In case you hadn’t noticed, the Fremont Theater has reverted to its movie house days this week as the SLO International Film Festival takes over to screen movies and present special events, but there is one day for music fans that promises to be very cool indeed.
This year, the film festival once again solicited music videos, and a panel of judges—Manuel Del Valle, David Hardberger, and Ernesto Rivera—have hand-selected 12 of the 66 entries for a showcase on Wednesday, April 26 (7:30 p.m.; all ages; $25 general admission at slofilmfest.org).
In addition to the videos, there’ll be a DJ set by Peaking Lights and performances by SLO Town rock act The Honeyboys, Central Coast hip-hop collective Connect the Coast, and Los Osos folk crooner Caleb Nichols, who was recently signed to the Kill Rick Stars label.
“For the third year in a row, music videos officially have a home at our festival. We are elated to once again be able to experience and celebrate the eclectic mix of creative music videos in person alongside live music performances,” festival organizers announced. “Awards will be presented in both the Central Coast Filmmaker and Music Video Showcase on April 26, during our Music Video Showcase.”
SLO Town’s
favorite daughter
Sarah Pillow is a real SLO Town success story. I remember when we both attended SLO High, I was walking by a room where she was practicing singing “You Light Up My Life,” the song Debbie Boone had a hit with in 1977. I couldn’t believe Sarah’s voice! Amazing.
We’ve been friends ever since, but she’s gone on to great heights, having earned a singing degree from Oberlin Conservatory, then moving to NYC where she met her husband, the Swiss-American vibraphonist Marc Wagnon. Together they run the record label Buckyball Music.
“Ms. Pillow has a lovely, natural-sounding tone and versatile gift for interpretation,” The New York Times exclaimed.
“Sarah swings. Her scat version of Bird’s ‘Confirmation’ had her rising into the stratosphere, displaying formidable range,” gushed Jazz Now.
“Sarah Pillow’s singing of ‘O Maria Dei Genetrix’ is gorgeous,” The Sunday London Times asserted.
Pillow, who still has family in the area, returns periodically and often plays a show just for kicks, and this Friday, April 21, Sarah with husband Marc and bassist Tony Green will perform from 6 to 7:30 p.m. as the West Origin Trio in Linnaea’s Café for free.
“The group shifts between jazz standards, original compositions, and ‘re-mixed’ songs from the past. Sarah sings both jazz and early music, and has arranged archaic songs, giving them a modern twist and relevancy to the present. The original compositions by Marc Wagnon are on themes of science and history,” according to the band’s bio.
Numbskull and Good Medicine shows
Hailing from the Santa Cruz Mountains, The Coffis Brothers—with singer-songwriter Alex Lucero opening—return to The Siren on Friday, April 21 (7:30 p.m.; 21-and-older; $15 presale at goodmedicinepresents.com). The Coffis Brothers play rootsy rock, folk, blues, and a little R&B, and are often billed as appealing to Tom Petty fans.
The Molly Ringwald Project will deliver “the ultimate ’80s experience” when Numbskull and Good Medicine bring the cover band to Blast 825 Brewery Stockyard in Orcutt this Saturday, April 22 (4 p.m.; all ages; $20 presale at goodmedicinepresents.com). Hear all the fun hits like Billy Idol’s “Dancing with Myself,” A-Ha’s “Take on Me,” The Go-Go’s “We Got the Beat,” and many more.
Good Medicine and Numbskull return to The Siren to present TK & The Holy Know-Nothings on their Blood of the Gilded Palm Tour on Tuesday, April 25 (7 p.m.; 21-and-older; $15 presale at goodmedicinepresents.com). Fronted by Taylor Kingman, the band is a Portland staple, especially at The Thirst, Portland’s oldest independent venue. Though he’s played in a lot of bands, this one may be a favorite:
“Half-dutifully and half-facetiously self-dubbed ‘psychedelic doom boogie,’ the group was born out of Kingman’s desire to create a loose, groove-heavy bar band that never sacrifices the importance of good, honest songwriting,” their bio explains.
“I like to alternate between plain-spoken truth and fragmented visions of painfully vivid dreamscapes,” Kingman noted in press materials. “Songs need a listener to be complete. And I don’t want to tell the listener what to think or do. It’s our job to present honesty, good or bad: an unfinished song from an unfinished life. And everybody hearing it gets a co-write because each moment is unique.”
Also this week at The Siren, the club brings Los Angles rockers The Tens on Saturday, April 22 (7:30 p.m.; 21-and-older; free). Emerging in 2014, they began the old fashioned way: busking around the city until they started getting booked. They’re a ballsy band.
“In 2016, The Tens audaciously tracked a live, direct-to-vinyl record in Nashville’s Welcome to 1979 studio owned by Chris Mara. The process required them to cut each side of the double LP in a single take. The result was an honest, sonic rendering of the band on a beautiful day in the South,” press materials explained.
More music …
Cal Poly Arts hosts San Salvador, a six-voice and percussion collective hailing from Correze in south-western France, this Friday, April 21, in Cal Poly’s Spanos Theatre (7:30 p.m.; $34 to $42 at pacslo.org). They have a very cool and unusual sound “that combines Occitan poetry with hypnotic vocal harmonies propelled by surging percussion,” their bio explains. “Their compositions use the Occitan language—a Romance language spoken in southern France, Italy’s Occitan Valleys, and in parts of Spain and Monaco—as a rhythmic instrument, combining poetry with hypnotic vocal harmonies cascading over shifting patterns of compelling percussion to create their own compositions.”
Symphony of the Vines is hosting a fundraising event with young local pianist Andy Shen and additional music by Symphony of the Vines principal cellist Hilary Clark and pianist Lynne Garrett, this Saturday, April 22, at The Riding House (4 to 6 p.m.; $150 at symphonyofthevines.org). “Enjoy an afternoon of music, visual arts, fine wine, and gourmet appetizers at the exquisite west Paso Robles hilltop home of Ken and Marilyn Riding, local champions of the arts. Participate in an exciting silent auction of items including aerial tours of the Central Coast, wine selections, tasting opportunities and pairings, and artwork,” organizers said.
The San Luis Obispo County Jazz Federation will present “Bruce Forman meets the SLO Jazz All-Stars” on Saturday April 22, in the Mt. Carmel Lutheran Church in SLO (7:30 p.m.; $30 general admission at my805tix.com). Internationally acclaimed guitar master Bruce Forman will perform with Inga Swearingen (vocals), Dave Becker (woodwinds), Dylan Johnson (bass), and Darrell Voss (drums). Forman has appeared at the Monterey Jazz Festival more than 20 times, cut 18 recordings as a leader and countless sideman recordings, and played on the soundtracks of three Clint Eastwood movies, including the Academy Award-winning Million Dollar Baby.
SLO Master Chorale presents “The Theatrical Mendelssohn: Elijah” this Sunday, April 23, in Cal Poly’s Performing Arts Center (3 p.m.; $10 to $60 at slomasterchorale.org or by calling (805) 756-4849). Expect to hear more than 100 voices and a full orchestra under the direction of Thomas Davis in their presentation of “Elijah,” “a large, dramatic work of music composed by Felix Mendelssohn … [that] tells the story of major events in the life of the Old Testament prophet.”
Finally this week, Bang the Drum is back after being shuttered for renovations, and Ben Bellizzi of the For the Folks music series has booked indie folk duo Sway Wild on Thursday, April 27 (7 p.m.; all ages; $15 presale at forthefolks.com or $17 at the door). Sway Wild is Mandy Fer and Dave McGraw, hailing from San Juan Island. You might have seen them in the past at Whale Rock Music & Arts Festival. They’re a power duo that’s been compared to Shovels and Rope.
“Mandy Fer’s side gig is the musical director and guitar player for Allison Russell, which means she gets to play with the otherworldly Brandi Carlile, which I’d usually say is some tacky name-dropping, except that it’s Brandi Carlile,” Bellizzi gushed.
Late for the Train is opening. Δ
Contact Senior Staff Writer Glen Starkey at gstarkey@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Apr 20-30, 2023.