Ventura Music Scene
by Pam Baumgardner
VenturaRocks.com
Pam@VenturaRocks.com
With fall comes all the Oktoberfest festivities through October. One of the biggest evnts will be held at the Ventura County Fairgrounds, over 3 days, October 2, 3 and 4. Along with beers, pretzels, German food, an artisan market with local vendors and carnival rides for the kids there will be plenty of live music from Ladyhosen, Die Matterhorns, Zeitgist Oktoberfest Band, Hazelnuss Das Music and a lot more! The VenturaCountyFair.org website will have all the details and ticket information.
Because of his huge impact on the Nardcore music scene, a memorial show for Joe Rivas will be held at the Ventura Theater on October 20 featuring such bands as Good Riddance, No Motiv, The Missing 23rd, In Control, Whereabouts and more. Tickets go for under $30 (depending on place of purchase) but the monies raised will benefit the Joe Rivas Memorial Fund which will grant awards to local Ventura County youth to further their passion in the musical arts.
Pianist, Mike Garson, returns to the Grape for an evening featuring Bowie on Saturday, October 10. Garson played with Bowie as early as 1972 (the best years in my humble opinion) for about 20 years. A quote found on Garson’s website from Bowie states, ““It is pointless to talk about his ability as a pianist. He is exceptional. However, there are very, very few musicians, let alone pianists, who naturally understand the movement and free thinking necessary to hurl themselves into experimental or traditional areas of music, sometimes, ironically, at the same time. Mike does this with such enthusiasm that it makes my heart glad just to be in the same room with him.” If you’re a Bowie fan, you won’t want to miss this one.
British reggae artist and Grammy-nominated artist, Pato Banton, has a couple of shows in the area. First, he’ll do a show along with Kainoa Tiger & Aloha 805 and Chasing Sun at Tony’s Pizzeria on Thursday, October 1, and then he’ll be at Heritage Square for Reggae Sunday on Sunday, October 11 with OnePeople and Kainoa Tiger & Aloha 805. Banton is also a member of the British Music Hall of Fame and received a BBC Lifetime Achievement Award for his community work to reduce gun crime as well as his youth outreach efforts.
Quick Notes: Ventura Music Festival is just around the corner, October 15 – 18, check out VenturaMusicFestival.org for all the shows and for ticket information; tickets for Elvin Bishop are on sale now for his November 18th fully seated show at the Ventura Music Hall; The Used show at the Ventura Theater for October 8 is sold out; Kyle Smith returns for a show at Mrs. Olson’s on Friday, October 9; and the Blues Jam on Wednesdays continues to pick up steam at Bombay’s.
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.