Joe Payne

The sound of two or more voices blending together with different notes was something that attracted Chris Hillman since he began playing music. That harmony singing style was a huge part of The Byrds’ sound, of which Hillman was an original member. Many decades—and just as many bands—later, Hillman is still chasing that dragon with […]

Hey, have you heard of Battle App? It’s a battle rap app where users get to compete one-on-one with wit and rhyme, earning votes and followers for their performances in short video clips accompanied by famous hip-hop beats. One local—self-described rapper and comedic artist Will Walker—has made quite a splash on Battle App, climbing the […]

Scholarship surrounding The Beatles—that’s the four-member 1960s rock ’n’ roll group out of Liverpool, England—is a well-saturated market. But that didn’t slow down local music writer Mark Brickley. Brickley, who has penned articles for Deep Magazine, The Coastal View News, and Noozhawk, fell in love with The Beatles’ music as a teenager. But it wasn’t […]

The Marimba Band and Ballet Folklórico program at Ernest Righetti High School was founded in 1975 and has performed an annual concert ever since then. The program began thanks to longtime Righetti teacher Ricardo Gabaldón, who wanted to educate students about Mexican and Latino culture and heritage. Gabaldón retired in 2014, and was succeeded by […]

Every year at the annual Spaghetti and Song event put on by Santa Maria’s only community choir, the Coastal Voices, members usually entertain throughout the evening. But choir members won’t get to hog the microphone all night at this year’s event. For the first time, the fundraiser dinner event will feature karaoke, so attendees can […]

The members of the Allan Hancock College Concert Band are many—the ensemble numbers 75 strong—and they hail from varied backgrounds and tenures with the band. Some are Hancock students fresh out of high school, explained band director Greg Stoll, but others are local professionals or retirees who have been performing with the ensemble for decades. […]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) is often held up as the example of the consummate musical genius. A famous wunderkind in his lifetime, he gave humanity an incredible amount of music in his 35 years. But unfortunately, it has become easy to take Mozart for granted. We hear him all the time, from film scores to […]

O’Sullivan’s Pub in Santa Maria has meant a lot of things to a lot of people. Some saw it as a place to avoid, while others found it a simple sanctuary for enjoying brews with friends. For local musicians, O’Sullivan’s was the one place you could play, even if your band was loud, rowdy, and […]