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New Horror Movie Has Santa Cruz Connection
[Warning: This story contains descriptions of of sexual violence. — Editor] In 2004, Jody Geare was a 20-year-old second-year firefighter living in Santa Cruz in the Seacliff area. As she walked to a...
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Smitten Kitchen’s Deb Perelman Celebrates New Cookbook
Deb Perelman politely requests that you do not send her fresh food products. “I’m still recovering from the time I stuck my hand into a bag of liquefied avocados,” she states on her uber-successful...
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Santa Cruz’s Harp Festival Returns
The harp is one of several instruments that’s been incorrectly typecast as something strictly used in classical or folk music. Or the visions of European churches or small villages in the British...
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FIDLAR Unleashes Infectious Punk with a Surf-rock Twist
Zooming in from his girlfriend’s place in Los Angeles, singer and guitarist Zac Carper of the SoCal punk band FIDLAR explains how the pandemic caused him to go down a dark path. “The pandemic...
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Pinderhughes and Loueke bring ‘A Diaspora Journey’ to Kuumbwa
Creativity seems to bloom around Herbie Hancock, the legendary pianist, keyboardist and composer who’s been mapping new musical territory for six decades. In the case of Berkeley-reared...
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Seminal Los Angeles Punk Band FEAR Plays the Catalyst
Do a Google search of history’s most infamous punk rock moments, and a few are guaranteed to pop up: The Sex Pistols on the Bill Grundy Show, GG Allin on the Jerry Springer Show and FEAR on “Saturday...
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Alt-country Outfit the Sadies Return to the Crepe Place
“Our first, natural reaction was, ‘How do we continue?’ and then we realized we have to continue,” Mike Belitsky explains. The drummer for Canadian alt-country rock band the Sadies describes their...
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Titus Andronicus Returns to Santa Cruz
When I ask Patrick Stickles of the punk rock band Titus Andronicus what or who inspired the big sound of their new album, The Will to Live, he gives me a very unexpected answer: Mutt Lange. Yes, the...
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Royal Jelly Jive Funks Up St. Paddy’s Day
Anyone at Royal Jelly Jive’s New Year’s Eve show knew it was the place to be: A bouncing, grooving time that RJJ frontperson Jaleh Lauren Bjelde declares “sexy”; the crowd fed off of the band’s energy...
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Robyn Hitchcock’s ‘Shufflemania’ Showcases Dynamic Range
Eccentric British songwriter Robyn Hitchcock is the master of the unexpected lyric. Take the opening lines of “The Man Who Loves the Rain” from his exceptional 2022 album, Shufflemania. Over gentle...
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Jazz Supergroup Vital Information Welcomes Fresh Talent
With a name like Steve Smith and a resumé that defies our shared understanding of human capabilities, you shouldn’t feel embarrassed for assuming there are three or four drummers on the scene, barring...
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The Crossover Appeal of Black Flag’s Timeless Sound
Black Flag’s place in punk rock history will always be secure. Led by frontman and guitarist Greg Ginn, the Hermosa Beach band essentially created the American hardcore punk rock sound with 1981’s...
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April in Santa Cruz Contemporary Music Festival
How about two weeks of exciting new music from some of the most talented artists in the world? I thought you’d be intrigued. It’s time again for the ever-innovative April in Santa Cruz Festival of New...
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Curiosity Fuels Snail Mail’s Innovative New Album ‘Valentine’
Lyndsey Jordan has lived a lot of life in her 23 years. Since picking up the guitar at the precocious age of five, the indie rocker—who performs as Snail Mail—wrote her acclaimed debut album, Lush,...
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A Rundown of Santa Cruz County’s Top 420 Events
Last year, Tommy Chong appeared at KindPeoples for a pre-420 product bash and a meet-and-greet. He returned to the Santa Cruz dispensary a couple of days later with his longtime comic partner in...
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Salt Lake City Folk-Rockers the National Parks is on the Rise
A few weeks after the National Parks released their fifth full-length album, 8th Wonder, in March 2023, a sellout crowd of 2,500 was already singing to every word of the Salt Lake City folk rockers’...
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Silicon Valley Rockers Covet Unleash a Genre Mash-up
When San Jose math-rock trio Covet released their third full-length album, Catharsis, on April 7, 2023, it represented so much more than just another record. “If anything, this album is a love letter...
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Indexical Presents Ghost Ensemble in Evergreen Cemetery
Site-specific concerts can offer the unique experience of setting music in an environment that amplifies its emotional impact. But presenting Ghost Ensemble in Evergreen Cemetery is a particularly...
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How the Cello Fits in with World Fiddle Day
May 20 is World Fiddle Day, and yet, to mark the occasion, we’ve spoken with a cellist. Thomas Dewey is a Santa Cruz-based musician who began playing cello as a nine-year-old. He jokes that he chose...
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Alto Sax Master Lakecia Benjamin’s Speedy Ascent to Jazz Prominence
There’s nothing quite like a near-death experience to focus one’s attention. Alto saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin’s rapid ascent into jazz’s most visible orbit almost stopped when she lost control of her...
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