by Jean Bartlett / Pacifica Tribune “Ink Notes” – June 7, 2008 Silky vocalist Morning Nichols and Chet Atkins-style guitarist Jim Nichols are just plain damn good. While Jim finger climbs through guitar maneuvers that have made the famous whistle (Chet Atkins was a fan), Morning serves up vocal morsels with a little layered icing […]
by Jean Bartlett / Pacifica Tribune – June 4, 2008 You can expect an intimate, glowing midnight vocal style when Morning Nichols takes to the stage. Her husband Jim Nichols is the Chet Atkins-style guitarist that makes them whistle their cheers from New York to Nashville and all the way to that great coastal city […]
by j. poet / East Bay Express – June 2008 CRITIC’S CHOICE: The Rubinoos The Rubinoos were the Beatles of Berkeley, and for a couple of months back in 1977, it seemed that international stardom was within their reach. John Rubin’s pure tenor was full of throbbing teen angst; Tommy Dunbar’s clean, crisp guitar playing […]
by Michael P. Gladstone / AllAboutJazz.com – 3/7/08 Debbie Poryes Trio / A Song in Jazz | Self Published (2008) The release of Debbie Poryes’ A Song In Jazz is quite an impressive one for the California pianist. In listening to these tunes mostly from the Great American Songbook, namely the opening showtune, “A Wonderful Guy” […]
Review by Woodrow Wilkins / AllAboutJazz.com – Feb. 27, 2008 The Klobas/Kesecker Ensemble / No Gravity | Self Produced (2007) The vibraphone has long been a staple among jazz instruments, preferred by such musicians as the legendary Lionel Hampton and contemporary Gary Burton. However, its next of kin, the marimba, isn’t heard nearly often enough. Tommy […]
by Dan McClenaghan / AllAboutJazz.com – 12/14/07 Debbie Poryes Trio / A Song in Jazz | Self Published (2008) The notes ring out, and then they’re gone, vibrations waning away to silence. Pianist Debbie Poryes—who has taught at the Berkeley Jazzschool in Northern California since 2000; who taught in The Netherlands for the better part of […]
The Long Retirement – Berkeley pop band the Rubinoos still have oomph. by Eli Messinger / East Bay Express – Dec. 5, 2007 For a band that effectively retired 25 years ago, Berkeley’s the Rubinoos have been doing quite well lately. The pop band reissued its first three records, released a three-disc box set anthology, […]
by Chad Jones / insidebayarea.com – 7/19/2006 AN INTERVIEWER asks Janis Joplin how she likes San Francisco, and her answer is, “Thank God. I’m not alone.” If Joplin had been at San Francisco’s Marines Memorial Theatre Sunday night, she’d have seen that her adopted home town still adores her. With an audience full of people […]
by Dennis Harvey / variety.com – July 18, 2006 Trying to re-create the excitement of a beloved entertainer without falling into outright impersonation is a tricky business. But the new edition of Randal Myler’s “Love, Janis” playing its subject’s adopted hometown pulls it off in a production that’s more evocative homage than “Beatlemania”-style reproduction. Opening-nighter […]
by Robert Hurwitt / San Francisco Chrocicle – July 18, 2006 Love, Janis: Musical biography. Written and directed by Randal Myler. (Through Sept. 3. Marines Memorial Theatre, 609 Sutter St., San Francisco. Two hours, 20 minutes. Tickets $35-$67. Call (415) 771-6900 or visit www.ticketmaster.com). The resemblance is as uncanny as an aural acid flashback. Lean, […]