It’s no secret that K-pop artists, at least the successful ones, live and work in a high-pressure environment where every part of their lives is dissected along the way. Vocalist Wonho was a star in group Monsta X before being forced out in 2019 following allegations of financial mismanagement…

Pell, courtesy. New Orleans hip-hop artist Pell (Jared Pellerin) spent the first three months of the pandemic split between boredom and action. Living in L.A., where he had opened his own studio, Pell was already more than a year into a new venture that aimed to empower emerging New…

DJ Aaron Axelsen performs at the Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco on Sept. 16, 2016. Alessio Neri/STAFF. Former longtime ALT 105 music director Aaron Axelsen, who was laid off last spring as part of numerous layoffs by owner ENTERCOM, has been named head of programming for a new streaming…

San Francisco Symphony Chinese New Year Virtual Celebration: Year of the Ox. For the first time in 21 years, the San Francisco Symphony‘s annual Lunar New Year concert will not be held in front of an audience at Davies Symphony Hall. Instead, the program, which will be hosted by…

Chick Corea performs at Blue Note in Milan, Italy, on March 8, 2013. Photo: Sergione Infuso/Corbis. When I covered several Grammy Awards presentations in Los Angeles over the last decade, there were few people as prevalent at every turn down a walkway or media work room than Chick Corea.…

California Gov. Gavin Newsom watches as the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is prepared by Director of Inpatient Pharmacy David Cheng at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center on Dec. 14, 2020 in Los Angeles. Photo by Jae C. Hong-Pool. California has about 3,000 designations for the COVID vaccination process. Even…

The Smashing Pumpkins perform at Oracle Arena (now Oakland Arena) in Oakland on Aug. 27, 2018. When will concerts return to such a high-density attendance? Alessio Neri/STAFF. In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Ineffable Music booked and oversaw 1,100 concerts at the five venues it either owns or at which…

Aaron Lee Tasjan, Courtesy: Curtis Wayne. There’s a song on Tasjan! Tasjan! Tasjan!, the new solo album by singer-songwriter Aaron Lee Tasjan, that speaks to some of his serendipitous, yet totally true experiences. “Feminine Walk” chronicles him at various parts in his life, from the time he got a…

SOPHIE, courtesy. Influential experimental PC pop artist SOPHIE died early Saturday after a fall in Athens, Greece, where she lived, according to her record label, Transgressive. The Grammy-nominated artist and producer, whose name was Sophie Xeon, was 34. “Tragically our beautiful Sophie passed away this morning after a terrible accident.…

Baby Queen, courtesy. It’s an overnight success story—during a pandemic, no less—that’s two years in the making. South-Africa-born, London-based pop singer-songwriter Baby Queen didn’t sign her first record deal until last April. The Zoom signing was quickly followed by numerous witty singles and an EP that made 23-year-old Bella…