It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged about the entertainment I’ve been taking in, partially because I’ve been so busy enjoying it. Some of the latest acts I’ve taken in from the Los Angeles cafe scene have reminded me of Bob Dylan’s Tangled up in Blue where he sings, “There was music in the cafes at night, And revolution in the air.”
So, where to start? For years my friend Michelle has been emailing me to go see her cousin, Gaea Schell and I finally got my chance when her jazz ensemble performed at Sangria in Hermosa Beach (right by the Lighthouse). Really tremendous performance and I bought all of her CD’s on the spot. Can’t wait to hear more of her and her band.
I’ve been a fan of Finn MacCool for years but until recently hadn’t seen them in awhile, so as luck had it, they had a gig recently at my favorite hang-out of late, the Talking Stick in Venice.
My friend Marta and I used to be on the battlefront of the abortion and women’s healthcare wars against Operation Rescue, defending clinics from blockades, where frequently the O.R. psychos would blockade women’s health care centers that didn’t even perform abortions. They’d harass women going in to get pap smears, mammograms, or even fertility care. It was dangerous work as you could never tell when these nuts would lose all impulse control and physically assault the clinic defenders, and as we’ve seen time and time again assassinated doctors. Marta is a very talented performer in Finn MacCool and I’m glad that Lauri Reimer of Music Magique Productions showed up so I could connect the Finn MacCool folks with her; they really need to be in the lineup for a future World Music Night at the Talking Stick. They’re playing at Ghengis Cohen in Hollywood on February 29.
Last Saturday was Severin Browne’s (Jackson Browne’s brother) main act at the Talking Stick, preceded by a couple of performers who in and of themselves were well worth seeing.
So tonight’s performance is Stefani Valadez and Steve Moos doing Folk Rock & Blues. Stefani and Steve are one of the staples of the Talking Stick entertainment fair, and Stef also performs with a different ensemble on World Music Nights singing in Ladino, Turkish, English, Spanish and Portuguese. So if you’re in the vicinity, come over to the Talking Stick (1411 Lincoln Blvd Venice) and get tangled up in the blues with folk rock thrown in!
