Living Colour Supports Aerosmith on Tour

Photo © 2015 Donna Balancia

Doug Wimbish of Living Colour drives the beat, laying down sick bass lines.

Read more at CaliforniaRocker.com

Donna Balancia, Journalist, Works and Lives in Los Angeles

Donna Balancia works and lives in Los Angeles - Photo © 2015 Donna Balancia

By DONNA BALANCIA

What does it take to make it in the big city?

A little dedication, a little luck and a lot of great people!

A Microcosm

For a journalist, there's never a dull moment in Los Angeles, where the beauty and diversity of our country can be seen in a fast-moving microcosm of the U.S.

Donna Balancia knows this well.  She first came to Los Angeles in the late '80s and Los Angeles became her home.

Artists and CEOs

"Los Angeles is the place to be," said Donna, who writes about entertainment, technology, business, and travel.  "In Los Angeles you can meet artists and corporate executives over a meal in a local restaurant and both will give you a list of why they love it here.  Whatever you may do for work, Los Angeles is the place to be."

Donna Balancia, a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, covers entertainment, technology, business and travel.  She enjoys the diversity of nature and city in Southern California. For more on Donna Balancia, go to CaliforniaRocker.com.

Bonnie Raitt and Friends Celebrate Musician Marty Grebb

Bonnie Raitt at Concert for Marty Grebb - © Donna Balancia

By DONNA BALANCIA - When Bonnie Raitt is your friend, you have an angel on your side.

Raitt and several hundred friends threw a benefit concert for musician Marty Grebb, who is battling cancer.

Grebb, who has been called "the best side man in the business,"  has been with Raitt through thick and thin and now she and many friends have returned the favor.

“Marty has been a dear friend and musical collaborator since my second album back in ’72,” Raitt told CaliforniaRocker.com  “He is one of the most soulful and talented musicians I know…equally gifted and at home on sax, keyboards, a killer singer and songwriter. That kind of versatility is very rare indeed.”

The Canyon donated the stage on a beautiful late spring evening. A host of other volunteers, led by Jennifer Waterhouse Pietro, raised donations through canvassing generous local retailers and restaurants.

For more information go to CaliforniaRocker.com

Photography by Donna Balancia

Donna is the editor of CaliforniaRocker.com and EastCoastRocker.com.  She contributes to news organizations and is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club.

Gwen Stefani at Rock In Rio USA 2015

By DONNA BALANCIA - LAS VEGAS - Gwen Stefani put on a show at Rock In Rio USA 2015 that saved the first day of the inaugural festival.

She's energetic, she communicates well with the audience and it's clear No Doubt has fans aplenty -- all enthusiastic about seeing Gwen and the guys.

In addition to an immense amount of energy and youthful moves, Gwen gives it her all.

She has a family of her own and keeps it together.  In addition to getting No Doubt back on the road, Gwen will replace Christina Aguilera on The Voice.

No Doubt will make an appearance at Chicago's  Riot Fest, along with Iggy Pop and Snoop Dogg. No Doubt will then go on to play at the Kaaboo festival at the Del Mar racetrack.

Gwen and No Doubt 

Gwen and No Doubt are worth checking out, particularly if the only exposure you may have had to her is on the radio and through the show The Voice.

Her live performance is outstanding.

Gwen, who looks amazing at 45 years old, has three kids and was recently seen going to church with her family.


Go to CaliforniaRocker.com for more info on her performance at Rock In Rio USA

Check out video from Rock In Rio USA:

The New Basement Tapes Take Dylan to a New Level

The New Basement Tapes - Photo by Donna Balancia

VIDEO By DONNA BALANCIA in HOLLYWOOD — The New Basement Tapes proved work and friendship can indeed mix, performing a “one and only” show that knocked the socks off a curious audience in Hollywood Thursday night.

JOHNNY DEPP AND HAIM MAKE SURPRISE APPEARANCE CLICK HERE

The band, comprised of Elvis Costello, Rhiannon Giddens, Taylor Goldsmith, Jim James and Marcus Mumford played the songs each had co-written to Bob Dylan lyrics discovered in Dylan’s upstate New York home.

SEE TNBT PERFORM CARD SHARK

Produced by T Bone Burnett, Lost On The River: The New Basement Tapes brought together the supergroup and their lively performance in a “one night only”-billed affair.

The New Basement Tapes was also joined onstage by the sisters Haim, and Johnny Depp.

JOHNNY DEPP PERFORMS WITH RHIANNON GIDDENS AND THE NEW BASEMENT TAPES LIVE AT MONTALBAN - DUNCAN AND JIMMY

Lawsuit Launched to Protect Coastal Florida Sparrow and Lizard Threatened by Sea-level Rise

Photo courtesy USFWS. This photo is available for media use.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.— The Center for Biological Diversity filed a formal notice of intent today to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the agency’s failure to protect the MacGillivray’s seaside sparrow and the Florida Keys mole skink under the Endangered Species Act. 

Both species are severely threatened by sea-level rise: The sparrow depends on marshes that are threatened by rising seas, while the mole skink is found only on Florida’s low-lying keys, at risk of inundation. 

Driven by climate change, sea-level rise of three feet to six feet in Florida is highly likely within this century.

“Help can’t come too soon for the seaside sparrow, Florida Keys mole skink or many other plants and animals on our vulnerable coasts,” said Jaclyn Lopez, a Center attorney based in Florida. 

Lawsuit Launched to Protect Coastal Florida Sparrow and Lizard Threatened by Sea-level Rise

Gold Machine: Innovative Distribution of Valued Investment

By TERRENCE McCOY 

Broward-Palm Beach New Times - 

BOCA RATON — Meris Kott has a thing for gold.

The Boca Raton woman wonders if her daughter would like gold for her birthday. She studies gold use in other countries. She’s got one of those old-timed gold obsessions we hear about in stories — in which pirates whisper there be GOLD – but rarely see manifested in contemporary life.

And now, Kott, 53, has taken her zest for gold and made it tangible, recently opening the first American credit card-operated gold vending machine in the Town Center Mall in Boca Raton. It’s a quest, she says, to bring gold to the American common man. People crowd around it, she says, and coo: “Wow. Gold.”

But these aren’t customers, she says — they’re investors.

Read more: http://bit.ly/X9EJPU

http://balancemarketingandpr.com/2013/01/15/boca-ratons-gold-machine-the-rainbow-ends-here/