Patrick O'Heffernan | Music Junkie Press

Doña Oxford birthday bash a blast at Brennan’s in the Marina By Patrick O’Heffernan

June 2, 2014

Doña Oxford makes people move. Fresh back from playing onstage with Albert Lee in London and in the studio backing a new album with Van Morrison, Doña Oxford brought her high octane R&B and boogie woogie soul train to Brennan’s in Marina del Rey to celebrate her birthday (39, of course). And Brennan’s may never recover. She came on at 9:30 pm and played three sets, and at one point, even the sports fans at the bar gave up following ESP and joined in the locomotion. There were even dancing folks bopping in the tiny space in front of the restrooms doors. It was a hoot. Doña brought the full band for her birthday present to the audience: the amazing British transplant Colin Ryan on electric guitar, Bill Brennenstuhl keeping it moving on the drums, Fred Johnson playing bass and adding a few hallelujahs, and the never-stop-dancing backup vocal singers Robin Daléa and Jamila Ford. Doña conducted them flawlessly from her center spot in front of the big Hammond keyboard, flashing hand signals while her [Read More]

Oceansongs lights the afterburner on the Polaris Rose skyrocket. by Patrick O’Heffernan

June 2, 2014

Polaris Rose has been characterized as alt. rock, but I don’t call them that. Maddie Elyse and Peter Anthony, better known as Polaris Rose, create music that I call The Polaris Rose Sound because there is nothing like it. These two young singer/songwriters bring progressive rock, hot jazz, metal and pop together with male-female congruence and musical brilliance that creates a whole that is much larger than the sum of its parts. And they do it in the studio and on stage with equal ease. There new EP, Oceansongs, is a megadose of the flowing harmonies, metal guitar and high concept lyrics that has made this enormously talented pair a flaming comet in the star-crowded sky of LA music. Opening with “Goddess”, a cut kicked off with a drum and guitar explosion like a fast-moving storm, it quickly slides into a dreamy waterscape woven with Peter’s voice and guitar and Maddie’s backup echo and bass. A call to a love-hate goddess, Peter chronicles his beautiful anguish and we feel it with the rise and fall [Read More]

Sunflower Girl: Jill Jack is a the top of her game. By Patrick O’Heffernan

May 24, 2014

By Patrick O’Heffernan, Host, Music FridayLive! A wide-ranging, tightly crafted, deeply personal, pleasure-center-stimulating gift from one of the country’s most talented musical artists. I first saw Jill Jack at a club in Hollywood and she electrified the room with her unique high energy, woman-centered, heart aching country rock. Jill Jack is amazing, awesome, fabulous and any other adjectives you can come up with for a talent that puts on a show that blows the stage away with musical fireworks. So I got a copy of her most recent album, Sunflower Girl, to see if she is as good in the studio as she is on stage. The answer is a definitive yes. Jill Jack and her band have opened for some of the greats of country– Bob Seger, John Waite, Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin, Patty Griffin, Dan Fogelberg, Marshall Crenshaw, Chris Issak, and Loretta Lynn. She has played to sellout crowds at SXSW , the Ann Arbor Folk Festival, The Bluebird Cafe and New York’s The Living Room among others. There is even a PBS documentary about her scheduled for broadcast later this year. [Read More]

Roses and Revolutions at the Hotel Café: their bright future is here and now by Patrick O’Heffernan

May 22, 2014

The duo of Alyssa Coco and Matt Merritt, known as Roses and Revolutions played the 9 pm set last night at LA’s famed showcase club Hotel Café and proved they are even more fun live than on their superb recordings. The crowd of about 50 or so fans – not bad for a Tuesday night – had been warmed up nicely by the humor and tunes of Eliza Rickman. As they loaded Alyssa’s Yamaha keyboard and Matt’s acoustic and electric guitars on stage, a record producer and talent scout quietly slipped into the room. The equipment set up, tuned and ready to go, Alyysa, brilliant in a white brocade bodice and very short multilayered flared skirt greeted the audience, joked about assuring her grandmother that the skirt was not really too short (it was close) and opened with “Home”. The song is a contemplative pop ballad embroidered with piano and Matt’s skillful instrumentation that the pair wrote for their first album, Earth and Everything. Alyssa’s Norah Jones-like voice filled the room and got everyone’s immediate [Read More]

Interview with Kenji Williams, Director of Bella Gaia: dance, music and video from space.

May 12, 2014

Interview with Kenji Williams, Director of Bella Gaia: dance, music and video from space. by Patrick O’Heffernan, Host, Music Friday Live Kenji Williams is a genius. That is all there is to it. The idea of combining NASA photography and video from space with music and dance is sheer genius. That’s exactly what he did in creating the live performance known as Bella Gaia – “Beautiful Earth” now on its world tour. Bella Gaia shows how humans and nature are connected, and how art and science are connected while it explores the relationship between human civilization and our ecosystem through time and space in a music and dance performance like no other. The video is stunning, the music is mesmerizing, the dancers and the costumes rival those of major city opera companies. Williams took time from preparations for his performance in Santa Barbara to talk with me about Bella Gaia. Patrick. Kenji, where did the idea to combine video from space with dance and music come from? Kenji. It started with a meeting [Read More]

Bella Gaia comes to California: In Santa Barbara this weekend.

May 7, 2014

By Patrick O’Heffernan, Host of Music FridayLive! If you have not seen and heard Bella Gaia and you are in Southern or Central California, you are in luck. Kenji Williams, creator, director and musician is producing the inspiring space video, music and dance performance this weekend in Santa Barbara before taking it on tour in Asia. What is Bella Gaia? “Beautiful Earth” is the literal translation, and it is that and so much more. It is possibly the most wondrous combination of stunning video, art , dance and music you will ever witness. Bella Gaia is an awe-inspiring live multimedia performance of NASA visualizations and video of Earth from space, synched with live music and dance from around the world. The award winning Bella Gaia successfully simulates the Overview Effect from space flight, and illuminates the connections between natural systems and human activities through an immersive storytelling method. It follows the orbiting flight path of the International Space Station as musicians and dancers create a sound and visual environment that mesmerizes audiences Even more impressive is the way Kenji Williams [Read More]

A conversation with Chaz Kay of Undermine: metalizing fraggle rock by Patrick O’Heffernan

May 5, 2014

A conversation with Chaz Kay of Undermine: metalizing fraggle rock By Patrick O’Heffernan, Host of Music FridayLive! Metal can be an acquired music taste. It is loud, hard driving, dark, and to some people , just noise. But for those who take the time to listen to good metal bands and open their minds and bodies to the sound, it can be a window into a much larger universe. One band that opens that window as few others do is Undermine, four artists who come to metal through modern fragglerock. They have mastered the art of synching powerful, sophisticated lyrics with a wall of sound – both vocal and instrumental – that leaves audiences exhausted and energized at the same time. Nominated for the Hollywood Music & Media best rock single 2013 and Los Angeles Music Award best rock song & best rock album of 2013, Undermine has been recognized by the Rockwell Unscene magazine for being one of the top music groups of 2013 and one of the ten bands to look out for [Read More]