Jacob Turnbloom

The ongoing Seaport Sessions pop-up music and arts festival has been livestreaming the Seaport Village performances online, presented by the Casbah, Vinyl Junkies, and 91X FM. The January 18 edition will feature Mrs. Magician/First Wave Hello guitarist Jacob Turnbloom, who has also played with Ken Andrews, the Grave Walks, Blessure Grave, and Swami John Reis. He went solo around 2015 with singles such as “Reborn Boys” b/w “Heartbreaker,” released via Thrill Me Records. His most recent album, Cemetery Luau, was self-released and recorded with Tommy Garcia and mixed by Sean O’Donnell (Bad Credit, Reeve Oliver). An 180gm vinyl edition was issued, with 100 copies bubblegum pink and 150 copies of standard black vinyl, and a digital download card included in each sleeve. “The label is called Cheddar Goblin Records,” he told the Reader. “I started it to release my own music and art, but I’m also going to be releasing solo projects from my friends, and other projects of mine on tangible formats.” A few weeks ago, he debuted a comedic video for his track “Ride Past the Waves of the Future.” Also appearing at Seaport Sessions will be Matthew Caws of Nada Surf.

Donna Larsen

Singer-songwriter Donna Larsen performs acoustic music and has written several songs geared for children’s books, which she co-creates and self-publishes with collaborating artists. Her new CD and book set, In My Own Back Yard, offers an illustrated full-color sing-along picture songbook for the whole family, paired with an accompanying soundtrack CD. “It has 16 songs about all that is real and imaginary in a child’s backyard,” says Larsen, who is selling the self-published book via Amazon. “This has been years in the making. You can keep your kids busy with this book for 50 minutes. It has absolutely gorgeous art by Michelle Reilly, and look for the hidden faeries on every spread.” The CD sports world-class musicianship and production, including keyboardists Ray Briz and Scott Gorham (Cher, Richard Marx), and producer Josquin Des Pres. “School parents may want to purchase it,” notes Larsen. “Ms. Denise Evans Carroll [a SD Unified School District teacher since 1990] is still teaching from it, as far as I know, but doesn’t have the CD that I just completed recently.” The CD was mastered at Noisy Cricket Studio.

Christopher Hoffee

With over a dozen albums to his credit, Christopher Hoffee (Truckee Brothers, the Makeup Sex, Mystery Lights) makes music at his studio Chaos Recorders. He spent the early ‘90s with San Diego-based Blacksmith Union, who signed with Burt Bacharach’s publishing company and recorded three albums with Hoffee. He next co-founded locals Fivecrown, releasing two albums on his own label Populuxe Records. His multimedia art-and-music side project Atom Orr, founded in 2002, has been a presence on MTV and in indie films. A new 11-song Atom Orr album drops this week, As If Tomorrow, “Fully written, recorded, mixed, and mastered during all of this COVID-19, riots, locusts, [and] murder hornets,” says Hoffee. “Just waiting for frozen hail on fire at any moment here in 2020. Sobering times indeed, though at times for myself, anything but sober. Quite a lot of cinematic instrumentation on this one, though with COVID-19, it mostly came together remotely. Very odd for me, but hearing it, you wouldn’t know it was done that way…they all brought heart and soul to these songs, recording them in their homes, all over the country; San Diego, Los Angeles, Nashville, Alabama, New York, even from Munich, Germany.”

Tori Roze Hot Mess

A new Tori Roze and the Hot Mess video is streaming online for her song “My Life,” concerning and supporting ocean conservation. “We are inventing this as we go, so trust the process and yourself,” she says, “because education is important, because community is important, because jobs are important, because love is important, because animals are important, because the Earth is important, because the ocean is important, because people are important. Does any of modern civil society even matter if it doesn’t have people to make it function properly? No, it doesn’t. Today is proof.” Roze is also utilizing her weekly Wednesday Facebook livestream show to support her favorite social passions. “All through June, I will be donating the tips I receive from Costume Karaoke to various charitable causes and tripling the donation. It’s Pride Month and Ocean Conservancy Month, in addition to all of these causes that continue to need our love and support. Show up for the livestream, stay for the cause.”

Bloodstone

“I’m releasing The Chosen One album this week on all digital formats,” says Erick Lamont Fentress, aka Bloodstone the Street Preacher. Nominated for Best Hip-Hop Or Rap Album at this year’s San Diego Music Awards for his Gameface EP, Bloodstone cites influences such as Suga Free, House of Pain, Deep Rooted, Young Buck, Triple Six Mafia, and Devin the Dude. He began as a member of the rap group Partners in Rhyme, later co-founding Tha S.E.T., whose album Trickeration Foe Life was released in 1996. His own label B-Up Records released Tha S.E.T.’s second album, Game Goes On, in 1998. After going solo, his Bloodstone the Street Preacher full-length was nominated for a 2005 San Diego Music Award. Around 2009, Bloodstone teamed up with his rapper wife, Princess Rhyme, for a duo collaboration. The Bloodstone full-length Life of Rhyme was nominated Best Hip-Hop Album at the 2013 San Diego Music Awards. He resurfaced last year with a self-released CD-R. New tracks available for streaming online include “Go” and “Dreed (Drunk Off Weed).”