Posts by Dennis Cook

Not a few folks’ first NYE rock show happened with the Grateful Dead, a memorable gathering with a chosen tribe to revel to a beloved score. GD Music resonates with history and emotion on this holiday, and Santa Cruz’s The China Cats understand that and honored this tradition with an evening that’s hard to imagine […]

There’s an underlying swoon to the latest chapter in Greg Loiacono’s musical evolution. His new album, Giving It All Away (released August 12 on Blue Rose Music), is filled to bursting with heart-swellers ideal for slow dancing across the kitchen with a special someone or curling up alone to play the same perfect three-minute marvel […]

“Let’s do this every year until we die!” This phrase tore from my lips during Gov’t Mule’s pitch perfect main stage closing set on the final night of the 2017 installment of the High Sierra Music Festival as San Francisco stealth superstar and uber-shredder Eric McFadden lashed us to the “Whipping Post” after exploring our […]

All festivals have their diehards who simply do not miss a year, but Northern California’s High Sierra Music Festival possesses a particularly strong sense of community, where the winding pathways of the Plumas Country Fairgrounds are transformed into distinct neighborhoods, each rich in creativity and traditions but ever-welcoming to newcomers and curious passersby. Not too […]

Sometimes we don’t know the true value of a thing until it’s over and we’ve had some distance from what’s occurred. We need the reestablishment of home and its norms before it hits us what a profound, nourishing experience we’ve been a part of, and then a delightful pang rises inside, an urge to go […]

For all the variety and energy most music festivals provide one element that’s often absent is the intimacy of a porch front picking session, folks gathered close and listening with care at the heel of a singer-songwriter or acoustic quartet. This is the kind of up close & personal experience Lost Sierra Hoedown strives to […]

Your favorite music will not always be around. Sure, the crystallized moments of studio recordings will endure with all the pink of youth in their hue but the flesh and blood machines that make the music we love are prey to time and tide.  It’s a heavy thought and one that started pinging around in […]