I first came across S.D./L.A. electronic musician Sponge at a weekend Burning Man party last year in the hills of North County, where he played an afternoon set (stream it) unlike anything I had ever heard. The futuristic groove drew …

On Saturday, Sept. 1, vocalist Robin Adler and her guitarist husband Dave Blackburn will bring their all-star aggregation known as Mutts of the Planet into The Back Room at 98 Bottles for an evening of music composed by the brilliant …

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/29/30491/ Last night, the soul-stirring and acrobatic vocalist Leonard Patton took the stage before a sold-out audience in The Back Room at 98 Bottles with an all-star band featuring trumpeter/vocalist Teagan Taylor, pianist Ed Kornhauser, guitarist Nate Jarrell, and bassist …

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/28/30447/ Just before 8:00am Tuesday morning, August 28, local harpist Kelsea Rae Little (the Wrong Trousers) was struck by a car while in a crosswalk, walking to work. "I went up onto the car and my head smacked the glass …

Here we are with Mahler conducting in the 1880’s. Despite what was generally an anti-semitic era in Austria, Mahler’s conducting was universally praised by just about everyone except the players in the orchestras and the singers in the operas. His …

While discussing Jascha Horenstein, I quoted him as being influenced by the conductors Furtwängler and Nikisch. Following the lineage of a conductor can add to our understanding and appreciation of orchestral performances. It is similar to following the lineage of …

This week, Slightly Stoopid's seventh full-length Top of the World debuted at #13 on the Billboard 200 chart. They’ll appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on September 12, where we're told they'll perform the new title track, as well as “2AM” …

Former San Diegan, (he lives in Germany, now), tenor saxophonist Brian Levy has been back in town for a week or so, doing some gigging and recording a new disc at Peter Sprague's studio. Last night, he wrapped things up …

Jascha Horenstein, many have not heard of him. Those who have heard of him tend to worship him. If you revere Bruckner and Mahler yet know not Horenstein--for shame. Horenstein was championing these composers before they were accepted and confirmed …

The Peter Sprague Group Plays Pat Metheny scored a direct hit last night at Tango Del Rey in Pacific Beach, reinforcing many of the very ideas that have made Metheny's output such a vital force in modern music over the …

"I live in Santa Monica now, but I'm originally from La Mesa." Tiff Jimber is a pop music singer/pianist in the image, somewhat, of Ben Folds. Her music is both wry and intelligent to the point, at times, of introducing …

You may be surprised to find out just how many childrens' music performers call San Diego home. “The best thing about performing for kids is how much pure joy we see on a daily basis,” says Steve Denyes of country-fried …

This is my former roommate Mawkus. His full name is Marcus Aurelius Rosario and he tilts his head and tugs at his giant ‘fropuff when he’s talking about girls he finds attractive. He’s really good with a wok and often …

San Diego jazz guitar icon Peter Sprague will be paying tribute to guitarist Pat Metheny Thursday night, August 23 at Tango Del Rey in Pacific Beach. "Pat just had a birthday, and we're pulling our band together to play a …

Of the composers who could be considered Rococo, François Couperin was the finest and most influential. As we might guess from his name, Couperin was French and his dates were 1668 to 1733. Couperin is credited with blending the French …

With all the forth and back we’ve had concerning Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, it is fitting that the San Diego Symphony Summer Pops is concluding with an “1812 Tchaikovsky Spectacular”. There will be fireworks. Adding balance to the program is Tchaikovsky’s …

Women in jazz have been a source of interest for me ever since I bought Jean Luc Ponty's Aurora back in 1977, and saw that Patrice Rushen was the pianist on the date. Last night, Besos de Coco, a trio …

Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine recently told a Singapore audience that President Obama is behind the recent movie theater and Sikh temple shootings. “Back in my country, my President...he’s trying to pass a gun ban, so he's staging all of these …

I caught a small yet powerful concert this afternoon. When I arrived at the concert, it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I was expecting to hear the concert in the Crill Concert Hall at Point Loma Nazarene but the …

Tenor saxophonist Brian Levy headlined a Chuck Perrin Dizzy's production at 98 Bottles last night, featuring an international quartet of heavy hitters including drummer Rick Hollander from Germany, bassist Dave Santoro from Boston, and San Diego's own Mikan Zlatkovich on …

Virtuoso pianist Joshua White continued on his inexorable ascension into the improvising elite last night with a concert celebrating his 27th birthday at 98 Bottles. This time it was with the Joshua White/ Jeff Denson Project featuring the Bay Area …

98 Bottles hosted the Tommy Holladay Quintet last night, a fascinating blend of emerging and fully formed talent. Holladay is a fine young guitarist working in the post- Abercrombie vein, and he shares the front-line with trombonist John Egizi. Together, …

Band photo by Sheri Tennison Berg The theme of Manuok’s newest album is “ghosts, change, and traps,” says multi-instrumentalist and frontman Scott Mercado. So perhaps it’s no coincidence that Traps departs from the ethereal indie-folk mood that informed the band’s …

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29, -- Pussy Riot -- were sentenced in Russia today to two years in prison following their arrest in March after the punk trio sang "Mother of God, put Putin out," …

East of Sweden's drummer Jeffrey O'Brien learned to play cello this summer. But don't expect him to have it onstage when the band performs at their record release party this weekend. "I play cello on the album," he says by …

The Fresh Sound series returns to Space 4 Art, Wednesday September 5th. As the series often highlights experimental approaches to music making it is quite fitting that this installment will take place on John Cage’s 100th birthday. To help commemorate …

"Finally back after a wild ass tour," say Scott Stephens of Liquid Blue, who've just been hired to play the Democratic National Convention kickoff party on September 1 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before they leave town again, they'll appear at …

The Grandmothers of Invention "Roxy and Elsewhere and More tour," featuring three former members of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention (Don Preston, Napoleon Murphy Brock, and Tom Fowler) will be performing the music of Frank Zappa at Anthology on Friday, …

The roll call of winners from last night's sold-out 22nd Annual San Diego Music Awards at Humphreys included top honors to jazz pianist Mike Wofford, who received this year's Lifetime Achievement Award, and Candye Kane, the first recipient of SDMA's …

The all Beethoven and all Schubert concerts at the Summer Fest got me to thinking about the relationship between these two composers. The details are disputed but one thing is for sure, Schubert was one of Beethoven's torch bearers at …

The La Jolla Music Society's Summer Fest is in full swing. The four-week festival started on July 31st and closes on August 24th. This week there are concerts on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Tuesday's concert is an all …

Three of San Diego's finest musicians/composers combined their considerable skills for a collaborative effort Saturday night at 98 Bottles. Tenor saxophonist Brian Levy, pianist Mikan Zlatkovich, and trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos, took the stage, supported by bassist Dave Marr and drummer …

Artist Mike Clift has drawn gory, zombie-heavy record covers for bands like GutRot, Nocturnus, DiamondHead, and Skinlab. He’s probably best known for his sleeve artwork for reunited locals Psychotic Waltz, whose drummer Norm Leggio went on to run Blue Meannie …

Friday night, the World Beat Cultural Center hosted a double-bill concert featuring the sounds of the African diaspora as interpreted through the mind of Turiya Mareya and musical friends. Opening were the Women's Spirit Music Ensemble, featuring Toni Pope, Ayanna …

I went to Opera Neo's Faces of Love Scenes concert on Saturday night at SDSU. I was impressed by the amount of music these young singers presented. Including a brief intermission, the concert was three hours long. The concert was …

On the heels of a triumphant return from a three year long hiatus, Sleeping People will play the last of their slew of recent shows. Due to the Soda Bar show they played Friday night, today's show at The Victory …

Simply click here for show details. Send your full name and contact information to [email protected] to enter. Tickets compliments of Soda Bar. Good luck!

Pianist, composer Danny Green probably doesn't get enough credit in a town with Mike Wofford, Joshua White, Anthony Davis, Geoffrey Keezer and Mikan Zlatkovich all in various levels of activity — but one thing's for sure — this young cat …

“Our music is like sex on a beach on a warm night with perfect head high waves and off shore winds," according to Jet West singer-guitarist Chris Warner. "You know, that sound that makes you just want to hang another …

Gilbert Castellanos might just be the most exciting trumpet player working in the jazz mainstream today. He attacks the bebop sound structure with enough passion and precision to consistently breathe life into forms more than 60 years old. Last night. …

Last night’s Black Lips show definitely erased the “hard” and “rock” from the Hard Rock Hotel. Three songs into the Lips’ set, security shut down the Hard Rock’s “Soundcheck .007” event at around 11:30 p.m. The audience was ushered outside …

Digital magazine TheAtlanticCities.com published a study today ranking the leading urban centers for musicians and music industry in cities of over one million people. By analyzing Bureau of Labor Statistics figures on the concentration of musicians and U.S. Bureau of …

The “Face of Another” mix showcases selections from DJ ill spectre’s library of bass, UK garage, house, trap, juke, and post-dubstep overlaid with fever dream visuals orchestrated by artist Marilia Maschion. “This has been floating around in the ether for …

It was about a fez. I was working on a series of interviews with local rockers who'd had a taste of the big time for a story when I happened upon the Blue Guitar. At that time, the guitar shop …

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/08/29354/ Here’s how around two dozen San Diego bands, past and present, came up with their band names, followed by 150 free band names I’ve been dreaming up, all so far unused (as far as I know). I designed ‘em …

Czech discotheque-themed club Kadan in Normal Heights is closing its doors at the end of August after over a decade of chess, day drinking, and some of the best electronic music nights in town. According to owner Chris Heaney, who …

"The overture will be very showy and noisy, but will have no artistic merit because I wrote it without warmth and without love. But the Serenade, on the contrary, I wrote from inner compulsion. This is a piece from the …

In the Before Time, when emo was not yet synonymous with guyliner, lip rings, anime haircuts, narcissism, self-mutilation, and skintight Hot Topic tees, a handful of Midwest bands defined an era of mid-‘90s emo by adding math rock complexity and …

In this week’s nightlife issue, we spotlighted no nonsense electronic dance night Ocean Beats at Winston's. A joint venture of the Madero Group (the managing agency behind notables such as Ana Sia, David Starfire, Samples, and Eliot Lipp) and bass …

"I have been healing nicely since my pancreatic cancer surgery on May 2," reports blues belter Candye Kane, who's about to embark on a tour of the midwest, east coast, Florida, and then on to France and Holland. "While I …

Spirit has been my favorite band for over 30 years now. I’ve come to feel the same way about guitarist/bandleader Randy California that Deadheads feel about Jerry Garcia, a performer inexplicably linked to Sprit only by virtue of both bands …

The Anthology Summer Jazz Institute held a concert featuring their second class of young musicians (ages 12-14) on Friday, Aug. 3rd at the iconic club, for friends, families and jazz education supporters. Previous commitments kept me from catching the first …

The 1812 Overture might be the most popular piece of classical music ever written. It was once my favorite piece of music--when I was nine-years-old. I have shared before that this piece of music was what got me started on …

We asked 75 current and former local San Diegans in the music biz to reveal something about themselves that few would ever know or guess. GAYLE SKIDMORE: “One thing people are always surprised by is that I enjoy backpacking and …

Following a three-year hiatus, San Diego instrumental math quartet Sleeping People have reunited for four West Coast dates to herald the release of their new LP, NOTRUF, in a limited run of 1,000 vinyl. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/04/29126/ On Thursday, I caught their …

A response to a previous article asserted that the idea of classical music being elitist is an old canard. I was confused but then I looked up canard. I think a further explanation is needed. With 3 million people in …

Turiya Mareya is a musician equally qualified in two seemingly different aesthetics: her early work in San Diego featured her piano and bass-clarinet in a spiritual, avant-garde context--and her current work showcases her mastery of the Afro-Latino rhythmic blend found …

Next weekend, cellist/vocalist/composer Jody Redhage will be bringing her group, Rose & the Nightingale to San Diego from her home in New Jersey to play a special concert, "The Spirit of the Garden," at the Water Conservation Garden in El …

The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well. -- …

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/02/28954/ The high school-based history of local ska rockers the Fabulous Rudies is the subject of an upcoming Universal Pictures film titled Music High, which co-stars members of the band. The North County band was founded in 1997 by singer …

Trumpeter Jeff Kaiser's fiercely independent record label pfMENTUM has scored big once again with its latest release by trombone virtuoso Michael Vlatkovich titled Pershing Woman--Vlatkovich Tryyo. This disc represents the state-of-the-art in free-trombone, and small group improvising aesthetics. Vlatkovich is …

Touting the slogan “Going against the current and shipping music around the world,” non-profit digital/vinyl label Ship Records set sail in March with a collective of local artists, musicians, and promoters at the helm. The first of the label’s quarterly …

North Park drinkin’ dive Live Wire is celebrating 20 years on El Cajon Boulevard with a party in the Mississippi Room at the nearby Lafayette Hotel. If only to underline the significance of Live Wire as hub for local musicians …