PHOTO BY NINA SIMONE BENTLEY
44 San Diego Reader February 23, 2017
Kamau’s gold. “I was at home working on a new proj- ect,” says musician/producer Kamau Kenyatta explaining why he had to miss this year’s Grammy awards. Kenyatta helmed the sessions behind Gregory Porter’s Take Me to the Alley, which earned top
If you missed it on televi-
sion, there’s a reason. “It was during the day because that’s when the jazz awards go out. They don’t get tele- vised because the industry doesn’t put them on the same level as pop music,” Kenyatta continues.
the inside track
would take a lot to get me out of San Diego,” Kenyatta said. “Something drastic would have to happen, because I love it here and I love teaching at UCSD. It would require a seismic event to remove me. I have the freedom to do these projects in New York and I’ve been traveling to Korea to do some teaching at the Seoul Institute of the Arts. So I’m able to do that and still come home to San Diego — I don’t know what could be better than that!” Kenyatta began the ses-
prize for “Best Jazz Vocal” at Sunday’s ceremony. “I have some deadlines
that I’m dealing with, and I’m going to New York in March for another project,” says
“But it does feel wonder-
ful because some really great musicians spend their whole careers without ever being nominated. We’ve been nomi- nated four times and have
Team Kenyatta (left) and Porter batting .500 in the Grammy awards game, earning two trophies out of four nominations.
Kenyatta. “So I’m just not in a position to take a day off. I had taken a lunch break and found out on Face- book that Gregory had won another one.”
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THURSDAY • FEB. 23 THE PHANTOMS
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SUNDAY • FEB. 26 KARL STRAUSS • DOSD
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MONDAY • FEB. 27 ALIVE AND WELL POLISH
DJ ARTISTIC’S HIP HOP BATTLE BOT AND DRE DAY
TUESDAY • FEB. 28 WEDNESDAY • MAR. 1
TIM PYLES/LOUDSPEAKER PRESENTS TWIN RITUAL LITTLE HEROINE
THE MONTELL JORDANS
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Why are First through Twelfth called avenues and the rest called streets?
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SUNDAY • MAR. 12 THE VAGABONDS
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Let’s hop on the way-back trolley and get off at June 8, 1931. That’s the day Mrs. Martin German presented the city council with a request to change the name of First Street to First Avenue. In two
weeks, City Ordinance #13237 was passed unanimously. It changed all the names, from First through Twelfth, from streets to avenues. It turns out that Mrs. German was chairman of the First
Street Bridge Committee. Her motives? Perhaps lobbying for a bridge to connect the uptown and downtown portions of First Street in Hillcrest. by Matthew Alice, Jan. 16, 2003
sdreader.com/news/from-archives
Finally — the 1,500 best stories from 44 years of the Reader — fully transcribed. An ongoing project through the end of 2016.
won twice, so we’re batting .500.” Despite frequent commit-
ments in Los Angeles, New York, and beyond, Kenyatta has no plans to relocate. “It
sions for Porter’s new album in New York but complica- tions set in. “We had intended to finish the vocals there but we were running so far behind schedule that we decided to wrap them up in L.A. at the historic Capitol Records Studio. So Gregory ended up in the same studio sitting on the same stool that Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra sat on back in the ’50s. You know this is a special place for sure, you can feel it when you enter the build- ing and walk into Studio A. They have some incredible black-and-white photos on the wall. You know you’re in serious company and need to be ready.”
— Robert Bush
Cardiff shreds. It was never this good in Beach Blanket Bingo. Kut U Up’s singer/bassist Chris Cote assembled the lineup for
WEDNESDAY • MAR. 8 BLACKALICIOUS
THURSDAY • MAR. 9 SAPPORO PRESENTS BASH & POP THE YAWPERS
Camp Shred, a combination campout, beach party, music fest, and surf-industry demo held at the Cardiff State Beach campgrounds. It’s free, all
other local longhair psych- rockers such as Joy or Earth- less. “We love all that stuff but they are a lot heavier,” says singer/guitarist Dominic Den-
ing magazine just folded,” says Cote about the 53-year-old glossy. “I know a lot of good people losing their jobs. It’s a bummer. The same thing hap- pened to me.” Cote was editor of Transworld Surf when it folded in 2013. SWIMM, Trevesura, and
Americana duo Dorothy and Bill also perform. For more information on Camp Shred,
go to
campshed.com. — Ken Leighton
Monarch’s stoked to play Camp Shred: “This is, like, in our own backyard...or I guess you could say in our front yard.”
ages, and there’s a beer garden if you’re 21. “You can camp the whole
weekend,” says Cote about Camp Shred, March 11 and 12. “The surf and skate indus- try will be there with booths to let you try out the latest wetsuits and boards. The stage is on a bluff on a tractor trailer right in the middle.” Cote says Camp Shred will
mark the debut of the Mitchell and Messer Tropadelic Jam, including guitarists Isaiah Mitchell (Earthless) and Gabe Messer (Harshtoke, Drowning Men). Cote will spin vinyl and host a trivia contest. “We’ll play a song from a classic surf movie and the first person to run up and tell me what movie it’s from wins a prize.” While their name suggests
a metal band, Encinitas-based Monarch is different from
holm. And like their jammin’ elders the Allman Brothers, they also have vocals. Their name Monarch, he
says, is more about the but- terfly and a unity with nature than a governing entity. Denholm says the chance
to play with Mitchell at Camp Shred brings him full circle. “In middle school we used to get guitar lessons from Isaiah.” Mitchell worked and taught at Moonlight Music in the La Paloma Theatre building. “To us, Camp Shred is like
a surf party on the beach,” says Denholm. “You don’t get to do that anymore. This is, like, in our own backyard...or I guess you could say in our front yard.” Camp Shred is presented
by Surfer magazine, which just became the biggest surf- ing mag in the lineup. “Surf-
Tuner, composer, space traveler. Reclusive jazz composer Joe Garrison is unveiling a new CD called The People Upstairs with his large ensemble Night People. The musician makes his living tuning pianos and long ago he came to this revelation: “I was checking out the unisons, playing really high notes, and I realized the piano is like a spaceship — you can just hit a note and ride it into outer space.” Some tuning situations,
however, can quickly turn sour. “I was working for Greene Music and they sent me to this ‘problem guy.’ They delivered a brand-new Yamaha to him that he swore was scratched, so they took it back and brought him one in the crate which they opened in front of him. He starts freaking out that this one is scratched, too, and he’s gonna sue the company. That’s when they call me. I get there and (continued on page 46)
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