Music – Page 2 – Ted Mills

Santa Barbara’s The Reignsmen play an EP release party at SOhO

June 12, 2015July 16, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

The Reignsmen feel right at home on the SOhO stage. Courtesy photo — The Reignsmen feel right at home on the SOhO stage.
Courtesy photo

The Reignsmen may be the first rock band to be formed at a shoe store, specifically the Vans store on lower State Street. Seven years later, they’re no longer selling Chukka Boots, but are set to release their first, self-titled EP tonight at SOhO, with Dad’s Clothes and Yancellor Chang opening.

The band consists of Tommy Trujillo on bass guitar and vocals, Daniel Vasquez on lead guitar and vocals, Adam Duffin on rhythm guitar and vocals and Matthew Drake on drums. In their music you’ll hear the punk-country rumble of drunken brawls in the desert, nervous Bo Diddley beats, ’90s emo-rock, and even a bit of the Clash, Kings of Leon, Foo Fighters and the Strokes, among a hundred other shuffle-play hits colliding.

American Sign Language and rap music

June 5, 2015June 7, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

My recent post for Open Culture is about the viral video of Eminem performed in ASL (American Sign Language) and the subculture of ASL music videos.

American Dance & Music returns after five years, bringing a classic

May 22, 2015July 17, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

American Dance & Music performance group dancers Melody Collins and Darion Smith perform "Pastorale" to Beethoven's Pastorale Sonata, with live accompaniment by AD&M music director Eric Valinsky during this weekend's "Turkish by Matisse & Other Delights" at The New Vic. David Bazemore — American Dance & Music performance group dancers Melody Collins and Darion Smith perform “Pastorale” to Beethoven’s Pastorale Sonata, with live accompaniment by AD&M music director Eric Valinsky during this weekend’s “Turkish by Matisse & Other Delights” at The New Vic.
David Bazemore

Dancers grow and leave the stage. They become choreographers, some of them, and those who do often pass down their history and heritage to their star pupils. When the American Dance & Music company hits the stage today (and tomorrow) at the New Vic, they are bringing a piece that has been handed down twice, and that gives its name to this collection of four works.

“Turkish by Matisse” was originally created by Mari Sandoval in 1976, then passed down to AD&M founder Carrie Diamond, who was at that time Ms. Sandoval’s student at Santa Monica High School. Now Ms. Diamond is passing it on herself to AD&M’s Nikki Pfeiffer, who dances it this evening.

Teens wow the crowd with rock and soul at AHA! event

May 10, 2015July 20, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Students perform at Saturday's AHA! event at Deckers Corporate Rotunda in Goleta. HELENA DAY BREESE/NEWS-PRESS — Students perform at Saturday’s AHA! event at Deckers Corporate Rotunda in Goleta.
HELENA DAY BREESE/NEWS-PRESS

Parents, friends and donors gathered at the Deckers Goleta headquarters Saturday night for an empowering evening of rock music where teens, some of whom had never sung in front of an audience before, performed hits from classic rhythm and blues to the latest by Katy Perry.

The evening, the 12th annual “Sing It Out!” from AHA!, is the culmination of workshops meant to give confidence to kids who may come from a variety of backgrounds that might include economic hardship, deaths in the family, or suffer from bullying, or just feel crushingly shy.

Cristina Pato Quartet brings the sound of ‘Latina’ to UCSB Campbell Hall

May 8, 2015July 20, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Galician bagpiper Cristina Pato and her band will perform music from her new album, "Latina." Xan Padron photo — Galician bagpiper Cristina Pato and her band will perform music from her new album, “Latina.”
Xan Padron photo

Music fans who attended Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble appearance at Campbell Hall in 2013 may remember Cristina Pato, the musician who stole the show with the gaita, a very particular kind of Spanish bagpipe that sounds less like the Scottish variety and more like an oboe. The artist returns two years later with her own band this Wednesday night, and brings a selection of tunes that explores the Galician region of Spain, her home country, and then moves out in ever increasing circles to encompass a world of influences.

Her new album is called “Latina” (released Thursday on Sunnyside Records), a musing on the history and the multiple meanings of the word by way of musical genres. (Don’t worry, the CD will be available at the show.)

Dorrance Dance’s ‘The Blues Project’ combines blues and tap

May 1, 2015July 22, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

The marriage of blues and tap seems natural to tap dancer Michelle Dorrance, who is bringing "The Blues Project" to the Granada Theatre. Christopher Duggan — The marriage of blues and tap seems natural to tap dancer Michelle Dorrance, who is bringing “The Blues Project” to the Granada Theatre.
Christopher Duggan

In “The Blues Project,” tap dancer Michelle Dorrance and her company have teamed up with blues singer Toshi Reagon and a talented four-piece band to bring an evening to the Granada that expands the boundaries of tap dancing. This isn’t exactly a hybrid of two genres, but an extension of Ms. Dorrance’s long history of boundary-pushing within the realm of tap, and the musicians provide the background that places the numbers in a context of African-American history, from work songs to songs of the Civil Rights movement and beyond.

At first it may seem that blues is not as suited to tap as jazz is. But not so, Ms. Dorrance says. Tap and blues evolved around the same time.

New Boy Band Zero Gravity features one member from Santa Barbara

May 1, 2015July 22, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Zero Gravity is, from left, Peet Montzingo, Fredrick Rose, Adam Wilhelmsson, Michael Kean and Trevor Dow. Courtesy photo — Zero Gravity is, from left, Peet Montzingo, Fredrick Rose, Adam Wilhelmsson, Michael Kean and Trevor Dow.
Courtesy photo

How do you make a boy band? In the case of LA-based Zero Gravity, you hold auditions. You find five young men —two Swedes and three Americans, one from Santa Barbara —and you put them through boot camp. The result is a group that’s hitting the ground running, singing in tight five-part harmony, and playing a mix of social media and old school touring. When they headline the Santa Barbara Fair and Expo, they’ll be performing for a full hour, and plan to leave the stage having made a ton of new fans.

The group consists of Peet Montzingo from Seattle, who has already gained a following having been on “X-Factor”; Santa Barbara’s Trevor Dow; Fredrick Rose from Stockholm, Sweden, the one who takes lots of selfies; Adam Wilhelmsson, also from Stockholm; and Michael Kean from Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Category: Music