The Culture Agent: Sander Roscoe Wolff, columnist for LBPost.com

Tomorrow, Saturday, September 1st, the Queen Mary is hosting the Shoreline Jam, an all-day all ages Reggae festival starting at 11 AM and ending just before midnight. The organizers did a great job of combining local, national, and international talent, including the masters of Jamaican dub, Black Uhuru, and the band whose name is perhaps most synonymous with Reggae, The Wailers. The Wailers are best known for backing Bob Marley and, since his death, they've continued to work as both an entity unto themselves, and also with a number of other artists. Even when Marley was alive, the band's name sake, Neville Livingston (aka Bunny Wailer), and Peter Tosh both left the band, and Aston Barrett and his brother, Carlton, became the backbone of the group. Today, Aston 'Family Man' Barrett is the last remaining musician from the 70s era group, but he's surrounded himself with a group of talented young turks. Front and center is Koolant Brown, whose career as a solo artist was doing quite well when he got the call to audition for the job of singing for The Wailers. In this interview, Koolant speaks about his childhood, the thrill of meeting many of his musical heroes, the crazy pace of the current tour, and the significance of sharing Marley's genius with a multi-generational audience. Our conversation lasts about 16 minutes. For more information about Koolant, visit http://koolantmusic.com/. For more information about The Wailers, visit http://wailers.com/ For tickets, and information about the festival, visit http://www.shorelinejamqm.com/

The Beat arose in England in the late 70s and concocted a unique amalgam of punk, ska, and pop into an explosively popular style that, by the early 80s, swept the popular charts. With smart and sometimes caustic humor they catalyzed a generation of teenagers fed up with strident punk ire. 30 years later, Dave Wakeling lacks pretense, but knows that good music is timeless. In fact, in this interview he takes some pleasure in pointing out that several of his songs, now more than 30 years old, have significant relevance today. This 30 minute conversation is a great peak into the vast talent that Wakeland embodies. For fans, it will be a treat, and for those just discovering his music, it will serve as an excellent primer.

Spring is in the air, the Grand Prix is over, and the third Saturday in April is nearly upon us. One can almost feel a palpable sense of excitement as the anticipation of this year's Record Store Day grows. It isn't an old tradition. It started, more or less, with a performance by Metallica at Rasputin Music in San Franscico. Still, every year, independent record stores around the world pull out all the stops, with special sales, offerings of limited edition merchandise, and presenting in-store appearances and performances. Rand Foster, owner of our beloved Fingerprints Music, takes Record Store Day very seriously. "We will have nearly 300 exclusive releases," Rand said, "including releases from Flaming Lips, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen, The Pharcyde, David Bowie, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Animal Collective, Miles Davis, and so many more." Not only does he open the store at 6 AM to allow rabid bargin hunters to scour the bins, he's also presenting three in-store performances. World Party is playing at 7, and access to that show is still available. The 5 PM performance of M. Ward is sold out. At 2 PM, the legendary and remarkable Beach Boy, Al Jardine, will perform songs from his new solo release, A Postcard from California, as well as songs from the Beach Boys. (He's an original member!) I had the good fortune to see Jardine when he joined Brian Wilson on stage at the Terrace Theater a few years back. Jardine is probably best known for singing the lead on 'Help Me, Rhonda,' but he also wrote and produced music for the Beach Boys. Yesterday, I had the good fortune to speak with him by phone about his album, the many celebrity collaborations it features, his love of the sea, and the new 50 city Beach Boys tour that's starting on the 24th. If you're interested in getting into Fingerprints to catch World Party or Al Jardine, call the store at (562) 433-4996 and RSVP. No purchase is required but, if your name is not on the list, rest assured that you're not getting in. If you do buy something by the in-store artists, Rand will give you a poster made especially for the event and, if you ask, the artist may sign it for you.

The Downtown Residential Council, which represents 6 neighborhood associations and has 150 members, hosted a 2nd District Candidate Forum at the Museum of Latin American Art on Monday, March 26th. Participating candidates included Janet Ballantyne, Mike Kamer, and incumbent Suja Lowenthal. The conversation was lively, and everyone was on point. Questions came from the DRC, and from members of the audience.

Peter Frampton, as part of his 35th Anniversy tour in celebration of the release of Frampton Comes Alive!, will be performing tonight at the Long Beach Terrace Theater. Frampton assembled many of the original musicians who played on that Grammy nominated album to join him. Stanley Sheldon has a long history as a professional musician. He's performed along side folk-pop icon Melanie, and played with Warren Zevon, Lou Gramm, and Foreigner. He will always be best known, however, for his role in the now legendary 1976 recording, Frampton Comes Alive! With just 11 dates remaining in a tour that began in June of last year, Sheldon took a few minutes to speak with me about how he came to play with Frampton in the mid-70s, and what it has meant for him ever since.