This month we catch up on reviews and starts with the latest edition of Strange Stage Stories: STRANGE STAGE STORIES Matt Hensley / Flogging Molly: “We were playing at the O2 center in London (02/14/14), opening for Frank Turner, and in the middle of our set our huge back drop that has (our logo) on […]
I am waiting. Waiting for the new coffee I picked up last night to brew. Waiting for the cobwebs to clear so I can formulate cohesive thought. Waiting like that roomful of CD release party attendees at Java Joe’s in late 1994, who were extremely anxious to finally get their hands on Mega, the debut […]
Brainstorming works wonders. When we let loose a torrent of ideas, freely associating and playfully combining anything and everything that comes along, we often see past old boundaries and discover solutions to vexing problems. The stream of consciousness becomes a torrent that blasts through every snag. If brainstorming opens formerly clogged channels, then what is […]
Tom “Tomcat” Courtney hails from Waco, Texas where he was born January 23, 1929. His Dad played ragtime piano and his mother, who died when he was 12, sang in the church. He left home and started roaming after his mother passed. Went on down to Corpus Christi, Texas on a cotton truck. Tom recalled, […]
What the hell was it about Harry Nilsson that made him so unique, so freaktastically special? In a culture teeming with celebrity pop stars and famous groupies, press agent to the stars extraordinaire Mr. Derek Taylor expressed it this way: He is the something else the Beatles are. In 1968, when John Lennon and Paul […]
Who would’ve thought that milquetoast La Mesa would morph into a blues powerhouse every April as several hundred suburbanites transform Harry Griffen Park into the south side of Chicago for the annual La Mesa Harp Fest. (You think I’m being facetious, don’t you?) This year’s event, held Saturday April 4, marked 16 years that founders […]
Former San Diegan Gary Sheibler relocated to Nashville over five years ago, and has put together a group called Thursday Night Fishing Club, with a new double CD that seems a love letter to his old hometown: When the West Steals Your Heart. This is a Nashville project, borne out of the respective bands of […]
“In the beginning was the word,” begins a delightful book, a collaborative epic that has been a best seller for over 30 years. During the tedious hours I spent last week sitting for the renowned Italian artist Francesca Bulimi (who had been commissioned by a well-known politician’s wife to paint a portrait of my navel), […]
After playing in several San Diego bands, including stints with Clay Colton and Ryan Hiller, Johnny Tarr, and others, singer/harpist Ron Richard has released an EP titled Pretty Girl. Attributed to Ron Richard and Friends, the six-track disc is definitely a collaborative work: Richard wrote the tunes but only sings on four, playing percussion on […]
