By Aaron Kayce

Living in San Diego is often a mixed bag. At times it can be a slice of paradise, sitting on a jagged cliff face wearing nothing but a t-shirt and shorts, watching the crystal blue water break onto a pristine coastline. But more often than not this 75-degree dreamland is laced with musical atrocities. It is by no means a secret that San Diego is far from a leader in the music scene, compare it to the local music coming out of Seattle, Frisco, Atlanta, Boston, or NYC and this becomes obvious. It seems the beach simply does not cater to a progressive, creative, energized live music crowd. The differences between a place like San Diego and San Francisco are amazing. When I talk to my friends up in the Bay they are constantly having to choose what they want to see, and being forced to miss something every weekend because of the amount of great music going through there. When was the last time the Sex Mob and Zony Mash were in San Diego at the same time, or even separately for that matter? Or when have I ever had to choose between Steve Kimock and Charlie Hunter. In fact most of the people around here, even the "heads" don't even know of these bands. Of course we have amazing musicians, as any city does, and of course there are nights that are rocking, but for the most part we are in a superficial atmosphere. A city dominated by beach culture embracing boob jobs and Limp Bizkit. One needs only to consider this New Years Eve possibilities. In Frisco there is so much to choose from whether it be the Other Ones, Phil and Friends or Galactic that everyone inevitably must miss something. Whereas down here in San Diego no one of note, not one band I am excited about is playing. Or you could look at Widespread Panics last visit to San Diego over a year ago in which only a handful of people came out to experience what I would consider one of the best live acts out there.

The irony inside the San Diego music world was highlighted yet again on the weekend of December 8^th, 9^th, and 10^th. Unfortunately for the likes of my kind San Diego draws more attention from gangster rap than from creative, talented, improvisational musicians. But on this weekend we had a combination of both, two musical outfits sitting on completely opposite sides of the track. Somehow I had caught wind that the infamous Snoop Doggy Dog would be performing an unscheduled show at the small, (maybe five hundred person) Cane's. At first I was not that interested, I don't like his 'music', his message, or that entire scene. But I was convinced that this 'superstar' would put on a 'sick' show, in the tiny venue with people bumpin' to the beats. Being interested in all types of musical experiences I grabbed one of the hard to get tickets going for thirty bucks. (Ouch!)

I wasn't expecting too much, but was actually fairly excited on Saturday night when we rolled up to the venue, only to find literally dozens of cop cars littering the parking lots, and more foot soldiers than I could count. And I thought Phish shows were bad. Any way my excitement was dropping rapidly as we witnessed the idiots roaming around, acting tough, giving stares, and professing their extreme coolness. But let me assure you, things only got worse. To speed things up, we sat around in a hot stuffy room listening to a DJ spin fair at best music you would hear on one of those horrible music stations like Z- 94.5. We tormented the noise for over three hours while we awaited the Dog father's arrival. At one point I even heard the so-called DJ repeat a song, are you kidding me? When Snoop finally did show up at 12:45 he and a couple of other vocal imposters got on stage and screamed a few songs over a different DJ. He actually spent more time smoking blunts and yelling, "What's my mother fucking name" than actually singing or rapping. And when Snoop was actually trying to perform he was way off key and sounded like shit. It was HORRIBLE! I should have listened to my friends who usually come to all the shows with me as they warned me that it would be just as it was, a JOKE. I was hopping for something like the amazing hip-hop shows I have seen by the Roots and Jurassic Five, but I was ever so wrong. I left feeling like I had been swindled. Thirty bucks to watch a criminal get high.

I awoke on Sunday a bit perturbed by the previous nights antics, but was looking forward to a musical experience which I hopped would freshen up my mood. The Seattle based trio Living Daylights were playing at my local stomping ground, Winston's in Ocean Beach. I was introduced to the Living Daylights at the High Sierra music festival where they collaborated with the extremely talented Slip in a late night freak out entitled the Slipping Daylights. After that show I knew to keep my eyes on both of these bands, and as I have seen the Slip only once since then I was excited to see the other half of that late night extravaganza, the Living Daylights.

I strolled down to the warm dark lit bar I have called home for stretches at a time, paid my five dollars and settled into one of my favorite local bands, Psydecar. The opening set was great, energized, funky, jazzy, reggae jams, with special guest Harold Todd on sax blowing beautifully. I sipped on a two-dollar Newcastle as I watched the Living Daylights set up their gear for a truly unique evening. The trio which is composed of Dale Fanning on drums, Arne Livingston on Bass and Jessica Lurie on saxophone wasted no time getting into it. They came out on fire, jumping right into a space out super jam in which I could not take my eyes of Arne's amazing bass playing. It didn't take long for me to realize that I was watching one of the best bass players I had ever seen. Arne is capable of using the bass in so many different ways, from slamming on its neck to picking subtle lead notes. At times one can hear tinges of Charlie Hunter, and you may even feel as if there is a lead guitar somewhere hidden in his bass. In the first five minutes I watched Arne very nonchalantly use his foot gadgets to loop various thick vibrations to create an extremely full sound as he would thump over it, dropping huge bass rhythms.

As Arne is capturing my attention Dale is the workhorse, intensely laying down the foundation for both Arne and Jessica to explore the space realm. Dale focuses so intently on Arne that at certain times I feel as though he is sending mental messages with his eyes. As the opening jam flows further on with Dale driving hard I notice Jessica pushing the envelope with her saxophone, and demanding attention. Just as Arne and Dale are top-notch musicians Jessica is simply amazing. The range of sounds and variety of influences coming out of her saxophone are almost too much to absorb. Although she is plainly capable of whaling away she is also able to lay back a bit and blend her sound with Arne's complimenting beautifully. As she mesmerize and almost cast a spell on the crowd she then jumps into a screeching Skeric like solo, almost scarring the audience into hip flying free form dancing.

From the first notes of the evening it was apparent that everyone who had made it out on Sunday night was in for a wonderful evening of music. As the trio explored an acid jazz improvisation jam a tribal flow began to emerge with Jessica adding percussions on a shaker and Arne sitting on stage beating a small hand drum emphatically. As the rootsy beat began looping itself it was causing a wake leaving further space to wander the atmosphere. Jessica proceeded to pick up her flute and melodically added to the airy beautiful sound. As the music was floating and traveling the extremely accomplished Harold Todd, who opened with Psydecar, but is best known for his work with Lenny Kravitz, was obviously moved and inspired to jump on stage with the amazing trio. Todd picked up his flute as Jessica returned to her trusty saxophone for an amazing horn session. As these two complimented each other like old friends another San Diegan busted out his sax and added to the fun. Cochemea Gastelum, known as Cheme to his friends plays with Robert Walters 20^th Congress and fortunately for me and everyone else at Winston's he grew up in San Diego. It seems that Cheme had come down to Winston's to help in the blowing of every ones minds.

Now I had noticed Cheme and Jessica talking before the gig, so I was anticipating a duo, but became extremely excited when I saw Todd get on stage first because I knew we were in for a triple horn ho down. And I assure you I was not to be disappointed, at first Todd was on flute with Jessica and Cheme on sax, not to mention Arne and Dale going berserk keeping it all on track. After a spontaneous compilation of musical talent between the five masters on stage Todd stepped off praising Jessica, leaving her and Cheme to blow hard with hints of Galactic, minus the advent of a lead guitar.

After about ten minutes of watching the Daylights plus Cheme soar through expressive open music and insanely funky transitions Harold Todd could stand no more as he jumped back on stage with the other two horns to finish off one of the freest, most expansive jam sessions I have seen in quite some time. When Arne stopped trampling his bass with deep funky bass grooves he seemed as pleased with the music as the crowd was, which happened to be fairly decent for Sunday night at Winston's. Arne stepped up to the mike and praised Psydcar, for planting the seeds of all the energy in the bar. It was a pleasant surprise out of the at times unwelcoming San Diego crowd. Arne continued to explain that they almost never do sets like that, with no real songs or direction, just open jam sessions, and that they would come right back and "actually play some of our own songs, we are a trio."

The Living Daylights were obviously extremely turned on by the positive, creative atmosphere laid down by Psydcar, and thankfully couldn't seem to slip away from that. As they returned to the stage after no more than a five-minute break, a true rarity in the music world, conga player, trumpet player, and vocal lead man Tim Pacheco from Psydcar joined them. As Pacheco was helping to establish the rhythmic almost Latin beat with Dale, Arne was once again displaying his mind-bending abilities on the bass with his eyes closed in an almost meditative state. As the music progressed Arne pulled back just a bit as Jessica's talents were screaming in my ears. She blew her sax around the world, at times taking me to a Bulgarian temple, then throwing me into an Afro-pop whirlwind, and placing firmly back in the progressive sound of Seattle. I was in awe of the array of noises that were weaving this beautiful tapestry of sound. I closed my eyes and drifted along with Jessica as Arne echoed bone rattling bass bombs over the non-stop drumming of Dale who was accompanied by Pacheco on congas. They were calling on aspects of the late sixties and early seventies Miles Davis projects in an all out combusting wide-open freak space jam.

As if this wasn't enough Harold Todd came back on stage with his flute to accompany his band mate Pacheco, while Jessica picked up a cow bell and slowed things, returning us to this planet while the 'last call' lights were blinking. As Todd was dancing with his flute he led us down a beautiful path while Pacheco surrendered a vocal stream of consciousness to serve as the only words for the evening. The Living Daylights and their special guests from Ocean Beach obviously couldn't get enough as they played until the lights came on and they were literally ushering people out of the bar at 1:45 in the morning. As the music fell silent, Arne took the mike for one last moment sending the endearing message "you don't have to go home but ya cant stay here" out to the still captivated audience.

The music was amazing, and as is the case with the Living Daylights in general impossible to categorize. They balance such a variety of sounds from break beat

Electronic drum spasms, to Eastern European Saxophone echoes, to Arne's complete control of the bass all the way back to African drum engagements. It was so enjoyable to watch and be a part of, not to mention a much needed soul refresher after the previous evenings Snoop fiasco, that I couldn't wait to pick the band members brains for few minutes before they split on their way to Santa Monica.

I caught up with Arne right after the show and the energy was just pulsating off of him as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. I asked him about the show I had seen a while back with the Slip at High Sierra. And a huge smile came over Arne's face as he elaborated on how that was "totally, just really out there stuff, that was a real trip." And for any of you who were there at two, three, four, in the morning you know he couldn't have said it better, that sure was a trip. We talked a bit about the evenings show at Winston's and he expressed how much fun he had. He couldn't say enough about Psydcar and the tone they set for the evening. "If Sunday nights with Psydcar are the thing, then will make it a point to be hear with them." He commented on how the last time they were in San Diego there was no real support but was extremely enthusiastic about the turn out, and whole show in general on this evening. He said, "It couldn't have gone better." Being skeptical of San Diego as I am at times, nothing could have made me happier than to see a band like the Living Daylights who are playing on the edge of music, and trying to do something new, come down play a ripping show and be excited about coming back. I realize this is my only hope for a flourishing music scene here in San Diego, to have talented new musicians keep coming here, and continue to pave the road from the North and the East.

The next day I caught up with Jessica for a quick couple of questions to help me gather a few more morsels about this extremely interesting band.

Aaron: First off I wanted to get a little background information on you. Where did you all meet, and how did you get to playing music together?

Jessica: I went to high school with Arne, so we've known each other for a long time. And Arne and Dale played in different African bands in Seattle, and we were all sort of in similar musical circles at the same time. That was about six years ago when we began collaborating, but for the first few years it was more of a project. It wasn't until maybe three years ago that we made it a priority, where we were touring and putting all our energy into it.

Aaron: Moving to last nights show at Winston's it seemed to be a very wide open jam out session. I recall Arne commenting on how you might actually play some songs in the second set. Was last night very different from most of your shows?

Jessica: Yeah, that was pretty much made up on the spot. There were no real songs or arrangements. Just a lot of laying down various textures. Playing with more spaces, just building off the energy with amazing musicians like Psydecar.

Aaron: Do you usually have a general set mapped out that you follow?

Jessica: Well that's one of the things about touring a lot, like we have been. You get really tight as a band, but don't have any time to rehearse anything new. So a lot of the time we will have a composition that takes on a new direction on stage, and turns into something totally different or entirely new. We are very open to each other's musical motivations on stage. We are willing to go in new directions and follow each other. Like playing with Psydecar, flowing with them just raising energies.

Aaron: Speaking of Psydecar Harold Todd seemed to be full of kudos for you; I could tell he really enjoyed playing with you. . .

Jessica: I know the whole time he was up there I was like 'no its you, its you'. That was amazing.

Aaron: Had you ever played with him before?

Jessica: No.

Aaron: What did you think of him?

Jessica: He's amazing, what a wonderful sound. And his flute playing was inspiring. He really impressed me with that. You know I had stopped playing the flute for a few years, and was working on my sax until about six months ago I started bringing some flute into the Living Daylights. And you know to really learn an instrument I feel I need to focus all my attention on that instrument. And when I was watching him I was just like 'ya that's what I want to do.' He was really inspirational.

Aaron: I noticed you talking with Cheme before the show how do you know him?

Jessica: We did a Halloween show in Williamsport Pennsylvania with Robert Walters 20^th congress and we met there.

Aaron: How did you like that triple horn blowout last night with Cheme and Harold?

Jessica: I had a great time.

Aaron: Oh yeah, I wanted to ask you one more thing, on your new album, which I picked up last night, and think sounds great but obviously haven't put enough time into, how did you hook up with Bill Frisell?

Jessica: He played at this festival I put together in Seattle, but it seems that we just keep running into him. We just asked him if he wanted to sit in and he was very excited about it so he came in.

Jessica and I chatted a bit more as I basically thanked her for her time and an amazing show. And I thought back to the previous nights shake down and thought of the irony at play in my weekend. I considered my Saturday night with the famous Snoop Dogg who charged me thirty dollars for nothing. Literally nothing, no musical talent, no thought provoking message, not even good beats. It seems that this type of show dominates at times here in San Diego, but my faith was restored for only five dollars on the next night. It's almost comical how a band like the Living Daylights can go through a city hardly being noticed, outside of a few enlightened music fans, and only receive five dollars a head. While Snoop Dogg gets rich and couldn't touch the musical talent in Arne's left pinky toe, let alone the entire band together. Its almost a metaphor for mainstream society, you can listen to the hype and bleed out your wallet for crap, or you can seek original experiences and transcend the obsession with money. You cannot put a price on the sounds radiating from talented musicians all around the world who are true artists with musical vision and positive energy. I realize that this is not a news flash, but at times it needs reiteration. The Living Daylights rescued my weekend from the grasps of gangster rap, reminding me why I travel all over the country in search of true genuine music. By talking with these very cool people, (Dale, Arne, and Jessica) I am more optimistic about the future of music in San Diego. Hearing how happy they were to come down from Seattle and that they really dug the vibe here makes me look forward to other musicians making it all the way down to the border city or S.D. I can only hope the positive atmosphere continues to blossom, pushing people like Snoop to the side, while more real musicians take the stage.