Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Ernie Halter

I finally got Ernie Halter figured out late one insomnia-plagued night. As I lay sleepless with one of his songs spinning around in my head, it occurred to me that Halter's stuff would be just right for television. This is not meant as a criticism -- over the years, some very heavy talent has been plugged into that art form. TV themes are all about the muck of human existence put to simple, effective sound bites, and Halter has the ability to contain larger subjects, like relationship drama, into an economical haiku of verse. "God, can You whisper in her ear?" he sings after admitting that he's botched it. "How do I ask her to come back to me/ After I told her goodbye?" A question that, as a songwriter, he's smart enough to not answer.

Sponsored
Sponsored

I don't think that any one of Ernie Halter's friends (almost 70,000 on MySpace) could care less that his musical style is diverse to the point that it is impossible to categorize. Halter's new CD Congress Hotel sounds like a collection of songs from soul purgatory in which his protagonists hang eternal from the meathooks of heartache and desire. "Tell me what kind of man," he sings, "lets love slip away/ And leave such a good thing behind?"

The tortured soul holds a lot of currency in pop culture, and I think Halter knows this. Critics may call Halter's singing soul-lite, and maybe they're right, but the Berklee School of Music grad also fronts the Ernie Halter Quintet, a bluesy, Sinatra-ish kind of cover group that is tailored to Fortune 500 corporate affairs. He's got a nice handle on that material, singing it in an unadorned jazz voice that depends more on inner resources than vocal trickery. As he matures as a performer, it's this gig that may carry him into the future.

ERNIE HALTER, Across the Street (in Mueller College), 4607 Park Boulevard, University Heights, Friday, October 19,8 p.m. 619-291-9811. $10.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Yo-Yo Ma, Wagner, and Tchaikovsky come to San Diego

Next Article

Pacific Beach – car thief's paradise

Take photos of your automobile and license plate

I finally got Ernie Halter figured out late one insomnia-plagued night. As I lay sleepless with one of his songs spinning around in my head, it occurred to me that Halter's stuff would be just right for television. This is not meant as a criticism -- over the years, some very heavy talent has been plugged into that art form. TV themes are all about the muck of human existence put to simple, effective sound bites, and Halter has the ability to contain larger subjects, like relationship drama, into an economical haiku of verse. "God, can You whisper in her ear?" he sings after admitting that he's botched it. "How do I ask her to come back to me/ After I told her goodbye?" A question that, as a songwriter, he's smart enough to not answer.

Sponsored
Sponsored

I don't think that any one of Ernie Halter's friends (almost 70,000 on MySpace) could care less that his musical style is diverse to the point that it is impossible to categorize. Halter's new CD Congress Hotel sounds like a collection of songs from soul purgatory in which his protagonists hang eternal from the meathooks of heartache and desire. "Tell me what kind of man," he sings, "lets love slip away/ And leave such a good thing behind?"

The tortured soul holds a lot of currency in pop culture, and I think Halter knows this. Critics may call Halter's singing soul-lite, and maybe they're right, but the Berklee School of Music grad also fronts the Ernie Halter Quintet, a bluesy, Sinatra-ish kind of cover group that is tailored to Fortune 500 corporate affairs. He's got a nice handle on that material, singing it in an unadorned jazz voice that depends more on inner resources than vocal trickery. As he matures as a performer, it's this gig that may carry him into the future.

ERNIE HALTER, Across the Street (in Mueller College), 4607 Park Boulevard, University Heights, Friday, October 19,8 p.m. 619-291-9811. $10.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Pet pig perches in pocket

Escondido doula gets a taste of celebrity
Next Article

Celebrate Holi, Borrego Springs Music Festival

Events March 23-March 27, 2024
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.