Outside of Jeff Beck, it’s hard to think of a guitarist who’s kept exploring new musical ground into his seventh decade as thoroughly as Tommy Castro. His new album, Tommy Castro Presents: A Bluesman Came to Town, is organized as a concept album tracing the life and career path of a young blues musician. Beyond […]
The Central Library Concert Series is the longest continuously running free concert series in San Diego! Formerly called the Central Library Chamber Music Series, this Concert Series began around the time of the “new” Central Library’s opening (meaning the old 820 E St. location) in the 1950s. Librarian William Vere Wolf created this series of […]
I left San Diego 1963; I was drafted into the armed services. (The Vietnam war was just in its beginning stages.) In 1963, San Diego was a “naval officers’ retirement town,” so to speak. There wasn’t much jazz. The little jazz that was there, we nourished it. When I returned, things had changed quite a […]
It is rare to cite any musician playing any instrument that can truly hold his own on stage performing in a multitude of musical genres. San Diego County native, violinist Chris Vitas, fits that bill. A professional since 1969, Vitas has graced every stage from the Old Globe Theater and the San Diego Chamber Orchestra […]
Tom Waits has a couple of new CDs out and in spots he still sounds like the old Tom I remember from our days at the old Heritage Coffee House on Mission Blvd. in Mission Beach. I was running the Wednesday Night Hoots (that’s Hootenanny) the first time Tom came in and played some time […]
When Michael Nesmith died last month, on December 10, the world lost not only a figure who was loved for his contributions to popular music over many decades, we also lost one of the primary musical visionaries of the last 50 years. If his short time with the Monkees as a television star assured his […]
He didn’t belong here. He looked around the room. A TV hysterically shouted Fox News in the corner, ignored by most of the 25 to 30 people wearing light blue dress shirts or royal blue short sleeved knit shirts. Each of them seemed to be idly chatting about absolutely nothing of interest to him. They […]
