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An American Songline

Journeys in Vintage Music with Cecelia Otto

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California

The Tour is Officially Complete, Plus I Have a Special Announcement!

September 3, 2013 by Cece

I am pleased to announce that as of September 1st, my historic American Songline tour along the Lincoln Highway is officially complete! In almost six months of touring, I performed 30 shows (plus some impromptu ones) in various venues along the Lincoln Highway. My car is full of things collected along the highway, and my mind is overflowing with so many memories of this time on the road. The next steps of writing the book and music for the album are starting to take form, so watch this blog for more posts and announcements this year!

A few people have asked me how I feel about reaching this accomplishment, and I have to admit it’s pretty bittersweet. While I’m relieved that I get to see my husband and cat again (I’ve missed them both so much) as well also being relieved that I don’t have to juggle so many balls in the air anymore, I also will miss being on the road. There’s been so many amazing people and places I’ve seen, I wish I could take it all with me.

I mentioned in Social Media posts over the weekend that I had a special announcement for all of the folks who attended the Livermore, California concert on Saturday. Now I’m sharing this announcement with all of you (see full text below after the picture):

SFO Proclamation

***********************************************************

Dated September 3rd, 2013 (Today, the first business day after the tour) from The City and County of San Francisco

Certificate of Honor Presented To Cecelia Otto

“Whereas, on behalf of the City and County of San Francisco, I am pleased to recognize and honor Cecelia Otto for her recent cross-country journey to commemorate the Lincoln Highway’s Centennial. When the Lincoln Highway was built in 1913, linking the east and west coasts, it served as a lifeline of commerce and culture in the communities through which it passed. Your musical journey along the Lincoln Highway, An American Songline, has brought this tradition back to life and brought joy to many across the country. Congratulations on the success of An American Songline and best of luck in all of your future endeavors!

Therefore, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the City and County of San Francisco to be affixed.

(Signature) Edwin M. Lee, Mayor”

************************************************

I have to admit, I was pretty surprised and floored by this document. While my behind-the-scenes PR man Dan reached out to them, we didn’t know if the Mayor’s office would actually issue the proclamation until literally the day before the concert. It honestly didn’t hit me that this tour was going to be over until the moment I had this paper in hand and was reading it out loud to myself. I still stare at it now, and can’t believe this all has happened.

The next stage of this project officially starts now, and I want to thank all of you who have been along for the ride. I’m looking forward to sharing my stories of the road in song and in words, and I hope to see you all again very soon!

Filed Under: California, Life in General, Lincoln Highway Tagged With: California, Journey, Mayor, Next Steps, Proclamation, San Francisco, Tour

Writer’s Block or Writer’s Overload?

August 26, 2013 by Cece

Greetings from my last day in Reno, Nevada, and the final Monday of this tour! Yup, that’s right folks, my singing travelogue will officially (and unofficially-more on that later) be done on Labor Day weekend. I’m pretty much in shock that I’m a stone’s throw away from California right now.

It’s been a wonderful but crazy last few weeks of touring, and I know I’m couple states behind right now. You’re probably wondering what’s happening. Did she get lost or have no internet access? (Both were true.) Did she have computer problems? (Yes.) Did she just give up on writing? (Heck NO!)

Here’s why: I have writer’s block. Knock down drag out writer’s block, but not for the reasons you think. I’m currently working on the state of Wyoming (I had three performances there in early August), and the truth is that I’m not “blocked”, I’m actually on “overload”. I have SO much to say about my time in Wyoming, It’s extremely difficult to decide what’s best for the blog, what’s best for the book, and what’s best to talk to me about over a beer.

As this tour is coming to a close, I’ve felt some of the sensory overload start to melt away so that I can get something out to you all soon. Expect blog posts on all of the remaining states along the route that I haven’t written about yet, they just might come after I’m off the road.

Thanks you again for being along for the ride, it means a lot to me. Know that no matter what happens, I’m excited for the final performance in Livermore, (and maybe even an informal/”unofficial” performance in a surprise place, watch the calendar) as well as I’m also excited for what will happen post-tour for this project. This is all just the beginning!

Filed Under: California, Driving, Grassroots, History, Life in General, Lincoln Highway, Music, Nevada Tagged With: California, Livermore, Nevada, Overload, San Francsico, Singing, The Road Ahead, travel, Writer's Block

Post-Conference Highlights and Reflections

July 4, 2011 by Cece

Happy 4th of July everyone!

So it’s been about a week since I last wrote, and my brain is still swimming from all of the things I learned at the Lincoln Highway Association conference. I did not come directly home after the conference, because of some other traveling I had to do. Now that I am home, I now have the time to write about all of my impressions of my first Lincoln Highway Association conference (you can read highlights of it all here on their website). I have photo highlights of Tuesday and Wednesday on this website in previous posts if you would like to see more photos.

Monday’s welcome dinner was quite a welcoming.  The guest speaker was McAvoy Layne, who is “The Ghost of Twain”. He regaled us with Mark Twain’s first view of Lake Tahoe and the mishaps that ensued upon arrival. As a performer myself, I very much enjoyed how he engaged the crowd, but was genuine in his performance.  For a first-time attendee like me (it was noted on my lanyard/name badge), the dinner also gave me a chance to meet new people and learn more about the association and the conference.

Tuesday’s tour of California was impressive.  I’ve only been to San Francisco for a quick weekend trip, so I’ve never really explored the state. We started at our hotel in Stateline, Nevada taking the southern route of the highway along what would have been the pioneer route with stops along the way to Clarksville, CA. The view from Echo Summit was breathtaking.  The paved road underneath my feet had been there to serve pioneers and motorists for a very long time, and it was humbling to think that people negotiated this road in worse conditions not very long ago.

The road near Echo Summit.

The highlight of Tuesday for me was when the Hangtown A’s out of Placerville, CA treated us to a drive on the original Lincoln Highway roads in Model A cars through the ghost town of Clarkesville, CA. Here the road was only 14 feet wide in some places, and the texture of the road was not the smooth tarmac we are all used to. It was a conglomerate of stone and concrete. It is believed that Folsom prisoners laid this part of the Lincoln Highway. Driving along these roads in the heat of day (it was around 100 degrees), the speed of the car and  sound of the horn all took you back in time instantly. Our driver Ernie was pretty “zen” with his 1927 Model A. It takes a delicate sensibility to know when to shift gears and when not to.

Driving along the original road, near Clarkesville, CA.

As we were part way along our drive, the car turned and we were on part of the road that had been updated and now paralleled Highway 50, the new alignment of the Lincoln Highway. Ernie commented on this, and I remarked about why they didn’t incorporate the old road in with the new road.  Why did they build the new road right next to it? Ernie then said, “It was much easier to build a new road next to the old one. That way people could still get to where they were going without stopping traffic.”

This echoed some of the comments made on the tour that morning. There were still a couple of these old Lincoln Highway roads that could still be used if US 50 had to be shut down due to inclement weather. These older roads still provided a temporary safe pass through the Sierras.

For some reason, this thought hasn’t left me in the last week. Maybe this shows what generation or locale that I grew up in, but that never happens now. No one cares if you’re stuck on construction laden roads, that’s just the way life is. It was quite a “Kodak” moment to be moving along on the old road while watching the traffic and construction on the new road.

View of modern Lincoln Highway (US 50) while driving on original Lincoln Highway road.

Wednesday’s tour of the Nevada side proved to be just as memorable. Starting off at the Carson City museum, we were able to have a special tour of Coin Press #1 which was in use for many years all over the country. Being part of the conference, we were given a unique coin memento which was made from this very machine. This museum is a great museum with plenty of exhibits. We had two hours there, but I’m sure we could have spent the whole day there if we wanted to.

Special Coin minted just for our conference.

Next, we were off to Dayton, Nevada, which was settled around 1863. The Dayton Historical Society really pulled out the stops for us as we ate lunch and were able to walk the old part of the town freely for the afternoon. They were truly wonderful people. We were able to get a tour of the old firehouse/jail, and see the museum (which is in the old schoolhouse). The museum houses hundreds of items from the community and is definitely worth a stop if you are in the area. One neat hidden part of the town is actually off main street.  There is a rock wall next to the Union Hotel building, which is the remnants of an Overland Stagecoach Station, and was a Pony Express stop.

Overland Stage Station Wall, Dayton Nevada.

Thursday was seminar day and all of the speakers were wonderful. The two speakers that stood out for me and my upcoming travels the most were Bob Chase’s talk on his motorbike ride across the Lincoln Highway in a Piaggio MP3 in 2008, and the keynote speech by Craig MacDonald. Craig spoke about the evolution of US 50 historically, going back over 150+ years to talk about pioneers and stagecoach drivers including the infamous Charley Parkhurst (a female stagecoach driver who was the first woman to vote in the US).  We surprised everyone when I came up on stage at the end to sing and lead everyone in an anthem fit for Charley. I have video of me singing, and it will be posted at a later date.

There are so many memories of this week, I could write a book on it.  For a first time conference goer, it was a fantastic experience. Many thanks to the California and Nevada Lincoln Highway Chapters for their organization of such an awesome week. I also want to thank all of the other members who went out of their way to help me, give advice on my project, and just make me feel welcome to the organization overall. I look forward to communicating with all of you in the future.

Filed Under: Community, Lincoln Highway Conference, Music, Uncategorized Tagged With: 2011, Bob Chase, California, Carson City, Charley Parkhurst, Clar, coin, Coin Press #1, Craig McDonald, Dayton, Echo Summit, Hangtown A's, highlights, keynote speech, LHA Conference, Lincoln Highway, Lincoln Highway Association, McAvoy Layne, Model A, Nevada, Overland Stage Station Wall, Piaggio, Placerville, Reflections, The Dayton Historical Society, The Ghost of Twain, US 50

West Tour of LHA 2011 conference in pictures

June 22, 2011 by Cece

Hello all:

It’s been a long but exhilarating day (14+ hours). I will write more about the day post conference, but in the meantime here are some photo highlights of today (I had over 200 pictures to choose from).

This is the view from the old Echo Pass Summit.
The LH was based off of many trails, including the Pony Express.
Old Tollbooth from the circa the gold rush days.
Clarksville is a ghost town where original LH roads still exist. Thanks to a local Model A association, we were able to go back in time and drive these roads in cars from the period. My car was from 1927.
Traffic Jam-1914 style. The original roads were 14 feet across in most places, so you had to

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pass carefully.

A closeup of the original 1914 pavement. It is believed that Folsom Prisoners built these roads in Northern CA.
Abandoned house in ghost town of Clarksville, CA. A Bee Keeper still lives in the entire town and acts as a watchman to keep trespassers out. A developer has bought the whole town, and the hope is to rebuild it when the economy improves.
The boat we were on was the “Tahoe Queen”, an old Paddlewheel boat.
We took a cruise on Lake Tahoe to Emerald Bay. This view is looking from the bay back to the lake at sunset. What a way to start the first day of summer!

Tomorrow we go East into Nevada; there are more photos to come, so stay tuned!

Filed Under: Lincoln Highway Conference Tagged With: 1927, 2011, California, Clarksville, echo pass summit, Emerald Bay, Folsom, Ghost Town, lake tahoe, LHA Conference, Lincoln Highway, Lincoln Highway Association, Model A, Paddlewheel boat, Pony Express, Sunset cruise, Tahoe Queen

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