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For Immediate Release |
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LOCAL
MUSIC NEWS COLUMN
by Tom Lounges SUMMERTIME
MEANS FESTIVALS!
Summer is finally here! At
least according to the calendar, if not the weather.
That means it is festival season once again!
Sadly, many of our area fests are not happening this year due
to the poor state of the region’s economy.
Gone from the summer fun landscape this year is the annual “Blues
& Jazz On The Ridge” fest in Munster, the “Sunshine Festival” in
Crown Point, and once again “Hammond
Fest” at Wolf Lake is M.I.A. for yet another season.
Fortunately, Adrian
Zukula and his Jaycee buddies have returned once again with their
annual “Hobart
Jaycee Fest.” I
will be out there representing the Midwest
BEAT on stage for at least three of the fest’s nine days. We’ll be there to welcome
M&R Rush (June 28)
Quiet Riot (June 29), and The
Smithereens (July 2).
To view the full “Hobart
Jaycee Fest 2003” entertainment schedule, log on at:
www.hobartjc.com
The X-ROCK 103.9 van
will be located right next to the stage as well, so stop by as say
“hello” to Scott Rosenberg,
Gabe, myself and the rest of the X-Rockers.
Though not a fest per se, I want to remind everyone to stop out
and support the free all ages show taking place on June 12 at Highland
Main Square Park. The
Highland teen bands Robot Hero
and Amber will co-headline a 7 p.m. concert at the park’s Gazebo
Stage.
Coming up on June 19, the Highland Gazebo will host the rising
young St John band, host Closed
World.
On July 2, History’s
End will perform there and during that set, will invited members
of the old Alison’s Mailbox band to joing them in a short tribute to the late
A.M. vocalist/frontman, Paul
Callaway. BATTLE
FINALS... •
The two Battle Of Bands competitions that Midwest BEAT has helped to
sponsor will both come to a head this month with Grand Finals.
Squaring off at the “South Haven Showdown” at McCool’s on June 20 will be –– Denyal,
Dead Envy, The Heavies and Born
Against Time. On June
27, the latest installment of
“Battle Of The Backdoor” concludes as Eighty•94,
Psychoromancer, The Heavies and Fallen
face off. WIN
CONCERT TICKETS...
All details are not together yet, but here’s a heads up to
watch for a new promotion Midwest BEAT is doing with some major record labels and with Robb
Fishback, manager/buyer for South Side record retail chain, Discount
Records.
Entry forms will appear in our July issue that you can drop off
at any of the Discount locations to win pairs of tickets to some of
this summer’s hottest concerts.
The ONLY place to
get the entry forms is in our pages and the ONLY way to win is to
visit a nearby Discount Records store...
More info next month! WEIRD
AL WANDERS INDIANA…
Among the zany musician’s many stops while roaming the town
square was at Front Porch Music,
where he reportedly purchased a set of guitar strings and socialized
with the store’s surprised staff.
The clever composer known for his good-natured skewering of pop
culture icons, was in our area to tape an appearance on the
nationally-syndicated “E” network talk show, “The Michael Essany Show.”
All who encountered Yankovic found him to be a rather
pleasant and sociable chap. BAND
BITS... •
Soul Pride, Emitter,
Five Star Deluxe and Transmission
will donate performances for a June 14 benefit being held from 6pm to
12pm at Bennigan’s Restaurant in Highland. The benefit is to help a
Bennigan’s employee – Henry
Morquecho – in his fight with cancer. •
Also lending their talents to help others are
Deb Seitz & The Chicago
Blues Posse, who will perform a benefit on June 28 at the VFW Post
#6841 in Lowell to raise money for the local
“Feed The Children” program. Money from this show will go to
buy food for families of Midwest U.S. Military personnel who need
assistance. A portion of the funds will also be put towards the
purchase a plaque honoring those from N.W. Indiana who lost their
lives in the recent war in Iraq.
For more info, log on the VFW site at: http://community-2.webtv.net/VFW-6841/webpage/ •
Sound Gypsies
revealed that group founder Matt
Villicana (vocals, guitar, saxophone) has had to leave the group
and the Chicagoland area to take a new job in different part of the
country.
The band and club scene will miss the very talented Villicana,
but the good news is that Gypsies’ remaining three members ––
Aron Schuhrke, Rene Garcia and Colin
Peterson plan to hook up with a few other area players and debut a
new band in the fall.
In the meantime, Schuhrke
and Garcia have put
together an acoustic duo act called Ghetto
Fabulous that will mark their stage debut on June 22 at
Shannon’s Landing in Lansing, IL •
N.W. Indiana’s Trauma replaced
two-term guitarist, Skip
Stinski with new string bender, John
Searing. Searing’s
resume includes a year of touring with Phoenix-based indie metal band,
Blind Rage.
He also made it to the final cut in recent auditions with both
King Diamond and Limp
Bizkit. Searing works
at the new Guitar Center in
Hobart.
Free
to the public, the jam was coordinated by Kimo
Williams, a faculty member at Columbia College who met Sinise when
he wrote the original theatrical score for the Steppenwolf Theatre’s
production of “A Street Car
Named Desire.” • After
being M.I.A. from local clubs for more than a year, guitarist Geoff
Eustice is back with a new hard rock group, Forced
Habits. The
quartet includes drummer Dave
Lattimer, bassist Lloyd Abernath and vocalist Al Wronko. They cover
dino-rockers like Robin Trower, Humble Pie and UFO, along with new
acts like Kid Rock, Nickelback and Audio Slave. •
Rock Star Club will
take a summer hiatus from performing to write and record the follow-up
to their 2002 CD,
“Shut Up And Work It!”
That full-length CD made the “Top 5” on many local
media lists and has been featured on Chicago’s Q101, WXRT and The
Zone 94.7 Keep up at: www.rockstarclub.com/ • Chicago’s
progressive metal band, Ion
Vein, who spent most of last year recording and mixing tracks with
Grammy Award winning producer Neil
Kernon (Queensryche, Judas Priest), are finally making their new
12-song CD available to fans.
A very limited amount of copies of the long-awaited sophomore
CD, “Reigning
Memories” (released via Majesphere Records) will be made
available at live shows and on the web ––
www.ionvein.com ––while the band seeks major distribution. •
Chicago hard rockers, The
Assassins, have inked a recording contract with Arista and are
busy writing fresh, new songs for what will be their major label
debut. The label is also
home to fellow Chi-town rockers, From
Zero. •
If you missed the May 13 broadcast performance on WLS-TV by
Chicago pop/punk band, The Holiday, can view it online for a limited time at: http://www.WGN.com
For more info on the national touring group, log on at: www.theholidaymusic.com •
Hammond’s Thunderclap
Recording Studios did some major remodeling last month, but are
back to business as usual. In May, Broken
Language finished tracking their latest CD there and Merrillville
accapella group, Harbor Lights,
recorded the new anthem for the Gary
Railcats baseball team.
Highland teen band, Robot Hero, will start rolling tape at Thunderclap this month for
what will be their first album. • Two-year-old
Hoosier modern rock act, The Audible Campaign, completed work on a new batch of songs that
will be released next month as an EP-CD.
The as yet untitled collection follows the maturing teen
band’s 2002 EP, “Present
Day Wars.” For
info on the EP and summer shows: www.audiblecampaign.com •
Hoosier punk/pop band -- Eighty•94
-- have wrapped up recording at Ten-Thirty-One Studio in Hammond for
their new 12-song CD project, “Last Band Standing.” The
group has launched a web site –– www.Eighty94.com
–– to promote the new CD and upcoming shows.
For those who may not be familiar with this year old group, Big
G is none other than Big George
Millspaugh, best known for the time he spent fronting Chicago’s
late ‘70s/early ‘80s Southern Blues ensemble, The
Pearl Handle Band. •
Hammond native Crystal
Talifero -- who has
performed in the past on as back-up singer with the likes of John
Mellencamp, Bob Seger and Bruce
Springsteen -- is out on the road singing as part of Joe Cocker’s band. Talifero
was featured on last year’s House of Blues “Tribute
to Aerosmith” CD.
Keep up with her rock ‘n’ roll adventures on line at: www.crystaltalifero.com • Americana rockers –– Pete Berwick & The Renegades –– took first place in the last qualifying round of the Rainbow Foundation’s “Battle Of The Bands.” They will square off against the winners of past rounds on at the Grand Finals on June 28 at Chicago City Limits (1712 Wise Rd.) in Schaumburg. More info: (847) 524-9910. •
Rudger Recording Studio
owner/engineer, Bob LeMere,
reports having had a busy all spring.
Among the projects tracked there, were a new EP by the region
band Of All Kinds.
LeMere made a cameo in the short indie film, “Reel
Competition,” which was shot by M&M
Productions last month in Merrillville at the Crossroads Cinema.
It’s about the trials and tribulation of a cinema manager.
More info online at: http://m-productions.com RANDOM
RAMBLINGS...
Our eagle-eyed, photo editor Niva
Bringas spied Roberts, who was gracious enough to mug for the
camera with her treasured copy of Midwest
BEAT firmly in hand.
I’ve got to wonder what Niva had in his hand…
Witnesses testified that there is no truth to the rumor that
Roberts purred… “Is that an extra lens in your pocket or are you just glad to see
me?”
Roberts was most recently seen as a regular cast member on the
hit television series, “That
‘70s Show.” Roberts played the sweater-wearing mom (Donna’s mom to
be exact) who all the teen guys would oogle over and fantasize about
while toking in Eric Foreman’s basement. •
Area music veteran, Bob
Barthel –– former guitarist of Deep
River Band and currently with The
Bones –– is hoping to organize fellow local musicians into a
formal organization whose goals would be to improve the general state
of the area music scene.
Some things on Barthel’s mind include establishing a fair pay
scale for gigs, affordable health insurance and other things that
affect and impact those who make music for a living.
A special rock ‘n’ roll golf outing is being planned to
generate money to kick-start this project. Contact Barthel at: www.thebones.com •
Marie Smythe of the Hobart
Arts League has announced a new series of free entertainment
presented at 7 p.m. every Tuesday night at Hobart’s Lake Front Park.
Some of the upcoming artists are acoustic singer/songwriter, Mike Gadjik (June 10); folk/rock singer, Pat Barry (June 17); classic rock duo Mike Skarja & Rick Mathers
(July 1); variety band Last
Call (July 8) and folk duo John
& Ellen Wright (July 15).
For info or to inquire about performing, call Marie at: (219)
942-0065.
•
Condolences to the family and friends of region rocker. Ray
“Ray Ray” Hobson, who passed away in May after a long illness.
Several bands –– Mas
Kaos, Dirty Trixx, Killer Jz, and Financial
Burden –– will rally on June 6 at McCool’s to help out the
Hobson family. To donate to the Hobson Family, contact Brian
“Bubba” Price @ MasKaos69@aol.com
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