California Beaches Blog

Sonoma, Calif.–In beautiful downtown Sonoma, the northernmost mission in a chain of 21 California missions constructed during the 18th and 19th century, celebrates the blessing of  olives on December 5.   Mission San Francisco Solano de Sonoma’s Blessing of the Olives at the Mission is a traditional ceremony with music and refreshments.  Time: 10 a.m. [...]

San Pedro, CA–The largest manmade California water fountain plaza, Fanfare, overlooking the cruise port of L.A., won  the 2009 Excellence on the Waterfront Award recently. The water feature spans a nearly a block and offers a spectacular free daily show of dancing water sprays and jets to musical tunes.  Programmed by the company that created [...]

Mississippi has its Blues.
New Orleans has its Jazz
And yesterday, Costa Mesa had its Surf Music.
(Rightfully so, since several of the top surf musicians come from the city named for its coastal plateaus.)
Over 60 enthusiastic people jammed inside the Costa Mesa Historical Society building to hear three terrific veteran surf musicians, who absolutely love creating their sounds: [...]

Fullerton’s annual Rag Time Festival is a lively event that brings back the dress, the dance and music of the Rag Time era. Held each year for 10 years in Fullerton, usually on a weekend in October, the joints are rocking with some jazzy sounds and high stepping. This year’s event held Oct. 17 & [...]

By Craig MacDonald
The incredibly energetic music from accordions, fiddles, guitars and drums permeated the air to the absolute delight of thousands of people at “The Big Squeeze,” the First Orange County Accordion Festival, held in conjunction with the Orange County Market Place in Costa Mesa Sunday.
Folks of all ages, sizes and talents [...]

Santa Barbara, CA–Mendelssohn Mania celebrates the musical contributions of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy during the bi-centenary year of his birth.
A concert program in Santa Barbara highlights Mendelssohn’s enduring compositions for piano, organ and instruments.  The centerpiece of the concert will be the Organ Sonatas, No. 1, 2, 3, and 4, performed by Carol M. Schaeffer, Charles Talmadge, [...]

California Oktoberfest — For Germans or anyone who can tolerate the smell of sauerkraut that fills the beer hall with that pungent fragrance each autumn, this is the time of year when ethnic celebrations takes on a special meaning. It’s a time when our favorite stinky foods are abundant, our German biers overflow their massive [...]

Costa Mesa, Calif.– “Midori Plays Tchaikovsky,” will launch the  Pacific Symphony ’s 2009-10 Season on Sept. 24-26, at 8 p.m. Classical superstar violinist Midori performs Tchaikovsky’s exquisite Violin Concerto.  The concert, led by Music Director St.Clair, includes works by Brahms and Ticheli; the performance is preceded by an opening celebration honoring St.Clair’s 20th anniversary with [...]

Vacaville, Calif.– Vacaville’s upcoming 10th annual Vacaville Jazz Festival features three days of live jazz music, workshops and fun. Vaca Jazz Society is on a toot to preserve the cultural heritage and roots of America’s great music. From Latin Jazz to the rebirth of cool, jazz comes in many shapes and sounds that will be [...]

Huntington Beach, Calif. — Golden Bear, a name known and remembered fondly in the recording industry for decades, was a music venue in Huntington Beach where top recording artists and comedians performed to a casual beach crowd that loved to rock. Today that building is long gone and at least one attempt to rekindle the [...]