Musician Interviews
You might never expect a Ph.D, in anything to discover a passion for outdoor sidewalk busking. But for Dr. Bruce L. Thiessen — Dr BLT to the music world — it’s all part of the …
A one-time resident of Huntington, West Virginia, Iranian guitarist Farhad Bahrami arrived in San Diego in the early 1980s, bringing Persian music to the experimental Trummerflora Collective and serving as musical director for ensembles like …
When Arizona native Ashley E. Norton moved to Nashville, she landed an interesting gig hosting “songwriter rounds,” gatherings which featured groups of three or four songwriters on a stage. They rotated down the line, not …
Tamara Hartfield Paige, who is the orchestra director and department co-chair at San Diego’s School of Creative and Performing Arts, has been called a multi-instrumentalist, but that seems like a serious understatement. Asked for a …
For each successive rockin’ out generation, the search for a band name grows tougher, as scourers claim all the common nouns. Hometown fellows Z Matrix were no exception. “It’s very difficult to come up with …
“I have lived full-time in my van since 2015,” says singer/songwriter Tim Rose, who frequently plays Mission Bay Resort and Estancia La Jolla. “I first lived in a little Nissan NV200 on Oahu for about …
In late-2019, Daggers 86 was a band in its infancy. The initial seeds for the project were planted during a dinner Ryan Allen (Powerballs, Cedar Fire) had with John Mattos (Stewardess, Warsaw, Dreams Made Flesh). …
When Howard Mandel, President of the Jazz Journalists Association, emailed Louis Valenzuela to congratulate him on being selected a Jazz Hero by the organization, the guitarist almost missed it. “I didn’t recognize the name,” says …
Plant jam : Sixteen-year-old musician and aspiring botanist Isaac Guerrero attends San Diego Met High School on the campus of Mesa College, which he describes as “a college prep high school that allows students to …
Lyrical Groove’s Kendrick Dial, a Dallas native, came to San Diego in 2000 with the Navy. Since then, he’s called Chula Vista, Spring Valley, Downtown, and North Park home, and noted how each district boasts …
Work on the new album from Fine Then began on March 16, 2020, the day of the first covid stay-at-home announcement. Hugh J. Noble (Slum Summer, Seance Weather), who cofounded the band with Andrew Fitzgerald …
After a two-year hiatus, Queen Bee’s owner Alma Rodriguez is set to resume the annual Beatle Fair on March 26, promising a full day of music, talks, screenings, and shopping for all things related to …
“To be honest, when asked to describe my music, I won’t describe it,” says Justin Pearson. “I think words, specifically genres, are limiting and misleading. However, when I get asked what kind of music I …
Victor Baker knows guitars. For one thing, he’s been playing them professionally for years. For another, back in the late ‘90s, he decided to start building them as well. “I was teaching a ton of …
Since 1991, Kearny High grad Marc Intravaia has been collaborating musically with Eve Selis, who won Best Americana or Country at the 2008 San Diego Music Awards. “The best thing about maintaining a musical collaboration …
“Happy Together,” performed by the Turtles, came out on Valentine’s Day 1967, and hit number one on the Billboard charts on March 25. Though it’s often covered and enshrined in film, nobody seems to notice …