Ventura Rocks in the Ventura Breeze 10/25 – 11/7

Ventura MusVentura Breeze logoic Scene
by Pam Baumgardner
VenturaRocks.com
Pam@VenturaRocks.com

This issue marks my four-year anniversary writing for the Ventura Breeze Newspaper. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our publisher, Sheldon Brown, for supporting Ventura’s music scene, and yes, you can even spot him out taking in bands such as Equinox coming up at Squashed Grapes on Saturday, October 28. Live music really does make a difference in building a community and bettering its citizen’s quality of life and Sheldon helps to promote that.

With Halloween falling on a Tuesday this year, you’ll be able to celebrate longer as most venues will have their bigger soirees over the weekend with the following venues hosting their parties on Saturday, October 28: Discovery features “Dawn of the Dreads” with Arise Roots, Legalizer and Sliff Vision; Gigi’s has a special edition of Karaoke renaming it “Scaryoky; Grapes and Hops has the Brandon Ragan Project; Keynote Lounge offers the Unusual Suspects; Sans Souci has DJ Darko in the house; Time Bomb will be at the Star Lounge; DJ Nick Dean and the Black Hips will be at The Tavern; Sonic Boom with Paul Mars Black (LA Guns) at Vintura at the Wine Rack; and there’s a special “Mischief and Mayhem Halloween Ball” with the Barrelhouse Wailers at Wicked’s Brew.

Then to help keep the party going on Sunday, the good folks from SPRP (Sunday Punk Rock Party) will be hosting their Halloween bash at Sans Souci from 1-6 pm with Girl Balls, Al Duncan (Alpo) from the Boxheads, COA and Plot. Later that afternoon, Plan B Winery hosts their “Hallowine” bash with Midlife Crisis from 4:30 – 7 pm. There will be no cover charge for either of these events.

If you need help getting into the swing of things, Ventura College presents “Jekyll and Hyde Gothic Thriller Musical” over the Halloween weekend at the Performing Arts Center. Showtimes are at 7:30 pm on Friday and Saturday with a matinee on Sunday, the 29th at 2:30 pm.

But if you’re a true-blue fan of Halloween, then you’ll still want to celebrate on Tuesday, October 31, and though all venues which are typically open on Tuesday will continue to have their decorations up and be in “the spirit of things,” Bombay’s will be hosting an evening with tribute bands including Pressgang (tribute to Murder City Devils) and Vandalisms (Vandals tribute); Squashed Grapes will present Tony Ybarra’s annually Halloween party; and DJs will continue the party at Star Lounge with DJ Nolan Trovble, DJ Nick Dean at Sans Souci and DJ Steezy Steve at Saloon BBQ.

And finally, Topa Mountain Winery in Ojai will host the 10th annual concert fundraiser for Safety Harbor Kids on October 29th featuring Robby Krieger of the Doors, Danny Seraphine (Chicago), Tommy Thayer (Kiss), Phil Chen (Jeff Beck), and a lot more. Go to SafetyHarborKids.org for ticket information.

Do you have any music-related news or upcoming shows you want help publicizing? Please 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 10/11 – 10/24

Ventura MusVentura Breeze logoic Scene
by Pam Baumgardner
VenturaRocks.com
Pam@VenturaRocks.com

There are a couple of high profile events coming up. Let’s start with The Seaside Highland Games (a Scottish/Celtic Festival) which hits town every Fall. They’ll have all kinds of games and activities including music all day long on several stages over the weekend of October 14th and 15th at the fairgrounds. Some of the acts performing will be Blackwaterside, The Angry Brians, Hidden Fifth, Slingo Rags, Highland Way, and Three for Joy.

The Ventura Beach Party in conjunction with the Ventura Marathon will be held down along the promenade at the Ventura Pier. There is no charge for this one and there will be music during the day over the weekend of October 21 and 22nd with Lightnin’ Willie, Sunnie Paxson, Sonic Boom, Paul Mars Black and Acoustic Generation performing.

Then there is the C.A.R.L. fundraiser on Saturday, October 21 at the Hong Kong Inn. This one donates all proceeds to the Canine Adoption and Rescue League and has Kelly’s Lot, Orphan Jon and the Abandon featuring Johnny Main, along with special guests all evening long including performances from Ray Jaurique, Michael Golden and Jerry McWorter.

Hi Hat Entertainment as a couple of weeks of amazing nights of music you won’t want to miss at the Hong Kong Inn. First on Friday, October 13, it’s The Forty Fours; then the following week, October 20, it’s Alastair Greene’s CD release of Dream Train. Greene has embarked on his solo career after playing with the Alan Parsons Project for the past 7 years.

Speaking of new music, Kelly Z (Zirbes) has a brand-new CD just released called Rescue. Kelly said that all 8 tracks were recorded in 2011 by Chuck Kavooras at SlideAway Studio; however, the project was never finished, that is until Kelly was asked to provide the vocal tracks. It really is quite impressive!

Quick Notes: Vintura at the Wine Rack will be hosting a special fundraiser for the Ventura Cancer Resource Center on Thursday, October 12th from 7-10 pm with singer/songwriter, Karen 805 entertaining; Spencer the Gardener returns to Discovery on Friday, October 13; One Square Mile featuring members of the Circle Jerks and Saccharine Trust will be at the Garage on Saturday October 14 and Motörbabe (female Motörhead tribute band) on Friday October 20; after playing at the Highland Games, The Angry Brians will be jamming at Grapes and Hops on Saturday, October 14 then Shawn Jones recently back after another European tour will be playing the next day on Sunday afternoon, October 15; and The Jelly opens for The Motels on Sunday, October 22 at the Canyon Club.

And finally, CAPS Media’s radio station is now streaming live at www.capsmedia.org/radio. You can catch The Pam Baumgardner Music Hour every Tuesday at 5 with a rebroadcast on Friday at 5 and Sunday at noon.

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

Topa Topa Folk Fest 2017

Two days of awesome artists in gorgeous downtown Ojai at the Libbey Bowl.
Saturday, October 7, 2017
Lucinda Williams
Shane Alexander
Leslie Stevens
Bright Wright
Ladies Gun Club

Justine Bennett

Friday, October 6, 2017
Bryan Titus

Timmy Curran

Jamie Drake

The Brambles

Danny McGaw

Miscellaneous Backstage, Crew and Volunteers