Patrick O'Heffernan | Music Junkie Press

UK transplant Laura Evans’ new EP establishes her as a star by Patrick O’Heffernan

July 26, 2014

Remembering When: an achingly delicious EP from Laura Evans Remembering When is an artistic triumph, a tour d’force for a debut EP, and with it Laura Evans has staked her claim to stardom. by Patrick O’Heffernan – Host, Music Friday Liveeffernan Making the transition from film and television to music is not always easy. Some people never quite make it; others glide into music with their visual entertainment chops totally intact and their music totally awesome because it is their passion. Fortunately for us, Laura J. Evans made the transition smoothly because her music is as bright and exciting as her smile on the big screen and music is her first passion. Evans relocated to Los Angeles from South Wales in the uk after a career in television and film, to pursue her dream, country music. It is easy to understand why she shifted to music when you hear the passion and the sheer talent she puts into her songs. The UK’s loss is our gain. Working with her co-writer and producer, Jeff Zacharski, Laura [Read More]

Rooftop Revolutionaries launch Rolling Rebellion in LA with Eleanor Goldfield’s soaring, voice and in your face progressive lyrics.

July 15, 2014

By: Patrick O’Heffernan, Host Music FridayLive! Rolling Rebellion for Real Democracy, the national movement rolling into cities across the country during the first two weeks of July in an effort to loosen the corporate stranglehold over America’s democracy, moved into the At Play At DTLA space in the LA Arts District Friday night. The event was a fundraiser for Occupy Venice and it featured a lineup of poets, activist speakers and the comedian Lee Camp. But for me, the highlight of the event was the LA-based progressive hard rock band Rooftop Revolutionaries. Eleanor Goldfield, co-founder and lead singer, showed her stunning vocal range, moving from soaring soprano notes to gritty blues belts and then down into deep bass – almost Tibetan throat singing – in a high energy, 7-song set that electrified the room. The musicians- Brian Marshak on guitar, Stanley Love on drums, Mikael “Redbeard” Gustavsson on bass and Colin Reid on guitar, moved like a single organism, scaffolding Eleanor’s singing and putting forceful beats to the political message she was pumping out. The band opened [Read More]

Dree Paterson breaks through with A Louder Side of Me EP By Patrick O’Heffernan

July 11, 2014

By Patrick O’Heffernan, Host Music FridayLive! Breaking through the clutter in the LA music market is very difficult for a young artist. You build a following through small clubs, singing covers while you write your own songs and collect the confidence, the capital and the inventory to produce a first EP or album. And when you do, it had better be more than good – because everyone here is good – it must be outstanding and uniquely yours. Dree Paterson has done that. Her debut EP, A Louder Side of Me is a breakthrough work that demonstrates her poised flexibility across multiple genres while solidly establishing a unique, unmistakable voice that resonates in all of them. Each of the five songs on A Louder Side of Me is carefully crafted so that it stands alone while remaining connected to the others through her voice and inflection . The result is a whole greater than the sum of the parts, a far-ranging musical narrative that could very be the best debut EP of the year. When I heard [Read More]

Cold Blood Club brings the party from New York to LA By Patrick O’Heffernan

June 18, 2014

The Brooklyn alt. dance-rock band Cold Blood Club brought their infectious upbeat beats to Hollywood last night at the literary-themed Hemmingway’s, rattling the books off the shelves and turning the nightclub’s library setting into a flashing, smoking dance hall. And it was soooo much fun. If this is what bands do in Brooklyn, we need to import a few here permanently. Before the band took the stage at 9:15 pm Tuesday night, they installed lasers, reflection screens, projectors and even a smoke machine to give the room the proper atmosphere for going crazy. And crazy we went. With seven songs, they gave the moving and bouncing audience at Hemmingway’s plenty to chew on and dance to. They treated us to pure high octane, intelligent dance-fun music that gets your body moving and makes you listen to the words. Cold Blood Club founder and band leader Tom Stuart was joined by six of the seven members of the band, all looking rested from their gig the previous night at The Mint, and a little beach [Read More]

Eliza Rickman’s O You Sinners: dangerous and lovely. By Patrick O’Heffernan

June 14, 2014

Review by Patrick O’Heffernan, Host of Music FridayLive! I first saw Eliza Rickman at a club in Los Angeles and didn’t know what to think. I could tell she was a genius, but I wasn’t sure exactly what kind of genius. Her music was minimalist – a toy piano or an accordion, but very sophisticated. Her lyrics were ambiguous – you had to think about them, and her lean music structure emphasized the words, so you did think about them. Her stage presence was unique – an ethereal, lovely woman in an antique wedding-style dress with her hair piled haphazardly on top of her head, and I think, bare feet. She was just there, while she told stories – some profane, some obscure and all funny – and sang in an angelic voice about things that angels generally don’t sing about. Her recent album, O, You Sinners, is a magical mystical tour through your own mind guided by her otherworldly voice, spare music and luminescent, ambiguous lyrics. Imagery abounds – dragging yourself over broken glass, [Read More]

The Fifth Annual New Media Film Festival closes on a triumphant note. By Patrick O’Heffernan

June 12, 2014

The 5th Annual New Media Film Festival closed last night on a triumphant note with famed genre film maker Roger Corman accepting the Festival’s Legend Award from legendary Producer/Director/Screenwriter John Carpenter. The ceremony followed the NMFF awards – except for the Grand award, which was saved for the very end of the ceremony to keep the nominees and the audience in suspense. Awards included, Best Documentary Award to the love letter to motorcycle riding, Why We Ride, by Bryan H. Carroll, edging out a stunning David Attenborough-narrated film, Galapagos 3D. Russian film stars Marina Kovalskaya and Viktor Yurkov were on hand to accept their award for The Story of M, a beautifully done and very disturbing Russian short by Anna Arlanova. The Award for Best Socially Responsible film went to Subway Stories by Garine Tcholaken, a brilliant and compelling look at the musicians who entertain us as we rush by in the subway. The Grand Award went to Curio Shop, an intense, post-apocalyptic western web series by 2-time Emmy winner Eric S. Anderson. Altogether 112 [Read More]

Mary Scholz: a dark-haired, ringlet-crowned angel opens her wings in the Hotel Café by Patrick O’Heffernan

June 12, 2014

I am so glad I decided to join the unusually large crowd Sunday night to see Mary Scholz at the Hotel Café. I had heard her single, “Bridges We Burn”, and knew she had released a new album, The Girl You thought You Knew, but otherwise I did not know her music. Her clear, bell-like voice, her confidence on stage, her honest lyrics and her intimate introspection all combined to make her performance a joy. No artifice, no nervousness, no hesitation – Mary Scholz is in her element on stage When she turns that wicked-brilliant smile on the room, framed by her trademark long feather earrings, she can make you and each person in the audience, whether friend or soon-to-be-friend, relax into what seems like a personal relationship. Hotel Café Sunday night felt like I was at a house concert at my house and I was lucky enough to have a dark-haired, ringlet-crowned angel singing in my living room. Best of all, this angel gifted us with 11 songs, many from her new album, starting [Read More]