Thirsty for some music?

Los Osos jazz-funk musician Matthias heads the competition this weekend at the Winery Music Awards.
Saturday’s concert will feature four hours of music, wine and sunny North County scenery in San Miguel, hosted by TV “Bachelor” Andrew Firestone and judged by an industry panel.
Also competing on Saturday are:Brooklyn-based Assaf Spector, who merges funk, blues, hip hop and rock with his band Birthday On Mercury, plus soulful rockers Justin Hopkins and the Guilt, pop-rock singer Sarah Hethcoat, and blues combo The Laurie Morvan Band, all from the Los Angeles area.
The Winery Music Awards officially kicked off June 9, when Sacramento pianist Shannon Curtis beat out an all-female line-up from as far away as Portland.
Damon Castillo and the Rock Savants, based in San Luis Obispo, walked away with the most points in July.
As the contest continues, musicians will compete in September to earn a slot at the final showdown on Oct. 7. Musicians are graded on their originality, skill and marketability to the ever-expanding demographic of wine drinkers — specifically, men and women age 21 to 54.
Top acts will take home prizes including cash, studio time and a record contract with RNB Entertainment Group of Los Angeles. Competitors could also walk away with a custom electric guitar by Dave Mason’s RKS Guitars.
Last year’s grand prize winner, Arroyo Grande acoustic rock trio Threes and Nines, plans to release its debut album later this year.

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Producer Kathy Kelly created the Winery Music Awards, which highlights independent, unsigned bands and musicians, in 2005.
The concert starts at 4 p.m. Saturday at Silver Horse Winery, 2995 Pleasant Rd. in San Miguel. Tickets are $40.
For more information, call 467-WINE (9463) or visit www.winerymusicawards.com.

Tonight They're Gonna Rock You

Rock opera never sounded like this before.
The East Village Opera Company kicks off the Fringe Festival tonight with a concert that melds opera with rock n’ roll anthems. It’s “La Bohème” meets “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
Mozart meets Meatloaf.
Vocalist Tyley Ross says the group seeks to make “these unbelievable songs more accessible and believable for people who don’t listen to opera.” At the same time, the Opera Company wants to introduce classical music buffs to a whole new genre.
Ross, who founded the group with composer Peter Kiesewalter, shared his thoughts on beauty, accessibility and the unholy union of opera and rock n’ roll late last month. Here’s some insight that didn’t make the printed page:

On opera music:
“This music was the pop music of the day. It wasn’t trying to be an elevated art form.”

“They’re songs that we just fall in love with. We don’t have to dig too deep because there’s so many incredible gems that you don’t have to listen to opera records nonstop. They’re the ones that break my heart.”

“I’ve got this flighty notion that … we’ve inherited these songs as much as we’re inherited anything from our ancestors physically. They’re (part of) our DNA.”

On Giacomo Puccini’s “Nessun dorma”:
“When I heard it – not as the background to a commercial, but by itself while I was driving – I thought, ‘Why is this song making me feel more alive than any song I’ve ever listened to?’ I pulled off the road and listened to that song eight more times.”

On opera singing:
“I have no desire to sing like an opera singer…. I don’t believe it to be the bedrock of all vocal functions.”
“It’s the vocal version of the caber toss … an extraordinary physical feat.”

On the East Village Opera Company:
“We’re just a cover band, actually … We borrow and steal from a great many of the greatest bands we know.”

Catch the East Village Opera Company in action tonight at 8 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center, 1 Grand Ave. in San Luis Obispo. Tickets are $15 to $40.
For more information, call 781-7009 or visit the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival Web site.

-- Sarah L.