Music
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 – ...
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’ ...
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: ...
