MyWeek in Music May 23rd to May 30th
by Scott Zensen
Photos by: Scott Zensen
Cool First off! Let me tell everyone the the news section is up, doesn't mean I will always have news but it means after today you won't see site news here on the new issue. And there will be some new news going up this week. Before we get to this weeks issue let me tell everyone that my Birthday is coming up on June 12th. And everyone is invited!
Now I am not someone special but I know a lot of people so I am inviting anyone who wants to come! Most of my friends will have already received an message from me inviting them. If you haven't it just means you haven't received it yet but if I know you, then you will! But I want everyone!!! Even you who read this each week but don't go to all the shows to come out and wish me Happy Birthday. It is a Tuesday which isn't great a lot of people go to work the next day. I will be celebrating all week but I want people to come on my Birthday at Desi N Friend's at 2734 Lytton St San Diego. Just off of Rosecrans street. Lytton is a short street opposite where the naval training camp entrance use to be! Cathryn Beeks was very gracious in letting me pick a few of the bands for the night. Cathryn is the bomb! So many are my favorite performer's in town (But not all my favorites). Fortunately I have a lot of friends and a lot of them I actually wanted to play! But its a Tuesday and its not an all day gig. LOL! Beggars can't be choosers, so I am extremely lucky to have whom I picked to play available to play on my birthday. There will probably be a lot of friends who show up and you never know who might be asked to play a song or two. The Line up will be 8:00 Johnny Different, 8:45 Keith Haman, 9:15 Joe Cardillo, 9:45 Marie Haddad, 10:20 Barbara Nesbitt, 11:00 Podunk Nowhere, 11:45 Mary Grasso. And possibly a few surprises but no guarantee's! But it should be a blast no matter what!
I would like to fill the place to capacity if possible and have a really great time for everyone. So please...everyone come and have a drink with me, maybe buy some food and listen to some of the best music in town at one of the best venues in town. Desi makes great food and even better drinks, maybe the best drinks in town. I wasn't sure we would be able to pull it off, but its a go! So as long as everyone shows up! It should be a bash and if you don't come, that's okay!, but your gonna miss a great night!
Now on to MyWeek In Music! This week I only went to a couple of shows but they were big shows. Either with a lot of artists or just special shows! Hmmm...I started to write about last week's Desi N Friends gig because I thought that I forgot to talk about it because I didn't have any pictures up. But I did talk about the surprise performance of Sweettooth that night and how impressed with Josh Wright and his band Eight Minutes To Twilight. If you get a chance to see these guys perform...actually both bands then you will indeed have had a great week in music. This last week I was a few hours late getting my issue out so I never made it out to any shows on Wednesday. Not even Farmer's Market the easiest venue for me to get to! So my first foray out to music this week was on Thursday!
I went to go see my friend Scott Wilson play at Canes. Now this was a last minute gig and he wasn't able to get anything together with the other bands that night to promote the show. But I already knew about the show and I was talking with him the day before about it, so I was reminded he was playing at Canes again. Anyway, I had seen Scott play almost a year earlier in the same venue. That in itself isn't significant but that night I really heard Scott play well with a slightly smaller band but the sound was awful on that night. entirely not Scott's fault, but I was more happy with the sound tonight. Scott sounded great, he has a seven piece band that plays a rock style that is a little pop, a little heavy rock, a little punk, always good and a lot of talent behind the songwriting and the music. Tonight he had the extra added problem of having a different drummer (his was out of town) who did not have time to practise the songs. they sounded great but I have heard them sound better.
There were two other bands on the ticket that night. One called "The Burning of Rome" and the other called "Hangface". Now I wasn't able to stay long enough to hear HangFace but I will tell you they were a young band and they were out of towner's. They had pulled up in a large truck and a trailer since they are on a tour bus. But what was impressive about this band other than an almost professional touring bus. But the amount of equipment this band had! I counted at least twenty guitars, (the band wasn't that large) huge, sonic drum kit and lots of other instruments. Apparently if I had been able to stay I would probably still be deaf this week. But all those guitars were a beautiful site! I did get to hear the Burning of Rome another younger band. It reminded me a lot of a cross between, Oingo Boingo and the B-52's. Their style was very close to a complete blending of both those 80''s or 90's bands. Some of the showmanship was similar too but I could have done without the dries vampire blood on their faces.! And yet it was completely their own sound! it was completely refreshing to hear something very different again. I hate it when you get in a small rut and listen to all the same music over and over and never get surprised by what you are hearing. So many younger bands now day's sound so similar to one another its almost tough to figure out which band sang what song on the radio. I always can! But many bands are very close to one another nowadays. I don't often go to Canes just because they hardly ever sell out but they always have good rocking bands there. I would go more often but I can't always afford their covers. Tonight I was on a guest list but it was only $6 bucks to get in. Canes does have big crowds though, don't get me wrong but normally its not in the middle of the week. But it was a really good show, too bad it was last minute and there wasn't much of any crowd. but it was still good music and a;ways preferable than just sitting home and watching tv.
Stayed home on Friday thinking I would see plenty of music this weekend. I went out on Saturday mid afternoon to a house concert in Rancho Santa Fe. Six Palms is actually a venue I used to talk about in my way early blogs about music. I often went up to see a show with Gregory Page or Michael Tiernan at this location. Ttoday though it was a big show! Approximately 10+ acts and all female which was billed as "Viva Las Divas" and it was a day of divas indeed. Some of my favorite female singers around town were all here for this music extravaganza. Now to be fair their were a couple of guys who showed up to play with the women. One happened to be Alex Depew who is a great violinist, definately one of the best I have ever heard. He played with a few of the female artists and then also go to do some solo work. It was a nice addition to the days music mix. The bill in descending order for this show was:
9:15 - 9:45 PM Jenn Grinels
8:30 - 9:00 PM Molly Jenson
7:45 - 8:15 PM Paige Aufhammer
- Last Raffle tickets pulled by Paige A. -
7:00 - 7:30 PM Jane Lui
6:15 - 6:45 PM Kerri Dopart
5:30 - 6:00 PM Kim Divine
4:45 - 5:15 PM Renata Youngblood
4:00 - 4:30 PM Barbara Nesbitt
3:45 - 4:00 Raffle Ticket Pull - Jessica Baron - Recognize NAMM/Sandy Jordan
2:45 - 3:15 PM Lindsey Yung
2:00 - 2:30 PM Veronica May
Six Palms was the venue which is at the lovely home of Chris Richards up in Rancho Sante Fe. The show was being headlined by Jenn Grinels who is soon to be selling a new CD if she is not already doing so! The raffle was put on by Guitars in the Classroom and they were selling raffle tickets for a $1600 dollar guitar w/case and a couple of music memorabilia prizes. Tickets were available for a minimum of $5 for one, and multiple's of ticket's for a larger amount. I missed the two first performers because my ride was going up a little later. Doktor Dave Graciously took a couple of pics of those first two performers. Veronica May got to do a second short set for the photographers that were there, from what I heard not many were in attendance for the early performers. Veronica is an amazing guitar player and occasionally goes into a slap style of playing the guitar and there is even a piece of sandpaper permanently affixed to the guitar for a scratching effect. But its not a gimick just good guitar playing. Lindsey Yung I am sorry I missed because she is one of my favorite keyboard singer songwriters in town.
I came to the show with Barbara Nesbitt who was cool enough to give me a ride up to the show. She had another gig to go to so I had to make other arrangements to get home. Barbara is my favorite singer songwriter, so if you are going to have a show with the title "Divas", then Barbara definitely deserves to be there! She always blows me away with her beautiful voice. Renata Youngblood took stage next. I had never heard her before but I had heard of her. she has a really smooth style of singing. I really liked her songs they were moving and very well written, I definitely will have to get some of her songs and listen to them in a quiet setting to hear all of its complexities and melody's without outside influences. She brought up her friend Kim Devine to sing a couple of songs. Kim is down from her new home in L.A. for a day as a Diva. She took stage next and showed us why we like he so much. A very pleasant voice and quite a songwriter herself. I have teased her occasionally about her height but whatever she gave up for height she more than makes up for in talent, and she is a beautiful woman as all of the women here today are!
The Kerri Dopart Trio were up next. Kerri Dopart is partially responsible for getting me back into photgraphy. I used to be a professional photog' when I was in my twenties. But she is the one who convinced me I needed to get pictures into my (at that time blog) articles. And I thank her for that I hadn't realized how much I missed taking pictures. Kerri is a really talented and pretty woman who tried her hardest to get me recognized on MySpace for a while so she is also responsible as a catalyst for my moving it off of myspace and creating a website around the blog. Thank You Kerri! Kerri plays acoustic guitar and sings and writes in a country style but she sings it well, she is accompanied by Kim Bishop on box and Djembe and Heather who plays base. Anybody who knows me well, knows i am not a big fan of country. But I like what Kerri does, and maybe I just have to stop saying that because I still like everything I used to listen to, but my musical tastes are definitely changing. I listen to The Coyote Problem, Barbara Nesbitt and quite a few others now who are country or at least country alternative. Just not as happy with the old Conway Twitty twangier stuff. After Kerri came Jane Lui whom I also had heard of but not heard before. She was really good but I would like to hear her again in a better setting. Maybe Lestat's or something!
The sun was slowly starting to set during Kerri's set, so by the time Paige Aufhammer came up It was pretty much the twilight of early evening. she had another guitar player with her but I didn't catch his name. I don't know if he plays with her often but the last time I saw Paige was at a Listen Local gig at the Jumping Turtle in San Marcos. which was around a year ago or so. So its been a long time since i had heard her sing and now I am sorry I haven't tried to get out to any of her gigs more often. She really is a great singer and I had a lot of fun taking pictures of her and hearing her all over again. She also brought up Alex Depew up to play fiddle with her and anytime Alex plays....People listen. {grin} He is in my opinon one of the best fiddle/violin players in town. After Paige Cleared the stage Alex came up for a solo set and amazed us with his playing. He even did a "Yes" song and a rendition of a Michael Jackson song, "Smooth Criminal". it was simply amzing. Not that someone else couldn't play these songs but it was amazing how he played them on his violin with no back up yet you felt like a whole orchestra of musicians were behind him.
The last two performers were no slouch's either. Molly Jenson whom I also had never heard was up next and she brought a friend who played the box and guitar. Molly was captivating but I was getting tired and I think I wanted the evening to finish or something because I didn't listen as well as I could of so she is another person I am going to have to make sure I get out and see another one of her shows. Last up for the night and the headliner was Jenn Grinels. It was getting late and it was a later start than it was supposed to be and it had been a looong day. But still I had heard Jenn Before and I was curious about her new stuff for the new CD that is coming out this week I think? A really beutiful and talented woman. The first time I saw her was at one of Michael Tiernan's NAG shows at the Belly Up and I remember how impressed I was with her guitar playing and singing. She was powerful in her presentation that night. I have seen her in a play or two around town, because she also sings in musicals and stuff. But tonight I really liked what i heard but it wasn't what I was expecting. Perhaps it was getting late for her too but her new material is more introspective and about love and I think I was expecting vibrant and angry. Which was the last time I had seen her in this kind of setting. I think I will have to get her new CD and give it a quiet listening to as well. I really like the song tonight but I think I want to listen to it a little closer and when I was not so tired. It was a grea night and I think everyone who came had a really good time. I would just like to see a few more people show up for Chris's shows. But it was a Saturday during the day and there are lots of shows on a Saturday and lots of competition. It wasn't the sunniest of days but I am sure people were out and about having fun. Now if we could just steer them towards some of these shows?!!!
On Sunday I went to a show at Dizzy's. I have never been to Dizzy's before and it is in the middle of reconstruction. But I was here to listen to one of my favorite bands with some of my favorite people. The Coyote problem were having their CD Release show for their new CD "California". They had a few special guest like Sven-Eric Seaholm, Michael Tiernan,
there were to other really good musicians who were at the show but I lost my notebook and can't get a hold of anyone during the writing of this to add their names. Hopefully I will get their names before I publish this issue and you will be reading their names instead of this lame excuse. I had been waiting for this show for a while because my close friend Billy Fritz is in the band. I am also friends with Peter Bolland and Danny Cress but Billy and I have been friends for a good while now and we also share the same birthday and age. In fact there are a lot of other strange coincidences between us so I consider him like a long lost brother. If I ever learn to play guitar we have discussed being a band and I have a great band name for it that at this time I will keep to myself so someone else doesn't grab it. But if it ever happens. It will be a lot of fun!
The Coyote Problem is an alternative country style band. Sometime you can listen to them and hear a rock like song or country rock and other times it is country, but its not twangy, its just good music. Peter Bolland is an excellent song writer. His songs are introspective and sometimes deal with current issues that affect many people. I don't like to make comparisons but sometimes Coyote problem reminds me of The Eagles in style. They don't really sound like them, they sound like Coyote Problem (or Peter), so they are not clones or anything like that. Its just good music that makes you want to listen to it. Peter plays guitar and Danny plays drums (very hard) and Billy is the bass player. together they makes so pretty damn good music. Peter even wrote a song a few days before the show and played for us there first. even his band mates were treated to it for the first time as he had them go sit in the audience while he did the song. It was a great song so we can expect to hear it in some of their new shows and probably hear it on the next cd. A few songs were accompanied by Sven-Eric Seaholm and Michael Tiernan on backup singing. They were joined on a couple of songs by someone who played mandolin and another who played electric lead on a couple of songs, I'll find out who they were later once someone gets back to me. But it was a great release show. Everyone who showed up and paid admission were given the new cd. And they filled all the seats that were available. I always love to see that. A few friends showed up to listen but a lot of the people were not just musicians in support, they were people who came to hear The Coyote Problem play. For me that is the coolest thing that can happen at a show, I want people to come out to these shows because once they do I know they will be fans and be back to hear them again. And that is the whole point of this site.
Well that's it for MyWeek In Music this week. I will try to have the next issue back on track and ready early next week once i get things caught up!
Ciao
The OB Street Fair is Coming! The OB Street Fair is Coming!And I will be managing one of the Stages!
The 2007 lineup was announced May 17th
28th Annual Ocean Beach
Street Fair
Chili Cookoff and Fireworks Festival - June 23, 2007
Five Ocean Beach Stages-10am til 8pm
MAIN STAGE
- 10:00-10:02 TJ (National Anthem)
- 10:02-11:45 Deacon Moore Band
- 11:55-12:45 On the One
- 1:00-2:00 Cash’d Out
- 2:30-3:30 Taubab Krewe
- 3:50-5:00 Lady Dottie & the Diamonds
- 5:20-6:30 Vegitation
- 6:50-8:00 Agua Dulce
92107 STAGE
- 11:15-11:45 The Chi Club
- 12:15-1:00 Mike Pinto & The Mashers
- 1:30-2:15 Gadfly
- 2:45-3:45 The Grams
- 4:15-5:30 Deadline Friday
- 6:00-7:00 Shoestring Strap
BACON SUN STAGE
- 11:00-11:35 Sara Petite
- 12:00-12:40 Citizen Band
- 1:10-1:50 Bad Science Fiction
- 2:15-3:00 Jose Sinatra
- 3:20-4:00 Blizzard
- 4:20-5:00 Joey Harris & The Mentals
- 5:20-6:00 The Shambles
- 6:20-7:00 The Palominos
ARTISTS ALLEY
- 11:15-12:15 Israel Maldonado and Davy Carano
- 12:30-1:30 Danya Vaad & the Shimmy Sisters
- 1:50-2:45 Podunk Nowhere
- 3:00-4:00 Mas Grande
- 4:30-5:30 Jalopy
- 6:00-7:00 Tapwater
ACOUSTIC STAGE
- 11:45-11:55 Barry
-
- 12:00-12:40 Sheri Stoltzfus
- 12:45-1:25 Chelsea Flor
- 1:30-2:10 Barbara Nesbitt
- 2:15-3:20 Simeon Flick
- 3:30-4:10 Kent Johnson
- 4:15-4:50 Julie Mack
- 5:00-5:40 Anna Troy
- 5:45-6:15 Christopher Dale
OB Street Fair brought to you by these fine sponsors:
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