The Higgs

Late-night “Afterparty” performances have been announced for the BeachLife Festival. Among the late-night music purveyors of particular interest to Grateful Web readers include renowned Southern California bands Cubensis and The Higgs. On Saturday, The Higgs, whose mission is “Melting faces. Blowing minds. Cerebral jams for the masses,” will jam out post-fest at Samba By the Sea on the waterfront in the Redondo Beach Marina, just a few steps away from the festival site.

In response to the current wildfire crisis impacting the western United States, Jamcast Network has pulled together an eclectic mix of accomplished musicians for a streaming benefit show. Starting at 9 PM ET/6 PM PT on Wednesday, October 7th, the fundraiser will feature performances from Joel Cummins (Umphrey's McGee), Bill, and Jillian Nershi (String Cheese Incident), Vince Herman (Leftover Salmon), The Higgs, Cycles and more.

Kendra Muecke is a singer/songwriter, writer, actress, and published author. She performs under the stage name “Kendra & the Bunnies”, as a psychedelic folk rock Americana and spoken word artist. Her style heavily utilizes the element of storytelling through song, painting a creative experience for the listener. She has released three albums, charted globally at #38 on the digital radio charts, published two books, writes for several online music magazines, is SAG-Aftra Eligible, and tours nationally.

The OC Music Festival, in partnership with DJE Sound and Lighting, has announced their inaugural “So Over COVID” streaming music festival.  The livestream, taking place on Memorial Day weekend, will feature some of Southern California’s biggest “jam band” acts in footage captured live from the 2019 festival, as well as new footage taped especially for this special event.

Dobro, mandolin, guitar, musical exaltations and vocal flourishes – and much more – lilted through the autumn-painted trees and into the ears and souls of some colorful attendees at the fairgrounds in the Sierra Nevada foothill town of Placerville, California, at the ninth annual Hangtown Music Festival (formerly the Hangtown Halloween Ball).

It was a good day. Redondo Beach, California’s, inaugural BeachLife Festival got off to a splendid start on Friday, May 3, with Bob Weir, Chris Robinson, Slightly Stoopid, and Steel Pulse leading the way, and the undercard featuring lots of roots-reggae rock, all of which colorfully defined the SoCal beach vibe. Cool breezes from the adjacent Santa Monica Bay and the Pacific Ocean kept temperatures in the 60s while the early May SoCal sun beamed down on several thousand rosy-faced attendees.

For the third year in a row generation of Deadheads flocked to the Ventura County Fairgrounds for the Skull and Roses Festival. Over 25 bands played cover songs from the vast Grateful Dead catalog as well as original material and other classic rock songs for three long days and nights. The campground was full by early Friday afternoon, April 5th with as many as four generations of family and friends gathered in the comradery of the intimate festival.

Esteemed headliners Bob Weir and Wolf Brothers, Willie Nelson & Family, and Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, are among the biggest names to perform at the inaugural BeachLife Festival, set for May 3 to 5 at Seaside Lagoon, Redondo Beach, a city of about 67,000, nestled nicely in the south end of Los Angeles County’s Santa Monica Bay.

There are a few things that most Deadheads can relate to come the holidays: Christmas decorations with LOTS of colorful lights, sitting around with friends and family listening to past shows and reminiscing about the good times, getting to wear your Grateful Dead ugly sweater when its actually appropriate to do so, making plans for your New Year’s run, and Jerry Garcia.  Maybe it’s because the a Dead/JGB show always feels a little like Christmas; maybe it’s all of the Christmas songs like “Run Run Rudolph”, “Jingle Bells”, “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”, or “Christmas Time’s A-Comin”; o