Barb Rocks
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Silicon Valley Metro
BY GARY SINGH (JULY 1, 2010)
Last week, the second incarnation of Left Coast Live erupted in downtown San Jose. Beginning with nightly panel sessions and culminating with more than 100 bands on South First Street, the event far surpassed its debut. Organizers toiled away for months, booking and scheduling bands on numerous stages and in local clubs. Corporate sponsors doled out the bucks. A variety of music fans congregated for hours and were even allowed to drink beer.
...the quality of Left Coast Live really did surpass its debut, and as a result, downtown San Jose is a more interesting place. I congratulate the organizers for taking the time away from all their other jobs to create a brand new annual festival for the city. I hope it comes back.
SF Weekly
BY CARLA SELVIN (JUNE 3, 2010)
Last year, San Jose held its first annual Left Coast Live Music Festival, and no one really heard about it. It was headlined by Bay Area's soul man Booker T. and East Bay rapper Lyrics Born. Dubbed "a mini-SXSW", the Left Coast Live Music Festival was staged over the course of six days at 35 different venues in San Jose with more the 100 different bands playing.
For a city most known more for its sprawl through Silicon Valley, its vast number of business parks, industrial complexes, and new housing developments, Left Coast Live comes as a welcomed cultural oasis for the folks of the South Bay. The city of San Jose shut down streets from San Carlos to Reed Street to make way for the fest. The first four days of the festival (June 21st-24th) will be free and open to the public with panel discussions and film screenings that will run throughout the week. Starting on Friday June 25th, the musical acts take over with OK Go headlining. Other bands playing over the weekend include Neon Trees, Crash Kings, Free Energy, Big Jay McNeely, Lisa Dewey & the Lotus Life, Yo La Tengo, The Mumlers, and over 100 other bands.
Besides being a music festival, Left Coast Live will have other activities and events set up such as the Lifesize Mouse Trap, a replica of the beloved board game, surely a nod to the headliner's insanely viral Rube Goldberg video. The Silicon Valley Roller Girls will set up a demo track for visitors at the festival, and a new craze called Silent Disco where attendants out wandering the main drag will be given headphones tuned in to a dj nearby. The effect will be tons of people dancing in the streets to sounds passerby's won't be able to hear.
Admission to the Left Coast Live are available online, but you can also purchase them at the event. Twenty bucks at the door might just make the Left Coast Live Music Festival the most bang for your buck this entire summer.
Silicon Valley Metro
BY BARBARA WAHLI (NOVEMBER 4, 2009)
I was happy to see your feature "Rocktober" (Cover Story, Oct. 28) about the local music scene and the bands you chose to showcase. Though I was a little disappointed that the story lacked mention of the promoters that are working hard to keep the local scene alive, such as PinUp Productions, Man Down Productions, and myself (Barb Rocks Presents).
Instead Arsenic Productions, a promoter from Santa Cruz, are referred to as "reliable scenesters" because they are calling it quits? Don't get me wrong, Arsenic has done a lot in Santa Cruz for shows and aligned themselves strategically with PinUp here in San Jose, but where's the love for those that have been working hard for years to bring live music back to the South Bay?
In addition, as much as it's sad that some local music venues are closing, it would be more positive to mention that there's been an increase in venues that have switched to a live music format in 2009, such as The Venuez in Santa Clara, Mountain Charley's in Los Gatos and Zen Lounge in Mountain View. This proves that live music is getting stronger in the South Bay and venues are starting to see the benefits to this business model.
It would also be nice to see your staff writers out at local shows, getting first-hand information on the hardest working bands in the local scene. Sometimes I feel that these bands, as well as the promoters behind the shows, are overlooked.
Keep up the good work on writing about the scene; it would be great to keep seeing articles about who is making a difference in live local music!
Silicon Valley Metro
BY GARY SINGH (MAY 6, 2009)
Fed up and het up, music boosters joined forces to bring Left Coast Live festival to downtown San Jose
Two years ago, folks from different parts of the local music spectrum gathered to vent their frustrations with what seemed like the entire city of San Jose. They eventually went public with their complaints about how San Jose lost its live-music mojo—and their dream that it could get the beat back. Musicians, club owners, promoters, producers, people from arts groups, industry types, street intellectuals and DJs—pretty much anyone with any remote connection to what could be called a "music scene"—all attended those initial public meetings. What started as a peanut gallery offering a frenzied mishmash of concerns eventually morphed into a long process that has now led to Left Coast Live. The ambitious five-day extravaganza of gigs and panel sessions culminates with a blowout festival in downtown San Jose on Friday, May 15. On that final night, two outdoor stages will occupy South First Street, while 80-plus bands will perform at dozens of venues all over downtown. Many places that normally don't present live music will jump into the fray. Classic rock, jazz, R&B, punk, classical, world beat and all sorts of sounds in between will be performing. Legendary Hammond B3 alchemist Booker T. will headline the main stage. Throughout the week leading up to the shows, Left Coast Live will sponsor a variety of seminars. The topics will include the intersection of Web 2.0 tools and music, and ideas on how to make local music thrive in San Jose.
No one knows what exactly what Left Coast Live will turn into, but at the very least, everyone involved wants it to function as an adrenaline boost for San Jose. They want to give people of all shapes and sizes a feeling that they are welcome downtown. Someday, the organizers hope, live music will always be ingrained in everyone's consciousness and automatically on everyone's radar. Local producer and restaurateur Chris Esparza leads the Left Coast Live enterprise. "I'm not doing this to let people know I have some secret good-fairy plan for downtown," Esparza declares. "I'm doing it because, one, I want to get people turned on to live music, and, two, turned on to people who play live music. I want to see them, all at the end of this, feeling, like, 'Oh, wow, something just happened.' And maybe there's a glimmer of hope."
And it looks like many people are indeed catalyzed. Barbara Wahli, a local promoter, booked many of the rock acts for Left Coast Live. She says that the amount of venues volunteering to be included went way beyond anyone's expectations. She agrees that the entire event could boost a live-music mentality among local businesses and customers. "I think for one," Wahli tells me, "that it'll show a bunch of venues who don't normally do live music that live music is really successful." She adds, "And it'll make them realize that they could start doing it on a regular basis ... and that that would make more live venues exist in San Jose, and it'll let people know we have a vibrant downtown again." According to Wahli, "People have a misconception. They think of downtown and they think of club nights and all these people in the streets causing havoc, and it's totally not like that. And this event will show them it's not like that."
Examiner.com
BY SEAN THOMPSON (APRIL 21, 2009)
Over the past three or so years, Barbara Wahli – aka Barb Rocks – has become a recognized figure on the local South Bay Area live music scene, booking bands and setting up shows at most of the venues in the South Bay as well as managing several local bands. Additionally, she is also a core group member of the community outreach movement that created and hosts Left Coast Live, a premier downtown San Jose (and hopefully annual!) music event, as well as being on the West Fest committee, which organizes this annual all-ages show at West Valley College. As if all of that wasn’t enough, Barb is also a contributing writer to Santa Cruz-based Your Music Magazine and used to contribute CD reviews to San Jose-based Zero Magazine. Recently, I sat down for lunch with Barb to discuss the current state-of-affairs with regards to the South Bay live music scene. As a heads-up - given the sheer volume of information I got from Barb, this is a two-part interview.
San Jose Mercury News
BY JOHN WOOLFOLK (JUNE 5, 2008)
Budding Bill Grahams will have to shell out nearly $1,000 to City Hall by October if they want to promote concerts in San Jose.
Over the objection of numerous promoters, musicians and music fans, the city council Tuesday unanimously approved a new ordinance requiring a $986 permit every two years to promote music. Vice Mayor Dave Cortese was absent. City officials said San Jose is following the lead of other big cities in order to crack down on promoters whose concerts or dance parties turn into street brawls. Concerns arose here after a 2005 shooting near the former hip-hop Ambassador's Lounge injured three people. Police said efforts to curb such mayhem were frustrated by club owners blaming promoters they knew little about. "That finger-pointing has been going on for years," said Councilman Sam Liccardo, who represents the downtown entertainment district. "The real issue with this from day one has been accountability."
Promoters submitted a petition with more than 1,700 names of people they said were opposed to the permit requirement. Opponents said the new rules were too expensive and unfairly saddled them with responsibility for the behavior of people who attend their shows. "Asking a thousand dollars for a two-year, non-renewable license is too expensive for most promoters," promoter Rich Wiese told the council.
Added promoter Barbara Wahli: "Promoting is a business that happens before an event. Once the event starts, it's in the hands of the venue - and yet we will be liable for behavior that happens, which should be on the individual. They should be responsible for their own behavior." Wahli also said other cities San Jose police pointed to as examples aren't being so heavy-handed. Some, including Chicago and San Francisco, have backed off pursuing such laws, she said, while San Diego's ordinance is much simpler.
San Jose's permit ordinance, if finalized by the council at a second reading June 17, would take effect in mid-July. Police said they would begin accepting permit applications in August and start enforcing the rule in October. The ordinance allows unlicensed promoters to continue operating only if the nightclub hosting their show agrees in writing to accept full responsibility for them. Promoters say club owners are unlikely to make such an offer.
Metro article read full article
San Jose Mercury News
BY JOHN WOOLFOLK (APRIL 27, 2008)
Another controversial proposal would require music promoters to be licensed by police, something being tried or considered in a handful of other big cities, including San Diego, San Francisco and Chicago. Those paid to promote events like deejay dance parties or rock bands would have to be fingerprinted and licensed by the San Jose Police Department. That would cost about $400, good for two years.
Police Lt. Dave Hober said the idea is to prevent finger-pointing when concerts turn violent. "What we consistently heard is we'd go to the club owners and they'd say, 'It was the promoter's fault and we don't know who they are,' " Hober said.
Merchants and club owners generally like the proposal, but some worry it may suffocate the local music scene. "It kind of cripples the young entrepreneur that gets into the music or arts promotion," said Mauricio Mejia, co-owner of the Vault Ultra Lounge, "especially with the kind of fees they are talking about."
Promoters are troubled by the cost and liability issues. Barbara Wahli of Barb Rocks Presents worries that "the venue can pass the buck onto me," while deejay Wendell Davis fears that "it's eliminating downtown nightlife by way of bureaucracy and red tape.
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Your Music Magazine
BY JC HAYDON (MAY 2007)
