Updating news  about the 13^th annual Summer Meltdown Autism Awareness Art & Music Festival slated for Central Park on Saturday, April 30: Organizers have regrouped to produce a single-day event, and will announce the top headliner this weekend.

That’s the latest word from Bret Lieberman, special ed instructor at Canyon High School in Canyon Country, and director of the Yes I Can program for students with and without disabilities who have staged Summer Meltdown each spring since 2004 to raise autism awareness and funds for program activities.

Stay tuned for the complete lineup.

Sunday Pro Blues Jam on the Move

After four years at the former VU Ultra-Bar and Lounge in Newhall, the local Sunday Pro Blues Jam moves this weekend a few blocks north to a new venue, the American Legion Post 507, on Spruce Street behind the public library at Lyons and Railroad.

The first jam of the spring features host band Eddie Ray Smith, Van Rael, Stephen Semola and Eric Davis, plus the 360 Horns – Steve Sadd, Craig Williams and Chris Elliott. Guests and jammers spice up the lineup.

Showtime’s 5 p.m., and the cover charge is just $5, which includes one beverage. The American Legion kitchen will also offer turkey croissant sandwiches with macaroni salad for $6. See the Sunday Pro Blues Jam event page on Facebook for more info.

‘Behind the Lens’ Hits SoCal

Legendary rock photographer and SCVTV “House Blend” special guest Henry Diltz (Monterey Pop, Woodstock, Crosby, Stills Nash & Young, The Doors, James Taylor) and fellow famed photographers Joel Bernstein (Joni Mitchell; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young) and Graham Nash (yep, THAT guy, nicknamed “Willie”) of CSN filled the Largo at the Coronet in West Hollywood Wednesday night.

Bernstein, Diltz & Nash spent an hour and a half onstage showing slides and telling the backstories behind some of their most famous images. It was an unscripted romp through 50 years of rock history, including moments shared by all three, and the few hundred fans on hand were rapt.

After the presentation, los tres amigos de photographia spent more than an hour signing prints of several of those images for at least 150 fans, many of whom brought album covers and books featuring the shooters’ work.
Catch a bit of video from the after-show signing session.

The Largo gig was a special edition of the 2016 “Behind the Lens” national tour produced by Peter Blachley and Rich Horowitz, Diltz’s partners in the Morrison Hotel Gallery in New York City and Hollywood.

Other dates on the 2016 tour feature Diltz and model-actress-photographer photographer Pattie Boyd (George Harrison’s and Eric Clapton’s famous wives and muses), sharing stories about the moments in rock history they experienced and often photographed.

After a show at the MIM Music Theater in Phoenix Friday night, the Diltz-Boyd roadtrip picks up in Tulsa April 6 and hits Texas for dates in Dallas April 7, Austin April 8, and San Antonio March 9.

The following week, the duo lands in Florida for shows in West Palm Beach April 15, Clearwater April 16 and Ft. Lauderdale April 19. The trek wraps in Atlanta April 19.

Check out the “Behind the Lens” Facebook page for more info.

Meanwhile, you can get a tasty preview this Saturday night right here in Santa Clarita, as SCVTV presents Henry Diltz in an encore telecast of “House Blend,” the WAVE-nominated the music and interview show hosted by yours truly from 2010-2015.

Henry recounts fascinating stories about shooting Monterey Pop and Woodstock, and about many of his most famous album cover sessions, including those for The Lovin’ Spoonful, Buffalo Springfield, The Doors, Crosby Stills & Nash, James Taylor and lots more.

That’s Saturday night at 10 on SCVTV, community television for the Santa Clarita Valley, and streaming everywhere at scvtv.com.

You’ll find lots more local entertainment news 24/7 at HometownStation.com, SCVNews.com and my blog, stephenkpeeples.com. That’s what’s bumpin’ on the SCV Rock Beat.

Santa Clarita journalist and Grammy nominee Stephen K. Peeples is an entertainment reporter for SCVTV and SCVNews.com, as well as AM 1220 KHTS Radio News and the station’s website at HometownStation.com.Peeples also hosted and co-produced SCVTV’s WAVE-nominated “House Blend” program from 2011-2015, and posts more entertainment news and reviews on his own site at http://www.stephenkpeeples.com.