Frootie Flavors Adapts to the Times with Livestreamed Album Release
In 2004, local queer dance band Frootie Flavors was approached by a friend with an unusual request: their three-year-old child wanted the group to do a live set at her birthday party. Actually, a lot...
View ArticleChris Rene Drops New Album ‘2020,’ Produced During Pandemic
My favorite meme to come out of the pandemic so far is “Every writer before 2020: ‘If I only had some time, I could write the Great American Novel.’ Every writer in 2020: ‘Maybe I can teach my cat to...
View ArticleCoffis Brothers Call Back to Other Musical Siblings on ‘In the Cuts’
Other than the name of their group, musicians Jamie and Kellen Coffis aren’t in the habit of calling too much attention to the fact that they are brothers. It’s not likely, for instance, that they’ll...
View ArticleSanta Cruz’s Andrew Jay Brings His Guitar Wizardry to Into The Cosmos
Three years ago, local musician Andrew Jay started working on his debut solo album. It was to be the culmination of everything he’d accomplished as a musician up to that point. When he was 9 years...
View ArticleFundraiser Aims to Support Santa Cruz Folk Scene’s Mary McCaslin
Over the course of a performance career spanning more than 50 years, singer/songwriter Mary McCaslin has participated in countless benefit concerts and appearances to lend a hand to organizations and...
View ArticleSanta Cruz Musicians Cover ‘Peace Train’ to Spark Solidarity
Within a couple of days after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of the police, a group of musicians from the Santa Cruz Mountains released an exhilarating and inspired—not to...
View ArticleSanta Cruz Symphony’s Executive Director Steps Down
The Santa Cruz Symphony is hanging out a “help wanted” sign as it begins a search for a new executive director. The symphony’s board announced this week that Dorothy Wise, who has held the executive...
View ArticleSanta Cruz Musicians Create Video Tribute to Essential Workers
Ask 100 people what belongs on the ultimate Santa Cruz soundtrack and you’ll get 100 different answers. But if there exists a consensus on such a loaded question, it’s that the Grateful Dead has to be...
View ArticleDinner and a Show: Live Music Makes a Surprise Return in Santa Cruz
When local musician Alex Lucero took the stage at the Sand Bar in Capitola on March 16, he didn’t realize it would be his last show for three months. His normal schedule of four or five shows a week...
View ArticleThe Road Ahead for Santa Cruz’s Multitalented Anthony Arya
His new album is called The Road—a title that, in its simplicity and romance, evokes big themes of restlessness, freedom, longing for an imagined or lost life, the almost limitless possibilities of...
View ArticleJames Durbin Returns to Live Music With Acoustic Show
Every musician in town has a story about their sudden string of canceled shows amid the pandemic. But local singer-songwriter James Durbin had one of his shows shut down just hours before he was...
View ArticleGrant Summerland Explores the Creepy Side of Mountain Life
If you want to listen to local singer-songwriter Grant Summerland’s recently released debut album Bigfoot Museum in the most ideal setting, he offers a few suggestions. First, head out to Highway 9....
View ArticleAurore Sibley Comes to Grips With Pandemic Grief on Debut Solo Album
Back in mid-March when the shelter-in-place order was put into effect, Santa Cruz musician Aurore Sibley suddenly found herself isolated and without an income. And to top it off, two weeks later, the...
View ArticleChris Frantz of Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club Releases Memoir
Chris Frantz goes deep behind the scenes of his bands Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club in his new memoir Remain in Love, which comes out July 21. But one thing the drummer for two of the most...
View ArticleCabrillo Music Festival Connects Artists Virtually in Bold Experimentation
Soaring through the temporary constraints of social distance and worldwide quarantine, the community of composers, musicians, and creators of the Cabrillo Music Festival are inviting everyone to enjoy...
View ArticleRapper Alwa Gordon Has Breakthrough on New Song ‘Loving Yourself’
Two years ago, local rapper Alwa Gordon was finishing a therapy session when he broke down in tears. He’d started therapy because of a toxic romantic relationship that—no matter his intentions—he...
View ArticleSanta Cruz Symphony Changes Tune to Support Artists During Pandemic
When the county’s first shelter-in-place order went into effect on March 16, the Santa Cruz Symphony (SCS) immediately took action. Recognizing that it was unlikely that spring performances could be...
View ArticleDirty Cello Finds Unique Ways to Play During the Pandemic
Four years ago, Rebecca Roudman and husband Jason Eckl booked a night’s stay at a fully functioning buffalo ranch on California’s Central Coast. While there, the owner gave them a tour of the...
View ArticleThe Orange Peels Rerelease Breakthrough 1997 Album ‘Square’
In October 1996, Allen Clapp and His Orchestra played a successful show in Portland with Cake and John Cale. Things were looking up for the band despite the fact that their ’60s-jangle-pop sound was...
View ArticleHow Wolf Jett Finds Redemption in Troubling Times
It wasn’t easy for Chris Jones to deal with both of his grandmothers living in nursing homes, in poor health, and nearing death. He wanted to write a song to them, but not have it be something that...
View Article