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Entries
CD Review: Guitar Decathlon, The Wayne Riker Collective
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/16/23000/ Guitarist Wayne Riker has spent a lifetime in music, developing skills and mastering many genres of music. He is extraordinarily versatile, and his latest record Guitar Decathlon is a celebration of his stylistic range. The disc pairs Riker with …
Maren Parusel Walks a Tightrope
San Diego via Tübingen, Germany pop songwriter Maren Parusel layers reverb-drenched guitar hooks with an assortment of vintage synths on her sophomore album, Tightrope Walker, which is set to be released June 19 on Requiemme Records/BMG Chrysalis. Parusel’s revamped synth-driven …
Oasis House Eviction: Final Shows April 22 w/Michelle Shocked
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/15/22908/ Charlie Imes has been producing and booking shows for the past three and a half years for the Oasis House Concerts series in Sorrento Valley, in an intimate setting with space for less than a hundred patrons. "The venue …
They're Italian Japanese, By Way of NYC
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/15/22901/ Italian Japanese have a new single "NYC," which you can download for free at http://filtermagazine.com/index.php/media/entry/mp3_italian_japanese_love_nyc_filter_premiere Though the song just recently came to fruition, the inspiration dates several years back before Italian Japanese even came to be. Allen Nicholas and …
Pink Floyd in San Diego 1970 thru 4-14-94 (18 Years Ago This Weekend)
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/14/22885/ 10-18-70: Pink Floyd performed in San Diego for the first time at the Intercollegiate Baseball Facility (a.k.a. the Polo Field) at UCSD. Touring behind their Atom Heart Mother album, they had played the previous month for their largest audience …
Eternal Tone
In a recent rehearsal, the conductor shared an idea that I loved and had never considered. The conductor was Italian and struggled a little getting the idea across but we received the message none the less. He was speaking about …
Plenty of Coachella Madness to Go Around
Whether it's due to a mean boss, shortage of cash, or the dreaded red “sold out” screen when you went to buy tickets back in January, you're not going to Coachella. And that sucks. But there's a way to get …
Diane Moser & Mark Dresser: "Duetto"
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/12/22765/ Contrabass virtuoso Mark Dresser and the criminally underrated pianist Diane Moser first met in San Diego in the 1970s, where they began a long, deep musical communion that continues to this day. I received this advance copy of their …
Weekend Preview
Some concerts for this weekend: Saturday night the Canterbury Cathedral Choir is performing at Mission Valley United Methodist as part of their 2012 North American Tour. The concert is at 7:00 pm. The choir is composed of 18 boy choristers …
SDSU Jazz Ensemble at City College for Jazz Live
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/11/22687/ KSDS Jazz Live continued their concert series at the Saville Theatre last night with some rarely heard big-band music, featuring the SDSU Jazz Ensemble, helmed for the last 27 years by Bill Yeager, and showcasing three special alumni guest …
James Moore Reinvents Classical Guitar at Space 4 Art
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/10/22646/ Last night's second installment of Bonnie Wright's Fresh Sound concert series at Space 4 Art featuring classical guitarist James Moore was a prime example of out-of-the-box programming — and a knockout success for all involved. Space 4 Art was …
Stay Strange: Experimental Pre-Hispanic Noise
Promoter and noise musician Sam Lopez (aka Zsa Zsa Gabor) is curating his third monthly Stay Strange installation with experimental pre-Hispanic music and a local collaboration between Michael Zimmerman (keyboards) and M.J. Stevens (guitar, noise). “I happened upon Aztlan Underground …
Seven Last Words
On Good Friday I got a chance to sing a piece of music I've always wanted to sing. The piece was Dubois' Seven Last Words of Christ. I was invited to sing at Church of the Nativity in Rancho Santa …
Steph Johnson Trio Live at 98 Bottles
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/07/22409/ I last experienced, and commented on SD musician Steph Johnson four months ago, right when she was taking her first steps in transforming from her comfort zone of soul music with a dash of jazz to a more jazz-centric …
Grammatical B No Longer a 1-Man Band
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/07/22407/ Comedic rapper Grammatical B is now backed by a DJ crew: Grand Marceny, Hype Woman Extraordinaire, and newest addition DJ Dub Baloney. Grammatical B is the alter ego of Ben Johnson, longtime Casbah bartender and member of Hostile Combover, …
Little Match Girl Passion: Sacra Profana
The Little Match Girl Passion is a setting of the Hans Christian Andersen story as influenced by Bach’s St. Mathew’s Passion. At least this is what the composer, David Lang, claims. The Little Match Girl is a story about a …
Jeff Kaiser, Peter Sprague Groups Scorch The Loft
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/apr/05/22293/ Last night's double-bill presentation of local jazz artists at The Loft was by far the most successful program I've seen at that venue... ever. The combination of the free-funk-jazz chaos of the Jeff Kaiser Quintet paired well with the …