Free Live Music - by Steve Key

 

  2011 Columns

 

 

October, 2011         The Six Million Dollar Drummer

 

Lou Mars tweets: "Beautiful Blue Sky Day in Morro Bay, attending my first live music festival sober, and it's a Margarita Festival LOL . . ."

 

September, 2011     Friday Night Blues and a Saturday Goodbye

 

Musicians hate double-bookings.  You show up at the venue ready to set up and play, only to find out that another act has been booked on the same date.  Usually, one act keeps the gig and the other goes home empty-handed.  But on August 19, two bands celebrated a double-booking with a merger—Valerie Johnson's Voodoo Doodads shared the stage with Jimmy Townsend's California Blues Band for a free Friday evening blues jam at the Branch Street Deli in Arroyo Grande.

 

August, 2011           SLO Music Venue Takes Out Chinese Cafe

 

August 8 is the scheduled opening for the newest Free Live Music venue in downtown SLO.  The former Golden China Buffet at 685 Higuera Street will be the location of "Kreuzberg, CA."  The venue (properly pronounced KROITS-burg, although most patrons persist in saying "CROOZ-burg") takes its name from a neighborhood in Berlin, Germany — "the creative and cultural heart of the city," according to Kreuzberg CA owner James Whitaker.

 

July 2011                  Morro Bay Free Live Music

 

Miss Lola's Southside Diner opened last month in Morro Bay, in place of the Pelican Grill at 560 Embarcadero. Free live music is out on the patio, Saturday and Sunday noon to 3pm.  Burgers, meatloaf, mac & cheese—yep, sounds like a southside diner.  And yes, that's the same Miss Lola—as in Frankie & Lola's Front Street Café—their other restaurant on the other end of The Embarcadero.

 

June 2011                Used to Be Two Blocks From the Beach

 

Remember that place in Pismo that used to be called Two Blocks From the Beach?  Perfect name, since that's where it was, at the corner of Dolliver and Main. Then it was The Grub Zone for awhile, and for a few months this year, The Famous Alley Cat—nightly jazz music and an eclectic cajun menu.  Music was served up free almost every night, with talent ranging from Cal Poly student ensembles to nightclub circuit veterans.