January 31, 2008Roanoke: Music CityOne of the perks of my job is I get to copy-edit Inside Out the day before it's published each week. This week, while perusing the music listings, I counted 22 musical acts among the Roanoke-area nightclub advertisements. When I added in the bands, duos and singers from the entertainment calendar, that number exceeded 40 acts playing somewhere this weekend between Roanoke and Blacksburg. "Derby Idol" tonightHey, it's almost like live music, and certainly cooler than "American Idol." Pay a buck to vote on the best singer among those elbow-throwing, knee-sliding Derby Babes. January 30, 2008Music videos on roanoke.comWhen we started up this thing, I asked for user-submitted music videos. We've got some now. Hit the "continue reading" link to see this cat, who goes by the name Alec Baldwin. He can play some funk guitar. Local blues guys head to international contestLi'l Rodger and the Cheap Thrills are headed to Memphis for the International Blues Challenge. L'il Rodger, aka Roger Crowder (it's complicated), and his group won the Roanoke-based Blue Ridge Blues Society's contest in July, giving them a shot at the Memphis contest. The James River Blues Society, based in Sedalia, is sending Washington, D.C.'s Clarence "The Blues Man" Turner to Memphis. Continue reading "Local blues guys head to international contest" » ExtraCast brings the musicLots of music in town this week. roanoke.com's ExtraCast previews a good bit of it. Hip-hop ambassador Toni Blackmon comes to the Jeff Center. Rockabilly wrecker Wrenn Mangum is at Martin's. Kusun Emsemble brings the African dance and music to the Jeff. And swamp-soul man Eric Lindell plays 202 Market. See video and hear audio on the ExtraCast. Bonus: Host Lindsey Nair shows you how to set up a Super Bowl food bar for your own place. Chevelle coming to Cattle Annie'sRoad trip alert: If you're into the hard rock, check out Chevelle at Cattle Annie's, Lynchburg, on March 12. The band has spent the past couple of years five years running up and down Billboard's modern rock chart. It's latest single, "I Get It," peaked at No. 4. That cut comes from the band's April 2007 release, Vena Sera. January 29, 2008Eric Clapton's influenceThe past few weeks, multimedia editor Seth Gitner and I met, interviewed and videotaped several area guitarists who were influenced by Eric Clapton. The story I wrote is scheduled to run on Sunday. But the videos we shot are already available on roanoke.com's video page. Check them out ... Blues didgeridoo workshopBlues and didgeridoo. Turns out, it’s like peanut butter and chocolate. Harper, a blues musician from Australia, can jam the didgeridoo and the harmonica, too. Here's proof. He and the Blue Ridge Blues Society and Blue 5 Restaurant are giving you a chance to learn how to play the indigenous Aussie instrument, too. January 28, 2008Led Zep world tour?Looks like Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page wants the band to get out there and tour. Link. I never got to see the Zep live, and have only old concert footage on VH1 classic to rely on. But it's clear from seeing that old stuff that the band was adventurous, always willing to stretch the boundaries of even its biggest hits. I think you could even say it was a jam band. By most accounts, the band was very good at its reunion show. Jump in here, gentle blog readers, and tell me if you wanna see the Zep get back together. Warehouse fire reliefHow does a fight start? What leads to someone getting knocked on his rumpus -- as they might say, with some self-censorship. The whole thing materialized right next to me. I had not been paying attention to my right side at the bar, but it was apparent that someone was being overpowered at Martin's Downtown, in Roanoke, on Monday morning. It happens all the time in nightspots, but this one was different. The guy on the down side had a serious leg-break. January 25, 2008CD review: Sol Creech Band's "Freedom"First, a note. I'm reviewing local and regional CDs now. I'll probably get to one or two a week, so I'll do my best to review them in the order I receive them, though I will go back through my back catalog of local artists. I'll include a mailing address at the bottom of this entry. So, let's get into "Freedom," the new record from Sol Creech Band. More info on Kid Rock, Rev. Run showWe published news of this concert a few weeks back. Today, the Roanoke Civic Center has confirmed the 7:30 p.m. March 18 show. Tickets are $45 and $25, and go on sale at 10 a.m. Feb. 1 Ex-Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dickey Betts is on the bill, too. He and Rev. Run, formerly of Run-DMC, will not be opening acts, but instead will join Kid Rock onstage during what his publicists are calling Rock's "most ambitious tour to date." Does that mean three cage dancers, instead of two? I kid the Kid. I saw his show in Roanoke a few years back, and really got into it. He's one of those guys with a big, flashy, explosion-laden stage show, which mixes correctly with his bombastic rap-rock. January 24, 2008Blame James, PHH punkBlacksburg band Blame James is very metally-adventurous. Check out the video: http://www.roanoke.com/multimedia/video/wb/148142 | Related story: http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/148159 Check out recording session video from a group of Patrick Henry High School punkers, who get their subject material from "anger, disgusting things ... and violence." Here are scenes from their recording session at Downtown Music Lab: http://www.roanoke.com/multimedia/video/wb/148017 Bill Frisell show is postponedThe freakishly good and oddly tasteful jazz guitarist has had to postpone his Jeff Center show, due to a family emergency. The Jeff's Dylan Locke said there will be a new date, and that all tickets will be honored -- if you can't make the new date, you can get a refund. He was the leadoff of this week's Top Tickets, which is still a very exciting week of shows: http://www.roanoke.com/entertainment/insideout/music/wb/xp-148123. January 23, 2008Thirty years ago today ...OK, so it's another Flashback Friday for Riffs. Just deal with it. While crafting this week's epistle, I stumbled upon this 1970s Fun Fact: From mid 1977 until mid 1978, only five different albums topped the Billboard chart. Music on the ExtraCastThis week on the ExtraCast, we have video from Enter the Haggis and the Asylum Street Spankers, both playing in the area this weekend. Also, we have the Juniors, who you can find on our MusicCast blog. And we have some audio from the Ministers of Soul, whose Hoppie Vaughan hosts 202 Market's Wednesday night jam. http://www.roanoke.com/multimedia/video/ecast/wb/134420 January 22, 2008Jamband alert!Just got this news release today from the Mix One6. Perpetual Groove is coming to the Mix on Feb. 9. Other shows in February are: Do you have video of your music?We're still shooting the MusicCast, but we're also accepting submissions for live video that you shoot. Here's how to do it: Go to http://blogs.roanoke.com/musiccast, and click on "click here to upload your band's video", on the right side of the page. You can figure out the rest from there. Hey! It's the music blog!What's up ... Tad Dickens here, slinging The Roanoke Times new music blog, cutNscratch. Ralph Berrier and I will be posting music news, tidbits, reviews, etc., ad nauseum here. But it won't be any fun if we don't get you all in on it. ... |
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