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Women in Entertainment

Women in entertainment: Heather Jacks gives buskers a needed voice

Welcome to another beautiful Monday morning – time for another in our Women in Entertainment series.  This week the spotlight falls on Heather Jacks, author, journalist and music lover who is on a mission to share the magic of busking with the world.
Jacks grew up on an Indian reservation in southeastern Oregon until she was 15, when she was selected as the first ‘experimental exchange student’ to Australia with an organization called YFU (Youth for Understanding).  She spent ten and a half months with the program before returning to the States to attend the University of San Francisco.  She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree at USF before going to the University of California at Davis for an additional two years. 
Since the 1980’s, Jacks has worked in the music industry in various capacities, including radio, production, A&R, booking and most recently as a music journalist.  She recently won a Book of the Year Award for her multi-media project, The Noise Beneath the Apple®, which was inspired by her love for street music, busking and the people who make it.
Besides her love of music, she is a certified TV junkie, an unapologetic Twitter practitioner and a SF Giants loving fiend.   She travels extensively, but continues to hang her hat in San Francisco.
As we do with all our articles, we asked Jacks what inspires her.  In typical journalistic style, she expounded on the subject:  “As a writer, I spend a lot of time online, researching, interviewing, refining and sculpting words, creating cadence and turning good writing into better stories.  I find this journey inspirational.  Still I make time to step away from the blinking screen to breathe in life and the world around me; to re-charge and renew.  At the risk of sounding like I’m writing a love letter, my greatest inspiration comes from the City I call home, San Francisco.  I love walking her streets, wandering aimlessly into shops, undiscovered nooks and crannies, taking guided walking tours, trekking the Coastal Trail—Karl Fog, keeping me close company.  I love stopping at dive bars, where I can get a barrel-aged shot of whiskey AND a can of Olympia at the same time.  I love all the staircases and stunning views that rise up to greet you in the most unexpected place.  I love that we have a baseball team, that no matter how great they do, are always considered the underdog, and they persevere in style.  I love that everyone here is a little weird, and that San Francisco is pretty OK with that.  In the end, I am inspired simply, by doing what I love most.”
Jacks has recently launched a crowd funding campaign on Rocket Hub for one of her new projects, a multi-media project similar to the “Noise Beneath the Apple” project, which is dedicated to the buskers of San Francisco.  Check out the cool gifts you get for contributing to the project by clicking here.
We asked Jacks to expound on her future plans, and here’s what she had to say:
“Currently I am working on TWO separate Coffee Table Books, showcasing and preserving separate pieces of San Francisco history. My earlier book, The Noise Beneath the Apple®, which celebrates the spirit of busking, aka; street performance, and was set in New York City, won an independent Book of the Year Award.  I am replicating that book in the Bay Area, with 25 amazing street performers spanning from Oakland, Berkeley, Santa Cruz, Napa Valley, and of course, San Francisco.  The Bay Area edition, like the NYC version, will include film, music, stories and photos.
The second project is about The San Francisco Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.  The Sisters are a leading order of queer nuns, who began here in 1979 and are now a worldwide charity organization. They continue to devote themselves to community service, promoting human rights and outreach to those on the edges of society. They are an integral, (sometimes misunderstood), part of San Francisco culture. 
These two projects, along with my line of Vintage Vinyl Record Bags, (www.rockarecord.com), will definitely keep me very busy for the next few years!”
Street performers definitely have a friend in Jacks and the public truly benefits from this friendship, as we are exposed to amazing artists that we may not have known were out there.  Many thanks to Jacks for providing this service.  We wish her well in her campaign and look forward to seeing the finished project.
You can keep up with this amazing music supporter by checking out her Facebook page, following her on Twitter, Instagram, and Google Plus, and by subscribing to her YouTube channel.