November 24, 2006 by PT Rothschild.

REGGAE RINGS OUT RASTA REIN 

As readers who first read my article about Java Jo’z owner, Johnny, may recall, I mentioned his ‘Rastafarian’ side. Therefore it is only fitting that Johnny’s last show at his coffeehouse feature a reggae group. The band hails from the real O.C. (thanks to TV I don’t have to explain that abbreviation). Besides the reggae, tomorrow night is the last chance possibly to see the man that fostered the ‘scene’ into a ‘spot’ that became the hub for news happenings around the city besides an avenue for hot undiscovered artists and musicians. As all the old regulars gather round to say ‘Farewell’ to Johnny, there is bound to be a ‘partay’ atmosphere around the old coffeehouse. Fans are also urged to take a last look around as the name ‘Java Jo’z’ is also going bye-bye very shortly. There are those who say the scene will stay and be the same. While that may hold true, to me, Mike, Matt, Capt. Tuesday, Robert and a host of others, there will be only one Java Jo’z. For over a year Jo’z burned brightly as the place for great new music from in town and out. Come gather one last time, for one last burn before the ember dies. FVE founder Bill and family are out of town for the holidays but will read the report ‘The Last Hurrah of Java Jo’z’ right here exclusively, at the Review, just like you. 

Posted in Music, News | Print | No Comments »

November 24, 2006 by PT Rothschild.

JAVA JO’Z BREWS VARIETY MUSIC SHOW, ADDS NEW SANDWICHES TO MIX 

Amid the crowd, the merch tent, the ‘artists’ area, and the movie bus, Java Jo’z put on another solid night following FVE’s MIDNIGHT DANCECRAZE/THE TRADE on Friday 11/17. As it was Ivan Promotions first meeting with the future owners of JJ’z, it was also the last night at the scene for Jack, drummer for the now defunct band CHAPTER 14, and Wes, barista extraordinaire, who is also moving out of the area (Jack to Oregon on a three month music gig, Wes to San Diego and college). Over 80 people rolled in to discover two new sandwich additions to the menu. 

The first is another creation from Robert, father of the South African Stack. The newest mouthwatering delight is the ‘almost Philly’ and consists of hot roast beef with melted Jack, Pepperoncini, red onion, all on a toasted French baguette. Two variations on this theme are subbing ham (hummm!) or turkey in the meat department. The other new sandwich is from Java Jo’z Johnny. It is called simply, ‘The Melt’. You have heaps of either roast beef or honey ham with your choice of melted (hence the name) Jack, Cheddar, or Swiss, all on a mayo’d Croissant. 

The Saturday night music set showed as much variety. The first band up,

, was as fine a young cover band as you can see around here. The crowd of friends and classmates fully enjoyed the SUBLIME and other covers the well practiced band played. 

ABSENT MINDED, the brother of Elizabeth aka ‘Bipsy’, a former barista at JJ’z, told stories of his Christian rap tour and filled the spot with faith based lyrics rather than ‘gangsta’ going-ons. Isaac, ABSENT MINDED’s real name, was joined onstage by his tour mate and friend, fellow rapper TEKSON, whose ‘I am a Christian sinner’ intoned raps he accompanied with an acoustic guitar, rather than background beats. TEKSON, from Dallas, TX, finished out the split set solo, bringing the crowd to its feet with a sing-along of the theme song, ‘Fresh Prince of Beverly Hills’ (yes it was a Kodak moment). 

From Redlands, CA, came a young talented performer named SAIDAH (sye-ee-dah). Listed in her bio is the fact that age 2 SAIDAH knew she wanted to be an entertainer. Studying dance, gymnastics, and voice down through the years has produced a nimble stage performer with a dynamic voice and looks good enough to win the Miss Inland Empire crown. The urban beat R&B tunes she exposed the coffee shop crowd to were to showcase her latest CD, ‘Straight From The IE’ (Inland Empire), put out by On Fire Management. 

The highly stylized urban gangster look of the AMERICAN HITMEN, a band that played hard edge power rock and opened with a cover of BLACK LABLE’s ‘Fire It Up’, made sense once you learned that the band consists entirely of Marines. This ‘band of brothers’ (in the artistic sense) played originals after the cover opening that had Wes head banging his ‘rock wig’ hair back and forth, causing him to forget that his last night at JJ’z was spent behind the counter instead of partying on the other side of it, as he had hoped. 

Speaking of ‘last nights’, it was the final stage performance (so far) of URSPRACHE CONUNDRUMS, a band made up of Jack, the drummer from CHAPTER 14, and Sultan, his guitarist friend. Since the band broke up – the lead singer ran off to join the INVISIBLE CHILDREN’s 2007 World Tour – Jack has been taking the stage playing bass and singing, usually with Sultan, on Wednesday night’s ‘open mike’. Sultan started listening to Nirvana but took his budding guitar skills seriously after hearing SRV (Stevie Ray Vaughan), then moved on to Al De Meola. ‘URSPRACHE’ (Orch-shpra-ka) is the word that was the Spelling Bee winner this year and I saw (the word) ‘CONUNDRUM’ and liked it,’ reported Jack to this source. Jack and Sultan were joined tonight by a drummer, hence the band name. After doing some originals, UC did a credible cover of Hendrix’ ‘Voodoo Chile’ and then brought the house down with Jack singing falsetto to PRINCE’s ‘Kiss, complete with a searing Sultan guitar solo. Called back for an encore, Jack took a seat and soloed the story ballad, ‘Grave Digger’. Called back for a second encore, Jack played ‘The Greatest Song Ever’ Tribute Song. It was a grand night for Good-Byes. 

Posted in Food, Music, News | Print | 1 Comment »