Watermelon Music

06/17/2026

Slattern V is a Sacramento-based rock band known for its gritty, high-energy sound and local-scene pedigree. Formed in the mid-2010s, Slattern V emerged as a Sacramento supergroup featuring musicians from regional punk and power-pop acts such as The Knockoffs and Mr. T Experience. Their music blends garage rock, punk, and melodic indie influences, often marked by sharp guitar work and driving rhythms.

Arts & Leisure is a Sacramento, California indie-pop group featuring former members of Baby Grand, The English Singles, and Plastic Shoelaces. Their sound fuses ’60s pop sparkle, ’70s power-pop hooks, and ’80s new-wave energy, creating a super-charged, harmony-rich style that has become a staple of the region’s DIY pop scene. Their album This Vast Illusion, produced by Allen Clapp of The Orange Peels, showcases the band’s signature blend of jangly guitars, melodic vocals, and upbeat, shimmering arrangements.

Nolan Erck of "Nolan & The Last Action Heroes" is a musician, producer, writer, and tech entrepreneur active in the Sacramento creative community. He works across multiple disciplines: building apps, recording artists, playing guitar and bass in several bands, and contributing writing and journalism to Sacramento Press.

Presented by Left of the Dial, That California Sound, and KDRT 95.7 FM

06/16/2026

06/13/2026

Goh Kurosawa, the “Musical Wakonyosai” or Bicultural Music Samurai, is a composer-guitarist-singer recognized for his “Lovetap” technique, percussive elements, heartfelt singing, as well as infusing fingerpicking and flamenco with electric guitar pedals. Based in California and traveling the world from Japan, his original genre blends world music, jazz, folk, rock and even classical.

"His music takes you to that place where most people have not visited since childhood."
"Innovative guitar creations."
"California’s Goh Kurosawa is a multi-genre wizard who had the crowd mesmerized before his first song had ended."
"International touring musician Goh Kurosawa's music is beyond any simple classification. The guitarist improvises melodically, is open to the influences of pop, rock, flamenco, classical, Latin and Japanese music, and has his own musical identity. Equally skilled on electric and acoustic guitars, he uses electrical devices to create a wide range of sounds yet is not shy to embrace a pretty melody."
"Goh's set included Bob Marley's No Women No Cry, My Family My Friends (original), a Japanese folk song, and Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah (which he sang)."

$20 General Admission
$15 Students (available in-store or at the door only, w/ student ID)
$15 Seniors (available in-store or at the door only, 65+)
$10 Kids 12 and Under (available in-store or at the door only)
This is a BYOB event!

06/11/2026

Rob Leines is a touring musician, singer, and songwriter who blends blue-collar rock & roll grit with outlaw country swagger. Known as a dedicated "road warrior," he plays over 200 high-energy shows a year across the United States.

Before pursuing music full-time, Leines worked as a whitewater raft guide, a welder in the Pacific oil and gas industries, and traveled the world repairing turbine engines at power plants. Fans and critics describe his music as a heavy, high-energy fusion of outlaw country, Southern rock, and hard rock. Drawing from his manual labor past, his lyrics capture themes of working-class pride, long road trips, and blowing off steam after a hard day's work.

Discography:

Bad Seed (2018)
Live in Richmond at the National (2020)
Blood, Sweat and Beers (2021)
Headcase (2024)

Presented by Left of the Dial Promotions and KDRT 95.7 FM

06/10/2026

Aiko Shimada is a Sacramento-based jazz vocalist known for a warm, ethereal tone and an honest, restrained approach to interpretation.

Once a singer-guitarist/songwriter who performed and toured widely for decades in Seattle, she now returns to jazz, blending beloved standards with originals and thoughtful covers.

Notable collaborators include the late world-renowned pianist Jessica Williams, and acclaimed jazz guitarist Bill Frisell appears on her album Blue Marble (John Zorn's Tzadik Label in New York).

Joined by Selena Delgadillo (piano), Mark Collins (upright bass), Stephen Esquivido (sax), and Aidan Smith (drums), Aiko offers an evening of elegance, intimacy, and sincerity shaped by influences from Billie Holiday and Shirley Horn to Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Cassandra Wilson, Egberto Gismonti, and Brazilian singer Mônica Salmaso.

Press

"Stunning live" — The Stranger, Seattle
"Beautiful, profound, and original… haunting, mature, unforgettable." — Steve Silberman, Wired
"Shimada is one of the most original and creative musicians on the Seattle scene." — Seattle Times
"Her music is a fluid and exquisitely ear-friendly blend of lower Manhattan jazz and textural forms..." — Sacramento News & Review

Instagram: .music
YouTube: Aiko Shimada Music & Beyond

This is a BOYB show! Watermelon Music serves non-alcoholic drinks and pre-packaged snacks.

$15 General Admission
$10 Students (available in-store or at the door only)
Kids under 12 are FREE!

06/05/2026

The big guy from out West with larger than life energy (he’s also 6’5’, the great grandson of August Ringling of the Ringling Bros Circus and related to Ma Barker of the infamous Barker Gang), guitarist, singer, banjoist, songwriter, composer, entertainer, musical historian and teacher, Mitch Polzak wears his heart on his sleeve and his playing in his heart. Mitch was inducted into The Western Swing Hall Of Fame in 2024 and has been twice nominated for The Ameripolitan Music Awards.

Polzak performs Rockabilly, H***y Tonk, Surf, Bluegrass, Western Swing, and Cajun music stateside and abroad. Mitch performs with the religious fervor of Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash, and delivers a H***y Tonk ballad with the sincerity of Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings. Polzak will bring a room to a fevered pitch of joyous energy on the dance floor and then tell you a story in a song like two old friends sitting at a kitchen table at midnight.

He has released 8 albums, 5 on his own label Polzak Productions and 3 on the Spanish based Sleazy Records.

Presented by Left of the Dial and KDRT.

06/05/2026

Weird Harold returns to the Melon Ball this summer for one night only!

How does one describe Weird Harold? They've engaged and befuddled local audiences since the 1990's with their loud, raucous, hard-rockin', quirky, hilarious, energetic, entertaining, indie alternative ear worms, such as "I Drive a Monster Truck," "I Ruined Your Birthday," "I've Got a Bad Rash," and the Steinbeck "Of Mice and Men"-inspired "Be My Bunny." Count on an evening of high-energy, seventh-grade style double entendre potty humor, and head-boppin,' eye-poppin' entertainment! Weird Harold cannot be explained, only experienced, and no two shows are the same, even if they perform the same set. They're an act not to be missed.

Check out Weird Harold's sold-out two-night performance at the Melon Ball from December 2025!

Dec 19, 2025

Dec 20, 2025

Check out Weird Harold audio tracks, live video footage, and music videos

05/21/2026

When Kanye West shared Mike Glazer’s joke, he thought his life was about to change. And it did, in the worst way imaginable, until Taylor Swift’s Swifties saved his life.

Mike Glazer is chaotic good: a twisted, endearing storyteller like an evil Mike Birbiglia. He wishes the following weren’t true, but he has the receipts to prove it — before becoming a comedian, Glazer was a strip-club–sponsored roller hockey goalie who almost became an Olympian, nearly became an astronaut for British royal billionaires, shared his phone number with the entire world in a horribly stupid prank, and somehow became the CIA for a month, which sucked.

If you’ve ever wanted to hear the words, “so the Swifties were battling the Nazis,” come to this show. As Kanye said, “it’s good deal.”

Comics Unleashed
I Was the CIA
Craziest Engagement Story Ever

$15 General Admission
Doors Open @ 7:30pm
This is a BYOB event!

05/21/2026

The big guy from out West with larger than life energy (he’s also 6’5’, the great grandson of August Ringling of the Ringling Bros Circus and related to Ma Barker of the infamous Barker Gang), guitarist, singer, banjoist, songwriter, composer, entertainer, musical historian and teacher, Mitch Polzak wears his heart on his sleeve and his playing in his heart. Mitch was inducted into The Western Swing Hall Of Fame in 2024 and has been twice nominated for The Ameripolitan Music Awards.

Polzak performs Rockabilly, H***y Tonk, Surf, Bluegrass, Western Swing, and Cajun music stateside and abroad. Mitch performs with the religious fervor of Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash, and delivers a H***y Tonk ballad with the sincerity of Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings. Polzak will bring a room to a fevered pitch of joyous energy on the dance floor and then tell you a story in a song like two old friends sitting at a kitchen table at midnight.

He has released 8 albums, 5 on his own label Polzak Productions and 3 on the Spanish based Sleazy Records.

Presented by Left of the Dial and KDRT.

05/18/2026

When Kanye West shared Mike Glazer’s joke, he thought his life was about to change. And it did, in the worst way imaginable, until Taylor Swift’s Swifties saved his life.

Mike Glazer is chaotic good: a twisted, endearing storyteller like an evil Mike Birbiglia. He wishes the following weren’t true, but he has the receipts to prove it — before becoming a comedian, Glazer was a strip-club–sponsored roller hockey goalie who almost became an Olympian, nearly became an astronaut for British royal billionaires, shared his phone number with the entire world in a horribly stupid prank, and somehow became the CIA for a month, which sucked.

If you’ve ever wanted to hear the words, “so the Swifties were battling the Nazis,” come to this show. As Kanye said, “it’s good deal.”

Comics Unleashed
I Was the CIA
Craziest Engagement Story Ever

$15 General Admission
Doors Open @ 7:30pm
This is a BYOB event!