Ventura Rocks in the Ventura Breeze 11/22 – 12/5

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

The holiday season is in full swing with Ventura looking as lovely as ever with music keeping us as lively as ever.  To start off with, it’s the “social event of the year,” Ventura Winter Wine Walk and Holiday Street Fair on Saturday, December 2.  The holiday street fair is free and runs from Noon until 8 pm; the main stage of music is also free and located at the corner of Main and California with City Hall as the backdrop. The bands rockin’ the event this year are the Road Brothers, Adelaide and the Bomb.  Then of course it’s the Wine Walk (21 and over) which typically sells out every year; it runs from 4 until 7 pm.

Squashed Grapes is hosting a fundraiser for the local chapter of Notes for Notes on Saturday afternoon, December 2, from 1:30 to 4:30 pm with two acts on the bill.  Firstly, it’s the East Valley Road band featuring Notes for Notes students who are raising funds to help them get to a Blues competition in Nashville, and then it’s Patrick Warburton’s band called The Bearded Pearl Clams featuring Pearl Jam tunes.  Yes, you read that right, it is that Patrick Warburton of Seinfeld and Rules of Engagement fame.  It’s all about raising awareness about this amazing program available to our up and coming young musicians here in Ventura where they have a state-of-the-art recording studio available to them and soon a mentoring program featuring a Master’s program with key local musicians. You can learn more about this non-profit organization at NotesForNotes.org.

The Surfrider Foundation’s 8th annual Pints Against Plastics benefit will be held at Discovery on Saturday, November 25th, with Through the Roots and Rising Son providing the reggae. The fundraiser is for litter prevention efforts for Ventura County beaches and rivers. Find out more at Ventura.Surfrider.org.

Quick notes:  Kick off the holiday weekend with pre-Thanksgiving fun on Wednesday night, November 22, with Yachtley Crew at Bombay’s; Nathan McEuen returns to town with a show at Grapes and Hops on Friday, November 24, with what he calls Nathan McEuen and the Enormous Ego Band; there’s a Numbskull Productions show at the Garage with Captured! By Robots on Friday, November 24; catch The Tenderloin and Spivey Spi at Duke’s on Seaward on Friday, December 1; the Old Time Country Music Christmas concert will be held on Sunday, December 3, at the Poinsettia Pavilion; and just released, the soundtrack to the documentary featuring local blind musician, Rachel Flowers, “Hearing is Believing.”

And finally, Ray Jaurique and the Uptown Brothers are working on their second release.  Ray told me he’s penned ten or eleven new songs and that this one will include some special guest players; they’re working out of Castaway 7 Studios here in Ventura.

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 11/8 – 11/21

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

I can’t say it enough, I love this town, and I love our music scene. Thank you for supporting live music, it really brings life into our quaint beach community. To start off with, here are a couple of events you might want to secure tickets for before they sell out. First the highly popular “event of the year,” it’s the Winter Wine Walk and Street Fair. The street fair and music are free to the public and run noon to 8 pm, but if you want to take part in the wine walk, then you’ll need tickets at VenturaWinterWineWalk.com. Music this year features the Road Brothers, Adelaide and The Bomb.

And then the Ventura Theater just added Nardcore Punk Rock to Walk Me Home to their calendar. Headlining the night will be T.S.O.L. along with Nardcore favorites, Ill Repute, Stalag 13, Dr. Know, and more. This one’s scheduled for Saturday, January 6, with the first band playing at 4 pm (show ends at midnight).

Speaking of which, the Nardcore 8th annual Turkey/Toilet Bowl tournament falls on Saturday, November 18th at Harley’s Valley Bowl in Simi Valley. Monies raised help C.A.R.L. Just a couple of the bands playing will be The Hymen Blasters, Bad Samaritans, Channel 3 and more.

I spoke with Jerry McWorther of Hi Hat Entertainment about the return of Albert Lee to Ventura, and he’s really pumped up about this one. You may already know that Lee is an inductee to the Musicians Hall of Fame, he’s a two-time Grammy award winning artist, and is undeniably one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Normally when he plays here in Ventura, the band is arranged by Jerry, but this time he’s bringing his personal band to back him up. You won’t want to miss this one coming to the Hong Kong Inn on Friday, November 17. Tickets can be purchased at HiHatEntertainment.com.

Speaking of Hi Hat Entertainment shows, it was such a surprise when Wrecking Crew member, Don Randi, showed up when The Shari Puorto Band was playing on Friday, November 3. Jerry rallied everyone he knew and finally wrangled a keyboard for Randi who joined the band for their second set. They kicked off his appearance with the song Nancy Sinatra is most famous for and on which he played, “These Boots are Made for Walking.”

Quick Notes: the Ugly God show is cancelled at the Ventura Theater for November 16 and SuicideBoys on the 13th is sold out; Squashed Grapes welcomes back the Doug Webb Group featuring Danny Carey of TOOL on Friday, November 17; and finally, congratulations to Ill Repute! The hit Netflix show Stranger Things featured a snippet of “Clean Cut American Kid” on Episode 3 of their second season. It originally aired October 27, 2017.

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.