Author Archives: Vanessa

NEON TREES: Band shares warm memories of ‘Tonight Show’

Neon Trees performs on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” on Jan. 22. (NBC/CONTRIBUTED IMAGE)

As Jay Leno signs off of “The Tonight Show” later this week, one group with Inland ties remembers the comedian fondly.

Hit band Neon Trees, whose members Tyler Glenn and Chris Allen hail from Murrieta, was the show’s musical guest six times, most recently on Jan. 22.

“There was definitely a bittersweet vibe in the air,” Glenn said in a recent telephone interview.

Leno’s final show will be on Thursday, Feb. 6 before “The Tonight Show” moves to New York City and will be hosted by Jimmy Fallon. Fallon’s debut will be on Monday, Feb. 17.

The band’s first performance on “The Tonight Show” was of “Animal” in May 2010, before the song became the monster hit that made Neon Trees a household name. The group has also performed “1983,” “Your Surrender,” “Everybody Talks” and “Lessons In Love” (All Day, All Night)” on the show.

On their last performance, the group played “Sleeping With a Friend,” the first single off the forthcoming album “Pop Psychology,” which will be released on April 22.

“They’ve really been so kind to the band and let us do our thing,” Glenn said.

The band also performed the new song on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.”

MURRIETA: Midnight Satellites celebrate video release at The Shamrock

Midnight Satellites will celebrate the release of the video for “Drug Me” on Feb. 7. (Contributed Image)

Temecula rockers Midnight Satellites will celebrate the release of the video for “Drug Me” on Friday, Feb. 7 at The Shamrock in Murrieta.

The group, which released its fantastic debut EP in 2013, will perform at the show along with The Infamous They and Echoed Silence.

The clip, directed by Jeff Thomas, features another well-known face from the Southwest Riverside County music scene–Samuel Larsen. Larsen appeared on a few episodes of “Glee” after he was one of the winners of reality show “The Glee Project.”

7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7, The Shamrock, 39252 Winchester Road, Suite 145, Murrieta, 21 and older.

Visit www.midnightsatellites.com for more on the band.

Check out the teaser for “Drug Me” below.

Here’s the acoustic version of “Drug Me” that the band did when they came in for PE Live last year.

MUSIC: Neon Trees’ Tyler Glenn talks ‘Sleeping With a Friend’ video

Neon Trees gets surreal in the new video for “Sleeping With a Friend.” (Neon Trees/Contributed Image)

If Salvador Dali got caught in a Peter Gabriel video from the heyday of MTV in the 1980s, it might look a little bit like Neon Trees’ new clip for “Sleeping With a Friend.”

In fact, singer Tyler Glenn, who grew up in Murrieta, said the band was inspired by Gabriel’s groundbreaking “Sledgehammer” video and clips from the B-52’s videos.

“For us, the best stuff we’ve done has always been the colorful, energetic stuff, so on this record and everything about this album is colorful and celebratory in a way,” he said in a recent telephone interview.

Glenn and his mother Deb also made his costumes in the video, including his cupcake suit. The pair have made a number of the singer’s stage clothes over the years.

With the dreamlike scenarios in the video, Glenn warned that there’s not a linear narrative.
“I don’t think the video’s supposed to be too fluid and make too much sense,” he said.

In one of the humorous moments of the clip, guitarist Chris Allen, who, like Glenn, grew up in Murrieta, dances around while playing a ukulele. His dancing partner is an upright shark that is wearing a grass skirt.

“We definitely felt like Chris is usually out to lunch and on vacation, so we’re like ‘Let’s put him in a tropical setting dancing with a shark and make it true to life,’ so that’s what he’s doing,” Glenn said, laughing.

All of the action takes place in a brightly colored house that Glenn said personified his mind.

“It reminds me of ‘Pee-wee’s Playhouse’ in a way. There’s a kookiness to it,” he said.

RIVERSIDE: Childish Gambino, Madeon, Portugal. The Man top Heat Fest

John Baldwin Gourley of Portugal. The Man performs at San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2013. (Terry Pierson/Staff Photographer)

John Baldwin Gourley of Portugal. The Man performs at San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2013. (David Bauman/Staff Photographer)

UC Riverside’s Heat Festival will return on Saturday, March 1 with a lineup topped by Childish Gambino.

In addition to the rapper, who you might recognize as actor Donald Glover from TV show “Community,” the lineup boasts a number of notable acts.

French house music producer Madeon, indie rockers The Neighbourhood and Portugal. The Man, singer Ciara, and Canadian electronic duo Dzeko and Torres will perform as well.

Childish Gambino, Madeon, The Neighbourhood and Portugal. The Man are all Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival veterans.

Tickets will be $28.50 each and go on sale Monday, Feb. 3 at noon at http://heat.ucr.edu.

However, you must be a UCR student, member of the staff, faculty or the UCR Alumni Association to purchase a ticket.

Passes are limited to two purchases per person.

The eighth annual festival has become a big event for the Riverside campus, often selling out before the concert.

Visit http://heat.ucr.edu for more information.

BIG BEAR: Big Papa and the TCB play The Cave

Big Papa and the TCB perform at The Press-Enterprise for PE Live. (Vanessa Franko/Staff Photo)

Jump blues band Big Papa and the TCB are taking some swinging sounds up the mountain to The Cave in Big Bear this weekend.

A word of advice: bring dancing shoes.

8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1, The Cave, 40789 Village Drive, Big Bear Lake, $10-$30, all ages.

Visit www.thecavebigbear.com for more information.

Big Papa and the TCB stopped by PE Live last year.

Watch them perform “Drink Drank Drunk.”

CORONA: New bar Rockefellas focuses on local music

guitar green day
An old Corona haunt will celebrate its opening under a new name this weekend.

Rockefellas Bar will hold its official grand opening on Friday, Jan. 31.

The spot, at the old (and supposedly haunted) Live Oak Inn, has been renovated and features an indoor and an outdoor stage.

Friday’s celebration includes local artists Castle Pines, Za and Spencer Sherman and the Thunderbirds.

Rockefellas is pledging its support to local music, with notable Inland bands such as Sayonara Tokyo, Black Bear and the Cheyenne Autumn Band, A Salient Truth, City of Thieves and Assuming We Survive already on the schedule for the coming weeks.

7 p.m. Friday, 21700 Temescal Canyon Road, Corona, 951-256-4701, 21 and older only.

Visit www.rockefellasbar.com for more information.

RIVERSIDE: Boyz II Men will perform at Fox

Boyz II Men will perform at the Fox performing Arts Center on June 26. (AP Photo)

Motownphilly, meet downtown Riverside.

Boyz II Men, the Philadelphia-rooted vocal group that helped make New Jack Swing sing in the 1990s, will perform at the Fox Performing Arts Center in Riverside on Thursday, June 26.

The band, proteges of the great Bell Biv Devoe, brought sweet harmonies together to churn out hit after hit in the 1990s, such as “End of the Road,” “I’ll Make Love to You” and the classic “Motownphilly.”

Lest we forget about “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday,” the a cappella song that scored oh so many graduations and funerals and high school chorus concerts in 1993.

Although Boyz II Men has performed at Inland casinos over the years, the June performance marks the singers’ debut at the Fox. The group has had a successful show at The Mirage in Las Vegas, too.

Tickets go on sale Saturday, Feb. 1 at noon and are $31-$61, before fees.

You can purchase them via www.livenation.com or at the box office of the Fox Performing Arts Center at 3801 Mission Inn Ave. in Riverside . The box office is open Monday through Friday noon to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on show days until show time. You can also call the box office at 951-779-9800.

SPOTLIGHT 29: Dwight Yoakam takes the honky tonk to Coachella

Dwight Yoakam will perform at Spotlight 29 Feb. 1.

Country icon Dwight Yoakam will be back in the desert this weekend for a show at Spotlight 29 Casino in Coachella on Saturday, Feb. 1.

Coming up in Los Angeles, Yoakam and his honky tonk sound would share the stage with artists such as X and Los Lobos. Among his biggest hits are “Streets of Bakersfield,” recorded with his hero Buck Owens, “I Sang Dixie” and “Honky Tonk Man.”

Yoakam has appeared not only at a number of the area’s casinos, but is one of the few artists to perform at both the Stagecoach Country Music Festival and the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio.

Bring a pair of shades if you’re sensitive to light because Yoakam’s sparkly guitar straps and accessories might blind you if the light catches them in just the right way.

8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1, Spotlight 29 Casino, 46-200 Harrison Place, Coachella, 866-377-6829, $45-$65, 21 and older only. Visit www.spotlight29.com for tickets and more information.

RIVERSIDE: Cypress Hill booked for the Muni this spring

Cypress Hill will perform at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium on April 19. (2011/File Photo)

Paging Dr. Greenthumb, you’re needed at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium because Cypress Hill is playing April 19.

The cannabis-loving rap group, which broke into the mainstream with “Insane in the Brain” in the early 1990s, will help usher live music back into the auditorium. The Muni will be operated by Live Nation once the Riverside Convention Center moves into its new home in March.

Cypress Hill are regulars in the Inland area, launching their Smokeout Festival in San Bernardino in the late 1990s and are frequent performers on annual hip-hop fest Rock the Bells in Devore.

Tickets for the Riverside show go on sale Friday, Jan. 31 at noon. They are priced at $30.50 and $40.50, before fees. You can pick them up via www.livenation.com or at the Fox Performing Arts Center box office at 3801 Mission Inn Ave. in Riverside. The box office’s phone number is 951-779-9800.

On the day of the show, you can pick them up at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium box office.

Cypress Hill is the second act Live Nation has announced for the venue. Julieta Venegas will perform there on April 18.

MORONGO: Get hot blooded with Foreigner Feb. 1

Rock group Foreigner is set to play Morongo Casino Resort and Spa Feb. 1.

If classic rock is your thing, don’t miss Foreigner and the band’s massive catalog of hits at Morongo Casino Resort and Spa in Cabazon on Saturday, Feb. 1.

The band’s most beloved songs include “Hot Blooded,” “Cold As Ice,” “Double Vision,” “Juke Box Hero” and “Waiting for a Girl Like You.”

The show is sold out, but tickets may become available as it gets closer.

9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1, Morongo Casino Resort and Spa, 49500 Seminole Drive, Cabazon, 800-252-4499, $59 and $69, before fees. Visit www.morongocasinoresort.com for more information.