2017 BottleRock Napa Valley music festival lineup announced

Although the year just started, music lovers will have plenty to look forward to this summer when it comes to music festivals. However, if you live in the Bay Area, you will have to spend a lot of travel time just to go to them. There is Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza, but they require plane tickets to Nashville and Chicago-- or wheelbarrows of gas money for the super brave. Coachella is in California, but it is a nine-hour drive. How about something a little closer?

   Thankfully, for those who live in Solano County, there is a big-name music festival that is only about 30 minutes away. It is called the BottleRock Napa Valley festival.

   Now in its fifth year, BottleRock continues to present a 3-day weekend of gourmet food, wine and craft brew in the heart of the Napa Valley. Oh yeah, and there's music too. These aren't just small acts either. Some of the biggest names in music right now and of all time will be gracing the multiple stages.

   To give off some perspective, last year's festival was headlined by Florence + the Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Stevie Wonder. This year's show will continue to blend established acts with up-and-comers. The headliners this year happen to be three groups who have been packing stadiums and arenas for more than 40, 20 and 10 years respectively: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Foo Fighters and Maroon 5. They will all be rounded out by some other big names in indie rock, hip-hop, electronica, soul and even '90s alternative rock. This explosive lineup also includes Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Modest Mouse, Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals, The Roots, Silversun Pickups, Band of Horses, Fitz & the Tantrums, The Dirty Heads, Live, The Naked and Famous, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Gavin DeGraw, House of Pain, Catfish & the Bottlemen, Saint Motel, The Strumbellas, AlunaGeorge, Mavis Staples, Ani DiFranco, Bishop Briggs, Warren G, Gnash, Judah & the Lion, The Barr Brothers and MANY more. (Did you know there is an act called Hibbity Dibbity? You do now.) For lovers of local orchestral music, the award-winning Napa Youth Symphony will also be on stage.

   Dates and set times have not been announced for any of the bands.

   However, BottleRock is not just about the music, man. Returning this year will be the Williams-Sonoma Culinary Stage which will feature entertaining cooking demonstrations by not only renowned chefs but also musicians, actors, athletes and more. Details for this stage are still being worked out.

   “We are very proud of this lineup. In addition to our amazing headliners, the lineup has something for everyone,” Dave Graham, CEO of BottleRock Napa Valley and Latitude 38 Entertainment, said in a statement. “It's exciting to see BottleRock develop, from the performers, to our wine and culinary programming, our layout…we make great strides each year to elevate the overall event. BottleRockers expect an amazing experience and we believe they will be very happy with all the upgrades we are planning for this year’s festival.”

   The 2017 BottleRock Napa Valley festival will be held Friday, May 26 to Sunday, May 28 at the Napa Valley Expo, located at 575 3rd St. in Napa. Tickets start at $309 for three-day general admission, and three-day VIP passes start at $659. For more information, visit bottlerocknapavalley.com. 

Peppino D'Agostino returns to Benicia Historical Museum

(Originally published in the 4/24/16 edition)

   Internationally renowned guitarist Peppino D’Agostino will make his return to the Benicia Historical Museum on Saturday. Fresh off the release of his newest album “Penumbra,” the Sicilian-born musician is coming off more than three decades as an acclaimed acoustic guitar player. He has performed in 26 countries, worked with other greats like Tommy Emmanuel and Leo Kottke and was even named Best Acoustic Guitarist by readers of Guitar Player magazine in 2007.

   Before moving to Benicia in the ‘80s, D’Agostino grew up in Torino, Italy where he was drawn to music by his cousin.

   “I began playing guitar at the age of 10 when I heard my cousin Peppino (yes, same name) playing in a church,” he said. “I got a few lessons from him, and then I embarked on a journey of self-study and further exploration on the guitar and in music that continues today. ”

   Early on, D’Agostino was influenced by The Beatles and Italian pop songs and later by electric guitarists like Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin. 

   “After that first phase I discovered the acoustic guitar by listening to musicians such as Leo Kottke and John Renbourn,” he said. “Then I fell in love with Brazilian music, classical music (and) improvised music. Now I listen to everything from Bach, Mozart, Piazzolla and even some pop artists.” 

   D’Agostino believes that music can be a force for good and appreciates the stripped-down nature of the acoustic guitar.

   “Music helps us feel human again and lift all of us to a better state of mind and open our hearts to beauty and emotions,” he said. “Making music on an acoustic guitar is special because the sounds is essentially produced by your fingers in contact with the fretboard and then amplified by a wooden sound box without any special effects or pedals. It's real, beautiful and captivating. ”

   Since living in Benicia, D’Agostino has gotten to know a wide variety of talented local musicians, including Stef Burns, an electric guitarist who has worked with Alice Cooper and Huey Lewis and the News; Jeff Campitelli, a drummer for guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani; Annabelle Marie, the director of the choir group VOENA; and many more.

   “It's amazing to have so many people involved in music in a relatively small town,” D’Agostino said. “The Dunlop Company, one of the most well-known music accessories factories in the world is in town,  as is Masaki Liu at Onewaystudio who's one of the best sound engineer that I ever met, and AnneMarie Martins who's one of the best booking agents in the business.”

   He has also said that whether playing in a small town in America or a larger venue in Italy, he feels the warmth of the audience.

   “In both countries I have family, friends and fans that makes me feel at home when I perform,” he said. 

   D’Agostino has recorded several albums and toured extensively for the past few decades while still finding room for other projects. He recently completed the score for a documentary titled “Journey to Baja: A Tale of Three Travelers,” about gray whales, elephant seals and brown pelicans. The documentary will be shown at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

   “It was a wonderful experience to support with my music such a great American institution that works to protect ocean life for future generations,” he said.

   D’Agostino is thrilled to be playing at the museum again, and he hinted that there may be surprise guests. One of the confirmed collaborators for a few songs will be D’Agostino’s friend Steve Olsen.

   “He plays pedal steel guitar and violin beautifully,” he said. 

   The concert will be held at 8 p.m., Saturday, April 30 in Stone Hall at the Benicia Historical Museum, located at 2060 Camel Road. Doors open at 7 p.m., and there will be a ho-host bar. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased online at BrownPaperTickets.com or at the museum gift shop, Wednesdays through Sundays, 1 to 4 p.m. For more information, call (707) 745-5435. 

Allison Au Quartet to play First Street Cafe on Friday

(Originally published in the 3/2/16 edition)

   The top floor of First Street Cafe has hosted several musical talents over the years and will do so again Friday. The difference is the guests will come from America’s neighbor to the north.

   The Allison Au Quartet are a Toronto-based jazz group featuring Todd Pentney on piano, Fabio Ragnelli on drums, Dan Fortin and John Maharaja alternating on bass and the leader Au on saxophone. Together, they blend traditional jazz with other genres for a unique style.

   “I am trying to use song forms that pay homage to the jazz standards, but I’m trying to apply a lot of the sounds and textures in compositions derived from classical music and world music as well,” Au said. “It’s kind of a combination of things.”

   Au was drawn to music at a very young age. When she was about 5 or 6, her parents enrolled her in piano lessons.

   “I started doing it without knowing if I really liked it at that point yet,” she said.

   However, what really gave her a love for the medium was from exposure to her father’s diverse record collection. 

   “My dad had a really amazing vinyl collection at home, and he played all sorts of styles of music,” she said. “Anything from opera to jazz to a lot of world music.”

   Au was particularly inspired by the sounds of jazz music, especially jazz vocalists like Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan.

   “That was something that really hooked me into jazz because it just captivated my interest,” she said. “There’s some kind of wonder about it.”

   Au was further influenced by a lot of saxophone players, ranging from legends like Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane and Charlie Parker to modern greats like Will Vinson and Seamus Blake. Au also takes cues from classical and world music and blends them together in what she describes as a “mishmash” of styles. 

   “With so much access to iTunes and all the streaming stuff we have now, there’s so much I try to check out on a regular basis,” she said. 

   Au met Petney and Ragnelli in their music studies program at Humber College in Toronto. After graduating, they recruited Fortin as bassist and The Allison Au Quartet was born. The group has released two albums: 2013’s “The Sky was Pale Blue, Then Grey” and 2016’s “Forest Grove.” Both releases have been nominated for Juno awards, which honor Canadian artists. “Forest Grove” is eligible for group jazz album of the year, something which delights Au. 

   “It’s really a privilege to be included in a category with so many amazing musicians from Canada as well as to be recognized in a city along with so many other cities because this country is huge,” she said. “It’s a celebration of a lot of different talent from as far as Halifax on the East Coast of Canada to Vancouver on the West Coast.”

   Au says she gets along really well with the other members of her band, and they are close enough to give each other honest suggestions. 

   “I feel like I can really trust the guys now,” she said. “When I bring in new music, it has the chance to develop because we have this really honest dialogue. Even if I bring a tune in and I’m not completely sure if it’s finished yet, the guys have a lot of constructive feedback.”

   “The music has a chance to grow because we’re all tossing around different ideas, and the guys are giving me ideas on how to change things and how to make sections better and sometimes we cut sections altogether,” she added. “Since we’re all friends, that communication has really made the music grow in a way that I don’t think it would have a chance to in another context.”

   The band has played jazz venues in Toronto as well as more intimate venues like restaurants and bars in Canada and the United States. In the fall of 2014, the group did its first tour in western Canadian provinces like British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. The group has chosen to revisit some of those venues for their 2016 tour, but this time they will be touring both Canada’s and America’s west coasts. The quartet has played at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley and the Red Poppy Art House in San Francisco and will be playing Benicia Friday.

   “This is our first time in California,” Au said. “This is all very new for us. It’s awesome though. The weather is blowing our minds right now because it’s super cold in Canada.”

   Au says she is very happy to expose her creativity to the denizens of Benicia.

   “I’m very excited to share my music with a new audience,” she said.

   The Allison Au Quartet will be performing from 8 to 11:15 p.m., Friday, March 4, upstairs at First Street Cafe, located at 440 First St. The usual menu will be available along with a selection of wine and beer. For more information, visit AllisonAu.com or call the restaurant at (707) 745-1400. 

Black Irish Band to bring Gold Rush-era sound to Benicia Historical Museum

(Originally published in the 2/11/16 edition. An update was made because Rick Restivo was initially- and rather inexplicably- unmentioned.)

   The Benicia Historical Museum loves its Celtic folk bands, and next weekend, one of Northern California’s most popular Celtic bands will be playing.

   The Black Irish Band, based out of Sonora in Tuolumne County, will be performing at the Museum to celebrate more than 25 years of playing together as a band. Lead singer Patrick Karnahan and guitarist Rick Restivo met in 1989 on the set of the Western-themed “Back to the Future Part III,” where they played members of the Hill Valley Brass Band. Another bandmate, Steve McArthur, also had a speaking role in the film, and the three would talk about the idea of starting a traditional Irish folk band that crossed cultural barriers. 

   Shortly thereafter, The Black Irish Band was born, eventually recruiting Jim Nelson to play long-neck banjo and provide vocals. The group blends its Celtic folk stylings with Italian and Spanish genres, and their songs are laced with a heavy nostalgia for the Old West. Since the members all hail from areas that were the centers of the California Gold Rush, many of their songs are inspired by that era. 

   According to Benicia Historical Museum Curator Beverly Phelan, The Black Irish Band have been playing the museum since 2000.

   “Our president at the time came up with the idea of having these Irish concerts and that we needed to find a variety,” she said. “The Black Irish were very different than the other groups we were getting. They didn’t sing only the traditional Irish ballads and jigs, but they did the Gold Rush and railroad folk songs.” 

   Phelan also described the band as very instrumental and having a variety of vocalists, including one member who yodels. 

   Additonally, Phelan says the band is well-liked in Benicia, and the group helps make the show interactive. 

   “They include the audience in some of their songs,” she said. “They just love to work with the audience.”

   The band will be promoting their newest album, “Give Us All Yer Whiskey: Songs of Hard-Rock Miners & Hard Luck Sailors,” released in November. The album includes a variety of originals and traditional folk songs, including “Oh! Susanna” and “Buffalo Gals.” The album is available to purchase on CDBaby.com and will be available at the show during intermission. 

   Overall, Phelan believes The Black Irish Band will continue to do what they do best: provide an upbeat, foot-stomping show packed with great Celtic music. 

   “They will give you a two-hour show that you will thoroughly enjoy,” she said.

   The Black Irish Band will perform from 8 to 10 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 20, at the Benicia Historical Museum’s Stone Hall, located at 2060 Camel Road. The doors will open at 7 p.m., and there will also be a no-host bar. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at BrownpaperTickets.com, the museum’s gift shop and at Bookshop Benicia, located at 636 First St. For more information, contact the museum at 745-5435. 

   

   

   

   

Golden Bough to bring Celtic sound to Benicia Historical Museum again

(Originally published in the 1/6/16 edition)

   For the past 36 years, Modesto-based Celtic folk band Golden Bough have toured the globe, playing haunting melodies reminiscent of traditional Irish folk songs and have gained fans in several corners of the world.

   One of those places happens to be Benicia, where the trio will play at the Historical Museum, Jan. 16.

   Golden Bough- fronted by husband and wife Paul Espinoza and Margie Butler and rounded out by Kathy Sierra- formed in January of 1980 with the goal of combining the traditional music of the six Celtic nations- Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, The Isle of Man and Brittany- with their own contemporary songwriting. The group utilizes several diverse instruments, including a Celtic harp, mandolin, accordion, violin and penny whistle, and their harmonizing has become a hallmark of their music. 

   Golden Bough have performed all over the world, including in countries like Holland, Germany and Ireland. In just a week, they will bring their traditional Celtic sound to Benicia.

   According to museum curator Beverly Phelan, the trio first performed at the venue in 1998.

   “It was the first time we had a Celtic concert,” she said. “They were very well-received.”

   The museum has since had several Celtic bands play, including The Black Irish Band and Men of Worth. Phelan says Golden Bough stand out for their strong instrumental abilities. 

   “They’re the only group who plays the Celtic harp,” she said. “And their violinist (Sierra) is one of the best that I’ve heard.”

   With their performances at the museum, Golden Bough have gained a bit of a following in Benicia.

   “Last year when we had them here was a sellout,” Phelan said. “They’re very popular, and the reason we have Celtic groups is because they are popular. They have a following that goes up the Gold Country.”

   Having toured for 36 years, the band has amassed a large amount of stories that they like to share at performances.

   “Margie’s father was an Irish tenor, and she tells lovely stories about her father and his experiences singing all over California and the United States,” Elizabeth D’Huart, executive director of the Benicia Historical Museum, said. 

   D’Huart also praised Golden Bough for their authentic sound.

   “A lot of the songs that they sing are familiar to the folks who came to work on the railroad in California,” she said. “A lot of the songs have a historical tie-in to the area because of that.” 

   Phelan believes that even those who are not fans of Celtic folk music will come away with an appreciation of the genre, and those who already enjoy it will have fun as well.

   “People get what they expect, and that is quality Celtic music,” she said.

  The concert will take place in Stone Hall at the Benicia Historical Museum is located at 2060 Camel Road. Doors will open at 7 p.m., and the concert will run from 8 to 10. There will also be a no-host bar with beer, wine, coffee and water, and attendees will be allowed to explore the museum during intermission. Tickets are $20 for general admission and are available at the museum. They can also be picked up at Bookshop Benicia, located at 636 First St. or online at BrownPaperTickets.com. For more information, call 745-5435. 

Fischer-Hanlon House hosts holiday concert

(Originally published in the 12/15/15 edition)

   Tim Heney, a longtime Benicia resident and choir director of St. Dominic’s Catholic Church, will be performing a piano concert at the Fischer-Hanlon House Sunday for the second weekend in a row. 

   Heney has performed holiday concerts off and on at the historic Victorian home since the ‘70s, but according to Benicia State Parks Association spokesperson Mike Caplin, he has turned it into an annual tradition for the past seven or eight years.

   The piano that Heney will be performing on has a long history. It was manufactured by Steinway & Sons in 1866 and shipped from New York to a San Francisco dealer in March of that year. There are no records available to confirm if it was purchased directly by proprietor Joseph Fischer, but the piano has been in the house since 1867. It was where Fischer’s daughter Elizabeth took piano lessons from Hugo Mansfeldt, a student of Hungarian composer Franz Liszt.

   Caplin said the piano was a rosewood 7 square, in which the keyboard is not in the center but on the lefthand side. 

   “There weren’t that many that were manufactured because I guess they weren’t that popular,” he said. “They abandoned that style and went to the standard which you see now where the keyboard is in the center.”

   Reports vary as to how many pianos were made in this model, but the general consensus is between three and five were shipped to the West Coast. The piano in the Fischer-Hanlon House  is reportedly the only surviving model as the others were destroyed in the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906. 

   Because of the piano’s age, it only gets played a few times a year, including Heney’s performances. According to Caplin, the piano has not been tuned in a long time so the house has had trouble finding a professional tuner willing to tune it.

   “The strings are attached in such a way that they could snap, and if they did it could actually injure someone,” he said. 

   However, Caplin says the exterior is in very good condition, and the sound is decent despite not being tuned in a long time.

   Heney will be performing an array of holiday classics like “Joy to the World” and “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen.” Combined with the ambiance of the house, Caplin believes concertgoers will be put into the Christmas spirit.

   “It’s very beautifully decorated for Christmas,” he said. “We actually had a professional decorator do the main parlor, so it looks great and smells great and it gives the whole feel of the season. It will put everybody in a great Christmas spirit- Victorian style, if you will.”

   The concert will take place from 2 to 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 20 in the parlor of the Fischer-Hanlon House, located at 115 West G St. Seating is limited and available on a first-come, first- served basis.  Admission is free, but donations to the BSPA are welcomed. For more information, contact (707) 745-3670. 

Vallejo Symphony continues search for new conductor

(Originally published in the 11/4/15 edition)

    The Vallejo Symphony Orchestra will continue with the second round of its search to find a permanent conductor Sunday. The next new face to hold the baton? Christian Baldini.

   Baldini is a conductor who has led orchestras across the globe. Among the items on his resume: the Munich Radio Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Buenos Aires Philharmonic. He has also worked with the North State Symphony in Chico and Redding and conducted 11 concerts with the San Francisco Symphony for the 2014-2015 season. 

   “I grew up with music,” Baldini said. “It was a crucial part of my life, even though I didn’t realize at the time it was going to be my profession. We had no professional musicians in the family, so it was more like a really fun thing to do.”

   Baldini soon learned to enjoy the challenge of being a conductor.

   “It’s a very sociable profession,” he said. ‘You need to learn to collaborate with people and inspire them to do your best. Whichever orchestra, group or singers you’re performing with, your goal is to get their very best energy so that we can come together in a cohesive way and provide a strong performance.”

   Baldini’s work as maestro has often been lauded. He recorded a CD with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and soprano Elizabeth Watts titled “Mozart: Opera Arias and Overtures,” which was named by BBC Music Magazine as the recording of the month.

   “It was a wonderful surprise,” Baldini said. “We musicians work hard on every project that comes our way.” 

   Most recently, Baldini did conducting duties for Mercury Soul, a project by DJ and composer Mason Bates that combines classical music with electronica. The collective performed at San Francisco’s Ruby Skye club on Oct. 2.

   “It was really exciting,” Baldini said. “ It’s a very different kind of audience. As musicians, we need to be thinking about not just what we perform and how we perform it but for whom. Whatever we can do to expand the interests and constituencies of every community is very important.”

   Baldini plans to bring a similar sense of variety to Sunday’s concert. The program, “Poetic Genius,” will begin with the debut of a new six-minute piece, “Satellite,” by Swedish composer and Berkeley resident Mika Pelo.

   “The orchestra hasn’t done a lot of new music, so this is nice,” Baldini said. “(Pelo) is a composer with a great ear for color and texture.”

   The evening will continue with Sacramento-based soprano Carrie Hennessey performing arias  from the operas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Giuseppe Verdi. 

   Finally, the night will conclude with a performance of Robert Schumann’s “Spring Symphony.”

   “That’s a piece I feel very close to,” Baldini said. “Schumann is one of my favorite composers, and I noticed that the Vallejo Symphony has not performed much of his music, so this is a nice occasion to bring one of the great symphonies into their venue.”

   Baldini says the three parts are a way to showcase who he is as a composer.

   “We will showcase one of the wonderful symphonies by Schumann, innovation with the new piece and also a great operatic tradition with a wonderful soprano,” he said. 

   Overall, Baldini wants audience members to treat the concert as they would reading a good novel. 

   “If it’s a really good book, it’s something you’re going to be thinking about while you’re reading it,” he said. “Even after you’ve finished the book, it was something that made a strong impression on you. The concert is very similar, and in that respect, it’s something that makes your imagination travel to different places.”

   “You can sense a lot of excitement, beauty, sadness and love in the music,” he added.

   “Poetic Genius” will be performed at 3 p.m., Nov. 8 at the Hogan High School auditorium, located on 850 Rosewood Ave. Tickets are available at VallejoSymphony.org.

   

Vallejo Symphony Orchestra features Spanish classical music

   Compared to German or Austrian classical music, Spanish classical music isn’t nearly as well-known. However, Spain has been home to plenty of great classical composers, and audience members will get a taste of it  at the First Presbyterian Church in Vallejo on Oct. 18. 

   The Vallejo Symphony Orchestra will be presenting “Dancing Across Espana,” a concert featuring the musical sounds of Tres Musicos, a trio out of Sacramento. The group consists of Anita Felix on violin, John Cozza on piano and Curtis Kidwell on oboe.

   “Anita and I play in Folsom Symphony,” Kidwell said. “We had been playing Bach’s ‘Double Concerto’ and decided that we worked really well together, so we decided to make it a more permanent thing.”
   The two then recruited Cozza, and Tres Musicos was born. When trying to come up with music to perform that featured violin, piano and oboe, they found there wasn’t much.

   “A friend of mine from Spain brought me a CD of some music there,” Kidwell said. “I listened to them and really loved them and thought ‘This would be ideal.’”

   Afterwards, the trio brainstormed some pieces, and they went over really well in concert, Kidwell said.

   Tres Musicos will be performing the works of eight composers who were mostly active in the late-19th and early-20th century, including Isaac Albeniz, Enrique Granados, Joaquin Turina and more.

   “The rhythms of Spanish orchestral music are very interesting,” Kidwell said. “There’s a lot of syncopation, flourishes and fast tempos.”

   He also noted that Spanish composers were big on what Kidwell referred to as “an extreme emotional rollercoaster.”

   “Some movements are fast, fiery and exciting, and others are very introspective and very sweet and melancholy,” Kidwell said. 

   He further described the music as “the antithesis of Bach,” noting that the compositions are less rigid and more freeform.

   In addition to the music he’ll be performing, Kidwell expressed appreciation for his bandmates.

   “Anita and John are accomplished, technically superior musicians,” he said. “We complement each other very well.”

   Kidwell is the principal oboist for the Vallejo Symphony Orchestra, Folsom Symphony Orchestra and Auburn Symphony Orchestra. To him, working in a smaller group presents a lot of differences.

   “We can do interesting things that you just can’t do with an orchestra because there’s so many players that the conductor has to keep everyone on track,” Kidwell said. “In chamber music, you have a lot more freedom.”

   However, Kidwell said, trio performers’ mistakes are a lot more exposed when less people are on stage.

   “If you make a mistake or fumble, it’s much more obvious,” he said.
   Kidwell hopes audience members will forget about their problems that day and enjoy an evening of music. He also hopes they will dance.
   “I encourage the audience to move around in their seats because most of this music is intended to be danced to,” he said. “There’s so many great melodies that you’re probably going to start whistling multiple tunes.”

   “Dancing Across Espana” will begin at 4 p.m. Oct. 18 at First Presbyterian Church, 1350 Amador St., in Vallejo. Tickets are $10 for students ages 13 and older, and $20 for adults.