January offers a chance to refresh your space and infuse it with inspiration. Whether it’s a favorite family photo, a piece of art you’ve collected, or a keepsake waiting to be displayed, custom framing brings new energy to your walls.
The expert team at Walter Adams Framing and Capricorn Framing in San Francisco specializes in creating designs that suit your style while protecting your cherished items. Visit one of our San Francisco locations or give us a call for a consultation! —- Lloyd Haddad & Brian Wicker
2026 Media Pitches from David Perry & Associates, Inc.
Ahoy and Happy Holidays! As we approach the new year, I wanted to let our journalistic colleagues know what we’ll be representing as we head into 2026.
very best,
David Perry
news@davidperry-com cell (415) 676-7007
Author John McFadden and his new book “Enlightened Empathy” about how to combat “Trump and Trumpism” and a country in crisis with empathy.
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts 2026 Season, including
U.S. premiere of The Prince of Homburg, a major solo exhibition by internationally acclaimed artist P. Staff, curated by Jeanne Gerrity. Opening January 17, 2026, the exhibition features a 23-minute video installation and sculptural works examining freedom, state control, and the pressures placed on queer and trans bodies today.
The Grand reopening of the Castro Theatre in February 2026 with a month-long residency by Sam Smith. Other pre-opening events will be announced within the coming weeks.
Best-selling author and LGBT philanthropist Tom LeNoble’s new book, “My Life in Business Suits, Hospital Gowns & High Heels” chronicles his life as a tech pioneer (one of Facebook’s first 75 employees), international thought leader and award winning speaker.
Capricorn Framing and Walter Adams Framing. Under the ownership of Lloyd Haddad and Keith Wicker (gay veteran) they exemplify world-class craftsmanship and inclusive leadership in the fine art framing world. With Capricorn’s strong reputation as a trusted San Francisco framer and the acquisition of the historic Walter Adams brand, Lloyd and Keith are redefining excellence in custom framing — blending museum-quality technique with a modern, community-minded vision. Plus, as small business people, they are well placed to discuss the impact of the Trump tariffs on their business.
Bay to Breakers: David Perry & Associates, Inc. is once again proud to represent everyone’s favorite San Francisco Event, the world’s wackiest running race: Bay to Breakers, taking place on Sunday, May 17, 2026.
A Thoughtful Holiday Gift Guide from Walter Adams Framing
Not sure what to wrap? These timeless options turn memories into art and will last well beyond the holidays.
Custom Framing Gift Cards A gift card lets your loved ones choose the perfect frame for artwork, photographs, or cherished keepsakes—expertly crafted to suit their style and space. Purchase a gift card here from our website.
Photo Frames A beautiful frame is a gift in itself. We offer a curated selection of table top frames and classic photo frames. View frame brands on our website or visit one of our locations to browse in person.
Why They’ll Love It These are gifts that are personal, practical, and designed to be enjoyed every day. Thoughtful, lasting, and never out of style.
This Holiday, dig into a critically acclaimed, award winning, best-selling read: “Upon This Rock” by David Eugene Perry.
Set during the Christmas Season in the magical Italian hilltop town of Orvieto, “Upon This Rock” is a delicious literary feast that pairs well with all vintages.
Currently in screenplay development and now in its second printing as the best-selling title ever for Pace Press / Quilldriver Books, this “elegant, twisty thriller” (Armistead Maupin) is “giddy with assassins, terrorists, shady priests, human trafficking, and megawatt conspiracies” (Kay Kudukis, Palm Springs Life) with “two detectives as sharp as Sam Spade and with the wit of Nick and Nora Charles” (Will Snyder, Bay Area Reporter). “Upon This Rock is fabulous. I can’t wait for the movie” (Jan Wahl, Emmy Award Winning Hollywood Reporter).
WINNER: Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA)
WINNER: San Francisco Book Festival
Get your copy at your favorite independent bookstore in San Francisco like the Best Bookstore in Union Square, Green Apple Books, Books, Inc or Fabulosa Castro!
Or on Amazon — instant ebook for Kindle or print — at the link below:
The Marimba: Wood, Warmth, and the World in Resonance — by David Eugene Perry
16 December 2025, Puerto Chiapas & Tapachula, Mexico: Today on tour in Tapachula, we were treated to a local group of musicians playing marimbas. One of the Seabourn Encore guests asked me if I knew anything about them, and specifically what sort of wood was used in their construction. Being an intrepid historian and lecturer, I said, “No — but I’ll find out.” Below: what I discovered today. Fascinating musical history.
Few instruments feel as organic and architectural as the marimba. Built of carefully shaped wooden bars suspended over resonators, it is at once percussive and lyrical — an instrument that sings through wood.
The marimba’s story begins in Mesoamerica, particularly in southern Mexico and Guatemala, where early versions were crafted from local hardwoods and paired not with wooden boxes or metal tubes, but with natural gourds. Each gourd was carefully selected and sized to match the pitch of the bar above it, amplifying the sound in a warm, rounded way. These gourd-resonated marimbas were communal by nature — instruments of ceremony, celebration, and storytelling — their voices earthy, intimate, and deeply rooted in indigenous tradition.
This design also hints at a broader cultural conversation. The use of tuned gourd resonators closely parallels African balafons, suggesting a fascinating convergence of indigenous American practices and African musical traditions that arrived later through the Atlantic world. Even today, in parts of Chiapas and Oaxaca, echoes of these early designs survive in folk and ceremonial marimbas.
At the heart of the modern marimba, however, lies Honduran rosewood, prized for its density and tonal warmth. When struck, each bar releases a deep, glowing resonance — round, sustained, and complex. As the wood ages, its voice matures, giving fine marimbas a near-living quality that performers come to know intimately.
Beneath the bars, contemporary instruments typically use wooden or metal resonator tubes, replacing the fragile gourds of earlier centuries while preserving the same acoustic principle. These resonators amplify and focus each pitch, turning a simple strike into a full-bodied note capable of filling a concert hall. Unlike the brighter xylophone, the marimba speaks in low, human tones — capable of rhythmic drive, but also of surprising tenderness.
From traditional ensembles in southern Mexico and Central America to modern concert stages and jazz clubs around the world, the marimba remains an instrument of bridge-building — between rhythm and melody, folk tradition and formal composition, craftsmanship and performance.
It is, quite literally, music shaped from wood — patiently carved, carefully tuned, and resonating with centuries of cultural memory long after the final note fades.
