Black Sheep Brass Band

When the High Sierra Music Festival hires you to usher in their 30th anniversary festival celebration, you know you’ve hit the mark. The Black Sheep Brass Band is quite certainly up to the task of ushering in long-awaited fun for anyone who’s forgotten what it feels like to have horns pounding your chest and bass thumping your feet through the floorboards. Their performances exhibit an array of styles from funk to secondline to down n dirty big band, never losing focus of their goal of moving the bodies assembled before them. Fun and funny and full of surprises, they are a parade of joy winding through the masses of the many who are in dire need of all that makes life a spectacular journey. And yes, need is the proper word. We need this. We need them. We need to spread this celebration of the living near and far, and they are the perfect guides to raise our hands, ignite our smiles, and keep us bouncing with glee down the bumpy road that lies before us.

DJ Malik

In a world rife with distraction and dwindling attention, those who love are those who listen. DJ Malik ventures into this world ears first, connecting his audience with music that excites, inspires, and beholds the beauty of an auditory landscape yielding a power like no other. Never does he stage himself as the central attraction. Rather, he acts as a guide who shepherds revelers through an experience curated to meet the needs and desires of those he humbly serves. He is constantly gauging the energy and flow of the room, all the while anticipating what paths lay ahead as well as what nuances will encourage everyone to share in that harmonious realm. His studied vigilance imparts a unique trust on the crowd and leaves listeners with a rapt curiosity for each musical transition. He remains, steadfast, between past and future. Henry Miller wrote, “To make living itself an art, that is the goal.” Whether it be with his shop, the concerts he hosts, or the music he plays, Malik creates an artistic life that his entire community can enjoy. He listens, to everything and everyone, and his stoic grace enables us all to listen right back.