Last year at the height of the pandemic, Music in the Park held an online bracket tournament to determine the most popular headliner in the concert series’ venerable history. Coming out on top of the stacked competition was SoCal reggae singer J Boog. The Samoan-descendent singer has had something of a breakout year thanks to his 2011 song “Let’s Do It Again” going viral on TikTok, exposing millions to his sunny combination of Pacific and Caribbean sounds with a dash of R&B. See what the buzz is about at this year’s sole Music in the Park outing.

J Boog
Fri, 5:30pm, $25
Plaza de Cesar Chavez, San Jose

While the Baby Boomers and Gen X-ers have been busy worrying about the work ethic of Millennials, Gen-Z has been quietly blossoming into a cultural force all its own. L.A. bedroom pop sensation Cuco mixes loungy, bossa nova guitars, lo-fi drum clippings and the inside jokes of a generation raised on the internet into a lazy, hazy brew. At this week’s Music in the Park he’s joined by Bay Area musician Marinero, who crafts gauzy, laid-back indie rock, inflected with Spanish and island flourishes. “Flor de Jamaica” sways lightly like a palm tree blown by a mild tropical breeze.

Cuco
Thu, 5:30pm, $10+
Plaza de Cesar Chavez, San Jose

Fans of Ben Henderson might be surprised to learn that the soft-spoken graphic artist and musician has a soft spot for one of the most critically derided sub-genres of the past 20 years: rap-rock. “There was a lot of potential there,” Henderson says with a wry smile, though it doesn’t seem like he’s kidding. The San Jose native goes on to explain, recalling an early and formative musical experience from his youth—the time he saw Salmon play Music in the Park.

Looking back, Henderson recalls how he and his best friend—both of whom started playing together in their teens—would take mental notes whenever they went to shows. And then one day it really clicked.

“We’d go see other bands and be like, ‘We could do that,’” he says. “But then when we saw Salmon we were like, ‘Whoa. Those guys are legit.’”

Henderson remembers being mesmerized by the Gilroy-spawned rap-rock quartet. “I just remember the singer and the guitar player flinging themselves across the stage with dreadlocks and braids,” he says. “It was awesome.”

Of course, Henderson didn’t go on to find success mashing up hip-hop beats and nü-metal riffs. The singer and multi-instrumentalist first earned a following fronting the funk-soul outfit Good Hustle before paring down his sound in the indie-acoustic duo Brother Grand.

These days, he’s striking out on his own—with a little help from his friends. Henderson will open for Blues Traveler this Thursday at Music in the Park.

Billed as Ben Henderson & Friends, he will take the stage with members of Good Hustle as well as David Knight—who many South Bay alt-rock fans will remember as the former singer and guitarist for Day One Symphony. After the show, the crew will move their gear over to Forager in the SoFA District for the third installment of Henderson’s month-long residency at the recently opened venue. That show starts at 9pm.

At this point, Henderson says his only real ambition with music is to keep doing it and to have fun in the process. “I have no long-term goals with my music in particular except just to keep writing songs like I always do and to play them whenever I feel like it,” he says.

That’s not to say he is backing away from creating. In fact, in recent years Henderson has doubled down on his visual art. In the process he has become one of the most visible graphic designers and sign-makers in downtown San Jose.

His hand-painted handiwork can be seen in the street-facing mural at Good Karma Artisan Ales & Café, the logo for Café Stritch, the mural inside Be the Change Yoga, and the signage above Second Story Bake Shop and Park Station Hashery. He also painted many of the signs inside the San Pedro Square Market—Crewners, Little Chef, Robee’s Falafel, and Market Beer Co., to name a few. Henderson is even responsible for the “no smoking” and “trash” and “no alcohol beyond this point” placards.

“It’s all really glamorous,” he jokingly deflects.

But it’s hard to deny Henderson’s ingenuity. In addition to designing and hand-painting logos and murals all over downtown, he also created the three-dimensional sign hanging above Five Points on Santa Clara Street, which includes what resembles the large hilt of a knife plunging into the façade.

Henderson is part of a resurgent movement in design, which favors handcrafted artisanship over machine-produced uniformity. And while he notes that exposed bricks, distressed wooden beams and wrought iron fittings are “trendy,” it’s a trend he’s happy to be a part of—especially as someone who grew up surrounded by the sprawling beige of strip malls and vinyl printed signs.

“Things got cheap and ugly for decades,” he says. “All the signs and artwork and advertisements that you see out in world are made out of plastic and lights and stuff like that. As those cheap technologies proliferated, the hand-painted, handmade, hand-carved, hand-whatever went away. So, now that we’re older and we’re just inundated with all that cheap stuff we’ve seen for years, I think that when it comes to food, art, music, we all look back romantically when things were handmade or hand-painted.”

Ben Henderson & Friends
Jul 20, 5:30pm, $10+
Plaza de Cesar Chavez, San Jose
sjdowntown.com/music-in-the-park

Judging by the heat wave we’re currently boiling through, it’s clear that summer has arrived—and that’s just fine with the guys from Katchafire. Hailing from Hamilton, New Zealand, the band has been pumping out sunny, roots-reggae anthems since their formation in 2000 as a Bob Marley tribute band. It’s been a minute since the band dropped a full-length (2010’s On The Road Again), but they released the laid-back single “Burn It Down” last September. Katchafire will be joined by Monterey Bay reggae group One A-Chord, Bay Area top-rankers Mango Kingz.

Katchafire
Fri, 5:30pm,$10+
Plaza de Cesar Chavez, San Jose

Music in the Park returns this Thursday with the L.A.-spawned cultural melting pot that is Ozomatli. That same night, Barbra Streisand, one of the last true lounge singer legends, looks back on her long and bedazzled career with a performance at SAP Center. Back in town for its 22nd year The Vans Warped Tour descends upon Shoreline Amphitheatre. And Ira Glass, creator of “This American Life” discusses the human condition in Saratoga.

Ozomatli
Thu, 5:30pm, $10-$15
Plaza de Cesar Chavez Park, San Jose
In the ancient Aztec language of Nahuatl, “ozomatli” translates to monkey. The sprightly simian is also the god of dance, fire and music on the Aztec calendar. It’s an appropriate name for a band that knows how to keep people moving with such an eclectic array of sounds. Formed in 1995, Ozomatli take inspiration from the music they grew up hearing on the streets of L.A.—classic Latin, jazz, reggae, rock and hip-hop. Interwoven in these sounds are upbeat lyrics exploring a variety of topics, from sociopolitical issues, like immigrant and workers’ rights, to colorful cultural reflections. (ST)

Barbra Streisand
Thu, 6:30pm, $190-$510
SAP Center, San Jose
One of the last of the lounge superstars, Barbra Streisand’s bedazzled career stretches across six spectacular decades. She found success in pretty much every project she embarked upon in film and music. As the winner of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony, Babs belongs to an elite group of entertainers. And the EGOT is just the tip of the iceberg as far as her trophy locker goes. In 2014, her album Partners debuted at No.1, making her the only artist to have a top-charting album in each of the past six decades. (ST)

Kenny Chesney
Sat, 5pm, $21-$246
Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara
Go big or go home! Last year, during his “Big Revival Tour,” Kenny Chesney broke the 20-year-old attendance record set by Pink Floyd at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium. On that same tour, he also sold-out, and set an attendance record, at the Target Field in Minneapolis. In fact, Chesney has made a habit of breaking attendance records at large stadiums over the course of his career. Word has it he even has one of the sexiest tractors in America. On Saturday, Chesney returns to the Levi’s Stadium with Miranda Lambert, Sam Hunt and Old Dominion for his “Spread The Love Tour.” (ST)

Young Soulja
Sat, 3pm, Free
Pacific Auto Parts, San Jose
Up and coming San Jose-based hip-hop artist Young Soulja The Realest is poised to break. His debut album, Well Connected, features an exclusive from R.Kelly and boasts more than a million downloads from Limelinx. He’s toured with big names like Big Sean, E-40, Paul Wall and French Montana. His recent album, For All It’s Worth, included the single “Shake It”—an ode to well-endowed women. The track put him on the radar of local hip-hop tastemaker DJ Chewy Gomez and received airplay on multiple radio stations. He performs at Day Of The Dirt Festival in San Jose. (ST)

Ira Glass
Sat, 5:30pm, $40-$70
The Mountain Winery, Saratoga
Ira Glass is a master storyteller with a keen understanding of the human condition. His radio show, This American Life, airs on more than 500 radio stations in the U.S., Australia and Canada, pulling in 2.2 million listeners weekly. Glass played an integral part in the rise of podcasting and a number of TAL contributors have gone on to launch successful programs—most notably Serial. The show’s popularity has extended to television and film. The cable network Showtime briefly produced a This American Life series, and comedian and TAL contributor Mike Birbiglia teamed with Glass on the dramady Sleepwalk With Me. (ST)

Warped Tour
Sat, 11am, $59-123
Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View
The Warped Tour debuted in 1995, making the travelling alternative music festival as old as its average attendee. And while punk acts have teeter-tottered in mainstream popularity in the intervening decades, the festival is still going strong with a mix of legacy acts and newer bands.

Warped Tour After Party
Sat, 7:30pm, Free
O’Malley’s Sports Pub, Mountain View
When a full day of punk and hardcore in the sun just isn’t enough, Pin Up Productions has got your back. Take in a lineup of heavy-hitting local and touring acts—and catch a break on those brutal Shoreline beer and cocktail prices—at O’Malley’s, just a short Lyft ride from the amphitheater. The bill includes SoCal metalcore outfit Caligula Dance Party, Carson City melodic metalcore act We Predict A Riot, San Francisco tech-metalheads Red Sky and San Jose-based throwback thrashers Sentry. (NV)

Messer Chups
Sun, 5pm, $15
The Ritz, San Jose
Most often associated with its origins in the California beach culture of the early ’60s—and that one Pulp Fiction scene—surf rock has since spread all over the world. Today, bands all over the world have picked up on Dick Dale’s fast-galloping picking pattern and distinctive “wet” guitar tone, which guitarists produce by cranking up the vibrato and reverb on their vintage amps. The Ritz celebrates the iconic sound with a lineup of surf rock bands from all over the globe, including The Messer Chups from Russia, The Phantom Four from Amsterdam and The Bradipos IV from Caserta, Italy. (ST)

A Jazzy Afternoon
Sun, 2pm, Free
Kepler’s Books, Menlo Park
The extraordinary life of jazz expert Dr. Herbert Wong will be celebrated along with the posthumous publication of his book, Jazz on My Mind: Liner Notes, Anecdotes and Conversations from the 1940s to 2000s. Internationally known for his jazz expertise, Wong started out as a DJ during WWII in the Armed Forces Radio Network. He went on to spin jazz at KJAZ for more than 35 years. Wong also founded the Berkeley Unified School District’s jazz program, Palo Alto Records and Blackhawk Records, where musicians including Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie and Elvin Jones recorded. Wong passed away in 2014. (ST)

Huey Lewis and the News
Sun, 7:30, $50-$100
Mountain Winery, Saratoga
San Francisco natives and ’80s rock sensations Huey Lewis and the News are returning to Mountain Winery after nearly four decades of success. The band has benefitted from prominent mentions and placement in several well-known films—some of which were clearly tongue-in-cheek. The uninitiated might recognize their contribution to the Back to the Future soundtrack—“The Power of Love”—or the theme song the band penned for Pineapple Express. And of course, there’s the grisly scene in American Psycho, in which protagonist Patrick Bateman kills his colleague with an axe while “Hip to Be Square” plays. (MH)

It was a night of classic rock tributes at the second installment of this summer’s Music in the Park series, as the all female groups AC/DShe and the Killer Queens rocked Plaza de Cesar Chavez. Check Metro photographer Greg Ramar’s pics of the crowd and the bands.

For the full gallery, click here.

The San Jose Downtown Association took a risk last year when they restored the storied, and briefly shuttered, Music in the Park—bringing back the once-free summer concert series as an annual ticketed affair.

Last year, Deputy Director Blage Zelalich was cautious when she told Metro about the event’s possible return.

“There might be Music in the Park in the future but we’re not really ready to make that commitment or that announcement right now,” Zelalich said ahead of the July 2013 reboot.

With a year to reflect on the reception of last summer’s successful one-off show, featuring Ozomatli and Sonido Clash, the Downtown Association is now a bit more optimistic.

“We had a great event,” Downtown Association Community Director Rick Jensen says, looking back on last year’s engagement. “People were happy to pay [to attend] and knew that they were going to have a quality experience.”

Thanks to the vote of confidence from the public, the Downtown Association is doubling the lineup to two dates this year. British 2 tone ska group The English Beat, a South Bay favorite, kick off the series this Thursday in St. James Park, headlining a night that will include the Holdup, an emerging reggae band from San Jose, and San Francisco-based indie pop outfit Finish Ticket.

Next month will mark the series’ return to Plaza de Cesar Chavez, its former home. Bay Area Latin jazz heavyweight Pete Escovedo re-christens the plaza on Aug. 21 when he makes his record 18th Music in the Park appearance.

The Downtown Association started receiving complaints about the numbers—and audience—the series was attracting during the final few years of its initial run. Last year’s Ozomatli date, with its gated perimeter and fee at St. James Park, was a way for the organization to place the focus back on the music.

“We wanted to be sure that we were going to be able to offer a quality event that was safe for everybody, [and that] everybody was going to be having a good time and be there for the right reasons,” Jensen says.
Both ticketed events pair well-known local draws with emerging talents.

Escovedo will be joined by recent Grammy winners La Santa Cecilia, who performed to a packed house in San Pedro Square Market in March as part of San Jose Jazz Winter Fest.

Although Jensen says the Downtown Association will aim for at least two more events next summer, they may double their output to four. “In the old format of Music in the Park, we started with one and we doubled it, then we kind of doubled it again,” Jensen notes, though he’s quick to dampen any speculation over returning the event to a weekly affair when he adds, “I don’t think we’re going to go from four to eight any time soon.”

Music in the Park is July 17 at St. James Park. More info.

After a yearlong hiatus in 2012, Music in the Park was revived for one night only to celebrate its 25th anniversary with Ozomatli.

Photos by Aron Cooperman.

After much controversy, Music in the Park is back this year for a single show on July 19 with Latin fusion group Ozomatli to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the event, but this time it’s not free and it’s not at Plaza de Cesar Chavez.

Arriving in San Jose in 1989, Music in the Park emerged as a few summertime concerts to promote the fledgling downtown scene and quickly grew into an annual series that became one of the city’s most well-attended annual cultural events. After a few years, thousands of people gathered for regional and national touring bands, including Tower of Power, Cracker, Smashmouth, Pete Escovedo and Gaslight Anthem, for a free concert series that was unparalleled in other large Bay Area cities.

“I always loved Music in the Park,” says former Smashmouth guitarist Greg Camp. “We used to ride down every Thursday in the summer no matter who was playing. When Smashmouth came home to play, it was great for us to be able to give something back.”

That all changed in 2011 when the Downtown Association scuttled the event, claiming that it outgrew the Plaza de Cesar Chavez venue amid complaints from business and residents and reports of an “undesirable element” at the Thursday night event.

Some argued that Music in the Park got too big, and rather than promoting downtown, it clogged it with traffic, brought in drunks and troublemakers and even (gasp!) public use of marijuana when pot-friendly bands played. Others saw the decision to cancel the series as a huge disappointment and an affront to San Jose’s low-income population who cannot afford to see the performers at ticketed venues.

The show at St. James Park on July 19 with Ozomatli is the Downtown Association’s attempt at giving the event another chance, this time with a $10 admission fee and control over how many people can attend.

“We’re not closing the door to the possibility that we might have stumbled upon a new model,” says Blage Zelalich, deputy director of the Downtown Association “There might be Music in the Park in the future but we’re not really ready to make that commitment or that announcement right now.”

Considering the importance of 25 years of Music in the Park, Ozomatli is a fitting pick, not just because of the Latin fusion band’s name recognition, but because, as Ozomatli bass player Wil-Dog said in a phone interview, the South Bay is one of their better markets. In recent years they’ve played the Mountain Winery and the Heritage Theater in Campbell to large crowds and for far more than $10 a ticket.

“It’s always been one of those places that people embrace us,” Wil-Dog says. “Whatever the dynamic of the audience is, the make-up racially or culturally or even economically, it just works.”

’Matli Crew

Back in the ’90s, the idea of mixing hip-hop, funk and other elements with Latin music was not nearly as common as it is now. Ozomatli were pioneers in what seems to be an explosion in modern Latin-fusion music in the last five to 10 years.

“We were lucky enough to be in the mid-90s where it was kind of like this transformation,” Wil-Dog says. “Kids now on their iPod, they’ll listen to songs and they’ll just jump genres. You’re not seeing the kid that’s only into this one music. We were just before the Internet generation. It lent itself to that generation.”

Ozomatli’s success can’t be attributed to any one single hit, but rather a lot of hard work and flexibility. They’ve done nearly anything a band can do, contributing songs to movies and video games, becoming Gabriel Iglesias’ house band for his show “Stand Up Revolution,” acting as cultural ambassadors for the U.S. government in the mid-2000s and releasing a children’s album in 2012. They were even arrested at SXSW in 2004 and accused of potentially starting a riot after an impromptu late-night streetside jam—generating press that helped push the band and the festival to greater heights.

“We’re constantly working and engaging with people, we get opportunities. We’ve always been in the peripheral, looking in. We’ve never had the song,” Wil-Dog says.

The band is putting the final touches on their new album, Place in the Sun, which he says will have some of the classic Ozomatli sound, but will also have some new elements, including a techno-banda song and a reggae song that was co-written by Eurythmics songwriter David A. Stewart.

Locally, this same approach is used by Music in the Park opening act Sonido Clash, a collective of musicians that host a modern Latin dance party every first Friday of the month at the Pagoda. They DJ, produce and perform new Latin music, as well as invite guests from all over the world to play.

“There’s a new generation of Latinos getting involved in music and making new sounds and meshing all these cultures, these sounds together,” says Mexia Hernandez of Sonido Clash and local Latin-fusion group Raul y Mexia. “We basically got together to showcase those sounds and that culture.”
What’s Next?

If Music in the Park does come back, the Downtown Association may have to rethink its approach and potentially go with a new model like the one being used for the Ozomatli show. “Free concerts are getting to be fewer and fewer and farther between,” says Zelalich. “Really, the cost to produce large scale outdoor events continues to rise. We wanted to continue to make it accessible to people, but we felt like for the caliber and the talent that we were bringing it was appropriate to charge a nominal fee.”

Part of what is happening on a deeper level, local business owner Chris Esparza points out, is that Music in the Park has fundamentally changed its intent.
“It was a community builder. It was starting to turn the downtown office workers into people staying a little later and being a part of their downtown,” Esparza says. “It was so greatly needed to get people to start getting into a pattern of dinner and drinks with coworkers and friends and actually being the downtown we all wanted it to be.”

It succeeded in its mission. People came downtown. Downtown businesses thrived. At a certain point, Music in the Park no longer was needed to promote downtown, though it still brought some excellent concerts to San Jose.

“I still think it was a really positive event,” Esparza says. “It started to be less about what its original purpose was. It grew into such a success that it got justified being a different thing and I’m not sure if everybody was comfortable with where it went.”

The idea that Music in the Park would charge admission has upset some people. The real test though is whether people come and actually pay the admission to attend the show.

“I don’t feel like anyone is bringing back Music in the Park—and that is likely what the fuss is about,” says local musician Ben Henderson. “Music in the Park was a series of free concerts in Cesar Chavez Park with a diverse lineup for many years. This summer, there is an Ozomatli show in St. James Park for $10. Call that Music in the Park and people are all up in arms that their memories of free summer music bliss is costing money now—and it’s at the park they love to hate. Call it Ozomatli in St. James Park for $10, and it’s actually a sweet deal. I’ll be there, and I’m looking forward to more shows like it.”

More info.

After a one-year break, Music in the Park returns to San Jose with Latin fusion band Ozomatli.

The concert series, returning for a one-concert 25th anniversary celebration on July 19 at St. James Park, will be a paid admission show with $10 advance tickets and $15 at the door.

“Ozomatli is the perfect band to introduce this new model,” said Blage Zelalich, deputy director at San Jose Downtown Association in a press release.

Before it was cancelled last year, Music in the Park was a free weekly concert series at Plaza de Cesar Chavez that drew thousands of music fans each week.

The event peaked in 2010 when 83,500 people attended, with 37 percent of attendees arriving from outside of San Jose, according to San Jose Downtown Association. Despite creating a $2.4 million in economic impact, the series was put on hold because it outgrew the downtown venue, according to organizers.

“By gating the park and charging admission, we believe the focus will be on the music,” Zelalich said.