Ventura Music Scene
by Pam Baumgardner
VenturaRocks.com
Pam@VenturaRocks.com

When I think of Todd Rungren, I think hit radio and immediately get, ”Hello, It’s Me”, stuck in my head the rest of the day…and I don’t mind. Others popular songs he’s written include “Bang on the Drum All Day,” and “I Saw the Light.” The man is quite the gifted singer/songwriter and record producer, and he has a date at the Libbey Bowl where at last I checked, tickets were still available for Friday, November 21 via Ticketmaster.

The Beat Farmers play the Deer Lodge December 14 with John Surge and the Haymakers. Advance tickets are available at DeerLodgeOjai.com. They call themselves, “wreckless western” and you may recall the band was a big part of the 80s roots/rock/Americana movement which included Los Lobos, The Blasters, Lone Justic and Rank & File. They’ve reunited and have been playing special shows the past couple of years.

Three-time Grammy award-winning composer/producer/saxophonist, Tom Scott & the LA Express returns for a show at the Grape on Friday, November 21. Securing advance tickets is highly encouraged via TheGrapeVentura.com website. As an aside, Scott was a guest artist with such recording heavy hitters as Streisand, Quincy Jones, Thelonius Monk, Sinatra, Aretha and more.

The social event of the year, the Ventura Winter Wine Walk is coming up fast. Along with the ticketed wine walk where you can leisurely stroll all along downtown visiting all the participating wine tasting venues, there will also be a free holiday street fair along with live entertainment at the corner of California and Main downtown Ventura. Tickets for this year’s event for Saturday, December 6, are available at VenturaWinterWineWalk.com.

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is a good night to get out and decompress with friends before confronting the family the next day. Choices include Guy Martin at the Grape, DNA and Bloody Mary Morning at Tony’s Pizzeria, TD Lind at the Ojai Valley Brewing and The Gamble at Winchesters. I’ll have more in the next issue.

Quick Notes: Winchester’s Grill weekend music hours now run an hour earlier, 2-5 pm; Heavy metal artists, Y&T, play the Ventura Music Hall on Friday, November 14; The always humorous ska punk band, The Aquabats, play the Majestic Ventura Theater on Friday, November 14; Mistress of Reality, an all-female Black Sabbath tribute band, play Copper Blues on Saturday, November 15; The Vonettes return to Bombay’s for a date Saturday, November 15; Harley’s Camarillo Bowling has the Phester’s Blues Band on Saturday, November 15; and Duane Bartels has a Monday evening residency at Night Owl Ciderworks in downtown Ventura;

Do you have any music-related news or upcoming shows that you would like help publicizing? Please send all information, short or long, to Pam@VenturaRocks.com. For updated music listings daily, visit www.VenturaRocks.com.