Twenty-nine years ago this week (1/10/80), Styx appeared at the San Diego Sports Arena, with opening act the Babys. “When a band as seamlessly mediocre as Styx can draw one of the larger crowds assembled …

San Diego rapper Kayo self-released his first EP, Konfessions of a Kriminal, in 2005, at the age of 22. At least four other recording artists in different cities are calling themselves Kayo. The Kayo in …

“The Mboard I use in my two bands is patented, and we’re in negotiation to get it mass produced,” says Bill Wesley of the Array Orchestra and Vaginals. “The Sensor Array MIDI Controller Mboard will …

“I’ve lived in San Diego all my life,” says singer-songwriter Jack Tempchin, “and I consider it my city — although I don’t mind sharing it with a few million people.” Before writing songs for the …

“For the past six months, I’ve been toying around with live Internet broadcasting from my home,” says singer-songwriter Michael Tiernan. “In the past couple of months, my audience has really begun to grow.” Tiernan’s “interactive …

Almost 29 years ago (1/2/80), Cheap Trick played to a sold-out crowd at the Sports Arena. Exactly one year earlier (1/2/79), the band’s Civic Theatre concert attracted around 1000 patrons (this was before the release …

Heavy Glow recently recorded an EP at Velvet Revolver’s L.A. studio with guitarist/producer Stevie Salas. “Slash’s guitar was there,” says front man Jared, “and I played it while we recorded. I met [GNR/VR drummer] Matt …

Accused of attacking several local goths, James Eric Benham was sentenced in late November for two felony counts and two misdemeanor counts of assault. Victim James Howard of the Gothic Volunteer Alliance says the Navy …

“The Russians really do drink a lot of vodka,” says Carnifex drummer Shawn Cameron of the patrons at Moscow’s Tochka Club, where the band appeared December 1. “And the stuff with labels written in actual …

“Music played on the harp has several unique healing properties,” says Christina Tourin, founder and director of the International Harp Therapy Program. Based in San Diego, the program trains students to provide comfort and healing …

Melissa Vaughan writes hopeful, heartfelt piano ballads reminiscent of Norah Jones by way of Tori Amos. “My songs have a lot of genres all crumpled together,” she says. “I have some jazz, some folk, some …

According to drummer Bill Ray, “My friend called and said, ‘Hey, I’m watching this Smithsonian Channel program narrated by Morgan Freeman, and you’re on it!’ I was, like, WTF?” The TV show, Sound Revolution, included …

Delta Spirit had to cancel their November 21 show at Hailey’s in Denton, Texas, after bassist Jon Jameson was arrested. “Jon was arrested last night in Texas for possession of prescription medication,” read a post …

Twenty-nine years ago this week (12/7/79), the city’s first punk venue, downtown’s Skeleton Club, reopened at 202 West Market Street. The original locale on Fourth Avenue, across from Horton Plaza, had been shut down the …

"The hardest part about being in a Sublime tribute band is remembering all the lyrics," says Dane Scott, front man for 40 Ounces to Freedom. "Sometimes [Sublime singer] Bradley Nowell rapped so fast, it's hard …

Recent excerpts of Ocean Beach bar reviews posted at Yelp.com: Catalina Lounge: "It's a guaranteed pickup bar, if you're just looking for a slump- buster." (Starlight M.) "If you wear a collared shirt, you will …

When Celine Dion appears on Tuesday, November 25, at the Sports Arena, “Any damage to [power and sound] cables, due to a forklift or other machine pass, will be charged to Presenter and will not …

Frightened Rabbit were joined onstage by an uninvited guest when they played North Park’s U31 on November 5. “I don’t really like to call people out,” blogs Rosey Bystrak at sddialedin.com, “but, to the drunk …

“San Diego is definitely a cool place to be from,” says Mower front man Brian Sheerin. “We get a lot of love from local people who’ve been behind us for years, who go along with …

Twenty-eight years ago today (11/13/80), downtown’s California Theatre hosted a new-wave concert with 20/20 that was shut down by cops. “I’ve seen more than my fair share of police harassment at the various new-wave clubs …

Death Cab for Cutie bassist Nick Harmer posts details online about the backstage mishap suffered by singer Ben Gibbard before the band’s October 29 show at SDSU’s Cox Arena. “So tonight in San Diego, Ben …

“The ghost of Frank Zappa keeps appearing in my dreams and bugging me to do mass overdubs on stuff from his catalog,” says Tony Villodas. As “Tony Mind controle,” he posts music at MySpace.com/IsItFrankZappa that …

“My two bands are so different; I lead a completely bipolar life,” says local bandleader Gary Zon, who fronts the industrial goth group Dismantled and a breezy pop outfit called Aerodrone. “I started Dismantled back …

“This is how I rock, this is how I roll Black, Puerto Rican brother with some soul. Though it took a while to accept my style This is who I am, and I won’t deny …

“I’m the new singer for the Bay City Rollers,” says local Eric Crabb. “Their guitarist Ian Mitchell lives in Orange County now, and he saw me on YouTube. It was an audition video I did …

Twenty-nine years ago this week (11/10/79), the Dead Kennedys played the final concert staged at the city’s first punk venue – downtown’s original Skeleton Club on Fourth Avenue, across from Horton Plaza. Owner Laura Fraser …

“Including the champagne and a gallon of gold body paint, it ran about $30,000,” says Michael Page of a 3D video recently shot by PassmoreLab, the local visual production firm at which he works. (Page …

“There were naked people everywhere,” says Lee Williams, drummer for the Burning of Rome. The band played San Francisco’s Exotic Erotic Ball and Expo on October 24. Advertised as “A Celebration of Flesh, Fetish, and …

“Even though we felt teaching popular songs for free on YouTube would benefit the original artists, a few labels felt otherwise,” says Next Level Guitar cofounder Tim Gilberg in a press release. He and fellow …

from recent posts on the San Diego Musicians page at craigslist: “Female Vocalist: I love to sing [but] I dont have a way to do it without irritating the neighbors of my apartment complex…maybe a …

Twenty-nine years ago this week (11/4/79), the Knack played downtown’s Fox Theatre, a show that sold out in just a few hours. The band opened with the first three songs from their newly released album …

“Nobody really knows why Isis didn’t use their full time [on stage], but [their early departure] allowed Earthless to literally steal the festival,” says Steve Dolcemaschio of Tee Pee Records. He refers to this summer’s …

The song “Higher Than Hope,” by Finnish metal band Nightwish, is about local deejay Marc Brueland, who lost his battle with cancer five years ago this week, on October 25, 2003. Sample lyric: “The hopes …

Local record label Single Screen Records was launched in 2007 by Jackson Milgaten (singer-guitarist for the Vision of a Dying World) and Craig Barclift (bassist for the Powerchords). “Both of our own bands are on …

Before Jimmy Buffett takes the spotlight at Cricket Amphitheatre tonight, October 16, “purchaser, at its sole cost and expense, shall provide Artist with five limousines or four 15-person passenger vans.” When dinner is served for …

On October 4, Ray Suen appeared on Saturday Night Live, playing instrumental backup with the Killers. Though he wasn’t seen on the band-photo cards preceding each of the band’s two songs, he was prominently featured …

“I get to keep my minivan,” says MP3tunes owner Michael Robertson, who is claiming a victory in the copyright-infringement lawsuit filed by EMI last year. The record company accused Robertson and his Sideload.com of illegally …

“I’ve been a musician since I found out what musicians do for a living,” says guitarist Joey Harris. “I tried being a salesman once, and it sucked just as bad as I sucked at it. …

Twenty-nine years ago tomorrow (10/10/79), the Clash headlined a bill at downtown’s Golden Hall that included the Standbys, a local band. For this date on the “Clash Take the Fifth” tour (a few weeks before …

The Penetrators got their break in the mid-’70s, opening for the Ramones at SDSU’s Montezuma Hall. “During that period,” says singer Gary Heffern, “we racked up a number of concert disasters all over San Diego. …

“I couldn’t speak English at all when I moved from Japan to America [in 2003],” says Four Minutes Til Midnight guitarist Kenta Hayashi. “I had a really hard time. I was totally alone.” He says …

“I got a call from a friend that works with Stevie Wonder,” says local percussionist Steve Haney. “He mentioned that he had an opportunity for me to record with Stevie. Stevie had an idea to …

“I’ve been offering free music-video production, but either the bands suck or the singers who respond are 16-year-old girls,” says Shannon Wafford of Snow Productions, a local production company. “I ran ads in the Reader …

“The Ranchita Rocks music festival in Ranchita near Ramona was a disaster,” emails attendee Andrew MacDonald of the three-day concert event held September 12—14. “The thousands of attendees got much less than what they paid …

“For years, I drank and used drugs out of shame over it,” says Adriana Smith, known by Guns N’ Roses fans as the girl heard having sex with Axl Rose in the recording studio during …

“We record nearly all of our shows because every performance is a unique one-off and we want to capture the magic,” says bassist Larry Vernec of Blue44. All three albums by the Encinitas band were …

Before Journey appears at the Pechanga casino in Temecula on October 1, “All announcements must be done 20 minutes before the performance.” They want — on call — an ear, nose, and throat doctor, an …

“If things in the music biz continue to fall apart,” says Manganista singer Matt Rhea, “maybe we’ll have [X-Ray Babies] to fall back on. People may stop paying for music, but they’ll never stop having …

White Gold and the Calcium Twins are a Spinal Tap-esque glam band created for the “Got Milk?” advertising campaign. White Gold’s spandex-clad singer plays a milk-filled guitar and encourages milk consumption in humorous ads alongside …

“Lestat’s is my favorite spot to hang out and perform,” says singer-songwriter Josh Damigo. “I’m pretty much there every night. I’m a huge fan of acoustic music, and the soundman Louie Brazier and I just …