The historic Lobero theater in downtown Santa Barbara overflowed with a standing room only sold out crowd, Saturday night April 5th. The benefit concert was for Samo, a local teenage musician fighting a devastating heart virus. The show featured performances by bands from the Rockshop Academy, the recently reformed Dishwalla, and Jeff Bridges, with a scaled down version of his band , The Abiders. “Samo” has been at the UCLA Medical Center, reportedly in good spirits despite having his heart seriously damaged by a virus and suffering a stroke that has left him blind. The Rockshop has been mentoring Santa Barbara’s next generation of aspiring musicians since 2009, through after-school sessions, summer camps and live performances.
Dishwalla’s drummer, George Pendergast is a co-founder of the Academy, and helped organize the benefit concert for the ailing musician. According to Pendergast, “Sam O is a part of Rockshop Academy as a student and also is Rockshop’s first-ever Youth Advisory Board member. His mother, Judy, came on board as a board member and all of his friends were in my program. Because she had to be at Rockshop so often, Sam accompanied her to several board meetings. He became my go-to youth opinion. When the board members would put together an event, I would look to Sam O to make sure it was “teen” cool and not just grown-up cool! He then wrote a grant to help fund a program to bridge generations through music. He’s a great guitarist and helps teach the younger Rockshoppers.”
George also invited his friend Jeff Bridges to take part in the concert, as well. Jeff is a member of a different Academy, the one of Motion Pictures, where he has won an award and been nominated six times. Bridges, who is an accomplished musician, as well as a respected actor (best known as the Dude in The Big Lebowski) has garnered accolades from national music critics, playing American roots music with his band of veteran musicians the Abiders. Bridge has alsobeen an avid supporter of the Rockshop Academy.
Says Pendergast, “As far as my relationship with Jeff goes, he’s a friend to all youth music programs and supports so many things. We first met when he came to see his niece Jamey Geston play at Rockshop’s first showcase in 2009. Most recently we worked together putting a group together for No Kid Hungry”.
The concert featured inspiring performances by some of the bands formed at the Rockshop Academy, including, Stolen Thunder, Caverns, and Technical Difficulties. Following an intermission, Santa Barbara Mayor, Helene Schneider, led a spirited auction composed of musical instruments signed by some of rock music’s elite performers. Then the music veterans took the stage starting with a magical musical acoustic set by Dishwalla. The band appeared with their new modified lineup of original members Rodney Cravens, Jim Wood, drummer George Pendergast and new lead singer Justin Fox. Fox was originally the singer of the Santa Barbara band Tripdavon.
Dishwalla rose out of the 1990’s alternative music scene in Santa Barbara, and had a mainstream hit album in 1996 with Pet Your Friends. The album produced five charting singles, including their biggest hot “Counting Blue Cars”. The band also had great success producing television and movie soundtracks. The band is currently set to tour in a show with other 90’s era bands, including Collective Soul, Tonic, and Vertical Horizon. They are also scheduled to play at Eric Burdon’s 70th birthday party, in Ojai, California.
Bridges closed the show with an equally eloquent set, playing with his band the Abiders, minus a couple of the regular members. Bridges has struggled balancing his love for music and acting, at the same time, and sometimes incorporating them in hit films such as 2009’s Crazy Heart. In that film he won an academy award for his performance as a country music singer down on his luck, but his music performance is no acting job, and his distinctive voice lends well to his gritty take on American roots music, with influences from multiple genres.
The 64 year old Bridges appeared fit and trim for his appearance at the impromptu benefit. Clean shaven and casually dressed, a beaming bridges looked completely relaxed, front of his hometown crowd, offering up selections from his two distinctively different albums, some songs from Crazy Heart and classic covers. The singer-guitarist strummed, sang, and talked during the show, to an adulate crowd. His fascinating anecdotes, gave testament to his knowledge of American music history. His style bears many of the hallmarks of his mentor during the making of Crazy Heart, T Bone Burnett. But his distinctive voice cements his own unique musical emulations.
Missing from The Abiders usual line up were Austin based fiddle player Carrie Rodriguez and Santa Barbara icon, bassist Randy Tico. But the remaining members performed a solid set of intricate music. The Abiders drummer, Tom Lackner, a long time hometown friend of Bridges, played a simple single drum in keeping with the acoustic atmosphere of the evening. Chris Pelonis ( His son Christian is also a member of Rockshop), played a masterful lead guitar. The multi talented Bill Flores played a number of different instruments. It was a great night of performances by some of Santa Barbara’s musical statesmen, turning out to help Samo and keep his musical dream intact.
Photos by L Paul Mann
