Tag Archives: Topa Topa Folk Fest

Ventura Rocks in the Ventura Breeze 9/27 – 10/10

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Ventura MusVentura Breeze logoic Scene
by Pam Baumgardner
VenturaRocks.com
Pam@VenturaRocks.com

Are you ready to get your metal on? The third annual Frost and Fire returns to Ventura over the first weekend of October beginning with a pre-party on Thursday, October 5, at the Ventura Theater with Night Demon, Tyrant Ruthless and Cage. Then Bombay Bar and Grill hosts three days of metal music starting on Friday with Raven, Savage Master, Jaguar, Walpyrgus and more. Saturday has Cirith Ungol, Manilla Road, Amulet and more. Sunday features a “bangover brunch” with DJs, and a handful of bands that afternoon. Friday and Saturday shows at Bombay’s are sold out, however I understand that the post and pre-parties still have tickets available.

At the other end of the musical spectrum there’s the Topa Topa Folk Fest, also on the first weekend of October at Libbey Bowl in Ojai for both Friday and Saturday nights. Friday night, October 6, has Lissie Band, Tim Curran, Jamie Drake, Bryan Titus Trio, The Brambles and more. October 6th has Grammy award winner and critically acclaimed singer/songwriter, Lucinda Williams along with Country super star, Shooter Jennings on Saturday night. Also on the bill, Doug Pettibone, Brian Wright, Shane Alexander and more. This show benefits the Turning Point Foundation. You can get ticket information at TopaTopaFolkFest.com.

Stay True and Dead Center Records bring The Dad Show to the Ventura Beach Club on Saturday, September 30, with two stages of music featuring Andres, Plan your Escape, Welcome to Limerick, Dead Poet Society, Kyle Smith and more.

Congratulations to Army of Freshmen who are celebrating 20 years together. They’ll be heading over to Europe for the Get Happy Tour this February with Bowling for Soup and the Aquabats.

And it’s been fun watching the photos Jesse Siebenberg has been posting on social media as he been touring with Lukas Nelson (in case you missed it, that’s Willie Nelson’s son). Stadium shots, hanging with Sir Paul McCartney, and posting that they were playing The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on September 5, it’s such a dream come true! The tour swings by our way with a stop at the Fonda Theater on October 4.

Quick Notes: Guy Martin joins Crooked Eye Trio for a show at Amigos on Wednesday, September 27; Boyd Tinsley (of the Dave Matthews Band) brings his project Crystal Garden to Discovery on Friday, September 29; The Velveteen Band CD release party is at Discovery on Saturday, September 30; The final Rock on the Dock at the Ventura Harbor is Saturday September 30 with Frank Barajas & the Corsican Bros; Corey Congilio has an in-store performance at Instrumental Music on Monday, October 2; Death by Stereo has a show at The Garage on Saturday, October 7; and Pier Under the Stars with Trippin’ Wild is Saturday, October 7.

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.

Ventura Rocks in the Ventura Breeze – 8/30 – 9/12

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Ventura MusVentura Breeze logoic Scene
by Pam Baumgardner
VenturaRocks.com
Pam@VenturaRocks.com

So exactly where did the summer go? Oh wait! There’s no need to panic, there’s still a lot of music and fun to be had. Let’s start with Bombay’s 33rd Annual Beach Party which runs Friday through Sunday of Labor Day weekend. Diego always pulls out all the stops with three stages of music including a mechanical bull, and outdoor bar and beer garden. Friday night rock out to the Vonettes, Deep Pockets, Operation 90’s and Mandex; Saturday features a return of Deep Pockets along with Brothers Fortune, Uproots, and Rey Fresco; then Sunday will have Channel, Goodnight Kiss and The Jelly. DJ Erok and DJ Cam will be in the house to help keep the party, plus I wouldn’t be surprised if Diego slipped in another band or two to boot.

The Ventura Nationals return to Ventura over the Labor Day weekend as well on Saturday, September 2, so if you’re wondering where all the cool hot rods and bikes came from, they came from all over to participate and to be seen. The event is held annually at the Ventura fairgrounds and this year’s music features Deadbolt, The Hubcap Stealers and Poor Man’s Change. There’s also an after party at Discovery that evening with music from Three Bad Jacks and Moonlight Trio.

Another party to help wrap up the summer is Discovery’s Backyard Bash on Sunday, September 3, featuring Reggae all day long from bands such as Herbal Rootz, Legalizer, Rital Movement, Dirty Rice, Tribal Theory, Hirie, Common Kings and more.

Music Under the Stars wraps up its summer concert series with their two final shows, Saturday, September 2 it’s Fantastic Diamond, a Neil Diamond tribute show, then the grand finale features Lisa Haley & the Zedekates on Saturday, September 9. For ticket information on all remaining shows go to the City’s website (www.CityofVentura.ca.gov).

It’s early notice, but you won’t want to miss One’s to Watch Productions’ Topa Topa Folk Fest because this year the amazing Lucinda Williams headlines on Saturday, October 7. The event runs two days (Friday and Saturday) and also features great artists like Shooter Jennings, Lissie, Doug Pettibone, Bryan Titus, Tim Curran and many more. Get the lowdown on tickets at TopaTopaFolkFest.com.

Quick Notes: The final free concert at the Collection is Thursday, August 31 with Queen Nation, music starts at 7 pm; Hi Hat Entertainment brings back Teresa James to the Hong Kong Inn on Friday, September 1, and Joe Louis Walker on Friday, September 8; Check out Balkan Jazz at Squashed Grapes with Plotz! On Saturday, September 9; Goodnight Kiss just released a new EP called Abandon Ship; Bowlful of Blues returns to Libby Bowl September 16 you can get ticket information at BowfulOfBlues.org; and the Ventura Theater recently added Jimmy Eat World for Thursday, September 21.

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.

Ventura Rocks in the Ventura Breeze 6/7 – 6/20

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by Pam Baumgardner
VenturaRocks.com
Pam@VenturaRocks.com

The Ojai Music Festival is underway taking over several venues and running June 8 – June 11. You’ll need tickets for most events, but there are several free concerts throughout the week. You can get information at OjaiFestival.org.

Rene Ponce gave me the lowdown on Goodnight Kiss when they recently played at Ollie’s Duck and Dive in Malibu. He told me they’ve played there several times, but this last time Kid Rock was in the crowd and accepted the band’s invitation to join them for a couple of tunes. How cool is that? The guys return to Ventura on June 17th when they open for Brothers Fortune at Bombay’s.

The Ventura Beach Club has been booked on Saturday, June 17th by Stay True and ideal Music Collective hoping to alleviate those “No-Warped-Tour-Again-This-Year-Blues” by lining up bands and DJs indoors and out. On the bill includes Split Second, Love Thing, Yearbooks, No Advisory, Two Brothers and Pretty Well. If you love punk, ska, emo & pop, you won’t want to miss this one.

Ones to Watch Productions (O2W) have announced that Grammy Award winning artist Lucinda Williams will be headlining this year’s Topa Topa Folk Fest at the Libbey Bowl in October. Leading up to the event, O2W will be hosting a folk fest showcase on June 17 at Topa Mountain Winery featuring Justine Bennett, Tim Curran, The Brambles and Shane Alexander. Get more information on all their events at TopaTopaFolkFest.com.

Quick notes: You can get your tickets for Roadshow Revival with Los Lobos headlining on Saturday, July 1 at Discovery at RoadShowRevival.com; The Wine Rack is rebranding itself as Vintura Tasting Room & Wine Rack; the Boatyard Café is undergoing some upgrades and I understand renaming itself as the Boatyard Pub; Alastair Greene is heading out to jam at the Chicago Blues Fest on June 10; Shawn Jones returns from Europe and will be at Grapes and Hops on Saturday, June 17; and finally don’t miss Alex Nestor when she plays at Café Fiore, on Friday, June 16, she opened Sunday (May 28) at the Simi Valley Cajun and Blues fest.

And finally, I’ve officially made a name change for my radio show on CAPS Media’s KPPQ-LP, 104.1 FM. I seriously thought about calling it Pam on the Rocks, but out of respect to Rodney Bingenheimer (Rodney on the Roq), I opted against it; and because I can’t use Ventura Rocks, my third chose, and apparent final choice is: The 805 Music Scene with Pam Baumgardner. The name alone encompasses more than Ventura, even more than Ventura County which is good. I still play indie artists from outside our area who have caught my ear, and I spin tunes from bands who have come here to play. Tune in and support local music Tuesdays and Fridays 5-6 pm.

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.

Ventura Rocks in the Ventura Breeze – 9/28 – 10/11

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Folk fest to Metal fest
by Pam Baumgardner
VenturaRocks.com
Pam@VenturaRocks.com

High at the top of my list of things to do over the next few weeks is the Topa Topa Folk Fest being held at the beautiful Libbey Bowl in Ojai on Saturday, October 1. Ticket sales have been brisk, which is great because I’d love to see this one sell out as it also helps to benefit the Turning Point Foundation. Headlining the folk fest will be Jake Smith better known as The White Buffalo whose music has been featured on such TV shows as “Sons of Anarchy” and “Californication.” I’m also excited to see Grizfolk after watching local talent Brendon Willing share his adventures via social media after joining the band over a year ago. Actually, the whole lineup is pretty cool with Jaime Wyatt, Todd Hannigan, Shane Alexander, Lee Koch, Bryan Titus and so many more talented folks. Find out more at www.OnesToWatchProductions.com. You can help make a difference while enjoying a great day of music, hope to see you there!

Another Turning Point Foundation fundraising was held at the Traveler’s Café on Thursday, September 22 when Shawn Jones entertained the room. It was the perfect opportunity for people to check out one of Ventura’s newest restaurants offering up live acoustic music on select days. Shawn by the way heads back to Europe the first week in October for about a month with shows in Italy and Ireland.

The highly anticipated return of Cirth Ungol (their first show in 25 years) is finally upon us as they headline Frost and Fire II at the Ventura Theater on October 8, and to sweeten the deal even further, Metal Blade Records released the band’s classic “Paradise Lost” on CD and vinyl. Frost and Fire II actually spans three days (October 7-9) and three venues (Bombay’s, Sans Souci and the Ventura Theater). This heavy metal festival isn’t for the light of heart and will most likely sell out (Day one already sold out at press time). To get the full line up of bands and schedules go to www.FrostAndFireFest.com.

Plan B will be celebrating their 4th anniversary with their popular Second Sunday Supper for October (on the 9th), featuring The Vonettes. The venue is also working on Friday nights for live music on a regular basis.

Squashed Grapes is excited to welcome Ronnie Hudson on Saturday, October 8. Hudson is most notable for his hit song “West Coast Poplock” which would later appear on Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur’s song, “California Love” and Snoop Dogg’s “Poplock 2”. Hudson also played bass on the legendary Grammy-winning soundtrack “Shaft” by Isaac Hayes, and his work is featured in other films including “The Social Network”, “Iron Man II” and “South Central.”

Do you have any music related news or upcoming shows you want help publicizing? Send all information short or long to Pam@VenturaRocks.com, and for updated music listings daily, go to www.VenturaRocks.com.