Wow . Each week I think it cannot get any better! I know I should tell people what I plan to see each week but even though things are posted I never know what I am doing until I do it. Plus my week usually starts on Wednesday's just to be odd. And I know I use to write about stuff immediately (usually the same night) so you can hear it first time hear from me. But I am not sure how many people really read my blog that often. I only know that five have subscribed but I can see the numbers are higher than that. So enough goofing around. On with the blog
My week started with going to OB's farmers market where the Beach Music Mafia books music every week. This week it was Chelsea Flor and Billy Fritz who's band name is Dreamstalker. Now Chelsea and Billy are two of my closest friends and I have heard them before but I went down to check them out because I just wanted to hear them again! -Grin- They sounded pretty good but they didn't have a sound guy and it could have sounded better. Now I really only came down to see them and I wasn't expecting to stay out that night but the next band needed some of Chelsea's equipment and so I stuck around and listened to them but for the life of me I cannot remember who they were, I am terrible with names at first. I just remember it was the first name of the lead singer, but they really had the crowd happy and dancing. But there is always a good crowd at farmers market and they always know they can find some good music down there. So after helping Chelsea pack up her equipment. She asked if I was going to Open Mike at Portugalia up the street in OB on Newport. I had been before but wasn't originally going that night but decided to go for it.
As it was I got to hear Chelsea and Billy play again because another friend didn't make their spot and they sounded the best I had heard them yet. I was really glad I came because I got to hear Podunk Nowhere and they are so good and the sound system in Portugalia is so great it was a pleasure listening even to the people who I didn't know who showed up for a mike position and had never been heard before. Another notable folk singer I heard this night was Laura Kuebel a really good song writer and excellent guitarist and a sweet voice.
So the next music day for me was Fri (I took a break but I heard I missed hearing Julie Mack on Thursday Club @ Portugalia and some really good tunes and dancing music @ Canes...Oh Well, can't be everywhere But on Fri I went with Chelsea to hear her and Billy do a gig up in Carmel Mountain at the Hot Java Cafe with Laura Kuebel and Steven Ybarra.
and Whoa this was a good night of music!!! Each of the three people(bands) did two rounds in a half hour set starting with Laura. Laura's first set was good but the later one was better because she didn't have to deal with a local who was being a bit of a twit and haranguing her a bit. But she handled the heckler with style and did her set with finesse. Next came Dreamstalker with Billy and Chelsea and they were hot that night everything as far as I was concerned was sounding perfect (all artists whether it is music or painting/drawing are their worst critics) Chelsea knocked them dead, as usual! Next came Steven Ybarra whom I had never seen before and I was in for a treat. Steven writes wonderful and soulful songs and sings from deep in his soul. Her was backed up tonight by two friends a saxophonist and a guitar player and he play guitar as well. Later another guitarist whom I am sorry I forgot his name. (I need to start bringing a little notebook with me!) But I was really impressed with his playing. Apparently he just got back from Hawaii, had not played with anyone in a while much less Steven and he picked up playing with him like they have been doing it for years even though most of Steven's songs were new. Also on a side note he plays with an acoustic guitar that has a hole in it next to the normal hole you find on a guitar and apparently it made no difference to the way the guitar sounds. I would have thought otherwise.
The it started all over again with Laura this time without the heckler. And she did a terrific job. Then Dreamstalker came up again and on top of Chelsea being really in top form tonight Billy sounded great with his back up vocal which sometimes he doesn't quite sing them into the mike but tonight he right on and great to boot. But Chelsea decided to leave the crowd wanting more by playing a cover tune of Led Zepplin's "Battle of Evermore" on a Twelve string guitar. That left us flabbergasted and wanting more. Usually Chelsea does her own insightful songs but she has been playing in bands since she was a kid with her sisters, and just recently come back to the music scene. Her day job is designing Wedding dresses. Steven Ybarra was so impressed by the Last song Chelsea did that he almost didn't to want to come up to play his last set. But he did and he gave it is all and it was impressive as well! All in all I almost wanted to stop listening to music for the week because it was such a magical night of music I didn't want to stop it continuing in my ears for the rest of the week. But the next day was the Adams Avenue Street fair. Where you can always guarantee you'll find great music.
I went to the fair early on Saturday with my Daughter to hear my friend Billy Fritz from Dreamstalker play in his other band "The Coyote Problem" @ 10:30 am. Billy is a great bass guitarist. At least in my opinion which of course could be biased. There is so much great music at the fair each year that it would be impossible to hear it all, so I can only tell you excerpts from what me and my daughter saw. Well Coyote Problem was great but we expected that Peter Bolland is a really good songwriter and has a great voice, his guitar work is not bad either. But we left before the end of his set to see if we could catch any other acts on before they were done and we had not heard any of them before. We ended up at the Lestat's stage listening to the Ledesma Brothers who did a 9 or 10 minute instrumental to start it off. The brothers both play lead guitar and switch off on playing rhythm. My daughter and I wondered what it was like for those two being teenagers in their house I bet it was always battle of the bands. They were great guitarists but once they started the next song we decided to leave because the singing wasn't up to what we were expecting from such great musicians, but we were probably not being fair. We went to a couple of other stages and listened to various bands that were technically good but doing covers. Some just had a weird stage show or frontman/lead singer who needed attention or did it to make up for their music, which was ok. They definitely didn't need the antics but maybe they had no faith in their singing abilities. We heard some flamenco at the World Beat stage and lots of great blues on the blues stage, but it wasn't what we were looking for right then. We ran across Chelsea and a couple of other friends at the Demille's stage where we saw a little of the end of Marie Haddad show. "But we really didn't see enough of it to give you opinion. What we did hear we liked. From there we checked other stages but ended up going back to Lestat's which had the best acts as far as we were concerned. Met up with a lot of music friends there but we went in and listened to the end of Bart Mendoza's set.
Then next we heard one of the best acts they had that day which was Sven-Eric Seaholm who usually plays with "The Wild Truth". But he also does his acoustic thing on his own and since he is the singer-songwriter for the group it is just as good if not better because you can hear just him singing and playing. It was a really good set too! We spent the next 40 minutes socializing with friends in the front of Lestat's so we missed Joanie Mendenhall. Next was "The Cathryn Beeks Ordeal" which if you ever read my blog you know I can't say enough about Cathryn and her band. But we decided we have seen her and this was an opportunity to see people we haven't seen before so we hightailed it back to the Demille's stage to watch Jocelyn Celaya. I have seen Jocelyn play at the roots festival and have talked about her before. I believe she is a master guitarist and plays classical and Flamenco and her own songs as well. In fact she informed us she just passed the first two rounds to have one of her songs nominated for a Grammy. So we will keep our fingers crossed for her. I didn't think she could improve her guitar skills but apparently I was wrong because she picked up this slap fingering technique from a guy over in Ireland whom she sat with until she had it mastered and she played it for us. We hightailed it back to Lestat's to see if we could still see Cathryn play but her set was over. The next guy on totally enthralled my daughters attention. His name is Tom Griesgraber and he plays an instrument call a stick and it sounds like no other instrument and is really too hard to describe. You just have to go see this guy play and you'll be hooked too! After Tom's set we looked around and most of my friends had moved on or left and looking at the time we decided to beat it to the nearest bus stop because the city bus system doesn't really support the street fair very well. While there we tried to cal my friend doc to see if he had truly left or if he was still there. He was and he said he would give us a ride so we went back to the fair to watch Billy Watson played. My daughter wasn't sure at first thinking she didn't have the blues and wasn't really in the mood to hear it but she made a common mistake she realized because not all blues is john Lee hooker or a depressing song and she found that out quickly with Billy Watson. She had a blast. She loved his playing and thought his energy on stage was electrifying. I don't think she will make that correlation again And Billy Watson brought the house down that night! The whole crowd was dancing and having a ball and on top of everything else, behind Billy's stage you could see the fireworks show that was going off at the Stadium. And it was an awesome display at that!
So earlier in the day my friend Chelsea told us about a jam session and asked me my daughter and Doktor Dave if we were going to go and we were kind of non-committal to the whole thing. But we decided after the Billy Watson show, to go to it! We headed for the spot and heard the music and Dave went to park his van. We tried calling Chelsea for more info but were unable to get her at that point and figured the music was too loud to hear her phone. So we bounded up the steps but slowed down a bit because it looked more like a private party than a jam session. But Sven-Eric Seaholm and Scott Wilson were jamming away with a few people I didn't know. But Sven saw us and said hello guys and waved us in, a few minutes later he handed his guitar to Doc and Doktor Dave sat in with Scott and the boys and Sven got a much needed breather. But it was all good they invited us in and told us to eat and enjoy. It was a great little music jam session and was really a party for Sven's Cousin by marriage. Then Sven jumped back up and it was everyone who could play an instrument up and rockin' us with old covers and dance tunes, like Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" and other oldies. Which is still running through my head!!< Grin>We (meaning everyone who wasn't playing) danced and we bopped our heads for a long time before the security guy said the party had to end. By then The boys had to stop anyway after playing most of the day and night. So that was my week of music….So far? Technically, my week wasn't over until Wednesday but I haven't been back out since Saturday, I didn't even return for the rest of the Street fair like I was going to, I just had such a good time this week I wanted to dwell on it a little. So that's it I'm out till I feel the need to clue you in to San Diego's wonderful Music Scene. If your not out there, you need to be You don't know what your missing because even if I describe it to you in Technicolor detail you will still never understand until you get out there and experience it your self!!!
Ciao
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