NOK Entertainment presents, Umpa’s Bday Bash, featuring Baby Bash, Kafani, J-Blaze, and DJ SolRok. You must be 21 and over, dress code is enforced. Thursday, August 19th, 2010.
The Hippodrome
321 Alvarado Street
Monterey, CA 93940-2458
(831) 262-2704
Monterey county reggae fans will be pleased to hear that there is a free reggae show on Cannery Row. OMANI is honored to be the first ever reggae band to perform at the legendary Sly McFly’s Refueling Station in Monterey.
Friday January 15th at Sly McFly’s
700 A Cannery Row Monterey, CA 92940 — (831) 649-8050
OMANI is proud to be the FIRST EVER REGGAE BAND AT SLY’S
FREE SHOW — 9pm til 1am — Food and Alcohol available
The music, and band name, symbolizes “Positivity”. It’s a message with a strong sense for finding one’s own happiness, balanced with thoughtful awareness. With hypnotic grooves and satisfying positive vibes, OMANI‘s uplifting reggae music makes you think, makes you wanna move, and makes you have a good time.
Performing mainly original songs, as well as spontaneous improvisational dub jams, yet sometimes also a tasty selection of a few cover songs by Dennis Brown, Tenor Saw, Bob Marly, and even the Eagles, and Steve Miller.
This band does not rely on stereotypical tactics such as fakin’ jamaican patois, preaching the bible, or singing about ganja. Instead they provide the audience with a broad texture of sound featuring catchy hooks, horn lines, and vocal harmonies, delivered with a contagious and familiar yet refreshing feeling of pure musical pleasure.
The last time OMANI performed in Monterey was for the 14th annual Monterey Bay Reggaefest on Labor Day weekend 2009.
Learn more about OMANI at omaniband.com
The 1st annual Otherground All Stars Showcase presented by Quilombo Arte
Show Flyer
There is going to be a HUGE show on November 13th at Giovane’s Restaurant in Salinas. At MC Cambio’s CD release show, you’ll get to see not only Mr. Cambio himself, but the entire Para La Gente crew, including Bocafloja, straight out of Mexico City, and vocalist Shannon Michele! Realization will also be there along with DJ Mike J (spinning soul and funk) and special guests.
It’s an 18 and over show, and will cost only $7 for entrance.
Location:
Giovane’s Pizza
348 San Juan Grade Road
Salinas, CA
(831) 444-6717
John "Broadway" Tucker
Treat yourself to some fantastic blues! John “Broadway” Tucker, the 2006 Monterey Blues Festival Artist of the Year, and his 7 piece Broadway Blues Band will knock your socks off! John Tucker will be playing this Saturday, October 3rd, with the Broadway Blues Band at Giovane’s Restaurant in Salinas. Dinner will be served from 5-9pm, and the music starts at 9pm. You can check out the late night menu as well from 9pm to 12:30am. The cover charge for this show is $5!
Giovane’s Restaurant
348 San Juan Grade Road
(831) 444-6717
Click for Full Size
Imagine a sleeping lion in a tranquil African Savannah, warmed by the morning sun. Birds are singing and the air is still. Yet somewhere deep inside the sleeping lion lurks his beastly nature, ready for a deathly strike if hungry or provoked. Realization’s Sleeping Lion is an anthem that expresses the band’s ideology that it is best to stay as peaceful as possible. Besides just bringing appealing music to the people, Realization also wants to start what they call a spiritual revolution. They hope that their lyrics are freely integrated into the psyches of their listeners. They encourage people to choose peace over violence or aggression when difficult situations or conflicts arise in life. In a time where financial problems are on everyone’s mind because of the flailing economy, the band wants you to stop agonizing over issues like money.
“People aren’t in the right state of mind,(being concerned over) paying bills… In this world, nothing goes your way, you have to find your own..escape the mindset of the everyday, be a real person, don’t just worry.” says Isaac, who takes credit for bringing the new band together after their split from 40831. His opinion is that it may be one of society’s main dysfunctions that “we don’t know how to say hi to a stranger.”
Reggae has a certain influence over their musical style yet they also fuse hip-hop beats, lyrical combinations, and some crazy samples including what sounds like a church choir in Equalizer. According to Isaac, something that makes the band’s sound especially unique is that they have a d.j. and live instruments working together on stage which makes it seem like you are listening to an album.
Isaac describes the meaning behind Sleeping Lion, “ Deep inside you you have an angry beast that is sleeping. When the beast is sleeping let him sleep, don’t cross a line, don’t anger people…carry yourself as a peaceful person. Yeah, I’m a peaceful loving person, but when I see things that are offensive I have to maintain (that peacefulness) regardless of what happens at that moment, people gotta be learnin’ to control themselves.”
Check out Realization’s music and a list of their upcoming shows at RealizationCrew.com
Check out Realization live w/ Para La Gente October 16 , 9pm at
Carbone’s
214 Lighthouse Ave.
Monterey, CA
Free Show, 21+ Only
and October 23 9pm at
American Burger
738 Lighthouse Ave.
Monterey, CA
All ages Show
$8.
Brought to you by Live En Vivo Magazine!
Our very own featured artists Omani and Dub Wize will be playing, along with over 40 other great reggae artists. Get your tickets online and show your support, have a great time, and don’t forget the after parties! Dub Wize will be playing on Saturday, and Omani will be playing on Saturday.
Rock Out at Giovane's!
Come see Calijuana and special guests Low Budget perform live at Giovane’s in Salinas.
The show is only $5! It will be on Friday, September 4th from 8:30 – 11:30pm. Click here to go to Calijuana’s MySpace page!
Giovane’s
348 San Juan Grade Road
Salinas, California 93906
(831) 444 – 6717
Photo Credit – StockVault.net
Travis Larson and Pleatherface
We did the impossible and brought together two bands that, well, really don’t have much in common, at least when it comes to looks. Pleatherface is a local one man, plastic-leather mask-wearing musician that brings metal music to the stage, and The Travis Larson Band is a group of extremely talented and nationally acclaimed musicians who play mellow to high end rock music. We brought them all together at Giovane’s Restaurant before the big show, here’s what they had to say.
Participating:
Mike Rodriguez, Owner of SalinasRadio.com
Travis Larson, Guitarist for The Travis Larson Band
Jennifer Young, Bassist for The Travis Larson Band
Pleatherface, as himself.
Mike: So tell me about your bands names, what does Pleatherface mean?
Pleatherface: It means… plastic leather… glued to your face.
Jennifer Young and Dale Moon
Travis: As opposed to fine Corinthian leather.
Mike: And what about the Travis Larson Band?
Travis: After years of playing, I was the only constant musician in the band. Since I was here since the beginning, we just kinda had to have it my way.
Jennifer: We’ve been the TLB since birth, that’s the band.
Mike: Who are some of your inspirations? Who inspired you to start the band?
Pleatherface: Jimi Hendrix, Bach, and Danny Gunton.
Travis: Jeff Bech is what got me to start playing. Steve Morris later on, he plays with Deep Purple. Rush is a HUGE inspiration.
Pleatherface: Rush is great. My step dad made me memorize every Rush lyric…
Jennifer and Travis, Rocking Out!
Mike: How long have you been together as a band?
Travis: We just released our ten year anniversary DVD and Double Live CD. So we’ve been together for 10 years.
Pleatherface: Pleatherface was born two years ago. At our CD release, Travis headlined and it was great.
Mike: So how did you start playing music?
Pleatherface: I used to dream of trying to play the guitar. One day, I was walking home from school, I walked by the bus stop, and in the bushes, I found a lamp. I wished that I could play guitar, and then I learned how. I sacrificed a lot to do what I do.
Travis: When I was five, I first heard of Jeff Bech. I have been playing music since I was ten, playing piano. Typical story, my parents had a piano, got me to do lessons, but when I got to high school, I realized a guitar was a lot easier to carry around. I liked to stand out and be noticed, I was a shy kid.
Pleatherface on Stage
Mike: Do you have to honor any brand loyalty with your instruments? Or are you endorsed by any company?
Travis: We’ve got an endorsement deal, Jennifer and I play Ernie Ball exclusively. We’ve been playing Ernie Ball for about eight or nine years.
Pleatherface: I like Gibson for live stuff, but I love all kinds of instruments, I am not yet endorsed.
Mike: What are some of your favorite places to play?
Pleatherface: Good question, a great spot is the Lounge Underground in Monterey and Giovane’s in Salinas of course. The Lava Lounge was a great place for locals to showcase their skills too. I look forward to all venues. I plan to play every venue in California. I have a list of 110 venues so far around California that I plan to play at.
Travis: We’ve played all over the country, everything from crowds of 15 people, to 15,o00 people. It’s not the venues, it’s the people. If we have a great crowd, then we’ve had a great show.
Dale Moon on his AMAZING Drum Set
Mike: What songs do you play the most?
Pleatherface: Purple Kool-Aid. We’re not endorsed by Kool-Aid either. It was inspired by the Jim Jones tragedy, where everyone drank purple Kool-Aid…
Jennifer: [What songs do we play the most?] The good ones.
Travis: We play a little from every album. We have five albums over a decade, so we try to play all of our favorites from each album, and we promote our newest one, of course.
Jennifer: … The good ones. 
Mike: Do you play any covers?
Travis: We do two covers, Georgia on my Mind, with Victor Wharton, he was the best bass player five times in a row in Bass Player Magazine. he can’t even enter the competition any more. We also play People Get Ready by Curtis Mayfield, recorded with Steve Lucither. He’s a Grammy award winning musician.
Pleatherface: What was the Grammy for?
Travis Larson, deep in his guitar solo.
Travis: He won the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for his album with Larry Carlton.
Mike: Who writes your songs?
Pleatherface: I write all my stuff. The last album, all the instruments were played by me except for the drums.
Travis: I write all the stuff, but the band arranges it. They are all great musicians, and add their own stamp to everything I write.
Mike: Are you part of a record label?
Travis: We are on Precision Records.
Pleatherface: I’m with Knife Records.
Mike: Are there any shows coming up?
Travis: We’re playing at Woody’s tomorrow in Monterey. (8-22-09) And we’re doing the UFO Tour as well in October.
Mike: How has your band progressed and evolved since you first started?
Pleatherface: Well, I’ve been playing more mellow music lately, as opposed to the first stuff which was really hard. There will even be some piano stuff on the next album.
Travis: I won’t say we’ve gotten better, but we’ve gotten more diverse over the years, much more polished as musicians.
Jennifer: And grumpier!
Mike: Where can fans find your music and purchase your CD’s?
Pleatherface: Well most listen to me and support me because I am strange and instrumental, you can find Pleatherface music on Pleatherface.com and listen to us on MySpace and YouTube.
Travis: They can listen in and buy our CD’s on our website, TravisLarsonBand.com, and on our MySpace. Our fans are a wide range of diverse people, from teens to…
Jennifer: … to retirees!
Travis: … to people inn their 70′s and 80′s…
Jennifer: … people who like to hear the GOOD songs. And I like to finish your sentences. Good music speaks to a large number of people.
Mike: Is there anyone you would like to thank?
Pleatherface: I’ve been listening to the Travis Larson Band since 1999, I saw them at the Monterey Rock and Arts Festival…
Travis: Which is now defunct…
Pleatherface: The Travis Larson Band inspired me to be a better musician and a better person.
Travis: Pleatherface is all too kind.
Mike: Any last words?
Pleatherface: Thank you for this interview.
Travis: Keep supporting local and live music!
Pleatherface: Definitely support live music! And get the kids to put down Guitar Hero and play real guitar!
Jennifer: I like doughnuts! 
Mike: Thank you for taking the time to do this interview for us, it was fun.
Omani
Our very own featured artist, Omani, will be playing live at Giovane’s Restaurant on Saturday, August 22, 2009 along with Reality Sound International selector DJ Daddy Spleece. The cover charge is only $7 at the door. The first 50 people in get a FREE OMANI CD! That’s right, $7, and you’ll get to see a great show with an awesome DJ, and on top of it, get an Omani CD absolutely free. The show is for ages 21 and over and starts at 9pm. Great food, beer, and wine will be available.
“OMANI is a five piece reggae band hailing from Salinas Valley and the Monterey Bay Area in the central coast region of California, bringing deep hypnotic grooves and satisfying positive vibes. Blending new and traditional interpretations inspired from an array of musical genres, but presented with a decidedly west coast roots reggae sound.” – OmaniBand.com
Giovane’s
348 San Juan Grade Road
Salinas, California 93906
(831) 444 – 6717
Travis Larson Band
Happening THIS FRIDAY at Giovane’s Resturaunt in Salinas, CA. The Travis Larson Band and Pleatherface will be playing live! These two bands will raise the bar for Salinas and Giovane’s. Please support the venue. Drink specials, great food, and you don’t have to drive far to see a GREAT show! Hopefully we’ll get both bands permission to get them up on the air on SalinasRadio.com for your continued rocking. 
There is a $5 cover, this show is for ages 21 and over.
Giovane’s
348 San Juan Grade Road
Salinas, California 93906
(831) 444 – 6717
Here are a few press quotes about The Travis Larson Band:
“…unquestionably a guitar lover’s dream, this dynamic power trio offers much more than the dime-a-dozen Berklee educated wankers vying to dethrone Joe Satriani...”
-Sea of Tranquility“…this band has all the chops and blazing technique to send all you wannabe shredders back to the woodshed, but what makes them stand so far apart from their peers is the SONGS…”
-Foundrymusic.com“Think of a musical stew mixing a thick brown Rush gravy with big hearty chunks of Steve Morse and a dash of Jeff Beck…I haven’t been this impressed since the pairing of nitro and glycerin…”
-Ray Sansom“…a smoking instrumental power trio…With tons of technique to burn…”
-Expose Magazine
