Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Lemony moments

Tori Roze’s mom “used to hold Janis Joplin’s Southern Comfort offstage.”
Tori Roze’s mom “used to hold Janis Joplin’s Southern Comfort offstage.”

Victoria Roze’s Facebook page says she worked as an art model for years. Perhaps this explains the revealing cover art on the new Hot Mess CD Turbulence: “The idea came to me like a bolt of lightning. I just had to follow through. The cover is a vintage Ford F-150 pickup truck flying off what looks like a hill. But when you open it up, you see that the hill is actually my right cheek [as in buttock], and the back of the album is the back of my head and [nude] torso.”

When I ask Roze if there is any special meaning, she says, “The artwork is a nod to the title of our first album, From the Hip, hence the pickup truck flying off my hip into the air. The band was pretty shocked at first, but we all like to joke a lot, so it’s all in good fun.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

From the Hip was nominated for Best Blues Album at the 2011 San Diego Music Awards, says the singer/trumpet player. It did not win.

Roze’s band, the Hot Mess, was launched at Portugalia in 2008. The band includes her mom, Lee Clark, on flute, evidence that Roze comes from a musical family. Along with playing in peace-and-love era bands, “[Mom] used to hold Janis Joplin’s Southern Comfort for her offstage.” So, how’s gigging with mom working out? “She is a wonderful person to have in the band. Her life experience and ‘mom’ moments keep us all in check when we’re up in the rafters about anything.”

Roze has a rich, soul-mama voice that seems to go wherever it wants without limitation. The Hot Mess is five jazz- and R&B-informed players: Johnny Alexander on guitar, Jordan Morita on trombone, Harley Magsino on bass, and Charlie Weller on drums. “The driven and complex music on this album simply reflects each of us as band members. Was it intentional to make the music this way? No. Was it visceral and did it just happen? Yes.”

After doing a semester of music and theater classes at London’s Old Globe, Roze returned to California and graduated with a degree in theater from UC Santa Cruz.

Is there a single thought that unifies all of the songs on Turbulence? “That life is turbulent and unpredictable,” Roze says, “but we are all human and help each other feel better understood. Every one struggles with the themes present on this album, like money, self-realization, lust, commitment, perfection, distance, loss, death. It’s best to make lemonade out of these lemony moments.”

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Hockey Dad brings UCSD vets and Australians to the Quartyard

Bending the stage barriers in East Village
Next Article

Live Five: Rebecca Jade, Stoney B. Blues, Manzanita Blues, Blame Betty, Marujah

Holiday music, blues, rockabilly, and record releases in Carlsbad, San Carlos, Little Italy, downtown
Tori Roze’s mom “used to hold Janis Joplin’s Southern Comfort offstage.”
Tori Roze’s mom “used to hold Janis Joplin’s Southern Comfort offstage.”

Victoria Roze’s Facebook page says she worked as an art model for years. Perhaps this explains the revealing cover art on the new Hot Mess CD Turbulence: “The idea came to me like a bolt of lightning. I just had to follow through. The cover is a vintage Ford F-150 pickup truck flying off what looks like a hill. But when you open it up, you see that the hill is actually my right cheek [as in buttock], and the back of the album is the back of my head and [nude] torso.”

When I ask Roze if there is any special meaning, she says, “The artwork is a nod to the title of our first album, From the Hip, hence the pickup truck flying off my hip into the air. The band was pretty shocked at first, but we all like to joke a lot, so it’s all in good fun.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

From the Hip was nominated for Best Blues Album at the 2011 San Diego Music Awards, says the singer/trumpet player. It did not win.

Roze’s band, the Hot Mess, was launched at Portugalia in 2008. The band includes her mom, Lee Clark, on flute, evidence that Roze comes from a musical family. Along with playing in peace-and-love era bands, “[Mom] used to hold Janis Joplin’s Southern Comfort for her offstage.” So, how’s gigging with mom working out? “She is a wonderful person to have in the band. Her life experience and ‘mom’ moments keep us all in check when we’re up in the rafters about anything.”

Roze has a rich, soul-mama voice that seems to go wherever it wants without limitation. The Hot Mess is five jazz- and R&B-informed players: Johnny Alexander on guitar, Jordan Morita on trombone, Harley Magsino on bass, and Charlie Weller on drums. “The driven and complex music on this album simply reflects each of us as band members. Was it intentional to make the music this way? No. Was it visceral and did it just happen? Yes.”

After doing a semester of music and theater classes at London’s Old Globe, Roze returned to California and graduated with a degree in theater from UC Santa Cruz.

Is there a single thought that unifies all of the songs on Turbulence? “That life is turbulent and unpredictable,” Roze says, “but we are all human and help each other feel better understood. Every one struggles with the themes present on this album, like money, self-realization, lust, commitment, perfection, distance, loss, death. It’s best to make lemonade out of these lemony moments.”

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Hike off those holiday calories, Poinsettias are peaking

Winter Solstice is here and what is winter?
Next Article

Reader writer Chris Ahrens tells the story of Windansea

The shack is a landmark declaring, “The best break in the area is out there.”
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader