“I was the first person to be laid off.” After 16 years as a Smooth Jazz host KIFM radio management handed William Tayari Howard his pink slip. That was in May of 2011. “After me, they laid off the rest …

Singer Davy Jones passed away this morning after suffering a heart attack in his home. The Reader dug this up from the archives to look back again at some of his history in San Diego. On September 11, 1966, Del …

I’m happy to say that Google is showing some couth. Today, they posted a twofer doodle on their home page. Why is it a twofer? It honors both leap year and Rossini’s 220th birthday. Gioachino Antonio Rossini was born on …

Last Thursday night I stepped out of the San Diego night-time chill and into the soothing heat of a lazy New Orleans summer day — Linnzi Zaorski, regular of New Orleans' Frenchmen Street, was playing Bar Pink and warming up …

Rhode Island’s Sage Francis emerged from the turn of the century indie rap boom and backpacker movement as the godfather of confessional hip-hop. Set against a genre historically predisposed toward image over reality, Sage favored a poetic delivery fraught with …

“Herr Johann Christian Bach, music master of the queen, took Wolfgang between his knees. He would play a few measures; then Wolfgang would continue. In this manner they played entire sonatas. Unless you saw it with your own eyes, you …

Out of Mankind, the full-length that Sikh rocker Hargo recorded in New York City back in 2009, finally drops today, February 28. Hargo got his first taste of fame at the age of 16, when his tune “Giving” was selected …

Promoter Bryen Beglinger started Wobble Events last year as an underground answer to what he saw as uninspired, mainstream nightlife. “The mainstream is all about being treated like cattle by bouncers herding you in to buy $13 drinks and listen …

Saxophonist Ian Tordella hosted a multifaceted CR-Release party last night, held in the very cool artist-workspace-warehouse Glashaus building in the industrial district of Barrio Logan. The event featured three acts in all, two of them guitar/drum duos as well as …

Since everyone with a cell phone and some inexpensive editing software is making videos these days, local acoustic/electronic/world/folk blend performer Andy Robinson thought it would be fun to see what people would come up with using the mostly-instrumental songs from …

Last night, the Athenaeum Jazz at the Studio concert series struck gold with the debut San Diego performance by the highly acclaimed guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel and his Standards Trio, featuring veteran bassist Ugonna Okegwo, and young drum phenomenon Justin Faulkner. …

Celtic punk ensemble Flogging Molly will play House of Blues on Tuesday, March 6 as part of the band's 8th Annual Green 17 Tour. The Green 17 Tour was born in 2004 as a countdown to St. Patrick’s Day with …

It’s been almost 20 years since Kansas City “big melodic noise” stalwarts Molly McGuire played in San Diego at what is now Pecs bar in North Park. “There were like 10 people there and they were drunk as shit,” recalls …

“April the 16th 1776, Lord Fauconbery sent me a ticket for Bach and Abel’s Concert at the assembly room in Hanover Square. "The performers were the two above mentioned, the second played a solo exceeding well. In all about 22 …

Former San Diegans bassist Danny Weller and guitarist Jeff Miles return home from Brooklyn, NY, to reunite with LA drummer Jens Kuross and San Diego piano monster Joshua White for a CD-Release party celebrating their recording, Third Story, on Friday, …

Tijuana/Las Vegas freak folk troubadour Late Nite Howl (Paul Dodero) recently released his debut music video, “Days Have Gone,” from the pending self-titled EP. The video is a nostalgic collection of vintage Super 8 footage from a family picnic which …

If, on an off chance, you're wondering what the love spawn of James Brown and Janis Joplin would look like, check out the Styletones. Headed up by the charisma of the slippery-footed Steve Harris, the San Diego R&B/funk/soul combo had …

“I said this was Fat Tuesday, not lazy Tuesday.” JP (short for Jean Paul) Balmat, the music director at Mission Bay High School laughs, but he is listening. His star pupils, the Preservationists, a NOLA-style jazz group are running down …

If greatness is overcoming adversity then Jay Hunter Morris is great. He flew across the country, stepped into a demanding role sans rehearsal, presented a fully developed character, and made it look easy. His performance as Captain Ahab in Moby …

The upright bass so deftly manipulated by Bridget Kearney was too high in the mix. If the New England Conservatory-seeded band wasn’t used to adapting to diverse environments, this could have been a problem. Forty-plus appreciators, some of whom seemed …

Nine years ago today... 2-22-03: Paul McCartney played a private party in Rancho Santa Fe. When Ralph Whitworth threw his wife a 50th birthday party at Delicias restaurant, he forked out a million bucks (for charity) to have McCartney perform …

Athenaeum Jazz at The Studio will continue its concert series with a special one: guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel's Standards Trio on Friday, Feb. 24. Joining Rosenwinkel will be double bassist Ugonna Okegwo and drummer Justin Faulkner. Rosenwinkel emerged into the greater …

A couple years ago, my buddy and former bandmate Jesse Plack became bedridden with what doctors diagnosed as a rare and mysterious brain virus. After several months of debilitating weakness, Jesse pulled up his linoleum flooring one afternoon to find …

72 year old famous former neighbor Kim Fowley enters the hospital today, February 21, for bladder cancer recall surgery. "Please pray for me," he posted on Facebook on Monday. "I need all the help I can get. To my enemies: …

“I don’t worry about it. There is too much truth here [gesturing to the wall covered in recordings] to be diminished by anything or anyone”. I don’t know the name of the man who said that to me years ago …

Cutting edge music curator Bonnie Wright is back in San Diego, fresh from a six-month sojourn in New York City, where she attended more than 150 concerts as part of her ongoing effort to stay on top of the new …

Hills Like Elephants announced the release of their debut LP today after months in the studio with vintage drum machines, Moog plug-ins, an old school pump organ, and an “‘80s synthesizer with fans blowing in your face to cool it …

Piano virtuoso Joshua White assembled a quintet of like-minded Southern California improvisers for an explosive and expansive evening of works by jazz icons Thelonious Monk and Ornette Coleman to a packed and enthusiastic audience in The Back Room at 98 …

As part of musician, label head, and promoter Ezequiel “Ziggy” Pelayo’s Yeah Buddy Tuesday series, Pelayo’s rock and roll outfit Moosejaw will be playing on the 28th with local noise-prone post-punk badasses Batwings and Secret Fun Club as well as …

“I have a new covers album called 1957 that’s mixed and done,” says busy Blizzard frontman Chris Leyva. Leyva already dropped a solo full-length this month, Live Learn Loose (released on Valentine's day). 1957 is a collection of vintage rockers, …

Earlier this month, hometown heroes the Vision of a Dying World played their last show. Now, it looks like Endoxi is calling it a day as well. In a Facebook video, singer/guitarist Chris Wilson announced “It’s an experience we’ve all …

Leucadia jazz guitarist Peter Sprague was in New York last month for a week, at a composers conference, as a perk of his $ 22,000 grant from Chamber Music America, the organization that funded his sprawling three movement composition, "Dr. …

Switchfoot's North American tour begins March 22 in Kahului, HI, after which they’ll headline the traveling Soundwave Festival in Australia and New Zealand, where they’ll shoot footage for their upcoming surf film Fading West. They'll kick things off locally on …

Feb. 18, a very special Joshua White Quintet will be performing in The Back Room at 98 Bottles in Little Italy. The concert will focus on the music of innovators Thelonious Monk and Ornette Coleman. The Quintet is comprised of …

“I’m not sure what to call it. Electric space jazz, I guess.” On Saturday February 25 tenor saxist Ian Tordella will host a CD release party for his second album Tragic Comedy. He’ll be joined by Jeff Miles and Joey …

Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine wants to set the record straight; he's hasn't endorsed presidential candidate Rick Santorum, at least not yet. Last week the former La Mesa resident and current resident of Fallbrook was quoted as saying: "I'm hoping that …

Having gone from a weekly night at the Kava Lounge to a bass music mega-event at the three-story Spin Nightclub in Middletown, Elev8 is now in its fourth year of showcasing cutting-edge local and touring artists in glitch, midtempo, dubstep, …

Vocalist Allison Adams Tucker played a special, Valentine concert for her KSDS Jazz Live appearance last night at the Saville Theatre. Because her gig fell on Feb. 14, Ms. Tucker tailored her program to feature the many sides of love …

Petunia and the Vipers will be in town February 16 at the Shakedown with Exene Cervenka and Phil Alvin. The band will be featured this week in the print edition as an Of Note for which Petunia and I spoke …

Last week, Daytrotter (the website for guest sessions at Horseshack analog studio in Rock Island, Illinois) published a set by local tropical pop quintet Cuckoo Chaos (ex- Vision of a Dying World, the Paddle Boat) engineered by Brian Thorn at …

This is the inventive tour of six guys playing unplugged solo work, independent of their full bands — a great "folky emo extravaganza" as Matt Pryor of the Get Up Kids called it in jest. The night started with a …

Scripps Ranch-based photographer John Hancock says he wanted to shoot portraits of as many San Diego musicians as he could. “What’s the coolest way I could do that?” The answer came in the form of an epiphany: have them strike …

Tonight before the piano-dress rehearsal for Moby Dick, San Diego Opera General and Artistic Director Ian Campbell announced that conductor Karen Keltner has removed herself from the production. Mr. Campbell explained that maestro Keltner has been fighting illness with antibiotics …

Composed of over 2 ½ million blocks of limestone weighing from 2 to 70 tons each (that’s enough masonry for 30 Empire State buildings), the Great Pyramid of Giza is estimated by archaeologists to have been built by a workforce …

Within the context of Melville’s Moby Dick, the character of Pip is significant. Moby Dick was written ten years before the start of the Civil War and as an African-American character, the way Pip is treated by the other characters …

After more than 35 years of playing upbeat, animated punk rock, English band the Adicts retain an energetic stage presence. The curtain rose to the first notes of “Ode to Joy,” revealing the band’s four instrumentalists, clad in their customary …

Last night, the Museum of Making Music concert featuring A.J. Racy and David Borgo, titled "Tales Of The Reeds," was a smashing success, drawing a full house of enthusiastic listeners. Racy, who is a professor of Ethnomusicology at UCLA and …

Tonight, Liquid Geometry and four-year-strong bass music weekly ELEV8 combine forces to host Detroit banger Freddy Todd supported by a local line-up of OSAL8, Squama, Mastah Syphe, and Facemelter. Syphe will be playing a special set dedicated to Liquid Geometry …

Up-and-coming guitarist Blake Mills took the stage at 8 p.m., playing six tracks supporting his new release, Break Mirrors, and finishing with a Lucinda cover. Lucinda and Blake emerged a while later for an intimate evening together in support of …

Thanks to a recently discovered unmarked white label acetate, KFMB's "Captain Sticky Theme Song" can now be heard again for the first time since the late 1970s, when the Captain (aka Richard Pesta) was still battling evil on local streets, …

The February edition of the KSDS Jazz Live concert series is going to be a Valentine Day special, with local vocalist Allison Adams Tucker as the featured performer. Tucker will be joined by bassist Evona Wascinski, pianist Danny Green, and …

“I have small pieces of some of the most famous recording studios in New York in here.” Steve Donato is on the phone, talking about his recording studio in Fallbrook: Night Sky Sound. The gear came to Donato as fabled …

“My time as lead singer for London Below has come to an end,” says zOe Tantrum, co-founder of the goth cabaret band formerly known as Tragic Tantrum. “I have made the very difficult decision to leave the band, to explore …

In the moments leading up to the Improviser's Summit concert last month at the Neurosciences Institute, adventurous music promoter Bonnie Wright of the Fresh Sounds concert series introduced me to Nobu Stowe, a recent transplant from Baltimore. Stowe laid his …

Four days ago, psych-folk quartet Chairs Missing posted a video for their track “Them” shot in the Bay Area Muir Woods on a recent West Coast tour. http://vimeo.com/36221549 The video was directed by Amanda Scheopflin of Cathedral X, a sound …

It’s Bret Hazzard on the phone talking about the Honkys from his home in the north part of Oceanside, near enough to the coast to hear commuter trains passing in the night. Years ago when the Honkys began making their …

Saxophonist / educator / ethnomusicologist / UCSD professor Dr. David Borgo will be appearing in tandem with double bassist Rob Thorsen on Feb. 11, at the Museum Of Making Music in Carlsbad, in a program titled "Roots Of Reeds: Tales …

“It’s always good to try things out of your comfort zone so you can know: A. Who you are. B. Where you can grow. C. What you like and don’t like. If there’s a ‘box’ I’m not going to be …

Since summer 2007, staffers have been loading our Local Music Database every single day, seven days a week, with band histories, images, articles, playable MP3s and videos, reviews, discographies, interviews, photos, album art, lyrics, influences, RIYL lists, and more. ALL …

Rock and Roll Part 3 the album was released in 2010 but Skid Roper would like me to have a listen anyway. This was in my message folder a couple of weeks ago: Hey Dave, did you ever listen to …

The seven-headed beast Doomtree roared through a sold-out Casbah and brought their nuanced, inspirational boom bap along for the ride. Through a setlist consisting largely of No Kings material and a canvas of war drums, P.O.S. and his Midwestern comrades …

The second full-length from Jesse LaMonaca and the Dime Novels, The Lament of Tumbleweed Hawk, hits the street on Saturday, February 18, with a release gig at the Casbah. The thirteen songs feature trumpet, saxophone, banjo, pedal steel, harmonica, violin, …

Everyone’s favorite mezzo-soprano, Janelle DeStefano, is going to be singing a concert of Samuel Barber songs this Wednesday at the Carmel Valley Public Library. Janelle is a San Diego native and spent several years with San Diego Opera in the …

Mint & the Freshness is a new local band getting a lot of attention for their lead singer Mint. She is like a breath of fresh air on the San Diego music scene. While playing a charity show for the …

Spotify the Swedish based music streaming service associated since Sept. 2011, with Facebook, has a pitch that sounds too good to be true. The company boasts that its service eliminates the temptation for music lovers to illegally download their favorite …

When great bands release a physical object as a manifestation of creative work, the community on the receiving end has options. You can: A. revel in the joy of yesteryear, and partake in the last vestiges of a time when …

Trombonist Michael Vlatkovich has been a stalwart presence in the West Coast improvising community for more than 30 years. His compositions and arrangements, which anchor this disc, defy the standard definitions and expectations of jazz, classical, and free-improvisation practices equally. …

Recently reunited local 1980s garage band the Answers will play a free show tonight at Bar Pink, along with the Sidewalk Scene and DJ Tony the Tyger. (courtesy http://www.cheunderground.com ) The Answers were an early eighties band co-founded by former …

Last night, the final concert in the Winter series for Jazz at the Athenaeum was an excellent reminder of the power of master improvisers to create, in the moment, something that will reward attentive listeners for years to come. Trio …

Having seen Angels & Airwaves twice before, including once at the Belly Up, I had expectations of dramatic lighting, fog machines, and a phantom musician. I was not disappointed. The aforementioned phantom was ever present in the form of a …

Vancouver pianist Paul Keeling grew up in San Diego, where his musical upbringing was reflective of the Del Mar jazz scene, classical music and choral studies, and, an important exposure to the music of Pat Metheny in the '80s. He …

As reports come in regarding the apparent suicide of Don Cornelius, founder and longtime host of TV's Soul Train, a local war of words has erupted over Cornelius and his legacy. Beginning online via Facebook, Twitter, and the fan page …

“We believe in the Occupy movement and others like it,” Scott Stephens, manager and vocalist of local pop rock entourage Liquid Blue, told the Reader in December. “We’ve been an activist group for many years. We’re really hyped to support …

Local instrumental hip hop and experimental beat label Kill Quanti is celebrating the release of a split 10" vinyl from San Diego staples DJ Pound and eLan with a party at the Kava Lounge featuring Philadelphia stuttered beat engineer Knxwledge. …

There are some interesting performances this weekend. The San Diego Youth Symphony is presenting two concerts on Saturday at Copley Symphony Hall. The first concert is at 2:00 pm and the second concert is at 7:00 pm. The evening performance …