CalProg Pre Party

The Whittier Radisson Hotel will be host to a party on Friday night (June 3) in the ballroom to kick off the weekend. Expect to see many band members and attendees at this event. It starts at 9:00 and will run until approximately 11:00. There will be an  attended bar. This event has a miniscule cover charge of $10.

Performing at the party will be Los Angeles based LA Underscore.

Artist Profile: L.A. Underscore

 L.A. Underscore is hardly a new band. In fact, the core lineup has been together for nearly ten years. Guitarists Sean Joplin, Derek Scott, bassist G.T. Richards, and drummer Jonathann Launer were briefly known as Area 51, and later released the CD “Tales from Area 51” under the name Dreamland. While the names may not immediately ring a bell, they are all veteran musicians with dozens of album and film projects to their credits. Additionally, they are all actively engaged in producing and performing with countless other artists, bringing a constant infusion of new ideas, and supporting talents back into the fold. L.A. Underscore has arrived at a new plateau with the release of “Escape from Omaha ”. It is the culmination of many years of extensive writing, arranging, and recording. The core lineup is supplemented by several guest artists contributing their extraordinary performance skills, which include Ryo Okumoto, keyboardist from the mighty Spock’s Beard, Jerry Goodman, the violinist of Mahavishnu Orchestra and Dixie Dregs fame, and guitarist/violinist David Ragsdale, who has recorded and toured as a member of the legendary rock group Kansas. Drummer Jonathann Launer who is also the band’s producer, explains, “I felt that the material being written for the new album warranted a much larger production scale and so I brought in Jerry,Ryo & David to really bring it up a notch. In addition, I added full orchestration to the track “Just Dreaming” and bringing in an oboe player from the L.A. Philharmonic. I even got Simon Phillips to assist me in getting my drum sounds. The new record has some cool vintage Mellotron, Mini Moog, & Hammond sounds on it, courtesy of Ryo, & we’re real proud of the way it turned out.