Honeycomb
Emily Ritz likes Honeybees. She makes films about them, and her musical ensemble, Honeycomb, resembles the intimate detail and dripping architecture of the complex kingdom from which the band so aptly takes its name. Perhaps queendom is a more accurate title, but not in the benevolent dictator sort of way; if the band of eight (five ladies and three gents) were to praise a higher being, she would be some creative goddess of divine rhythm.
Brianna Lea Pruett
Mike and I sat in flimsy fold up chairs at an even flimsier table on the sidewalk outside Pirate Cat Radio Cafe during a gloriously sunny and lazy Labor Day afternoon. We waited to rendezvous with Brianna Lea Pruett and Lady Lazarus - we were to catch them before they kicked off their Indian Summer Tour with a performance on Elia's radio show that evening. Soon enough they arrived, guitar and keyboard in respective hands, and musical conversations quickly ignited. We walked around the corner to my girlfriend's house where a party of One Night Music contributors and friends had convened. With the receding sun on our minds, we scurried to gather the audio and video equipment, and then marched 14 blocks to Dolores Park.
Rey Villalobos
In the spring of 2009, Rey Villalobos, hit by something good, pulls his car to the side of the road and writes "Honeybee." Just like that. Guitar in hand, he sits on the warm hood, surrounded by sagebrush and bougainvillea and olive trees, and takes in the cool salt breeze. The chords and lyrics arrange themselves.
Four years earlier, what comes to Rey is a succession of words, a phrase, a title. Roses in the Nordic Countries -- wow, that's good! -- will be the name of his first solo album. Here, the title precedes the title-track by several months, and later, the music is complete before the right words fix themselves to the melody.
The Peculiar Pretzelmen
There is something charming in a grizzled group of well-dressed ruffians - the type of people that will just as easily bang on a hanging set of pots and pans, as walk down a crowded street grinding away on the banjo and accordion. And so it is that The Peculiar Pretzelmen charmed One Night Music in the Santa Barbara's bastard sibling town of Isla Vista by grinding, banging, shredding, stomping, and hollering their unique blend of old-timey, bluesy, jug music.
Lucky Dragons
There is simply no way to describe, in words, a Lucky Dragons performance. Not in the way that the feeling will infiltrate your soul. Not in the way that the sonic journey will be more than any one sense could synthesize.
Lucky Dragons is Luke Fischbeck and Sarah Rara -- they emanate abstract perfectionism.
What is Lucky Dragons?
Mike Ballan
Mike Ballan, a 22-year-old musician from San Francisco, CA, brings his unique style of folk back to One Night Music as our first artist to record two sessions (check out his first session). First impressions are deceiving: despite his bashful demeanor Mike is a closet really-amazing-artist. Possessing a style all his own consisting of saturated guitar riffs supporting intricate and sometimes dizzying lyrics, he elaborates specific moments and observations into vast journeys. Songwriting isn't just a hobby or a fleeting endeavor for Mike, it's a life-long yearning, demonstrated by a prolificacy that produces many songs that may never be heard. Mike has been refining his sound since I first met him 8 years ago and he now never fails to capture the imaginations of audiences at open mics, where he performs his songs with an ease and calm generally reserved for musicians seasoned with decades of performance experience.
The Finches
"I'm sorry if it's a little rough tonight," Carolyn tells me. It's the end of May in Santa Barbara and I've met The Finches at The Biko Garage in Isla Vista to record their show for One Night Music. Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs--who is in actuality as cute and well-formed as her name sounds--is best described as pure sweetness, as dicentra spectabilis, lemondrops, or CPR. She has been travelling a lot recently, and subsequently the band has had little time to practice. Still, there's no need for her to apologize. The Finches are awesome. Their songs have been strangely lodged in my head for the past month, looping between three of their catchier tracks to make a sort of Finches shuffle in my head.
Marc B
It was a lazy springtime Friday afternoon in Santa Barbara when we recorded Marc B. The sun was low in the perfect sky as friends gathered in the living room of my home nestled between the southern California ocean and the chaparral mountains. Marc and I chatted casually while I arranged the microphones and set input levels. Similar easy conversations were had amongst the visitors while beer and wine sips bid the ending week goodbye and welcomed the ensuing weekend's respite. One would be hard pressed to find a care in the room - not even Marc seemed to have a nerve in his soul as he sat poised at the center of the room surrounded by audio and video recording equipment. The entire setting was idyllically Santa Barbara and created a fitting venue to capture Marc B's mellow acoustic surf rock sounds.
Omnivore (Glenna Kay Van Nostrand)
Goodbye Providence, Rhode Island! A week or two before we met in Isla Vista for her One Night Music session, Omnivore's Glenna Kay Van Nostrand packed her car with musician/friend Liz Isenberg and headed south, then west. In a stormy accident in Asheville, North Carolina, Glenna lost her rear window to a wayward something and picked up some duct tape. Around Texas, the two New Englanders hoped to catch sight of some tumbleweed. No luck there; they'd wait until somewhere between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, of all places, when a tumbleweed would surprise them on Highway 101.
Forest Sun with Ingrid Serban
Forest Sun performed for One Night Music with his lovely wife Ingrid Serban on a beautiful fall afternoon in the Castro District of San Francisco. The vibe of the session was simple and easy going, a feeling carried throughout Forests Sun's music and personality and reinforced by the lazy Sunday afternoon setting. As he smiled and laughed with Ingrid, Forest Sun jumped right into the first song of the session called “Loveseat,” a tune packed with promiscuous innuendos about furniture. “Loveseat” was recorded with the Animal Liberation Orchestra (ALO) as the opener to his most recent album So Nice.
From the Blog
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Ellie Fortune Live at Li Po Lounge in San Francisco (6 MP3s) -
Aural Stimulation For Lovers On Valentine’s Day: A One Night Music Playlist -
Our First Birthday: A Reflection On The First Year Of One Night Music -
One Night Music Featured in San Francisco Examiner -
All My Pretty Ones Performs Live At Pirate Cat Radio in San Francisco (5 videos)
One Night Music Contributors
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Ryan Andersen
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Ian Andersen
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Elia Vargas
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Megan Sullivan
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Candice Davantzis
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Hannah Jewett
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Karen Nedivi
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Stephanie Gonot
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Cian Riordan
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Amelia Altavena
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Scott Boone
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Myles O’Donnell-Lawson
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Alex Vacar
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Jennifer Kindell
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Michael Albright
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Laura Birshan
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Molly Hahn
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Jenny David
