Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Close to Home — What it’s like on the street where you live
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
KBong and Johnny Cosmic take a moment to experience reality
New album Spirit of the Light benefitted from the extra time
Spirit of the Light, new from KBong & Johnny Cosmic, unfolds as an album’s worth of reggae inspiration. No doctrinaire preaching the necessity of adhering to the strictures of Rastafarian “livity,” but a bright and rich sound celebrating universal love (“Spirit of the Light”), prayers for peace (“Can’t Take This Fighting”), and communing with the ineffable (“Whisper In The Wind”). The Beatles’ “With A Little Help From My Friends” goes down easy near an actual Beach Boy, Mike Love, helping plant the “Ganja In the Garden.”
Hard to believe it got started with a ukulele. “I took a [ukulele] class in seventh grade,” remembers KBong, sometimes known as Kevin Bong, who grew up in O’ahu, Hawai’i. “We had a twelve-piece ensemble and we'd perform at hotels in Waikiki. We'd pair up with the hula class and they would dance while we played. I encourage anyone wanting to learn an instrument to start with the ukulele. My favorite player Jake Shimabukuro is from O'ahu and is recognized worldwide.”
Video:
KBong & Johnny Cosmic: "Honey for the Soul"
He started in young on songwriting, too. “Writing songs has always been second nature to me, especially when I was going through my teenage years. Processing friendships, relationships, etcetera, was a challenge. Music was and is a way to deal with those emotions. I typically start with chords. I have historically come up with stuff through freestyling. There's something about letting yourself flow and not overthinking anything. It's in those moments that a song might be channeled through you from a higher power.”
He spent his childhood in the town of Mililani. “I remember the sunshine. But also the diversity in ethnicity. There's a whole mix of cultures represented from Hawaiians to Japanese, Filipinos, and more." Armed with a uke, he had no problem getting off on a reggae bent. “Reggae music was always playing on the radio in Hawai'i. Bob Marley's music resonated with the island culture and spirit of Hawai'i. It was his music I discovered first, then I dove into the local Hawai'i reggae scene. Bands such as Natural Vibrations and Ooklah The Moc were big inspirations to me. I also enjoyed some of the punk rock stuff happening in California. Blink 182, Green Day and Pennywise were in rotation too.”
Eventually, he added other instruments to his repertoire. “I play the keyboards with the reggae group Stick Figure. We've been touring for 13 years. When I perform as KBong, I play the electric guitar. If I had to choose or pick which is my strongest, I’d say the acoustic guitar. It just has that feel, the connection that I resonate with. It’s always with me when I write songs.”
He hit San Diego in 2004, having no idea ‘til then “how amazing Mexican food is. I had no idea what carne asada was until I moved here. After 15 years of living here, I still discover new things about the city. I have recently been hiking a lot in Mission Trails Regional Park.”
KBong and his long-running pal Johnny Cosmic will hit the stage as a duo, to perform September 13 at the Rady Shell, opening for Tribal Seeds and The Movement. But they also sometimes expand up to a five-piece, adding bassist Marcus Agundes, drummer Eric Bumb, and keyboardist Andrew Maloney. “We all bring our own energy, but it's together when it really gels. The chemistry isn't quite the same when one of us isn't around.” The band drove north to cut most of Spirit of the Light at Great Stone studios in Oakland, recording songs that Bong and Cosmic wrote together. “I can say that we wanted to release this album sooner, but the extra time led to some fruitful breakthroughs and additional songs. We feel the album is now a complete collection of our work.”
They applied for permission to use Alan Watts’ voice for a big 12-minute jam at the finish. No rasta, but a guru to beatniks and hippies, the British-American writer and orator died in 1973, years before the musicians in this piece were born. But he just might have something to say to today. “I have a sort of suggestion,” intones Watts from beyond the grave. “Before we decide either to save the planet or to destroy it, we pause for a moment of silence…experience reality as reality is.”
Here's something you might be interested in.
KBong and Johnny Cosmic take a moment to experience reality
New album Spirit of the Light benefitted from the extra time
KBong and Johnny Cosmic take a moment to experience reality
New album Spirit of the Light benefitted from the extra time
Spirit of the Light, new from KBong & Johnny Cosmic, unfolds as an album’s worth of reggae inspiration. No doctrinaire preaching the necessity of adhering to the strictures of Rastafarian “livity,” but a bright and rich sound celebrating universal love (“Spirit of the Light”), prayers for peace (“Can’t Take This Fighting”), and communing with the ineffable (“Whisper In The Wind”). The Beatles’ “With A Little Help From My Friends” goes down easy near an actual Beach Boy, Mike Love, helping plant the “Ganja In the Garden.”
Hard to believe it got started with a ukulele. “I took a [ukulele] class in seventh grade,” remembers KBong, sometimes known as Kevin Bong, who grew up in O’ahu, Hawai’i. “We had a twelve-piece ensemble and we'd perform at hotels in Waikiki. We'd pair up with the hula class and they would dance while we played. I encourage anyone wanting to learn an instrument to start with the ukulele. My favorite player Jake Shimabukuro is from O'ahu and is recognized worldwide.”
Video:
KBong & Johnny Cosmic: "Honey for the Soul"
He started in young on songwriting, too. “Writing songs has always been second nature to me, especially when I was going through my teenage years. Processing friendships, relationships, etcetera, was a challenge. Music was and is a way to deal with those emotions. I typically start with chords. I have historically come up with stuff through freestyling. There's something about letting yourself flow and not overthinking anything. It's in those moments that a song might be channeled through you from a higher power.”
He spent his childhood in the town of Mililani. “I remember the sunshine. But also the diversity in ethnicity. There's a whole mix of cultures represented from Hawaiians to Japanese, Filipinos, and more." Armed with a uke, he had no problem getting off on a reggae bent. “Reggae music was always playing on the radio in Hawai'i. Bob Marley's music resonated with the island culture and spirit of Hawai'i. It was his music I discovered first, then I dove into the local Hawai'i reggae scene. Bands such as Natural Vibrations and Ooklah The Moc were big inspirations to me. I also enjoyed some of the punk rock stuff happening in California. Blink 182, Green Day and Pennywise were in rotation too.”
Eventually, he added other instruments to his repertoire. “I play the keyboards with the reggae group Stick Figure. We've been touring for 13 years. When I perform as KBong, I play the electric guitar. If I had to choose or pick which is my strongest, I’d say the acoustic guitar. It just has that feel, the connection that I resonate with. It’s always with me when I write songs.”
He hit San Diego in 2004, having no idea ‘til then “how amazing Mexican food is. I had no idea what carne asada was until I moved here. After 15 years of living here, I still discover new things about the city. I have recently been hiking a lot in Mission Trails Regional Park.”
KBong and his long-running pal Johnny Cosmic will hit the stage as a duo, to perform September 13 at the Rady Shell, opening for Tribal Seeds and The Movement. But they also sometimes expand up to a five-piece, adding bassist Marcus Agundes, drummer Eric Bumb, and keyboardist Andrew Maloney. “We all bring our own energy, but it's together when it really gels. The chemistry isn't quite the same when one of us isn't around.” The band drove north to cut most of Spirit of the Light at Great Stone studios in Oakland, recording songs that Bong and Cosmic wrote together. “I can say that we wanted to release this album sooner, but the extra time led to some fruitful breakthroughs and additional songs. We feel the album is now a complete collection of our work.”
They applied for permission to use Alan Watts’ voice for a big 12-minute jam at the finish. No rasta, but a guru to beatniks and hippies, the British-American writer and orator died in 1973, years before the musicians in this piece were born. But he just might have something to say to today. “I have a sort of suggestion,” intones Watts from beyond the grave. “Before we decide either to save the planet or to destroy it, we pause for a moment of silence…experience reality as reality is.”
Comments