Video:Save Ferris was signed to Epic Records in the mid-’90s, after fellow Orange County ska band No Doubt rocketed up the chartsSka music has a habit of popping up every decade or so to ride …

Video:BLURT: Anya True ditches school to battle on The VoiceSeventeen-year-old Anya True says she has been singing pretty much since she could speak. She picked up playing the guitar when she was five and, two …

Island civilizationWithin the Coronado Ferry Landing, you will find Coronado Tasting Room. Purveyors of Craft Spirits, Extra Virgin Olive Oils, Balsamic Vinegars, Spices and Gourmet Foods. Every other Wednesday evening, Michael Gonzales (aka Gonzo) and …

Some musicians see forming a tribute group as a way to get into the music industry. Copping someone else’s successful act may seem their only chance at earning a bit of applause, adulation, and — …

Video:BLURT: Archie Thompson sings “My My My Little Baby” from the Bill Burr film Old DadsArchie Thompson’s music-intensive life is back in full swing after being derailed by Covid for a couple of years. His …

When Ryan Ruff was in high school, his two best friends were in a band that couldn’t find a bass player. Somehow, he missed the sign the universe was holding up. “I should have picked …

Clayton Payne and Ryan Fischer met when they were both serving as drummers for The Liquorsmiths, a folk-rock trio led by singer/guitarist Drew Thams. After that band’s run came to an end, the duo continued …

<a href="http://www.sandiegoreader.com/bands/matthew-phillips/">Matthew Phillips</a> has his grandmother to thank for starting him on his musical journey. “She had a piano at her house,” he recalls. “I would go and play when I was a young kid …

Years ago, I watched a full band open for comedian David Cross at ‘Cane’s in Mission Beach. I thought it was the most unusual opening act/headliner combo I had ever witnessed — at least until …

Ethan van Thillo was a longtime violinist who basically abandoned the instrument after he had finished college. At that point, he devoted all his time to being a father and running the Media Arts Center …

Matelotage (French for “seamanship”) was, according to Wikipedia, “an agreement amongst pairs of European sailors, in particular buccaneers, in the 17th and early 18th century. As part of this economic partnership, matelots would agree to …

9/11 could have been stopped in San DiegoFormer FBI agent Mark Rossini, who was assigned to the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center, said CIA officials blocked the memo to the FBI because the agency was complicit with …

Dangerous bike spotsFriars Road, Nimitz Blvd, University Ave., Pershing Dr., Genesee, Pacific Hwy at Barnett Ave.Safer routes: SD River Trail, West Point Loma, Robinson, GovernorBy Dryw Keltz, Sept. 23, 2015The curvy road from Fallbrook to …

Brian Warren’s band <a href="http://www.sandiegoreader.com/bands/weatherbox/">Weatherbox</a> toured with Say Anything circa 2008; Warren recalls playing in rooms in front of 2000 people. Last month, Say Anything played the two-day When We Were Young festival in Las …

Big bust at the Grape Street dog parkA failed plea to city officials to install a new fence to enclose the Grape Street off-leash dog park in South Park led to a crackdown that resulted …

In late September, I headed north to Vista’s Aztec Brewing for Brew Game Plus 5, an eight-and-a-half hour overdose of bands performing video game songs. My friend and I had never been to the brewery …

All this jazz at Tio Leo’s“I see a lot of familiar faces here, and I see three or four new ones. I want to let you know that, when the music is playing, we are …

<a href="http://www.sandiegoreader.com/bands/jefferson-jay">Jefferson Jay</a> may be best known for gigging around town, hosting open-mic nights and throwing occasional 24-hour live music events. But he also created the San Diego Music Hall Of Fame (SDMHOF) back in …

“When I was really young, I was the singer kid,” says <a href="http://www.undertherugmusic.com/">Under The Rug</a> singer/guitarist Casey Dayan. “There’s a funny home movie of me in some diapers when I was around three years old, …

Jonah Paz started playing in his first local punk band in 2013, when he was 13 years old. By the time Covid reared its ugly head in 2020, he had cycled through a myriad of …

Ryan Steel lived in San Diego from 2002 through 2005 before he ended up in Chicago, where he played in The Sky We Scrape from 2008 until 2015. It was during this tenure that he …

Matt Casper was bandless for around eight years before <a href="http://www.sandiegoreader.com/bands/manthers/">Manthers </a> came together. It was an unusual gap for a gentleman known for fronting a lot of groups. “I’ve cobbled together so many things …

Lead Pony can already spot the VulturesPsychedelic blues rock has never really gone out of style — not locally, anyway. And now, San Diego is rapidly becoming a hotbed of related “concept albums,” from the space …

Back when he was younger, Trevor Ginsberg played violin for a short spell — but strings didn’t stick like his love of singing. He started off in choirs, and eventually became a member of the …

As I recall, it was around the middle of the last decade when I first encountered pickleball. My friend Andy Cox and I were nearing the end of a game of tennis at Collier Park …

Are the volunteers getting hosed? Nicio Aguilera is blunt: “Nobody up here trusts the county. We don’t trust them, we don’t like them.” Aguilera, who spent 15 years fighting fires in Philadelphia and another 15 …

Evan Hawkins’ first exposure to reggae music came courtesy of his mom, who listened to Bob Marley and UB40. Then, when he was a teenager in the mid-2000s, a friend started bringing him to see …

“We’re just dirty pop singing about pizookie appetizers at BJ’s,” says Auz Fontaine co-founder Captain Auzmo. “It always works and has this fun element, like when you go to a prix fixe and you get …

On May 11, the Federal Department of Health and Human Services will end the Covid public health emergency. But the bureaucratic behemoth is a slow-footed beast; John Q. Public knows the pandemic ended some time …

The protean Proteus: Remember Corduroy? They were a local Pearl Jam tribute act, active for around three months in summer 2019. Joe Moese recruited the musicians, they worked up a set, and then Moese up …

The brewery tasting rooms located in the Vista business park near Sycamore Avenue may be getting an added boost in early 2023. The Vista City Council is set to vote in January on a resolution …

Amy Day and Omar Musisko formed their folk duo, The Spiritual Motels, in 2017. By the tail end of 2019, the band had released their debut album, Super Tiny Disappearing Oceans, and were in the …

Missy Alcazar took up classical piano at an early age, and was considered a child prodigy. Her teacher permitted her to practice only “the greats” — composers such as Bach and Chopin. But by elementary …

In 2013, local pop-punks Western Settings set sail on what would become a very active five-year run. “We had one EP out and were like, all right, we’re gonna go tour now, so we just …

Residential radio redux: Radio caught Gary Kelley’s ear when he was 13 years old. A year later, he had a built a small radio station in his closet. (“I kind of came out of the …

In the 1990s, Pavement personified aloof, slacker rock, anchored by odd guitar tunings and clever lyrics. They were more critical darlings than the sort of band that could muster a following to rival that of …

Tyler Ward is sitting behind a drum kit in a moderately sized band rehearsal space at the San Diego branch of the School of Rock in Liberty Station’s arts district. He’s attempting to break down …

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 …

Drummer Val Trainor and bassist Barney Firks have been backing Imperial Beach-by-way-of-England guitarist Taz Taylor since 2010. These days, the Taz Taylor Band (TTB) splits their time between playing instrumental gigs and shows with vocalists. …

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). …

The Del Mar Mesa Preserve is located just to the south of State Route 56. It is part of the larger Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve which stretches seven miles from the I-5/I-805 merge on its …

Singer Shelbi Bennett of Midnight Pine — an act she describes as “very serious and veiled in metaphor” — and Shady Francos drummer Jenny Merullo share a love of the pop-punk that shaped their respective …

The County of San Diego Department of Parks and Recreation is working to construct a seamless network of trails that will follow the route of the San Diego River from the mountains down to the …

The other night at dinner, the Young People asked the Old People, “How do you know when you’re an adult?” Your humble Editor’s answer: “When you realize that life is no longer play that gets …

The story of Half Way Home begins in a modest house in Solana Beach: a two-bedroom, stand-alone casita situated a short distance downhill from the property’s main home. Trevor LeVieux was living in that little …

Andrew Cassidy arrived in San Diego in 1853. He was part of a team of engineers who were tasked with building a self-recording tidal gauge station at La Playa near Ballast Point in Point Loma …

Cake’s 2001 music video for “Short Skirt/Long Jacket” was up for a Breakthrough Video award at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards due to its creative use of taped reactions. The video’s producers let random …

The San Diego County Fair’s 2022 “pay to play” model requires artists who wish to perform at this year’s event to pay a $25 processing fee for their applications to be considered. On the other …

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a music writer isn’t going to get rich plying his trade, but at least he’ll get free stuff: albums, concert tickets, swag, perhaps even the occasional backstage pass. …

Ryan Burke was in his early teens when he began playing an acoustic guitar that was lying around his family’s house. It was the ‘90s though, and his heart was set on playing an electric. …