Heavy Metal madness descended on Paso Robles Tuesday night, August 8th, with a triple header of hard core music at the Vina Robles Amphitheater.

The Central Coast of California has become a bit of a no man's land for hard rock and especially heavy metal bands since the dawn of the millennium. Santa Barbara County, home to copious amounts of live pop music has seen very little in the way of hardcore rock as of late. One of the last great heavy metal shows at the Santa Barbara Bowl was by the infamous rock band Tool in 1999. That amazing show landed the group a $50,000 fine for playing after the 10 PM curfew and playing too loud.

It was already going to be an unusual evening in Hollywood which is saying something in a town known for its strange excesses especially in the entertainment world. Sufjan Stevens was set to play his new exotic album Planetarium as part of the summer evening concert series at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. The series features esoteric artists out of the mainstream of typical pop music.

The Summerfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin celebrated its 50th anniversary this summer. The 11-day festival has been certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest music festival. The festival features over a dozen stages large and small of entertainment along the lakefront Henry Maier Festival Park. This years festival saw attendance rise to over 830,000 people over the 11-day run.

The California Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles opened its biggest year yet of musical entertainment, on July 19th with performances by classic rockers Blue Oyster Cult and R&B music icon, Lionel Richie. The line up over the 11-day fair includes rockers Matchbox Twenty, Counting Crows, Kid Rock and John Mayer. EDM stars Chainsmokers lit up last weekend with their massive light and sound show.

One of the most well-known American rock singers, Bret Michaels, brought musical fireworks to his fans at the Chumash Casino Resort Santa Ynez on July 4th weekend. It was already a hot night both literally and figuratively at the resort, with summer evening temperatures near 80 F in the beautiful mountain resort town and with nearly every gambling space full in the expanded casino.

During one of the best evenings of live music in Santa Barbara this summer, three innovative groups of musicians brought their immense talents to the Santa Barbara Bowl. The July 7th concert took place on a sweltering evening with a nearly full moon hanging above the hillside amphitheater.

As day 4 of Bonnaroo 2017 dawned warm and humid, four days on nearly nonstop celebration began to take its toll on exhausted concert goers. Some began to pack up their campsites and headed to the exits to get an early start on their long treks homeward. Many others just collapsed in any cool shady spot they could find for a long-delayed sleep.

One of the unique aspects of the Bonnaroo music festival is the much anticipated Superjam. The legendary jam has seen some of the most interesting mashups in modern music history over the years, some more than successful than others. Occasionally the sessions have gone on into the first rays of sunshine of the following morning.

By the afternoon of day 3 of Bonnaroo 2017, the festival began to heat up in every way possible. The temperature warmed up to the mid-80s, a more average level for summer in Tennessee, with climbing humidity. Lots of young exposed body parts bronzed in the summer sun as music fans stripped down to the bare essentials and sought relief from the afternoon sun in shady spots and air-conditioned venues like the cinema comedy tent. The beer tent was doing a brisk business selling microbrews from over 3o different breweries.