UPCOMING SHOWS! (NORTH COUNTY)
Come out to Camozzi’s in Atascadero on Friday, June 18th, or Downtown Brew in Paso Robles on Thursday, June 24th, to check out local bands Sun in Transylvania and Veiler. Both shows start at 9 p.m.

MUSICIANS WANTED: CORPORATE HOLIDAY EVENT (CENTRAL COAST)
We are looking for a group or artist to play at our Corporate Holiday event on Dec. 11, 2010, in Pismo Beach. Please e-mail cassie@wightons.com.

MUSICIANS WANTED: VOCALIST/FRONTMAN WANTED (CENTRAL COAST)
The Smokin’ Anacondas needs a vocalist/frontman. Ala, Jimi Hendrix, SRV, etc. We have paying gigs lined up and a following. Please have a demo if possible! Contact Buzz via e-mail at mb@nanometer.com.

FOR SALE/SERVICES: LOCAL GUITAR BUILDER / REPAIRS (CENTRAL COAST)
I am a builder of world class acoustic guitars right here on the Central Coast. With over 40 years experience, I also perform all manner of repairs on most musical instruments, especially guitars. Current summer sale on the few Robinsong guitars I have in stock. Visit robinsongguitars.com.

COMPETITION: NOMINATE A LOCAL OUTSTANDING YOUNG MUSICIAN GRADUATE FOR A DINNER WITH DAD (CENTRAL COAST)
Music teachers, high-school vocal coach or ensemble, college jazz groups or instructors, music leaders or other music instructors: Local restaurant with full-stage for performance seeks nominations for Outstanding Young Musicians who are graduating this June from local high schools and colleges. “BRAG THE GRAD WITH DAD” is scheduled for Father’s Day, June 20, OUTSTANDING YOUNG MUSICIANS DINNER, 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Location near Morro Bay features all music stage gear and great rib dinners, big-screen TV, internet broadcast of performances. Seeking five to ten exceptional music students (grads) for guitar, bass guitar, drums, vocals, keyboards and other. Sponsor gifts and prizes, awards of merit, family night out with dad, and scheduled live performance opportunity, with internet broadcast. Fun time, celebrate your successful high school or college and junior college advancement, provide a brief song or tune on our stage, real time live netcast. Desire to list and contact nominees by this weekend, June 11 to June 13. Short ramp-up, but plenty of very talented young performers. Please send a note by email for now, with name, city, contact info, availability, musical genre. Email: julianhundreds@live.com, please. Or call 461-1393. Morro Bay, Paso Robles, Atascadero and Templeton high schools all welcome, also Cuesta and Cal Poly, or private. South county, too. All info will be provided. Serious only, nominees to be selected and announced. Fun family-time to celebrate Grads and Dads Who Brag!

Show your moves on Morro Bay’s largest out door dance floor while you listen to music featuring local favorites and national rising stars!

In between bands, enjoy dance troops and demonstrations by community groups. You’ll have a great time on Morro Bay’s beautiful waterfront.

Hungry? Enjoy tri-tip sandwiches and a seafood BBQ featuring albacore, oysters, and other seasonal choices. Enjoy even more variety by visiting local food vendors. Some vegetarian selections will also be provided.

Top it all off with wine and beverages, including microbrews from Lagunitas Brewing and Coors.

The Morro Bay Music Festival will take place June 5th, 2010, at 714 Embarcadero (across from Rose’s Landing) from 11am until 7pm.

The San Luis Obispo Downtown Association invites the public to the first installment of Concerts in the Plaza 2010! The Viper Six will kick it off with a live performance in the plaza on Friday, June 4, 2010 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. As you enjoy the music, treat yourself and your family to delicious food from vendors, as well as beer and wine from Firestone and Edna Valley.

Since then, Axia’s star has been on the rise as they’ve evolved and gone through various incarnations, while never losing their original passion, drive and substance. They’ve released a self-titled EP, toured the state of California non-stop and shared the stage with world-class artists including Ted Nugent, the Drowning Pool, Filter, L.A. Guns, Nonpoint, the Bullet Boys, Devon Allman’s Honeytribe and People in Planes.

The Axia: left to right, Ian Forbes, Dusty Rhoads, Steve Gourley and Chad Land

I caught Axia’s current line-up last Friday night, made up of original members Chad Land (vocals and guitars) and Dusty Rhoads (drums), with new infusions Steve Gourley (bass and backing vocals) and Ian Forbes (keys). I was, as always, nothing short of taken by this band’s music, which continues not only to reach me, but to keep me smiling and on the edge of my bar stool. This band is going places, and although I’m sure they’ll always call the Central Coast home, don’t take for granted that you’ll be able to catch them at your neighborhood pub on a Friday night much longer. Appreciate them, show them your support and get out to see them every chance you get.

If you can’t get enough of Axia (and who can?), visit the band’s website at www.reverbnation.com/theaxia, where you can listen to more of their music, get show information, sign up for the band’s mailing list and find links to the band’s presence on social networking sites including MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.

FOOTNOTE: I was so hooked after first experiencing Axia, in fact, that I wrote my first rock music review, so it is only fitting that they are the Central Coast Musicians’ Exchange’s first ever Featured Artist. That first effort was as gushing as you’d expect a first-time reviewer aka fanatic’s writing to be. I’m a little embarrassed reading it now, three years later, but in the interests of journalism and full disclosure, I’m biting the bullet and sharing it here. ;)    Kiss My Axia.

Grand prize is a custom-painted Fender guitar and a case of award-winning Cass wines!

Don’t play guitar?  Come dressed as your favorite rock star to listen to the competition, enjoy Ted’s famous tacos, and sip on award-winning wines.

The preliminaries for the competition start at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 21st.  The finals will be held Saturday, May 22nd at 7 p.m.  The entry fee is $20.00.  Admission is free for spectators.  Must be 21 or over to attend or participate.

Cass Winery & Vineyards are located at 7350 Linne Road in Paso Robles, California.

Contact Erin (at) CassWines (dot) com for more information, call (805) 227-2888 or visit the winery’s website at CassWines.com.

This week’s semi-final round features The Hydramatics vs. Wintersfear.

The Battle of the Bands is an all-ages shows! Doors open At 8:00 p.m. Free admission for ages 21 and older and just $5 for everyone else. The first band starts at 8:30 p.m. and the second band starts at 9:45 p.m. The order of the band’s start times will be announced the day of each show.

Years ago the staff at New Rock 107.3 wanted to find a way to promote local music. To not only talk about their shows but feature them on the air and spread the word about the amazing local sounds they were hearing. That’s when New Rock 107.3 created SLO and Dysfunctional, a program dedicated to promoting local rock.

Over the years New Rock 107.3 has aired over 70 local bands on the radio and handed out over 10,000 SLO and Dysfunctional CD’s. Over the last 7 years It has been amazing to see so many bands go from the garage, to the national stage.

Only one thing was missing from the SLO and Dysfunctional campaign, live shows. Last year New Rock 107.3 decided to do just that with the first ever New Rock 107.3 SLO and Dysfunctional Battle of the Bands. It was an enormous success filling the venue every week. This year the second battle will be held at Downtown Brew. The battle kicked off April 21st and is hosted by Downtown Brew and presented by Cabo Wabo Tequila and SKYY Vodka.

Congratulations to the following local bands who competed in this year’s Battle of the Bands and who were voted by New Rock 107.3’s listeners as being among the best local rock bands!

Nada Rasta
PK
The Mighty Fine
Echo of Ages
Seconds To Sinking
The Action League
Machine
Oblidian
Hydramatics
Wintersfear
The Kilz

The Rolling Stones were at the very top of my list of must-see-before-I-die bands. Through a series of unfortunate events, I’d missed others on the list.

Cheap Trick: I had tickets in hand–at the last minute, my mother wouldn’t let me use the car.

Bon Jovi: I had tickets in hand–at the last minute, my ride got called in to work . . . and like an idiot, he went.

Aerosmith: I had tickets in hand (and a car)–at the last minute, the show was canceled when Steven Tyler came down with the flu.

I was all grown up now and had a car of my own. I was determined not to miss The Rolling Stones. Alas, word on the street was that this may be the legendary band’s final tour, and tickets sold out almost immediately. I searched eBay and pored over craigslist, where tickets were available, but way out of my league. Some field level seats were going for $2,500 a pop. It looked like the Rolling Stones were about to join the list of bands I had never seen–and might never ever see.

Enter my daughter, Melissa, not only the best daughter a mom could ever have, but a young woman who understands the need to be at a particular show on a particular date and at a particular time. This is a young woman who, in fact, called me on her cell phone from the field at SBC Park one Friday night, where she was grooving to the Black-Eyed Peas, having decided at the spur of the moment to crash a Dave Matthews Band concert. She is her mother’s daughter, and she makes me proud.

No, Melissa didn’t have tickets, but she had something even better . . . connections. She had wrangled us jobs as security guards for the San Francisco leg of the Rolling Stones tour, both nights, which meant we would don blue security coats and attend the show two nights in a row, for free! In fact, we would be paid about $250 for the privilege and would be given a sack supper both nights, including Rice Krispies Treats for dessert. Stones and sweets. It was a dream come true.

The first night, Melissa was rotated to various stations, including stints as the guard posted outside Sheryl Crow’s trailer, one of the guards posted on the catwalk in front of the stage, and the backstage guard posted at the banquet room (which, I must say, is a little like putting the fox in charge of the hen house). As Melissa stood outside the banquet room door, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards walked right past her. Although she’s young, she’s wise beyond her years when it comes to rock and roll, and the significance of the moment was not lost on her.

The second night, before the show started, both Melissa and I were assigned to frisk people and to check their bags as they entered SBC Park. That was an adventure in and of itself. There is nothing that will make a mom more proud than seeing her sweet-tempered, petite, college-age daughter rise up and assert herself as a tattooed, 6′4″, 250 lb. concert-goer tries to sneak contraband into the show, or politely refuse a bribe of freshly-caught salmon in exchange for entrance to the park. It was mother-daughter bonding at its finest.

Both nights, I was stationed on the field for the Rolling Stones performance, in the front rows, right in the $2,500-a-seat section. I was front and center for Brown Sugar, It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll and Sympathy for the Devil. I saw Mick Jagger strut his stuff to Start Me Up. I saw Keith Richards perform one of my personal favorites and one of his rare vocal leads, Before They Make Me Run. I saw Mick and Sheryl Crow duet on Wild Horses and Honky Tonk Woman. I believe I may have had tears in my eyes as the band closed out the second night with Satisfaction. The Rolling Stones Forty Licks tour, and my awesome daughter, gave me two nights I will never forget. No, you can’t always get what you want . . . but sometimes you can get all you want and more.

As Melissa and I hung up our blue coats for the night, the manager announced that they still needed security for a show the following weekend, in nearby Marysville . . . Aerosmith. Melissa and I looked at each other and, without saying a word, raced to the front to sign up. One week later, I was standing less than five feet in front of Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, a free Rice Krispies treat in the pocket of my blue coat, making sure crazed female fans didn’t climb the security wall to get to them. Again, it was a little like putting the fox in charge of the hen house.