Carol Martini has been a songwriter since she was a child. She started out with the violin, and because she is a songwriter, settled on the acoustic guitar. The Rose in the Boxcar is her fourth independent CD, which is a compilation of her original material.
If you like not too hard-edged punk with a little bit of rock, you’ll enjoy Liza and the WonderWheels’ CD, Meet the Animal. This is a group of musicians that know their craft. The songwriting is great and the vocals are good. Liza Garelik has a decent voice and the instrumentals are tight and somewhat complex—they are interesting on their own with vocals reminding me of Blondie from the early 80s.
The opening band Soccermom is a four piece originally formed in Venice straddling the divide between new wave and New York art punk. The headliner was up and coming locals A.i. who’ve been getting airtime at KROQ. These kids are young but they’ve been bred into the business. Nick (vocals and guitar) and Zack (drums) come from a long line of artists and entertainers.
When I first heard about The Fratellis, I was pretty skeptical. Ever since The Libertines imploded, NME has heralded the UK’s next big band, and usually they’ve been a bore. For every genuinely good act like the Arctic Monkeys, there have been ten more disappointments like Razorlight, The Kooks, Babyshambles, and Louis XIV.
In a world of cardboard cutouts lip-synching prefabricated songs, an artist like Amy Winehouse is a punch to the gut. These songs aren’t only the despair of a regretful lover. They drip with innate sexiness and pays homage to Sarah Vaughn and the Shangri-Las without being bound to innuendo of their eras.
A.i. (Artificial Intelligence) is an Indie band with polished performances and hit-bound material. They have made their way to radio (KROQ) well before their new album “Sex and Robots” has even been released.
“The mission of the Israel Film Festival is to spotlight Israel’s thriving film and television industry, to enrich the American vision of Israel’s social and cultural diversity, and to advance tolerance and understanding. In the last two decades, more than 600 films have been enjoyed by over 650,000 film enthusiasts in Los Angeles, Miami, New York.”
“The mission of the Israel Film Festival is to spotlight Israel’s thriving film and television industry, to enrich the American vision of Israel’s social and cultural diversity, and to advance tolerance and understanding. In the last two decades, more than 600 films have been enjoyed by over 650,000 film enthusiasts in Los Angeles, Miami, New York.”
From December 4, 1957, when San Francisco International Film Festival founder Irving Levin kicked off the first International Film Festival, to the upcoming 50th anniversary, numerous people have contributed to the yearly endeavor of planning, producing, and staging what is the annual SFIFF. And this year is no different. Graham Leggat, the executive director of the San Francisco Film Society gives us his take on the thriving and pioneering festival this time around.
Sherby is the type of musician that the industry needs. She writes her own music. She formed her own label. Most impressively, she founded Likwid Joy, a nonprofit devoted to helping underprivileged children by using music as a way to change lives. This career route may never earn a Behind the Music special, but it should earn some well-deserved respect.
