Music Reviews
MARTIN-CATE: Breakdown beginning — Support local music and go to a show
Oct 13th
The title of this post, Support Local Q Music and Go To a Show, is a phrase I started typing into this blog quite awhile ago, in fact it was first put into this blog about four days after it first launched on Aug. 21, 2008.
Martin-Cate
That may not seem like a long time in terms of a lifetime, but in terms of a blog, I think it is something. I started this blog as a way to connect the regional entertainment scene. This was before the Weekender section in the Herald-Whig, which I helped launch later, and long before The Local Q was a glimmer in my eye. I bring this up, because I was reminded of the time when I started this blog by the photo in the above graphic. I shot that that photo at rock show in Chicago in 2005.
I’ve always loved music, especially lesser known acts, who are striving for more. Lately, I have found myself swallowed up by life (a great life though) and less able to make it to all of the shows I mention, but you know what, it only takes a bit more effort. The way I still try and make it to shows, is I don’t waste my nights out at a plain bar, I make sure that I hear live music each time I venture out and make my night worth the effort.
So please, join me in this effort and Support Local Music & Go To a Show!
A few highlights:
Fielder is playing at Johnny Bang Bangs, there is a 12-year anniversary event at Down On the Corner in Marcelline and Raised On Radio will be at the Tindusters event this weekend.
Also, we at the Local Q have been talking about the big Oct. 25 concert with nationally touring act Skillet at the Oakley Lindsay Center for some time now and this week I got the chance to interview lead-singer John Cooper about the tour, plans for the future and the Quincy show. Read the interview here: http://www.thelocalq.com/node/2775
MORE WEEKEND EVENTS
Time Well Spent (classic rock)
WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday
WHERE: Ridge View Winery, Mount Sterling
The UltraViolets (cover band)
WHEN: 8:30 p.m. Friday
WHERE: Johnny Bang Bang’s, 138 N. Front
Twelve-year anniversary of Down On The Corner featuring Bluzillion Band (classic rock)
WHEN: 2 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Down On The Corner, Marcelline
Lori Jarvis Benefit featuring Harlot (classic rock)
WHEN: 5 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Machinists Lodge 822, 2929 N. Fifth
Tin Dusters Dance featuring Raised On Radio (blues)
WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Holiday Inn, 4821 Oak
Days Taken (rock)
WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Tennessee Tap, Tennessee, Ill.
Fielder (rock)
WHEN: 8:30 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Johnny Bang Bang’s, 138 N. Front
Simon Estes (opera)
WHEN: 7 p.m. Monday
WHERE: Grand Theater, Keokuk, Iowa
More details on shows are available on the calendar page at www.thelocalq.com.
For information on bands and concert venues, go to the music page at www.thelocalq.com.
Submit details for upcoming shows at www.thelocalq.com/node/1767.
Jessica M. Martin-Cate
jmartin@thelocalq.com
MARTIN-CATE: Standing by a lineup
Apr 14th
Martin-Cate
I HAVE BEEN involved in live music for about a decade in one way or another and I love it.
I actually started off helping organize tours and things by interning with House of Blues corporate and then started leaning towards covering live shows when I went to school for journalism. However, I didn’t stop booking the occasional show or helping work out sponsorship for a large or underground festival.
What all of this brings me to, is that I have finally been involved from the very beginning on a large scale event that I am very proud of and it is The Local Q Music Fest. The Local Q has been talking about this event for some time now, but I hope the main message has not been lost and that is that WE SUPPORT LOCAL MUSIC. And we want everyone to realize the talent that comes from regional acts and for that matter, acts that you may never have heard of.
I will put my name and anything else I’ve got on the lineup for The Local Q Music Fest and swear that it is diverse, talented and just plain good. If one act isn’t your favorite kind of music, just wait at the most an hour and a new one will take the stage and probably blow your mind. I am NOT just saying this, because anyone that knows me will tell you that I am unbiased to the point that I can make those closest to me mad by my truthfulness when I am asked that fateful question, “so what do you think of this song?”
I slaved over this lineup, of course not alone, but I did. We looked for bands that would appeal to a wide array of demographics, while not offending anyone. Our hope is to be seen as credible in choosing music, meaning that fans can see our name on an event and know we wouldn’t put it there for just anyone.
It is important for everyone out there to know that this is only the beginning and we plan to have many more events and support many other acts. One thing to remember is that due to those pesky issues with BMI, ASCAP and such, we do need to stick mostly with acts performing original music. (Read more on this here.) Although, who doesn’t love a great cover song? I do.
Long story short, I wanted to give everyone a chance to check out some videos of the bands that will perform May 7 outside and in Quincy University Stadium:
COPPERVIEW “YESTERDAY” (modern rock)
THE GRADUATE “DON’T DIE DIGGING” (pop/indie)
PREDAWN HOUR “HOME ROAD” (rock/alternative)
PEACH “RUINER” (thrash/rock)
THE HIPNECKS “SNI-A-BAR STOMP” (Americana/alternative)
You can check out the rest of the great lineup by clicking each acts name:
Cheeks McGee (singer-songwriter/loop/acoustic)
The Hong Kong Sleepover (hard rock)
Esther Moore (folk/acoustic)
Logan Kammerer (jam/acoustic)
Jake Owen, Madd Hoss Jackson entertain a large crowd Saturday in Quincy
Mar 27th
Country star Jake Owen came to town Saturday to perform at the Local firefighters 63 fundraiser at Morrison Theater. (Read the story here.)
A crowd of about 1200 were being entertained early on by a lively performance by local act Madd Hoss Jackson, during which Owen met with some of his fans from his online fan club.
Also, earlier today, members from Owen’s band showed up at the grand opening of Second String, a local music shop owned by Rodney Hart and Sheryl Collins. The shop had donated a guitar to the concert that was signed by Owen and Madd Hoss Jackson and then raffled off for charity at the show.
Below are photos from the evening:
Jake Owen, left, meets one of his fans. She was so excited to see the man in person that also graced her t-shirt.
A Madd Hoss Jackson fan from the crowd described the band by saying, "they're always good."
These gal pals from California, Mo., came to specifically see Owen, saying "have Jake, will travel."
The line on the back is from a song by Owen, to further show tribute to the artist.
Madd Hoss Jackson continued to rock the crowd as Owen got ready to take the stage.
Owen took stage after a very short break and the crowd went wild.
Owen's band member is playing in front of the Local Firefighters 63 sign.
Owen picked up a guitar to sing a ballad and the crowd continued to love every note.
(Photos by Jessica M. Martin-Cate)
Great music mag Paste bought by website
Jan 26th
Cover of a print version of Paste Magazine that I have at home.
I love Paste Magazine and was a print subscriber for years up until last year, when it become an online-only publication.
Recently, the mag was bought by an online music site, Wolfgang’s Vault. I’ve written about the magazine a couple times in the paste, including finding a regional musician spotlighted in early 2009.
As I said before, the print magazine would come with a compilation CD of great up and coming artists, which as you will imagine made the publication worth every penny. I miss getting the publication in the mail, as it was beautifully designed and the CD was great, it was like getting a mix tape from a friend that knows their indie music.
I am glad that Wolfgang’s Vault felt the need to purchase the mag, as Paste’s editor-in-chief Josh Jackson told the Associated Press, that the sale brings financial stability for the the magazine. I think the Vault is a great site as well, it has the most amazing posters and albums from concerts I can only wish I had attended. I am working on a fund to purchase some as the site does know what it’s content is worth.
Jackson also told the AP that he will continue to edit Paste’s content, so the magazine will go on. Yay!
Check out both Paste Magazine and Wolfgang’s Vault to see two great places for music on the web.
Jessica M. Martin-Cate
MUSIC NEWS: People’s Choice Awards, Rolling Stone Magazine predicts 2011 and top selling 2010 albums
Jan 6th
Last night I watched the first half of the People’s Choice Awards and it was kind of not so good, it started off with this pseudo sing along performance by Queen Latifah and went on with performances from various singers like Selena Gomez, which was well, I’m trying to not be mean, just watch:
Long story short, I lost interest in the awards show and that is odd, since these kinds of random groupings of various stars from various genre’s of music, tv and film is a guilty pleasure of mine.
Martin-Cate
Below is some more music news I found interesting:
• Check out the 2011 music preview from Rolling Stone Magazine.
2010′s best-selling albums of 2010:
1. “Recovery” by Eminem (3.4 million copies) — Not surprising, because the album is his best effort in quite some time. Rolling Stone Magazine gave this album four out of five stars, read the review here.
2. “Need You Now,” by Lady Antebellum (3.1 million copies) — The title track took on a life of its own.
3. “Speak Now,” by Taylor Swift (2.96 million copies) — Duh, it is the pop country queen, Miss Swift. Rolling Stone Magazine gave this album four out of five stars, read the review here.
4. “My World 2.0,” by Justin Bieber
5. “The Gift,” by Susan Boyle
* According to the Associated Press and Nielsen SoundScan.
Jessica M. Martin-Cate
Q&A: Local filmmaker discusses web series on one year anniversary
Sep 30th
Derek James Hauk
Web television, which are shows filmed and released only on the internet, are gaining in popularity. It goes along with the DIY (do-it-yourself) mentality, of shooting, editing and posting things yourself. Recently, I had a local web show creator contact me about his show.
Derek James Hauk, 25, of Warsaw, Ill., went to college at Quincy University and recently lost his job, so he thought a web series was a good way to fill his time. He started “Music Video Theatre 3000″ about a year ago and it runs on AudibleUnderwear.com.
I checked out a couple of his episodes and I must say, it is creative, silly and fun. Each show must be watched all the way through to catch all of the craziness, so it is definitely worth checking out.
Hauk answers some questions about the show below:
Martin-Cate
MARTIN-CATE: Why did you start the web series?
HAUK: I had a full-time position teaching music at a small school south of Jacksonville, Ill. I lost it and had to move back home. Unable to find other full-time employment, I decided I needed something to occupy myself with and since I was a fan of other online shows, it was an easy decision to start my own.
MARTIN-CATE: What inspires your show?
HAUK: My inspirations are my love of music and my time in the Quincy University drama club. While I was at QU, the members of the Brother Sun Sister Moon Players encouraged me to write plays, so I’m very comfortable with scripting the series. Probably the most well-known of the online shows that I draw inspiration from would be the Angry Video Game Nerd.
MARTIN-CATE: Please describe the series.
HAUK: Every episode reviews a music video and finds humor in all the strange things artists do to try and grab our attention and each episode is part of an ongoing story with recurring characters all played by myself. There area also cameos from other online hosts and even the occasional cliffhanger.
MARTIN-CATE: What are your plans for the future of the web series?
HAUK: I will be branching out into reviewing more movies in the second year, and also trying to include more musical analysis in each video. I also hope to upgrade the camera and special effects eventually, and make the episodes feel more like short films.
MARTIN-CATE: What can viewers expect from the show?
HAUK: People can expect a lot of mostly clean humor, a lot of wacky characters and even a little bit of education. If you’ve ever sat through a movie cracking jokes to your friends the whole time, you’ll feel right at home.
“Music Video Theatre 3000″ can be seen anytime at AudibleUnderwear.com or on YouTube. Also, a teaser of the series featuring “I’m Not Okay,” by My Chemical Romance is below:
Jessica M. Martin-Cate
jmartin@thelocalq.com
REVIEW: The Notorious Nightcrawlers rock Mini-Sturgis
Jul 13th
I made it to Mini-Sturgis at The Flying Inn outside of Quincy on Friday night. The original Sturgis is a legendary motorcycle rally held annually in Sturgis, S.D.
This event was held on 18 acres with camping, events and live music. After months of wanting to see the Notorious Nightcrawlers of Alton, Ill., I was finally able to Friday evening.
The set up outside for the bands was incredible. There is a built-in stage on the deck with a tent and tables and chairs, with an outside bar.
A few things that I loved about the performance:
1. It seemed like they talked to each other prior to the show and said, “Let’s all wear red t-shirts.”
2. The sound system was great and the lead-guitarist was wireless, so he did some sweet solos out in the crowd.
3. Each member had a microphone and either sang lead or harmonized.
4. The harmonica/slide guitar player, Wolf Grissom, was ridiculously good. I heard him wrong at first and thought his name was Wolf Grizzle, which would be awesome. He even had a harmonica fanny pack with extra harmonicas, one of which had lights.
5. The bass player was left-handed, which was just cool.
At one point, the lead singer went off on a rant saying that if people stop supporting live music, “It’s going to turn into a bunch of DJ rap crap.” I fully agree with supporting live music, but the genre is up to the individual. He did suggest purchasing “egg shakers” at your neighborhood music store in support of live music.
The show was so much fun it had everybody dancing, and I would definitely recommend checking out the Notorious Nightcrawlers. It was classic rock at its best!
Dale Garriga, The Flying Inn owner, said he was really happy about the turnout for the first Mini-Sturgis, and he plans to continue the event.
Jessica Martin
jmartin@whig.com
GUEST BLOGGER: Local music fan reviews band at St. Louis Warped Tour
Jul 7th
Recently I received an email from Daniel Pritchett, a new kid to Quincy, who says he’s “the biggest music fan” he knows and he’s a “big fan” of my work. I’m not above flattery, so I read further.
After finding out his music interests range from punk to folk and he recently attended Bonnaroo Music Festival and Warped Tour, I thought I needed to find out more to see if there was something we could work on together. I found out he reminds me of myself in college, consuming as much live music as possible and pushing to work in my favorite industry.
Since he attended Warped Tour Monday, I told him to send in a review and we could put it up as a guest post. Hopefully we will see more from Pritchett on regional shows in the future, but for now, find out more about him and read his review below.
Pritchett
BIO
Daniel “The Man” Thomas Pritchett is a sophomore at John Wood Community College and majoring in liberal arts. He hopes to transfer into journalism in the near future.
He was born in August of 1989 and says the 80s were a great decade to be a part of. He has lived in Quincy since January. He previously lived in St. Louis and before that in Boston, where he discovered the thrill of rock shows and that activity is now his passion.
Pritchett’s Random Music Stats
• He grew up on the Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Mellencamp and too much country music.
• The first concert he attended was As I Lay Dying, Atreyu and Deftones.
• Best concert he has attended was Stevie Wonder opening for Jay-Z.
• He loves the chill that goes up his spine when he hears amazing music.
• If he was stranded on a island and could only bring one record with, it would be The Killers, “Sam’s Town.”
PRITCHETT’S REVIEW
Warped Tour usually has it all for young metal and punk heads. However, it’s not often that punk superstar, Sum 41, opens for a country band.
Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band comes from Indiana and is a three piece band that knows how to get your attention. It starts with a woman playing a washboard while moving somewhat wildly around the stage and a bearded man playing the National guitar extremely fast, while using his harmonica as a slide.
These two side-by-side are the epitome of entertainment. The Reverend’s song writing is simple and his voice screams. This band has a sounds that will make any true music fan stomp their feet and scream out loud, with lyrics like “I’m bad and you know it, clap your hands.”
A teenage girl leaned over to me after the first song and asked, “Is this a real band?” I laughed and replied, “Certainly is, this is the biggest band you will ever see.”
The group sings about Mama’s fried potatoes and tells it how it is with the song, “Everything’s Raisin’.” This song clearly is against corporate America, but it still has the crowd dancing and singing along. The chorus is easy, starting with “everything’s raisin’ but the wages — gasoline, groceries and our ages.”
I would classify their style as country gone blues, and blues gone rock n’ roll. The speedy guitar picking, with the washboard, topped off with a fast-paced folksy drum beat delivers the overall sound that is certain to get you dancing like you never thought you could.
The Reverend gave me some great beard-grooming tips after the show and then said the group will be back in St. Louis in September.
St. Louis trio Peach puts on quite a show at State Room
May 24th
The question for last weekend was not, “What is there to do?”
It was, “Which of all the options should I choose to do?”
Milwaukee-based blues band Hounds Tooth was at The Club Tavern, St. Louis band Peach joined Predawn Hour and Fielder at the State Room, and the Not So Fine Arts Society held a 10-stop Super Hero pub crawl with live music and comedians.
I stopped by the State Room on Saturday at the same time as the Super Hero group crawled through. Starting a night off amid masked-avengers can only mean one thing, fun.The place started filling up with “civilians” just about the time Predawn Hour took the stage and the Super Heroes left for their next stop for the night. The crowd moved in front of the stage for the rest of Predawn Hour and stayed to dance through Fielder. Both local favorites sounded great and there was an extra energy to the performances. Maybe it was the warm weather signally summer is on the way or maybe it was just good music in a cool venue, but it was almost electric.
Melissa Roberts of Peach performing at Cicero's in St. Louis. (Submitted Photo)
Peach, the guest performers, stood up front and applauded the Quincy bands efforts and seemed to truly enjoy the show. Lead-singer and guitarist Melissa Roberts, bassist Alex Power and drummer Seth Bailey all looked great and were incredibly down-to-earth. They talked about how the music scene in Quincy was seemingly great and how they’d love to come back.
I will say that for a town our size, though, I wish that the pub crawl and the State Room show hadn’t occurred on the same evening, because the show did not have the turnout that it could have — but it happens. Quincy has a great group of music lovers, so I can only hope that next time Peach treks up this direction for a show, it will have an audience they deserve.
When Peach, the female-fronted trio, was set up for its performance, it had a ton of energy. Roberts started strumming her big red guitar that was about the size of her, and she started whipping her head around as the group put on a show. Sadly it was a bit hard to hear all of her vocals, but the sound got better as the show went on.
One onlooker said that Roberts didn’t have a small or wispy voice like some female singers. Instead, her voice was full and strong. I instantly compared her to The Gossip’s lead-singer Beth Ditto in similarity of tone and energy on stage. Ditto and Roberts voices are nowhere near identical, though, but they both have a fullness and strength that is interesting.
The most recognizable song of the set was “Chewable,” where the instruments dropped back a bit at the beginning of the song and Roberts’ lyrics could be heard clearly. Bottom line, the group is incredibly fun to watch and listen too.
To generalize their music as a genre, I do kind of agree with the band’s answer to that of “post-trash,” only because their sound is less about being perfect and more about conveying a feeling. It almost was like grungy music meets pop/R&B vocals but in an incredibly catchy and entertaining way.
I can’t wait to hear Peach again and would love to catch it with some of its hometown fans in attendance. I also could definitely see this group killing an acoustic show with their chemistry and Roberts’ piercing vocals.
All in all, another great weekend for Quincy music.
Now hopefully people can come out more and show these out-of-town bands that we truly are glad they made the trip to entertain us.
Jessica Martin
jmartin@whig.com
Tickets to see Michaels in April will be honored for the August shows
Apr 21st
These are the listings for Bret Michaels shows in the region on Ticketmaster.com. The April 29 show in Quincy has been moved to Aug. 19.
It is unclear when Ticketmaster will change the Bret Michaels show date from April 29 to Aug. 19, but event organizer Bryan Smith that either way, everyone who bought a ticket will get in to see the former Poison frontman.
Smith states via text message that tickets will be accepted on the corresponding days, meaning “Aug. 18 will be the April 28 tickets and Aug. 19 will be the April 29 tickets.”
The bottom line is: How cool is it that Ticketmaster is selling tickets to a concert in Quincy? Also, look at the size of the other two shows in the St. Louis area. Would you rather see your favorite artist in an arena or up close at a small club in your hometown?
If interest for these shows stays up, more of this type of concert could come through the area. Quincy is located somewhat between St. Louis, Chicago, Nashville and Kansas City in terms of touring, so let’s show all these national acts that this city is worth the stop. The turnout for tickets to the Michaels show was an amazing start for that.
Jessica Martin
jmartin@whig.com
