Cubensis has not been able to perform live since February, and money is tight. If you have a few bucks you can chip in, we'd sure appreciate it, so we can have a chance of returning to the stage once this genie is put back in the bottle! Thank you!
Watch FREE from 6-9pm (west coast time) every night from Fri May 22 to Mon May 26
The OC Music Festival, in partnership with DJE Sound and Lighting, has announced their inaugural “So Over COVID” streaming music festival. The livestream, taking place on Memorial Day weekend, will feature some of Southern California’s biggest “jam band” acts in footage captured live from the 2019 festival, as well as new footage taped especially for this special event.
Free passcode from Eventbrite HERE.
“Music is essential,” declared Ted Tesoriero, President of the OC Music Festival, now in its eighth year. “We had an opportunity to cancel the event and take a year off or we could spring into action and figure out how to stage an event that would lift the spirits of the bands and the fans. That’s what we chose to do in short order.”
Tesoriero owns and operates Orange County-based DJE Sound and Lighting, a renowned events production company with a long record of innovation that supplies direction, sound and lighting to large-scale events throughout the west coast. A full schedule of providing services disappeared as the Coronavirus crisis engulfed the nation, bringing entertainment event production to a standstill.
“We’re always looking for creative ideas to gain a competitive edge in our industry.” said Tesoriero, “Our reaction – this festival – is about providing something special and hopeful to our community of fans and artists, but it’s also about survival for the festival and my company.”
A music stage was carefully and creatively constructed in DJE’s warehouse, the same building where the company is headquartered. Tesoriero’s team, observing social distancing protocol – donning masks and gloves, and employing best practices in sanitizing equipment and shared spaces – created a virtual live concert environment, with state-of-the-art video direction, production and premium sound recording, mixing and mastering.
“We didn’t want to just broadcast past performances,” said Tesoriero. “We invited bands who had been social distancing to come and film their music sets on our virtual stage. The final result was stunning in terms of staging, lighting and sound. At least for the time being, this will be the future of music festivals. We’re thrilled that we’re operating at the forefront of this ‘virtual concert’ technology.”
The event, which will begin streaming from May 22nd through May 25th, features several accomplished LA and Orange County-based jam bands such as Grateful Dead specialists Cubensis, GrooveSession, the Hempstring Orchestra, the surging jamgrass band The Storytellers and others.
The event is free, requiring only a gratis access passcode that can be obtained on Eventbrite.
According to Tesoriero, creating this free event is the right way forward. “We’re pleased to make this event free of charge for fans,” he said. “My team has worked extremely hard to create something that pleases the fans and the bands, but at the end of the day, this has been an experiment to see what we can deliver to the industry in the face of this pandemic. As everyone will see during the streaming festival, we hit it out of the park. We aren’t out of the woods by any means, but we’re breathing a bit easier.”
LINE-UP
Cubensis- Grateful Dead Music Experience (Saturday May 23, 8pm)
Robert Jon & The Wreck
GrooveSession
The Higgs
Shaky Feelin
The Storytellers
Mestizo Beat
Hempstring Orchestra
West Coast Strayz
The Dupp Brothers
Nate LaPointe (Friday, 7pm)
What a long, strange trip it still is!
There's a band out on the highway -- For 32 years, and over 4000 performances, Cubensis has brought the sights and sounds of Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead to Southern California and beyond! Join us for a family celebration of the music and culture that insures the Grateful Dead’s community and spirit prevails. Cubensis is recognized as the longest continuously-performing Dead tribute in the nation!
Cubensis has been acclaimed for giving new life to the Grateful Dead's material, bringing in new styles, new innovations, and new jam band enthusiasts, while at the same time remaining loyal to the original music and the original fans. The band is a study in ensemble playing, and its members feed off each other's energy, pushing one another into high gear with integrated parts that answer and complement each other.
Below you'll find a quick-access main calendar, plus a section with significant upcoming shows highlighted and detailed. Check back often for updates, and feel free to explore the rest of the site! As a fan once said, "There ain't no place I'd rather be!"
NEXT up...
No live shows until virus is contained
Nice review of our Moroccan Lounge show from Live for Live Music (click to read)
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“Cubensis -- Los Angeles’s Deadhead heart for 30 years ”
— Dennis McNally (Grateful Dead publicist)
“Cubensis plays with the same laid-back mastery as the real McCoy”
— LA WEEKLY
“These guys were on phire as usual...they were high-steppin' into town!”
— Alan Holden