About a year ago, I was fortunate enough to meet Jen Baron — a remarkable musician and passionate educator. Her zeal for teaching music as a means of building confidence and fostering self-expression in her students is nothing short of inspirational. Jen launched the Santa Barbara branch of Girls Rock just a few years ago and already it’s given hundreds…
Allen Tate is best known for his distinctively baritone serenades as one of the lead vocalists for San Fermin. Their self-titled first album was released in 2013 to rave reviews. It is an operatic musical journey of serious proportions, not least because of the full complement of orchestral instruments they employ, but also the male…
A couple weeks ago I got an email out of the blue from Sophie Chernin of Brooklyn band Madam West. Little did I know at the time that I was just part of her daily ritual—send one press email, one booking email, and one studio or engineer email every day. In fact, the more I…
There is only one single copy of the Wu-Tang Clan’s newest album, The Wu – Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, that has seen the light of day. The Wu-Tang Clan will auction this handcrafted album off after an international museum listening tour, and bids are already coming in exceeding $5 million. This single copy is encased in a…
Photo credit: Conor Doherty On stage, Shea Rose is breathtakingly talented and charmingly charismatic. She exudes power and confidence through a presence that somehow radiates both comfortable ease and careful coordination. Offstage, she is easy to talk to and surprisingly humble—especially when you consider some of her achievements. From being a spokesmodel for CoverGirl to…
There aren’t many musicians who are able to balance organic emotion and technical prowess in their playing. Most of us lean in one direction or the other. However, in the time I’ve known him, I have never seen Jared play a solo that wasn’t equal parts instinct and practiced skill. As a performer, he is…
I first met Sara Auster ten years ago when my friends in NYC rock band Peculiar Gentlemen decided to expand their sound and bring on three female back-up singers. Sara brought such a playful and positive energy to the stage in addition to providing ethereal vocals. These days, Sara channels her passion for music in her role as a certified Sound Therapy…
Eunbi Kim is a classical pianist with a flare for chasing down some pretty unexpected projects and, in the process, flipping the typical path of a concert performer right on its head. When I first met Eunbi, she had just returned from premiering Murakami Music in Houston, TX to rave reviews (like this one in the Houston Chronicle). Her multidisciplinary project explores the…
Last week at Soundfly Sessions, I took in the final set from (le) poisson rouge‘s sound booth, watching lighting designer Sharif Mekawy at work. What resulted was an impressive and dynamic light show that wove Delicate Steve’s incredible guitar riffs with visual artistry. Sharif is a freelance audio engineer and lighting designer by trade, yet his…
Mike Evin just released a new single. Most people don’t know Mike Evin. He’s a quiet, strange, talented Canadian who basically loves music and people and works just hard enough to keep those two things close to him, without making too big a fuss… I know Mike Evin, though. In fact, he was the first person…
