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Connection Central
As the fledgling new year begins to find its legs, it’s important to remember that we get out of our community what we put into it. One of the qualities so many of us fell in love with about Santa...
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Shine On
What’s the first thing that comes to mind with the words “Painted Mandolin”? For some, an image of an instrument with psychedelic swirls looking like the stringed version of Janis Joplin’s Porsche....
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Rhymesayers
Atmosphere rapper Slug didn’t harbor any aspirations that he and producer Ant would have a long career when they started releasing music 39 years ago. After all, Minneapolis, their hometown, wasn’t...
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Beyond Baroque
The late, great Linda Burman-Hall, Santa Cruz Baroque Festival’s founder and redhaired harpsichordist-in-chief, is a hard act to follow. But the 50-year-old festival has found its next leader in the...
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Sing Louder
When California splits into thirds, Santa Cruz should declare autonomy from the entire debacle, and immediately make Coffee Zombie Collective president. Six musicians running a futuristic country...
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Warming Up
Rub your hands together and gather round ye olde Bret Harte Opera Hall, for there’s a fledgling musical festival that is ready to bake your heart, tickle your ears and move your toes. Nascent promoter...
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Liberation Music
Julia Keefe is a Native American jazz singer, actor, activist and educator who grew up on the Nez Perce (Nimiipuu) Indian Reservation in Kamiah, Idaho. The 35-year-old musician is now based in New...
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Small But Mighty
So many brilliant ensembles packed with elite musicians—Santa Cruz is a full house of musical riches. The seasons are often short and sweet, but the programming is always ferocious. Often...
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Back to Basics
Hard rock and heavy metal has gone through many phases. It has gone in and out of fashion, and endured the so-called “hair metal” era of the ’80s. But for true believers, the style has never lost its...
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KSQD Fundraiser Fuels Community Radio in Santa Cruz
There won’t be any plankton or tentacles but community radio station KSQD 90.7 is cooking up a colossal event for Squid Fest West: an all-day musical lineup with six bands, a music memorabilia...
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Taking a Bow
Rebecca Roudman is the lead cellist of the rock band Dirty Cello. You read that correctly. Roudman plays the cello with the dexterity of a shredding lead guitarist, among other equally impressive...
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Reel It In
Wake the Dead is the planet’s only Celtic Grateful Dead jam band. Their music combines the legacy of hundreds of years of Irish reels with the new American traditional music of the Bay Area’s most...
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The Music Never Stopped
Music fans have been listening to David Gans playing Grateful Dead music on the radio for decades and reading his books on the band. Now they have a chance to study the band’s 60-year career in a...
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Call of the Wild
Coming from the woods of South Carolina, Saxsquatch is returning to the local redwoods on his “Footprints Tour.” The 7-foot-tall multi-instrumentalist “squatch,” outfitted in bandana, mirrored shades...
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A Melancholy Heartbreaker
He spent decades backing Tom Petty, but on his current tour, which stops at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center April 4, Benmont Tench appears alone with a piano. He’s promoting his new album, The Melancholy...
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