Music Friday Live | Music Junkie Press

Kris Gruen at the Sanctuary in Santa Monica by Patrick O’Heffernan of Music Friday Live!

January 31, 2014

Kris Gruen at the Sanctuary in Santa Monica Performance 1.24.14 The Sanctuary, just off Main Street in Santa Monica, is one of LA’s little oddities. During the week it is a small, traditional Christian church. But one weekend a month the staff clears out the nave, moves the alter and puts out a table in the back with wine, soft drinks, potato chips and a bottle for donations for musicians. It becomes a local music venue. The artists singing a playing there range from neighborhood garage bands whose day jobs really, really need to be secure, to rising stars staying on the Westside while they pitch other venues around the city and have a Saturday night free to introduce themselves to a Westside audience. And Westside audiences can be equally diverse: street people who come in for free snacks and entertainment to music junkies looking for the next rising star, to friends of the booked artists. This past Saturday night, The Sanctuary saw the usual audience mix of locals, music fans and artists’ friends settle [Read More]

A great weekend for dance: Rory Partin and his All Star Big Band at Santa Monica’s Typhoon

January 29, 2014

A great weekend for dance: Rory Partin and his All Star Big Band at Santa Monica’s Typhoon by Patrick O’Heffernan Now that Daft Punk has abandoned Electronic Dance Music (and won a Grammy for the effort!) I thought I would explore other ways to get my heel-clicking kicks. So Saturday night I joined Trombone Shorty and a thousand or so of his fans at the El Ray Theater in Los Angeles for a swaying and bobbing New Orleans-blues/rock dance madness party, and Sunday night I ventured to Santa Monica’s Typhoon venue for Rory Partin and his All Star Big Band. Both were a blast. You saw Trombone Shorty for his appearance on the Grammys playing with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis and Madonna during the mass wedding. You may not know Rory Partin, although he has played some pretty big venues including presidential balls for both President Bush and President Clinton and appears in hip showcase clubs like Hotel Café with his wife, Alexa James, in his pop band, The Roamies. Needless to say, this is [Read More]

Interview with Niki English by Patrick O’Heffernan of Music Friday Live!

January 28, 2014

Interview: Niki English, lead singer and songwriter for Western Avenue country band. Country music was once described in the famous B.J. Thomas 1975 recording, as “somebody done -somebody-wrong songs”. the genre’s stock in trade got expanded to include trucks, beer and unemployment. Not Western Avenue. they are a whole different ballgame. The Canadian-based trio of Niki English, Keith Robertson and Matt Williams have developed country into a powerful vehicle for deep feeling and expressive writing without sacrificing an inch of country vitality. They combine the ethos of country with the warmth of love songs and the heat of rock. The lyrics they write and play are about loss and joy and nostalgia, and most of all, about hope. And they do it with great hooks, earworm melodies and classic country arrangements . They call it “hot country”, and it’s a long way from somebody-done-somebody- wrong songs. It is no wonder Western Avenue has been nominated for the Nashville Universe Award for best country vocal group. Niki English, songwriter and lead singer of Western Avenue [Read More]

Hana Kim at the Witzend in LA by Patrick O’Heffernan of Music Friday Live!

January 14, 2014

Hana Kim mesmerized a totally packed WitzendLive in Los Angeles Saturday night – even the bar was quiet. I have had Kim on my radio show, Music Friday Live!, and reviewed her new album, Exodo, which is a kind of minstrel tale of her life and international travels. She has steadily built a following in the very tough market of Los Angeles, releasing two EPS’ a single and now a full album so I was looking forward to the evening. The Witzend is an L.A. gem, a listening room designed with a beyond the state-of-the-art sound system for music lovers and emerging musicians with big futures. A gig at the Witzend is a recognition of Kim’s growing popularity and bountiful talent. I knew that her deep soulful voice would take full advantage of the club’s acoustics and that her deeply personal songs would go over very well with the discerning crowd that comes for only the best in live music. Although she has been playing almost constantly in the LA area for two years, this [Read More]

Music Friday Live interview with country star Billy Kay

January 10, 2014

We are pleased to share with you Patrick O’Heffernan’s interview with country star Billy Kay from his Music Friday Live show on musicfriday.nationbuilder.com. INTERVIEW: COUNTRY STAR BILLY KAY (conducted on air 1.10.14. download at www.blogtalkradio.com/musicfriday) Of all the country singers – no, of all the singers – we have had on Music Friday Live!, none has a story as interesting as our next guest. And few write and sing music as well as he does. And very, very few link their music to their life and their values as tightly as he does. Billy Kay is a Long Island-born country western singer songwriter who arrived in Tennessee by way of Los Angeles, Las Vegas and the Veterans Administration. (More on that later.) Billy Kay’s music is solid country – it tells stories of hurt and joy and women and life while it moves your feet, tickles your brain and stabs your heart. Whether he is singing about the excitement of being embraced by a beautiful woman or the pain of being left by her, his songs [Read More]