Music

Family First

He’s My Brother She’s My Sister’s music brings a virulent mélange of everything.

What began as a publicity photo shoot under a bridge in Los Angeles turned into He’s My Brother She’s My Sister’s first gig. Their audience? Just your everyday under-the-bridge-dwelling hobos. “They really enjoyed it; they ...

Strange Days

The eccentric and elusive Ariel Pink brings his catchy brand of lo-fi, psychedelic pop to Big Sur.

Beneath Ariel Pink’s (Ariel Rosenberg) drug-hazed façade and mop of tousled blonde hair – sometimes dyed pink – emanates a beam of persistence and songwriting virtuosity that has been active since he was 10. That’s ...

Forrest Theater

Forrest Day’s smoldering album The Second – released today at Carmel Bar & Grill – refuses to be pigeonholed.

“When people want to know what kind of music we play, I usually say highly engaging, stimulating and exciting,” says Forrest Day drummer Jasper Skydecker. “Those are the words I use because it is so ...

Endless Riffness

After more than four decades, Richard Thompson’s songwriting remains sharper than ever.

“If you think about the number of songs on the planet written every day, it’s scary,” Richard Thompson says. “If you think about the number of songs written in Nashville alone every day, it’s even ...

Full Bluhm

Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers are endowed with an uncanny devotion to their craft.

Last winter, Nicki and the Gramblers were caught in the climax of a monstrous snowstorm in Wyoming. Through the flow of diagonally falling snowflakes, it appeared as though the snow extended from the front of ...

Made in Americana

The Easy Leaves’ affinity for the Americana tradition has infectious results.

The Easy Leaves’ version of Americana is more than just a blend of American roots music – it’s a force of nature that can come to life around a campfire with a couple guitars and ...

Mariachi Muchachas

Authentic heritage music and feminine inspiration is what Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles does.

It took more than 100 years, but Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles broke the glass ceiling in 1994 when they became the world’s first all-female mariachi group. The group’s founder and musical director Jóse Hernàndez ...

Doing the Wave

Moss Landing’s Hallway Ballers look to the sea for guidance.

Everything always comes back to surfing for the Hallway Ballers. “Last night we were watching the bay and appreciating how fortunate we are,” says bassist Nate Hydie. “There’s a camaraderie because we surf together every ...

Caribbean Cool

CSU Monterey Bay’s Annual Heritage Music Fest brings Grammy nominated percussionist John Santos and his sextet.

In 1976, percussionist John Santos joined Santana’s band as the timbales player. Three weeks later, he was fired. It was the best thing that could’ve happened to his career. “That was my blessing in disguise,” ...

Magical Mystery

Medeski Martin and Wood have been delivering memorable live performances for more than 20 years.

A conglomeration of chimes and global percussive instruments – plus a melodica, push organ and upright bass – coalesce into methodical chaos in Medeski Martin and Wood’s live acoustic version of “Doppler” before ultimately bleeding ...

Back from the Dead

Seminal Australian world fusion duo Dead Can Dance lives on.

After selling nearly a million records and performing to soldout audiences around the world, Brendan Perry says Dead Can Dance’s biggest honor came when its single “Nierika,” off Spiritchaser, achieved Most Played Song on American ...

Hot Dream Pop

One-woman songwriting machine Natasha Khan dispenses dream-pop ballads with Bat for Lashes.

Bat For Lashes, the moniker that multi-instrumentalist Natasha Khan goes by, has one of those beguiling voices that can hypnotize a room full of people no matter where she’s playing. During a show last February ...

Intense New Direction

Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor gets weirder with How to Destroy Angels, coming Wednesday to downtown Monterey.

On March 5, Trent Reznor and the other members of How to Destroy Angels – Atticus Ross, Mariqueen Maandig and Rob Sheridan – took part in an online Reddit Ask Me Anything session. Besides Reznor ...

Galloping Pop

Alt-country rockers Band of Horses’ Monterey stop comes sandwiched between two sold-out weekends at Coachella.

“At every occasion, I’ll be ready for the funeral,” croons a harmonizing Band of Horses. “The Funeral,” the first single off BOH’s 2006 full-length debut Everything All the Time, is soaked in irony: BOH don’t ...

Garage Punk

Three parties line up to sue Monterey, and each other, over city permitting error.

When Sam Mercurio’s aunt and uncle moved next door to the Monterey home Mercurio and his wife Angeli have owned for 26 years, things were good for a while. Liz and Ray Labonte were never ...

Back in Orbit

After a five-year hiatus, The Suborbitals have beaten the odds and are back together.

David Bowie’s 1972 tune “Five Years” is a tale of Earth’s apocalyptic demise. Five years also represents the time The Suborbitals – featuring Ryan Masters (lead vocals/guitar), Heath Proskin (bass), Gordon Stokes (drums) and multi-instrumentalist ...

Mom’s a Rapper

Natalie Stringer is more than just another multitasking parent.

Somehow, in addition to being a single mother of two, Natalie Stringer, aka Ms. Versatyle, has found the time to record albums, launch her own fashion lines, get her bachelor’s degree and help manage the ...

Quiet Legend

Musician Jaime Kyle has been a one-woman songwriting machine since she was a teenager.

Jaime Kyle was caught off-guard when she found out Heart wanted to cover one of her tunes. The pop ballad “Stranded” – featured on Heart’s 1990, multi-platinum Brigade – went on to reach number 13 ...

Ya Don’t Stop

Living legend KRS-One brings a heart that beats hip-hop to the Golden State Theatre.

KRS-One is hip-hop. Not just because the legendary MC says he is, which he does often, but because of the life that he’s lived, at one with and submerged in hip-hop, grown into and up ...

Higher Power

British reggae artist Pato Banton explores new sounds from a faraway land.

About a year ago, Pato Banton was checking out a show in Santa Monica featuring a Ghanaian musician named Alidu. As a fan. “When [Alidu] heard I was in the audience, he brought me on ...

Well Strung

Santa Cruz’s North Pacific String Band has more than bluegrass in mind.

“We’re pretty strict about not strictly playing bluegrass,” says North Pacific String Band banjo player Jeff Wilson. “[Our music] is bluegrass in form, with jazz ideas, folk, country and an openness to other genres.” It’s ...

Forties Forte

In the Mood delivers song, dance and a full orchestra in its celebration of big band and swing music of the 1940s.

Yes, music has the power to bring people together. But rarely was that power more desperately needed – or successfully delivered – than the 1940s. And therein lies the power of Bud Forrest’s In the ...

Neo Leo

For more than four decades, Leo Kottke has been blowing minds on guitar.

Over the past 45 years, guitarist Leo Kottke has quietly become known as an innovator, a pioneer and an inspiration to guitar geeks, folk purists and Americana aficionados. Kottke’s delivery on guitar may look like ...

Sight and Sound

Hung White Ponies deliver an album that’s for the ears and the eyes.

Hung White Ponies’ sixth full-length record Crazytown is a concept album on psychotropic drugs. It’s the kind of concept album that won awards at two film festivals. Frontman Ryan Kralik calls it a “visual music ...

Space Your Face

Los Angeles psych rockers The Entrance Band’s forthcoming record opens new doors.

The Entrance Band’s 2012 EP Fine Flow is a departure from the heavy psychedelic blues that powered its previous work. The four introspective instrumental tracks are the songs that didn’t make it onto their upcoming ...

Frazier Game

Singer-songwriter Casey Frazier knocks out grandiose Americana beyond his years.

After performing at the Sundance Film Festival last month, Casey Frazier was invited to play a private Oscars party. There he made fans out of Hollywood players like Matt Nolan, co-star of the Academy Award-winning ...

Yes They Can

More than 40 years after forming, prog rockers Yes remain in a constant state of flux.

Meet progressive rock, psychedelic rock’s stepson. The subgenre was born in the ’60s as the British attempted to bring more artistic credibility to rock and roll using influences like chamber and classical music, new instrumental ...

Lone Tone

Johannesburg native/Overtone frontman Emile Welman embarks on a solo project.

When Tony Bennett gives you props, you take it seriously. Two years ago, the a cappella South African boy band Overtone performed at Bennett’s birthday party. The man of honor told one of his highfalutin’ ...

Together Forever

For Chicano rock trio Los Lonely Boys, the brothers’ relationship runs deep.

Sibling bands don’t have very good track records when it comes to longevity. Between The Bee Gees, Oasis and The Carpenters, early retirement – whether by way of a member’s death or a falling-out – ...

King of Kings

The greatest living bluesman returns to the Golden State Theatre.

There are a few blues guitarists who can do what B.B. King does, but he was the first, the pioneer, the ultimate entertainer and a spokesperson for the genre. In last year’s documentary BB King: ...

Remembering Tony

The community rallies together in the aftermath of a local gone too soon.

On Jan. 5, 43-year-old Tony Faria died in front of his girlfriend Meredith Marin as a result of a tragic accidental shooting. Faria was a well-loved server at Casanova who was originally from Hawaii. He ...

Police Rasta

Cali Nation molds music out of sticky real-life situations.

The Salinas P.D. and Cali Nation have a long-standing relationship. And that really hasn’t been a bad thing for the trio: Their biggest hit, “Salinas” – a tongue-in-cheek, Bradley Nowell-esque rock-reggae shout-out to their hood ...

Double Time

The Golden State Theatre brings an eclectic pair of back-to-back shows with Dead Meadow and George Cole.

Dead Meadow never takes the easy route: Not only is their most recent release Three Kings an expansive double LP, they included several bonus tracks and a feature-length film showcasing live performances intertwined with psychedelic ...

Classical Act

World-class Italian musicians perform a rare requiem to help benefit the arts at Hartnell College.

Like gold doubloons beneath the Atlantic Ocean, composer Giuseppe Verdi’s “Requiem for Piano and Organ” sat undiscovered for more than 130 years. By chance, hailed organist and distinguished music scholar Matteo Galli finally unearthed the ...

Ready to Rock

Carmel’s new Rumble Seat Music is more than just another guitar store.

It’s a few days before Rumble Seat Music officially opened its doors Monday, Feb. 4. Owner Eliot Michael, business partner Mark Mancina and store manager Bijan Oskouie gawk at a pair of Gibson Les Paul ...

Solitary Truth

Cachagua Playboys founding member Jay Burriss has the time to live art to the fullest.

Jay Burriss never expected that he’d be looking for odd jobs – this week he’ll be a shuttle driver at the AT&T Pro Am – when he turned 57 years old. “I guess I’m an ...

Building Sound

Restavrant draws from early rock influences and dirty old blues sensibility to churn out unique flavor.

If it wasn’t for a Bob Log III show, Troy Murrah might be another ass-kissing suit in an uptight architectural design firm. Instead he makes music with Restavrant, which perform Friday at East Village with ...

Rocking On

The year 2013 may be Monterey’s best for music because it keeps on getting better.

As memories of the Pop Fest begin to fade, notable rockers like Patti Smith, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Flaming Lips have been helping Monterey County reclaim credibility as a worthy tour stop ...

Saddling Up

Local music celeb Mike Beck celebrates another record and continues to show love for the cowboy life.

Sex, drugs and cars are some of the recurring themes found throughout many rock albums. In February, Mike Beck will make a record that takes on a very different motif: horses. Beck, whose renowned horsemanship ...

Chronic Country

One of the country music scene’s biggest names visits the Sunset Center.

Clint Black busted his ass to achieve fame: Over a 10-year period, the Grammy Award-winning country star performed solo at any backwoods honky tonk, raunchy bar or grimey club that would have him. By day, ...

Solo Home Run

Tim Presley pumps out music at an extraordinary rate with his neo-psych solo act White Fence.

Tim Presley’s creative juices flow like the Colorado River after a storm. Which can be both a blessing and a curse. “My social life and relationships have suffered but [making music] is all I do,” ...

Folk Squared

Two folk musicians of different generations unite for an intimate indoor show at Henry Miller in Big Sur.

Michael Hurley hasn’t done a damn thing for the past 45-plus years other than craft stomped-on packages of bluesy folk – with slightly out-of-key vocals – that are primitive, unpolished and usually involve sometimes-funny tales ...

Blues Blood

Self-taught musician Marty O’Reilly and his trio serve up Americana and folk built on a foundation of Delta blues.

Marty O’Reilly used to sit in his room strumming the same chord on his guitar for as long as two hours straight. He was learning how to play the blues and early on he discovered ...

Far Out Sound

A chance meeting between folks from two different continents turns into a lasting musical relationship.

A couple years ago, the planets aligned in the Santa Cruz Mountains when Swedes Eva Hillered and Patrick Rydman crossed paths with Janni Littlepage of Pacific Grove. The three musicians – Hillered, a Stockholm singer-songwriter ...

Arachnid Rock

May Black gives Oakland garage rockers Spider Heart an unforgettable edge.

Within the ribcage-rattling, garage-punk rock and tinges of psychedelic textures that fuel Spider Heart’s forthcoming debut Under the Gun, a tale circulates throughout all nine tracks. “When I write songs, I sit down with an ...

Lucky ’13

The year ahead brings a stockpile of listening enjoyment to Monterey County.

The year 2012 was a good one for the local concertgoer – Mumford & Sons, Joan Baez, the Flaming Lips, Bob Weir and Jackie Greene entertained us and, more importantly, delivered lasting memories. So far, ...

Rock Steady

Santa Cruz’s Deep Ellum hail from a rock and roll land where grooving has no time restraints.

Deep Ellum uses a trio of atypical terms to define its music: “bootcut boogie,” “cosmic country” and “roadhouse rock and roll.” From the sound of the recently released debut EP by guitarist/singer David Glasebrook, bassist ...

It Might Get Loud

The Mystery Lights and newcomers The Tomb Weavers  highlight a night of '60s garage rock.

Last spring, the Mystery Lights played for nearly 20,000 people at the Strawberry Music Festival in Beijing. Looking out into an infinite sea of faces was a far cry from playing to 50 at Jose’s ...

First and Foremost

The last and best party of the year, First Night Monterey, celebrates 20 years with a bang.

First Night Monterey is the biggest New Year’s Eve party in the county. Last year it attracted about 22,000 people into its one-day universe of musicians, artists, food vendors, magicians and dancers. This year, its ...

Best Ahead

The musical year 2013 welcomes a host of new material from bands that have been in hibernation.

“Long overdue” seems like an appropriate mantra for the music industry come 2013. Artists including Rage Against the Machine, Tool, Cher, Pearl Jam and even LL Cool J are all reportedly releasing new records in ...

Variety Acts

The Golden State Theatre features back-to-back nights of music very different from each other.

Garrett Riley’s voice is unlike any you’ve heard, an almost theatrical vibrato that sounds like an old-time blues singer having a seizure. Once word spreads about his unique pipes, Hungry Skinny will make waves within ...

Concert Town

Monterey County’s top 10 concerts of 2012 compete with those of many major cities. Really.

While Henry Miller Memorial Library and the Monterey Jazz Festival continued to pull in stunning shows across 2012, Golden State Theatre’s triumphant return from church to concert venue – bringing along the likes of punk ...

Harmonic Matrimony

A folk duo, new to the area, has the opportunity to connect with students at Carmel High.

Anne and Pete Sibley sold their home of 12 years in Jackson Hole, Wyo., early last spring. What happened next reads like a Jim Jarmusch screenplay: The married folk duo packed up the family car, ...

Top Tier

Bob Weir, Jackie Greene, The Growlers and The Cosmonauts close out 2012 at the Golden State Theatre.

The Weather Girls once sang “It’s Raining Men.” Next week it will rain music at the Golden State Theatre. The downpour kicks off Sunday with Bob Weir’s first solo acoustic tour in 46 years as ...

Musically Gifted

Seven thoroughly original holiday gifts for music lovers that won’t break the bank.

The Beatles 180g Remastered Vinyl (Siren Trading Co., 527 Ramona Ave., Monterey; 920-2801; $22.95) Since 1995, Siren Trading Co. has been peddling vinyl via the Internet. A couple months back, they set up a physical ...

Great State

A pair of Americana Music Award winners from two different eras comes to the Golden State Theatre.

It was “sheer blind luck” that film critic Roger Ebert stumbled upon John Prine one evening back in 1970. Prine – a mailman by day and underground folk hero by night – was reluctantly performing ...

Yee-Haw Heaven

The 14th Annual Monterey Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival delivers the best of the West.

Real cowboys live by their own rules: Don’t squat with your spurs on. Never ask a barber if you need a haircut. Never slap a man who’s chewing tobacco. The horse always eats first. And ...

Alt Shift

Monks of Mellonwah bring multi-layered alt-rock from the land down under.

On their first night in Sin City, the Monks of Mellonwah were given Hugh Hefner’s 10,000-square-foot suite at The Palms Las Vegas, complete with an indoor-outdoor infinity pool, because there were no other available rooms. ...

Timeless Talent

After seven decades, The Blind Boys of Alabama continue to raise the roof.

The Blind Boys of Alabama have been bottling lightning for more than 70 years. Friday they uncork their energy at Sunset Center. It might be impossible to truly appreciate how transcendent that sort of staying ...

Autumn Irie

The Closeouts highlight a trio of bands roots rocking at the Fairgrounds.

Winning the California Roots Battle of the Bands in 2011 – over a number of acts including the Bay Area’s Highest Intention – wasn’t the biggest moment of The Closeouts’ short career. The resulting prize ...

Long Overdue

Resurgent 69-year-old singer-songwriter Larry Hosford is winning over a whole new generation of fans.

It’s like finding a Lady Tennant Stradivarius violin in the attic of a house you’ve lived in for decades. Salinas native Larry Hosford has been performing and writing raw, dry-humored honky-tonk tunes since the early ...

Seven Sirens

Local singer-songwriters deliver a night of all-female music to Carbone’s.

Lillie Lemon’s music has been shaped largely by her adoration for Sheboygan, Wis., where the singer-songwriter attended college. Tales of long, cold winters and weather-induced angst fill most of the material found on her debut ...

Burning Up

Fire in the Hamptons crank out pop-coated ear candy with electronic dance music filling.

By now, Zack Arnett is a familiar face around Monterey: The Fire in the Hamptons frontman has performed several sellout shows in the area throughout the years – usually on the same bill with local ...

Blockbuster Blue

Two of contemporary blues’ most dominant forces, Kenny Wayne and Robert Cray, come to Monterey for one mega-show.

On the morning after President Barack Obama’s victory, Kenny Wayne Shepherd doesn’t have anything to say on the election. “I don’t get into politics because people can get so heated about it,” he says. “I’m ...

Ska Rumba Riot

Puerto Rican outfit La Quilombera pushes genre and cultural boundaries at Casa Sorrento in Salinas.

La Quilombera frontman Alexis Rivera Falú is ready to revolt. But he’s not into guns, coups and guerrilla warfare. The Puerto Rican is thinking about intellectual upheaval, where art can bring people of all cultures ...

Wow Power

Nearly a dozen local music acts unite in Salinas to raise money for Hurricane Sandy relief.

The lowest point of local music promoter/singer-songwriter Kiki Wow’s life was about 20 years ago while she was living in L.A. She was going through a divorce, involved in a child custody battle and had ...

Miller Time

The Glenn Miller Orchestra celebrates one of the most renowned big band orchestra leaders of the 1940s.

When Nick Hilscher was 11, he saw The Glenn Miller Story starring Jimmy Stewart and his path in life changed forever. “I just fell in love with that style and period of music,” he says. ...

Outsider Art

Prolific and quirky multi-talent Jeffrey Lewis is always creating.

Jeffrey Lewis has always felt a little disconnected. “I feel like everybody’s experiencing life and I’m perpetually on the outside,” he says. But he’s not complaining. Life on the outside has equipped Lewis with a ...

Word and Bonds

Hip-hop artist/poet F. Stokes brings constructive messages to CSUMB’s Black Box Cabaret.

When F. Stokes writes music, he shoots for something more than providing fresh songs good to groove to: “Most of my music has a thread of optimism to it,” he says, “and I always hope ...

New Frontier

Communion in the Redwoods II brings three days of music, in its purist form, to Big Sur.

United Kingdom-based live music promotion team/label Communion prides itself as a music industry outsider. “Communion was born out of musicians being fed up with being exploited,” says Communion co-founder and Mumford & Sons keys player/accordionist ...

Most Wanted

The first annual Monterey Bay Bacon, Blues & Brews Festival celebrates a heavenly combination.

Homer Simpson once asked, “Is it Bacon Day?” Saturday the answer to Homer’s question is a big fat yes thanks to the inaugural Monterey Bay Bacon, Blues & Brews Festival at the Fairgrounds. As pork ...

Global Glow

Versatile vocalist Perla Batalla makes another welcome visit to CSUMB’s World Theater.

After touring more than 10 years as a backup singer for folk legend Leonard Cohen and launching a fruitful solo career that scored a Grammy nomination, Perla Batalla returned to her jazz roots early this ...

Punk Healing

Punk rockers Cheap Time emerge from an emotional year with their best record.

Jay Reatard’s accidental overdose death in 2010 left punk rock fans stunned. It also marked one of the most tumultuous periods of Jeffrey Novak’s life. The Cheap Time frontman and Reatard were longtime pals, tour ...

Fresh Freaks

Do-good rockers Spinfarm bring leafy green tunes to the Mucky Duck.

Spinfarm churns out plump, juicy and multi-colored tunes that could be compared to organic heirloom tomatoes. The Salinas band’s tagline, “No GMOs [Genetically Modified Organisms],” refers to music they do that’s a natural creation befitting ...

Turning Me Insane

Legendary ’80s outfit Berlin kicks off Salinas Valley Food and Wine Festival at Fox Theater.

Terri Nunn is not the archetypal suburban mother of three. The 51-year-old has been the voice – and sexiness – behind the synth-pop outfit Berlin since 1978. “Sometimes other parents look at me sideways,” she ...

Not So Shy

Los Angeles-based ShyBoy brings celluloid-inspired music to the Carmel Art & Film Festival.

When Jason Arnold, aka ShyBoy, is performing his music, his alias doesn’t really seem fitting. On his brand new tune “Bird in Flight” – a cross-pollination of RJD2, DJ Shadow and 2001: A Space Odyssey ...

Heart Rock

The Dani Paige Band celebrates its new album while raising money for a cause close to its heart.

The Dani Paige Band’s recently released Far From Home is the most important of the frontwoman’s life because of when it happened and who won’t be there when she plays its songs. Paige’s mother was ...

Blues Boom

Blues singer Shari Puorto returns to Sly McFly’s with her big bad voice in tow.

Shari Puorto wants to be remembered for having a voice that moves listeners. How it moves them isn’t as important. “Whether it’s a really strong rocking blues song that gets you on your feet or ...

Proud Punk

Legend Patti Smith raps with the Weekly ahead of her show at the Golden State Theatre.

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, 2010 National Book Award winner, poet, artist and punk icon Patti Smith is always working. She just returned from a two-month tour in Europe behind her recently released 11th ...

Amazing Grace

Folk legend Joan Baez returns to Big Sur for Esalen’s 50th Anniversary Celebration.

In video footage of Joan Baez performing “A Song For David” in 1969 at Esalen’s Celebration at Big Sur, her voice plays with the sound of the crashing ocean as if the two were old ...

Duke of Earle

Songwriting marvel Steve Earle visits the Henry Miller Library for a rare solo-acoustic performance.

In 1987, singer-songwriter Steve Earle was nominated for Best Country Male Vocalist and Best Country Song (he’s received 14 Grammys nods and won three). On the awards stage he and his band played his “Guitar ...

Double Love

The “Summer of Love” celebrates 45 years at one of the most famous venues of the era.

The Monterey Pop Festival, 45 years later, has grown into a mythological-like beast with Day-Glo wings, LSD-soaked teeth and a burning Fender Stratocaster nose. Five years back, the event’s 40th anniversary was commemorated with a ...

Rare CSN Rock Lore

Five things you may not know about one of music’s most famous super-groups, Crosby, Stills & Nash.

Die hards have been appearing in large numbers nationwide throughout Crosby, Stills & Nash’s summer/fall tour – which wraps up in October with a four-night run at New York City’s renowned Beacon Theatre. From Seattle ...

Half Full

The Soft White Sixties help celebrate the official grand opening of The Lobby at the Golden State Theatre.

After three years, a full-length album is still at the top of the Soft White Sixties to-do list. “We’ve been wanting to record for a while now but issues like money keep coming up,” says ...

Heavy Lifting

Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard embarks on a journey into his own heart of darkness.

Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard collaborated with Son Volt’s Jay Farrar on the soundtrack for the documentary One Fast Move or I’m Gone: Jack Kerouac’s Big Sur, which received a special concert screening at ...

Root Down

San Francisco’s Tiny Television brings tasty Americana roots to Big Sur.

Just This Side of Everything is more than just the tentative title of Tiny Television’s forthcoming album. It’s frontman Jeremy D’Antonio’s way of life. D’Antonio recently left the hustle and bustle of San Francisco for ...

Beer Blast

The Internationals provide Monterey Bay Oktoberfest’s two-day soundtrack.

Someone once said, “Some people march to a different drummer – and some people polka.” The Internationals have been polka-ing for so long, according to their website, that when they started out, “The accordion was ...

Two Step

Duo Burnt Palms headlines the soft grand reopening of The Lobby at the Golden State Theatre.

Drummer Clara Nieto and singer/guitarist Christina Riley never intended to form a band when they met last February, but lightening in a bottle can’t be capped forever. “The goal wasn’t to be in a band, ...

Next Level

Ziggy Marley proves he doesn’t need to ride on his father’s coattails in more ways than one.

Sometimes it seems Ziggy Marley’s creative juices could fill the Grand Canyon: He’s not just a prolific singer and songwriter, he’s the guy behind Coco’Mon flavored organic coconut oils, he founded the charity U.R.G.E. (Unlimited ...

Lips Service

Flaming Lips’ multi-instrumental songwriting-talent Steven Drozd on Terror and six-hour songs.

The perpetual circus that is the Flaming Lips is more than just music. After nearly 30 years, the Oklahoma natives continue to unleash psychedelic electro-pop – including masterpieces like Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and ...

Gypsy Kings

The Gaucho Gypsy Jazz Band Trio makes a good thing better, stops by Museum of Monterey for a special show.

Dave Ricketts remembers a time, not long ago, when the clerks at his local music store referred to gypsy jazz as “fag music.” Now he says those same guys hit him up for advice about ...

Fan Fair

Foghat and The Chris Gardner Band highlight the music lineup at the Monterey County Fair.

After a day of fishing on Long Island’s North Shore, Roger Earl is pleased with his haul: Two blue fish that he plans to fillet, brine and smoke for dinner. Earl is also pleased with ...

One-Man Jam

James Findlay enlists Granted Earth to help bring his solo instrumental project Concave to life at Jose’s.

James Findlay is the David Blaine of music. Put him in a recording studio alone – with drums, guitars, bass, keyboards and a vibraphone – and he will escape with an album that sounds like ...

Ray of Sunshine

Ray Charles Tribute and The African Showboyz lead loaded lineup for free and charity-driven West End Celebration in Sand City.

No need to fret if you didn’t score tickets to the sold-out Gentlemen of the Road Stopover with Mumford & Sons this Saturday, Aug. 25, at the Fairgrounds. Across town, the West End Celebration is ...

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