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Are YOU A Neoconservative?
If one had to choose a word to describe neoconservatism,...
Roses:
Gift of the Angels for Gentle Healing Roses have seduced people...
Leaks and Landscape During a Dry Winter
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Thom Hartmann

The nation's #1 progressive radio talk show host and the New York Times bestselling, 4-times Project Censored winning author of 21 books in print. In its eighth year, The Thom Hartmann Program  airs live daily, NOON – 3pm, ET simulcast as both radio and TV on over 120 radio stations. into more than 50 million homes via both nationwide satellite TV systems (DirecTV and Dish Network). http://www.thomhartmann.com

Hey Crank Up that Talent Knob!

01 October 2009

Downtown Brew's Master of Sound

Kip Stork is a local sound engineer, working in both live and recording environments for over 20 years. His two main occupations are Downtown Brew and his own custom Avalon Recording Studio, both located in San Luis Obispo. Avalon is unique in that it is completely designed by Stork himself, and was constructed with the help of his friends from the Travis Larson Band.

Stork started training for his recording career in 1985, learning the ropes at the Los Angeles Recording Workshop, but was always interested in music and recording ever since he was young. After his father brought home a reel-to-reel recorder in the 1960s, young Stork would get a hold of it and record all sorts of things. He started playing the cello in junior high; that soon led to bass and acoustic guitar. For years, up until his mid-twenties, he was playing in bands.

After recording school, Stork worked in Los Angeles for a couple of years at Trax recording studios. After this he decided to escape Los Angeles and come up to San Luis Obispo County, where he had lived briefly in the early 1980s. Promised a job in a local studio, Stork learned, after moving to the area in 1990, that things had fallen through and he was going to be without the job he based the move on.

Luckily, DK's West Indies Bar (now Big Sky restaurant) needed a live sound engineer; he ended up working there six nights a week some months. "The music scene has gone through this ebb and flow over the years. Back in these days, it was huge around here," said Stork. After two years in that club, Stork found work at Loco Ranchero, which was another nightclub located at what is now KSBY studios. "Nice big room up there, it held about six or seven hundred people. It was a great place." The beginning of 1995 saw another change for Stork, and he began working sound at SLO Brew upstairs. Around 2001 he moved the stage downstairs, and in 2005 it became Downtown Brew, where he remains employed today.

Music has unquestionably defined Stork's life. It's not just how he makes a living, however. He loves what he does, and within his realm he has discovered time and time again those moments that one remembers for eternity. "When a band does a pass on a song that was really good, or that mistake that was perfect...it's bringing tears to my eyes just thinking about it. I like those moments, and if it makes it to the CD, that's the cool part. You just want that special moment to go 'boom' on the tape, and there has been some really cool stuff over the years." More on Kip at www.avalonrecordingstudio.com.
Darien Lohof loves local music-related stuff, and is happy to expose it. E-mail any ideas or correspondence to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The Crowned Prince of Blues

Written by Sara Kocher | 01 October 2009

San Luis Obispo Blues Society does it again... bringing the best of the Blues to SLO

The San Luis Obispo Blues Society welcomes Ronnie Baker Brooks on Saturday, October 31 to the SLO Vets Hall, 801 Grand Avenue. The dance concert will open at 8:00pm with Pryor Baird & the Deacons. Pre-show, dance lessons are at 7:30 p.m.  Tickets are $17 for Blues Society members; $20 general public. All tickets are sold at the door; 21 and over, please.

About Ronnie Baker Brooks
By the time he was 18, Ronnie Baker Brooks was touring with his father, Lonnie Brooks, playing second guitar and vocals.  For many of these years, shows started off with Ronnie on lead guitar and vocals, while his younger brother, Wayne, supported him on rhythm guitar. When Lonnie was ready to come on stage, Wayne stepped down and Ronnie switched to back up. Brooks served as his father’s bandleader for over ten years before starting his solo career in 1999.

In the past ten years, Ronnie has released three CDs. His most recent release, The Torch (Watchdog Records, 2006) was nominated for three prestigious blues awards – a testament to the depth of his talent, given that he wrote all 17 of the songs and recorded it with his touring band. The song Ronnie is most proud of is “The Torch of the Blues” which features Brooks with his father and heroes Eddy Clearwater, Jimmy Johnson and the late Willie Kent.
The CD showcases the breadth of Ronnie’s talent as well, ranging stylistically from traditional Chicago blues to hip hop, funk, and rock. As Ronnie

says, “I wanted to do something that would bring young people to the blues, and then give them the real hardcore thing at the same time. When I grew up, all my friends listened to rap and funk, and I listened to the blues. So I heard their music and they heard mine. I think we both saw some connection between them. It's a hip-hop world right now, but I want to bring a little blues to the party.”

“In Ronnie Baker Books’ powerhouse hands blues-rock never sounded so outrageous. Soul never sounded so delicious. And blues never sounded so profound … one of today's top live performers.” Art Tipaldi, Blues Revue.

For more information or to volunteer, call 805/541-7930 or visit our website (www.slowblues.org).

 

Empty Bowls

Written by Sandra Marshall | 03 September 2009

Feed the hungry

Anam-Cre’ Pottery Studio is joining with local artists, businesses and potters from all over the Central Coast to help feed the hungry. The group is preparing for the Empty Bowls event in October.  Shevon Sullivan and her student potters have been making bowls and now they are asking families to come and glaze the bowls so they may be donated to the Empty Bowls event. 
Come to this important Throw Fest on Friday, Sept. 11, from 6 to 9 pm.  Anam-Cre’ Studio is located in the creamery at 570 Higuera Street, space 140 in San Luis Obispo. For details call 544-1850.

What is Empty Bowls?
For a donation of $20 participants choose a beautiful handmade bowl, enjoy a simple meal of gourmet soup and bread, and take home the bowl as a reminder of the meal’s purpose to help feed the hungry in our community. For the past 8 years ceramic artist throughout the Central Coast have contributed bowls to this wonderful luncheon. Soups for the event are donated by some of the best restarurants in Santa Maria.  To purchase tickets by phone and for more information call (805) 937-3422 ext. 106 or visit www.foodbanksbc.org.

Musical Pioneer Les Paul and His Amazing Life

01 September 2009

Les Paul, guitar wizard and innovator, died last month on August 13th. Though gone, he leaves behind a legacy of ability and invention that will affect music forever.

Paul may be best known for the self-named Les Paul guitar he designed for Gibson in the early 1950s, selling steadily since then and made popular by famed guitarists such as the Beatles and Slash of Guns N' Roses. Another and greater achievement of his was the creation of multi-track recording, which was a monumental movement in musical history. Now one guitar could sound like eight, and that's exactly what Paul did, creating songs with his wife and singer Mary Ford that were so layered with guitar tracks that it sounded like a guitar orchestra. And that's another thing too; Paul could really play guitar well. His arrangements and riffs can be dizzying to listen to at times. He also went on to create reverberation and echo effects for the guitar...not a bad resume overall.

Yet that is still not the entire story. Born Lester William Polsfuss on June 9, 1915, Paul's musical life, although peppered with inventions, began when he was a very young boy trying to learn piano. Ironically enough, his frustrated piano teacher once wrote his mother a letter stating that he would never learn music. And although Paul never did learn to formally read music, he went on to play the harmonica, banjo and guitar (and later in life, the piano) all by the time he was a young teenager, proving that forging one's own path can still be as rewarding if not more so than the beaten one.

Being partial to country and jazz at a young age, the 1930s were a blur of performance and growth for Paul, playing harmonica and guitar simultaneously. After sneaking into a club through a window at age 17 and discovering amazing guitar work from a traveling band, he chatted with them after the set and ended up playing with them. He quit school and joined Rube Tronson's Texas Cowboys, and later with Sunny Joe Wolverton's band, under the stage name Rhubarb Red. From those beginnings he was able to play with blues singer Georgia White and eventually formed his own trio in 1937. After moving to New York in 1938, Paul's trio played on Fred Waring's radio show, receiving national exposure. Paul moved to Hollywood in 1943, which led to his being able to play with Bing Crosby, and the number one hit "It's Been a Long, Long Time", released in 1945. A bad car accident while on tour shattered his right elbow in 1948; it had to be set at a permanent angle for the rest of his life, so it was set at 90 degrees in order to continue playing music. It was after this that he teamed up with Mary Ford and released many well-received pop music discs on Capitol Records. Up until his death, Paul played Monday nights at small jazz clubs in New York.

Darien Lohof lives in the Five Cities area and plays music with Depths of Chaos, a local metal group. Correspondence of any kind can be sent to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

West vs. East: Match Made in Hell

01 August 2009

Meet Depths of Chaos, your friendly local death metal band. Here's a brief introduction to better acquaint those who don't know us yet.

Ty Richardson plays lead guitar and is a large, if not the largest, force (and guy) in the band. He started this whole mess six years ago with nothing more than the burning desire to perform metal. A union journeyman electrician by trade, he’s played in a variety of rock/metal bands over the last decade and finally discovered the brutalities of extreme metal through our group of friends. 

Tom Hoopes is our drummer, and a damn good one at that. He works with computers and currently lives in North County. He moved here from Virginia 3 years ago, and has played in past local bands Arrows of Valli and Vesterian.

Evan Hopper is the newest addition to the lineup, slinging bass guitar and husky vocals. A friend of Tom’s from Virginia, he was convinced to come out to the west coast strictly on music and friends alone. At the time of this writing, he is still in the process of getting settled, but he has already proven his worth on his charm and musicianship alone. A true metal soldier.

Then there’s me, Darien Lohof: Ty’s partner in grime. I play guitar and sing. I have been a student my entire life, studying English. I also work as a pizza delivery guy in Arroyo Grande. I live with Ty in Grover Beach.

Now to tell you what we’re about. We love and are inspired by all sorts of styles of music, yet possess the most enthusiasm for metal. To us, nothing has as much passion, fervor or audacity as it does. When we play, passion is the only word for it. And no, we’re not satanic. We could care less about that. Our name, pondered on for what felt like years, means many things, but mostly it means the idea of being smack dab in the middle of pandemonium, because that is the feeling of change, and try as one might to plan, we usually always have to alter our plans to suit life, not the other way around. To us, our name means existence itself, and we are all within its depths.

Depths of Chaos plays local and far. For a schedule of shows and info in general, visit www.myspace.com/docdeathmetal.

Fourth Annual Lavender Festival adds second weekend!

Written by Sandra Marshall | 01 July 2009

The fourth annual Lavender Festival will be celebrated at Green Acres Lavender Farm for two weekends this year. Over July 10 through 12 and July 17 through 19 the public is invited to. Admission is free; hours are 9 am to 5 pm each day.

On each weekend evening concerts are scheduled.  On July 10 and 11 Corinne West will perform; a Dinner Show is set for July 10. On Friday, July 17 and Saturday, July 18 Sligo Rags’ will perform. Concerts begin at 7 p.m.; admission is $20.00.

Surrounded by over 13,000 plants in bloom the festival will feature local artsy vendors, artists painting, jewelry designers, and gardening and arts and crafts projects. Learn to make lavender wands and other lavender gift ideas. Massage practitioners will offer massage in the fields. Lavender lemonade, lavender sweets and lots of lavender products made on site will be available for sale.

Meet Bob and Jan who brought lavender farming to the Central Coast. Lavender oil distilled onsite daily!

This event kicks off with the Great American Holiday downtown Atascadero on Saturday, July 11th. Shuttles will be offered by the Wine Wrangler throughout the day for your fun and viewing pleasure.

Visit the website for more information, www.GreenAcresLavenderFarm.com

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