Pre-quarrantine Dirty Confetti

“Since mid-last year, Johno [Wells] and I have been co-hosting a series of once-a-month concerts at Morley Field called Modular On The Spot,” says Matthew Stewart (who has a band with Wells, June Water). “We just call it MOTS. I run sound, so we show up all ninja-like with my PA and make noise for a few hours, with at least four different artists at each event.” Though not the founders of the modular pop-ups, “There are now MOTS events in many cities. Johno and I didn't become aware until we started diving down the modular synth rabbit-hole last year, and found ourselves looking for venues for modular music here in San Diego. We took a pilgrimage up to a shop in L.A., Analogue Haven, apparently the first shop on U.S. soil to start selling modular Eurorack synths, and got educated. They told us about the events, and that the guys who were running MOTS here were effectively closing up shop, so we got in touch with them and volunteered -- politely begged -- to take over.” MOTS is planning to return to their ongoing location at Morley Field after the pandemic. For now, a Modular On The Spot Virtual Concert series is tentatively planned to launch Saturday, April 4 at 2pm on the MOTS YouTube channel, which includes an archive of pro-shot videos featuring past events. Livestream date and time subject to change.

Local classic country band Dirty Confetti just contributed a video of themselves covering Gretchen Wilson’s “Redneck Woman” to the SafeShow streaming hub with the trio seen playing outdoors this week alongside a country-style barn and wooden hobby horse. Seated a safe distance from each other, of course. The San Diego Performing Arts League and Arts Tix encourage anyone to record themselves singing a song from their favorite musical, so they can be uploaded to SafeShow and to their Instagram pages. Information about how to participate (along with technical requirements) can be found here.

“Chase those cooped-up blues away, turn up the computer speakers, smart TVs and Bluetooth speakers, and join us for a night of fun music and a few laughs,” says San Diego Musical Theatre musical director Don LeMaster of his new Facebook Live streaming performance show, co-created with singer Corey Hable. LeMaster has been the resident music director/conductor for San Diego Musical Theatre since its inception in 2006, having emceed at many theaters including Performance Riverside, Moonlight, Cygnet, Starlight, South Bay Cities, North Coast Rep, McCoy Rigby, and the Old Globe Theatre. In addition to the live streaming events, LeMaster is also posting quarantine-themed videos of himself preparing specialty food dishes, as well as existing performance footage of ensembles such as the SDMT Big Band, whose annual fundraising concert has been placed on hold until live audience performances can again be scheduled.

Lamb’s Player Theatre Associate Artists Geno and Nancy Carr videotaped themselves performing Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World" for their son Elliott, as part of the Lamb's Apart Together Cabaret, which features local creatives who love or are involved in musical theater singing their favorite showtunes and classic standards from home during the pandemic shutdown.

Bowen Stead

After the cancellation of nine SXSW shows due to the COVID-19 crisis, indie psych-pop rockers Elephant Stone is launching a weekly Tuesday livestream, with each episode featuring a different topic or theme. For the first edition on March 31 at 6pm, frontman Rishi Dhir (Mein, Brian Jonestown Massacre) will be playing the sitar, as well as providing a sitar info session. “This stream will be interactive and fans are free to ask questions in real time,” says the band. Since releasing their self-titled album, Elephant Stone toured with the Zombies and collaborated the Dandy Warhols on an album of remixes, with A-list producers such as Jace Lasek (the Besnard Lakes) and Marcus Paquin (Arcade Fire).