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

Holla Pointe lets 'er rip clean out of the socket

Roots electric harmonica-guitar duo goes extreme

Karl Cabbage and Jimmy Zollo prefer to blues about chemtrails and GMOs.
Karl Cabbage and Jimmy Zollo prefer to blues about chemtrails and GMOs.

Pass This Way, the new Holla Pointe song collection, reminds me a little of the John Spencer Blues Explosion: guitars frying on overdrive that melt away into the larger grip of some concussive, sexy, groove-blues-rock music. Sometime during this past year, the roots electric harmonica-guitar duo of Karl Cabbage and Jimmy Zollo made a decision to let ’er rip clean out of the socket and take their old sound to a new extreme.

“We don’t do traditional blues,” Cabbage says. “You know, there really aren’t any traditional blues songs about subjects like chemtrails or GMOs, all these modern issues.” He laughs. “We wanted to tackle stuff like this.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

The Holla Pointe comes out of an earlier Cabbage/Zollo gig called the Red Lotus Review, a traditional blues cover band that lived and died here in San Diego.

“Jimmy wanted to do originals, blues-based music with a little Americana, a little jazz, country, and rock. All these kinds of sounds, in an original band.”

Cabbage and I talk a bit about the rules that blues-music purists put on the music; he says he’s not all that interested in holding true to it. “But,” he admits, “we’re still trying to find that one crossover song.”

If the Red Lotus Review was a mainstay on the hometown blues circuit, the Holla Pointe is not. Cabbage, 47, lives in La Mesa. “Most of our success has been found outside of San Diego.” He lists towns such as Bakersfield and Santa Cruz, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Lake Arrowhead. The band does a lot of three-day-weekend touring. He explains that the Holla Pointe is really just he and Zollo and whatever sidemen are available wherever they land. “We get the best people we can wherever we go.” Even here in town. But don’t expect to see them very often. “We only play in San Diego once every six months.”

Place

Navajo Live

8515 Navajo Road, San Carlos, CA

Sunday May 28, Navajo Live, 619-465-1730, 7 p.m., 21+, no cover

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

San Diego's Uptown Planners challenged by renters from Vibrant Uptown

Two La Jolla planning groups fight for predominance
Karl Cabbage and Jimmy Zollo prefer to blues about chemtrails and GMOs.
Karl Cabbage and Jimmy Zollo prefer to blues about chemtrails and GMOs.

Pass This Way, the new Holla Pointe song collection, reminds me a little of the John Spencer Blues Explosion: guitars frying on overdrive that melt away into the larger grip of some concussive, sexy, groove-blues-rock music. Sometime during this past year, the roots electric harmonica-guitar duo of Karl Cabbage and Jimmy Zollo made a decision to let ’er rip clean out of the socket and take their old sound to a new extreme.

“We don’t do traditional blues,” Cabbage says. “You know, there really aren’t any traditional blues songs about subjects like chemtrails or GMOs, all these modern issues.” He laughs. “We wanted to tackle stuff like this.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

The Holla Pointe comes out of an earlier Cabbage/Zollo gig called the Red Lotus Review, a traditional blues cover band that lived and died here in San Diego.

“Jimmy wanted to do originals, blues-based music with a little Americana, a little jazz, country, and rock. All these kinds of sounds, in an original band.”

Cabbage and I talk a bit about the rules that blues-music purists put on the music; he says he’s not all that interested in holding true to it. “But,” he admits, “we’re still trying to find that one crossover song.”

If the Red Lotus Review was a mainstay on the hometown blues circuit, the Holla Pointe is not. Cabbage, 47, lives in La Mesa. “Most of our success has been found outside of San Diego.” He lists towns such as Bakersfield and Santa Cruz, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Lake Arrowhead. The band does a lot of three-day-weekend touring. He explains that the Holla Pointe is really just he and Zollo and whatever sidemen are available wherever they land. “We get the best people we can wherever we go.” Even here in town. But don’t expect to see them very often. “We only play in San Diego once every six months.”

Place

Navajo Live

8515 Navajo Road, San Carlos, CA

Sunday May 28, Navajo Live, 619-465-1730, 7 p.m., 21+, no cover

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

Reader Music Issue short takes

Obervatory's mosh pit, frenetic Rafael Payare, Lemonhead chaos, bleedforthescene, Coronado Tasting Room
Next Article

Melissa Etheridge, The Imaginary Amazon

Events April 1-April 3, 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.