Ventura Music Photos – April 2017

Winchesters Grill – April 30, 2017
The Caverns


Winchesters Grill – April 29, 2019
Mandex


Sans Souci – April 29, 2019
Aunt Jane’s Pancakes


Grapes and Hops – April 29, 2017
Tex Pistols


Discovery – April 28, 2017
Thee Commons


Star Lounge – April 23, 2017
Charles Law


Two Trees – April 22, 2017
Shawn Jones (Photo: Amanda Peacock)



Ventura Theater – April 20, 2017
Chris Robinson Brotherhood


Saloon BBQ – April 20, 2017
Chi McClean


The Garage – April 13, 2017
Tropidelic (Cleveland, OH)


The Tavern – April 1, 2017
Strange Weather (South Lake Tahoe)

Ventura Music Photos: July 2015

W20 at the Watermark – July 30, 2015
Anchor & Bear
Anchor & Bear


Sans Souci – July 26, 2015
My Modern Valentine
My Modern ValentineAll-A-Blur
All-A-Blur


The Wine Rack – July 26, 2015
The Swilley’s – Steve and Sally Williams
Steve and Sally Williams


 

The Star Lounge – July 25, 2015
Arockalypse Now
0725_Arock_002 0725_Arock_003 0726_Arock_001


Squashed Grapes – July 24, 2015
Jerry Vivino & Friends, guest appearance by Jacob Scesney
Jerry Vivino and Friends


 Surf Rodeo 2015

Pam Baumgardner, Staci Brown and Mark Hartley

Pam Baumgardner, Staci Brown and Mark Hartley

Pierpont Beach – July 11 – 12, 2015
Surf Rodeo

 


Saloon BBQ – July 10, 2015
Charles and Christine Law

Charles Law


Ventura Beach Club – Hi Hat Entertainment – July 10, 2015
Hot Roux CD Release Party
Hot Roux


Peirano’s – July 10, 2015
Lola Haag & the Back Beat Boys
Lola Haag


Sandbox Coffeehouse – July 4, 2015
Kevin Stanley
Kevin Stanley


Ventura Street Fair – July 4, 2015
UnUusual Suspects
UnUsual SuspectsVentura Street Fair – July 4, 2015
Iron Mountain Boys
Iron Mountain BoysVentura Street Fair – July 4, 2015
Singing Valentines (for hire!)
Singing Valentines


Discovery Ventura – July 3, 2015
Queen Nation
0703_QueenNation_001


Sans Souci – July 2, 2015
Burien (Seattle, WA)
Die Nasty Die NastyDie Nasty

Ventura Rocks in the Ventura Breeze – 4/16/14 – 4/29/14

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

With the weather warming up more music is being offered outdoors. One recurring event, Folk Steady, can be found at the Ojai Rancho Inn where Vaughn Montgomery of the band Little Big Here puts together a pretty cool list of bands (including his own) playing for free (donations welcomed). Vaughn told me he’s been holding these concerts since last summer and depending on the weather they fall on the first Sunday of the month with seven or eight acts on the bill.

Todd-Jesse-VRThe first Sunday of April I caught just a couple of the acts including a great set from the owners of Brotheryn Studios, Todd Hannigan and Jesse Siebenberg, along with Micah McCabe and Taylor Quinn which included a guest appearance by Roger Keiaho of Rey Fresco. The afternoon was a blast. It was completely a laid back vibe with a swimming pool, nice lawn area, and a huge tree where the band plays underneath. Scratch Food Truck was on the grounds for those who didn’t pack a picnic lunch. In attendance were Steve and Polly Hoganson, Charles and Christine Law, Amanda Peacock, Dan and Malory Grimm, Becca Fuchs and just tons of other musicians, friends and families.

Vaughn’s completely on board with future gigs telling me, “I’d like to keep doing them indefinitely. It seems like a good alternative from hearing music in a bar. These concerts feel more like a day in the park, with families and dogs and some sky.” Catch the next one scheduled for May 4th, bring blanket, low chairs, sunscreen and refreshments.

Speaking of fun in the sun, Ventura Earth Day Eco Fest has plenty of music lined up for Saturday, April 26, along Ventura’s promenade. Just a couple of acts to watch for are the Barrelhouse Wailers, D.on Darox and the Melody Joy Bakers, Derek Jennings and Soul Infusion. Check out www.VenturaEarthDay.org for more information.

Of course there is Ventura Beach Festival with Martha Davis and the Motels headlining on May 3rd at State Beach. See www.VenturaBeachFestival.com ticket info and further down the road it’s the Roadshow Revival: A Tribute to the Music of Johnny Cash on Saturday, June 14 with the Paladins, Dale Watson, Calico, Hard Six and the Mighty Cash Cats lined up so far.

And finally, Bombay’s will host a fundraising event with Tommy and Paddy Marsh and special guests. A percentage of sales will be donated on April 19, 6-9 pm to the Botanical Gardens, so grab a burger and brewski, enjoy the tunes while supporting another great cause!

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

Ventura Rocks: A Look at 2013

blogsAs we quickly approach 2014, we can’t help but reflect on 2013 and how there have been so many changes for VenturaRocks.com over the past year.  For almost three and a half years we only posted on our website.  We took photos from time to time and did some editorials and stories about Ventura’s music scene, but we mostly were behind the scenes.

franklin

Franklin Murphy

But this past year, we became proactive by going out and introducing ourselves and finding out what is needed and wanted. We meet venue owners, many of which have become great friends.  We’ve gotten to know many of the bands and solo artists listening to their concerns. We attended meetings and council member forums to help keep our finger on the pulse of Ventura’s music scene.

party

Eve, Pam and Staci Brown

We had a party for our four-year anniversary last March at Bombay’s on St Patrick’s day, and although the band nearly ruined it (I’ll tell you about it someday), Diego’s hospitality and all the music lovers who came out enjoying the day and celebrating with us made it quite the event to remember.

Surf Rodeo

JD, Staci & Pam

We had a booth at several of the music festivals and events this past year where we were able to shake hands, kiss babies and sell a VenturaRocks.com t-shirt from time to time. We started with Roadshow Revival’s Tribute to the Music of Johnny Cash.  We followed that up with Ventura Music Week, Surf Rodeo, Aloha Festival and Blues at the Beach. We loved meeting new people and telling them all about VenturaRocks.com.

Pam Baumgardner and Eve Mimiaga of Ventura Rocks, with Kat Merrick of Totally Local VC between them.

Pam Baumgardner and Eve Mimiaga of Ventura Rocks, with Kat Merrick of Totally Local VC between them.

Speaking of Ventura Music Week, OMIGOD!  What work, but what fun!!  There were only 6 or 7 of us who met on a handful of occasions, but somehow we managed to pull it off.  We’re so looking forward to this next year’s event!  100 bands – 10 days – 1 city!!

paradeKat Merrick invited us to join her on the Totally Local VC float for a couple of City parades. Loved walking the parade route up and down Main Street while Dan Grimm and Ian McFadyen rocked it on the back of the float.

Immortal TechniqueWe did a number of really interesting interviews with not only local artists, but with national touring acts and posted them:
Immortal Technique
Todd Hannigan
Scotty Morris of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Dean Dinning of Toad the Wet Sprocket
50 Sticks of DynamiteWe also did a number of CD reviews of local artists including reviews for Shawn Jones, Shaky Feelin’, Spencer the Gardener and 50 Sticks of Dynamite.

BluesFestWe got out as often as we could to support local music, taking photos from time to time and participating on helping grow the music scene here.

And sometimes we got a “bee in our bonnet” and we just had something to say so we wrote editorials regarding our music scene.  We wrote about what we feel it means to be an artist, should it be venues vs artists? We talked about the taking and posting of artists photos, and we wrote one called, “A Call to all Artist: What is Your Worth?”.  So, we offered some interesting reading material. guitar Oh! And we can’t forget to acknowledge Charles and Christine Law for giving me my rock ‘n’ roll debut!  I mentioned in passing one day that I always wanted to play a song with other musicians (I’ve just messed around on my acoustic for years), and before I knew it I was playing with the Laws and Tommy Marsh at Bombay’s in front of a live audience.  What a freakin’ rush!!breezeAnd what an honor to be asked to be a writer for the Ventura Breeze!  Sheldon Brown approached me to see if I would be interested on covering Ventura’s music scene.  He didn’t have to ask twice!


And it was a privilege to help on the Heart and Soul benefit for Polly Hoganson of Zoey’s.  With only less than a month to prepare, we helped to pull off the event of the year as the music community came together to help this amazing woman who needed some assistance at a critical time in her life, especially just after she and her husband Steve made the hard decision to close Zoey’s doors. It was truly inspirational to witness the love and support for this woman.

radioWe made our debut appearance on the Tom and Sandy 805 radio show on KVTA, and we even crashed in Spencer in the Morning doing a quickie appearance with Timmy Curran on The Vibe 103.3.  contact_pam-eveBut VenturaRocks.com also lost the help of Eve.  She had ruthlessly hunted down music schedules from our local venues for over four years, a key component to what we do here. She gave ample notice and handed over all her contact information and notes…I know she’s going to miss it.  Okay, maybe not.  It’s hard work!

Polly and PamAnd of course we welcomed Polly Hoganson on board as a guest writer. We’re getting great feedback on her column, Polly Hoganson, MusicMuse and we’re looking forward to hearing from her on a consistent basis.

I had a vision almost five years ago of creating a one-stop music resource for Ventura.  A place to read about the music scene and to find out what the venues have to offer on any given day.

No one asked us to do this. No one hired us to do this. We do this as a labor of love to help our local economy, to help our local venues, but more importantly to help build our music scene.   If the truth be known, it’s our way of giving back to the artists for what they do.  They deserve this kind of support.
VenturaRocks-bannerVenturaRocks.com has been my baby from day one and my vision and this commitment remains steadfast. There are changes still coming, several minor adjustments to be made and some possible expansions on the horizon.

Stay tuned, because Ventura will continue to Rock well into 2014!!!

Happy New Year
and may you flourish and prosper!
Love,
Pam

Ventura Music Week: Roadshow Revival & Winchesters

Ventura Music Week saw Roadshow Revival’s a Tribute to the Music of Johnny Cash at the Ventura Fairgrounds…with Winchesters hosting pre & post parties as well as Totally Local VC’s jam on Sunday to wrap up Ventura Music Week.