Tag: Music

Posted on

Listen to CD and tracks from local artist Tracy Jean Manuel

Redding area singer songwriter Tracy Jean Manuel has released a CD, humbly titled “Halfway Decent.” Listen up.


Blogger Marck Beauchamp pointed me to this brilliant local music. I know readers will want me to characterize the music in words, since that’s what blog writers do. I don’t have much patience with genres when it comes to music like this. It doesn’t fit well into a pigeonhole. At times it conjures earth and roots, colored with evocative Americana. Other parts swell and bloom with restrained electronic euphoria. It’s the mixture of those flavors that propels her work beyond easy categorization. You’ll just have to listen to it all, and decide for yourself what to call it. Luckily, she makes that easy.
Tracy Jean Manuel Halfway Decent
You can listen to more Tracy Jean Manuel at the link, and then go on to download the whole work for whatever you think it’s worth. I think it’s worth a lot. Clever, thoughtful direct marketing, by the way. You can also order the physical CD, signed by the artist. I’d suggest you like Tracy’s Facebook page so you can keep an ear on future artistry from this complex and beautiful songbird going forth. Hearing it in entirety again last night, I wanted it to just go on and on. Good work Tracy. You’re Really Redding.

Posted on

Craig Padilla releases new CD: Heart of The Soul

Redding’s popular electronic musician Craig Padilla has a new CD released on the Spotted Peccary label:
Heart of the Soul Craig Padilla
You can listen to some exceprts of Heart of The Soul the music and purchase a copy directly from the artist at the link. Craig let me audition some earlier mixes, so it’s been especially interesting to hear the evolution to this final masterwork. Give it a listen!
Heart of the Soul packaging
The CD packaging is as beautiful as the music. Longtime readers will recognize Craig from prior ReallyRedding posts, and from his many local gigs around Redding. He and I collaborated on numerous music projects over the years. Some of our recordings are posted at the tab toward the top of the page, titled Music. If you enjoy symphonic electronic music and generally adventurous ambient/space/electronica, you may want to click over and try a sample. Support local music.

Posted on

Modern dance as Frank Zappa conducts -brief video

Here’s a real YouTube gem. Frank Zappa’s final performance in 1992 in Frankfurt. Having spent the last couple months watching/videographing Erin Rader and Max Friedman’s practice for last Saturday’s Cascade Theatre benefit performance, this dance became even more impressive to me. Take a look, and turn it up.


“G-Spot Tornado.” Nice work, orchestra and dancers. I have a far better appreciation for the difficulty of that complex dance routine now.
Frank Zappa was brilliant and irreplaceable. The brief Coda, and the ovation at the conclusion hits hard. Thanks, Frank.
Frank Zappa

Posted on

An abstract music video with score by Craig Padilla and me.

An appropriately hypnotic video by visual artist Zrnho set the music Craig Padilla and I recorded in 2010 using analog synthesizers.
Set the controls for full screen and full volume, and get ready to space out…

Nice to see this indigenous Redding music translates across the Atlantic. Pleasurable listening right down to the cerebral cortex for me, as it brings back fond creative memories. Thanks Zrnho. Your work is inspiring. Check out many more clips at his prolific online video channel. Gotta love the interweb.

Should mention too that you can buy this CD directly from Craig, and get a better fidelity recording along with the cool cover art. CraigPadilla.com

Posted on

The Water

A little Norwegian time lapse, set to Moonlight Sonata. Perfect before bedtime.

The Water from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

I really enjoy this artists work: facebook.com/TSOPhotography. I think you’ll like it too. You may want to Like his fan page to encourage more of his fine art. It would be lovely to do something similar with our Trinity Alps as subject.

Posted on

RIP Ronnie Montrose

Saddened to hear of the passing today of rock legend Ronnie Montrose. I have some of his LPs, and have always been a fan. He played live here in Redding. Early ’80s, I think. I can’t recall if it was at the Red Lion or the Holiday Inn, but it was in a big conference room at a hotel on Hilltop. (Anyone remember which?) Probably just a stop on the way somewhere else. I was there with Brent Taylor (Taylor Motors, Hi Brent!) who is a hard rockin’ guitarist himself. We were grinning ear to ear at the pleasure seeing and hearing Ronnie in a such a small room. Montrose had toured mega-arenas all over the world. I recall it was a few short sets, but Ronnie displayed extraordinarily expressive pitch control and blazing speed. He made a big impression on me. A virtuoso player.
Ronnie Montrose Open Fire once played Redding CA
I imagine you’ll hear plenty of Rock Candy and Bad Motor Scooter in eulogy. Classic rock pieces that help define the genre. Straight-ahead rock fun. If you haven’t heard some of his more Prog Rock work, you might like this video from the Open Fire days.


Crazy to think that bands toured with temperamental Moog Modular synths like keyboard player Jim Alcivar here. I think it even drifts out of tune. Typical! Classic stuff. The video below was shot just a few weeks ago. A favorite from the Gamma days. Thanks for the music Ronnie, and our condolences to your family and friends today. Get on your bad motor scooter and ride!

Posted on

Redding connection to Vostok

Redding musician Craig Padilla recorded lovely, evocative, longform organic/electronic music in his studio on West Street in Redding. Vostok was one of his major works. It went on to become his highly regarded release on the artist-run Spotted Peccary label. Lately, Vostok itself has been in the news.

Vostok by Craig Padilla
You can listen to some of Vostok at the link. Hard to believe it was 10 years ago!
Redding Musician Craig Padilla
I was teasing Craig that the low droning sound that is heard on the recording was only Russians drilling on orders from Vladimir Putin to get him a really cold glass of water.

Posted on

Nature by Numbers beautiful short movie

I’ve been a little surprised by just how many people recognize the mathematical illustration we used in our logo for our new venture, The Address Realty. I thought it a somewhat obscure figure of beauty in numbers. But a quick search of Fibonacci Sequence in Google or YouTube turns up a lot of hits. Definitely not obscure. Check out this beautiful visual work by Spanish artist and tutorialist Cristóbal Vila, set to Often a Bird by Wim Mertens.

Nature by Numbers from Cristóbal Vila on Vimeo.

Posted on

Music and Racing set for Redding this weekend

SCO at BombaysRedding art music fans will be pleased to learn SCO is playing Bombays. I got this note:
“Name change and a show on September 15th at Bombay’s. I just got a flyer for an upcoming show by these “warlocks.” They’ve changed their name to Symbiotic Cacophony Orchestra (like the status listed below).”
So, you can log in over at Facebook to Like the Symbiotic Cacophony Orchestra at the link.

Redding DragstripIf original Redding style music isn’t enough to keep you entertained this weekend, you can head over to the Redding Dragstip for the combined Pacific National Open Series and National Dragster Challenge. 3 days of racing. One of the biggest races of the season. Just 10 bucks gets you in. More at the Redding Dragstrip website, or just click on the flaming shifter knob, of course.