Ventura Music Photos: July 2016

Music Under the Stars at Historic Olivas Adobe – July 30, 2016
Queen Nation

Queen Nation

Members of Queen Nation with Pam Baumgardner, Loree Price, Eve Mimiaga & Tammy Mullins

Members of Queen Nation with Pam Baumgardner, Loree Price, Eve Mimiaga & Tammy Mullins


Four Brix Winery – July 29, 2016
Kelly’s Lot
Kelly's Lot

 


W20 at the Watermark – July 24, 2016
Alastair Greene
Alastair Greene


Tequila and Taco Music Festival – July 24, 2016
Metalachi
Metalachi


Surf Rodeo – July 17, 2016
Raging Arb and the Redheads (Photo credit: Felix Cortez)
Raging Arb and the Redheads


Surf Rodeo – July 16, 2016
Hy Brasil
Hy Brasil

Surf Rodeo – July 16, 2016
Spencer the Gardener
Spencer the Gardener


Surf Rodeo – July 16, 2016|
The NaVaNaX
The NaVaNaX

Pam Baumgardner (Ventura Rocks) interviewing Shayne Mihalka (The NaVaNaX)
(Photo Credit: Elizabeth Rodeno)
Pam and Shayne

Surf Rodeo – July 16, 2016
Herbal Rootz
Herbal Rootz


The Star Lounge – July 15, 2016
Whiskey Stone
Whiskey Stone


Margarita Villa – July 10, 2016
The Swillys (Photo credit: Maggie Ramos McKinney)
The Swillys


The Wine Rack – July 7, 2016
Ian Soloman Duo with Hans Ottsen
Ian Soloman Duo


Squashed Grapes – July 6, 2016
Sheldon Brown (Publisher Ventura Breeze), Bobby West, and Pam Baumgardner (Owner VenturaRocks.com).  Photo credits: Rich Barth (VenturaCountyJazz.com), and Jack Lee.


Downtown Ventura – 4th of July Street Fair – 2016
Raised on Vinyl and UnUsual Suspects


Grapes and Hops – July 2, 2016
Doug Pettibone w/ Herman Matthews
Doug Pettibone

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 Photos: December 2013

Winter Wine Walk

Winter Wine Walk
 Ashford Gordon, Duane Meagher, Pam Baumgardner, Kat Merrick, Karen Lawless, We think Chris, Cathy Higa, Wendell Roberts, Eve Mimiaga

Squashed Grapes – Saturday, December 28, 2013
Ventura Jazz Collective
Ventura Jazz Collective
Amigo’s Surf Cantina
– Saturday, December 28, 2013
Kaleigh Jo Kirk


Amigo’s Surf Cantina
– Saturday, December 28, 2013
Galvanized Souls
Galvanized SoulsThe Cave
– Saturday, December 28, 2013
Warren Takahaski
Soft Rock

Billy O’s
– Friday, December 20, 2013
Mother of Dissension
Punk Rock

Yolie’s – Friday, December 20, 2013
Hot Roux – Mark Tortorici
Swing, Blues, and all points in between

Bombay Bar and Grill – Friday, December 20, 2013
Totally Local VC Christmas Party
Tommy Marsh and Bad Dog, special guests

Squashed Grapes – Thursday, December 19, 2013
Christine Marie and Segue
Jazz

Bombay Bar and Grill – Thursday, December 19, 2013
Rage the Machine Again
Tribute to Rage Against the Machine

Downtown Ventura – Saturday, December 7, 2013
Winter Wine Walk

Amigo’s Surf Cantina – Saturday, December 14, 2013
Spencer and Todd’s Swingin’ Moods
Spencer and ToddBelow is the annual get together of my old radio pals from KXBS, The Bus when I was known as Stephanie Rose and not Pam Baumgardner.  Brother Rob was on air in mornings with Matt Cooper and Tammy Myers ran amok doing promotions.

Tammy Myers, Rob Moss, and Pam Baumgardner

Tammy Myers, Rob Moss, and Pam Baumgardner

W20 at the Watermark – December 5, 2013
Mikael Jorgensen (Wilco) teamed up with David Scott Stone to play his special brand of electronica.
Jorgensen - Stone

Eve Mimiaga’s Departure

Pam and Eve

My business partner Eve Mimiaga gave me her notice that she could no longer work on VenturaRocks.com.  It broke my heart, but I completely understand.  She gave me to the end of November.

When I approached Eve, over five years ago about this venture, she didn’t think twice about jumping in.  She was 100% on board about our Mission Statement:

Our Mission is to help stimulate the economy in our favorite city in the whole wide world by promoting venues who offer music and to promote the artists who live in and around Ventura as well as those who travel here to play.
We want to inspire people to get out and support Ventura’s music scene.
We promise never to charge the venues or the artist to be listed on VenturaRocks.com.

That’s a pretty cool endeavor.

We’ve had a blast working together going out supporting shows and becoming friends with so many venue owners and artists.

But there is a cost, monetarily, physically and mentally.  We have not made a dime off of VenturaRocks.com to date.  We’ve sold a lot of t-shirts, but those sales have not covered the cost of producing them yet.  So, no, we have nothing to show, but the fruits of our labor, a more vibrant music scene. We have paid for everything out of our own pockets, which neither of us is complaining about, we’ve been happy to do it.  But the strain of every single week compiling information from venues and bands has taken its toll on Eve.

She has had to continue to badger certain venues for their music listings, sometimes driving there to speak to some new employee who could care less about the music and who has never heard of VenturaRocks.com.   Your first response might be, “Screw them!  Don’t list them.” But we want to be the source for people who want to hear music.  So we have to cover everyone, whether the venues care or not.  I feel her frustration.  And I’m going to know it more intimately as she hands over all her notes and contacts so I can take it over.  But more than anything, Eve would like to be able to relax and not deal with the strain of a deadline twice a week.  She has earned a stress-free life.

I love Eve dearly and we will continue to be best of Friends and we will continue to hang out and support shows.  Our families will continue to spend holidays together and I plan on growing old together, so don’t worry about our friendship.  It’s rock solid.

This blog post is about validation for Eve.  Her selfless contribution to Ventura’s music scene is appreciated.  Ventura Rocks even more because of her.