Staff blogs | San Diego Reader

You Need This: Ramones Bobbleheads!

January 5, 2012 · Dave Good

Iggy Pop has his own action figure but now, Johnny and Dee Dee Ramone have likewise been immortalized into little tschotskes not unlike the Bill Clinton phallic corkscrew or the Obama Chia Pet: the two punks have been rendered (some …

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Jam Session

Rebirth of the Cool: The Strange Plethora of Jazz Jams in San Diego

January 4, 2012 · Dave Good

“The very first time I sat in, I got kicked off the stage in the middle of a song.” Jazz musician Ben Wanicur is talking years ago about a jam session in Washington DC and he invokes a code used …

4 comments

Jam Session

Flying Under the Influence

January 3, 2012 · Dave Good

Post-grunge badass ass-ness: that’s how Jeremy Vara describes a local rock quartet he plays in called Monkeys in Space. Half way through “My Drinkin’ Buddies Have a Rock and Roll Problem” it occurs to me that he’s right: MIS sound …

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Jam Session

Yoga Girl Rides Again

December 26, 2011 · Dave Good

It gets complicated: Scott Wilson, a Santee blues rocker wrote, recorded, and released “Yoga Girl” in June. Then, in November, a hip-hop song with the same name surfaced. Same name, different song, and it got 450,000 hits on YouTube. David …

3 comments

Jam Session

Congas for God

December 23, 2011 · Dave Good

This message showed up in my email inbox earlier in the week: “San Diego's own Ernie Becquer -- #4 on the iTunes Soul and R&B Top Album Charts for his work on Jeremy Passion’s debut album For More Than a …

1 comment

Jam Session

The Sun Shines on a Blue Dawg

December 22, 2011 · Dave Good

In October, at a benefit concert for an OB keyboardist (and now cancer patient) named Joe Longa, a gathering of the usual suspects were on hand. The bill that night included Private Domain, the Farmers, Mojo Nixon, Chet Cannon, the …

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Jam Session

What Heaven Sounds Like

December 21, 2011 · Dave Good

This year Unsilent Night celebrates their tenth anniversary in San Diego with another holiday boom box processional through downtown. Ask organizer Ellen Weller to describe the sound of hundreds of boom boxes carried aloft and playing the same song in …

1 comment

Jam Session

The View from Requiemme? Beautiful

December 17, 2011 · Dave Good

The new band on Mario Escovedo’s Requiemme label is from Chula Vista. The Beautiful View (the English translation of Chula Vista) is four friends who met in high school, started a band in 2007, and played as many live shows …

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Jam Session

I Know What You’re Thinking: Mattson2

December 16, 2011 · Dave Good

The Mattson brothers of La Jolla invented a genre called surf jazz. But don’t confuse it with the surf rock of the 1960s. In the case of the Mattsons the essence of their sound is simple: straight ahead jazz and …

2 comments

Jam Session

Update: Beatles Amp Pulled from Auction

December 13, 2011 · Dave Good

Those who may have searched Bonham’s auction website in the days following November 29 for news about sale 19037, lot 373w, found a cryptic message posted in red: this lot has been withdrawn. Lot 373 w consisted of one extraordinarily …

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Jam Session

Vanja James Needs a Christmas Present

December 12, 2011 · Dave Good

If you were to load up Vanja (pronounced Vonya) James’ Christmas stocking this year with any spare coin you may have, she’d like that very much. The San Diego based singer/songwriter is in the middle of a new recording project, …

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Jam Session

I Once Shared a Urinal with Dougie MacLean

December 9, 2011 · Dave Good

Dan Chusid is showing up more and more in publications and online in the small print around the margins of concert images of rock stars. A music photographer, the bulk of Chusid’s assignment work is done for Sound Diego (NBC.com) …

5 comments

Jam Session

A Rooster in Every Town

December 8, 2011 · Dave Good

After his singing voice, the thing one notices at a Billy Joe Clements show is the sound of his guitar, which is to say alt-country perfect. Clements can bend lyrics in the manner of the Black Crowe’s Chris Robinson (some …

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Jam Session

Do It Like Elvis: King Kruk

December 7, 2011 · Dave Good

According to the Professional Elvis Impersonators Association, there are 200,000 or so Elvis Presley impersonators around the globe. At least one of them lives in Oceanside California. His name is James Kruk. As an actor, he played Elvis in a …

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Jam Session

No Dwight Yoakam Tribute Bands, Until Now

December 5, 2011 · Dave Good

Dwight Lightning, based in North County, call themselves the world’s first and only Dwight Yoakam tribute band. They may well be. A quick scan of the Internet, including the sites of several well-known brokers of such tribute acts turns up …

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Jam Session

American Legion Hall Makes a Fine Recording Studio

December 1, 2011 · Dave Good

Last year when the Far West band went looking for a place to record they settled on the American Legion post in Encinitas. “Our drummer, Tony Sanborn, he lives down just south of Oceanside,” says Lee Briante. “His mother works …

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Jam Session

Sell a Body Part: George Harrison’s Vox Amp to Be Auctioned Before Christmas

November 30, 2011 · Dave Good

On November 29, the 10th anniversary of George Harrison’s death, Bonham’s in London announced the chance discovery of a rare Vox UL730 once owned by the former Beatle. Said to have been used in the Revolver and the Sgt. Pepper …

1 comment

Jam Session

But, Are You Really Experienced?

November 29, 2011 · Dave Good

Every November, Jeff Moore and the Witchdoctors hosts a tribute called A Musical Celebration of Jimi Hendrix at the Kraken in Cardiff. He says he’s been staging the invitational gig for at least nine years now, to the best of …

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Jam Session

Bang the Drum, Loudly

November 26, 2011 · Dave Good

The shop sits at the end of a long row of industrial mini-warehouses off Mission Gorge in Grantville, a good thing when you consider their line of business: drums. Jon Oren, the general manager, hands a visitor a pair of …

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Jam Session

A Canopy of Sundays

November 21, 2011 · Dave Good

“The Mashtis are doing SXSW this year. I just booked a date,” Itai Faierman says of the annual music industry showcase in Austin. “I’m hoping to book five more dates if I can.” With a new song collection in the …

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Staff Blog Entries

You Need This: Ramones Bobbleheads!

Rebirth of the Cool: The Strange Plethora of Jazz Jams in San Diego

Flying Under the Influence

Yoga Girl Rides Again

Congas for God

The Sun Shines on a Blue Dawg

What Heaven Sounds Like

The View from Requiemme? Beautiful

I Know What You’re Thinking: Mattson2

Update: Beatles Amp Pulled from Auction

Vanja James Needs a Christmas Present

I Once Shared a Urinal with Dougie MacLean

A Rooster in Every Town

Do It Like Elvis: King Kruk

No Dwight Yoakam Tribute Bands, Until Now

American Legion Hall Makes a Fine Recording Studio

Sell a Body Part: George Harrison’s Vox Amp to Be Auctioned Before Christmas

But, Are You Really Experienced?

Bang the Drum, Loudly

A Canopy of Sundays

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