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The Noise Beneath The Apple

"The Noise Beneath The Apple™"is an up and coming art-style book by music journalist Heather Jacks. This grass roots effort to bring attention to the underground buskers in New York City and around the globe.

Though this book is focused mainly on the intimate stories of some 40 buskers in New York City the group behind this book is passionate about the art of the underground work of buskers everywhere.

This project began, as a series of interviews and profiles that appeared in various music and culture e-zines around the country. The first profile was of Luke Ryan, the Queens Cowboy, and recounted his adventures of over 30 years playing underground. With each column, more and more readers reached out and connected; a housewife in Kansas, a soldier in Iraq, an immigrant from Ecuador.

For twelve months, Heather Jacks traveled throughout New York. She was moved by the stories and the people who shared this public space; the audience and the players. The entire globe was represented; Japan, New York, Austria, Israel, Russia, the United States, and Jacks realized that we don’t live in a small world but a large room.

Jacks then met Bryan Close, a Brooklyn based, urban landscape photographer with a love for the underground and they began collaborating.

The result of this collaboration delves into the history, culture and politics of busking, and now, all of this will present these stories on the jaw-dropping backdrop of New York City, in the form of an oversized, limited edition, art book.

Heather Jacks

Early Life

Heather Jacks was raised on an Indian reservation in southeastern Oregon, where she stayed until age fifteen. It was this year that her Indian father died and she began to change the world and its views in her own way.

Jacks was the first ‘experimental exchange student’ to Australia with an organization called YFU, Youth for Understanding. Since she came from the country, the administrators placed her in the Outback and the Bush for 10.5 months in 1982. While there, she mined for opals in Coober Pedy, rode camels, ate pickled snakes, worked on sheep station, made damper and built a house out of wattle and daub.

From there she wandered through Australia and a little of London but ultimately ended up back in the United States in California.

From 1985 to 1988, Heather Jacks worked in radio, 97 KROY in Sacramento, and spent the summers working on the production team for Monsters of Rock Tour.

Heather attended California State University,Sacramento where she completed a double major in Marketing and Journalism with honors. After Sacramento, she could be found 15 miles west at California State University in Davis. It was in Davis that she earned her Jurist Doctorate and taught courses in Small Group Communication and Public Speaking as well as being part of the first closure of a nuclear power plant by a grassroots effort.

SAFE, Sacramentans for SAFE Energy took 3.5 years, in which to close Rancho Seco—the nuclear power plant.June 6th, 1989, after TWO attempts at the polls, Rancho Seco is closed! Jacks had coordinated a concert benefit, in the beginning of the battle. The then unknown, John McRae, performed a song called Rancho Seco. John later went on to become the Indie Rock band, CAKE.

Her son, Lancelot, was born on the 4th of July, 1989.

Career Achievements

In the 1990’s Jacks wore the hat of political lobbyist where she advocated, published writings, and spoke for various causes. In the year of 1999, Jacks co-created (pioneered) The Family Literacy Center for Northern California.

In the year 2000, Jacks and her son went to Italy, where she lead English speaking walking tours in Venice for a company called Enjoy Rome.

She is the published author of two young teen books: Not All Wanderers Are Lost and Chief & the Storyteller (Rainbow Bridge Publishing, 2001 & 2003).

From 2000 to 2003, Heather Jacks was featured on Match.com, bestowing advice from personal experiences about dating.

From 2002 to 2004, Jacks wrote a monthly wine column called It’s Just Grape Juice for Coast Magazine of Orange County. Also in 2004, Jacks wrote the e-book Fishing For Prada in a Piranha Filled Pond.

From 2002 to 2006, Jacks was occupied with writing for the Chicken Soup for the Soul series; (Country Girl and Farm Girl Soul(s) as well as Sassy, Single and Satisfied which appeared in Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, Las Vegas, and Newport Beach.

In 2006, she went to France and lead English speaking bike tours for Fat Tire Bike Tours.

Other writings from Heather Jacks includes: The Top Five Eco-Resorts (written for Google.com’s city guide), Flip This Magazine in Los Angeles, Moving Forward Magazine in New York, and 944 Magazine in Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Diego, and Lost Angeles.

Jacks has also written MILF notes, of which an excerpt can be found at http://www.heatherjacks.com/cowsareinthejungle.pdf.

In 2008, Jacks worked on the production team for gothic rocker Marilyn Manson tour, Eat Me/Drink Me.

Awards and Recognition

While working for Starbucks, Jacks wrote a letter to Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks Coffee Company, expressing her concern for the children in her community who were not being read to simply because parents were unable to read to them. Jacks shared this vision with co-creator Sharre Littrell. Schultz donated $1,000.00 to start a book drive for a local library. This vision grew to great heights and is today known as The Family Literacy Center in Northern California. This $1,000.00 donation coupled with the spirit of Jacks as well as her determination now serves three counties and over 150,000 people in northern California. The project later spread to Seattle Washington. Former California Governor, Gary Davis, wrote Jacks a civic commendation letter for her vision and leadership.

Jacks was awarded the Hall of Excellence Awards from Redding, California and Seattle, Washington. Jacks also received the honorable title of “Volunteer of the Year” from the Make-A-Wish Foundation for four years running until 2003. The RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Project) organization also recognized Jacks for “Volunteer of the Year” in those same four years.