Yuji Tojo Ben Lomond Entertainment Music 

Yuji Tojo: Ben Lomond Musician Rooted Through Music and Friends

By Julie Horner “It seems like everybody is busy these days,” legendary guitar player and songwriter Yuji Tojo said. Lately, the soft spoken and introspective musician is more about trying to keep things as simple as he can.  Tojo was ready to go to Japan for a tour in 2020, but the pandemic canceled his plans. Musically everything evaporated. A… Read More
Bluzar Blue Books Music 

Local Musician and Artist Bluzar Blue Releases Retrospective

By Julie Horner Longtime Santa Cruz Mountains local Bluzar Blue has released a compilation of songs, illustrations, quips, and observations in a book entitled “Bluzar Blue, In Black and White and In Color.” The book showcases 75 colored plates of his favorite artistic creations, finished and unfinished, since 1969. “I was having a hard time getting my artwork into galleries,”… Read More
Anthony Arya Entertainment Music 

Anthony Arya Music Video Debuts at Hallcrest Vineyards

Anthony Arya’s California Air Music Video debuts at Hallcrest Vineyards in Felton on Sunday, May 8 starting with a live performance at 4:00 followed by a potluck and no-host wine bar until 8:00. The music video premiere starts at dusk. In the summer of 2021, Arya started an outdoor concert series at Hallcrest performing from the vineyard’s working 1947 Dodge… Read More
oganookie Entertainment History Music 

Oganookie Reunion at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center

By Julie Horner Guitarist, piano player, and songwriter Jack Bowers talks about it like it was yesterday. “We came to Brookdale in 1970 and set up camp in a big house on the top of Western Drive with an apple orchard.” Dubbed the “Oganookie Farm,” Bowers said it was “14 musicians, a manager, and kids and women living cooperatively.”  According… Read More
Mojo Navigators Ben Lomond San Lorenzo Valley Entertainment Music 

Page Brownton and The Mojo Navigators

Reformed but Unrepentant! By Michele Murphy Approaching the rustic and whimsical dwelling of local treasure Page Brownton and his lovely wife Gael, one is greeted by a magical, mythical homestead handcrafted by Brownton himself using found treasures and antiquities collected over many years. A musician, philosopher, and carpenter, Brownton has cultivated a slice of heaven in the Santa Cruz Mountains… Read More
Entertainment Music 

Absolute Surrender: Sarah “Songbird” Fishleder Releases First Album

By Julie Horner Local singer-songwriter Sarah Fishleder weaves a certain gospel, creating a testament to healing through music with her first album, After the Winter, a collection of six songs that chronicle the journey from pain to acceptance and celebrates the joy of coming into the spring. Co-produced with Elie Mabanza of Mokili Wa and recorded mostly in Nevada City… Read More
Entertainment Music 

Santa Cruz Latin Collective – Suavecito!

By Julie Horner The Santa Cruz Latin Collective has its roots deep in the Latin rock and Afro-Cuban dance music genre with simmering rhythm-forward salsa, mamba, and brown-eyed soul influences. Lead guitarist, vocalist, and co-founder Oscar Estrella is an originating member of Sapo, the legendary Latin rock band that came out of the 1970s Chicano music scene in the San… Read More
Boulder Creek Music 

Concertino Strings Boulder Creek’s Orchestra in Residence

By Joanne Tanner and Julie Horner The Boulder Creek United Methodist Church was welcoming on a rainy Wednesday morning in October. Classical music enthusiasts of all ages settled into their pews and the overflow audience stilled to an anticipatory hush. Stained glass windows cast muted colors, the soft patter of the season’s first moisture the only sound through an open… Read More