The Melvins’ lead vocalist and guitarist, King Buzzo, spoke to me about his affinity for Judy Garland and her “ungodly, weird voice.” He respects fellow creative “freaks” and finds kinship in Jimi Hendrix’s against-the-grain attitude toward music and honing his own unique style of guitar playing. This article was first published in the Sacramento News & Review on July 12, 2019.

I interviewed Everclear lead vocalist and guitarist, Art Alexakis, who shared stories from the ’90s alternative rock band’s past, including making hard-faced music execs tear up when he sang “Father of Mine” with his acoustic guitar in the middle of a sea of cubicles at Capitol Records. Alexakis also opened up about sexual abuse and his traumatic childhood, which inspired one of his newest songs, “You.” This article was first published in the Sacramento News & Review on June 21, 2018.

Moving Stories

I wrote about the incredibly talented Bobby Briscoe, who has traveled the world and danced in some of the most respected ballet institutions, including the famed Duke Ellington School of the Arts in D.C., and Chicago’s prestigious Joffrey Ballet. Briscoe returns to the Sacramento Ballet for its rendition of “The Nutcracker,” which debuts this Saturday at SAFE Credit Union Performing Arts Center.

Beauty in the Darkness

Artist Lin Fei Fei recalls touching her nose and studying the shapes of eyes as a little girl before drawing them on paper. At just 7 years old, Fei knew she wanted to be a professional artist. She would later graduate from the prestigious Luxun Academy of Fine Arts in Northeast China. She traveled the world as a student and learned centuries-old tempera painting techniques in Italy using stone powder, egg whites and tree oil. Through her studies, she developed a respect for art history, mixing her rugged elegance with classical approaches.

“For me, oil painting is a very graceful, elegant material,” Fei says. “Acrylics are cool, and other materials are cool, too, but oil can maintain history.”

With a wanderer’s heart, Fei turned down an opportunity to teach at Luxun Academy and moved to the United States in 2015. Besides her partner at the time, Fei says she didn’t know anyone so she began selling art on the street before linking up with Blue Line Arts Gallery in Roseville and eventually branching out into Sacramento’s tight-knit art community. Her first mural was for the Wide Open Walls mural festival in 2018, where she painted two ethereal skeleton figures surrounding Holy Diver, a predominantly hard rock and metal music venue in Midtown, Sacramento. Now, Fei has painted more than 30 murals from Mexico City to New York and Denver. Full story here.

Thread by thread

Working with fiber and textiles is what connects Esther Marie Hall to her cultural identities. It’s the thread she traces back to her childhood, growing up with a Southern grandmother steeped in traditional American crafts, while also learning about the artistry and customs of her Filipino roots.

As a multidisciplinary artist, Hall continues to explore her biracial identity through paint, textiles and mixed media, drawing correlations between the stitches that bind her grandmother’s quilts and the native Filipino-weaving techniques of maternal elders. She’s proud of the work she’s created for Planned Parenthood, when Hall exhibited in 2019 at the nonprofit’s The Art of Caring exhibit in San Francisco, which featured as guest speaker Kamala Harris. She was also Facebook’s artist in residence that same year, where she painted a picturesque, cartoonish mountain range inside the social media giant’s offices in Fremont, Calif. Full story here.