Tag Archives: Todd Rungren

Music Scene 11/12/25 – 11/25/25

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Ventura Music Scene
by Pam Baumgardner
VenturaRocks.com
Pam@VenturaRocks.com
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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.Photo of the Beat Farmers in concert.

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.

sign stating Social Event of the Year

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.

Ventura Music Scene 3/6/24 – 3/19/24

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Ventura Music Scene
by Pam Baumgardner
VenturaRocks.com
Pam@VenturaRocks.com
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March 17th is coming up and several venues will offer live music to entice patrons through their doors to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and the Irish culture. Of course, the City of Ventura will have their annual St. Patrick’s Day parade; but, on the day before, Saturday, March 16. So, if you plan to head out for some rollicking fun on Sunday then may I suggest you celebrate the patron saint of Ireland along with a very special milestone? That would be the 15th anniversary of VenturaRocks.com. That’s right! I launched the website on March 17, 2009, and have never charged the venues or the bands to be listed on the calendar of events, and it’s always been free to the end users, so many of which swear it’s their bible when it comes to live music in our town. Many thanks to Bruce Barrios for offering to host the party at Tony’s Pizzeria from 3-7 pm with live music from the Brandon Ragan Project as well as special appearance by the Ventura City Firefighters Pipes and Drums. I hope you can swing by!

Billed as Jazz in the House, the Ventura Theater will host a Sunday afternoon concert, free to the public, featuring the award-winning jazz bands from Cabrillo Middle School and Ventura High School. It’s truly inspiring that these schools continue to offer music programs when so many other schools cannot. Both programs are supported by the memberships of their Booster organizations (both 501(c)3 non-profits). This is a perfect way to support budding musicians by attending and showing them some love.

The City of Ventura has announced this year’s Music Under the Stars lineup for the summer of 2024; however, tickets do not go on sale until May 9, so you have plenty of time to map out which shows you plan to attend. Here now, the lineup: an 80s dance party with Identity Theft on July 13; the Smooth Sounds of Santana play on July 20; a Steely Dan revue with Pretzel Logic on July 27, it’s a fun combo of Stones vs Rod Stewart with Start Me Up on August 3; a unique spin on blues, Rock & Americana with Dirty Cello on August 10; R&B, pop, jazz top-40 with Phazze One on August 17; an Eagles tribute with Dark Desert Highway on August 24 and a high-energy Latin dance band, Susie Hansen Latin Band to wrap up the series on August 31.

Quick Notes: tickets are on sale now for Todd Rugren’s June 23rd concert at Libbey Bowl in Ojai; Jodi Farrel will hold a Master Class at Namba on Saturday, March 9; Spencer the Gardener plays the Ojai Underground on Saturday, March 9; it’s the debut of Mick Stovers Blues Band at Margarita Villa on Saturday, March 9; and Save Ferris plays the Ventura Music Hall on Saturday, March 16.

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.