Ventura Rocks in the Ventura Breeze 10/14 – 10/27

Ventura MusVentura Breeze logoic Scene
Erin Go Bragh!
by Pam Baumgardner
VenturaRocks.com
Pam@VenturaRocks.com
The Highland Way
The Seaside Highland Games came and went taking those gorgeous men and beautiful women in kilts with them. I stopped in to check out the Celtic music and I wasn’t disappointed; crowd favorites were The Angry Brians, Tannahill Weavers and Highland Way, I’m certainly looking forward to next year’s event and may even be bold enough to try haggis, but probably not.

Congratulations to Plan B Wine Cellars on their 3rd anniversary!  They partied in fine form with Jen Staves and the Bluzfish on Sunday, October 11.

Local hip hop artist, Michael Crawford drops his new album “Escape Artist” on October 16 with a CD release party at the Tavern. I was sent an advance copy and yeah, the man’s got talent.

Frost and Fire, a heavy metal festival will take over Bombay’s on October 17th with such bands as Manilla Road from Wichita, KS, Ashbury from Tucson, AZ our very own Night Demon over a half dozen more bands. There will also be a meet and greet with Tim Baker and Robert Garven of Cirith Ungol. Doors open at 4:30 pm.

Mike Toler is the official new owner of Amigos and he’s brought in his good friend Luke O’Dea to help out with booking bands, promotion and social media. I’ve been assured they plan to offer a variety bands 365 days a year. It’s all good news with the exception of losing Bernadette who will be returning to England this month. Mike is throwing her a farewell party on Saturday, October 17, so swing by to say goodbye and wish her well.

Three-time Grammy winner Tom Scott returns to Squashed Grapes October 24, and it will be another first for the Grape when they offer two seatings in one night. Both are only $10 with 7 and 9 pm show times.

Oh! And I have to share about the extraordinary night recently at Squashed Grapes when Bruce Forman performed the Red Guitar.  The place was at capacity, and you literally could have heard a pin drop the audience was so captivated. The second set Forman brought up his special guest whom he had teased earlier on social media stating he couldn’t say who it was for “contractual reasons.”  Well it turned out to be Tierney Sutton who sang requests the entire second set.  Five time Grammy nominated and the 2005 Jazzweek Vocalist of the year, Sutton heads up the Tierney Sutton Band  who have headlined the Hollywood Bowl, the Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. Yeah, it was intense and a privilege to witness.

And finally, don’t forget Kiefer Sutherland will be at W20 at the Watermark on Friday, October 23.  Ten-dollar tickets will be available the night of the show. Doors open at 7 pm.

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 4/15 – 4/28

Ventura MusVentura Breeze logoic Scene
Toast the Train!
by Pam Baumgardner
VenturaRocks.com
Pam@VenturaRocks.com

150415_JenStavesWe had a blast at the Second Sunday Supper at Plan B Wine Cellars feathering the amazing Jen Staves and the Bluzfish.  Plan B is also hosting the Afternoon Blues Series now through September with Blues lined up on the first Saturday of the month.  The next soiree will be on May 2nd with the Shari Puroto Band.  Bring your chair and toast the train!

You’ll find music both days downtown on Main Street the weekend of the 18th and 19th.   On Saturday, it’s Champagne on Main, the Spring Wine Walk and Street Fair with music from Zeal Levin, Road Brothers, Kalyde and Ross Harper, then on Sunday Paint Ventura with live music from Paulina Logan and The Star Bandits.  And then continuing with the outdoor theme, head down to the Promenade for EcoFest on Saturday, April 25, for live performances from Spencer the Gardener, Dan Grimm, Heather Locke, Trans Van Santos, Afishnsea The Moon, Soul Tree and more.

Surf Rodeo has been rolling out weekly announcements for their music line up (a shrewd maneuver I might add), so far to date they’ll have the Rainbow Girls, Bob Long III, The NaVaNaX, Brothers Fortune, the Iron Outlaws and Raging Arb and the Redheads (who didn’t see that one coming a mile away?).

Darkside of the Hand will be there the following night along with Dead of Night, Die Evil Die and Shady Ladies.

The Mighty Cash Cats will hold their CD release party on Sunday, April 26, at Amigos.  The CD will be available featuring a blend of Country, Rock ‘n’ Roll and Blues, along with the title cut, an original duet “The Ballad of Johnny and June.”

Shawn Jones will be joined by Stephen Inglis at Grapes and Hops on Saturday, April 18.  Confidence is high they’ll have copies of their new CD, Global Guitar Greats, “Common Ground,” available.

Be sure to put this one on your calendar, Ozomatli at Ventura College Athletic Field, Sunday, May 3.  You can get tickets for all Ventura Music Festival events at www.VenturaMusicFestival.org.  (Ill Repute cancelled gig at Garage).

And finally we’re sorry to report the passing of a friend to so many local musicians, Doug Sax.  Sax was a mastering engineer, direct-to-disc pioneer, co-founder of Sheffield Labs, founder of The Mastering Lab; he would have been 79 on April 26.

If you’re missing us on Facebook, we had to convert to a business page.  So if you want to see our listings, you should not only Like our page, but you’ll have to continue to Like posts, and write comments to have them show up on your news feed on a regular basis.  I know!  What a pain!! www.facebook.com/venturarockswebsite.

If you have any music related news or upcoming shows you want help publicizing?  Send all information short or long to  Pam@VenturaRocks.com.