Tag archives: musician

Arts in Lockdown Series Part 7: Rochelle Vincente Von K, From Runway to Rockstar to Reiki n’ Chocolate
By Joanne A Calitri   |   September 17, 2020

Currently doing indie work with her band in Los Angeles and creating new health recipes with her organic chocolate line, Lover Organic Chocolate, superstar Rochelle Vincente Von K is a source of inspiration for us in the lockdown. Her natural creative drive moved her through multiple careers that most would be happy to have one […]

He’s Got Rhythm, He’s Got Music
By Steven Libowitz   |   September 10, 2020

For nearly 20 years, Hershey Felder has made a career out of creating one-man shows in which he portrays and plays famous artists from recent and centuries-old history, and the novel coronavirus hasn’t caused him to slow down much at all. Ensemble Theatre Company got in the mix when it presented his Hershey Felder: Beethoven […]

Arts in Lockdown Part 5: Ziyad Marcus, Gen-Y World Music Musician & Teacher
By Joanne A Calitri   |   September 3, 2020

Ziyad Marcus is a world music musician with a diverse background and education. Recently appointed as a music educator for the Santa Barbara Charter School, he draws upon Sri Lankan and Jewish cultural roots in order to share an unfiltered view of the world with youth, something he cherishes and takes seriously. At 27, his […]

The Arts, “Lockdown Series” Part 2: The Formidable Jade Hendrix
By Joanne A Calitri   |   August 13, 2020

From performing as a solo artist on the Ojai-Ventura music scene, to opening for Ronnie Spector in Los Angeles and the English Beat in Ojai, to gigs with her band on the main stage at the NAMM show and L.A., one thing sings out clearly: Jade Hendrix is a phenomenal female artist. The thirty-something singer-songwriter […]

CADA Cares Concert Combats COVID-19 Fundraising Shortfall
By Steven Libowitz   |   June 18, 2020

The unprecedented stay-at-home orders because of the pandemic have been a double whammy for service nonprofits such as the Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, whose mission is to provide services for preventing and treating alcoholism and drug abuse to youth, adults, and families throughout Santa Barbara County. Not only has 70-year-old CADA had to […]

4Qs with Kenny Loggins
By Steven Libowitz   |   April 16, 2020

Montecito’s singer-songwriter hero is logging his time during the pandemic. Kenny Loggins is staying at home during the shelter-in-place era as the COVID-19 pandemic stopped everything in its tracks. Actually, make that homes. The 72-year-old singer-songwriter, who began scoring hits back in the early 1970s in a duo with Jim Messina, found fertile ground with […]

Headed to Hollywood
By Richard Mineards   |   March 26, 2020

San Marcos High sophomore and Santa Barbara Teen Star Sofia Schuster really is a golden girl! The 16-year-old singer traveled down to Los Angeles to an audition for the latest series of the popular ABC TV series American Idol in front of local warbler Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, and Luke Bryan, and received the golden […]

Kirtan, Mantra, Sound Healing, and Soul Songs
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 12, 2020

Montecito-raised musician Joss Jaffe, who basically created his own sub-genre of dub-mantra by combining the rhythms of reggae with chanting and world jazz, is back in town for a final show with frequent partner Johanna Beekman. Jaffe, a Top-Ten New Age Billboard chanting artist whose four albums have been critically acclaimed, teams with Beekman, whose […]

The Words of Kahn
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 12, 2020

Santa Barbara physician, musician, and author James Kahn will read from Matamoros, his Civil War romance that has received strong reviews, at Chaucer’s Bookstore at 7 pm on Wednesday, March 18. The book takes place in 1862, when the Union Army had blockaded all Confederate ports. Just across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas, Matamoros […]

Changing Sprockets: 3 Qs with Glen Phillips
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 30, 2020

We caught up with Glen Phillips, the lead singer-songwriter of Toad the Wet Sprocket, coincidentally just a few days after the death of Terry Jones, one of the stars of the seminal comedy group Monty Python. The Santa Barbara-born alternative rock band took its name from one of the troupe’s skits back when Phillips was […]

From Cookies to Cultural Concerts
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 30, 2020

If violinist-violist Sara Bashore hadn’t been craving cookies as a kid, she might never have made it to Montenegro. At least that’s what Bashore remembered about her first exposure to the violin at age five. “My parents took me to an orchestra concert and asked me if I was interested in any of the instruments,” […]

Bringing Accordion into the Spotlight
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 30, 2020

Hanzhi Wang wasn’t born an accordion player. But it was only a few years later at age six that the young Chinese girl fell in love with the instrument when she overheard it on the soundtrack of an Italian movie. “My father was watching it and I heard the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard […]

Celebrating Perlman
By Richard Mineards   |   January 30, 2020

Legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman, who has appeared in Santa Barbara many times over the years for CAMA and UCSB Arts & Lectures, celebrated this 75th birthday at the sold-out Granada for Stories of His Life and Career, accompanied by pianist Rohan de Silva. The charming two-hour A&L retrospective, which traced his career from a 13-year-old […]

Exploring the Process of Music with Joshua Roman
By Joanne A Calitri   |   January 30, 2020

World-renowned cellist, composer, and curator Joshua Roman is an alumnus of the Music Academy of the West (MAW) since 2002. He sent out letters of inquiry around the U.S. to secure a space undisturbed for composing a 16-minute piece for the Cleveland Orchestra. Scott Reed, President and CEO of MAW, reached out to Ashley Woods […]

Back in the Briere Patch
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 23, 2020

Way back in the spring of 2016, we wrote about the upcoming release of Songs in the Key of Double Bass, an exciting album debut from local singer-songwriter Danny Briere’s new acoustic project featuring two brilliant bassists who call Santa Barbara home: the decades-long veteran James Connolly, who has had a hand in innumerable musical […]

Brickman’s Christmas Celebration
By Richard Mineards   |   November 26, 2019

Jim Brickman’s new album is a Christmas record – what else? – the seventh in his career that actually name checks the holiday in its title. Christmas Celebration is just that, a joyous journey through the carols, both classic and composed by the modern romantic piano sensation, pretty much like most of its predecessors. “I […]

Philip Glass In Conversation with Pico Iyer
By Joanne A Calitri   |   October 24, 2019

In a candid interview conducted by our town’s favorite literary author Pico Iyer, 82-year-old Philip Glass talked about his parents, becoming a musician-composer and still being stimulated by life to write and play the music he hears. The October 4 event was part of Pico’s talk series for UCSB Arts & Lectures, sponsored by Martha […]

Lobero Associates and Steve Tyrell
By Lynda Millner   |   October 24, 2019

The Lobero Theatre Associates had their latest event to benefit the Lobero Theatre with “An Evening with Steve Tyrell.” It began in the tent-covered courtyard with a reception featuring unique pizzas from Oppi’Z. There was an unusual cheesecake that was savory instead of sweet topped with smoked salmon as well as the usual sweet ones. […]

New Member
By Richard Mineards   |   October 17, 2019

Korean-American Richard O’Neill, longtime violist for Adrian Spence‘s Camerata Pacifica, is joining the internationally acclaimed lineup of the 45-year old Takacs Quartet. He will replace Geraldine Walther, who is retiring after 15 years in May. Richard, 41, joins founding member, cellist Andras Jejer, English first violinist Edward Dusinberre and American second violinist Harumi Rhodes, in […]

Montecito Moms: Renee Stahl
By Dalina Michaels   |   October 17, 2019

Sometimes becoming a parent is how you find a rebirth of your current career; that was certainly the case for Montecito Mom Renee Stahl. Stahl was already well regarded in the mainstream music world for rich melodies on solo records like Hopeful Romantic as well as on the debut by her duo, Paper Flowers.  But […]