Monthly Archives: January 2018

Ventura Rocks in the Ventura Breeze 1/30 – 2/13

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

It should come as no surprise that the Thomas Fire Benefit Festival sold out one week before the concert having only been announced less than two and half weeks previously. For those of us who have tickets, the event takes place at Plaza Park at the corner of Chestnut and Santa Clara downtown Ventura on Saturday, February 3. Gates open at 2 pm for VIPs with general admission at 4 pm; blankets and chairs welcomed as there will be no priority seating so get there early for a good seat to catch Kevin Costner and Modern West, Olivia Newton-John, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and the rest of the acts on the bill.

Just a quick follow up on two past events, first the Delgado Brothers headlining the fundraiser at Discovery on January 19, raised $3705 for Ventura Food Share and the Ventura United Way Thomas Fire Fund; and the 805 Love Notes on Sunday, January 14, raised $8,000, and those funds go directly to the families and individuals in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties through 805Arise, Help California and Santa Barbara Music Foundation.

Back to the business at hand, Chopper Fest falls on Sunday, February 4th at the Ventura County Fairgrounds, it had to be rescheduled due to the Thomas Fire in December. Along with all the hot rides to check out, you can enjoy music from Gethen Jenkins, Kelly’s Lot and The Bob Carrillo Blues Band.

Paulie Cerra returns to Ventura for a show at the Hong Kong Inn on Saturday, February 10th. While he may be best known as Joe Bonamassa and John Scofield’s touring tenor sax player, this show will focus on his songwriting, singing and keyboard work. Ray Jaurique & The Uptown Brothers will open the show at 7pm with new songs to be featured on their upcoming CD being recorded at Ventura’s Castaway7 studios.

A couple more artists back in the studio include Tommy Marsh who has been working overtime producing a new album for Crooked Eye Tommy at Brotheryn Studios, where I was invited to hang out and watch the recording process recently, and let me tell you, it was too cool for school! And Stephanie Gladhart and Jerry Careaga of The Blue Music are tracking their next LP down at Capital Records early February. Their debut EP has already started getting radio play around the country and in Europe.

Quick notes: The Tossers first Sunday residency has landed at Grapes and Hops starting at 3 pm; Leashless Brewery is offering up jazz twice a week, Tuesdays with John Bardi and Thursdays with Davey Miller; Emergenz has regrouped as Dry Creek Strangers, you can catch them at noon on Sunday, February 4 at the Sandbox Coffeehouse; and The Blasters return to town for a gig at Discovery on Saturday, February 10.

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.

Kevin Costner on the Thomas Fire Benefit Festival

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I admit, I was nervous to be speaking with three-time Golden Globe and Academy Award winning actor, producer, director and musician, Kevin Costner. I’ve been a long-time fan of his work and have seen him twice in concert with his band Modern West. But within a few moments, I was at ease as I found him as down-to-earth as the Iowan farmer, Ray, he portrayed in the movie Field of Dreams.

Kevin had hoped to be in town for one-on-one interviews to help promote the Thomas Fire Benefit Festival, but the tragic mudslides in Santa Barbara and Montecito had closed down the 101 keeping him homebound so we spoke over the phone and he gave me some background on how the benefit came about.

It was back in 2008 when Kevin reached out to his good friend Tim Hoctor to help produce his concert at Main and California in support of his latest film, “Swing Vote.” It was a huge undertaking, not an easy feat, so it wasn’t something Kevin thought Tim would want to do again, but he made the phone call to Tim who then reached out to Mark Hartley, and the proverbial ball was soon rolling.

Kevin’s love, care and concern for this town soon became evident. He told me it was just days after the start of the Thomas Fire that he knew he had to do something to help. He realizes one can’t know the true devastation of losing one’s home to a wildfire unless you personally have lost your home, but you can be there for people. You can stand with them. And that’s exactly what he wants to do for those who are suffering.
During our conversation Kevin also told me how he had personally taken a drive with a friend to Santa Paula to survey the damage and on their way back he stopped at the home where he grew up at here in Ventura for the first time in forty years. This was his history. The room where his brother left for Vietnam. The same TV room where he saw Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald when Kevin was only four years old, and where little did he know he’d star in a film on the same subject almost thirty years later (JFK).

The Thomas Fire Benefit Festival will be held at Plaza Park on Saturday, February 3, and will kick off with a VIP Chef Experience followed with live music featuring Kevin Costner and Modern West; Olivia Newton John (on her own recovery tour after second bout with breast cancer); three-time platinum hip hop and rap artist from Ventura, Super Duper Kyle; Grammy award winner, Colbie Caillat; Ventura’s own Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and as Mark Hartley teased, there may be a few more bands added. To keep up-to-date and purchase tickets, go to www.ThomasFireBenefit.com.

Ventura Rocks in the Ventura Breeze 1/17 – 1/30

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

The Thomas Fire benefit 805 Love Notes concert at the Ventura Theater on Sunday, January 14, was an amazing day of talent celebrating first responders and raising money for Help-California.org, a grassroot efforts to help our community recovery. Just a few of the highlights were performances by Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket, the return of Shades of Day and Franklin for Short as well as all the artists who donated their time. I can’t thank Steve and Polly Hoganson enough for inviting me to emcee the day.

Mark Hartley gave me the head’s up for the Thomas Fire Benefit Festival (www.ThomasFireBenefit.com) to be held at Plaza Park on Saturday, February 3. He said this one will be one for the books, and I can’t disagree as the headliner will be Kevin Costner and Modern West along with Olivia Newton John, Colbie Caillat, Super Duper Kyle, and Ventura’s own Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. When asked what it means to be a part of the fundraiser, BBVD front man, Scotty Morris, told me, “It means everything to us! We were on the road when the Thomas Fires kicked in and it was personally one of the most painful tours of my career. Watching my city burn on [social media] is hard to put into words. To see my family and my friends and my community facing such unbelievable horrors in our beautiful city was heartbreaking. All we wanted to do was get back home and help.” I also hear more acts may be added, so keep tuned!

And yet another Thomas Fire benefit will be held this month at Discovery on Friday, January 19, with The Delgado Brothers, Teresa James & the Rhythm Tramps, Guy Martin and Ray Jaurique & the Uptown Brothers. 100% of the funds raised will go to Ventura County Food Share Food Bank, The United Way Thomas Fire Fund and the Red Cross Thomas Fire Fund.

Quick notes: The Boatyard Pub now offers live music Tuesday through Saturday, Yachtley Crew continues their Thursday night residency at Bombays, Cubensis returns to Ventura for a show on Saturday January 20 at Discovery, Tariqh Akoni and Curt Bisquera play Grapes and Hops on Thursday, January 18 as The Groove Lounge; Made West celebrates their 2-year anniversary Saturday, January 27 with Skin & Bones; and the Ventura County Concert Band has a free concert for the family on Sunday, January 28 at Ventura High School’s auditorium.

I’ll be spinning new music over the next few weeks from Karyn 805, Anchor & Bear and Brent Franklin on the Pam Baumgardner Music Hour which airs weekly (Tuesdays and Fridays at 5 and Sundays at noon) on KPPQ-LP 104.1 FM here in Ventura, and worldwide on the internet, at www.CapsMedia.org/Radio. Help support real local radio supporting local artists in the 805.

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 1/3 – 1/16

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

I’m happy to report that our community continues to rally to help raise funds for Thomas Fire relief. I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to Ventura becoming stronger and more vibrant this year, and music has a lot to do with that.

The next big benefit comes from the former owners of Zoey’s, Steve and Polly Hoganson entitled 805 Love Notes which is being billed as a thank you to the first responders and a Thomas Fire relief benefit concert at the Ventura Theater on Sunday, January 14. The show starts at 4 in the afternoon with so many Zoey’s alumni on the bill including Chris Pierce, Glen Phillips (Toad the Wet Sprocket), Jesse Siebenberg (Lukas Nelson), Lee Koch, Leslie Stevens, the Pendleton Sisters, Shawn Jones, Bryan Titus, Seth Pettersen, Trevor Beld, Shades of Day, Shane Alexander, Tim Curran, Todd Hannigan and more! It promises to be a lovely evening filled with so much love for all our heroes.

Another benefit (which was scheduled before the fire) is Nardcore Punk Rock to Walk Me Home which supports sheltered and fostered dogs find new homes. This one falls on Saturday, January 6, at the Ventura Theater with TSOL headlining along with Nardcore bands on the bill such as Ill Repute, Stalag 13, Boxheads, The Big Problem and Civil Conflict.

Quick notes: Dwight Yoakam’s rescheduled show at the Ventura Theater is Thursday, January 4; Yachtley Crew begins a Thursday night residency at Bombay’s this month; Hi Hat Entertainment has Kelly’s Lot on Friday, January 5, and Rob Rio on Friday January 12; The Golden China is hosting a Thomas Fire fundraiser featuring Darkside Cosplay on Saturday, January 13.

Oh! Just so you know, I heard an advance rough cut of a new song written by Tommy Marsh featuring some of my favorite players here in town, Tommy Marsh, Guy Martin and Shawn Jones. The tune is called “Rise from the Ashes” and according to Tommy he hopes to raise money for ongoing Thomas Fire relief funds. The next stage is to add more players and a vocal choir. Additional artists expected to contribute their time to this project include Johnny Main (The 44’s), Robert Ramirez and Michelle Voltrian (Medicine Hat), Jodi Farrell and students, Evangeline Noelle (Sisterook), Kelly Z and Perry Robertson (Kelly’s Lot), and more! I cannot wait to hear the final product and you know I’ll be spinning it on my radio show.

And speaking of which, the Pam Baumgardner Music Hour continues to air weekly (Tuesdays and Fridays at 5 and Sundays at noon) on KPPQ-LP 104.1 FM here in Ventura, but the station is also worldwide now on the internet, so no excuses! Invite your family and friends to tune in for so many great artists out of the 805, just tell them to adjust for their specific time zone. They can find the station at www.CapsMedia.org/Radio.

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.