Music
LOCAL MUSIC: May 23-29, 2013
May 23rd
McGaughey Brothers
When: 8 p.m. Friday
Where: Cellar 21, 121 N. Fourth
Reasonable Doubt
When: 8:30 p.m. Friday
Where: One Restaurant & Bar, 600 Hampshire
Esther Moore
When: 9:30 p.m. Friday
Where: State Street Bar & Grill, 1638 State
Tim Hart
When: 2 p.m. Saturday
Where: Spirit Knob Winery, Ursa, Ill.
Exit 52
When: 8:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: The Dock, 1021 Bonansinga Drive
Raised On Radio
When: 8:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: One Restaurant & Bar, 600 Hampshire
Karaoke with A.K.A. Entertainment
When: 9 p.m. Saturday
Where: State Street Bar & Grill, 1638 State
Kathy Brink & Mike Coultas
When: 9 p.m. Saturday
Where: Cellar 21, 121 N. Fourth
Bobbo Fest
When: 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Lake Linda,
Carthage, Ill.
Deuce Coupe
When: 7:30 p.m. Sunday
Where: Lake Hill Winery,
Carthage, Ill.
Marks Brothers
When: 6 p.m. Wednesday
Where: One Restaurant & Bar, 600 Hampshire
LOCAL MUSIC: May 17-May22
May 15th
Make plans now for a busy musical weekend:
Eleven @ TNT Spring Bike Kickoff
When: Friday
Where: TNT Action Sports, 5101 Oak
Sounds like Summer
When: 6 p.m. Friday
Where: Turner Hall, 926 Hampshire
Rick Crider
When: 8 p.m. Friday
Where: Cellar 21, 121 N. Fourth
Cheeseburgers
When: 8:30 p.m. Friday
Where: One Restaurant & Bar, 600 Hampshire
Devon Clemons Band with Gracia Harrison
When: 8:30 p.m. Friday
Where: Lake Hill Winery, Carthage, Ill.
Logan Kammerer
When: 9:30 p.m. Friday
Where: State Street Bar & Grill, 1638 State
Shrimp Fest
When: 2 p.m. Saturday
Where: Ridge View Winery, Mount Sterling, Ill.
The Corners
When: 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: The Main Hangout, Palmyra, Mo.
Eleven
When: 8:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: The Dock, 1021 Bonansinga Drive
Big Deal
When: 8:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Adams Trading Post, Liberty, Ill.
Karoake
with A.K.A. Entertainment
When: 9 p.m. Saturday
Where: State Street Bar & Grill, 1638 State
Cheeks McGee
When: 9 p.m. Saturday
Where: Cellar 21, 121 N. Fourth
Super Majik Robots
When: 9 p.m. Saturday
Where: One Restaurant & Bar, 600 Hampshire
Diamonds in the Rough
When: 6 p.m. Wednesday
Where: One Restaurant & Bar, 600 Hampshire
LIVE MUSIC: May 10-16
May 9th
Dueling Pianos Dinner Show
When: 6 p.m. Friday
Where: Spirit Knob Winery, Ursa, Ill.
Steel Magnolia
When: 10 p.m. Friday
Where: Holler & Swaller Saloon, 137 N. Third
Kathy Brink & Mike Coultas
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Cave Hollow Winery, Hannibal, Mo.
Tim Hart (acoustic)
When: 8:30 p.m. Friday
Where: One Restaurant & Bar, 600 Hampshire
Epic Music Showcase
When: 3 p.m. Saturday
Where: Tanyard Gardens, Hannibal, Mo.
Madd Hoss Jackson
When: 8:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: The Dock, 1021 Bonansinga Drive
Highway 99
When: 9 p.m. Saturday
Where: One Restaurant & Bar, 600 Hampshire
Highway 99
When: 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Ridge View Winery, Mount Sterling, Ill.
Burt Shackleton (acoustic)
When: 6 p.m. Wednesday
Where: One Restaurant & Bar, 600 Hampshire
LIVE MUSIC: May 3-10
May 1st
Mike Coultas
When: 3 p.m. Friday
Where: State Street Bar & Grill, 1638 State
Mcshack
(acoustic rock)
When: 8 p.m. Friday
Where: Cellar 21, 121 N. Fourth
3rd Violation
(rock)
When: 8:30 p.m. Friday
Where: One Restaurant & Bar, 600 Hampshire
Ben Bumbry & The Messengers
(blues and jazz)
When: 9 p.m. Saturday
Where: Cellar 21, 121 N. Fourth
Raised On Radio
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: Elk’s Lodge, 311 N. Second
Pimpkatz
When: 8:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: The Dock, 1021 Bonansinga Drive
Harlot
(Classic Rock/ Alternative)
When: 9 p.m. Saturday
Where: One Restaurant & Bar, 600 Hampshire
Sally Weisenberg
When: 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Ridge View Winery, Mount Sterling
Dueling Pianos Dinner Show
When: 6 p.m. Friday, May 10
Where: Spirit Knob Winery, Ursa
Kathy Brink & Mike Coultas
When: 7 p.m. Friday, May 10
Where: Cave Hollow Winery, Hannibal, Mo.
Tim Hart
(acoustic)
When: 8:30 p.m. Friday, May 10
Where: One Restaurant & Bar, 600 Harrison
LIVE MUSIC: April 12-14
Apr 11th
Kathy Brink & Mike Coultas
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Cave Hollow West Winery, Hannibal, Mo.
WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE 4
Against All Odds, Bout Money, Somewhere In Between, KMF, JR The Jerk, Blaze of 5 Star, HME, RME With Yng Swaga, Krazy Caucasionz, MME
WHEN:7 p.m. Friday
WHERE: Turner Hall, 926 Hampshire; $5 at the door
Ketchem Louden
(acoustic/rock)
When: 8:30 p.m. Friday
Where: One Restaurant & Bar, 600 Hampshire
The Mckay Brothers
When: 9:30 p.m. Friday
Where: State Street Bar & Grill, 1638 State
Crazy Horse
When: 10 p.m. Friday
Where: Holler & Swaller Saloon, 137 N. Third
Spring Dance with Wreckingball band
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: Keokuk Yacht Club, Keokuk, Iowa
Big Deal
(country/classic rock)
When: 9 p.m. Saturday
Where: One Restaurant & Bar, 600 Hampshire
Time Well Spent
When: 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Ridge View Winery, Mount Sterling, Ill.
Pepper Spray
(dinner and dancing)
When: 6 p.m. Sunday
Where: One Restaurant & Bar, 600 Hampshire
Seven Days Fuller
(pop/folk)
When: 8:30 p.m. Friday, April 19
Where: One Restaurant & Bar, 600 Hampshire
VAN DYKE: Vinyl and breakdowns
Mar 27th
I miss vinyl records. For one thing, it is way more cool to say record than CD. For example: “Burn by Deep Purple is a great CD” or “Burn by Deep Purple, that’s a great record” Case closed. By the way if you do not own this album, go get it now and read this later.
Also, records are big. You cannot lose them in your car or in the couch cushions. They usually have pictures and liner notes that can actually be seen by the human eye too!
But, I think my very favorite thing about records is that they are not portable. They control where you listen. There is no pause or skip button, and you risk scratching trying to do either of those things. They were designed to play to the end. After all, there is only one groove on each side. One path for the needle to travel over. You are just along for the ride.
Van Dyke
It is the perfect metaphor for life itself. Short silence at the beginning and long silence at the end. Then you have to re-dress the record in its inner sleeve and jacket when you are through with it. Records are like the ‘high maintenance’ girlfriend/boyfriend of the audio world. You have to treat them right or you will be sorry.
They are starting to make a comeback as more people begin to realize just how great they are. A lot of artists are again starting to release their work on vinyl and I for one could not be happier. There is even a ‘vinyl store’ on Amazon.com. Now, if we could only get neighborhood record stores back. Maybe when I am rich, I will open one. If you are rich, a store like this would be an excellent hobby.
I just realized that I have not really been breaking down anything, so perhaps my blog has been misnamed. In order to save the trouble of making changes, I will start breaking something down somewhere in each blog from now on or something like that. For now, I guess I will list some of my favorite musical breakdowns. In my opinion a musical breakdown can be one of two things. It can be a slowing down and quieting in a song or it can be a a portion of a song that goes in another musical direction. Maybe they are really just instrumental breaks or a bridge, but I can call them whatever I want and so can you!
One that jumps out at me right away is Over the Hills and Far Away by Led Zeppelin, mainly because I just heard it. The breakdown occurs at approximately the 2:32 mark and goes on for about 30 seconds. They have quite a few other songs with interesting breakdowns. Fool in the Rain is a good one. I suggest getting all of their records and start pointing out the 50 or so that I did not mention here. Also, try and notice how it sounds almost like actual human beings are playing the music. I know, it is weird.
Almost any song by James Brown will have a breakdown that is fabulous. The best thing to do with James Brown is to get some of his studio records and some of his live records and compare the same tracks between them. The studio records will slap you around a little, then the live stuff will knock you into next week. His band is just ferocious.
Heavy metal songs tend to have about 30 breakdowns in them apiece. From the early days of Black Sabbath through Iron Maiden, older Metallica and Tool, to Mastodon and Gojira and everywhere in between, metal breakdowns are sometimes brutal, sometimes beautiful, sometimes humorous, but always entertaining to me.
So what are some of your favorite breakdowns? Leave them in the comments and I will check them out. I am always looking for new music.
Keep supporting real live music and real food. You should only do Karaoke and fast food in moderation. Keep your suggestions coming, then stay tuned for my next breakdown, which will be about ways to get ideas for a music blog.
— DVD
VAN DYKE: What’s the worst music video?
Jan 14th
A frame from KISS’ Tears Are Falling video
I just was reading somewhere that some band was going to shoot the first video for their new album. It made me wonder what ever happened to the music video?
Back when I was growing up, they were everywhere. We had two channels that played them almost nonstop back then on TV. What changed? Did we just get bored with them? Maybe.
I guess most of them were fairly forgettable. Was it the artists who tried to push the envelope or tried to sell us on the idea that music videos were a serious art form? It is possible. Who knows? I guess I could do some research and find out, but how boring would that be?
Van Dyke
My personal feeling is that like most things in the music business, it turned in to a “pay to play” situation. Any of you who have been in a serious band trying to get discovered, you know what I mean. At every turn there are scuzzballs trying to scrape a few bucks off anyone on the way up, or on the way down for that matter. Ever hear of a submission fee? If not, I am sure the Al Bowmans of the world will explain how they work. I could go on, but I want to talk about videos.
What is the worst music video you ever saw? Please comment and let me know; I get bored easily so I would love to check out some horrific ones. The one I remember is “Rock Me Tonight” by Billy Squier. Just terrible. Another classic is from the band Kiss. In the mid ’80s, Kiss decided to take of their makeup and steal David Lee Roth’s wardrobe and become followers of the latest trend in music. They made a string of unwatchable videos, but the worst by far is for a song called “Tears Are Falling.” I would love to have heard or seen the initial idea being pitched for this one. “OK, I am thinking a desert island with the world’s largest drum set and maybe a Fraggle Rock kind of vibe.” Absolutely hideous. And just when you think it is not that bad, it closes with Paul Stanley doing finger windshield wipers over his eyes.
The videos I liked were the funny ones. “Goin’ Crazy” by David Lee Roth Comes to mind. All the Weird Al Yankovic ones were pretty silly, too.
These days all you can find on TV are country music videos. While there are a few interesting ones, most are garbage. It is that same tired “Nashvilleback” sound over and over on most of them. It’s always a scene with a field, some farm machinery and a bunch of way too good looking people gathered together. Don’t they know good looking people do not travel in groups that large? If they did, no one would ever go home.
The last one I saw was something about being barefoot, which leads me to my next irritation. Why do people go barefoot on stage? It seems a bit unsanitary to me. What’s next? You go on stage with no pants? Put your shoes on! I do not care if it is more comfortable for you. I am not comfortable that you are comfortable.
Well, that’s all I got for now. I gotta go practice some songs for the band I just joined. What’s that? When did I join a band? Well, stay tuned and I will tell you all about it. Next time …
— DVD
Who’s playing where from Dec. 7-12
Dec 6th
Mike Coultas and Kathy Brink Acoustic Duo
(acoustic)
WHEN: Friday, 7 p.m.
WHERE: Mark Twain Cave, West Winery, Hannibal, Mo.
Royal Bliss, Bobaflex and Wayland (rock)
WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday
WHERE: Johnny’s, 138 N. Front St.
Comedy night, Skippy from “Family Ties” with Fryman and Denise Ramsden
WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday
WHERE: Spirit Knob Winery, Ursa
Flood Plane (Southern rock/blues)
WHEN: 8:30 p.m. Friday
WHERE: One Restaurant & Bar, 600 Hampshire, Quincy
The McCaughey Brothers (blues)
WHEN: 9 p.m. Friday
WHERE: Cellar 21, Quincy, 121 N. Fourth, Quincy
Festive Sounds Family Concert with the Quincy Symphony Orchestra, Chorus and Youth Chorus
WHEN: 3 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Quincy Junior High School, Morrison Theater; Adults $15, Seniors $12, children free
7 Days Fuller with guest Katie Jean
WHEN: 8:30 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: One Restaurant & Bar, 600 Hampshire, Quincy
Captain Geech & The Shrimp Shack Shooters (Top 40)
WHEN: 8:30 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Johnny’s, 138 N. Front St.
Overdraft (classic rock)
WHEN: 8:30 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Adams Trading Post, Liberty; cover charge
Ketcham Louden Live (acoustic/rock)
WHEN: 9 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Cellar 21, Quincy, 121 N. Fourth, Quincy
Barrington Wildfire (acoustic)
WHEN: 2 p.m. Sunday
WHERE: Ridge View Winery, Mount Sterling
Cheeks McGee (acoustic)
WHEN: 2:30 p.m. Sunday
WHERE: Lake Hill Winery, Carthage
Big River Swing Machine (swing)
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday
WHERE: One Restaurant & Bar, 600 Hampshire, Quincy
VAN DYKE: Catching up with some vinyl
Mar 6th
So, as I was saying at the end of my last post, my idea of what an album should be has all but vanished. Today’s studio wizardry and digital recording mediums have removed a lot of the constraints that artists had on them previously. Time is no longer an issue for albums. CDs can hold around 80 minutes of music, which is the equivalent to almost 23 3 1/2 minute songs. Most artists do not go that far, but they could if they had the material.
Van Dyke
I think this causes a lot more mediocre songs to get on the albums. The same problem has been caused by recording technology. There is so much available to an artist that there is little room for creativity any more. If you want a sound, you can just dial it up on the computer or on a synthesizer. It is way easier to do that than go find someone to play it. It is kind of like frozen dinners. They are cheap and easy, but what do they taste like?
As you may know, I am old. That means that the first section of my music collection contains records, the second section contains cassette tapes and the third contains CDs. My collection also has a digital wing, which houses all my CDs plus an ever-growing pile of MP3s. It took many an evening (and a couple of CD drives) to get all of the CDs digitized. I completed that process about seven or eight years ago.
My turntable broke back in the late ‘90s and I never replaced it. I spent the last few years looking at ways to be able to convert my albums to digital. I was online and found some turntables with a USB cable and software designed to do just that. I was on the checkout screen many times, but was just not able to bring myself to submit the order. I got in the habit of looking at them when I saw them at stores and in the ads from the Sunday paper. I guess my wife noticed, because she got me one for Christmas last year.
So, I managed to get the thing hooked up, converted my first album, and it worked great. The only problem is that unless your records are absolutely scratchless, you have to manually insert the breaks between songs. This means that you have to sit nearby and click on the “next song” button. In other words, you have to actually listen to the entire album. I was not thrilled with this idea until I converted my second album and realized how awesome a situation this was.
First of all, this is something my wife gave me as a gift. If I enjoy it, that makes her happy. Couple that with the “torture” of sitting all by myself in the basement forced to listen to some music that I had not heard in years. Surrounded by an assortment of records and beverages, I dive into the vaults several times a week and find some absolute classics, good and bad. The great albums stick to the 45 minutes or less idea, so I am able to get through them at a good rate.
Here are a few of the “treasures” I found:
Aerosmith – Live Bootleg: This is probably one of the best live albums I ever heard. Joe Perry and the boys at their absolute best. It has really cool packaging that is supposed to make it look like an actual bootleg recording. They even “forgot” to list one of the tracks on the cover.
Jesus Christ Superstar: At the recommendation of my friend, Ryan McKay, I bought this album for a dollar at the Salvation Army store on Maine Street even though I had no turntable. It features Ian Gillian of Deep Purple, Murray Head, and Yvonne Elleman. It is kind of an oddity, but has some cool parts on it.
Paul Simon – Still Crazy After All These Years: A great, mellow album. His third solo record. If you are not a fan of Paul Simon or Simon and Garfunkel, today would be a good day to check into it.
King Diamond – Abigail: The King’s vocal style is just crazy. It was priceless to see my kid’s faces when they heard the opening verse of “The Family Ghost.” It is a concept album about something evil. Oops, spoiler alert!
The Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesties Request: The cover of this one was too weird to avoid buying it. It has a 3D picture glued to it and if you hold it right, you can find the faces of all four Beatles, among other things. It has some good moments, but I cannot say it is anywhere near their best work.
Barry Manilow Live: Actually, this belongs to my aunt, but it is here. I spun it and it is not terrible. There is a silly medley of commercial jingles in there, the hits, and the misses.
George Carlin – Occupation Foole: The first comedy record I ever heard. George was one of the funniest people who ever lived. I know this is a music blog, but the comedy album is a lost art form as well.
Forever – Forever and Ever: The first local music I ever bought. While listening to this one, I was back at the Starlite all those years ago getting my face ripped apart by Steve McCarley’s shredding guitar solos. Steve, along with Ray Burke, Kevin Tanner, and Jack Emerick were the founding and only members of Forever (at least to my knowledge). There are some good songs on this record. Check it out if you can.
I could go on for hours with what is left, but I think that gets the point across. While I listened to these and many others, I got the whole album experience again. I do not think it will be the same when I get to the tapes. Did I mention there is an input jack for a tape deck? Well, I will cross that bridge when I get to it. For now, I will continue my Dr. Johnny Fever impersonation and keep the records spinning. More music and Les Nessman …
Yes, I am that old …
— Don Van Dyke
VAN DYKE: Van Halen album release prompts examination of reunions
Feb 8th
Van Halen
Hello, my name is Don, and I am a music snob. I will be sharing my opinions on various subjects with music being the main one, of course. Every once in a while, I will put out one of these blogs just to empty my head. So, they will be short most of the time. I will try to relate them to something current or local whenever possible. Since this is my first blog, I hope you will give me some room for improvement. Any suggestions or comments are welcome!
Van Dyke
There is a new Van Halen album this month. This is the first album they have recorded with David Lee Roth since 1983. While this reunion is not at the same excitement level for me as a reunion of the original Beatles, it is quite a bit higher than the level for a possible Color Me Badd reunion. I am not going to get into all the chatter about the songs being remakes of material they started writing decades ago. It is new to me. It is their music; they can put it out however they want. I wish them the best of luck, and I will probably get the new album. I would like to say it was because I thought they were still a great band, but it will probably be because it is on sale for five bucks. Without Michael Anthony, it is a tough sell. He made the whole sound with his vocals.
Why a reunion? Probably because they figured out that changing singers once and remaining successful was the exception that proves the rule. Usually, if you change singers and try to carry on, it does not go well. Just ask Motley Crue, they replaced Vince Neil with a singer for a few years, and it did not work out very well at all. Vince came back, and they made a mountain of money. They had two of their most successful tours without producing any new music worth listening to. They even landed a residency at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. They had a crazy stage show, but… well, you can look on YouTube to see what I am getting at.
I think the whole reunion craze started with the Eagles and the trailer loads of cash they hauled in on their 1994-96 tour. Kiss had a reunion of the original members soon after, and toured the world in their 1976 makeup. Then, they put out an album nearly unparalleled in its awfulness and toured the world again, making millions. Fleetwood Mac had a reunion around the same time, so did Black Sabbath, The E street band, and many others. Roger Waters even had a reunion with Pink Floyd at the Live 8 concerts a few years back. I was sure I would never see that. It is a shame that they couldn’t have done something else together before Rick Wright passed away.
At the other end of the spectrum are the bands that continue with only one or two of the original members. Guns N’ Roses comes to mind. Kiss is doing this now, too. They say it is because the makeup is bigger than the band members. I guess it is bigger than the panda bears they sell with the makeup designs on them too. I guess when your band becomes a “brand” you gotta ride that horse until it drops.
It makes you wonder why bands split up in the first place. I look at it this way: Most bands start out as just a group of friends. In order to be successful, they spend almost all of their time together. A lot of bands have lived together in a house or apartment for years trying to make it in the music business. They are like a family. It’s all for one and one for all because the band is what is important. This can work for a while, even for many years, but eventually it begins to wear on you. Especially when alcohol, drugs and other substances like success come into the picture. At some point, people need space from each other. A band that is successful or trying to be does not provide much space, so things tend to get amplified and yesterday’s disagreements settled after a few beers and couple games of pool turn into today’s fistfights settled after an arrest or a management ultimatum. Someone quits the band or gets fired. The band is too big and probably owes too much money to the record company to stop, so a new member is brought in and they soldier on.
It is just like most families. The only difference is that you tend to move out of the house at some point after you become adults. Has anyone been in a confined space like an RV with their family when everyone was an adult? How did that go? Pretty well if you drove for three or fewer hours. If it was longer, I bet you were ready to leave the band when it was over or maybe fire a couple of members. The only problem is that you and I cannot plug DJ Ashba or Wolfgang Van Halen into the chairs around our Thanksgiving tables.
I think it was Joe Perry from Aerosmith who once told his drummer that they did not have to be friends to be in a band together. This may be a cold, heartless thing to say, but it is the truth.
Based on all of this, I will give this advice to those in bands today: Try not to spend all of your free time with your band mates. Find other interests, even a side band or doing solo music. Make every rehearsal and show a reunion, so you do not have to have one for the wrong reasons later. It has been said that if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life. Unfortunately, this does not apply to the music industry. That is why very few bands survive anymore. I will get into that more in later blogs. For now, remember the two rules some very wise friends shared with me. One: Less is more. This applies to every facet of music except, of course, for volume. Two: Look for quality rather than quantity. This applies to music and just about everything else.
Don Van Dyke
