Oakland-based electronica songstress Lila Rose goes into creative overdrive on debut full-length

There’s a pinnacle moment in the film The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy knocks on the Tin Man’s chest three times, only to hear an echo.

“Beautiful!” says the Scarecrow, prompting the Tin Man to reveal, regretfully, just what that echo was: the sound of a hollow chest without a heart. The rickety man then breaks into a sad song, in which he longs for that precious organ.

Hardly the longing type, Toronto-born, Oakland-based songstress Lila Rose sings confidently “’cause I’m built/like a machine/and I’ve come to take/you and your heart,” on the pulsating title track off her first LP, 2012’s Heart Machine.

Rapper Reggie Stephens, also known as Famouz, and Ribsy’s Nickel frontman Jason “J-willz” Williams go way back—all the way to 1990 when the two played basketball at Santa Cruz High School. And with that longtime friendship serving as the creative nucleus, the two have launched a fresh musical collaboration called Cruzmatik. After high school, Stephens went to Rutgers University in New Jersey, played football for the New York Giants, and then recorded as a hip-hop artist for a spell in Los Angeles. Williams, on the other hand, toured California for more than a decade with Ribsy’s Nickel and shook up local venues with the band’s signature surf/reggae/rock.

Gold Standard Chorus supports youth music programs with annual concert benefit

It’s actually pretty miraculous what they pull off,” says Alice Hughes, choir teacher and Visual & Performing Arts Chair at Pacific Collegiate School, regarding “Sing For Your Life,” the annual concert benefit put on by the Gold Standard Barbershop Chorus. “And the fact that they’re doing it out of their love for music and a desire to keep music strong in schools—the kids really recognize and appreciate that.”

When Guitar Center launched its “Master Satriani” contest in July, more than 600 hopefuls sent in a video of themselves playing lead guitar over a track by multiple Grammy nominee Joe Satriani, for a chance to take a master class with the legend himself. The 10 winners spanned from New Jersey to Texas, but when Santa Cruz contestant Colin Gailey received a call letting him know that he had won, he was taken by surprise. “My first thought was that perhaps I had missed a payment on one of my bills,” he says with a laugh.

Experimental folk band, Other Lives, takes listeners to Mars and back

Imagine yourself immersed in the soothing tenor of some indie-folk crooner wistfully cooing over acoustic guitar and player piano punctuation marks. What do you see? An endless sea of golden grass, waving in the wind? Or do you see rugged, snow-capped peaks, speckled with evergreen stubble?

What about the barren surface of Mars?

Down the street from a pumpkin patch in the Harvey West area of Santa Cruz is the rehearsal space for The Wild Ones, Santa Cruz’s all-girl lo-fi rockers. Young, tattooed and awesome, the girls are huddled outside smoking, cracking a tall libation, and excited about their upcoming Halloween show at The Crepe Place, where they will be dressed as and play songs by The Ramones. “The Wild Ones love old garage rock like The Sonics, old surf rock and old all-girl groups,” says Rachael, the band’s drummer-turned-guitarist, who will be channeling Johnny Ramone on Oct. 31.

Tiger Army’s Nick 13 has earned his stripes

Back when I was a teenager in the small town of Ukiah, Calif., a friend of mine was always telling me I reminded him of a guy he knew—some guitar player named Nick. “I’ll bet you guys would have a lot to talk about,” he said more than once.

One night I found myself at a party, locked in a friendly argument with someone I’d never met before. Skipping the formality of introducing ourselves to each other, we had launched into a fun, lively talk about pop culture. In the middle of it all, my friend walked past us, interjecting, “By the way, this is Nick.”

For 37-year-old multi-instrumentalist/composer/looper John Whoolilurie—aka one-man funk/Latin/jazz band, Whoolilicious—music holds a hefty weight in his life. More than a metaphor for his passion, that weight manifests itself in the form of his “looptility belt-pack”—“I took some looping pedals and put them on a belt, [for] easier, portable performance,” explains Whoolilurie—and his 9-month-old son, whom he carries while rehearsing.

Local band sets its sights on Guam, then the world

On the eve of Wooster’s CD release show, GT spoke with rhythm guitarist/vocalist Brian Gallagher about the local band’s new album, If All The Dew Were Diamonds, their popularity overseas, and the inspirations behind their rock/soul/reggae amalgam.

GOOD TIMES: I hear Wooster’s going to Guam…

Since its inception three years ago, Ancestree has not only become a favorite in the local reggae scene, but also a Santa Cruz icon. Stickers bearing the band’s name can be found throughout town—from telephone poles, to cars, to bar stools, to bathroom stalls—and their signature yellow school bus makes them hard to miss. The brainchild of vocalist/lead guitarist Tom Maimon and vocalist/guitarist Tomas Gomez—“We are like two wings of the same bird,” says Maimon—Ancestree has been on three tours in support of three albums in its short history.

Santa Cruz’s own Chris Rene unveils debut album          

Speaking over the phone from Los Angeles on Friday, Sept. 20, Chris Rene was proud to announce that he had been sober for “17 months and one day.” It’s a huge accomplishment for the garbage collector-turned-musician, who was battling a drug and alcohol addiction less than two years ago. “It feels good to be clear-minded and to be there for my son and my family,” he says. “It feels good to be present.”

But that’s not the only thing Rene’s celebrating these days.

Though born in San Jose and raised in Ben Lomond, Jon Cattivera is now a mountain man of Boulder Creek and the steering force behind Time Spent Driving. Originally one of the rotating cast of guitar players for seminal Santa Cruz punk outfit Fury 66, Cattivera started playing in bands when he was 15 years old. “My first band was called Illiterate—a pop-punk type band—which is how I got recruited into Fury,” he says. Time Spent Driving, which spearheaded the indie/emo/rock sound in the Santa Cruz area, was Cattivera’s baby from the beginning.