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The Homegrown Hour 4/3/11

 

RAW: San Diego Presents ARTCADE

Tomorrow night is the second San Diego RAW showcase of this year, starting at 8pm at the Ivy Nightclub.

WHAT IS RAW? Here's what they say:

RAW:natural born artists is an independent arts organization that hand-selects and spotlights independent creatives in visual art, film, fashion, music, hair & makeup artistry, photography, models and performing art.

RAW's mission is to provide up-and-coming artists of all creative realms with the tools, resources and exposure needed to inspire and cultivate creativity so that they might be seen, heard and loved.

The two local musicans performing tomorrow night are the Rightjahs Blend & Of Sons and Ghosts.

To be considered for a RAW event, just go online and submit your work! There is one event per month. www.RAWartists.org/sandiego

Last month's artist rocked the house, The Filthy Violets...

Posted by Tracy Petrucci

This Week's Music 3/28/11

Howdy friends.  This week I have tickets to Balboa Barks on April 9th, join me at a show and register to win a pair!   Cathryn

Tuesday 3/29 - Head to House of Blues for an evening of great food, delicious beer and amazing music 7:00 Julean Rai w/ Michael Vechello 7:30 For The Faint 8:00 Bosen Arrows 9:00 Scott West Band 10:00 Todo Mundo NO COVER all ages

Wednesday 3/30 - I'll be hosting THE STAGE this week, join me?  6:00 open 6:30 LaFaithe 7:00 Black Oak Hymnal 8:00 Soup 9:00 Simple Mantra  NO COVER

 

 

Thursday 3/31 - Winstons in OB - come for the music, stay for the paninis and booze.  5:00 Sister Speak 6:00 Scott Wilson and the Contradictions 7:00 Zach Kingsley NO COVER

Friday 4/1 - Join me for The Crew Classic's happy hour kick off at 4pm.  I'll be hanging out near the Ballaste Point Brewery and Ms. Allegra Barley will be belting out some tunes... drinks and music by the bay!  Hang out all weekend and hear music from Summer Mencher, Paul Cannon, Lenny Morris and Bosen & Suede.  Get all the details here.

Get your news on...

Music News 3/28/11

Artist Spotlight:  Tracy caught up with For The Faint, check out the interview and don't miss their show at HOB this Tuesday!

 This just in!  Chick Camp is back.  September 9th through the 11th is our girl's only version of The Songwriter Sleepover.  Only 30 spots open, reserve yours now!

 

 

 From Alan Land:  April's SUNDAY SONGS at E Street Cafe, every Sunday at 2PM.  April 3rd, superb violinist Ann Smith; April 10th, the one and only Cowboy Jack returns; April 17th, Jeff Bertino, promoter and Poway Folk Circle leader; April 24, singer-songwriter Duke Ventra.  For those who enjoy the first hour "jam sessions," come early, so we can squeeze everyone in.  Details here.

The Acoustic Alliance happens on April 10th at The Brick by Brick, limited reserved seating is available now, tables too.  Get yours asap, they're going fast.  Check out who's playing!

   

This year the San Diego County Fair has added a singer/songwriters contest. They're searching for the best original performance by a solo singer, 18 and older.  For more information you can go to: http://www.sdfair.com/fair/index.php?fuseaction=contests.singer_songwriter... they also have another event on June 17^th called Acoustic Friday, where new local singer/songwriters perform and showcase their talent.  For this you need to fill out their application at : http://www.sdfair.com/fair/index.php?fuseaction=info.perform



Tax time!  Don't stress, call Roger at Online Bookkeeping and Tax Service.  They're in Alpine and they cater to musicians.  Tell Roger Listen Local sent you!



July's Songwriter Sleepover Camping trip is SOLD OUT!  Check back here often as people may cancel reservations as we get closer.

 

 

 

 

 

Local Artist Spotlight: For The Faint

Who from San Diego is really from San Diego? Well, some of us are. But there’s a bigger growing population of great local musicians who have decided on sunny SD as their final destination. Chris Zach from the duo For The Faint worked his way west from Minnesota and first tried LA, but a train ride south to Sunset Cliffs left him with a lust to move no more.

Kyle Pflueger is his right hand man, and the Christian pair has no problem including their faith in the music. And although Chris doesn’t necessarily feel influenced by many Christian musicians, we heard the likes of some other popular talent within that genre, think Jeremy Camp for one.

The band’s going to try a west coast tour soon, but in the mean time you can find Chris strumming some tunes on the fine beaches around OB, passing along some positivity everywhere he goes. If you want to know what I mean, just read on and feel the positive vibes yourself.

 

Lets take it back to the beginning for a minute. Why guitar?

 

“I started playing when I was 18.  Me and my best friend were hanging out one night and he busted out his guitar and played my favorite Blink 182 song and 5 minutes later I was playing the same song.  I woke up the next day and gave him $30 and bought my first guitar. Music got me through a lot in life and I've always been fascinated by song writing, and how in 3 minutes a few lyrics and an instrument can flip your world around.  As soon as I realized I could create noise on my own I couldn't put my guitar down.”

 

So is it something you want to make a career out of, or are you content just chilling with it as a hobby?

“I'm finishing up an EP with my buddy Kyle... and I plan on having this EP take me around the country, and eventually around the world.  If I could wake up everyday and play music for the rest of my life that would be amazing and in 2012 I plan on starting to play around the country.  Even if its one song that helps someone or inspires someone to give life a try I'll continue to write music and make this hobby my life/job.”

How did you decide on where to go when you want to tour? What’s the process to take on something like that at this stage of your career?

“We will probably start out traveling through the west coast from Seattle and make our way through the bay area, LA, and back to SD.  I've met a lot of musicians over the last 3 years playing live and hope to use my knowledge with internet marketing to help promote us online.  Any suggestions?”

Suggestions from me? Um... work hard and don’t be superficial in your networking, the world has enough of those people already.

Who are some of your musical influences?

“Hands down my biggest musical influence is Jon Foreman of the band Switchfoot (He is the only "Christian" artist that I look up to musically that influences my writing).  He has a similar outlook on life that I do and you can tell when he writes he a song he exposes his entire heart and world.  Stevie Ray Vaughan - in my opinion greatest guitarist to ever live and played with more passion and harder than any guitarist I've ever heard.  Dave Matthews Band - incredibly talented musicians that are lyrically the Bob Dylan of my generation, also the best live show I've ever seen.”

What are your thoughts on including your faith in music? Is it something you do just when you feel like it, or is something you want to do always as a philosophy?

“I write about things that I can't fully comprehend; God, life, women, and hope.  God is a huge part of my life and my lyrics a lot of the time tend to reflect my beliefs but my main message is to share my life with other people.  I love encouraging people, giving people hope, and I love where I'm at in my life so I think its selfish of me to not share that with other people.  I hope its transparent in my music and putting words behind a six-string is a powerful way of expressing that.  At the end of the day I want my music to challenge people and force them to not settle for a complacent life.  I have a lot of people in my life that go through far worst things than I have ever been through or will ever go through so I'm writing songs for the hopeless.  I wrote a song called "Welcome to the Good Life" and it was about knowing people who don't get to experience what I do on a daily basis and there are only a few things I need to make me who I am so I end the song with "all I need is Jesus, and my six-string, with a little bit of love, welcome to the good life."

Yeah I don't fully understand women either.  Oh wait, I meant men. You say they've been through worse things than you have or ever will, but what about if a time comes when you do actually go through something that bad? Do you think your music could take a turn to reflect the times or do you feel you could just never feel hopeless and will always be able to be positive?

“I've always been an optimistic guy and I'm at the point in my life where I will continue to surround myself with positive people, friends that make me a better person, and continue to challenge myself in anyway that I can.  I know life will take a turn at some point and I'll go through some down times but I've got way too many things to keep me grounded and that hope will never die because I'm alive, and that's a good enough start.  I won't battle drug addiction, I'm not struggling with anything from my childhood, and we live in a nasty world and not everyone looks through the world with the same lens that I do.  So I figure if I keep being me God will take care of the rest.”

 

Yeah it does sound like you’ve been living a pretty charmed life thus far. Any challenges since you made the move to SD?

“The first year in San Diego was one of the most rough years of my life.  I moved out here with a girl I thought I was going to marry and then one day she broke up with me, packed up her stuff and was gone. I really struggled financially during this time and did a fair share of partying, and locked myself in my room and played guitar.  It was incredibly difficult but it was through these times that I started putting covers on Youtube and started getting people from all over the world telling me I had a gift and I needed to write my own music.  I wouldn't trade this year back for anything because I don't know if I would've ever played music live if it never happened.”

 

So what does "For the Faint" signify?

“I love when bands have a name that captures their sound and it’s difficult to do.  Me and Kyle have a similar view on life and a desire to be there for people and encourage people.  We were talking one night about how people have unrealistic goals for themselves and people like to dream big but their goal is sometimes intangible.  He said instead of changing the world with our music why don't we try and change the world we live in.  If we can affect the lives of people in San Diego, or the people we interact with on a daily basis, that's a good start.  I see people living underneath the OB pier, homeless people begging for food, and I see people with 9-5 jobs that are completely miserable with where they are at in life.  For the faint is for the faint of heart and people who are struggling to survive.  Instead of just surviving I want to teach them and encourage them to thrive with where they are at.  In other words we are hopeful for the hopeless.

Well it’s an interesting perspective that people can dream too big, and I’m not sure everyone would agree, however these guys seem to have a good thing going and an attitude that backs up a quote I’ve always liked, “grow where you’re planted.”

Lots to think about here, and it's cool that they know what they believe in and it doesn't sound like they're going to compromise that. And by the way, you heard them- any tour suggestions? Contact Chris at their next show, this Tuesday night at the House of Blues downtown SD... 7pm sharp!

The Homegrown Hour 3/27/11

 

Music News 3/22/11

Tax time!  Don't stress, call Roger at Online Bookkeeping and Tax Service.  They're in Alpine and they cater to musicians.  Tell Roger Listen Local sent you!

The Acoustic Alliance happens on April 10th at The Brick by Brick, limited reserved seating is available now, tables too.  Get yours asap, they're going fast.  Check out who's playing!

   

This year the San Diego County Fair has added a singer/songwriters contest. They're searching for the best original performance by a solo singer, 18 and older.  For more information you can go to: http://www.sdfair.com/fair/index.php?fuseaction=contests.singer_songwriter... they also have another event on June 17^th called Acoustic Friday, where new local singer/songwriters perform and showcase their talent.  For this you need to fill out their application at : http://www.sdfair.com/fair/index.php?fuseaction=info.perform

The Songwriter SleepOver Camping trip will be July 15th and 16th this year, only 20 spots left!  Get all the info and rsvp here, see you there!

This Week's Music 3/21/11

Hey party people, join me this week for good times, great music and register to win tickets to The Hornblower Cruises, courtesy of 102.1 KPRi.  See you at a show!  Cathryn

Tuesday 3/22 - LBLG at HOB on The Voodoo Stage, no cover ALL AGES  7:00 Tim Tormey and Riki Michele 7:30 Andrea Davidson 8:00 Tannyr Denby and Peace 9:00 Dennis Walker Band 10:00 Silent Lune 11:00 Zach Kingsley Band

Wednesday 3/23 - The Stage at 5th and F NO COVER food and fun 6:00 open solo/duo 6:30 open solo/duo 7:00 Zach Kingsley 8:00 Dusty and The Love Notes 9:00 J Grace  email Cathryn@Listenlocalsd.com to reserve a spot to play

Thursday 3/24 - Join me at Winstons for Paninis, Katie and great music 5:00 open 5:30 Shaka Buku 6:00 Enreverie 6:30 Eddie Lenhart 7:00 Michael Hagen 7:30 Carmen Caserta

 

 

 

 

 
Sunday 3/27 - The Game goes down at Desi N Friends... got a song?  Write a song to the title GET LUCKY and show up by 5pm SHARP to get your name in the hat.  We draw until everyone's played their song then we jam a little.... it's fun!  Get more info here, see you there!

here's the news...

The Homegrown Hour 3/20/11

 

Music News 3/14/11

Fish Food is in the Artist Spotlight this week.  Formerly known as The Blonde Brothers, this group of teens have been rocking Listen Local for years.  Read Tracy's interview then come check out how tall and talented the boys are now at HOB this Saturday for our "Rock Stars on The Rise" show.  Kelsie Martin, Dakota Berkley, Jorge and Alexis and Natalya Phillips also perform.  NO COVER, all ages.

 
The Game is quickly approaching.  Sunday, March 27th we'll gather at Desi N Friends and play our songs we've written to the title GET LUCKY.  $3 cover, full bar and food available.  Unplugged stage (no pa), 21+ all styles and abilities welcomed.... no need to rsvp, just show up by 5pm to get in on the fun.

 

 

Last week we recorded the pilot episode of Listen Local Lounge at Berkley Sound with guests The Love Birds, Chris Clarke, Marcia Claire and Rob Deez.  You can check out a little of what went down here, the podcast will be ready soon, stay tuned.  

This girl inspirses me.  I SWEAR I'll get to one of her classes.  While I procrastinate, you guys should totally check it out.  The locations are listed and the price is DONATION based (somewhere between 12 and 20 bucks is normal).  Saturdays, 10:30-11:35am, Gentle/Hatha Adams Ave Recreation Center 35^th & Adams Mondays, 7-8pm, Vinysa, The Haven Yoga Studio, 4170 Morena Blvd Tuesday, 9-10:15am, Gentle/Hatha, The Ideal Studio, 3^rd & Market.  View description and become friends with her at https://www.facebook.com/Little-Miss-Yogi

The Acoustic Alliance happens again on April 10th at The Brick by Brick, limited reserved seating is available now, tables too.  Get yours asap, they're going fast.  You don't wanna be those poor folks standing, do you?  :)  Check out who's playing!