South by South Bay Punk Festival: Big and Loud
South by South Bay Punk Festival makes a scene by Gavin Heaney The inaugural South by South Bay Festival brought music, film, poetry, panels, photography, literature and art together in an exciting expose of South Bay punk rock heritage. But most of all, it gathered the local community to celebrate and reminisce in its own […]
St. Rocke hosts benefit for musician fire evacuees, Sat. Feb. 1
by Gavin Heaney Katie Henley was wondering how to help those impacted by the recent wildfires. But like many didn’t know what she could possibly do. “I remember feeling an overwhelming sense of helplessness. I wanted to donate food, but my cupboards were bare. I looked in my closet for donation clothes, but no one […]
Bands at the Lagoon: Friday Night Lights at BeachLife
by Gavin Heaney I brought my trusty, rusty beach chair to BeachLife this year. As I flipped my old fold-out, I realized there’s something still grassroots about setting down your chair and throwing down a blanket at an outdoor show. It’s a free zone where anyone can claim their own little base camp. Normally people […]
Food for Soul: BeachLife Nights pairs Reggae with BBQ
Locals’ Summer BeachLife Nights is ready to light up by Gavin Heaney There’s a sweet serenity to fall in a beach town. Kids are back in school, the tourists have left and the trampled sand slips peacefully back into place. The air is subtly cooler, the sky a more stable cerulean and the sun shines […]
A mirror across the pond – Sting brings it to BeachLife
by Gavin Heaney Before Sting was a musician, he was a school teacher, and before he was a rock icon, he was in a jazz band. He is a blend of classical arts and street smarts, combining academia, literature and classical music with garage rock, punk and especially Jamaican rhythm. Sting has his own sound, […]
BeachLife Pepper keeping it Island style
by Gavin Heaney Every Island has its own style, but they are all share a connection to the water. The reggae of Jamaica and the slack key of Hawaii each have their roots in what the Hawaiians call makai, or oceanside. “I really do feel there is a frequency that lends itself to the island […]
Going Country BeachLife Ranch takes me home
by Gavin Heaney It’s okay to go country whenever you want, and however you like. You can identify as country forever, or for a weekend. It is our American heritage, and it’s free for the taking. Many before have appropriated the accent and donned the cowboy hat, but it’s not about the fixin’s, it’s about […]
‘Lookin’ out my back door’
BeachLife’s fourth edition establishes a tradition by Gavin Heaney The cold doldrums of winter were dispelled this weekend as the cursed marine layer finally broke open and the heavens poured sweet sunshine back upon us. The first notable south swell also rolled in, bringing the sand bars back after a long, strange absence. Coincidence or […]
BeachLifer – Local notes from the festival
by Gavin Heaney Coming of age surfing the south side of the Manhattan Beach pier, I wished The Grateful Dead would perform at the Roundhouse while I pulled into translucent tubes. I wanted to live in a Rick Griffin rock poster. I moved only for the wild twisting transportive thrill of riding waves and improvised […]
Jane says: real live rock ‘n’ roll is back (Jane’s Addiction at BeachLife)
by Gavin Heaney The two-note octave bass line intro of “Up The Beach” plucked by Chris Cheney soon escalated to the swelling, climbing guitar of Dave Navarro, plummeting over the seismic backbeat of Stephen Perkins building drums, announcing the arrival of Jane’s Addiction Friday night at The BeachLife Festival in Redondo. Singer-frontman Perry Farrell looked […]
Cage The Elephant is ready to storm Redondo BeachLife
by Gavin Heaney The last year and a half has put a literal cage around every stage. Performing onstage is the natural culmination of all the songwriting, rehearsals, recording and production, and Cage the Elephant is especially known for the raw intensity of its live shows. To lead singer Matt Shultz, this is where the […]
Ocean Size: Jane’s Addiction headlines BeachLife in Redondo Beach
by Gavin Heaney Music and ocean undulate in waves of energy that crash up the beach and into our minds. This energy is the raw power of nature and according to Perry Farrell, “To harness that power into sound, that’s Jane’s Addiction.” Jane’s Addiction were the pioneers of alternative hard rock in the late ‘80s. […]
As in Florence, so in Torrance
There’s light in the tunnel An ongoing visual journal of the plague year When the plague ravaged Florence in 1348, three men and seven women retired to the hills above the city to wait out the pestilence, and to pass the time they told one another stories. That’s the premise of Boccacio’s “Decameron,” a book […]