The Roanoke Times: cutNscratch

Comments

# 1

[May 13, 2008 9:59 AM]

Mike Sebolt

Who are your top 5 local musicians?

# 2

[May 13, 2008 12:24 PM]

Tad : →http://www.roanoke.com/entertainment/insideout/music

Thanks for the question, Mike. It's a tough one. I've been surprised at how much great talent we have around here. That said, I'll try to give you my top 5. It won't include locals who have moved elsewhere -- just folks still in the area. Also, I'm only counting folks I've heard live.

1. James Pace, keyboards. He needs no accompaniment, given his mad skills at playing bass lines and chords and/or solos at once. But when he's comping, he's a tasty, tasty player. UPDATE: Ralph just came in, telling me that James scored a gig with blues singer/guitarist Ana Popovic -- anapopovic.com. So we won't be seeing him much around here until Popovic plays the Big Lick Blues Festival on Sept. 20.

2. Cyrus Pace, guitar. This could just as well be a tie between brothers. Cyrus could just as easily be No. 1, particularly given that he's taken up drums, and is really good on them.

3. Cameron McLaughlin, bass. Funk, jazz, rock, soul, whatever. He can sling it with taste, and he's got chops to burn.

4. Poe Mack, rapper/producer. Great rhymes and delivery, and he can make your record sound better than his. Just ask Illbotz.

5. Brittany Sparks, vocals. I'm going on potential alone here. Whenever she hits an open mic, players are raving about her performance. Now, if she can just find a band worthy of her burgeoning chops.

# 3

[May 13, 2008 1:57 PM]

Wayne : →http://www.myspace.com/GOSG

If "Cut n Scratch" found the proverbial genie in a bottle and He/She granted them three wishes that could only be applied to music in the area...What are each of your three wishes?

# 4

[May 13, 2008 2:17 PM]

Tad : →http://www.roanoke.com/entertainment/insideout/music

Wayne, why you have to make me think?!

Wishes, in order:

1. Continued success for venues already hosting great live music. As we know, rooms come and go, but right now Roanoke has the most it has had since I've lived here (9 years in August). I hope they all stay healthy and keep bringing in the great talent.

2. A good outdoor venue. FloydFest and Blue Mountain are a ways away, and don't host shows much more than a couple times a year. Sweetwater Amphitheater doesn't seem to be anywhere in our immediate future (I also can't seem to make contact with the owners). The chances of Roanoke actually winding up with an amphitheater are not great now. So I wish for one -- in vain? I hope not.

3. A big hit for a Roanoke-born act -- any act, any genre. Let's have a claim to fame other than Wayne Newton.

# 5

[May 13, 2008 5:00 PM]

bobby ray : →http://www.myspace.com/kingebola

so what the hell is your problem with wayne newton?

# 6

[May 13, 2008 6:48 PM]

Chad

What band, in your opinion, has the best chance of possibly "making it" in the business?, and by making it I mean signing with a major label.

# 7

[May 13, 2008 7:28 PM]

Ralph

Boy, this "slacking off" has resulted in a lot of work. Great idea Tad!

As for best musicians, whew, that's tough, and not just because I've been a little removed from seeing many shows lately.

I'd agree with Tad on the Pace Brothers.

I like drummer Kelly Gravely.

By "local" can we go to Radford? Scott Fore's a former national champion guitar player.

Staying in the bluegrass vein, Aaron Williams of Blacksburg is a teen-age wunderkind on mandolin (I first wrote "enfant terrible" but that looked bad so I changed it), who's also won big-time guitar competitions and currently plays with Kenny and Amanda Smith.

I liked bassist Bernard Hairston but I haven't seen him in years. Is he still in town?

OK, more answers in a minute.

# 8

[May 13, 2008 7:38 PM]

Ralph

OK, the rest of my answers.

Three wishes: 1. I wish Roanoke had an Orange Peel-type club (we used to have Orange Julius and I sure do miss him). Something that could handle hundreds, even a thousand, people for a club show.

2. I wish Roanoke had an outdoor pavilion/amphitheatre/coliseum/stadium whatever. We get virtually no shows in the summer, which is prime concert season.

3. I wish somebody in Roanoke would give modern-rock radio another try.

Band with best chance of signing with a major label? Hmmm. First of all, the way things are going for the major labels, maybe signing with one isn't such a good thing for one's career. That said, even in today's fragmented, download-crazed market, there's nothing like the marketing boost a label provides.

Did the Clark Brothers get a deal from that TV show, Tad? They've been on a big label -- Curb -- and could make it again.

That's not much of an answer, but I couldn't really tell you the last time a Roanoke band got signed by a major. What's Ross Copperman up to? Did he get a record deal? Might need to think a little harder about that question.

Yeah, Tad. What IS your problem with Wayne Newton? Ha, ha.

# 9

[May 13, 2008 8:05 PM]

Tad : →http://www.roanoke.com/entertainment/insideout/music

Thanks for all the questions. Sorry, Ralph!

Gravely is a great drummer, and a real entertainer, Hairston still lives around here. BONUS: He and Gravely will be holding down the grooves on May 22 at 202 Market, backing Shawn Spencer as she sings blues and jazz. Vlad Espinosa, from Los Gatos, will be in that band, too, on percussion. A couple of heavy D.C. cats round out the lineup. Cover is $10.

The Clark Brothers are now in the 19 Entertainment stable, so yes, they have a record deal. And yes, they could get a hit out of it. Ross Copperman says he's in Nashville now, and is working with Matt Powell and others on a record that will have country leanings. As far as I know, he's still on with a major.

Now, like I said, I'm looking forward to seeing if those acts, or another from around here, has a smasheroo.

As for Wayne Newton? Too much makeup. Can't dance. I kid Wayne Newton.

# 10

[May 14, 2008 1:26 PM]

Pete

1. Will you consider making questions a recurring part of CutN'Scratch (you needn't answer every single post in detail)?

2. Tad's wish (#4, pt.3 above) for a "big hit from a Roanoke-born act" seems premised on "American Idol" type POP success, in the (possibly receding) sense of the 20th century music biz. I know this is what the casual fan appreciates, but the casual fan made Micheal Bolton rich. Furthermore, it gets at the question of what local connection is sufficiently valid for claiming some proud part in the success. Wouldn't the band profiled in today's paper, metal band The Sword (Austin band that's 50% Rke. natives) qualify?

With non-pop genres such as blues and jazz, there are some real significant names, not least Don Pullen, who recorded for Blue Note/EMI, a "major" among jazz labels. His Pullen-Adams quartet was the greatest and BADDEST jazz group of the 80's, and his solo work puts him in the jazz pianists hall of fame. Plus, he represents the antithesis of Wayne Newton's musical world, if Wayne's more absurd aspects are too much for those conditioned to include extra-musical values in their appraisal of a musician (I'm looking at you, Rolling Stone subscribers).

A local shed venue would be fine, but I suspect it might struggle much as the Portsmouth one has, as outlined in the RT&WN a couple days ago. I would only hope it would augment, not replace, Elmwood Park, which is an existing good thing for Rke.

There are a score of local musicians who are national level talents, both those who've moved on, like Rene Marie and Buster B. Jones, and those still here like Al Coffey. Then there are those whose real national success in the past has been forgotten, or really, never known, like Fats Waller's drummer Slick Jones and hot jazz fretman Ikey Robinson.

# 11

[May 14, 2008 2:25 PM]

Tad : →http://www.roanoke.com/entertainment/insideout/music

Pete, as always, you make a bunch of great points. But -- finally!! -- I've got you on something. The question of the week is already a recurring series.

But you and everyone else here can ask us questions any time you like. Still, I feel like I should be the one asking you the questions. You know too much!

And finally -- long live Wayne Newton!