The Oh Hello's Close Out KPRI's Green Flash Summer Concert Series Tonight

The Oh Hello's (Tyler and Maggie Heath front and center, flanked by their tour band)

The Oh Hello's are playing San Diego tonight to close out 2015's KPRI Green Flash Summer Concert series at the Birch Aquarium.  Considering the current landscape of rock music, the only surviving remnant of the folk rock explosion of the early 2010s is a spacier Mumford and Sons.  I know plenty don't miss that genre one bit, but trust me when I say The Oh Hello's, with their exuberant melodies and gift for both subtle and soaring harmonies, will move you with the power of Americana again.


The brother sister duo's eponymous debut EP made me a fan, but it was their full length follow-up Through the Deep, Dark Valley that cemented me as a believer.  I love finding groups of tracks that move with confidence and purpose and this album has two sets that I'll never skip through.  The quickly poignant "Eat You Alive", the buoyant guitars of "Second Child, Restless Child" that sets your "spirit running wild", and lovely "Wishing Well" all fill out the first half of the album with the poise of a band that is truly a family.  This trio is followed by the sublime "The Lament of Eustace Scrubb", "I was Wrong", "I Have Made Mistakes", and "The Truth is a Cave".  Despite the angsty titles, these songs have the melancholy and joy few artists ever experience, much less distill into song.

In a just world, Maggie and Tyler Heath would have put Mumford and Sons out of business by doing this music right.  Perhaps it's for the best they're finally coming to San Diego when their musical kin have faded from view; they're going to leave an incredible impression.

Local favorite Josh Damigo and contributor to SDDialedIn opens the show tonight at the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla.  Tickets at the door for $38.95, doors are at 5:30p, show runs from 6-9p.m.   Check out the title track from The Oh Hello's upcoming album Dear Wormwood after the jump.

KRPi Hosts iSession with Calexico at Lestat's, 7/6/2015

The Casbah and Observatory have been keeping me so busy that I'm slipping on catching all the secret shows that happen around town throughout the year. Fortunately, my friend Jeff is always paying attention (I mean, he already bought tickets for Jose Gonzalez and the show isn't until 2016!), so when he called me at 3:20 to ask if I wanted to see Calexico at Lestat's (like 4 blocks from my house) at 4pm, I adjusted my schedule, hopped on my bike, and was there for a very special and exclusive performance, with my 25 people in attendance. It was a KPRi iSession, so they had to keep the crowd small, but I felt so happy to see it since the band doesn't have a local stop on their current tour. They played four songs: Falling From The Sky, Bullets and Rocks, When The Angels Played, and my favorite of the set, Cumbia de Donde. You can see all four songs in the playlist below.

The North Park Theatre Presents The Head and the Heart- August 11, 2014

Do you know how hard it is being a blogger and a publicist at the same time? It's so hard not to get so excited and blab out information when I get it, but 'tis the way it is. And finally I can share that The Head and the Heart are coming to The North Park Theatre on August 11. Tickets will be available HERE and I can also let you know that the band's fanclub and KPRI will both have presale codes to buy tickets early. You'll have to get those on your own, however. That's the way these things work for me these days. I also posted some video from the band's first Casbah show in case you want to relive the magic.

The Casbah and KPRi Present The Head And The Heart

at The North Park Theatre

August 11, 2014 at 8pm

Tickets on sale Friday, April 25

The Casbah and KPRi are thrilled to present The Head and the Heart at The North Park Theatre on August 11, 2014. The show will be a 21+, general admission show with tickets on sale this Friday, April 25 at 10am for $27.50. Tickets can be accessed here.

Fresh off main stage performances at Coachella, The Head and the Heart have spent the last four years touring extensively and building a loyal fanbase. Their self-titled release took off and took the band around the world. Their sophomore Sup Pop release, Let's Be Still, dropped last October and proved they are a force to be reckoned with. Their summer tour schedule is packed with incredible shows including Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza, and we are so excited to host them at The North Park Theatre.

KPRI Holiday Soiree featuring The Head and the Heart, Dawes

Local independent radio station KPRI is holding its annual holiday soiree this year on December 8 at the gorgeous California Center for the Arts in Escondido. Artists include The Head and the Heart, Dawes and Matt Nathanson. Tickets go on sale to the general public this Saturday October 26 @ 10 am PST. Presale tickets go on sale on Tuesday October 22 @ 6 am PST (Password: AEG 2013). Prices range from $40 to $200 plus fees. The ticket link can be found here. The Head and The Heart are touring in support of their recently released album Let's Be Still. (cover pictured to the left).

KPRI Private Listener Show: Imagine Dragons, 7.19.2012

On Thursday afternoon, KPRI hosted another private listener show, this time around was with Imagine Dragons at The Griffin. Naturally I shot video of the whole set which you can check out below. The band will be releasing their first full length on September 4th and they'll be back in San Diego on October 9th at the House of Blues in support of AWOLNATION. You can buy tickets here.

Photos: Holiday Soiree

I realized I never added these photos from KPRI's Holiday Soiree (11.30.2011). Mostly because I went at the last minute, I didn't have a photo pass or anything, and I was trying to just enjoy the show. Not my best shots ever, but here are a few pics of The Head and the Heart, Mayer Hawthorne, and Fitz & The Tantrums from that night.

KPRI Holiday Soiree: November 30 at Balboa Theatre

It's my favorite time of year when all the local radio stations put together their holiday concerts. I just updated details of FM 94/9's Holiday Hootenanny and I never got around to posting about KPRI's Holiday Soiree. This year their show has moved from Spreckels Theatre to Balboa Theater and features Fitz and the Tantrums, The Head and the Heart, and Mayer Hawthorne. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster and vary in price from around $40 to $113. You can skip the service charges by purchasing at the Concourse Plaza box office (1100 Third Avenue at B street, adjacent to the Civic Theatre).

91X is going to be announcing their Wrex The Hall lineup today at 8:10 am. It's taking place at Valley View Casino Center on December 10th & 11th and I can tell you that it took one quick Pollstar search to see that Airborne Toxic Event will be on the lineup for the first day. We'll know the rest in a couple hours.

Children's Museum TRASH Block Party: FREE this weekend

This weekend, the San Diego Children's Museum will be celebrating their new TRASH exhibit with a free block party. On Saturday, you can catch Ozokidz (Ozomatli), The Platt Brothers and other entertainment, while on Sunday you can enjoy Hispanic Community Day with Todo Mundo, Pink Army, Manny Cepeda and more.

Activities are open from 10am-4pm on Saturday and Sunday. For more information, go to the Children's Museum site or check out extra special details including a VIP walkthrough for KPRI registered Freeqs.

KPRI Private Listener Show: Portugal. The Man on Inspiration Hornblower, July 18, 2011

A few weeks ago, KPRI FM hosted another harbor cruise on the Inspiration Hornblower featuring Portugal. The Man. The band was on a promotional tour, playing for stations all over the place in anticipation of the release of their record, In The Mountain In The Cloud, which dropped on July 19. The boat was packed, and though I didn't have a seat saved up front like I have in the past, I decided to shoot most of it anyway...I missed a few songs because I had to swap batteries and the guys weren't much for in-between song banter, trying to knock out as many songs as they could on the 2 hour cruise, but I think you can get a good idea of the amazing set they performed.

Portugal.The Man has announced a full fall tour, including a San Diego date on September 30th at the House of Blues. Additionally, Alberta Cross will be the support band for the tour, and you can catch them starting tomorrow for a four-Wednesday residency at the Casbah. Alberta Cross has a new single called "Money For The Weekend" which doubles as your password to get into their Casbah show for only $5 (instead of $8). Just say "Money For The Weekend" to the doorguy and you'll get the discount.



Portugal. The Man - In The Mountain In The Cloud by ATL REC

April Smith and the Great Picture Show @ M-Theory, 4.25.2011

On Monday, April Smith and the Great Picture Show returned to San Diego for an in-store performance at M-Theory Records. There was a great turnout for the show, crowded without being uncomfortable, and they played longer than the usual 20 minute in-stores. They also came back yesterday for a KPRI Private Listener Show, which I unfortunately couldn't make because I was in LA. But seriously, I love these kids. April, Nicky, Steve, and Marty are some of the nicest musicians you will ever meet and they're working their butts off to spread their music wherever they can. Here's the full set in video. I'm sorry I haven't added titles, sometimes there just aren't enough hours in a day (or enough free wi-fi hotspots).

Sunset Sessions: Samuel Beam (Iron & Wine), 2.19.2011

It's Sunday afternoon, but when you're up until 6 am, 2pm feels like morning. I'm listening to the Garden State soundtrack (since someone appears to have permanently borrowed my DVD), and Iron & Wine comes on. Then I realized I still have Sunset Sessions videos I haven't shared with you.

Samuel Beam, Sam Beam, Iron & Wine, (whatever) played on Friday night. The crowd was into it and I wish I'd gotten closer so my camera wouldn't have been quite so shaky. I don't know if I mentioned, but Sunset Sessions aren't regular shows. At times it's like a banquet hall with round 8 top tables, other times random seats, other times a couple dozen couches, so there's no "press" area...half the people there are press...so everyone just tries to be respectful with their cameras and some of the showcases were more crowded than others. It was also at the point during the night when some of the drama started happening with the Florida band that I don't really want to write about, so I was distracted and trying to track them down for an interview while Sam Beam played. I was outside when the set finished, and that's where I got my pic with Sam and then proceeded to my interview with the Floridians.


I honestly am not familiar enough with Iron & Wine's music to know if he was there playing new stuff or old stuff or just hoping for another pick-up like the Garden State soundtrack, but he sounded great and I suppose I should delve more into his catalog seeing as the whole bearded boy with guitar seems to be my thing. Or one of my things.

Anyway, here are a couple photos and a video. Click 'keep on reading' for two more videos.

Sunset Sessions: The Makepeace Brothers February 18, 2011

Friday morning of Sunset Sessions kicked off with an interview and performance by Cas Haley, a rural Texas boy who came in second place on America's Got Talent. We followed that with a performance by Laura Jansen, but since she was playing a keyboard that was plugged directly into the mixer, I didn't bother filming. It wasn't until The Makepeace Brothers that I decided I'd capture all of the sessions on my own.

The Makepeace Brothers are Ciaran and Finian and seriously, everything about them is adorable. They are 2 of 4 brothers, their last name is really Makepeace (their parents legally changed their names in the 70s), and they finish each other's sentences. They are originally from Ithaca but now call Venice home, and you can tell the beach influences their free spirited music.

In their interview, they talked about their work with a charity to stop sex slavery in the US and internationally and how that has lead them to get involved with several other charities. Their next performance in San Diego, in fact, will be at the post-run celebration for the Chelsea's Light Foundation on March 5th, and then in Oceanside for a Feeding The Soul event on March 26. You can tell these guys come from good stock ("growing up, we sang because we didn't have TV") and some lucky girls are gonna snatch them up and make lots and lots of babies.




In the session, they performed two songs.The first was "Breaking Down These Walls" which I loved.


Then they played "Wake Up" which was sweet but I wasn't quite so in love with because for one, there are too many "oooh-ooh-oohs" for my taste, and two, that's the guitar lick from Sublime's "Santeria", isn't it? Still, these boys are a-ok in my book and I'm sure with the help of their friend Jason Mraz, you'll see and hear them everywhere one day.

Sunset Sessions: Vanessa Carlton & Stevie Nicks, 2.19.2011

The internet is amazing, isn't it? I uploaded about 40 videos from Sunset Sessions, and was planning on going back to title all the videos (or con Matt the potential intern into doing it, aka Matt PI), and I wake up to find that 41 people have already watched my video of Vanessa Carlton and Stevie Nicks. How did they even find it titles 8471 or whatever? I dunno. Regardless, I've added more titles and it's pretty obvious that Vanessa Carlton has some ravenous fans because they're eating them up.

The story: On Saturday, Stevie Nicks appeared at Sunset Sessions as she moderated an album preview, Q&A and listening party, and meet and greet. We were busy recording a session, but decided to head down at the end to try and get some photos. I wasn't particularly interested in meeting Stevie Nicks. There are some music idols, I suppose, that you don't wanna meet...I'd rather keep whatever notion I have of her in my brain, and especially since I hadn't been in for the session. Just didn't feel right. But I was watching my tweetdeck in real time and enjoying all the tweets about Stevie.

Hours later, after the evening session finished, everyone moved up to the dinner ballroom for some bands and a buffet. I kept my eyes on the live search and started seeing buzzings that Stevie Nicks was soundchecking with Vanessa Carlton. After dinner I had to make sure I unloaded my cameras to my laptop in the office, but told Peggy and made sure she did her best to get us seats up close. I walked in after one or two songs and found that Peggy had the very front and center sofa. There was some anticipation as people had pretty much figured out (or looked at the tweetwall) and knew the "surprise" was Stevie Nicks. Here are the videos I shot. Apologies that "I Don't Wanna Be A Bride" isn't the full song, I started recording late. These videos are in reverse order, except "Carousel" which ended the set.

"Carousel"


"I Don't Wanna Be A Bride"


"London"


"A Thousand Miles"

Sunset Sessions: KD Lang, 2.18.2011

I see that a lot of people are landing on my site through KD Lang's fan page, but I just have too many photos and they're making the rest of my site go haywire, so instead, I'll just post the two photos I snapped.

KD Performed on Friday, February 18 at Sunset Sessions during the evening music session. We arrived early Friday and unlike other seminars or conventions, the resort felt oddly empty. I'd estimate that attendance is somewhere in the range of 500 including all of the bands, but not everyone stays the full weekend and many just attend the live music sessions while skipping the panels that take place in a smallish room that could probably hold 100 or so people. So I didn't really know the lay of the land or where and what we could do, so after some of our interviews, I heard KD Lang's voice coming through the halls. I went to this side area and caught her soundchecking with her band, with a few people scattered. Nobody really told me I couldn't be there, but where in my former life if I didn't have a pass and was just sneaking around, I'd go anywhere, now that I have NBC on my badge, there are certain rules I don't wanna break, so I watched her sing from a side door, snapped a couple pics, and was on my way.

Leter that evening she performed, but we were doing more sessions and trying to get things uploaded and whatnot, so I missed it, but I could hear through the hall and from what I could tell, the crowd was in total awe. I heard her sing "Contant Craving" and "Hallelujah" but am not really sure what else she performed. I regret not seeing her performance, as I surely would've shot some video, too. My bad, for sure.

Sunset Sessions: Photo Gallery 2011

So apparently my Photobucket slideshow only allowed me to post 100 photos at a time so despite my album having 175 photos, you didn't see a bunch of them. I'm not very happy with changes to Photobucket and I hate Flickr (especially because even after going through a process to reclaim my account, I still couldn't get in), so I dunno what to do that would be the best way to display multiple photos, so I went through the 175 pictures, selected some from that album, and posted the thumbnails here. You can click them to get to the fullsize photos (I think).











More photos after the jump. (Click 'keep on reading' below')