Category Archives: Music

PALM SPRINGS: Doo Wop in the Desert gets modern

DJ Alf Alpha performs at Tachevah at the Spa Resort Casino in Palm Springs on Wednesday, April 17, 2013. (Vanessa Franko/Staff Photographer)

The Coachella Valley Art Scene has been putting on its annual Valentine’s themed show, Doo Wop in the Desert, for five years.

This year the event gets an even higher profile as part of Palm Springs Modernism Week and larger digs at the Hard Rock Hotel. (Goldenvoice has joined with the Coachella Valley Art Scene to put on the event, too.)

The desert’s own DJ Alf Alpha (a Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival vet), will be on the decks and The Evaros will be playing live music.

Dressing up in a poodle skirt or sporting a varsity jacket is part of the fun—the event is also a 1950s-themed costume party.

9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15, Hard Rock Hotel, 150 S. Indian Canyon Drive, Palm Springs, $25, 18 and older only.

Visit www.thecoachellavalleyartscene.com for more information.

SAN BERNARDINO: Basscon will visit Orange Show on March 29

Electronic music fans enjoy Nocturnal Wonderland at San Manuel Amphitheater in Devore on Sept. 21, 2013. (Vanessa Franko/Staff Photo)

For those who love electronic music, Insomniac’s Crush, set for the National Orange Show Events Center in San Bernardino on Saturday, is sold out, but the promoter will bring another event to town on Saturday, March 29.

Called Basscon, the show will feature D-Block & S-te-fan, Isaac, Darksiderz, Saymyname and a special guest. The event is dedicated to the subgenres of hard Techno, hard House, hardstyle and hard trance.

The show is open to guests 18 and older. Tickets are $40, before fees, and can be purchased at www.flavorus.com.

RIVERSIDE: Live Nation books Queen tribute, Kid Ink

Kid Ink is coming to the Riverside Municipal Auditorium in April. (Contributed Image)

Two more shows have been announced for Riverside’s downtown venues operated by Live Nation.

Up first is One Night of Queen at the Fox Performing Arts Center on March 7. The show has been a popular perennial favorite at the venue. Tickets are on sale now through Live Nation and are $16-$53, plus fees. You can pick them up at www.livenation.com or at the Fox box office for less fees.

Also, a new show has been added to the lineup of the Riverside Municipal Auditorium. Rapper Kid Ink will headline a show at the venue on April 8. Tickets, priced at $18-$28, before fees, go on sale Friday, Feb. 14 at noon at www.livenation.com. King Los and Bizzy Crook will also perform. The show is open to guests 16 years old and older.

You can pick up tickets for both shows 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.

BIG BEAR: Sean Kingston to perform free show Feb. 8

Sean Kingston will perform a free show at Bear Mountain on Saturday, Feb. 8 (FILE PHOTO)

Singer, rapper and songwriter Sean Kingston will perform a free show at Bear Mountain in Big Bear Lake on Saturday, Feb. 8.

The noon performance is part of the “Snowed In” concert from Los Angeles hip-hop radio station Power 106.

Kingston, who is Jamaican-American, has had big hits with songs such as “Beautiful Girls,” “Fire Burning” and “Take You There.”

He’s also made a name for himself with guest appearances on hits such as Natasha Bedingfield’s “Love Like This” and collaborations with Flo Rida, Baby Bash and Bun B.

Bear Mountain is located at 43101 Goldmine Drive in Big Bear Lake. Visit www.power106.com/SnowedIn for more information.

STAGECOACH 2014: AXS TV will return to festival

Dwight Yoakam performs on Saturday, April 27, 2013, at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival. (Charlotte Bray/Freelance Photographer)

The Stagecoach Country Music Festival will be broadcast again this spring.

Sets from the country music festival, scheduled for April 25-27 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, will be aired on AXS TV.

Last year the cable network was the first to broadcast from the festival.

Eric Church, Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan are the headliners for the eighth year of the popular country music festival.

AXS will broadcast more than 12 hours of coverage during the weekend.

A broadcast of the 2013 Stagecoach Festival performances will air on Sunday, Feb. 9 at 5 p.m. pacific, in a program called “Best of Stagecoach 2013” with clips from Dwight Yoakam, Lonestar, Phil Vassar, Jeff Bridges and the Abiders, Thompson Square, Florida Georgia Line and Darius Rucker.

Tickets are still available for the festival. A general admission three-day pass is $249 and VIP passes are $799. For tickets and more information, visit www.stagecoach.com.

RIVERSIDE: D’zyl 5K1 to hold Paid Dues rally on Friday

San Bernardino rapper Daniel “D’zyl 5k1” Fromm will perform in Riverside on Friday. (Contributed Image)

Rapper D’zyl 5K1 has designs on being the latest Inland Empire artist to make the Paid Dues Festival lineup.

To get some support, he’s having a rally tonight at The Vibe in Riverside.

He will perform with a lineup that features some of the other most promising talents in the area, including A. Cain, Besatree and K-Serious, Calligraphy, StoneXSober, Kast One, Yung Miss, Royal Gambling Club, Johnny V and GQ.

There’s also an open mic portion, from 9 to 10 p.m.

Paid Dues, an independent hip-hop festival put on by Murs and Guerilla Union, has had some of the biggest artists in the game play on its stages and has featured local artists over the years, including Noa James, Curtiss King and Stevie Crooks.

D’zyl 5K1’s set will include some new music, too.

9 p.m. today, Feb. 7, The Vibe, 1805 University Ave., Riverside, $6, 18 and older only.

Visit www.facebook.com/dzyl5001music for more information.

TEMECULA: James King Band will headline bluegrass festival

The James King Band will headline the Old Town Temecula Bluegrass Festival. (Contributed Image)

The Old Town Temecula Bluegrass festival will celebrate its 14th year in March with Grammy-nominated headliner the James King Band.

The festival, set for March 15 and 16, will feature performances from Bluegrass Etc., Silverado Bluegrass, Next Generation, 3rd Street Bluegrass, Salty Suites, Old Town Road Bluegrass, Bluegrass Brethren, The Wimberleys, Sligo Rags, Old Haywire and the Jamie Olsen Band.

Concerts are free during the day Saturday, March 15, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, March 16 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The James King Band, Bluegrass Etc. and Silverado concert is at 7 pp.m. March 15 at the Old Town Temecula Community Theater stage. Tickets are $20 and are available at www.temeculatheater.org.

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.