Pop songstress Miz Mandy’s sophomore album Today’s the Day was released last week on BabyLove Records. “We did a soft release in December for presales to the fan club,” says Mandy (real name Mandy Gasparich), …

“The shooting that happened at Static Lounge during the DayGo Unity event last summer was due to the outside scheduling of gang members as headliners,” says local promoter Jimmy Powers. “It resulted in [Static Lounge] …

“Two of us are lab-coat-wearing PhDs at Scripps Institute of Oceanography,” says Guava Belly bassist James Traer. “Mike [Pritchard, singer-keyboardist] works in the climate research group, building computer models to simulate cloud formation and understand …

Mike Keneally was fronting local band Drop Control when the invitation came in 1987 to join Frank Zappa’s touring band as a “stunt guitarist,” replacing Steve Vai. “The multivolume work I’m doing now, Scambot, shows …

“After the Chargers started to win some football games,” says Patrick Bernard of SD reggae act High Tide, “it was time to bring out our playoff song, ‘Chargers on a Roll.’ ” On January 3, …

Sorrow Underfoot, a Christian band featuring Fallbrook sisters Brittany and Shannon Taylor and their brother Justin on drums, has made several tours of Russia as part of the Calvary Chapel Church’s Planting Missions program. “I …

After publicly feuding with their former lead singer, the Taz Taylor Band has replaced vocalist Graham Bonnet (Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group) with another MSG vet, Keith Slack. U.K. guitarist Neil Taz Taylor moved to San …

Singer-songwriter Mary Dolan — a fixture in the San Diego music scene in the ’90s — was off the local radar for several years. “Our son Jack was born in November 2004, the day before …

In June 1978, Beach Boy Brian Wilson — without telling his wife or bandmates — decided to escape his life and hitchhike to Mexico. He wound up in San Diego, according to Steven Gaines’s biography …

“It’s outrageously hot on stage inside our ninja outfits,” says keyboardist Matt Liebowitz, one half of “karate-rock” duo Ninja Love. “Black pants, black shoes, black T-shirts, black hoodies with the hood up at all times, …

“I always knew that someday I would shake [Neil] Diamond’s hand and get to tell him how much he inspired me,” says David J. Sherry, the Diamond Is Forever bandleader and Escondido resident who met …

This collaboration was born at the UFO Club in Tokyo,” says Bruce McKenzie, one half of the local experimental duo Buzz or Howl. “We met famed Japanese psych-noise artist Astro through a mutual friend.… The …

Singer-songwriter Megan Combs — now an Ocean Beach resident — was 24 when she left Virginia on New Year’s Eve in 2007. She blogs about leaving her home, job, and husband behind: “I didn’t have …

Twenty-nine years ago this week (1/18/80), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers sold out downtown’s Golden Hall. It was the band’s first time in San Diego since playing SDSU’s Montezuma Hall two years earlier. Concert reviewer …

Nam Chi Vu of San Diego’s Riboflavin is a rare multi-threat talent. As a bassist, she’s among the city’s two or three best, comfortable playing classical, jazz, and rock. Now she’s involved in a local …

Happy Ron’s appearance on Sunday, January 18, at Clairemont’s Blarney Stone Pub will be his 1000th open-mike performance. “I started in 1997, and believe it or not, poetry open-mikes are the most borderline violent,” says …

Liquid Blue became the greenest band in the world in 2008,” according to bandleader Scott Stephens, “as we installed solar panels at our office and recording studio and implemented many other green programs.… “We use …

When Boyz II Men appear tonight at the House of Blues, they want only “white meat chicken, no fried.” They’d also like baked salmon, steamed lobster, grilled jumbo shrimp, grilled tuna, and pasta (“prepared in …

MC Flow’s new “Created Equal” video continues the project born on November 5, after Californians opposing legalized marriage between gay couples voted Proposition 8 into law. Flow responded in verse, with a video for the …

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 …

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 …

“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 …

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 …

“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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

“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 …

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 …

“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 …

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 …

“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 …

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 …

“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 …

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 …

“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 …

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 …

“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 …

“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 …

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 …

“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 …