Heralds of the Sword album release

The Bakersfield based band The Heralds of the Sword blend the sounds of heavy metal with an epic fantasy story. Think J.R.R. Tolkien meets Metallica.

The Heralds pose – from Heraldsofthesword.com

 

The 27th Annual Jazz Festival

Jazz Festival

Grenaider’s nightlife

Grenaider’s cocktail lounge offers a welcoming enviornment with music, drinks, and a friendly bartender.

Crooked Folk rocks Bakersfield as one of the best bands in town

Photo provided by:  http://localrockstars.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Crooked-Folk-Photo.jpg

Wanda Winkler, a writer for Playing the Field, interviewed Annie Schneider after meeting her at Starbucks to discuss Crooked Folk, her favorite Bakersfield band. 

A Night of Blues

A Night of Blues

Deedra Patrick and Special Guest Teddy Spanke at Julie’s Branding Iron. A place that is not only a bar and grill but also a place to go see local bands and shoot some pool with friends. The walls are a bright red and remind me of a fire truck but the atmosphere is friendly. The walls also have cardboard people on it. People dancing and drinking but the music is always good. Local artists and vocal coach Deedra Patrick has a band that was was playing at A Night of Blues with special  guest Teddy Spanke. Colored lights are the only lights and are facing the stage as the other lights are dimmed.  Teddy Spanke started to play guitar at age 15 but really didn’t take laying music seriously till later on in life. While talking with him he remembers a time when playing local gigs could pay the rent.Unsure of his future, the then-20-year-old found renewed interest in music after meeting guitarist Eugene Moles for the first time. He wanted to play country rock and tanks to Moles he was able to find his way into a music scene. Spanke knew just how to make the most of a gigging opportunity in the busy scene of club life in the ’80s. After mastering country-style playing, he began experimenting with the rock, funk and soul being played in the multiracial club scene. He is now a part of the band Teddy Spanke and the Tex Pistols and does guest appearances with bands who belong to his friends.

Buck Owens’ Ghost Is Alive After Seven Years

BUCK OWENS’ MAUSOLEUM

PHOTO BY: WANDA WINKLER

  March 25 was the seven-year anniversary of the death of Buck Owens. So where is the country western music legend? He is buried in The Buck Owens Family mausoleum in Greenlawn Southwest Cemetery, 2739 Panama Lane, Bakersfield. The mausoleum, also named  “Buck’s Place,” is the largest structure in the graveyard except for the Georgian mansion used for the office and mortuary building. He is interred in the mausoleum which also contains his mother and the ashes of his first wife, Bonnie Campbell Owens. Some people go to the graveyard looking for Buck. Others write books about his ghost. “The Ghost of Buck Owens: And Other Tales From the San Joaquin,” by Steve Sorensen was released in 2011.                                                 

  Chris Porfiri, 47, who works at Greenlawn Southwest Cemetery said, “there have been a couple of times when folks will stop into the park and ask where they can find Buck Owens’s grave– so we direct them to the mausoleum.” For more details on finding his grave go to http://www.findagrave.com.

  Bakersfield’s most popular entertainer, Owens was born Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr., in Sherman, Texas, to a sharecropping family and moved to Bakersfield when he was 21 years old. He signed a recording contract with Los Angeles music giant Capital Records in 1957, and his career took off from there. He became one of America’s top country western musicians, singers, writers, and entrepreneurs. The Crystal Palace, his legacy museum located at 2800 Buck Owens Blvd., is a unique masterpiece exhibiting exquisite western charm, history, and hometown hospitality. Owens left a sensational mark on this city, including his last No.1 hit song titled, “The Streets of Bakersfield.” For more information go to http://www.buckowens.com.

  Dave Lyman, 55, from the Bakersfield Convention and Visitors Bureau said he’s never been asked about Owens’ grave site. However, “large numbers of tour buses stop here on their way to someplace else, like Fresno, Yosemite, or Sequoia National Park. They are not making a pilgrimage to Bakersfield to see the Crystal Palace specifically or to go to Buck Owens’ grave,” Lyman said.

  “The bus drivers are only allowed to drive so many hours a day, so they stop in Bakersfield because it is the midway point between several locations. Fortunately, the Crystal Palace is conveniently located and because they serve great meals, it’s a favorite location for the bus drivers and the passengers,” Lyman said.

  Buck Owens made his mark in life as a composer, singer, entrepreneur, and publisher, and in death with his majestic burial site. His mausoleum is original and available to the public free of charge at Greenlawn Cemetery. “After all,” Lyman said, “it’s not like you have a Crystal Palace or Buck Owens in every town.”

 

A Busy Weekend for the Visual Performing Arts at California State University, Bakersfield

A lot happened this weekend in the Visual Performing Arts Community at CSU-Bakersfield. For Peggy Sears, it was the culmination her 22-year career  as Voice instructor  here at CSUB.  There was a gala held in her honor at the Albertsons room inside the theater. And of course after the gala, followed An Evening of Opera and Zarzuela Scenes. The next day, as Celebrate CSUB got underway, the ground breaking ceremony took place for the new Art Department that is going to be built behind the CSUB Music Department.

• Before, the opera scenes began, there was a gala held in honor of Peggy Sears 22 year-long career at CSUB. Students gave testimonials about how she has helped them grow as musicians and how she “has pushed” them to do things that they though that they could not do. One student expressed how their previous college experience was not what she had hoped for because of negative remarks and how Sears helped and pushed her to new heights.
  

  Sears takes time to pose for a picture with Elizabeth Provencio, a CSUB Alumna and one of Sears’ former students.

• CSUB Opera Theatre held “An Evening of Opera and Zarzuela Scenes” at the Dore Thetre. The evening open with a scene from The Magic Flute by W.A. Mozart. and closed with scenes from Help, Help, the Globolinks by Gian Carlo Menotti. The play itself is about an alien invasion that can only be fought off by the power of music. Madame Euterpova, music teacher, portrayed by Elizabeth Provencio, lead the other teachers and students into battle against the Globolinks by giving everyone an instrument and motivating everyone to keep playing. The scene ends with eerie music that indicates that the Globolinks have gone away in retreat.
  

  Madame Euterpova (Elizabeth Provencio) after her victory over the Globolinks.

• On April 27, 2013, during Celebrate CSUB, there was a ground breaking ceremony held behind the Music department building, where the new Art department building will be built. The Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities, Richard Collins opened by giving a brief history of how this project got started and how it hit many road blocks, many if not all financial. He as well as president Horace Mitchell, expressed their gratitude to the people who had something with making this construction happen.

  NOTE: As a matter of full disclosure, I received lessons from Professor Peggy Sears in the winter quarter of 2010 to prepare for the ACDA Western Division Collegiate Honor Choir .

People are What Make a Place Great

Photo from http://www.facebook.com/AmityFlow

     It is not uncommon to hear someone in Bakersfield say “There is nothing to do here”.  The truth is that most people do not take the time to look.  Bakersfield offers many things to do for all ages.  Bakersfield looks like an empty town for those whose only experience of Bakersfield is passing through on the Highway 99.  I have lived in Bakersfield since I was born and do not plan on moving anytime soon.  Bakersfield has a small home town feeling but with some perks of a big city. 

     There is a very large music scene in Bakersfield.  Amity Flow is a new local band that recently started playing shows at several locations around town.  The band has become very popular in just a short amount of time.  Drew Thomas Peterson, Patrick Griffith, James Barron, Andrew Whitmore, and Kevin Lundy are the five members of the band.   The band plays a vibrant style of reggae/rock music.  Amity Flow has previously played at several locations such as B-Ryder’s, On the Rocks Bar and Grill, and Narducci’s Café.  The band can be contacted and the schedule can be viewed at the link.

      Since the band is becoming such a big hit they were able to get a spot in the tour “Everybody Loves Everybody Tour” so they can play in other areas of the country.  Amity Flow will be able to spread their music and message to other areas and not just Bakersfield.  If you attend one of Amity Flow’s shows and become interested in the Bakersfield music scene you can view some of the upcoming events at the link.

     Bakersfield is home to many unique and talented people and people are what make a place wonderful.  Everyone might not love Bakersfield as much as I do but it would be a lie to say there is nothing to do in Bakersfield.

A Diamond in the Dust…

Bakersfield Sign Photo taken by Nick Chapman

If someone described to you what Bakersfield has to offer, like theater, classic orchestras, entertainers like Elton John and James Taylor performing live in concert, local artists performing music and art, and modern cuisine. People would not believe it was Bakersfield but rather some other major metropolis area.  In California, there exists a common attitude that Bakersfield is just an oil town. Devoid of any real experience of art, culture, or entertainment.  However, after living here for over ten years I can say that this mindset is not absolutely true. There is life here in Bakersfield, not just people living but a infusion of artistic and cultural awakening. This movement is not only expressed by artists and groups passing through Bakersfield but by the citizens themselves.

The Rabobank Arena.
Photo provided by the Marriot hotel.

The venues here in Bakersfield  are putting on great performances. Major locations like the Fox Theater and Rabobank Arena continue to bring  great talent to Bakersfield. While local theaters like The Empty Space, Bakersfield Community Theater, and Spotlight Theater bring many local artist to the stage and gallery. There are museums and zoos, fairs and concerts, and everything in between.

The Fox Theater Photo taken by Bobak Ha’Eri July 26 2009

The dilemma Bakersfield faces  today is that it desires to be both current and cultured as it duels with the equally passionate effort to remain the quiet conservative town it once was.

Bakersfield’s reputation as being one of the top 10 conservative cities in America, with a strong christian base lends people to believe that this city remains unmoved by currents trend in culture.  Yet, there is an undercurrent of nightlife, contemporary art, classical music, ballet, live bans, and sporting events, all bubbling up to the surface.

Bakersfield has over 350,000 residents now and has had a  41% jump in growth since the last decade. This created a more diverse society which grew the desire for a wider preference of the kinds of entertainment the city has to offer.  Bakersfield’s fun and creative side may not be the first thing people think about this city. But if you can wipe the dust away and if you know where to look, you will realize what a diamond it can truly be.