Ventura Rocks in the Ventura Breeze 5/25 – 6/7

Ventura MusVentura Breeze logoic Scene
“Who to Watch”
by Pam Baumgardner
VenturaRocks.com
Pam@VenturaRocks.com

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Ones to Watch Productions will be hosting a number of showcases at Grapes and Hops on Main Street. Mimi Gilbert will be there on Saturday, May 28, and The Brambles on Saturday, June 4th. Steve and Polly Hoganson (formerly of Zoey’s) most certainly have their fingers on the pulse of up and coming artists to watch for, so be sure to support their showcases here in town!

Radio Skies CD release party will be held indoors and out at the Ventura Beach Club On Saturday, May 28 with several bands and artists on the bill in what they’re calling a “One Night Micro Fest”. If you’re not familiar with them, the band, Radio Skies is out of Ojai, and find their inspiration from the songwriting of Paul Simon, the electronic landscapes of Brian Eno and the spirit of the Grateful Dead with their sound described as folk roots, electronic, psychedelia. Other bands on the line up include Pacific Haze, The Brambles, 9Lives and Brion Shearer.

The Libbey Bowl 2016 season has a number of events lined up for the next several months including several dates for the 70th Ojai Music Festival in June; concerts with Rick Springfield, Ozomatli, Michael McDonald, The Zombies and a special intimate concert with Don Felder of the Eagles benefiting Community Memorial Healthcare Foundation and the Ojai Community Foundation in October; and coming up immediately is an Ojai VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) free Memorial Day concert featuring Veteran speakers, and music from Nordhoff High School, US Air Force Band and the Ventura British Brass. For more information on Libbey shows, check out www.LibbeyBowl.org.

Hi Hat Entertainment has landed at the Hong Kong Inn for their Friday night Blues concerts. Shows on their roster include the boss of boogie Woogie, Rob Rio, who will be in the house on Friday, May 27; Keke Dickerson and the Eccofonics, famous for their Western Rockabilly sound on Friday, June 3rd; and The Bruce Katz Band will be there on Friday, June 10. Katz was inducted into the Blues hall of Fame in 2013. Hi Hat has a solid up line through August; you can check out their line up at www.HiHatEntertainment.com.

By the way, if you’re planning on catching Bad Religion at the Ventura Theater on Thursday, June 2, then you’ll want to extend the fun afterwards at Sans Souci with Mother of Dissension and The Hymen Blasters.

And of course the summer fun officially starts with Roadshow Revival, (now being called) A Celebration of American Roots Music, at Mission Park on June 25th and 26th. I’m looking forward to catching John Doe, The Paladins, The Blasters, Robert Gordon, and tons of other acts performing over the weekend. Information and tickets can be found at www.RoadshowRevival.com.

Do you have any music related news or upcoming shows you want help publicizing? Send all information short or long to Pam@VenturaRocks.com, and for updated music listings daily, go to www.VenturaRocks.com.

Ventura Rocks in the Ventura Breeze 5/11 – 5/24

Ventura MusVentura Breeze logoic Scene
“Local Artist Hitting the Big Time”
by Pam Baumgardner
VenturaRocks.com
Pam@VenturaRocks.com

Jacob Scesney warming up for the Squashed Grapes St. Patrick's Day Parade float 2015.

Jacob Scesney warming up for the Squashed Grapes St. Patrick’s Day Parade float 2015.

Jacob Scesney is making me super proud…not only has he been touring the world with various bands including Postmodern Jukebox, but he’s been making the rounds with Mike Posner on the Ellen Show and Late Night with Seth Meyers. Jacob is one of the most talented sax players and hardest working musicians around. If he’s not scheduled you’ll most likely find him sitting in with local bands from Squashed Grapes, to Bombay’s to Amigo’s. He told me that he’ll be out with Posner for a stadium tour all summer with Nick Jonas and Demi Lovato in the lineup, plus, they’ll be on Saturday Night Live and playing a gig at Wembley to an audience of 100,000 in June. He’s a sweetheart of a guy and I couldn’t be more excited about his career!

Shaky Feelin’ CD release party will be held at Bombay’s on Saturday May 21 which is perfect timing as the band will be in the studio with me at the end of the month recording the next episode of Ventura Rocks at CAPS.

A couple of bands coming up at Discovery you won’t to miss, Los Lonely Boys on Thursday, May 19, Spencer the Gardener on Friday the 20th, Big Tweed on Saturday the 21st and Fortunate Youth on Sunday, the 22nd.

Bad Sam Presents TSOL and Guttermouth at The Garage on Friday May 13. And Numbskull Productions is bringing English punk rock band Angelic Upstarts to the Garage with The Rouse opening on Tuesday, May 24.

Noel Paul Stookey of Peter Paul & Mary, will be at the Rubicon Theater for one special performance on Sunday, May 15.

You should get your tickets soon for the Simi Valley Cajun & Blues Music Festival for May 28th and 29th with Booker T, Leon Russell, Eric Burdon & the Animals, Barbara Morrison, and more including local musicians and friends, Guy Martin and Kelly’s Lot. See www.SimiCajun.org for tickets.

I’m sorry to report that Blues artist Candye Kane passed away May 6. Kane had performed at the Ventura Blues Club for Hi-Hat Entertainment this past December; Jerry McWorter of Hi-Hat said, “Candye was one of our favorites…a true entertainer, singer, song writer and musician.” Kane was known as “the toughest girl alive” and had been battling cancer for eight years.

And finally, a lot of bands are going into the studio lately and a lot of bands are using crowd funding resources to help cover costs. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that unless the band/artist is not giving anything back in return. If I’m contributing $25 or more of my hard earned dollars, then I want a CD or digital download after the recording process is done. Just sayin’.

Do you have any music related news or upcoming shows you want help publicizing? Send all information short or long to Pam@VenturaRocks.com, and for updated music listings daily, go to www.VenturaRocks.com.