Blurt: San Diego Music News
On January 27, a car accident in Mexico claimed the life of violinist Alex DePue, The Modern Paganini. DePue lived up to that 2018 album title, winning competitions from an early age and playing with …
There was a five-year span in Greg Vaughan’s childhood that was little more than a whirlwind of commitments. He was playing soccer and baseball; pursuing his interests in music via voice, piano, and guitar lessons; …
“He has a book out? I love that guy! I love that band!” Rick Froberg shows the enthusiasm of a teenage metalhead when discussing former Hillcrest resident and Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford, who recently …
“The Ché Café scene did so much to shape us as people and performers, but didn’t leave much of a historical record,” says former Noise 292 guitarist Matthew Rothenberg. Founded in 1980 as an all-ages …
New arrivals to San Diego, musicians included, often compare and contrast where they’ve been to where they’ve landed. But Jakvoich Skolnick, who plays guitar and a few other things for Quel Bordel, has more in …
In the days before Covid, piano virtuoso Irving Flores was one of the busiest cats in town. “Yes, I was playing every day,” recalls Flores. “But, just like that, it all collapsed from all that …
Bluegrass beginnings: Mandolinist Randy Hanson first met guitarist Mark Miller in 2012 at Cliff Keller’s San Diego Songwriters MeetUp. At the weekly gathering, the two were paired up and given a song title, “Every Second,” …
Jazz concert impresario Daniel Atkinson has experimented with all types of presentation ideas in the 32 years he’s been bringing music to San Diego. It’s been a while, however, since he focused a show on …
“To be honest, when asked to describe my music, I won’t describe it,” says Justin Pearson. “I think words, specifically genres, are limiting and misleading. However, when I get asked what kind of music I …
If it looks, walks, and quacks like a certain common North American waterfowl, it’s probably just what you think it is. But when Matt Delvecchio named the brewery he co-founded Duck Foot, he was thinking …
La Mesa goes live : “My mom was on welfare,” says Dean Velasco, who was raised in a La Mesa household with little money. “We had government cheese, and when we ran out of that, …
While still living in Chicago, singer-songwriter Tamar Berk played in power pop group Starball, known for their 2001 track “New Year’s Day” (“I wanted to write a holiday song”). She movied on to an electro-punk …
Victor Baker knows guitars. For one thing, he’s been playing them professionally for years. For another, back in the late ‘90s, he decided to start building them as well. “I was teaching a ton of …
I caught a Stones N’ Roses set at Soda Bar on November 1. Their Guns N’ Roses costumes would have been more fitting on the previous evening, but their mash-up of GNR, The Stone Roses, …
A man who’ll throw an annual 50th Birthday Bash for himself clearly boasts a robust sense of humor. And San Diego fixture Steve Poltz, who’s observing that cracked anniversary (he’s actually turning 62) at the …
A songwriter since early childhood, Julia Sage plays Chilean folk, blues, and Americana. She performs bilingual songs as a solo artist, as part of Grampadrew’s Flim Flam Revue, and with her band the Bad Hombres. …