Music

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.

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.

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.

SUZIE HARRISON I keep singing the lyrics from the Byrds "To every thing, turn, turn, turn. There is a season, turn, turn, turn," and then the words drift into images that this cooler fall-like weather conjures. It's the photo album effect -- looking at old images and relating them to now and vice versa. Although there are only a couple Music in the Park concerts left, it still is a hot ticket, as is the Art Walk, where I dig the different vibe each month.

We have more art festivals than we know what to do with. We have fancy food festivals, world-class theater, legendary surf competitions and dozens of other Laguna Beach events. But no festival for popular music. Little Dana Point, only slightly bigger than Laguna, has two major festivals - Doheny Days and the Blues Festival - along with several other smaller events. The lineups are stellar with bands like Weezer, Ben Harper, Cake, Ziggy Marley and Donavon Frankenreiter.

If given the choice, would you want butter or margarine? Sugar or artificial sweetener? Vinyl or digital music? The answer to all, of course, is, yes. Give me the real thing. And for obvious reasons. Butter doesn't have the trans fatty acids that cause heart attacks. Sugar is not made with all the controversial fake stuff that defines "artificial. " And vinyl just sounds better. We are in a societal shift where old is new — and not because it's trendy or retro, but because there is value in the original source files.

The Orange County Women's Chorus will fill a Huntington Beach church Saturday evening with a medley of Asian sounds. The chorus' one-night performance titled "Eastern Portraits" at St. Wilfrid of York Episcopal Church will span different cultures and musical generations from across Asia, ranging from Chinese folk songs to rocking dance numbers inspired by Bollywood films. "This will be a colorful, exciting, noisy concert, with a splendid reception afterward," said Eliza Rubenstein, OCWC's artistic director who also directs choral and vocal activities at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa.

I left the Artists' Theatre last weekend, humming and feeling pretty nostalgic. I had just seen Laguna Beach High School's production of "The Sound of Music,"and I couldn't help but be transported back in time to my own high school days, when I was a "drama kid" and all the world was my stage. It's been so many years, I'd nearly forgotten that part of my life. My dreams of being an actress never really got much farther than my leading role as Judas (yes, that Judas) in my Catholic school's annual Easter show.

Folk music, that most uniquely American art form, takes center stage at the Laguna Playhouse with the world premiere of "Lonesome Traveler," covering four decades of the evolving genre. Starting with the mid-1920s and ending in 1965 — when Bob Dylan famously brought the genre to an end by playing an electric guitar — this import from Ventura's Rubicon Theater Company is bound to lift audiences' spirits with its enthusiasm for the homespun style of performing, backed by guitars and banjos.

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.

It's Wednesday night in a Costa Mesa warehouse. For The Gromble, that means rehearsing until 1 a.m. The Laguna Niguel-based rock band is preparing for its potential recognition at the Orange County Music Awards. The Gromble's Detroit Bar showcase on Jan. 3 proved successful, with a packed house and positive reviews. They're also gearing up to finish their latest album, which they hope to have out by the time the awards show comes in March. The band is fronted by Spencer Askin, 21, who not only does vocals but also plays guitar and the occasional trumpet.

Award-winning playwright Mary Murfitt has written stories and songs about cowgirls, small-town folks and other fictional characters. But her new musical, "Looking for Home: A Story from the Orphan Trains," is based on a little-known aspect of American history - and a real woman. With emotional, stirring songs and historic period staging, the play recreates small-town America in the 1920s. Youth Theatre Director Donna Inglima directs the play, which will make its premiere at the Laguna Playhouse on the weekends of Nov. 4-6 and Nov. 11-13.

After a seven-year hiatus, the Doheny Days Music Festival is coming back to Doheny State Beach in Dana Point, and Laguna Beach dentist/musician Ken Garcia is on board. The two-day festival last appeared in 2004, reportedly having grown a bit too big and wild for the low-key beach venue, according to Garcia. The big music festival may have outgrown its locale, but "everybody missed it and wanted to bring it back," Garcia said. "We're trying to bring back the surf and beach styles, with good family bands," Garcia added.

Theatrical producer, writer and director Steve Josephson spent the last year shuttling between Prague and Laguna Beach, getting to know Czech movie- and theater-maker Mirjam Landa. The two met at the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland, where Josephson had taken "2116," a futuristic Ray Bradbury musical that Josephson developed into a full-length work. Landa had staged a musical version of one of her movies at the annual theater festival. She took time to see "2116" and returned a second time with her entire cast, Josephson said.