Author Archives: Ed Simon

Ed Simon

About Ed Simon

Ed is a native of Los Angeles who loves food and food cultures. Whether he's looking for the best ceviche in Colombia, the best poke in Hawaii, the best tequila in Jalisco, the best Bun bo Hue in Vietnam or the best Taiwanese Beef Roll in Los Angeles, it's all good food! He also loves a good drink. He's had Mai Tais in Hawaii, Bourbon in Kentucky, Tequila in Mexico and Rum in Jamaica. His wine escapades have taken him to Napa, Sonoma, the Willamette Valley and the Santa Ynez Valley. And he's had beer all over the world! Music is another of Ed's passion, writing and interviewing many classic rock, rock and blues musicians. Getting the great stories of road experiences from them is a particular delight. Traveling also fits in with Ed's writing, exploring all over to find the most interesting places to visit, even in out of the way areas.

Wife Of A Spy Builds a Hitchcock Style Thriller Based In Pre-WW2; Releasing September 24

Posted on September 19, 2021 by Ed Simon

Wife Of A Spy is an exquisitely crafted film from Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Pulse, Cure, Tokyo Sonata). The film, in Japanese with English subtitles, takes place in Kobe, Japan, pre-war 1940. Satoko (Yū Aoi, Japan Society’s 2021 Honoree) is … Continue reading →

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Treefort Music Fest: Venture Up North To Boise For Over 400 Bands, Plus Storyfort, Foodfort And Many Other Forts Too

Posted on August 10, 2021 by Ed Simon

Treefort is Back! Boise’, and the Pacific North West’s most popular event has returned after the unplanned ‘hiatus’ that was called 2020. All the top ‘Forts’ will be there, including Foodfort, Alefort, Comedyfort, Kidfort, Hackfort, Filmfort, Dragfort, Yogafort and Storyfort. … Continue reading →

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Dusty Hill, Bass Player/Vocalist For ZZ Top, Dead at 72–A Driving Memory

Posted on July 28, 2021 by Ed Simon

Dusty Hill, the bass player as well as one of the vocalists for blues-rock giant ZZ Top, died today at his Houston home. This brought an interesting memory to me. Around 2005, I took a cross-country trip with a friend … Continue reading →

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Dio Cancer Fund To Celebrate Ronnie James Dio’s Birthday With Virtual Fundraiser

Posted on July 5, 2021 by Ed Simon

The Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund was established to honor one of the top heavy metal rock vocalists of all time. He tragically lost his fight with stomach cancer on May 16, 2010. On Saturday, July … Continue reading →

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Casey Hensley: Powerful Singing, Powerful Writing, Powerful Blues On New ‘Good As Gone’ Album

Posted on April 15, 2021 by Ed Simon

Casey Hensley has the blues inside her. Imprinted on her soul, this young singer and songwriter out of Oceanside, CA sings the blues with a vocal range that is just amazing, bringing to mind many of the most famous female … Continue reading →

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Fortress Reflects on ’80s Rock In LA: Releasing ‘Waiting for the Night’ 31 Years After

Posted on March 12, 2021 by Ed Simon

Fortress formed as a band of friends—talented friends who had a vision of becoming one of the stars of the 80’s rock scene. Hard work brought them to a point where Fortress, consisting of Ted Heath, vocals; Chris Turbis, keyboards/vocals; … Continue reading →

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Zappa Movie Chronicles A Musical Genius: Not Just Another Band From LA

Posted on March 11, 2021 by Ed Simon

“Zappa” (Magnolia Pictures, 2020) chronicles the life and music of Frank Zappa, self-taught musical genius who not only achieved tremendous musical success, but also threw himself into the political turmoil of record censorship when most artist only stuck their heads … Continue reading →

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Make The Blues Clubs Rounds In Long Beach (Virtually) On NYE

Posted on December 30, 2020 by Ed Simon

Spend your NYE in Long Beach making the rounds of all the blues clubs, hearing all the hot local bands and with no need for Uber/Lyft or a limo as the Long Beach Blues Society presents a lockdown streamed concert … Continue reading →

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New Blues Revolution Brings Live Show To Harvelles In Santa Monica Plus Livestreaming

Posted on November 4, 2020 by Ed Simon

New Blues Revolution and Bill Grisolia are no strangers to the LA Beat. Bill is not only known as the singer/pianist/frontman of the powerful New Blues Revolution, the blues based group that’s been a fixture in Southern California for years, … Continue reading →

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Eddie Van Halen, Guitarist Par Excellence–1955-2020, Good Memories

Posted on October 6, 2020 by Ed Simon

In the early 1980s I was was managing a new store in Sherman Oaks, CA for the Al ‘n Ed’s Auto Sound Stores. In that area, we had a lot of show business people and as manager I was the … Continue reading →

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