The sometimes unpredictable path to motherhood

Academy Award-nominated Andra Day began singing at Chula Vista’s First United Methodist Church, then studied music at the School of Creative and Performing Arts. Her 2012 cover of Jessie J’s “Mamma Knows Best” peaked at number two on the YouTube Music Charts, resulting in her signing to Warner Bros. Records. Her debut album Cheers to the Fall earned a Best R&B Album nomination at the 2016 Grammy Awards, where she was also up for Best R&B Performance for the song “Rise Up.” As a follow-up to her covid-19 benefit single “Make Your Troubles Go Away,” Day released a cover of Billie Holiday’s “All of Me,” in advance of her Oscar-nominated starring role in The United States vs. Billie Holiday, a 2021 Hulu biopic about the late singer. This month, Day appears in Eggs Over Easy, a new Discovery+ streaming special that “investigates the often taboo subject of infertility in the black community and brings black women together for an enlightening and empowering dialogue about the sometimes unpredictable path to motherhood.” Keshia Knight Pulliam narrates the program, which also features black women, doctors, and fertility advocates who share their personal experiences including miscarriage, IVF, ovarian cysts, uterine fibroids, and other reproductive issues.

“We’re putting the band back together with all original members,” says acid-jazz group Price of Dope. The band came up in the 1990s, playing beach venues like Winstons and the Catamaran. Songs from their debut CD were used for Rob Machado’s MTV surf videos and frequently featured on local TV and radio. The group split in 1999 when saxophonist Cochemea Gastelum aka Cheme Gastelum (Creedle) and Dave Carano joined Robert Walter (Creedle, Greyboy Allstars) in Robert Walter’s 20th Congress. Soon after, Jeff Kelley, Andy Holmes, Christian Schinelli, and Ben Moore came together to form Pocket. Moore left Pocket in late 2008 and was replaced by another Price of Dope vet, organist James Cummings, though he left in early 2012, along with Price of Dope bassist Christian Schinelli (who joined Crash & the Burns, alongside former Dirty Sweet members).

Saxophonist Gastelum, who grew up in Spring Valley, has delved into the jazz world. The 1990 graduate of Monte Vista High School relocated to New York City, where he records and performs. The last Price of Dope reunions were in January 2011 at Bar Pink and September 2011 at Gallagher’s in Ocean Beach. The upcoming performance takes place March 26 at Wintons.

Fronted by Sully Sullivan, the Sully Band has a funky new single covering Albert Collins’ 1980 track “If You Love Me Like You Say,” from the band’s upcoming Let’s Straighten It Out! album. According to Sullivan, “I’ve been a fan of the blues forever, artists like Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, and John Lee Hooker, but Albert wasn’t really on my radar. Then, during the making of this album, we were looking for certain songs about love and found this Albert Collins gem and it was love at first listen. Since then, I’ve become a huge fan of The Iceman, and even though we put a bit of a New Orleans spice on our version, I still wanted to bring in a player really steeped in blues to handle the guitar lead, out of respect for Albert. Fortunately, I knew a young San Diego-based blues guitar phenom, Anthony Cullins, and he came into the studio and cut the track live with us, and absolutely killed it.” Due March 11, the album features ten ‘60s and ‘70s soul, blues, and R&B tunes, curated by Grammy-winning producer Chris Goldsmith (Blind Boys of Alabama, Ben Harper) and tracked at Henson Recording Studio in Hollywood (formerly A&M Studios).

Asked to describe his music, native San Diegan Adam Gnade says “The louder songs are like a midnight head-on collision on the 70 West — the sounds of cars hitting cars, metal crunching, glass shattering and spraying across the highway - then silence, followed by God and the devil trying to figure out which one gets you. The quieter ones are like [Led Zeppelin’s] ‘Going to California’ played by big-rig drivers or sad waitresses. Music writers sometimes call it ‘spoken word,’ but I hate spoken word. I’m just into nontraditional vocals.” Gnade collects his books and audio recordings into a series titled We Live Nowhere and Know No One, which unfolds over novels, novellas, and writing released on vinyl and cassette. His new book, After Tonight, Everything Will Be Different, takes place in San Diego and features “taco shops and rundown beach apartments, on the amusement park boardwalk at 3 am, and in cars bound for Tijuana and drunken glory...this is a book of deli sub sandwiches, endless burritos, eggplant parmesan, the magnificence of good sourdough bread, of box brownies and Nacho Cheese Doritos, rolled tacos and the perfect tortilla. After Tonight, Everything Will Be Different is a raging, ecstatic, troubled book that shows a world of food and a world of life, each inextricable from the other.”

After only playing a handful of shows, Augustana were signed by major label Epic Records, who released their debut All the Stars and Boulevards in 2005. Produced by Brendan O’Brien (STP, Pearl Jam), the album’s title single was for a while the sixth most requested track on L.A.’s KROQ 106.7 FM. Their hit song “Boston” reached platinum sales status. The band’s 2008 full-length Can’t Love Can’t Hurt debuted on the Billboard Top 200 chart at number 21. Their self-titled third album, released by Epic Records in early 2011, was recorded in L.A. with Grammy Award-winning producer/engineer Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, Norah Jones, etc.) It only sold around 29,000 copies in the U.S. By comparison, All the Stars and Boulevards sold over 345,000 U.S. copies, while Can’t Love Can’t Hurt sold 121,000 U.S. copies.

Their fourth studio album Life Imitating Life dropped in 2014, recorded in Rhinebeck, NY and Nashville, TN with producer John O’Mahony (Coldplay, Metric, Kashmir). After several band members departed Augustana, frontman Dan Layus released his debut solo album, Dangerous Things, in 2016. He returns to San Diego as Augustana to play the Casbah on Tuesday, January 25.