This year’s Froth Awards music acts were as carefully chosen as the beer and food pairings, so it was a no-brainer that the South Bay’s Kira Lingman was one of the artists asked to play.
Lingman has a voice that that teeters between the moonlit comfort of Patsy Cline to the pained soulfulness of Janis Joplin combined with the occasional bark of Joan Jett. Her licks, love and abuse on the guitar completes the package.
Lingman is also one of the hardest local musicians in the South Bay. Diversity is her strength as she plays different venues with different variations of her sound. In one weekend, she’ll play solo at the King Harbor Brewing Co. Tasting Room (using a suitcase as a drum kickstand) to jazzed beer aficionados to rocking the follow night as the lead vox of the Hollow Legs to an energetic crowd at Saint Rocke.
“I started off playing acoustic. Having been a fan of all genres, from rock n’ roll to blues and everything in between, I’ve always loved playing with new people and forming new styles,” Lingman said. “The cool thing about playing diverse and new venues — as you go along your style may change depending on the crowd. The next time you play, you’ll be better.”
For the Froth, Kira will be on stage with just a drummer, her faithful backbeat Zack Bozeman of the local funk band Temporal Love. If you haven’t seen this incarnation of Lingman playing, it’s a treat as it offers her freedom and allows her to showcase her talent.
“We will playing more stripped down rock n’ roll — just the essence,” she said. “It’s a challenge, but it allows me to go into my own music tangents. Zack’s percussion is the driving force that keeps me in the realm and reels me back in.”
As a craft beer connoisseur, Kira connects the love of good beer to the love of good music.
“I tell people. If you like beer, you like the blues,” she said. “They go hand and hand.”
Fittingly, Steve Roberts, the founder of the greatest blues bar the South Bay has ever known, Cafe Boogaloo, is serving as executive chef for the Froth. Roberts, who was also two decades in front of both the craft beer and the “farm-to-table” trends, has recently launched HopSaint Brewing Co., a brewery and restaurant that has opened to rave reviews.
The Froth has adhered to the same deep localism in its choice of entertainment. On a menu blending Americana, bluegrass, and folk, are local bands The Get Down Boys, The Walcotts, and The Sound of Ghosts.
“The Froth is going to be a celebration of our bitchin’ community,” said Lingman. “It’s all put together in one event in a nice pretty package.”
Easy Reader Presents: The 3rd (Occasionally) Annual: Froth Awards and Beer Experience is on March 12th. Doors open at 1 p.m. and music starts at 2 p.m. Tickets are $45 preordered and $50 at the door. For more information and tickets, go to saintrocke.com
