WTH is a SMART MOUTH?
What: Smart Mouth is a weekly email newsletter with local music & arts news with ticket giveaways, local music news, profile pieces, interviews and concert previews with a focus on building the local arts community for Sonoma & Napa Valley. Smart Mouth will have a focus on original art with a punk rock/indie rock/Alternative edge. There will be very little focus on Cover bands or “happy hour” music.
Where: I’m going to be covering the arts scene in Sonoma County And Napa Valley, and really any cool events and things within an hour drive of Santa Rosa.
When: The goal is to share local arts news each and every Wednesday.
Who: Hi. I’m “Dammit” Damian Burford, the founder of Smart Mouth. I am a freelance Arts & Entertainment writer and journalist. Smart Mouth is an extension of my monthly Word Of Mouth column for the Napa Valley Register.
I also have bi-lines with Vice Magazine’s Noisey Blog, New Noise Magazine, Colorado Springs Independent and many other smaller publications and zines.
I have also worked in music venues off and on for 20 years in Colorado before moving to the North Bay in 2022 with my life partner Claire. Once we landed in Napa, I built up an award winning concert & comedy event series at the the Napa Valley Distillery’s Hollywood Room event space in Napa before a fire in July of 2024 shut down the space for ongoing repairs.
Since that fire, I have become a Bay Area events professional, working on event teams for the Mill Valley Film Festival, Sf Sketchfest, SFFilm Festival, Sonoma International Film Festival, BottleRock Music Festival and many more.
Why: There’s a lot of damned cool stuff happening in Sonoma and Napa Counties. You just have to know where to look to find it.
When I was 16 years old, circa 1997, I started a website called ShrevePUNX in my hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana. It was an email list, message board and show calendar with my own personal commentary about the local community. It started when I discovered many of my favorite touring punk bands of the time were playing shows in neighboring cities, and we just didn’t know about it.
I thought if I could build a place for discovery, we’d build up our small community and it would become stronger.
Through that website I made the absolute best friends I’ve ever made in my life. It started me on a journey that took me to Colorado where I would continue to do punk rock zines and eventually running concert venues. Through those concert venues, I’d meet the people who would introduce me to the love of my life who brought me to the North Bay.
My goal then is the same as it is now, to build a space to discover all the great stuff my home has to offer and showcase it for the world.
There is a ton of cool, alternative/punk/indie/metal happening in and around Napa and Sonoma counties, but it can be hard to discover what’s and where it is all happening. I aim to help guide that discovery while I also work to uncover what’s special about the area.
I’ve met my absolute best friends in the world through the arts. We’re hoping that through Smart Mouth, Claire and I can build a home and find our place in this growing community.
HOW: We’ll build community through a weekly email list of local events I think will be worth your time and should be on your radar. We’ll work to spotlight and educate the local community on what’s happening, why it’s cool and why they should pay attention and work to build participation in the local community.
We’ll sponsor ticket giveaways for up and coming events. We’ll interview and chat with local arts leaders, musicians, comedians, filmmakers and whoever else is bringing a bit of their creative magic to the area. We’ll also build our own events and parties and invite you all along.