NICOLE RECOMMENDS:
NTS — is an online radio station based out of London. It boasts a constant two-channel live stream, hours upon hours of archived shows, big name guests and underground DJs, and a veritable cornucopia of genre-based shows ranging from Afrobeat to Turkish disco to techno to Americana to post-punk to opera, just to name a few. One of my favorite NTS shows I’ve ever tuned into was “Getting Warmer w/ Jen Monroe,” a serene, celestial mix of minimal Renaissance and Baroque choral music (aired January 24, 2018, if you want to look it up). Join the other reported 1.5 million monthly listeners and check out something familiar, or get turned on to your new favorite genre you never knew existed! Download the app or listen from the website: https://www.nts.live/
HELP! (I’M A ROCK)
Independent live music venues are exactly the kind of small business most threatened with extinction in this crisis. Closed very long, they might be closed forever.
I wrote last week about donating to The Troubadour in West Hollywood and the Ruskin Group Theater right here, at the airport. Looks like The Troub is doing alright because after hitting $73,588, they closed off new donations. That might not be enough to carry them through this and pay everyone, but maybe they have some big name (”I got my start there!”) angels.
THE RUSKIN, MCCABE’S
I’m pretty sure, even though they have been able to continue some acting classes online, the Ruskin would not turn down donations. The last I checked the City of SM had not given them a break on their high rent. If you’ve been privileged to attend any of their outstanding performances, including Library Girl every month for 10+ years, you might want to give back a little. Here’s their link: https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?contribution=rgt
McCabe’s opened a year after the Troub in 1958, and their alumni list is every bit as storied. Maybe more. You have the instrument sales which are now starting up again, order online and pick up at the front door. Music lessons, group and individual, are now postponed but will resume ASAP. The concert stage is silent, and that is a huge loss, but Koko Peterson has been doing a great job there with the booking, and tells me she's back after a hiatus and making plans for when they can stage concerts again. No donations necessary, but take a look at that archive page to imagine what's to come. https://www.mccabes.com/archive/
HARVELLE’S, JAZZ BAKERY
Harvelle’s on Fourth Street has a storied history, perhaps not as glittery as McCabe’s or The Troubadour, but they’ve been around decades longer, since 1931 (yes, they started as a speakeasy), and that is an amazing feat, a testament to conscious stewardship. The current hard-working, creative music fan bosses, Damian and Jason, get an A+. We absolutely must keep Harvelle’s alive. Because they do not serve food, they will be among the last to be able to re-open. So leave them some generous tips now.
I adore the Jazz Bakery, operating out of the visually and acoustically exceptional Moss Theatre at the New Roads School here, and so admire the work that dynamo Ruth Price has put in for almost 30 years to make it a world-renowned jazz space. She has an advantage over the other venues mentioned: she doesn’t have a building she pays full time rent on. But she is a miracle worker and even miracles take a little dough-re-mi.
She books the most magical players. Musicians I’ve never heard of wind up knocking me out. I don’t think I’ve seen a show out of dozens that I would consider less than excellent. She also teaches at UCLA and the Dick Grove School of Music, and her preparation for her non-singing Act II included performing or recording with Mel Torme, Shelly Manne, Red Garland, Coltrane, Mingus, Philly Joe Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Sonny Stitt, Sonny Rollins, Art Pepper and so many more. The Bakery must keep the fires going!
https://www.jazzbakery.org/support-us
RICKIE LEE JONES
I’ve watched both of her first two home concerts and both were a treat, every minute. You not only see that you are in her living room in New Orleans, she makes you feel welcome, like someone her friend brought along unannounced when coming to call but, it’s OK, it’s fine, c’mon in, make yourself at home. She’s comfortably casual, just, you know, Rickie. Just like you, only, very talented, and having lived a really interesting life.
These have been really great Rickie Lee Jones concerts, an hour long, and isn’t that a treat? Sound and video is superb (from a phone). She’s spinning long yarns that are captivating, and when she finally gets to the next number, you loved the journey. I suppose you have to be a fan. What I love from Rickie lee would drive me nuts from Celine Dion.
I’d love to tell you when the next one is but I‘m pretty sure she hasn’t made up her mind. First she told us every Friday evening and Sunday afternoon, then she said, see you in two weeks. So just check in on her FB page, under “Live from my Living Room,” You got a scheduling conflict?
LAST MINUTE NEWS FLASH! — this Sunday, 4 p.m., “Unveiled,” a 10-minute film, free online, purported to be the true story of William DeVogue, orphaned at 10 months in the ‘60s and left on church steps, no direction home, finally discovering his father is… Bob Dylan. Worth 10 minutes. https://www.facebook.com/goliveinc/posts/162510551900462
Charles Andrews has lived in Santa Monica for 33 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world. Really. Send love and/or rebuke to him at therealmrmusic@gmail.com
