The Oakland raised, SoCal based Destinee Alera hit all the perfect R&B and jazz notes at a recent WFNM showcase at Hotel Ziggy. She had a four piece backing band (guitar, bass, keys, drummer) that highlighted the lovely nuances of her music.
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| Destinee Alera at Hotel Ziggy |
A Handful (Bucketful) of Show Alerts
Sunday, Mar 1st: Dreyted at Oblivion. Doors at 7 p.m.Faydean (Faydean Drew Kielty's mononymous name) brought her folk-country tunes to the WFNM showcase at Hotel Ziggy. The Los Angeles native mentioned that she wasn't able to perform much in 2025 due to nodules. She has recovered and is rearing to go in 2026. Based on a recent Instagram post she had 8 performances scheduled just in January and February (a couple as a backup vocalist).
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| Faydean at Hotel Ziggy |
If PEGGY (Peggy Owens' mononymous name) needs a backup plan in life, she'll be a most beloved high school English teacher. She sang a series of songs that were inspired by her voracious reading habits ("DEAR READER," "WRITTEN BY A WOMAN," "ALICE," and one may as well toss in "FRANKENSTEIN," which was technically based on the recent movie). But that backup plan for the Berklee College of Music graduate is just imagined on my part, because at the moment she is highlighting her music talents at venues such as Hotel Ziggy (a night presented by WFNM).
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| PEGGY at Hotel Ziggy |
Scout Gillett was the headliner for the post-Super Bowl party at Zebulon. It should be said upfront that the night was a mash-up of music genres -- and I say that in a positive way, because the three bands that I saw were all excellent (Lackey and Dreyted were the first two bands). Lackey and Dreyted provided the audience with punk rock performances. Gillett shifted the music genre (she did rock her way through some of her songs, but I would not call her music punk). Her website bio describes her sound as follows, "Her acumen as a lyricist and musician are on full display, blending velvety vocals with twangy guitars, lo-fi harmonica, and dreamy pedal steel across the album and merging a variety of genres into a haunting sonic landscape."
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| Scout Gillett at Zebulon |
A tradition of mine is to head out to Zebulon after the Super Bowl. I've always had a good time hanging out there after the big game. In 2024, I got to run into a long time favorite Sally Spitz. Last year, I saw John Errol who ended up making my list of favorite new bands / artists of the year (you can read that list of favorites here). This year, after watching the defensive dominance of the Seattle Seahawks, I came across another band that will surely make my list of favorite bands of 2026: Dreyted (the moniker for DeRon Munroe).
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| Dreyted at Zebulon |
Brooklyn based Anastasia Coope headlined Zebulon recently. The artist has been spending the beginning of 2026 touring the two coasts of North America (there were some stops in Canada). Her tour will conclude with short trip through Europe.
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| Anastasia Coope at Zebulon |
I first came across Harmony Index (the moniker for Nico Leibman) in 2023. She was headlining a set for a Safe Travels Presents showcase at the Resident DTLA. I should just mention that the Resident DTLA closed its doors in October 2025. It isn't necessarily a shock to me. I remember talking to the manager back in 2024, because they were putting a stop (I believe it was just temporary) on live performances. It was a reason why Alphabet Soup (a collaboration between The Witching Hours and Safe Travels Presents) had to move locations that year. It was mentions that alcohol purchases had declined post-2020. Pre-2020, I always considered the venue to be The Arts Districts answer (smaller in size) to Zebulon. You'd hang out at the venue and occasionally run into people such as Victoria Justice.
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| Harmony Index at Zebulon |
A Handful (Super Sized) of Show Alerts
Sunday, Feb 22nd: Anna Ash at Zebulon. Doors at 7 p.m.Playing perhaps the shortest set I've seen in years, drummer Chloe Saavedra was the headliner at the Ryan Pollie showcase at The Fable. How short was the set? I say it clocked in at 15 minutes. She played a trio of songs from her upcoming record with the highlight being her single release "Physics." The short set was more than made up by her magnetic personality.
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| Chloe Saavedra at The Fable |
