Guys, there IS a music scene in Monterey!

I want to spend some time outlining the fact that Monterey DOES have a music scene, you just have to know where to go. A lot of people in this sub are pretty negative about the scene here, but I think there's a lot of buried treasure to be found if you're willing and able to look out for it.

Best Places to Read About Upcoming Shows:

• The Monterey County Weekly
• The Monterey Herald
• Monterey CA Music Group
• Monterey People
• Mac About Town

Best Music Venues:

Bars and Restaurants

• The Blue Fin - bar, 21+, some touring bands, a huge variety of local acts
• Carbones - bar, 21+, local rock bands and some acoustic stuff occasionally
• Sly McFly's - bar/restaurant, age restrictions vary, cover bands and full-band locals that do a decent amount of covers
• Jack London's - bar/restaurant, no age restrictions, Casey Frazier and other locals, mostly acoustic
• American Burger - restaurant, serves beer, all ages, local bands
• The Bull and Bear - bar, 21+, cover bands and some rock locals; previously the Mucky Duck
• Turn 12 - recently opened. bar/restaurant, all ages, rock and cover bands
• Bay of Pines - recently opened. bar/restaurant, all ages, rock and jazz
• Safari Club - bar, not sure about age restrictions, rock and local bands
• Pierce Ranch Tasting Room - Wine bar, 21+, mostly acoustic acts
• Cooper's Pub - bar/restaurant, all ages, mostly cover bands but sometimes original rock

Coffee Shops

• East Village Coffee Lounge
• Caffe Trieste

Other Venues

• The Monterey County Fairgrounds - touring acts and local bands
• Carmel Live - local bands
• The Golden State Theater (Just purchased! Soon to be active again)

Who are the local acts that aren't cover bands that have some street cred?

Full band Rock

• Sugar Sauce - Funky soulful indie rock Moved to LA
• Slack - somewhat surf rock
• Moses Nose - blister rock
• Strawberry Girls - Instrumental, aggressive groove rock
• Pipsqueak - fuzz rock
• Earnest - Indie Rock
• The Modern Life - Indie Rock
• El Camino Sutra - Garage rock, formerly a solo act by Keith Damron
• Sky Country - Surf rock
• Valley Soul - Indie Rock

Punk Variations

• Elora - Progressive post-hardcore
• [Gardens] (https://www.facebook.com/gardens831) - Punk / Hardcore / Experimental

Country/Americana with full band

• Casey Frazier - Alt Country
• Dylan Stokes - Folk Americana Moved to NYC
• Wildkin - folk rock / Americana

Acoustic, mostly solo Singer/Songwriter

• Tiffany Decker - Acoustic singer / songwriter
• Kenny Chung - Referred to as the "Korean Bob Dylan"
• Lenny Sales - Acoustic singer / songwriter
• Tom Faia Music - Blues Acoustic Singer / Songwriter
• Michael Glines - funk singer/songwriter Moved to LA
• Cowboy Starr - Acoustic singer / songwriter
• Taylor Kropp - acoustic and electric singer / songwriter, tours with Joe Allen
• Jillian Shaw - acoustic singer / songwriter
• Michael Martinez - composer / keys player

Other Genres

• Lillie Lemon - Electropop (gotta plug my own band!)
• Lisa Taylor - funky soul

I probably missed a few places and people. Feel free to add to my list. There's a hell of a music scene here, but you go out and do things to access it.

EDIT: Broke bands down by genre, added a few more musicians

EDIT 12/10/14: Added Valley Soul, removed musicians who aren't around anymore