The Third Annual Mailbu Guitar Festival, a four day music festival, is a fundraiser benefit for The Emily Shane Foundation, TheraSurf and Karl LaDue Wodakota Foundation.
Friday, May 19th at the Malibu Guitar Festival was appropriately dubbed Hot Licks Night to honor a group of powerhouse female rockers. Many of whom were featured in the documentary, “She Rocks” which spotlights many past and present female guitarists and their successes and struggles in a male dominated industry. The event took place at Casa Escobar where portions of the documentary were interspersed throughout the evening.
Video: Hot Licks Night Featuring Zepparella and Steve Vai
The evening kicked off with a silent auction that included gift baskets, jackets, caps and some signed guitars. The musical portion of the evening was kicked off by Karma Dealers followed by Carothers Brothers.
Nik West, regally adorned in purple (and who has played bass for the likes of Dave Stewart (Eurythmics) and Prince) kicked things up a notch. Nik’s flexibility on stage is matched only by her versatility on the bass. Her purple hair formed into the shape of a bass clef helps offer an all around striking visual to this enigmatic talent.
Next up was Lari Basilio, a self taught virtuoso from Brazil who played an instrumental selection from her latest CD/DVD, “The Sound of My Room”.
The highlight of the evening came in the form the all-female Led Zeppelin Tribute band, Zepparella.
The band was formed by drummer, Clementine and consists of Angeline Saris on bass, Noelle Doughty replicating Robert Plant on Vocals and the guitar wizardry of the amazing Gretchen Menn.
They were kicking butt with their take on all the Zeppelin classics and, as advertised, were eventually joined by the one and only Steve Vai, who helped escalate their set to a higher plain altogether.
The show ended with an explosion of guitars as Lari Basilio and Italian guitarist, Daniele Gottardo (Who Steve Vai has mentioned as his favorite new, young guitar player) joined for an extended jam session, spotlighting each of the musicians talents.
