JOEL GION, WRITER

Joel Gion has played tambourine center stage with the Brian Jonestown Massacre for the past 30 years. He’s that good. The band was formed in 1990 and immediately established itself as the torchbearers of the classic ’60s “San Francisco Sound” and the most prominent U.S. chapter of shoegaze and Britpop. His first book, In the Jingle Jangle Jungle: Keeping Time With the Brian Jonestown Massacre, was published by White Rabbit Books in 2024.

See: Last of the Big-Time Backups, page 40

SHEVA KAFAI, PHOTOGRAPHER

Sheva Kafai was born and raised in Los Angeles and has recently returned to the city after many years in the desert. At any given moment, there’s a 100 percent chance that her fridge at home has more film than food in it. When she’s not taking portraits, photographing shows, or reciting the first page of Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon (“beware thoughts that come in the night’’...seriously), she’s pacing with her luggage and passport, awaiting the next tour.

See: Jim James, page 84

STEVE MILLER, WRITER