Dan Crane is a journalist, author, actor, comedian, host, musician, and competitive air-guitarist (retired).


He is the author of “To Air is Human: One Man’s Quest to Become the World’s Greatest Air Guitarist” (Riverhead Books, 2006), and the co-star of the award-winning documentary, Air Guitar Nation.

In 2004, Crane gave up his career as an educational software producer to pursue his dream of becoming the world’s best air guitarist. Under the nom d’air Björn Türqoue (pronounced to-RAWK), he competed in numerous competitions, repeatedly coming in second place. He retired in 2005 and now emcees air guitar competitions around the world.


His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Elle, Slate, Esquire, Blender, Paper, and Nylon. He has lectured on the art and history of air guitar at Columbia University, UNC Chapel Hill, Seattle’s Experience Music Project Museum, Google, NASA and TEDx.


His numerous television appearances include Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Last Call with Carson Daly, VH1’s “Undateable,” “Free Radio” and “100 Best Hard Rock Songs;” MTV’s “Next,” CNN, and Fox and Friends. He also gives an air guitar lesson on the Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure Twentieth Anniversary Special Edition DVD.


Since 2006, he has hosted the US and World Air Guitar Championships.

Of his air guitar skills, Blink and The Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell once said, “Björn Türoque is so good that people with real guitars now have contests to see who can do the best imitation of his air guitar imitation.”


Crane also plays bass and sings in a faux-French rock band called Nous Non Plus. Their first album was on the CMJ top-10 for four weeks, peaking at #6. They just completed their fourth album, to be released in the Fall of 2012. His new band, The Quick Hellos, has a song that will be featured on the HBO hit series TRUE BLOOD.


He also composes music for film and television. His credits include the musical score for Air Guitar Nation, No Kid Hungry (Food Network, 2012) The Cool School (PBS, Fall 2007), Hollywood Home Movies (A&E, 2005), How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It) (2005), and The Third Date (independent short, 2003).


Dan lives in Los Angeles with his air guitar.

Raised in Los Angeles as the youngest member of a music-filled household, indie rocker Robert Francis benefited from a diverse musical climate thanks to his pianist/producer father, his sister Juliette Commagere (of L.A. outfit Hello Stranger), and his Mexican mother, who sang native ranchera songs around the house. The unique education paid off, and Robert independently released his 2007 debut, the musically diverse One by One, at the young age of 19. His second release Before Nightfall spawned the hit single "Junebug" which hit #1 in France and Top 10 in Germany and Switzerland. Robert's first single "Heroin Lovers" from his new album Strangers In the First Place has been heard on KROQ's Locals Only and is gaining national attention. See for yourself the dynamic stage show Robert is renowned for at The Bootleg Bar on Sept. 13.

Perhaps one of the hardest working indie bands in Los Angeles, The Californian is pleased to announce their self-titled debut album, available this September.

Formed in 2007 by vocalist John Graney, the Californian was born from Graney's dream of creating a modern day surf act. The early years of the young band saw a galore of line-up changes with members of Phantom Planet, Warpaint, The Bird and the Bee, and The Henry Clay People, coming and going. However, with four years under their belts, the Californian's lineup has solidified with guitarists Jonathan Price and Darren Robinson, drummer Michael Hopkins, and bassist Jake Gideon.

Without the help and comfort of a label, The Californian's hardworking D.I.Y. aesthetic has proven to be beneficial during their first four years of existence. Following the self-release of the band's 2010 EP 'Sea of Love' and a plethora of West Coast gigs, The Californian took to fan funding platform Kickstarter to raise the money for their debut full-length. Within 45 days, the band not only made the $5,000 in which they set out to raise, but surpassed their goal with a total of $9,238.

With vocals and guitars seeped in reverb and gritted with sand, the new 12 song collection of dreamy surf rock provides the perfect soundtrack to a modern day sock hop. Recorded at Dave's Room in North Hollywood, the album was produced by Jeff Halbert (Nick Cave, St. Vincent, Rickie Lee Jones) and mastered by JJ Golden (Sonic Youth, Puro Instincto, Superchunk). While The Californian are celebrated for their summery surf riffs, the band is surely not a one trick pony. Songs like "Who Killed The Lights" and "A Billion Grains of Sand" showcase the band's gorgeous, sun drenched harmonies and energy fueled arrangements while "Girl in the Moon Pt. 1" exemplifies the bands' ability to produce an infectious down tempo clap-along song.

"The dapper-disheveled singer-songwriter has kicked around the Eastside scene for a few years but might have a breakout with this residency. His idiosyncratic voice and folkish rock chops put him in a long line of troubadours, but the clarity of his songwriting sets him apart from the pack." - LA TImes

"On his debut LP, Duniven enters the familiar, roomy space defined by the likes of Dylan and Petty. If americana is your comfort food, this could be a tasty dish" - Kevin Bronson (BuzzbandsLA)

"Duniven provides a refreshing sound that seperates them from the black hole of good music thats heard but easily forgotten. With organs, harmonica and rusty-raw vocals, they add variance to the same old same old indie rock scene in LA. Destined to leave a mark on your eardrums" - The Deli Magazine.

"LA rock and Roll troubadour Patrick Duniven plays the kind of rich, Americana style music that is reminiscent of Dylan, Petty and Springsteen. Duniven skillfully avoids repetitive territory though, instead continuing the tradition with his own unique take on the genre" - Mp3.com


"Eastside singer-songwriter boasts at least two things that set him apart in that over populated field: An authentically roots-rusty vioce box and bonafide songwriting skills. His folky pop-rock resides firmly in a roots-americana mold, recalling most obviously the hooky rock and roll of Tom Petty. Better yet is that he serves it all up with a Dylan-esque style of taking folk based forms down more poetically adventurous paths" - LA WEEKLY

The southern-stained Americana project from journeyman Aaron Kyle, Geronimo Getty is a starkly honest and personal voyage inward for the former Le Switch frontman, as well as a vessel for exploring the autumnal twirl and guitar-twanged magic of what Greil Marcus labeled “the Old, Weird America.”

Sounding like a slice of wax sharing space in a milkcrate with such LPs as Dylan’s New Morning, Waylon Jennings’ Ladies Love Outlaws, and the country-driven chicken shack records of early ‘70s Link Wray, GG’s debut disc is Darkness Hides, an insular collection of simmering barstool blues and rowdy folk ‘n country that’s as easy on the ears as it is gritty and confidential. Darkness Hides is all those things and more, a love letter sent directly to Buck Owens’ Bakersfield sound, unsure of what the response will be, and maybe not caring all that much, either.

Though it may be his most assured work, it’s certainly not Kyle’s first rodeo—as the vocalist and rhythm guitarist of Le Switch, Kyle and Co. quickly rose to prominence over the past several years within the L.A. ranks as one of the town’s finest indie bands. A barroom brawl of nicotine’d vocals and boozy county-rock guided by moody popcraft by turns smirking and smoldering. And when Le Switch danced its last waltz in 2011, Kyle quickly set his sights on something a bit more quietly intense and personal: Geronimo Getty. A means by which to the explore the Venn Diagram of roots genres—country, Americana, and folk—that have always spun in the periphery of his music, GG finds Kyle’s musical background and history coming into full bloom over a warm and whiskey-soaked loam of distinctly American music.

Darkness Hides is the first salvo of this new project. Mostly recorded within the confines of Kyle’s basement with Le Switch bandmate and guitarist Chris Harrison (with a few touches from the home studios of Radar Bros.’ Jim Putnam and Le Switch’s Joe Napolitano), along with Seb Baily (Division Day; Imaad Wasif) on bass and Brian Soika (Les Blanks) on drums, the disc was mixed by Jeff Halbert (Nick Cave, St. Vincent, The Californian) and produced by Kyle and Harrison.

Set to hit the world, and your ears, on May 8th, Darkness Hides will be supported by a west coast tour throughout May, followed by a national tour through the states in July and August.

Darkness may be hiding, but Geronimo Getty isn’t. And come this summer, you’ll hear why.

The Blank Tapes are lead by one Matt Adams, and backed by a rotating cast of amazing local players that bring his songs new life both on on and off the stage. The sound is marked by groovy, syncopated rhythms that range from a modern take on the sixties San Francisco sound to solid rock and roll pop with memorable hooks, riffs, and danceable beats. The band's energy onstage is both uplifting and hypnotic as their sound is at once both their own and utterly familiar, providing a nostalgia for original songs you have just been introduced to.