#ruby-ibarra

#ruby-ibarra

In 2025, Dmae Lo Roberts embarked on a statewide storytelling experience focusing on personal stories from both artists and community members. These stories are a form of living oral history.

Samara Joy sings with old-school phrasing and a modern calm that makes the Great American Songbook feel freshly alive. Her tone is warm and centered, her control is ridiculous, and the swing is the real flex, every line shaped with patience and purpose.

The album showcases an audacious blend of trap, rock, pop, and experimental elements, all infused with a refreshing emotional honesty.

Genre-blending in Latin music is nothing new, but timing and execution set them apart, along with an uncanny ability to turn internet absurdism into cool songs, all wrapped in sharp musicianship and rock 'n' roll panache.

The book's array of perspectives includes imaginative explorations of ancestry and belonging from Mei Chung and Katelyn Wong. Gupta and Paloma Francesca Carrubba explore the impacts of a racist and misogynistic external world on individual internal lives. McCulloch and Zofia Mosur do battle with existential dread using their own words. Ava Perez and Claribel Caamal Amodei write of the terror and trepidation of living under the threat of ICE.

While Hopkina, who is based in New York and Massachusetts, has been included in many local group exhibitions and screenings, Basso dives deep into the artist's work with six films created over a nine-year period. As a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation/Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indian, Hopkina's use of poetry and atmospheric aesthetics is not only visually compelling, but mines the edges of linguistic, visual, and cultural legibility.

Last month, LaRussell announced his signing of a "project deal" with San Francisco label EMPIRE, one of the music industry's largest and most powerful independent labels and distributors. In 2023, he announced a deal with Live Nation for select concert dates. Both deals, LaRussell indicated, allowed him to make decisions on his own terms. The Roc Nation announcement comes after images of a late January meeting between LaRussell and Jay-Z were shared online.

Bad Bunny's highly anticipated halftime show comes as the artist reaches new heights of his skyrocketing career. Bad Bunny was the most-streamed artist on Spotify in 2025, racking up 19.8 billion streams; he also claimed that title in 2020, 2021 and 2022. He took home three Grammy awards last week, and became the first artist to win Album of the Year for an entirely Spanish-language record.

January is the month where music is moving underneath the surface, feeling out the venues, plotting and planning for those great days under the sun, at a festival. If you are a globe-trotting DJ or band, January is the month you're finishing up those FaceTime calls with managers and bookers, and plotting out which month you'll be on the road playing the Empty Bottle in Chicago, the Iron Horse in Northampton, MA, or the Continental Club in Austin, TX.

Wang was on the edge of 17 when she arrived at Nashville International Airport with her entire life packed into three suitcases and a carry-on. She had traveled all the way from Zhejiang, China, chasing a dream that would ultimately shape her future: studying music business at Belmont University. Now 26, Wang is an Artist Development Manager at Sony Music Entertainment.

Right now I have some writing sessions [in Monterrey] for Fuerza Regida's new album, two days from now I start Carin León's new album, then I go to L.A. for the Grammy Week,

On a daily ride between San Leandro and the Mission, a young poet found her page in motion. Sehinne's poem earned a rare sweep of nine-or-higher scores at the 2025 Brave New Voices festival, helping Team Youth Speaks Bay Area take first place. In the piece, the train becomes a steady, slightly offbeat presence part family member, part witness a place where writing happens in stolen minutes between stations.

GO SCREAM AT THEE PARKSIDE, SLATED TO CLOSE IN MARCH Frank's Place was the business located at 1600 17th St in San Francisco before Thee Parkside took over sometime in 2002. The previous occupant was a modest lunch counter that served sandwiches to local shipyard workers. Who would have guessed that the punk rock venue that followed would serve a similar blue-collar function, providing a third space for local bands and entertainers?