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Entries
Vinny Golia says, "Take Your Time"
The astonishing multi-instrumentalist Vinny Golia was in town last week for the Jeff Kaiser concert, and afterwards, he laid a few brand-new CDs on me. Golia has been the focal point of the West Coast free improvisation community for more …
Jon Kanis Will Be Hard to Avoid in 2012
Jon Kanis once asked me, "Are you a Plimsouls fan?" Like any right-thinking music writer, I said, "Of course." Which is how I found out Kanis was Peter Case's newsletter publisher and road manager in the early '90s. This impresses …
Beethoven at Dizzy's, via Bert Turetzky
Bert Turetzky, the legendary bassist, improviser and mentor to dozens of top flight instrumentalists, and Dizzy's owner Chuck Perrin have been quietly conspiring to bring intimate chamber music to the downtown area in periodic doses for much of 2011. You'd …
Thanksgiving Playlist
Here's a playlist for Thanksgiving. Not all the composers are American. Ralph Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 3: Pastoral Vaughan Williams is always a good choice, except for opera. His Third Symphony was written in grateful remembrance of those killed in …
Mediocrity Kills
One of the pieces The New City Sinfonia played was Schubert's Symphony No. 8: Unfinished I recently used Schubert's Eighth as a justification for a Camus quote. The quote was, "Idleness is fatal only to the mediocre." -- Albert Camus …
Drowning Men Tour Accident: Van and Trailer Totaled
"We were hit by a drunk driver Friday night, on I-95 in Connecticut," say the Drowning Men. "The van and trailer have been totaled. We are all okay...we're under a watchful eye. If it weren't for [tour mates] the Airborne …
Sounds at Soma — Wish You Were Here
The small, enthusiastic crowd of mostly twentysomethings was treated to a night of indie-rock music at Soma by San Francisco–based duo the Limousines, L.A.-based Funeral Party, and headliners the Sounds, featuring Swedish front woman Maja Ivarsson on vocals. Between sets …
As I Lay Dying Cover Judas Priest in New EP & Video
As I Lay Dying's new EP Decas, released last week, features three new songs, three covers (Slayer, Judas Priest, Descendents), and several remixes. They’ll headline the Decade of Destruction tour through their December 16 San Diego finale, alongside Of Mice …
New City Sinfonia: Bad does Good
What does one write when a group is doing a good thing but they're not very good--at all? That was my experience of The New City Sinfonia this last weekend. I loved the group and their attitude. They were an …
Turetzky Brings Beethoven Downtown Nov. 22
The legendary contrabassist Bertram Turetzky is continuing the chamber-music series of classical works, Music Forgotten & Remembered tomorrow night at Dizzy's, with his ensemble, the California Consort. The main work scheduled is Beethoven's Septet in Eb Major, Opus 20. The …
Kaiser Conducts Ockodektet at UCSD
The multifaceted Jeff Kaiser celebrated his 50th birthday on Saturday night by gathering more than 20 top-drawer musicians at UCSD for a special performance, but it was the audience that received the gift. If free jazz was always this joyous, …
Candye Kane Is No "Aging Fetish Model Exploiting the Blues"
Blues songstress Candye Kane is imploring her legion of devotional fans "Please write to this jerk, Jay Horton at the Williamette Weekly in Portland, and tell him that I am so much more than an 'aging fetish model exploiting the …
Stone Temple Christmas Video?! The Complete Weiland Story
Yes, that's Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland in his new video for "Winter Wonderland," from his long-delayed Christmas full-length (originally due in 2010) The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year. The release (from former bootleg label Rhino Records) features …