Naima Bock at TreePeople (photo by Adam Corey Thomas)
When was the last time you ventured into the wilderness at night for a stroll among the owls, coyotes, and crickets?
At the end of every month we gather with the heroic environmental stewards of TreePeople to love on live music and tea along a ridge trail of the Santa Monica Mountains. Following a performance, steeped herbs, a sunset, and some good conversation, TreePeople’s eco educators offer us three different hiking groups for peoples of all ages and abilities to learn more about the native ecology and history of these mountains.
This month we sit atop Mulholland Drive with extraordinary multi-instrumentalist M. Kakudo who is briefly in Los Angeles to perform with the legendary Haroumi Hosono. Beyond sound performances she presents her work in various forms including sound installations and socially engaged art projects. Her solo work focuses on sound specifically using handmade instruments, the marimba, percussion in general, the piano, guitar, voice and spoken word, and other ideas and objects that attract her. We’re so grateful to Dustin Wong for this introduction and helping to bring this special night into being. You know where to find us.
Bring a blanket, pour some tea, and bliss in.
Check-in begins around 6:30pm, music shortly after 7pm, and we split into our hiking groups promptly at 8pm. Parking is limited so we ask that you please rsvp with us in advance.
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M. Kakudo’s musicality is an intractable melange of tenderness and mischievous experimentation, wrapped in a cinematic appeal. The contours of her style are elusive, not because of a carefully calibrated aesthetic that aims to escape every attempt at categorization, but as a coincidental byproduct of an expressive sense of creative freedom unperturbed by the listener’s expectations.
Born in Nagasaki, Kakudo graduated from the Tokyo University of the Arts in the Department of Instrumental Music, with percussions as her instrumental family of choice. A prolific artist with various outlets of creation that are interlaced by her penchant for multimedia collaborations, Kakudo has released three studio albums over the last six years, the latest being 2024’s Contact.
Born in 1973 from the hopes and dreams of a teenager, TreePeople is now one of the largest environmental organizations headquartered in Southern California.
They have inspired, engaged, and supported more than 3 million people to take action for our environment by planting and caring for more than 3 million trees in our local forests, mountains, parks, and our neighborhoods. Through on-the-ground research and educational programs, TreePeople shares knowledge with policymakers, students, educators, and communities around the world.
After fires burn, TreePeople reforests. When schools are covered in concrete, TreePeople creates green schoolyards. When communities experience food insecurity, TreePeople distributes fruit trees. When California is drought-stricken, TreePeople designs solutions to capture rainwater. As the world faces increasing threats from a more hostile climate, TreePeople helps create actionable solutions.