Hannah Arnush
Pierce College’s very own teacher, Diane Kelly, performed on Friday night for a full house of women at the Guitar Merchant on Topanga Boulevard. Kelly is a health and fitness professor at Pierce and the author of “Reflections of a Visionary’s Path: A Collection of Stream of Consciousness Writings”.
“James McKeever, an assistant professor of sociology at Pierce, hosted “Wo-men with a Vision”. “‘Wo-men with a Vision’celebrates the WO (female energy) and MEN (male energy) that lies within both genders.
United by humanity, separated by no one. The concert is about building bridges and creating alliances between fellow humans,” says Diane Kelly.
Naydeen Risha, who with an amazing voice, chanted “Sacred Stones”, a melodic yet peaceful song, performed the opening act. Stefana performed next and was accompanied by a belly dancer that received huge applause. The music had a salsa feel to it, and the lead vocals had gritty Janis Joplin-like quality. Their next song, “Come As You Are” was a bluesy song with soul. Stefana had a wide variety of sounds that really intrigued the audience. They ended their set with a song full of energy that had the audience standing up and dancing.
Next Diane Kelly read a poem from her book “Reflections of a Visionary’s Path” called “Butterfly”.
Also performing was a young girl named Nikki on guitar and vocals, and Howard Hancox on vocals from the band Bleed to Feel. They covered the Kings of Leon song “Use Somebody” exceptionally. Hancox’s voice was identical to that of Caleb Followill from Kings of Leon.
Hancox then did a Q and A on Stereotyping and Free Speech.
Q: “What do you do?”
A:” Whenever somebody asks me what I do I say I sing and they say ‘Oh you’re a rapper’ and I say no I sing in a rock band and they are like ‘really?’ It starts with children because it is all learned behavior. We can make a change by teaching our children good beliefs.”
Q: “Whom do you get compared to?”
A: “I am not Hootie! Living Colour or Sevendust. Every black guy in rock music I have been compared to.”
With her new album “Cycle of Fruit” just coming out Angie Evans can’t be missed. She has a black Mohawk, black vest, black tie and tattoos. The first one I notice is the sign for female going up the back of her forearm. She describes her music as blues, soul and lounge. The first song “Tip” has a Dave Matthews Band sound to it and talks about words and how powerful they are. Evans’ next song “A Call To Action” was written after her first woman’s studies class is about making a change and woman’s rights. She then covers the Tracy Chapman song “Talking about a Revolution”, a perfect theme song for the night.
Jayla performed the final act and had the audience standing and clapping along. The duo included Diane Kelly and Nikki Thompson. My favorite song they played was “Jayla’s California”, the first single off their album, Faithfully Alive. They have a groovy soul sound with catchy lyrics that you will have stuck in your head for days. They describe their sound as pop, rock and acoustic. Jayla is currently working on songs for their new album and will be performing next at the “Live to inspire” music showcase at the Dakota Music Lounge on April 30. For more information go to www.jaylamusic.com or e-mail at avalonmgnt@aol.com.