“I could catch an alligator any size—all I need is two ropes and a pole,” Frisby informs me in the southern drawl of this boyhood. He takes a sip of his café au lait. “I was catchin’ eight footers by the time I was seven.” It was at this point that I decided to put down my pen and forget the questions I had carefully planned for Frisby about his one-man band and the birdfeeders he crafts out of found relics and just enjoy the ride, for which we were departing at full gallop. NOTE: JUNE 28 SHOW POSTPONED.
Posts Tagged: Music
Chop Tops Blast Billy Audiences Away
It’s Thursday night, and Gary Marsh is waiting inside his band’s favorite bar, the Asti, rocking slicked-back hair and a gray collared shirt he could have borrowed off a car mechanic. Having just bought a Red Bull, Marsh—who goes by “Sinner” in the rockabilly-blasting Chop Tops—is sipping his nonalcoholic drink, ignoring my questions and gazing over my left shoulder at the bar’s front door. Now he’s just buying time.
Local Rapper Gets a Break
Things are falling into place for Alwa Gordon. The Aptos-based rapper just returned from Las Vegas with three professionally produced hip hop tracks by Grammy-nominated production team the Audibles. Not only did he not pay a cent for them, he was flown out by the record label Future Music to make the recordings and sent home with the tracks free and clear.
Dark Drive Clinic at the Blue
John Fryer became a sort of godfather of darkwave, producing and/or engineering Depeche Mode’s Speak and Spell, Nine Inch Nails’ Pretty Hate Machine, Swans’ Children of God and various albums for Stabbing Westward and HIM.
And yet, in all this time, Fryer’s never had a band of his own, really, until now.
CocoRosie’s Fantastic Voyage
To understand the performance art–driven, strange musical juxtapositions of CocoRosie, a band frequently accused by critics of being pretentious or too bizarre for its own good, it’s important to understand the two women behind the group. As young children, sisters Bianca and Sierra Casady lived a bohemian existence with their mother, rarely staying in one town for more than a year and focusing more of their attention on weird art projects—at their mother’s insistence—than on schoolwork.
String Band Madness at Redwood Mountain Faire
Fifteen years ago, banjos, mandolins and fiddles were about the last thing you’d find in young, hip indie bands. Now, with bluegrass-influenced indie rock bands like Mumford & Sons and the Avett Brothers touring the country and drawing hipsters like flies on honey buckets, times have obviously changed. This weekend the Redwood Mountain Faire returns for a third season following a 14-year hiatus.
Doobie Brothers Guitarist Pat Simmons Recalls His Santa Cruz Days
The selection of the Doobie Brothers as this year’s Santa Cruz Blues Festival headliner is an inspired choice, both because of the band’s deep connections to Santa Cruz and because they’re in their fifth decade of commercializing a sound that’s rooted in the blues and American roots music. Ahead of his appearance on the BluesFest stage, guitarist Pat Simmons reminisces about surfing, playing music with Tom Scribner on Pacific Avenue and living on Vine Hill Road.
Summertime Fun Calendar
From Civil War battle reenactments and Broadway musicals to festivals honoring mountain men and cactus, Santa Cruz looks forward to three months of nonstop entertainment.
Cadenza to Expand to San Francisco
Some local classical music presenters, both traditional and new, seem to struggle for audiences and financial support. Yet, others flourish. Imagine a formula that would impart equal success to all such worthies. Likewise, imagine a formula that would deliver the promised “unlimited” energy of controlled nuclear fusion.
James Durbin Returns to the Boardwalk
If James Durbin has his way, he’ll find time to eat a funnel cake and ride the Sea Swings after he kicks off the Boardwalk’s summer event season tomorrow, May 19. Unfortunately, time will be in short supply.
