Music

When one hears Gavyn Bailey's voice, it's hard to believe that the 13-year-old from Laguna Niguel doesn't have a recording contract. On YouTube he sings Ingrid Michaelson's "The Way I am" as if the song were written for him. While some kids might point to a heavy course load or an active social life as distractions, Gavyn's had to battle a much larger obstacle when it comes to focusing on his music. At 3 years old, Gavyn had a kidney transplant. His mother, Giselle Bailey, said that the day before he was born she was told he might not make it. About a year ago, his body rejected the transplanted kidney - a common occurrence for transplant patients - which caused him to have high blood pressure and a brain hemorrhage.

Laguna musician Kurt Mahoney was born with a passion for music, but it was the emergence of the Beatles in the 1960s, he said, that forever changed his life. Soon after, it was bands like Cream, the Grateful Dead, Miles Davis, and Bob Marley and the Wailers that expanded his musical interests, and he developed an affinity for Jazz and Reggae. ?It was the groove, melody, intensity of the artists ? all of it,? he said. ?Every ounce of my body was completely and utterly captivated.

Laguna Beach should be celebrated as a music colony - especially for world-class reggae - as much as an art colony. It started back in the late '70s, when Laguna native Eric "Redz" Morton was 21 and gigging as the bassist in a L.A. Latin jazz band called La Luce. Unfortunately, this was the horrendous period of pop culture known as the disco era, and fabulously textured Latin jazz wasn't the music to eat 'ludes and snort coke to. Disco was decidedly not a path Redz was willing to follow (anyone who knows the rootsy Redz can't picture him in sequins and platform shoes)

Haleh Laguna's essence and comfort oozes chill. Not as in a chilled drink, or a chilled glass, but as in "chill out." The comfort often found in everyone's abode soaks up relaxing vibes and chaos is usually not invited. For this reason my music pick for the week is appropriately titled "The Chillout Session." The variety of artists found on "The Chillout Session" has the comfort zone element in mind. Each artist keeps the speed of their songs to a low, slow, minimum enticing relaxation.

Bassoonist Bill Hunker of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra taught Top of the World Elementary students about Mozart, rhythm and the joy of music as part of the school?s Class Act program. The PTA-sponsored series introduces a different famous composer to the students each year, as taught by a professional musician who also teaches about their own instrument. Students learn musical history and composition, listening techniques and fun facts about the composer?s life. This year?

Dr. Arian Mowlavi derives pleasure from writing songs and composing music because it’s an artistic outlet. He has devoted his life to a career in cosmetic surgery for the same reason. “I always knew I wanted to be a surgeon,” he said. “During med school, I decided plastic surgery was special because you must be creative — every face and feature you work with is different.” Most of the time, Mowlavi can be found at Cosmetic Surgery Clinics in South Laguna, where he’s practiced solo as a board certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon for nearly four years.

Dennis Piszkiewicz While adolescents of all ages are lining up for tickets to see the rapper from Detroit in "8 Mile," there is a shorter line of folks at a single theater in Orange County that is showing a movie about the creators of much of America's best pop music, "Standing in the Shadows of Motown." If you like your music with melody as well as rhythm, see this film while you still have the chance. This movie documents the careers and music of the Funk Brothers, a group of a dozen or so jazz and rhythm and blues musicians who formed the house band for the "Motown" record label during the 1960s and early 1970s.

TOM TITUS Laguna Beach's No Square Theater, having recently satirized its city in the annual "Lagunatics" romp, is reverting to traditional musical theater -- sort of. The local producing group will be holding auditions Saturday for one of the most popular staples of the genre, Rodgers and Hammerstein's "The Sound of Music," which the company plans to stage in its own No Square way. "We'll put the audience in...

Suzie Harrison The City Council on Tuesday voted to move forward with this summer's schedule for Music in the Park and ask the Arts Commission to continue to seek ways to improve the experience for Bluebird Park residents and find alternative locations. There were sighs of relief from supporters when the City Council unanimously approved nine concerts for the series using the schedule proposed from July 24 through September 18. "I'm very pleased that the City Council is supporting Music in the Park," Arts Commission Chair Jan Sattler said.

Suzie Harrison If they could, Laguna Beach residents would post a sign at Bluebird Park starting at the end of July through the beginning of September that reads, "residents only from 5 to 7 p.m. Sundays." The reason for the desired exclusivity is the fear of overcrowding during the summer concert series Music in the Park. Locals worry that the 21-year Laguna tradition might become extinct if it gets too many attendees. As it is, concertgoers come hours before the event to find a place for their picnics.

When Laguna Beach Live! hosts a fundraiser Wednesday for its music education program, it will get a considerable boost: a visit from the next president. The next president of bass players, that is. Kristin Korb, whose jazz trio will perform at the Aliso Creek Inn, was recently named the president-elect of the International Society of Bassists. For the next two years, Korb will serve as artistic director for a group that comprises about 3,000 members in 40 countries - certainly the biggest constituency the Montana native has ever had. "Just the student music club when I was in college," Korb said when asked if she had ever been president of anything before.

As I write this column the fog is rolling in deep and I'm listening to Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood crush a version of "Voodoo Child. " There's a full gospel chorus behind Clapton's wailing guitar. It's "Blues On The Beach" Friday night at KX93.5 FM, and I've got it turned way up - and just right. By now you know about Laguna's start-up radio revolution, or your head is in the trees that block everyone's view. Six months in and these guys have built an independent radio model from the ground up that doesn't answer to corporate suits, where they actually play artists that aren't dumbed down and force fed from the major labels.

The Laguna Beach Unified School District board of education on Tuesday unanimously approved expanding music strings courses next school year at all four public schools. Strings classes will be added for fourth- and fifth-grade students at Top of the World and El Morro elementary schools, and a strings section will be added at Thurston Middle School as will an Advanced Placement music and other electives at Laguna Beach High School. Courses would be a part of the regular school day, not after-school programs.

A matchmaker meets her biggest challenge in "Hello, Dolly!," the latest production taken on by Laguna Beach High School's Park Avenue Players that opens this weekend. The play, which takes place at the turn of the century in New York, first debuted in 1964 on Broadway and has had the likes of Carol Channing and Barbara Streisand play the lead. This time around, senior Haley Castuera is in the lead role of Dolly Gallagher Levi, a widow who matches lonely singles with their "perfect partners.

Young at heart. Irreverent. A riot. These are some descriptions that pop up when Common Sense comes to mind. What's even better is their own tag: "Six-year-olds in big person's bodies. " As the band members primped for a photo shoot outside Jean Paul's Goodies in Laguna Beach, guitarist Billy Sherman said, "Suck your belly in!" Lead singer Nick Hernandez, of Laguna Beach, puckered up in response. The fun began at UC Santa Barbara in 1986, and although four of the original five members have departed, the spirit is intact among musicians who consider each other brothers and have a blast every time they meet - be it at a performance, while surfing or over coffee.

Sneakers, drugs and everyday life. That's what Tracy Newman's albums are made of. "I usually mention tennis shoes and some kind of drug in my CDs," she said. "I was dating a guy whose tennis shoes were all over the place and I was always tripping on them. " Her ex also dabbled in the occasional substance. So she wrote about it. The Emmy Award-winning TV writer turned singer-songwriter will be in Laguna Beach on Tuesday. Tracy Newman and the Reinforcements are poised to take the stage at 8:30 p.m. at the Marine Room Tavern to perform well-known acoustic tunes, along with new songs.

Thirteen-year-old twins Kyle and Benjamin Sharp's musical seeds were clearly visible at age 3. The brothers, who both have tan skin, brown hair and braces, are seventh graders at Thurston Middle School. They like golf and football, but music takes center stage in their lives, with the duo, known as Sharp Turn Ahead, performing pretty regularly. Kyle and Benjamin also came out with their first CD, a compilation of three studio-recorded cover songs and their first original, "California Ain't that Far. " The song tells the story of the boys' move from Austin, Texas, to Laguna Beach four years ago with their parents, Carla [mother]

Laguna Beach should be celebrated as a music colony - especially for world-class reggae - as much as an art colony. It started back in the late '70s, when Laguna native Eric "Redz" Morton was 21 and gigging as the bassist in a L.A. Latin jazz band called La Luce. Unfortunately, this was the horrendous period of pop culture known as the disco era, and fabulously textured Latin jazz wasn't the music to eat 'ludes and snort coke to. Disco was decidedly not a path Redz was willing to follow (anyone who knows the rootsy Redz can't picture him in sequins and platform shoes)

When Sir Elton John glanced at Bernie Taupin's computer screen a few weeks ago, he noticed a vivid red and white painting with light shades of blue popping out from the background. "'Is that one of yours?' he asked me," Taupin recounted. "When I replied, 'Yes,' he said, 'I've got to have that.'" The painting in question is "Winter Rain," a 36-by-36 creation that had, until recently, been part of Taupin's retrospective "Beyond Words. " Coming to Coast Gallery in Laguna Beach from Feb. 7 to 10, this exhibition reflects Taupin's 20-year commitment to the visual arts.

Music has always been a part of Laguna's art culture, but it has a hit-or-miss history. Lyric Opera Co. was founded here, leading to the formation of Opera Pacific, which moved out of town. The Laguna Chamber Music Society presented concerts at the Artists Theatre until it moved to the Barkley while the high school was being renovated and never came back. The Pacific Symphony played chamber music concerts in the theater until school officials no longer would clear the calendar for them.