trying to quit my day job. I am a teacher of English, History and Reading and even though I love teaching, I want to take some time off.
I have been working hard to get my credentials and now it's time to reflect and remember what I am doing it for. And maybe get back to music. I miss it. Maybe in this coming year, we will tour enough to pay the rent. I am ready to take this year as a time of exploration and navigation. I continue to seek a balance between music, teaching and activism and all the other things that make life so rich. 

 
I have done various musical projects since the band stopped playing in December 2001 regularly (no, its wasn't really a break-up- just a break). Lisa has been producing various albums for local artists and sometimes I get to sing back up. That has been fun. The band put out an album in 2004 "Just As Sure" that has some songs that needed to get recorded even though we weren't being a band at that time. (You see.it's a complicated process)  

One of the songs "Amal's Song" was included on a compilation CD called "Needle in the Groove". This collection was a fundraiser for the group Flowers Against The Occupation. Flowers is a group of young Palestinian girls who non-violently resist the occupation by participating in demonstrations, attending workshops, educational programs and cultural performances. "Needle In the Groove" has songs by Palestinian girls Shams and Maisa Assi as well as Michelle Shocked, Ani DiFranco, Emma's Revolution, and other great artists. The Needle project also requested that we make a quilt square to add to an international quilt. My friend Terry Kekaha made a beautiful square that shows Amal and her son Ali who was taken by IDF soldiers and placed in administrative detention. He was only 16 years old at the time. The square also shows the apartheid wall that is being built around the West Bank, through cities and farmlands. I will actually be returning to Palestine this summer from late July to mid August to participate in a Needle in the Groove music camp with the girls. If you are interested in helping us to make this important cultural connection with these young girls, visit needleinthegroove.org for ways to support the project.   

It is exciting to consider touring again. There are so many cool people that we have lost touch with because life here took over so completely. I hope we get to reactivate those networks, visit old friends and make lots of new ones. It is also possible that Eve will be wanting to visit with folks in different parts of the country about dharma and tsonga. I will be looking for opportunities to use tours to make connections with people who are involved in Copwatching. I have been doing lots of work with Copwatch over the past year to get ready for the first national conference. Check out berkeleycopwatch.org for more information on Copwatch.   

Most of all, it will be fun to be in the presence of such awesome folks as Lisa and Eve for prolonged driving sequences. Even if it's just staring out the window at some wide, flat landscape, it still feels a little bit like home.