Music
LB OPERA’S “AINADAMAR” IS A TRIUMPH OF CHARACTER OVER CARICATURES
Director Andreas Mitisek's cast seems coached to play subtleties more generally akin to good theatre than classic operatic scale, and the payoff is immediate. Emotion among characters is earned without requiring the audience to suspend disbelief in a flurry of larger-than-life gestures.
AT BRIGHTON FESTIVAL, A REAL-LIFE EXHIBIT OF THE ART OF COLLABORATION
The third in a series looking at the similarities between Long Beach and Brighton, England. Both are home to many artists, a happy circumstance that Brighton annually leverages into a month of major arts festivals that reach into every part of the community. Could Long Beach do the same?
LONG BEACH’S ARTS & CULTURE SCENE—COULD IT USE SOME “BRIGHTON-ING?”
GreaterLongBeach.com contributor Victoria Bryan---born-and-raised in Great Britain, a 27-year resident of Long Beach---begins a month-long series of reports from the annual arts festivals in Brighton, wherein she wonders: could something like this happen here?
HAVE-A-GREATER-WEEKEND: DEEP JAZZ, SPACE ODDITIES, OCCUPY EARTH DAY
"Have a greater weekend!" we cheerily well-wished them. "Don't tell us what kind of weekend to have!" they sharply bubble-popped us. So, instead, we're going to tell you to have a greater weekend ... and how.
THE HIDDEN INFLUENCE OF LONG BEACH MUSIC: WE ARE THE SUM OF OUR SONGS
Long Beach's music scene is forever being stifled by a paucity of venues, noise-level restrictions and dancing prohibitions. But Long Beach's sound always finds a way, out.and is apt to show up anywhere. It's strength is in numbers---the sheer number of cultures it taps into.
AL WILLIAMS: NOT JUST THE FACE OF LIVE JAZZ IN LB, BUT ITS HEART, TOO
Al Williams has made a name for himself--and pretty good money, too---as driving force of live jazz in Long Beach, but his support Maxie Viltz's upstart club in the Basement Lounge (where he headlines Thursday) is the true measure of his commitment to the music.
WHY DOES HELEN BORGERS HAVE ALL THE FUN? IT’S ON THE RADIO NOW!
Helen Borgers,who has been having one hell of a time since she moved to Long Beach in 1958, seemed to enjoy herself on 'Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga' on Thursday night---well, all except that crack Wielenga made abouther not having any range. Open this story and click on the link to hear the show.
ON THE DAY THERE IS NO MORE V.I.P., CAN WHAT’S LEFT REALLY BE THE LBC?
A few years after Kelvin Anderson built a small recording studio V.I.P. Records to keep the neighborhood kids out of trouble, those kids became some of the biggest names---Snoop Dogg, Warren G, Nate Dogg, Daz---in the world of popular music.But business has gone bad, and Anderson says he is closing V.I.P. Records.
WHITE HILLS: BRINGING TOGETHER SPACE ROCK AND PROTEST SONGS
While “protest record” and “space rock” don’t traditionally go together, the New York City-based band, "White Hills," is just that---railing against government and corporations while pushing its sound to places influenced by Hawkwind and Pink Floyd. The band played Alex's Bar on Thursday night.
DUBLAB MUSIC AT { OPEN }: IT’S A LONG BEACH THING—FOR A DAY, ANYWAY
Saturday's music event and fundraiser for Dublab online radio at { open } may seem like a Los Angeles scene slumming it in Long Beach for a day. But after talking to Markus Manley—longtime local promoter and organizer through his Robots and Angels collective—the event is clearly so much more than that.
ROSE PARK BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL: BRINGING LB’S MUSICAL SUMMER TO THE PEOPLE
Frank Fairfield, 24 years old and discovered while busking in a farmer's market, headlines Sunday's Rose Park Bluegrass Festival, which continues a surge in public music events in Long Beach. But it is also a sign of progress---and possibly the big first step in taking music out of its arts-district cage and bringing it to the residents.
MEET THE NEW-FI … SAME AS THE LO-FI—AND THAT’S A GOOD THING
The New Fidelity remains as relevant a presence and influence on the Long Beach music scene today as it was more than 10 years ago, when Dan Perkins’ outfit was called Lo-Fi Champion and shared bills with an almost completely different cast of contemporaries.
DJ DENNIS OWENS: 13 YEARS OF GOOD FOOT WAS REALLY QUITE A FEAT
This is the poster for the first-ever Good Foot in September 1998. DJ Dennis Owens' and Rodi DelGadillo quickly established the funk-and-soul club at Que Sera as a Long Beach institution, but after 13 years the danceable deep cuts and funky hits go quiet in September.
JENNI RIVERA INDUCTED INTO POLY HIGH WALK OF FAME
Jenni Rivera, a Spanish-language singer/songwriter who has sold more than 20 million albums, will be inducted into the Poly High School Walk of Fame during an 11 a.m. ceremony Tuesday in the school’s football stadium. The event is open to the public and free.
WILL STARDOM CHANGE SAM OUTLAW? BETTER SMILE WHEN YOU ASK THAT…
"When I inevitably rise to stardom, I will do my best to remember your names and pretend to recognize you. I'll even try to be "cool about it" when you prove to some girl that you know the famous Sam Outlaw by calling me, putting her ear to the phone and having me sing a few lines from one of my hits as she listens and giggles with delight."
HAVE-A-GREATER-WEEKEND: BOAT-DACIOUSNESS, BOOBATION & A KILLER DINNER
This is the 100th anniversary of offshore powerboat racing in California, and there is no way to celebrate that without celebrating Long Beach, which has contributed some of the sport’s most-iconic events---and will continue that tradition this weekend.
HAVE A GREATER WEEKEND: PIRATES INVADE, CLOWNS COMMUTE AND WORKS FIRE
It’s hard to say how pirates---thieving, violent and anti-social---have come to be perceived as Teddy Bears of the High Seas, but it’s easy to see how they are staying that way. The Pirate Invasion of Belmont Pier Saturday and Sunday includes Captain Jack Sparrow’s Kids’ Treasure Hunt, belly and fire dancers, a pirate costume contest, a pirate parade, sword fights and a movie.
PROJECT ERANOS TO PERFORM AT RELAY FOR LIFE LUMINARIA CEREMONY
As if walking, jogging, skipping, running—the point is, moving—with hundreds of others toward a cure for cancer in a Relay for Life weren’t its own reward, participants in the American Cancer Society event at California High in Whittier on Saturday will be treated to a performance by the musical group, project ERANOS. The classically trained [...]
HAVE A GREATER WEEKEND: BODY SLAMS, BIXBY PARK, MAN MEAT & POETRY
Spend a Saturday in Bixby Park, where locals have been doing exactly that for more than a century, and in the process help ensure that this recreational gem will be polished preserved for future generations. Friends of Bixby Park is presenting this carnival as a fundraiser.
INK-N-IRON: IN APPRECIATION OF TRADITION THAT’S KEPT ITS ROUGH EDGES
Brian Noonan reflects that an energetic set by the legendary 1960s garage band, The Sonics, highlighted a day of buzzing tattoo needles, Kustom Kars, classic cleavage, long lines, steep drink prices and a shortage of restrooms as Ink-N-Iron held its own as a distinctly Long Beach attraction.
MORRISSEY: MUSICIAN, CELEB, HERO—AND GOOD GRADE ON MY COLLEGE PAPER
For three months, I conducted research on Moz, fan culture, ‘zines, hero worship, celebrity cycles and Manchester whiteness. In the process I concocted more theoretical shit about the Pope of Mop than I’ve ever wanted to---and officially became Smith’d out. But I got a good grade in my Celebrity Culture class.
PIECES OF A MAN: FOR GIL SCOTT-HERON, THEY WERE FRAGMENTS OF TRUTH
There was a time when, if you truly wanted the world's long-hidden to be revealed, if you were truly ready for the world's long habits to be rethought, Gil Scott-Heron could show you, provoke you, with an anger so truthful it was ultimately pure love.
A SUMMERY AND MUSICAL FORESHADOWING AT FINGERPRINTS
The Summer and Music concert series is returning for its third season in downtown Long Beach, and Fingerprints Records previewed some of what’s to come Thursday evening with a dynamic stream of in-store performances.
BELLFLOWER’S GOT BLUES SO BAD ITS COUNCIL WON’T LET YOU SING ‘EM
The Bellflower City Council has overturned the decision of its planning commission and unanimously rejected an application by the owners of Long Beach’s sorely missed Blue Dog Tavern to reopen in a long-empty former firehouse in the struggling city’s ghostly downtown. After a two-hour interview with the Blue Dog’s co-owners, Cheri Dessero and Robert Martinson, the council decided the blues club does [...]
NEW FRET TO NORWALK YOUTH: NO PLACE TO PRACTICE THE DULCIMER
The Golden Strings, a youth ensemble of fretted mountain dulcimer players, needs a place to practice or it might have to disband. “They won’t be running around getting into trouble," says Morrison Elementary School teacher Lori Knight, "but they will be missing a chance to work together and learn skills which will help them throughout life.”
THE BLASTERS: IT’S NOT JUST AMERICAN MUSIC—IT’S DOWNEY MUSIC!
Thirty years after the 1981 release of their first semi-major-label album, The Blasters---Phil and Dave Alvin, John Bazz and Bill Bateman---have become ensconced in Downey's musical heritage, alongside the legends who inspired them.
DENGUE FEVER SEEKS NEW WAYS TO GET EVERYBODY HOT AND BOTHERED
Ten years in, Dengue Fever would be poised to hit it big if the music industry’s old marketing formula---radio play, late-night talk show performances and MTV---still worked. Instead, as its new album, "Cannibal Courtship," drops April 19, the musical polyglot is searching for new paths to stardom.
FINGERPRINTS, DURTY MICK’S LURE MUSIC GEEKS DOWNTOWN TODAY
The usual suspects—coughAmeobacough—have been hosting Record Store Day throngs since the shopping holiday started in 2008, but downtown Long Beach will be bustling all day (from 6 a.m.) with music geeks swarming to two new RSD stops.
NERDS INVADE LONG BEACH: A NIGHT OF BROKEN SPECTACLES WITH DESCENDENTS
While a gray-haired Milo sang more old songs, personal boundaries were broken and beer was spilled. Shirtless West Coast white-guidos with Huntington Beach city-logo back tattoos dominated one circle pit until an eyeliner-wearing Latino teenager jumped in to punch the air and an overweight girl in a sundress held the pit wall for those not interested in getting pummeled.
RISE AGAINST: THEIR LEGENDS (DESCENDENTS, BAD RELIGION) PRECEDE THEM
The order of the acts for Thursday night's triple-punk bill at the Long Beach Arena looks strange. The legendary Descendents are the opening act, then fellow old-school punkers Bad Religion and finally the headlining Rise Against---a comparative newcomer, even though it's been around since 1999.
UP-AND-COMING RAPPER PAYS TRIBUTE TO DEARLY DEPARTED NATE DOGG
Clippah Duh Dam Gorilla is combining a Club Cohiba listening party for his debut album with a tribute to the late Nate Dogg, who came out of central Long Beach neighborhoods to become an international star.
POTENTIAL LUNATICS TO PLAY BLUE CAFE AND ALBUM IS ON THE WAY
The sister-and-brother punk duo of Long Beach teenagers Emma and Isaac Simons-Araya---whose music is in no way as kitschy as that description might suggest---have raised the last $400 they needed to finish their first album. Next stop: the Blue Cafe this Sunday
NATE DOGG’S MEMORIAL: A LONG, EMOTIONAL FAREWELL TO LONG BEACH’S OWN
Nathaniel D. Hale, who became a hip-hop legend named Nate Dogg by birth into a family of Gospel singers and by bonds forged in the neighborhoods of center Long Beach, was memorialized Saturday during a long, emotional ceremony that intertwined those influences.
NATE DOGG, WHOSE SOULFUL HOOKS SIGNIFIED LB’S G-FUNK SOUND, DIES AT 41
Nate Dogg's unmistakeable voice was deep and soothing, but it was also sonic camouflage for personal torments that were buried even deeper within him. Although he was a warm, honest and insightful conversationalist, Nate Dogg seemed to be constantly distracted and undermined by personal issues, even as he rose to personal fame.
DARYL SHAWN WILL BE INSTRUMENTAL TO A GOOD TIME AT VIENTO Y AGUA
If you like the music of Rodrigo y Gabriela, Tommy Emmanuel and Bill Frisell, you probably ought to be at the Viento y Agua coffee house Thursday at 8 p.m. for an instrumental show by guitarist Daryl Shawn. Shawn is based in New York, an alumnus of Boston’s Berklee College of Music and developed his [...]
PUTTING NEW FINGERPRINTS NEAR SOME LEGENDARY MUSICAL FOOTPRINTS
SST Studios used to be across the street and Fingerprints is using its old parking lot. Greg Ginn, Henry Rollins and Mike Watt once parked their hoopties there during recording sessions and now I get to park mine here while I buy their albums re-pressed on 180 gram vinyl!
LOCAL ROCKERS IN ART THEATRE SHOW TO BENEFIT 4TH STREET PUBLICIST
Six months after she was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, Diane Gershuny is in 100 percent remission. With good news like that, there is no such thing as bad news. But there is still such a thing as not-as-good news, and in Gershuny’s case, it’s a big pile of medical bills. Yet that has led to [...]
GIFT OF THE MAD GUYS: THE BUMPERS ADD A CAROL TO THE HOLIDAY CATALOGUE
From somewhere in the mixture of The Bumpers’ made and missed holiday opportunities has come forth the Newest Christmas Song on Earth … or Long Beach, anyway: "I Need My Baby By My Side (On Xmas Night)."
CIRIVELLO’S: SPORTS SPOT BY DAY, MUSIC VENUE BY NIGHT
A guy in a ball cap and a stretched-to-the-max jersey with his belly up to the bar was staring at a hi-def TV and making small talk with his virtual clone between bites and sips of the lunch special: business as usual for a Thursday afternoon at Cirivello’s. But Friday will be another day—or, more [...]
JACKSON BROWNE TO PLAY TERRACE THEATER
Tickets go on sale Saturday at noon for a concert by renowned singer-songwriter Jackson Browne, who will perform a solo acoustic show on March 8 at the Terrace Theater. Browne was raised in Orange County and his music epitomized the 1970s California sound, which soothed the wounds of the 1960s with laid-back melodies and lyrics [...]
BEYOND GREATER: MUST-READ STORY WE DIDN’T WRITE—FACT-CHECKING JAY-Z
The bulk of Jay-Z’s new book,"Decoded," consists of a lyrical exegesis of 36 of Jay’s own works. What better source could there possibly be? Vulture.com turned to RapGenius.com, the world's premier rap-lyric-explanation website, to provide its Top 10 Decodings of “Decoded.”
BEYOND GREATER: TODAY’S MUST-READ STORY THAT WE DIDN’T WRITE–PAVEMENT’S VICTORY
PAVEMENT'S RELUCTANT VICTORY: Sasha Frere-Jones looks back upon Pavement's triumphant reunion tour and wonders whether the band was really striving for the victory that everybody seems to have accorded it. Or even enjoying themselves.
YEASTIE BOYS CONTINUE ILLOGICAL MYSTERY TOUR TONIGHT AT ALEX’S
It’s difficult to explain the attraction of the Yeastie Boys, a bunch of over-the-hill punk rockers who get on stage costumed as circus clowns … hmmm … unless the band is actually a circus whose clowns affect the music of punk so they can get on stage! Aha! But wait—the attraction of that would be [...]
GREEN IS GREATER LINEUP FINALIZED: EIGHT BANDS IN SIX HOURS
The best in Long Beach music will be showcased Saturday at the Green is Greater Festival, when eight acts will appear on the Gaslamp Restaurant stage during six hours of non-stop tuneage—all to benefit environmental organizations from throughout the area. The final lineup: KOREY DANE & CO. This amazing songsmith and his excellent entourage comes [...]
IT’S STARTING TO LOOK LIKE KOREY DANE’S TIMELESS TIME HAS COME
Korey Dane’s classic sound is “as if you poured yourself a drink and dusted off an old 45 to find a lost record nobody has heard before." The singer-songwriter just won Buskerfest. On Sept. 18 he will headline the Green Is Greater Festival at the Gaslamp restaurant.
BUSKERFEST WINNER KOREY DANE TO HEADLINE GREEN IS GREATER FESTIVAL
Fresh off his win in the Summer And Music Buskerfest last weekend, singer/songwriter Korey Dane is among three more highly regarded local artists who have joined the musical lineup for the day-long Green Is Greater Festival on Sept. 18 at the Gaslamp Bar and Restaurant. Admission is free. Dane’s musical stylings can tiptoe from folk [...]
YEASTIE BOYS BRING THEIR PUNK A-LA-CLOWN ACT
"It's a real fun time,” says … well … one of the Yeastie Boys---impossible to say which one, behind all that makeup. “We do all the classic punk rock tunes, stuff by the Ramones, the Clash, the Sex Pistols, all while dressed in clown suits.” Yep, that's what they do. Tonight at 8 at di Piazza's.
WELCOME TO THEIR ATMOSPHERE: THE FLING’S NEW RECORD HAS FINALLY ARRIVED
The Fling sounds as though it exists in a different atmosphere---reverb-drenched vocals floating atop a wall of sound. The Long Beach band's long-awaited record, When The Madhouses Appear, drops Friday, and they'll celebrate by kicking off a tour with a show at Spaceland in Silver Lake
GREEN IS GREATER FEST: ENVIROS UNITE OVER MUSIC, ART AND A 50/50 DRAWING
Greater Long Beach is partnering with The Gaslamp restaurant and Heather Altman of the environmental blog EgretsNotRegrets.com to present the Green Is Greater Festival---an event intended to help unite the often-fragmented environmental community. It's Sept. 18 at The Gaslamp.
LA SANTA CECILIA: A MUSICAL MISSION GUIDED BY A SAINT AND LED BY A DIVA
"We scrounge for money all the time," says Marisoul. "We get help sometimes from Santa Cecilia, our patron saint. If we get paid, we invest it back into the band. Everything goes to La Santa. It's our saying."
LBREPORT.COM EDITORIAL: HOW TO KEEP SUMMER BAND CONCERTS IN OUR PARKS
Long Beach needn’t lose the summertime experience of bringing a blanket to the park and enjoying a big old-fashioned band—with trumpets, trombones, flutes, tubas, clarinets, saxophones and percussion (and even a glockenspiel)—playing everything from great American standards to Sousa marches. The music is priceless, but it has become prohibitive to have professional musicians play it. [...]
THE GALWAY HOOKER BAND
The Galway Hooker Band is named after a traditional Irish fishing boat---of course … and shame on you for assuming otherwise. Also? Thank you very much, says bassist Paul Wilson. “That’s what makes the name perfect.”
AT SALVATION ARMY, IT’S ON ‘N’ ON, BEAT DON’T STOP TILLA BREAKA DAWN
It’s not that the Salvation Army doesn’t have a long musical history, but the brass bands and tambourines it's famous for are nowhere to be seen at the Salvation Army Compton Corps Community Center, where a brand-new, state-of-the-art recording studio just opened.
SAN FRANCISCO’S LSD AND THE SEARCH FOR GOD—NO DRUGS NECESSARY
The first time LSD and the Search For God came to Long Beach was somewhat of a wake-up call for the discerning who have heard it all before---and that, done right, there are still bands out there putting out something that has been influenced but still sounds original. They're back at The Prospector tonight.
