Pieter Pastoor's blog

Christopher Hunt is well known in and around northern California. He graduated from a distinguished school (the University of the Pacific) with a master's degree in music. He has performed in numerous bands based in Davis (Gravy Nation, Tha Dirt Feelin), and slips easily in and out of genres such as pop, rock, jazz, and funk. He also has a background in producing, and feels at home behind the controls in a recording session. In all we have a musician well equipped to pursue a career in music. That's why Chris relocated to New York City. That's why we have Chris calling in from NYC to join us on the show today; let's explore his goals and motive for his move across the continent.

Today, in New York, Chris plays with several bands: Semaphore, Phonoscenes, Secret Creatures and Bottler.

For those outside the listening area, the show will stream live on www.kdrt.org

Links to bands:

https://secretcreatures.bandcamp.com

Friday 12/16/16 the KDRT studio will be aglow.Beyond Uranium is an original funk quartet from Vacaville.Featuring retired UC Davis Professor, Delbert Bump and includes members from Dank Ocean, Berklee College, and Mondavi Center Jazz All-stars. Funk originals featuring keyboard, electronic trumpet, guitar and world drums. Members of the band are Delbert Bump, Thomas Molina, Jimmy Toor, Elias Lucero.

Our guest this week is Austin James Hicks. Born in Berkeley, CA.he has been playing guitar since he was 8 and singing since 10. Why does he do this? To him its simple but he is still searching for the right words. 

          "I guess because music is sort of everything. Not everything in sense of it being all I want to do but simply that it sort of feels like it's interwoven so tightly in all aspects of my life that it almost feels silly to talk about it as if it were separate from anything else I do. I like to think that everyone has that in some way with something. But if I were to break it down to simply the act of writing, playing, and performing, it's both what is getting me through this crazy life and what makes this crazy life worth getting through."- from an interview with Federica Buonsante for The Babel Harbinger.

Looking forward to a very interesting hour with Austin. You can visit Austin at http://www.austinjameshicks.com.

The Davis 2nd Friday ArtAbout for November (11/11/16) will feature TOAD HOLLOW at Armadillo Music at 6:00PM. The interview and performance will start at 6:30PM. Toad Hollow is made up of Davis residents Juniper Waller, Alex Carlin, Jacob Dorn and David Morris. They play a mix of compelling originals and refreshed standards influenced by classic blues and jazz, with some folk and modern R&B mixed in. Their sound is intimate, brimming with raw emotion and a touch of comic relief.

Leonard Cohen left us with some songs that touch deep within us.

So today lets listen to some of these songs sung by Leonard and a variety of artists.

A little different Listening Lyrics - we focus on free solo climbing. Free solo climbing, also known as free soloing, is a form of free climbing and solo climbing where the climber (or free soloist) performs alone and without using any ropes, harnesses or other protective equipment, relying entirely on his or her ability instead. Unlike in bouldering, free soloists typically climb above safe heights, where a fall would always result in serious injury or death. In ordinary free climbing, instead, safety gear is used to protect from falls, although not to assist the ascent.

Celebrate the arts in Davis for the 2nd Friday October ArtAbout. Andrew Castro has been NOMINATED FOR 3 SAMMIES (SACRAMENTO AREA MUSIC AWARDS)  3 CONSECUTIVESOLD OUT RELEASE SHOWS IN 2015, HIS RED HEARTS EP REACHING #5 ON THE ITUNES SINGER SONGWRITER EP CHART, HIS SINGLE "LAST  WORDS” ON THE NEW MUSIC PORTION OF THE COFFEEHOUSE ON SIRIUS XM, AND FOUR SUCCESSFUL TOURS, THE LAST 18 MONTHS HAS BEEN A RIDE FOR SACRAMENTO SINGER SONGWRITER ANDREW CASTRO. ON THE HEELS OF HIS 4TH EP RELEASE IN JUST A 12 MONTH SPAN ANDREW IS SET TO RELEASE HIS DEBUT LP CAN I PLAY FOR YOU?. A COLLECTION OF DEEPLY PERSONAL SONGS THAT TOUCH ON RELATIONSHIPS, ENDING AND BEGINNING, ANXIETY AND INSOMNIA AND​LIFE ON THE ROAD. 

Groove masters The Bumptet  bring reckless sophistication to each performance with an improvisational, genre-bending approach to music. Their compositions range in style and complexity, moving from deep funk grooves to epic rock crescendos to intricate, fusion-esque lines and back again–with improvisation, forward motion, and an in-the-moment attitude as the only constants.

Drawing inspiration from the likes of John Scofield, MMW, Garaj Mahal, the Headhunters, and Phish, the Northern California quintet takes listeners on a spirited journey that must be seen live in order to fully appreciate the level of musicianship and soul they bring to every show.  But don’t expect to hear carbon copy renditions of their tunes on stage.  The Bumptet pride themselves on delivering high energy, improvised sets of funk music with skillfully adept execution (including the occasional foray into the jam band outer stratosphere!).

Drummer/composer Ryan Scott Long continues his life long fascination with music that's led him to study drumming and improvisation with Scott Amendola, Simon Lott, Hamir Atwal, Joshua Smith & William Woodley and many other greats.

With his forward-thinking approach powering what may be an exciting new style of drumming, there's a bright future in store for Ryan as he continues to make his mark.

Ryan has recorded/played with Mike Sopko(Bill Laswell, Dosh), Thomas Pridgen(ex The Mars Volta), Vir McCoy(Hamsa Lila, ex Mickey Hart Band), Michael James Booker, Sam Johnson Band, Beforia, Limnus, Scott Barkan, Delphi Freeman, Anna Borja, Joshua Smith(ex Peter Rowan) & many more.

Most recently Ryan released “Just Like We Used To” with his band BroJazz in May of 2016. BroJazz features Ryan on drums, Ben Wallace-Ailsworth on bass and renowned saxophonist Joshua Smith. Oz Fritz describes BroJazz as “a shapeshifting experiment in postmodern jazz that can change course from a heavy, industrial, noisy, trance groove to soft, light, sweet, delicate, waterfall melodies in the blink of an eye; spin your sensibility 180 degrees then drop you off back home with lyrical tenderness and a wink and a smile.”